Friends who are familiar with the history of the Three Kingdoms and who are familiar with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms will not be unfamiliar with Liu Qi, as the eldest son of Liu Biao, the ruler of Jingzhou, he should have naturally taken over the entire Jingzhou after Liu Biao's death, but surprisingly, the successor was his younger brother Liu Qi.
Later, Liu Qi fought a series of struggles with it, and gradually gained the upper hand, but the weather was unpredictable, and Liu Qi's body soon became terminally ill and eventually depressed.
Many friends have questions, why did Liu Qi, who was still very strong and capable of fighting in the previous Battle of Chibi, die so quickly?
Photo: Liu Qi is seriously ill in bed stills
First, Liu Qi's life and situation
1. Helpless eldest son
When Liu Biao went to Jingzhou alone, he relied on the support of the Jingxiang Hao clans such as Cai Mao, Ku Yue, and Qu Liang, and if these families did not contribute money and help, liu Biao would have found it difficult to gain a firm foothold in Jingzhou, so the actual rulers of the separatist regime established by Liu Biao within the scope of Jingzhou were actually the Cai clan, the Ku clan and other Hao clans.
Although Liu Qi was the eldest son of Liu Biao's concubine, he should become the heir according to the etiquette, but his brother Liu Qi and Liu Biao's wife Cai Shi were closely related, and Cai Mao was Lady Cai's older brother, so naturally he would fully support Liu Qi's ascension to the throne, which was more in line with the interests of the Hao clan, not to mention that Liu Qi was powerless to return to heaven, even if Liu Biao was alive, it was estimated that it would be difficult to shake this reality.
Since then, Liu Qi's life as the eldest son of a concubine has been very bitter, he has no political dependence, and he cannot fight against many princes in terms of ability, which also has a bridge section for Liu Qi to ask Zhuge Liang for help.
From Zhuge Liang's point of view, he was originally reluctant to meddle in the internal affairs of Jingzhou, because he was related to Liu Biao's family and also had a relationship with Cai Mao, so he should be more inclined to Liu Zhen.
Later, when Liu Qi was painstakingly begging, he used the story of the King of the Jin Dynasty in the Spring and Autumn Period to inspire Liu Qi, so that he could successfully save his life and gain a lot of benefits.
Photo: Liu Qi struggled to still
2. Survive in the cracks
In fact, Zhuge Liang was openly and wholeheartedly protecting and helping Liu Qi, but secretly he wanted to accumulate strength for Liu Bei to gain benefits, Zhuge Liang had confessed to Liu Bei his plan to divide the world, and he himself was very clear about the current political situation in Jingzhou and the tendencies of various forces.
The reason why Zhuge Liang suggested that Liu Chun go to Jiangxia to be a Taishou was entirely so that liu bei could have an ally and a way out when Liu Bei's clique was attacked by Cao Cao in the future.
If Jingzhou splits, then Liu Bei has the card of Liu Qi in his hand, which is undoubtedly the biggest chip to recover Jingzhou.
In addition, according to historical records, Zhuge Liang made a proposal to seize Xiangyang when he accompanied Liu Bei from Changshanpo to Xiangyang, so it is certain that Zhuge Liang's help to Liu Qi was an authentic political means.
Image: Zhuge Liang gives Liu Qi an idea still
As for Liu Qi's performance in the Battle of Chibi, there are not many historical records to confirm, and even Liu Bei did not describe too much, this Sun Liu coalition army that decided the fate of the Three Kingdoms, the main force sent by one side is the 30,000 water army led by Zhou Yu.
The 20,000 troops owned by Liu Bei and Liu Qi were more to serve as logistical support and auxiliary to some vigilance tasks to prevent the left and right flanks of the army from being attacked by Cao Cao's mobile troops.
This point is recorded in historical records, when Cao Cao's Chibi battle plan arranged two troops, one was Cao Cao's main force from Jiangling, and the other was from Hanshui south to Zhao Yu to lead the seven armies, including Yu Ban, Li Dian, Zhu Ling, and Feng Kai.
Unexpectedly, Cao Cao's rout came too quickly, and the army that went south of Hanshui soon withdrew, Liu Bei and Liu Qi's task at that time was to defend the troops invaded by Hanshui, and after seeing cao's army defeated and retreating, Liu Bei took the initiative to attack and seize the four counties of Jingnan, and liu Qi was still stationed in Jiangxia until this time.
Image: Stills of Liu Bei and Liu Qi
Second, why did Liu Qi die?
1, the age is not small
After Liu Qi's death in 209, liu bei also appointed Liu Qi as the assassin of Jingzhou by the imperial court, and seized a large amount of territory in Jingzhou in the name of Liu Qi, at this time Liu Bei became the biggest beneficiary completely according to Zhuge Liang's plan, while Liu Qi, who almost recovered Jingzhou on the surface, was only a pawn.
So how did Liu Qi die? First of all, Liu Qi's own age is not small, he is the child born to Liu Biao's ex-wife, and he is also the eldest son of Zheng'er Bajing. According to historical records, Liu Biao was 67 years old when he died, and he was born into a famous family or a relative of the Han Dynasty, so he naturally received a good education.
And he is proficient in poetry and literature, is a famous literati scholar at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, born a table of talents, according to the habits of the ancients, talents like Liu Biao can marry at the earliest at the age of 13, and at the latest will not exceed the weak crown year of 20 years old.
Let's assume that Liu Biao married a relative around the age of 15 or 16 and gave birth to Liu Qi when he was about 20 years old, so by the time Liu Biao died in 209 AD, Liu Qi was already 47 years old. Therefore, from this timeline, although Liu Qi is Liu Bei's junior, the two are similar in age, and may even be a little older than Liu Bei.
It should be known that the ancient level of science and technology and medicine is very limited, and the average life expectancy of people is only 30 to 40 years old, so Liu Qi's death at the age of 47 is not considered to be "early death", it is a very normal age of death.
Photo: Stills of Zhou Yu visiting Liu Qi, who is seriously ill
2. Epidemic of epidemic diseases
According to historical records such as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, before and after the outbreak of the famous Battle of Chibi, a plague with a high casualty rate spread in Jingzhou.
"Chronicle of Emperor Wu of the Three Kingdoms": "Gong to Chibi, and preparation for war, unfavorable." So the great plague, the officials and soldiers died, but the army was returned. There are Counties of Jingzhou and Jiangnan. ”
What does that mean? It was that Cao Cao was ineffective in fighting with Sun Liu's combined forces after arriving at Chibi, and there was a very serious plague here, and many officers and soldiers were killed as a result, Cao Cao thought that this battle was unfavorable, so he quickly withdrew, which also allowed Liu Bei to seize the opportunity to occupy a lot of territory in Jingzhou and Jiangdong.
Cao Cao marched south from the Wancheng area, and later pursued to Changshanpo while staying in Xiangyang, and finally set out at Jiangling under the jurisdiction of Nan Commandery, arrived at Chibi and fled back to the Central Plains after being defeated.
Therefore, we can judge that Cao Jun was obviously not infected with the plague when he was in Chibi, but had it before he set out, which should have appeared in Nan County or Xiangyang.
Image: Soldier infected with plague stills
At that time, the rapid spread of this plague caused a large number of casualties among the people and officers and soldiers, and Liu Qi also died at this stage, which can be inferred that there is a high probability that he was also infected with this plague. To sum up, Liu Qi's life is tragic and desolate, which is not to say that he is incompetent and faint, but was born in a chaotic world of heroes.
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!