This article is the second chapter of "The Relationship network and kinship of the Three Kingdoms"
Author: Talking about the Three Kingdoms author XXY
Chapter 2: Investing in Liu Bei's giant chaebol for profit, does the Mi family regret this failed gamble?
Liu Bei's life was not easy, and it could be said that he had gained a relatively fixed territory and a certain strength after the Battle of Chibi. Liu Bei's turbulent and displaced days in his early years believe that it was also a dark moment in his life. We can only see the huge price on the road to liu bei's success from the time when he was forced to abandon his wife and children many times. In the history books, Liu Bei is recorded as a "number of mourning rooms", and at least two other daughters were captured by Cao Cao's general Cao Chun on the way to Escape in Changsaka. From the perspective of success, Liu Bei's price is a bit large. From the perspective of heroism in a sense, Liu Bei is "staying in the green mountains without fear of no firewood.".
In the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the story of Zhao Zilong entering and leaving seven in front of the longboard slope is well known to everyone. When Zhao Yun was looking for Ah Dou, he met Lady Mi and took Ah Dou to flee among the displaced people. In the end, Lady Mi considered that Zhao Yun only had one horse, so she gave Ah Dou to Zhao Yun and committed suicide by jumping into a well. Friends familiar with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms will surely find out the problem, because Lady Mi was captured by Cao Cao long after the "YiDai Zhao" incident.
Among the Mi family, we are familiar with Mi Zhu, Mi Fang and Lady Mi. Mi Zhu was loyal and loyal, and Mi Fang surrendered to Eastern Wu. Such a contrasting performance makes us have a certain impression, so how did Liu Bei come into contact with and coexist with the Mi family in history?
Mi Zhu , Mi Fang , and Lady Mi were all from the East China Sea (present-day Lianyungang , Jiangsu Province) . Their family has been engaged in "reclamation" for generations, and the main business is to "reclaim barren land into good land." "To say that this Mi family, when it developed to the end of the Han Dynasty, has become one of the top commercial overlords in a certain range." The Mi family also owns tens of thousands of slaves and diners, and has countless assets. Such a business giant was often valued by the local administrator at that time.
Ancestral goods are farmed, thousands of servants, and billions of yuan are produced. - "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"
After talking about the situation of the Mi family, we will focus on Mi Zhu and Mi Fang. After Tao Qian entered Xuzhou, he summoned Mi Zhu as his own other driver. Tao Qian died, and Mi Zhu, according to Tao Qian's will, welcomed Liu Bei from Xiao Pei to Xia Pi. Liu Bei's original development after "inheriting" Xia Pi was smooth, but in the first year of Jian'an, Lü Bu took advantage of liu Bei's gap in going out to fight Yuan Shu and put Liu Bei's old nest. At this time, Lü Bu took all of Liu Bei's wife and children prisoner, and after Liu Bei heard the news, he could only lead his army to Guangling Haixi temporarily, and continue to inquire about the situation in Xia PiCheng. Haixi County was very close to Mi Zhu's Qu County, and Mi Zhu decided to fully support Liu Bei, first marrying his sister to Liu Bei, and also giving away two thousand slaves under his control to charge the army, and even Mi Zhu took out gold and silver currency to fund the army. Liu Bei was originally in a desperate situation, but with the help of Mi Zhu, Liu Bei recovered a certain strength. Fortunately, later Liu Bei and Lü Bu talked about peace, and Liu Bei and his wife and children were reunited again.
The first lord turned to Guangling Haixi, Zhu Yu was the wife of the first lord, the slaves were two thousand, and the gold and silver currency was used to help the army; - "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"
Later, the contradictions between Liu Bei and Lü Bu resumed, and Liu Bei reluctantly joined Cao Cao's side and returned to Xiao Pei to reorganize the army. Liu Bei was suspected of resurgence, so Lü Bu sent Gao Shun to put Liu Bei's Xiao Pei in a pot. Although Liu Bei escaped, his wife and children were captured by Lü Bu. In the end, it was the Battle of Baimenlou, and after Lü Bu was destroyed, Liu Bei was reunited with his wife and children again. Subsequently, Cao Cao and Liu Bei spent a period of apparent ambiguity.
At this time, in order to solve the problems in the Taishan area, Cao Cao also set his sights on the two brothers Mi Zhu and Mi Fang. Cao Cao told Tianzi that "the taishan county is too large, and the local people are too light, so it is possible to divide the taishan county into five counties to form a new "Ying County", and then select a clean and honest person to serve as a guard. The current general Mi Zhu, a loyal and both literate and martial man, asked Tianzi to make Mi Zhu the Taishou of Ying County and appease the officials and the people. At the same time, Cao Cao also made Mi Fang Peng Chengxiang. However, Mi Zhu and Mi Fang resigned their appointments one after another and continued to follow Liu Bei to tang.
When the incident broke out, Cao Cao launched a large-scale attack on Liu Bei, who was in Xia Pi, and Liu Bei once again fled decisively. After Cao Cao received Xia Pi, he continued to attack Xiao Pei, who was guarded by Guan Yu, and conquered it. In this battle, Cao Cao captured Guan Yu and also captured Liu Bei's wife and children. In fact, although Guan Yu fled after that, Liu Bei's wives and children were still in Cao Cao's place, and there was no longer any clue, and the people who had no clues certainly included Lady Mi.
When the Battle of Guandu began, Yuan Shao sent Liu Bei to lead troops to cooperate with Liu Pei in sneaking up on the southern part of Xudu. Liu Bei failed to harass Cao Cao, and he had plans to cooperate with Liu Biao. And liu bei sent to contact Liu Biao was his own confidant Mi Zhu.
After Liu Bei obtained Yizhou, he made Mi Zhu a general of An Han, whose rank was even higher than Zhuge Liang's general Zuo, and Mi Zhu's treatment was also the highest at that time. Historical records record that although Mi Zhu was "Dun Hou Yazheng", he was indeed not very good at administrative governance, and although Liu Bei regarded him as a guest of honor, he did not let Mi Zhu command the army. The high-standard treatment can also be regarded as a kind of reward for Liu Bei's loyalty to Mi Zhu and his generosity and selflessness at that time. At this time, Mi Fang was stationed in Jingzhou as the Taishou of Nan Commandery (南郡太守) in Jiangling.
Yizhou was ping, and Bai was the general of An Han, and the class was on the right side of the general of the military division. Zhu Grace Dunya, while Gan Fei is not the director. It is a courtesy to treat the guests above, and there is no command. The rewards are incomparable. - "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"
During the time that Mi Fang and Guan Yu spent together, Mi Fang believed that Guan Yu had always despised him, and in the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, Mi Fang was intimidated by Guan Yu to "come back and settle the account" because he did not complete the tasks given by Guan Yu. Under the coercion and temptation of Eastern Wu, Mi Fang surrendered to Eastern Wu, which indirectly led to the defeat of Guan Yu. Since then, Mi Fang has sporadic records in Eastern Wu, and has had military cooperation with the Eastern Wu general He Qi.
After Mi Zhu learned of Mi Fang's surrender, he took the initiative to ask Liu Bei for his guilt, and according to common sense, Mi Zhu did not run away to be seated. However, Liu Bei believed that "brotherly sins are not compatible", so he did not pursue Mi Zhu's joint and several responsibility, and even treated him as well as before. Two years later (the first year of Zhang Wu), Mi Zhu also participated in the persuasion campaign. In the end, Mi Zhu died of illness due to the extreme guilt caused by Mi Fang's rebellion.
Mi Zhu's son Mi Wei (糜威) was later promoted to the rank of General of the Tiger Ben Zhonglang (虎贲中郎), responsible for defending Liu Chan, who was the Son of Heaven. Mi Wei's son Mi Zhao (糜照), an official to the Tiger Horse Guards, was in charge of the Janissaries cavalry.
When we returned to Mi Zhu's political career, at that time, local business giants more or less hoped to be able to connect and cooperate with the local administration in order to seek greater development. The alliance of the financial lords and children with administrative forces is the trend of the times, and even an inevitable path. In a sense, after Tao Qian's death, he explicitly ceded the position of Xuzhou to Liu Bei, and Mi Zhu naturally supported Liu Bei, hoping to help Liu Bei achieve long-term cooperation in the future. After Liu Bei was expelled by Lü Bu, Mi Zhu actually proved that he was unwilling to be under Lü Bu's account, and in other words, with Lü Bu's personality, no one could stand it when it came to a local tycoon to divide the land, and at that time, Mi Zhu could only trust Liu Bei. Therefore, Mi Zhu reached out to Liu Bei at the right time in the most difficult time, and we can also guess that this is an investment. When Cao Cao co-opted Mi Zhu Mi Fang, they probably thought that Liu Bei's forces could still sit firmly in Xuzhou, and there was no need for them to give up short-term interests, taking a step back and saying that they did not have the ability to predict that Liu Bei would definitely leave Xuzhou in the form of escape in the future. When Liu Bei finally continued to drift to zero, whether Mi Zhu regretted it or not we don't know, anyway, from a utilitarian point of view, Mi Zhu's political investment was indeed a failure.
On the other hand, a person who did not have much political governance ability, although he could take a bow and arrow but did not bring soldiers, Liu Bei was still so good to the Mi family in Yizhou. If you think so, this investment may be worth it.
Text: Talking about the author of the Three Kingdoms XXY
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