The withering of talents in the Shu kingdom is likely to be related to Zhuge Liang's employment standards.
Zhuge Liang chooses talents, the first emphasis on character, some character defects or character problems of talent is difficult to be reused, such talents even if (Liu Bei promoted) in the early stage of high positions, the later stage will also fall for various reasons.
For example, Li Yan, because of the disadvantage of escorting grain and grass, lied to Zhuge Liang about military information to block the Northern Expedition, and after the investigation, his official position was deposed, and until Zhuge Liang's death, Li Yan was not used again.
Another example is Liao Li, who was evaluated by Zhuge Liang as a person with the same name as Pang Tong. Because he felt that he had not been reused, he slandered the late Liu Bei and Guan Yu in front of his colleagues, saying that Xiang Lang, Wen Gong and others were mediocre. He was reported to have been removed from his official post and, like Li Yan, had not been reinstated.
After Zhuge Liang's death, this method of selecting talents after the first heavy virtue has been used. Like Yang Yi, who was also dissatisfied with Zhuge Liang's arrangement (Zhuge Liang's successors were Jiang Huan and Fei Yi, who had no business of his own) complained (slandered) and was also deposed.
This way of selecting materials can be good or bad.
The advantage is that the talents selected by these are of good character, and they will not rebel if they do things for the country wholeheartedly. During the Three Kingdoms period, both the State of Wei and the State of Wu had powerful subjects, and both had artificial rebellions, but the State of Shu had no rebellion until its demise.
The downside is that some talented people are buried.
Generally speaking, people with great talents have personalities, and there are too few people like Zhuge Liang who have no faults and no shortcomings. In addition to Zhuge Liang, during the Three Kingdoms period, there were one person with great talents, and more or less had shortcomings.
For example, Guo Jia, Cao Cao's most valued strategist, was reported by Chen Qun for "not exercising inspections". Another of Cao Cao's advisers, Cheng Yu, did the work of slaughtering villages to make "meat" when food was in short supply.
Another example is Liu Bei's generals Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, a light literati and heavy soldier. A light soldier and a heavy scholar, as well as a strategist Fazheng who is very important to Liu Bei, also has the problem of repaying the favor.
It is said that Zhuge Liang's ability to see people is not as good as Liu Bei's, it is not that Zhuge Liang does not dare to relax the standard, but as a courtier, he cannot let go like a monarch.
As a monarch, Liu Bei can choose some talents with flawed personalities. Employing people will use people's strengths, and Liu Bei can give benefits immediately. Even if something goes wrong, no one dares to question Liu Bei, dare to question whether he will do it under Liu Bei's hands?
Zhuge Liang, as a minister, the most powerful minister, will be questioned for nepotism even if he is selfless in selecting talents. The monarch believes that it is okay, and once the monarch is jealous, this is a very troublesome thing.
In particular, these people with faulty personalities are more likely to make mistakes. People of good character are easy to manage. But even so, some things are inevitable, such as the loss of the kiosk.
Why did Zhuge Liang have to kill Ma Chen? Because a lot of people are watching.
When Liu Bei was there, Guan Yu let Cao Cao go of such a big thing and said that he would let it go, did Zhuge Liang dare?
Therefore, Zhuge Liang must first emphasize morality, and such a person will not make trouble. Of course, it cannot be said that these people are incompetent, but that these people are too disciplined. In terms of fighting wars, we can only fight battles with rules and regulations, and without too many ideas, Zhuge Liang will fight wherever he commands?
With the capital of the Shu kingdom, it is difficult to achieve results in fighting a well-behaved battle. With the passage of time, liu bei's previous promotion of people died one after another, and Zhuge Liang's selection criteria appeared too narrow. There will definitely be less and less talent.
Under the vicious circle, the more Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition went on, the more tired he felt, because there were too few people available, everything had to be considered, and he did not dare to let go.
After Zhuge Liang's death, Liu Chan, who regained power, did not change this selection standard, still maintained the original standard, and the Shu state still lacked talent.