At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and various warlords and princes competed for hegemony, which provided an excellent performance stage for all kinds of talents to stand out.
In such a chaotic world of talents as the Three Kingdoms, "not only the king chooses the subject, but also the subject chooses the king", those three kingdoms figures we are familiar with, except for Cao Cao's Cao and Xiahou clan who were Cao Cao's confidants from the beginning, most of the other people have the experience of job hopping.
This shows that in such a chaotic world, what kind of person to choose as the object of their own service has become the key to whether people of insight can realize their ambitions in life.
In terms of choosing the "lord", Zhuge Liang can be described as a very successful model, and his intimate "relationship with Liu Bei" is also the most commendable pair of monarchs in The history of our country.
Then, why did zhuge Liang, who was very clever, choose Liu Bei, who was basically poor and white at that time, as the monarch?
As we all know, Zhuge Liang was a very talented person in history, he often "compared himself to Guan Zhong and Le Yi", and Xu Shu even thought that "Guan and Le yi were inferior to this person". Through Zhuge Liang's self-comparison, we also know that he has a very strong ideal of meritorious service.
In the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in the era of the struggle for supremacy, although Zhuge Liang lived in seclusion in Nanyang, claiming to be "gou all his life in a chaotic world, not seeking to reach the princes", in fact, he had great ambitions and talents through the heavens and the earth, but he only chose a ming lord who was really worthy of assistance to appear "when the time came".
At that time, around The secluded Nanyang of Zhuge Liang, in the north was Cao Cao, who "held the Son of Heaven to order the princes", in the east was Sun Quan, who was majestic in the Yangtze River and peeped into the world, and in the Area of Jingzhou, not far from Nanyang, there was Liu Biao of the Han Sect, at this time Liu Bei was eating under Liu Biao, and in the southwest there was Liu Zhang, who dominated Yizhou.
These princes all had considerable strength at that time, each dominating one side, Zhuge Liang chose who was stronger than Liu Bei at that time, right?
Was it really just because Liu Bei's "Three Gu Maolu" impressed Zhuge Liang?
To put it simply, Zhuge Liang chose to defect to Liu Bei for the following three main reasons:
First, Liu Bei is after the clan room.
Since Liu Bei is the "emperor of the imperial family", this identity well reconciles the contradiction between "jun" and "lord", and the lord is loyal to the king, which is naturally a psychological recognition and comfort for intellectuals who have long been influenced by feudal ideas.
Warlords such as Cao Cao and Sun Quan all belonged to the courtiers of chaotic government, and it was naturally impossible for Zhuge Liang, who was indifferent to Ming Zhi, to sell himself to the trust.
Second, it must be a wise man with great talent.
Although Zhuge Liang lived in seclusion in Longzhong, he saw clearly the princes of the world at that time, and the one who could really compete with Cao Cao and Sun Quan for world domination was not Yuan Shao, not Yuan Shu, not Liu Biao and Liu Zhang, but Liu Bei, who had "cooked wine and talked about heroes" with Cao Cao.
Third, we must be able to give full play to our own skills.
No matter who he turned to, Zhuge Liang must be able to give full play to his ingenuity, that is, Zhuge Liang hoped that the future monarch would obey his own words. And this article fundamentally determines Zhuge Liang's political choice.
According to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, before the Battle of Chibi, Zhuge Liang sent an envoy to Eastern Wu, and Zhang Zhao, a major minister of Eastern Wu, suggested that he switch to Sun Quan, but Zhuge Liang replied:
"General Sun can be described as a human master, but judging by his degree, he can be virtuous but not fully bright, and I will not stay."
This sentence is very clear, Zhuge Liang believes that the person he chose should not only value him, but the corporal lixian is not enough, but should be able to make the best of his talents.
So, what kind of human lord can make full use of Zhuge Liang's talents?
At that time in Eastern Wu, Sun Quan had Zhou Yu alone, Zhou Yu could write and fight, his wisdom did not lose Zhuge Liang, and he was loyal to Sun Quan, even if Zhuge Liang defected to Sun Quan, he would always stand behind Zhou Yu under Sun Quan's account.
On the side of Cao Cao, it is even more talented, the strategists are like clouds, the warriors are thousands of members, Zhuge Liang even if he has great skills, it is difficult to show his talent, and it is impossible to stand out.
At that time, it was Liu Bei who could be called a hero of the world and really lacked talent resources.
Since his debut, Liu Bei has been wandering around, even under the fence, although he has two ten thousand enemies around him: Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun, who later turned to Zhao Yun, who was "full of guts", but they were useless in giving advice.
Liu Bei managed to get a Xu Shu, helped him fight several victorious battles, and was pried away by Cao Cao.
Liu Bei was limited by the fact that there were no intelligent talents around him, so he had no more than a thousand soldiers, was displaced, and had nowhere to live.
He lived in Jingzhou for several years, and realized that his old age was coming and his work had not yet been built, so he had the "sigh of hip meat" (Liu Bei found that he had extra flesh on his thighs, and he wept from this feeling).
It is precisely because of this that Liu Bei is anxious to find a figure like Zhuge Liang, even if it is the "Three Gu Maolu", he must also invite out of the mountain, and perhaps the four Gu and the Five Gu are not impossible.
And Zhuge Liang is also because Liu Bei urgently needs himself, he feels that only in Uncle Liu Huang's place can he maximize the value of his life.
Therefore, after Liu Bei invited himself out of the mountain three times in a row, Zhuge Liang walked out of Wollongong in a duty and began a legendary life of "bowing down to exhaustion and dying" for Liu Bei.
This article is referenced from: "Three Kingdoms Idle Tan"