Due to the misleading influence of Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", most people always think that Liu Bei is a crying ghost, and he also loves false names and false benevolence. In fact, the real Liu Bei is not like that at all. Liu Bei in the Three Kingdoms period was originally a "tyrant", and his talent was roughly no less than that of Cao Cao. Throughout Liu Bei's life of ups and downs, the correct decisions he made were still far worse than the wrong choices. Otherwise, Liu Bei would not have been able to become an emperor of a generation. In addition to being wary of the enemy, Liu Bei also had to guard against being harmed by the wrong advice of his own people. Even the famous Pang Tong had a bad idea.
After uniting with Sun Quan to successfully harvest the 5 counties of Jingzhou, Liu Bei began to worry about how to attack Yizhou. When there was nothing more to do, pie fell from the sky. In order to resist Zhang Lu, Liu Zhang sent Fa Zheng as an emissary and invited Liu Bei to Yizhou to help deal with Zhang Lu. Romance of the Three Kingdoms? The Biography of the Ancestor Lord records: "ZhangranZhi, the dispatch of the Fa is to welcome four thousand people to the Lord, and the bribes left behind are huge hundreds of millions, and because of Chen Yizhou's desirable strategy, the First Lord left Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu and other strongholds in Jingzhou, and sent tens of thousands of pawns into Yizhou." Most people think that Liu Zhang is stupid and did not see through Liu Bei's ambitions, so he personally greeted Liu Bei.
Pang Tong, who is called "Phoenix Chick", also made this low-level cognitive error, which is surprising. Romance of the Three Kingdoms? The Biography of the First Lord records: "To Fu, Zhang came out to greet him, and he was very happy to see each other." Zhang Song ordered Fa Zhengbai to be the first lord, and the courtier Pang Tongjin said that he could attack Zhang at the clubhouse. And "Romance of the Three Kingdoms?" Pang Tong's biography records: "Yizhou Mu Liu Zhang and the ancestors of the lord huifu, the unified policy: 'Now that this will be the meeting, it can be carried out, then the general has no use for the labor of the soldiers and sits in a state.'" ’”
Both of these records clearly show that Pang Tong, who was eager to make meritorious contributions, hoped to set up a feast at the Gate of Hongmen and directly take Yizhou without bloodshed. However, Liu Bei seems to be reluctant to follow Pang Tong's advice for fear of his reputation being damaged. There are two accounts of this. Romance of the Three Kingdoms? The Biography of the First Lord records: "The First Lord said: 'This great matter shall not be rushed. And in the "Three Kingdoms Chronicle of Pang Tong", it is recorded as: "The First Lord said: 'When I first entered another country, I did not believe in it, and this was not possible. The conclusions of the two records are different, but they are identical, but they are more euphemistic in the Biography of the Patriarch.
However, it does leave a pretext for those who think that Liu Beigu is famous and famous. Liu Bei seems to be reluctant to do such a thing because he carries the reputation of benevolence and righteousness. However, this is only a symptom. As a tyrant of a generation, how could Liu Bei miss the opportunity to seek hegemony because he bore the name of benevolence and righteousness? The reason why I say this is only because it is not cost-effective.
To judge whether Liu Bei's approach is right or wrong, it is actually very good to test, look at the effect of Liu Bei's strategy. Romance of the Three Kingdoms? The Biography of the First Lord records: "Zhangtui first took the lead in the great Sima and led the division to be a lieutenant; the first lord also pushed the zhangxing to be the great general of zhenxi, and led the Yizhou pastor." Zhang Zeng took the lead in the army, attacked Zhang Lu, and then ordered the White Water Army to be supervised. The first lord and army of more than 30,000 people, the car armor equipment is very rich. It can be seen that although Liu Bei did not take this opportunity to get rid of Liu Zhang, he gained two major benefits. One was recommended by Liu Zhang as a lieutenant colonel, and the other was funded by Liu Zhang's 20,000 horses and materials.
In the chaotic world, official positions may not be so important, just the icing on the cake, but 20,000 soldiers and horses and money and food are real capital. Liu Bei did not take the opportunity to kill Liu Zhang, but still maintained the reputation of benevolence and righteousness, and his strength increased greatly, which was a real benefit. Therefore, Liu Bei's decision-making has brought huge benefits to Liu Bei Group, which is indisputable. Since this is the case, it cannot be said very arbitrarily that Liu Bei's decision-making was wrong.
Looking at another problem, that is, the consequences of following Pang's advice. Pang Tong only saw that Liu Bei had the opportunity to kill Liu Zhang, but he did not see the great crisis contained in it. First of all, Liu Zhang's invitation to Liu Bei to enter Shu was opposed by the vast majority of his subordinates, which showed that there were still many people in Liu Zhang's power who disobeyed Liu Bei. Romance of the Three Kingdoms? Liu Zhang's biography records: "Zhang's master Book Huang Quan Chen Qi's interests, engaged in the Guanghan King's tired self-fall county yuzhou gate to advise, Zhang did not accept anything, and the first lord was enshrined in the first lord, and the first lord entered as if returning." ”
When Liu Zhang met with Liu Bei, he did not go alone, but "Zhang led more than 30,000 people to ride on foot, ride on the curtain, and attend the meeting in the past." In this case, Liu Bei only had 10,000 soldiers and horses, how could he ensure that after killing Liu Zhang, he would be able to win the support of the Shu people, and how to ensure that he would not be defeated by these 30,000 horses. This is of course impossible to guarantee, and it can be said that the risk is enormous. If you are not careful, not only will your reputation be damaged, but even you will be in danger.
Therefore, there is nothing wrong with Liu Bei not adopting Pang Tong's suggestion. As a generation of tyrants, who have been on the brink of danger for a long time, Liu Bei's vision is more acute. Moreover, the facts have also proved that There is no problem with Liu Bei's judgment. Unfortunately, because of Pang Tong's unexpected death, posterity was angry at Liu Bei for being too cautious at this time, and criticizing Liu Bei for false benevolence and false righteousness was really a great injustice to Liu Bei.
Reference book: Romance of the Three Kingdoms