Liu Bei
In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Liu Bei won the Battle of Hanzhong and set up an altar to worship the heavens in July of that year, proclaiming himself the "King of Hanzhong". Immediately after 221 AD, Liu Bei officially declared himself emperor. It can be said that the Battle of Chibi divided the world, while the Battle of Hanzhong made the Shu Kingdom, and Liu Bei finally fulfilled his wish in the last moments of his life. However, Liu Bei's King of Hanzhong was actually not so justified, he was completely self-appointed, and even overstated, his behavior was a bit rebellious, and Liu Bei's legal basis for claiming the king was slightly insufficient.
I. The Battle of Hanzhong and Liu Bei's Dream of the King of Hanzhong
After Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao, his power quickly grew, and his desire to unify the country was ignited again, and in 208 AD, Cao Cao led an army south, hoping to eliminate Sun Liu's two cliques. After the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei ushered in the spring, not only firmly occupying Yizhou, but even having a place in Jingzhou.
Cao Cao
Liu Bei's rapid rise after the Battle of Chibi caused concern to Sun Quan's clique, and Sun Quan immediately proposed to Liu Bei the intention of returning Jingzhou, but Liu Bei delayed under the pretext of taking Liangzhou and returning Jingzhou. In 215, Sun Quan launched an attack on Liu Bei, who feared that Cao Cao would take advantage of the fire and robbery to negotiate peace with Sun Quan, so the two sides redivided their forces in Jingzhou.
Although Cao Cao was defeated in the Battle of Chibi, he did not give up his dream of unifying the world, and advancing into Hanzhong was the first step. Hanzhong is located between the Qinling Mountains and the Daba Mountains, and is an important strategic point for entering Bashu, attacking Sun Liu and retreating to Baoguanzhong. Also in 215, Cao Cao took advantage of Sun Liu's dispute and took Hanzhong in one fell swoop. After taking Hanzhong, Cao Cao's advisers repeatedly advised him to attack Yizhou, but due to the fire in the backyard, Cao Cao could not exert extra energy to deal with Liu Bei, leaving only Zhang Gao and other generals to guard Hanzhong.
The loss of Hanzhong became a thorn in Liu Bei's heart, making it difficult for him to sleep and eat. In 217, Liu Bei, under the persuasion of Fazheng, Zhuge Liang and other courtiers, finally made up his mind to attack Hanzhong. Liu Bei was determined to win the Battle of Hanzhong and sent almost all the elite generals of Liu Bei's group, such as Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, and Huang Zhong. Cao Cao's side did not show weakness, and the generals who fought in the battle were Xiahou Yuan, Cao Hong, Zhang Gao, Xu Huang and so on. The First World War in Hanzhong was bound to be fierce.
Zhao Yun
After the war began, Liu Beixian sent Zhang Fei, Ma Chao and other generals to lead a small number of troops to Wudu County's xiayi pretend to attack, but was unexpectedly recognized by Cao Xiu, and Liu Fang was defeated first. The defeat and retreat of the small forces did not affect the overall situation, and the main force led by Liu Bei quickly arrived at Yangping Pass, which was guarded by Xiahou Yuan and Zhang Guo. Yangping Pass was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and Liu Bei could not attack it repeatedly, and was once again frustrated. At this time, Zhuge Liang sent troops to support, poured out all the strength of Yizhou, and Liu Fang gradually occupied a favorable position, and finally even opened up the attack point of Dingjun Mountain. In response, Xiahou Yuan and Zhang Gao quickly laid out the Defense Line of Dingjun Mountain, but in the end they were defeated by the schemes of Fa Zheng and others, Xiahou Yuan was killed, and the southern bank of the Han River was occupied by Liu Bei. After Cao Cao learned that the southern side of Yangping Pass had fallen, he immediately led 100,000 troops to support, and the forces of Cao and Liu confronted each other across the River from Hanshui.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms Huang Zhong beheaded Xiahou
Cao Cao on the north side of the Han River wanted to drive out Liu Bei on the south side of the Han River and cut off Liu Bei's grain route, but his own grain route was cut off by Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong. In May 219, Cao Cao had no choice but to withdraw from Hanzhong, and Liu Bei won. In July of that year, Liu Bei proclaimed himself the King of Hanzhong and embarked on the peak of his life.
2. Liu Bei, King of Hanzhong
In July of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Liu Bei led his subjects to officially claim the title of King of Hanzhong in Qiuyang, Hanzhong County, but his "title" was self-proclaimed, and his title as "King of Hanzhong" was not approved by Emperor Xian of Han, and at this time Emperor Xian of Han was still firmly in the hands of Cao Cao. No matter how weak the Great Han Tianzi is, it is also the Son of Heaven, and if the king is not approved by the Son of Heaven, it will lack legal basis.
Emperor Xian of Han
Whether there is a legal reason, Liu Bei knows better than us, and he also knows the truth that the name is not right, and the speech is not smooth, so at the ceremony of being canonized, he talked about this issue, and Liu Bei's entry point was the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty. Probably means that Liu Bei's throne did not have the holy will of Emperor Xian of Han, but at that time, the world was in chaos, and Cao Cao and other traitors rebelled against usurping power and plotting to kill Sheji, and Liu Bei could only say that the king was helpless like the Duke of Zhou at that time. If one day the achievements are accomplished, Liu Bei will certainly abdicate and plead guilty, although there is no hatred in death.
Whether it is the Shanghan Emperor's table of Qunchen or Liu Bei's Shanghan Xiandi's words, they all express the same meaning: that is, Liu Bei's throne was forced, and he claimed that the king was a rebellious act to save the Great Han Dynasty. All he had to do was restore the cause of Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gaozu, and Liu Xiu, the Emperor of Guangwu.
But it is not to say that Liu Bei's King of Hanzhong has no basis. First of all, Liu Bei is a descendant of the royal family, and he can be called king when conditions permit. In addition, when Liu Bang was purging the king with a different surname, he said that "a different surname is not a king", and Liu Bei's behavior can also be supported to a certain extent. Liu Bei's most lacking basis was naturally Emperor Xiandi's surrender, but in that case, this expectation could only be delusional.
Liu Bei often presented himself as the xingfu Han dynasty, which is why he used the banner of the King of Hanzhong. As Xu Jing and others said when they were persuaded: "Inheriting the trajectory of the previous emperor Liu Bang, it should rise in Hanzhong." "Some people may have to ask, why didn't Liu Bei call himself the King of Han?" Why did he not set the capital in Hanzhong, but instead set the capital in Chengdu? All this is actually Liu Bei's legal struggle.
As we all know, Liu Bang advanced to Xianyang one step ahead of Xiang Yu, but Xiang Yu relied on his strength to crown Liu Bang as the King of Han. Fortunately, Liu Bang took Hanzhong as the place of his rise and eventually achieved the status of emperor. After Liu Bang was proclaimed emperor, the King of Han became his historical title, and Hanzhong became the land of the Great Han Dragon. Since the King of Han was Liu Bang's previous title, and Liu Bei's goal was to revive Liu Bang's business, this doomed him not to use the same title as Liu Bang. Just like Li Yuan was the king of Tang, after the founding of the Tang Dynasty, he was not allowed to be crowned king of Tang again. This was done to show respect for His Holiness.
Similarly, Liu Beiding's capital was Chengdu instead of Hanzhong. Hanzhong is the land of Longxing, and over time a rule has become popular: Hanzhong does not crown the king, that is to say, Hanzhong will not belong to the rule of any prince. Liu Bei inherited Han unification, and it was absolutely impossible for him to make such a move as fixing the capital in Hanzhong.
Liu Bei did more than that for the sake of jurisprudence. After the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei and Sun Quan divided Jingzhou, and although they were later demarcated by Xiangshui, Liu Bei still retained Wuling County, Lingling County, and most of Nan County. However, Liu Bei's Hanzhong Kingdom did not include the territory of the above Jingzhou, so why? Let's imagine that if Liu Bei merged the above counties into his kingdom, then Liu Bei would be a prince who crossed Jingzhou and Yizhou. If this is the case, the Wei state under cao Cao, the "han thief" at that time, was only one prefecture and ten counties, and the largest State of Wu in the previous Seven Kingdoms Rebellion was only seven counties, and once Liu Bei sat in Jing and Yi Erzhou, wouldn't he be more "Han thief" than "Han Thief"?
Wen Shijun said
The legal theory of succession is the eternal pain in Liu Bei's heart, although he has spent a lot of words to emphasize his helplessness, but without legal reason, there is no, and there is still no more to say. For the sake of jurisprudence, Liu Bei took great pains to constantly look for historical allusions to support himself, or to remain vigilant at any time in life. The so-called king defeated Kou, Liu Bei was called emperor before Emperor Xian of Han died, which also shows from another angle that a hard fist is the king of the chaotic world.
Liu Bei was proclaimed emperor
bibliography
Chen Shou: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhonghua Bookstore, 1982.
Xue Fengfei, "The Battle of Liu and Cao Hanzhong", Journal of Hanzhong Normal University, No. 3, 1989.
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