In the struggle for supremacy among the heroes of the princes of the Three Kingdoms, in the end, there were only three major groups of Cao Cao, Sun Quan and Liu Bei. Cao Cao occupied the north, the most powerful, Sun Quan and Liu Bei occupied Jiangdong and Western Shu respectively, although the strength was not as good as Cao Cao, but the two families joined hands, Cao Cao was also concerned about one or the other, helpless.
Cao Cao's name was Han Xiang, but he was actually a Han thief, "holding the Son of Heaven hostage to order the princes", and the power was tilted to one side, and even the emperor had to watch his words and deeds. Sun Quan is the prince of Shoucheng, Wen is not as good as his father, wu is not a brother, and he guards the foundation laid by his father and brother to raise heaven and age. On the other hand, Liu Bei was not very famous (from the merchant Xi Weaving), but his ambition was not small, he used the banner of "restoring the Central Plains and restoring the Han Room", recruited literati from all over the world, actively resisted Cao Cao, fulfilled his promises, and finally failed to realize his long-cherished wish in life, and died with regret, why is this?
Let's peek at one of the few strategists and great futures that Liu Bei lost.
1. Chen Qun
As early as the first year of Xingping (194 AD), Liu Bei was given the title of Assassin of Yuzhou, with Chen Qun as his other driver. Later, Xuzhou Mutaoqian was seriously ill, and before he died, he wanted to entrust Xuzhou to Liu Bei, and when Liu Bei was about to go, Chen Qun said to him: "Yuan Shu is still strong, and now in the east, he will fight with it." After Lü Buruo attacked the general, although the general got Xuzhou, nothing would happen. ”
However, Liu Bei did not listen to Chen Qun's words and insisted on going east to Xuzhou, and as a result, Lü Bu secretly colluded with Yuan Shu and defeated Liu Bei, and Liu Bei regretted that he did not listen to Chen Qun at this time.
After Cao Cao captured Xuzhou, Chen Qun later attached himself to Cao Cao, and successively served as Cao Wei's imperial historian Zhongcheng (中丞), Shangshu Ling (尚書令), Zhenjun (镇軍大將軍), Zhonghu (中護軍), and Sikong (司空), and recorded Shangshu Shi (尚書事), making outstanding contributions to the construction of the ceremonial system and its political system of the Cao Wei regime.
2. Xu Shu
The second counselor Liu Bei lost was Xu Shu. At that time, on Liu Biao's territory in Jingzhou, Liu Bei was chased and killed by Liu Biao's brother-in-law Cai Mao, and stumbled all the way to meet Sima Hui, the water mirror gentleman, in the Nanzhang Mountains, and Sima Huiyi reminded: "You, there is a lack of talents around you!" Liu Bei woke up like a dream. You said that it was a coincidence that he met Xu Shu at Sima Hui's house at night, and within a few days he worshiped Xu Shu as a military master.
You don't have to say that in the next few battles with Cao Jun, Xu Shu commanded Ruoding, defeated Cao Ren, and occupied Fancheng. Soon, Cao Cao learned that there were talents like Xu Shu in Liu Bei's army, and under the idea of the strategist Cheng Yu, Cao Cao put Xu Shu's mother under house arrest and eventually tricked Xu Shu back to him, and Xu Shu also swore to Liu Bei before leaving that he would never give a plan for Cao Cao for life.
Of course, this is the saying in the interpretation.
In the historical records, when Xu Shu fled south with Liu Bei to Liu Biao in Jingzhou, Xu Shu's mother was captured by Cao Cao's army, and Xu Shu bid farewell to Liu Bei and went to Cao Ying in order to save his mother.
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang's Biography": "The first lord led his people south in Fan Wenzhi, Liang and Xu Shu from, and were chased by Cao Gong and obtained the mother." Resignation precedes the Lord. ”
How talented is Xu Shu? According to Cheng Yu himself, he said it was ten times his. It is a pity that such a talent of heaven and earth has since been lost in the long river of history. If Liu Bei had sent a confidant to secretly protect Xu Shu at that time, perhaps history would have followed.
3. Pang Tong
The third strategist Liu Bei lost was Pang Tong. Sima Hui, a famous scholar, said: Whoever wins one of the Dragons and the Phoenix Chicks can win the world. Although Liu Bei longed for talents, he did not know talents.
In the past, when Pang Tong defected to Liu Bei in Jingzhou, Liu Bei did not recognize his talent, and actually gave Pang Tong a decree of Leiyang County. Pang Tong ignored county affairs all day and was later dismissed from office. It was not until Lu Su of Eastern Wu wrote a letter to Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang also strongly recommended Pang Tong that Liu Bei summoned Pang Tong, and after some exchanges, Liu Bei found that Pang Tong was indeed a talent, so he began to promote and reuse it, and the position was second only to Zhuge Liang.
Pang Tong's greatest credit was to persuade Liu Bei to march into Liu Zhang, who was in Western Shu. He laid down three strategies for Liu Bei, namely "Select elite soldiers in the shadows, day and night, and attack Chengdu"; the central plan was to "capture and kill the generals Yang Huai and Gao Pei, and then advance into Chengdu"; and the next plan was "return to the White Emperor, even lead Jingzhou, and Xu returned to Chengdu".
Liu Bei finally chose Zhongji, and in the nineteenth year of Jian'an (214 AD), when Liu Bei was leading an army to attack Luocheng (in the area of present-day Guanghan, Sichuan), Pang Tong personally attacked the city with Yashi and was shot by a flying arrow and died at the age of 36.
In the speech, Pang Tong's death is even exaggerated, saying that Pang Tong took the initiative to attack Luocheng from the small road and let Liu Bei take the main road, and Liu Bei also gave up his own Lu horse to Pang Tong to ride, and as a result, Pang Tong was shot by Zhang Ren's random arrow at Luofengpo.
Liu Bei knew that the path was dangerous, and let Pang Tong go to the danger, the key is that he knew that his Lu Horse would harm the Lord, and he also let Yu Pang Tong ride, is this not obviously forcing Pang Tong to the road of death? This shows that Liu Bei not only does not know talent, he does not pity talent.
1. Too Shi Ci
Liu Bei and Tai Shi Ci first met when he was in the plains, when Kong Rong of the Beihai Sea was besieged by the Yellow Turban Army, and Tai Shi Ci, in order to repay Kong Rong's kindness, rode out of the siege to liu Bei for help. Liu Bei led an army of 3,000 men to go with Tai Shi Ci to help Kong Rong break the siege.
Unfortunately, Liu Bei did not keep Tai Shi Ci, and Tai Shi Ci defected to Yangzhou to assassinate Shi Liu Sui, and the end was that Tai Shi Ci was not reused by Liu Sui, but was instead recruited by Sun Ce and became a member of Eastern Wu.
Tai Shi Ci's martial arts were also not to be underestimated, he had fought Sun Ce in the Shenting Ridge, regardless of victory or defeat. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms also records:
"Ci ben fights forward and is facing the strategy." If you stab the horse, and if you get the mercy, you will also get the sword. The two families rode and rode separately, and disbanded. ”
Tai Shi Ci's archery skills were also first-class, and when he rode alone in the North Sea, he turned around and took a bow and arrow to shoot several people, all of whom fell in response to the string, frightening no one to dare to chase. When Tai Shi Ci accompanied Sun Ce in his crusade against the Ma Bao thief, an arrow hit the upper floor of the city and nailed his wrist to the pillar, and everyone who saw it applauded. Cao Cao's attempt to recruit Tai Shi Ci was unsuccessful, which shows that Tai Shi Ci is indeed not simple.
2. Zhang Ren
In the eighteenth year of Jian'an (213 CE), Liu Bei attacked Yizhou, and Liu Zhang sent four people, including Ling Bao, Liu Xuan, Zhang Ren, and Deng Xian, to resist at Fushui Pass, but were all defeated by Liu Bei. Zhang Ren withdrew to Luocheng, was defeated and captured, refused to surrender, and was beheaded by Liu Bei.
Pei Songzhi's note quotes the Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Liu Zhang sent Zhang Ren and Liu Xuan to lead elite troops to resist the former lord Yu Fu, and was broken by the first lord, and retreated with Zhangzi to defend Luocheng. Ren Lebing came out of Yanqiao and was defeated. Poultry Ren. The first lord heard of Ren's loyalty and courage, ordered the army to surrender, and Ren screamed: "The old minister will not return to the second lord in the end." "It is to kill." The Lord sighed.
Regarding the later deeds of the other three people, Liu Bao, Liu Xuan, and Deng Xian, which are not recorded in the main history, it is said in the speech that Ling Bao was first captured by Liu Bei's army, pretended to surrender, and fled back on the pretext of surrendering other generals, and later after the defeat, he was captured by Liu Bei's army, and Liu Bei ordered him to be executed; Liu Xuan retreated to Luocheng and surrendered to Liu Bei after being hacked down by the deputy general Zhang Yi; Deng Xian was shot by Huang Zhong in the rebellion.
3. Lost Guan Yu in the Battle of Xiangfan
In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219 AD), after Liu Bei captured Hanzhong, he ordered Guan Yu to attack Cao Cao's Xiangyang and Fancheng to the north, hoping to further contain Cao Cao, so Guan Yu launched the Battle of Xiangfan.
At the Battle of Xiangfan, Guan Yu besieged Xiangyang and Fancheng, and then used the continuous rain to break the embankment of the Han River, flooding the Seventh Army of Yu Ban, surrendering to Guan Yu in Ban, and Pound De vowed not to surrender, and finally was beheaded by Guan Yu.
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Biography of Pound De: "Ren envoy Detun Fan North Ten Miles, will be raining for more than ten days, the Han River overflows, Fan xia flat ground five or six zhang, De and the generals avoid the water embankment." Yu attacked it by boat and shot it on the embankment on all sides with a large boat. ”
Cao Cao hurriedly wrote a letter to Sun Quan, promising him the land of Jiangnan and sending Xu Huang to lead troops to rescue Fancheng, and Xu Huang used Guan Yu's trust in him to raid Guan Yu's camp in one fell swoop. At the same time, Sun Quan ordered Lü Meng to cross the river in white clothes and secretly attacked Jiangling in Jingzhou, cutting off Guan Yu's retreat.
Guan Yu retreated westward, but was captured by The Eastern Wu Panzhang general Ma Zhong at Linfeng, which was only one or two miles from Yizhou, and was killed along with his eldest son Guan Ping.
The battle also lost Guan Yu's sword-carrying general Zhou Cang, Liu Feng was also executed by Liu Bei for failing to rescue Guan Yu, Meng Da, who was guarding Shangyong with Liu Feng, also surrendered to Cao Wei, and more importantly, Liu Bei lost his rule in Jingzhou.
4. Lost Zhang Fei on the eve of Wu Wu
In the first year of Zhang Wu (221 AD), Liu Bei declared himself emperor in June of that year, in order to avenge Guan Yu, Liu Bei did not listen to the advice of Zhuge Liang, Zhao Yun and others, and sent an army to attack Eastern Wu.
He sent Zhang Fei to attack Jiangzhou from Langzhong, and before leaving, he also warned Zhang Fei to be sympathetic to the soldiers, but Zhang Fei did not listen and often whipped the generals. Finally, the insulting generals Zhang Da and Fan Qiang murdered Zhang Fei before they left the army, and took Zhang Fei's first rank to defect to Sun Quan.
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhang Fei Biography": First lord wu, Fei Dang led tens of thousands of troops, and he would meet Jiangzhou in Langzhong. Before the hair, his subordinates killed Zhang Da and Fan Qiang, held their heads, and ran down the river to Sun Quan. Fei Ying Du Overseer Reports to the First Lord, and the First Lord Hears the Fei Du Governor has a table, saying: "Oh! Fly to death. ”
5. The Battle of Yiling lost a large number of generals
After Zhang Fei's death, Liu Bei was even more embarrassed and angry, and he personally led his troops to attack Eastern Wu, coupled with the addition of Sha Moke and other Five Xi barbarians, the momentum was very strong.
Sun Quan unsuccessfully asked Liu Bei for peace, and on the one hand asked Cao Wei for peace, and on the other hand sent Lu Xun to lead an army to meet the battle. After Lu Xun took the method of retreating to contain Liu Bei's attack, he found an opportunity to burn Liu Bei's company camp, Liu Bei was defeated, and after fleeing back to the White Emperor's city, he fell ill and died in the third year of Zhang Wu (223 AD).
In this battle, Liu Bei's army was almost completely destroyed, tens of thousands of people were killed, a series of new star generals such as Zhang Nan, Feng Xi, Fu Wei, Ma Liang and the barbarian leader Sha Moke were killed, and countless people surrendered, Huang Quan surrendered to Cao Wei, Du Lu, Liu Ning and others surrendered to Eastern Wu, and the Shu Han camp that had been in operation for several years was squandered.
"Fu Zi": Quan defeated Liu Bei and killed more than 80,000 of his soldiers.
It must be said that Liu Bei was indeed once strong, and after he occupied Western Shu, he once again attacked Hanzhong and defeated Cao Cao. In Jingzhou, Guan Yu also advanced north, captured Xiangyang, besieged Fancheng, and approached Cao Cao's base camp in Luoyang, frightening Cao Cao to want to move the capital, which was the peak of Liu Bei's period.
However, the good times did not last long, just when Liu Bei was glad that his dream of unifying the Han Dynasty was in front of him, the situation took a sharp turn, the Battle of Xiangfan lost the general Guan Yu, lost Jingzhou, and soon Zhang Fei was also killed.
At that time, Liu Bei was already ashamed and angry, and he was self-conscious, he could not hear the words of the military masters Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun at all, and he was bent on avenging Guan Yu and Zhang Fei and attacking Eastern Wu.
On the other hand, Liu Bei dared to send troops from all over the country to launch a war against Eastern Wu, in fact, he was also carried away by the early victory. He nominally avenged Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, but in fact wanted to destroy Eastern Wu, but he underestimated The strength of Eastern Wu, coupled with his wrong military plan, was burned by Lu Xun of Eastern Wu, and also burned his dream of restoring the Han Dynasty.
In general, Liu Bei lacked the vision to discover talents, and Qianlima often had it, but he was not Bole. Even if there are talents around him, Liu Bei did not pity and pity talents well, and after several battles, Liu Bei lost a lot of talents. Coupled with Liu Bei's inability to discover and cultivate talents, there was a serious shortage of generals in the late Shu Han Dynasty, so that there was a situation in which "there were no generals in Shu, and Liao became a pioneer".
No wonder Sima Hui, the water mirror master, said that Zhuge Liang "although he won his master, he could not get the time", and this "time" not only included the historical trend situation, but also included Liu Bei's fate: fate sometimes must be finally necessary, and fate must not be forced at any time.