Text/Comrade Guevara
Liu Chan, the lord of the Shu Han Dynasty, was known for his incompetence and shamelessness, and due to his personality, most of his sons were inactive and had no temperament to speak of. However, there is one person who is an exception, who refuses to live in the face of the country's downfall, and eventually commits suicide and martyrdom, which is extremely heroic. This person was Liu Chen, the fifth son of Liu Chan. The reason why Liu Chen committed suicide began with the demise of Shu Han.
Deng Ai
In the autumn of the fourth year of Jing Yuan (263), Sima Zhao, a chancellor of Cao Wei, ordered the generals Zhong Hui and Deng Ai to lead an army to divide the roads and cut shu. As a result, when Zhong Hui confronted the Shu Han general Jiang Wei at The Sword Pavilion, labored in vain and prepared to withdraw, Deng Ai led his troops to sneak across Yinping, crossed the uninhabited dangerous area of more than 700 miles, attacked Jiangyou and Mianzhu, killed the Shu general Zhuge Zhan (Zhuge Liang's son) who was responsible for defending, and then led thousands of Wei troops into Chengdu.
At this time, the soldiers in Chengdu city were full of food, the city was high and deep, and according to the imagination of ordinary people, Liu Chan, the lord of the future, should choose to stick to the enemy. Moreover, at this time, Jiang Wei had already led the army to rush into the reinforcements, and if he could arrive before the fall of Chengdu, it was not impossible to defeat Deng Ai and reverse the situation. However, this kind of idea is only theoretically possible and not operable, and there are no more than three reasons: The soldiers and horses in Chengdu are old, weak, sick and disabled, the military is scattered, and the combat effectiveness is extremely poor; the famous generals are withered away, and no one can preside over the overall situation; and the people of Shuzhong have hated Liu Bei's father and son for a long time and are unwilling to be "cannon fodder" for war.
Weekly
Because of this, the Yizhou Scholar Group, led by Guanglu Dafu Chenzhou, began to spread the words of surrender in the city, claiming that the Wei army besieging the city was a elite soldier who was one of the best in the world, Deng Ai was a famous general, and the Shu army had no possibility of victory at all. If the Wei army surrenders before carrying out a large-scale siege of the city, then the people of Chengdu can still save their lives and property, if they insist on defending the city, then when the city is destroyed, they will encounter the fate of jade burning. As soon as this remark came out, the people's hearts and the hearts of the military in Chengdu floated, and everywhere there was a scene of trepidation that could not be lived.
In the face of the clamor for surrender, at this time a minister made a proposal, asking Liu Chan to lead his people to flee to nanzhong and rely on the local barbarians to oppose the Wei army in order to restore Shuzhong in the future; if not, then defect to the state of Wu in the east, relying on allies to fight against the sworn enemy ("The Han lords and ministers met, or thought that Shuzhi and Wu, originally with the country, should run to Wu; or thought that the seven counties of nanzhong, blocking dangers and fighting, easy to defend themselves, should be able to run south." See Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 78). At this time, Liu Chan was already in chaos, so he summoned Tan Zhou and asked him whether these two strategies were operable.
Liu Chan, the lord of the Shu Han Dynasty
Tan Zhou carefully analyzed the situation for Liu Chan, saying that the barbarians in southern China were profit-seeking and unrighteous, and had no loyalty to speak of, and once Cao Wei lured them with gold and rich women, it would inevitably turn against Shu Han, and if he wanted to rely on them to restore the country, it would be tantamount to a fool's dream; although The state of Wu was an ally, its power was far weaker than that of Cao Wei, and once The Shu land was lost, it would soon be destroyed. In this way, surrendering to the State of Wu was already an act of humiliation, and if the State of Wu surrendered to Cao Wei after its demise, it would be a second degree of humiliation, and it was better to surrender Cao Wei directly. Liu Chan thought about it again and again, and felt that what Tan Zhou said was very reasonable, so he decided to give up resistance and choose to surrender.
Just as Liu Chan was preparing to surrender to Deng Ai and offer the jade seal, Liu Chen, the fifth son of the Emperor, the King of Northern Lands, rushed to dissuade him, claiming that there were many soldiers and horses in the city, and that Jiang Wei had rushed to the rescue at full speed, and if he fought with the Wei army to the death, he might not be able to repel the enemy soldiers. If they cannot win, then according to the national policy of "Han thieves are not opposed", their monarchs and fathers and sons should commit suicide and martyrdom, so as not to insult the heroic name of Emperor Zhaolie (Liu Bei).
Liu Chen eventually committed suicide and was martyred
However, Liu Chen's impassioned statement did not move Liu Chan, who ordered his son to be bombed out on the grounds that "kings are not allowed to interfere in politics", and then sent Zhang Fei's son Zhang Shao and others as emissaries to surrender to Deng Ai with the surrender table and the jade seal ("Later, the lord will be from Zhou's strategy, and the king of the northern land will be angry: 'If the reason is weak and weak, the disaster will be lost, and the father and son will fight a battle with the city, and die together with the death of the society, so as to see the former emperor Keye.'" Then the Lord did not accept it, so he sent the seal. See Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. 33, op. cites The Spring and Autumn of the Han Dynasty).
In November of the fourth year of Jing yuan (263), Liu Chan led more than 60 princes, kings, and courtiers out of the city to surrender, and at the same time sent someone to inform Jiang Wei and order him to surrender to the Wei general Zhong Hui. At this point, the Shu Han Dynasty, which had been established for 42 years, officially perished. On the day that Liu Chan led the people to surrender, Liu Chen ran to the Zhaolie Temple to weep and pray, and then killed his wife and son first, and then committed suicide to show their family's determination not to surrender ("On that day, the king of the Northern Lands killed his wife first, and then committed suicide.) See Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Vol. XXXIII).
Statue of Liu Chen in the Wuhou Ancestral Hall in Chengdu
Compared with Liu Chan, who was greedy for life and afraid of death and had no dignity to speak of, Liu Chen, who swore not to surrender, could really be described as bloody and bone-like, even among his brothers, he could not find a second person. Because of this, after Liu Chen committed suicide and martyrdom, the people of Shuzhong admired his integrity, so they put his statue into the Zhaolie Temple and sacrificed with Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, which has been the case for thousands of years. To this day, there is still a woodcut statue of Liu Chen in the Liu Bei Hall of the Wuhou Ancestral Hall in Chengdu to commemorate his noble sentiment of committing suicide and martyrdom and preferring to die.
Historical sources: "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Zizhi Tongjian"