The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 2
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 6:57PM The Sanguo Yanyi - Chapter 2:
Zhang Fei whips the Government Officer;
He Jin Plots to Kill the Eunuchs.
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WARNING: THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!
In this, the second chapter of the mighty Sanguo Yanyi, Zhang Fei once again displays that trademark temper of his. He may be a mighty warrior (one of the mightiest in Chinese history), and absolutely loyal, but he has some anger-management issues, and in the opening lines of this chapter, those anger-management issues would very well have led to the early demise of Dong Zhuo, the primary villain of the early chapters, if not for the intervention of Zhang Fei's two sworn brothers, Liu Bei and Guan Yu. Think how many lives would have been saved if Zhang Fei were allowed to take that fat, disgusting sleazebucket out. Dong Zhuo was kinda like the Chinese Hitler, wiping out large numbers of people with impunity. Think about this: a census taken in the late Han (early story) claims a total population in the Empire of 50 million. A census taken 90 or so years later, after the Sanguo period came to an end and the land was reunified under the Jin Dynasty, claimed a total population of like 16 million. That means that some 34 million people either died or migrated out of the country during the chaos of the Three Kingdoms period. How many of those deaths could Zhang Fei have averted by offing Dong Zhuo? I guess the world will never know...
