素手執(zhí)棋，深衣藏劍

趙瑩

在閱讀海飛過(guò)往的作品時(shí)，總能發(fā)覺(jué)他在脈絡(luò)把握上的精妙之處。他寫“燒腦”的小說(shuō)架構(gòu)，不僅是融合推理、言情、家國(guó)等元素，亦是以細(xì)致的方式展現(xiàn)人與人之間的情懷。

浙籍小說(shuō)家海飛新作《戰(zhàn)春秋》的人物中心不再同以往作品一般聚焦于男性角色，而是以更多的筆墨描摹女性諜者的形象，像里面出現(xiàn)的西施、鄭旦等人，都呈現(xiàn)出濃厚的悲劇色彩。眾所周知，西施是越國(guó)用來(lái)迷惑吳王夫差的棋子，但是這位女性人物的心路歷程始終是一團(tuán)迷霧。所以，海飛另辟蹊徑，不多言兵家攻占之術(shù)，而是從這些小人物入手，編織出了一個(gè)跌宕起伏、動(dòng)人心魄的春秋諜戰(zhàn)故事。這也是作者構(gòu)建“海飛諜戰(zhàn)世界”系列小說(shuō)以來(lái)，涉足“古代諜戰(zhàn)”的開(kāi)篇之作。

小說(shuō)主要圍繞“句踐滅吳”這一著名歷史事件展開(kāi)。作為《國(guó)語(yǔ)》（春秋時(shí)期左丘明所撰的一部國(guó)別體著作）中的壓軸之作，自然具有傳奇色彩。句踐以敗國(guó)之君的身份，苦心孤詣多年，最后反敗為勝，定格在“是故敗吳于囿，又?jǐn)≈跊](méi)，又郊敗之”的歷史畫(huà)面中。但是除卻隱忍、堅(jiān)毅的特質(zhì)，句踐本人卻有急功近利、寡義無(wú)情的一面。《戰(zhàn)春秋》就很全面地豐盈了句踐的形象。在消滅吳國(guó)之后，范蠡遠(yuǎn)走他鄉(xiāng)，文種留于朝堂，最終被句踐賜死，令人不勝唏噓。在這樣的敘事主線下，一系列驚心動(dòng)魄的“間諜”與“反間”情節(jié)陸續(xù)上演。小說(shuō)中，田充與越國(guó)女子紫蘇的相遇就是徹頭徹尾的悲劇，他作為臥底負(fù)責(zé)打探越國(guó)的消息，結(jié)果愛(ài)上了善解人意的紫蘇。沒(méi)成想被范蠡等人發(fā)現(xiàn)了行蹤，為了保護(hù)紫蘇及其腹中的孩子，他必須構(gòu)陷叔護(hù)，叛離國(guó)家。可是，他的兒子田桑還是死了，紫蘇也瘋了。這種糾葛始終存留文中，海飛以這些二度創(chuàng)作的情節(jié)展開(kāi)，展現(xiàn)了特定年代家國(guó)命題下的無(wú)奈與傷痕。

不過(guò)，在我看來(lái)，本部小說(shuō)最吸睛的角色卻是句踐的妻子——越后幽羊。她的容貌在多年“階下囚”的日子里失去了光彩，但她的心機(jī)在多年苦難的浸淫下愈發(fā)莫測(cè)。可以說(shuō)，越后才是諜報(bào)鏈的頂端人物，不管是美貌動(dòng)人的西施，還是負(fù)責(zé)傳遞消息的鄭旦，都是她這盤復(fù)國(guó)大計(jì)中的棋子。從一開(kāi)始西施不愿離開(kāi)家人前往吳國(guó)做內(nèi)應(yīng)開(kāi)始，陰謀就悄然伏下了。在幽羊的授意下，越國(guó)人假扮吳國(guó)人殺害了西施的父親，西施為報(bào)父仇，殫精竭慮接近吳王，于是這出大戲終于拉開(kāi)了帷幕。直到故事的最后一刻，西施的弟弟施夷青被砍成血人后，幽羊仍不肯放過(guò)，為他補(bǔ)上了致命的一劍，利用他的死亡激勵(lì)所有的將士，完成最后的復(fù)國(guó)之戰(zhàn)。海飛利用史書(shū)字縫中的細(xì)節(jié)，將歷史罅隙以沉穩(wěn)冷靜的話語(yǔ)加以補(bǔ)充，最終繪就了楚楚動(dòng)人卻又蒼涼肅殺的畫(huà)面。

當(dāng)然，越后真的心狠手辣、作惡多端嗎？我想也不盡然。小說(shuō)中的人物因?yàn)榱?chǎng)不同，他們各自為戰(zhàn)，卻因命運(yùn)的交匯有著相同的際遇，比如紫蘇和田充、鄭旦和甘紀(jì)，甚至是西施與夫差，在故事里“越級(jí)打怪”之余，也隱藏著情感線的設(shè)計(jì)，這在原本緊張的劇情氛圍中注入了浪漫主義的色調(diào)，使得人物關(guān)系、明線暗線更加變幻莫測(cè)。

在開(kāi)闊的創(chuàng)作空間中，海飛正以全新的視角演繹著他心目中的朝代與角色，用自己的文字訴說(shuō)著生命悲歡。西施在一步步成長(zhǎng)為諜者的過(guò)程中，遭遇重重困難，首先就得從顏王后和蕓王妃的打壓下獲得夫差的注意。當(dāng)然，“宮斗”只是她前進(jìn)路上的一小步，她還需要擺脫伍子胥的監(jiān)視，將自己摘除在外。這時(shí)借由叔護(hù)的事件，她成功地讓夫差對(duì)伍子胥產(chǎn)生了嫌隙。所以，諜者是一門高級(jí)的學(xué)問(wèn)，想要在亂世中成功潛伏，光有外表遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠，內(nèi)在的智慧和同伴的配合也很重要。

在閱讀海飛以往的作品時(shí)，總能發(fā)覺(jué)他在脈絡(luò)把握上的精妙之處。他寫“燒腦”的小說(shuō)架構(gòu)，不僅是融合推理、言情、家國(guó)等元素，亦是以細(xì)致的方式展現(xiàn)人與人之間的情懷，像甘紀(jì)為護(hù)鄭旦情愿自斷一臂，隱于鄉(xiāng)野，卻在吳國(guó)即將淪陷、明知死局不可破的情況下，選擇和自己的君主死在一起;還有一心為國(guó)的伍子胥，作為典型的復(fù)仇者形象，他在書(shū)中一直是激進(jìn)而剛毅的，為國(guó)一夕白頭，甚至死后要將頭顱掛在吳國(guó)都城的城門上，眼睛始終望向越國(guó)的方向。由此，這場(chǎng)不斷“逆轉(zhuǎn)”的間諜大戰(zhàn)告一段落，然而那些溫情的、動(dòng)人的情緒卻生長(zhǎng)與延續(xù)著，從未改變。這樣的寫法為古代諜戰(zhàn)小說(shuō)創(chuàng)作加入了新思考，讓人常讀常新。

More than the Rebirth of King

A Brief Review of Hai Feis New Novel，

By Zhao Ying

， or ， is a historical fiction recently released by Hai Fei， a Shaoxing-born fictionist living in Hangzhou， capital city of Zhejiang Province. Despite its masculine title， the new novel spends perhaps more words than necessary to describe the female characters such as Xi Shi the Beauty and Zheng Dan， both sent by the King of the State of Yue to his rivals as honey-traps. The novels tragedy colors are spiced up by a well-crafted espionage war sizzling with the captivating subtlety of emotional ups and downs of women. In a noticeably feminine perspective， the author seems to have created a new narrative style in his “espionage” series that has already garnered an impressive fan base. The epic settings drawing on the historical events of the Spring and Autumn era （770-476BC） render a spectral sense of mystery to the plotting， with warcraft only used sparingly where necessary to highlight the mentality of the seemingly small characters.

The plot is set in the backdrop of the legend of Goujian， whose spectacular comeback story is arguably the best illustration of the maxim “a man can be destroyed， but not defeated”. After losing the battle in 496 BC， the king put aside his self-esteem and served for three years as the servant of the King of Wu until he was eventually allowed to return to his native state. Hai Feis new novel， however， strives to present the legendary ruler in a fuller picture by exploring his lesser-known sides – his kingly cruelty and recklessness that eventually led to his estrangement with Fan Li and the tragic death of Wen Zhong， a strategist and one of the most devoted and talented advisors to Goujian.

In the authors reconstruction of the historical intricacy of the turbulent warring years， the catastrophic love between the commander Tian Chong and Zisu， the girl he knew he should stay away from but fell in love at first sight， constitutes a stirring chapter that brings the novels espionage charm into full play. In desperation， Tian Chong had to cross the ultimate moral line to try protecting the girl and their child. The result of the betrayal is their son becoming a child never born and the nervous breakdown of Zisu.

In my opinion， the most compelling character in the novel is Youyang， the wife of Goujian. Her feminine beauty waned in the three years of humiliated life after her husband lost the battle as well as his pride， but in the darkest years in life her heart became a piece of stone. Years of suffering honed her scheming and manipulating skills to perfection， and she is depicted in the novel as the invisible， cold-blooded mastermind behind a series of political intrigue that eventually changes the life of people she loved or hated and the fate of the state. Trying her best to restore the pride of her husband， she has to suffer from the pain of self-betraying.

The author is a master of weaving the minor details vaguely revealed by historical documentation into a thrilling drama that contains new， non-mainstream perspectives without sabotaging historical truth. In the novel， the fate of individuals， regardless of social status and gender， is the most important motif， running throughout the narrative to create spell-binding tension and sensation.

The author strives to put romance and warcraft in juxtaposition. His bold way of storytelling fills the plotting with the beauty of romanticism. His mastery of narrative framework design is fully shown in the new novel. Like an architect， he plays with historical materials effortlessly， focusing on emotional collision and the unfathomable abyss of human nature， and avoiding making conclusions.

Fairly speaking， it takes a lot of brain work to follow the flow of the novel. However， the cinematic sensation achieved by the author through the stunning power of words is easy to get on the part of the reader. The novel is more than about the rebirth of a king. It is about the joys and sorrows of life， and the fickleness of human hearts.