In history, many people have compared Liu Xiu, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, with Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, and the more famous of them are Zhuge Liang and Cao Zhi, who each wrote an article to clarify their views, saying that Liu Xiu was better than Liu Bang. After the Han Dynasty, many people also made it clear that they would vote for Liu Xiu. Among the more famous of these people were Li Jing of the Tang Dynasty, Su Dongpo of the Song Dynasty, and Wang Fuzhi of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Even Chairman Mao, the earliest leader of our new China, believed that Liu Xiu was the first of the ancient and modern emperors.
The one who really believed that Liu Xiu was inferior to Liu Bang was Shi Le, the Heavenly King of Later Zhao. He once said: "If you are at the same time as Liu Bang, you should be subordinate to him; If you live with Liu Xiu, you must compete with each other. "But Shi Le, as a half-way literate old man, his academic weight is really a bit different from our previous ones, so his views are actually negligible." Therefore, from the orthodox historical point of view, Liu Xiu's historical evaluation is superior to Liu Bang's!
But if we set aside orthodox history, then the value of Liu Bang is reflected. Liu Bang's courtiers, whether they were Zhang Liang, Xiao He, and Han Xin, the "Three Masters of the Early Han Dynasty", or Xiahou Bao, Cao Shen, Li Shiqi, and others, were much stronger than their own masters in terms of intelligence. However, they willingly let Liu Bang drive. There are two reasons for this: the first is that Liu Bang especially listens to advice, and the second is that Liu Bang never spares property and land. No matter who follows him, he can realize the value of his life, and he can gain fame and fortune, and of course he is willing to follow.
And Liu Xiu, the Emperor of Han Guangwu, did not show much performance at this point. Himself, he was already the world's top general and strategist at that time, and the battle of Kunyang alone was not something that ordinary people could fight, which was comparable to Han Xin; in several battles to eliminate the Chimei Army, Liu Xiu remotely controlled and could be regarded as an exhaustive strategy, which was comparable to Zhang Liang; he ruled the country strictly and could unite many forces for his own use, which was comparable to Xiao He. Of those civilian and military generals around him, who could suppress him? His opinion is already the most correct opinion, and the courtiers only need to do a good job of implementation. Of course, such a lord can also make the courtiers die, but it is very unfavorable to the cultivation of talents. Later, the loyalty of the ministers of the Eastern Han Dynasty could not be compared with those of the western Han Dynasty, and the root cause was that Liu Xiu was too dazzling.
For real talents, what they most want to follow is actually a lord like Liu Bang. Only by following Liu Bang will they feel valued. No matter what difficulties are in front of us, the future is bound to be bright. But if you follow Liu Xiu, they are at best just a good employee with strong execution. This may also be the reason why many people prefer Liu Bang.