Recently, I read Professor Miao Huaiming's masterpiece "The Political Testament of Forcing Death--Saying that the White Emperor's City Is Orphaned" ("Romance of the Three Kingdoms" New Reading No. 10) (Ancient Novel Network November 15, 2021), the text is to the effect that among the three parties of Wei, Shu and Wu, although Shu Fang is the weakest party, it should have been mainly based on perseverance, but Zhuge Liang did not measure up to his own strength, repeatedly raised troops to cut down Wei, making the national strength of the Shu State even more weakened and accelerated its demise, the fundamental reason is that Liu Bei did not trust Zhuge Liang, who was in power. Therefore, before his death, he "sent" him an army, forcing him to show loyalty to himself and assisting his son Liu Chan, who was of mediocre seniority.
"White Tito Lonely"
In fact, zhuge Liang had a very clear understanding of the world's major events long before he left the mountain: "When the general wants to become a hegemon, when the north lets Cao Cao occupy the sky, the south lets Sun Quan occupy the land, and the general can occupy the people." First take Jingzhou as home, then take Xichuan to build a foundation to become a full force, and then you can map Zhongyuanye. ”
However, because Bai Di was lonely, in order to prove his loyalty to the Liu family, he knew that he could not do it, preferring to die on the battlefield in the end. Therefore, the accelerated demise of shu Han, even the death of Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei's political last words bear unshirkable responsibility.
Professor Miao's logical reasoning was all good, but there was one premise: the chancellor must be completely loyal to the emperor who was on the verge of death. If the old emperor entrusted the non-human to entrust the successor and the Jiangshan Sheji to a capricious villain, and when he closed his eyes and stomped on it, what could the young emperor do with him? In the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu, they were all faced with the problem of the succession of the old and new emperors, and the old emperor would find several ministers before his death, and only Zhuge Liang on the Shu Han side did the best.
Peking Opera "Empty City Plan" Sima Yi dressed up
For example, Sima Yi on the Cao Wei side was the only minister in history who was entrusted with isolation twice, which shows how much the Cao family has placed great hopes in him! But he was fine, and after being entrusted with a heavy responsibility for the second time, the great general Cao Shuang, who was also a minister of entrustment, sent an emissary Li Sheng to visit him, and he simply pretended to be senile dementia, lay on the bed half-heartedly, and mistook "Jingzhou" for "Hezhou". Later, Cao Shuang accompanied the young emperor Cao Fang to leave Luoyang for Gaoping Mausoleum to visit the tombs, and he took the opportunity to stage a coup and take control of Kyoto, and since then the military and political power of the Cao family has fallen into the hands of Sima Shi.
It can be seen that when he first became the chancellor of the Tuoguo, it was not that he did not have ambition, but that the fire was far from coming, because Cao Rui was already a 23-year-old adult when he succeeded to the throne, and the other three great generals of the Zhenjun Army, Chen Qun, the general of the Zhongguo Heavy Minister, Cao Zhen, the general of the Chinese Army, and Cao Xiu, the general of the Zhengdong Army, also had their own prestige and strength, and they were not fuel-saving lamps.
However, Cao Fang was only 7 years old when he succeeded to the throne, and he was only the adopted son of the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui, coupled with the fact that since Cao Pi came to power, he had to kill the clan on a large scale, and there were basically no powerful people inside and outside the court to help him, so he had to be at the mercy of others, even if Sima Yi did not seize power, the frivolous cao Shuang did not take him seriously.
Wu Lord Sun Quan
Sun Wu's side was even more unbearable. Although Sun Quan was decisive and decisive during his reign, he did not dare to compliment him in his handling of the major issue of choosing a successor to the throne. As soon as the five great generals Zhuge Ke and Sun Jun, Lü Zhao, Teng Yin, Sun Hong, and other old emperors in the clan died, they began to kill each other, and Zhuge Ke was later exterminated by The Wu lord Sun Liang, which is sad and lamentable! The regime of the State of Wu also changed hands frequently in the midst of turmoil, and was eventually annexed by Sima Shi.
Looking at the ministers of the past dynasties, there were those who strictly implemented their will to assist the new emperor, and there were also those who tried to seize power by misdemeanor. The earliest minister of entrustment should be regarded as the Duke of Zhou, who had the power to kill and fight when He was young, and was still in power in Chengwang six years later, and the ending was relatively perfect.
There are many legends in history about his diligence and love for the people, the more famous one is "one Mu three hairs, one meal and three spit feeding", even the ambitious adulterous minister Cao Cao has a lot of respect for him, saying "Zhou Gong spits and feeds, the world returns to his heart", although he himself can not do it. In fact, as long as he wanted, he could completely be the Duke of Zhou of The Han Dynasty, and later his son Cao Pi really made him the King of Zhou Wen.
Bai Gengyan paints Cao Cao
Huo Guang of the Western Han Dynasty had exceeded the task of entrusting orphans. After Emperor Wu of Han's legal successor, Emperor Zhao, Liu Fuling, fell ill and died of a violent illness, he made Liu He the Prince of Changyi the new emperor, and even though Liu He acted recklessly as soon as he became emperor, Huo Guang immediately deposed him and replaced him with Emperor Shi's grandson Liu Jin's son Liu Qing as Emperor Xuan of Han, and this time he finally found a Ming Emperor, although his own descendants were accused of being too greedy for power.
There are many examples of emperors entrusting orphans in history, but most of them cannot die well, and the young emperors who are orphaned are either killed or deposed, and there is almost no chance to live to the day of pro-government, and there are only a very few emperors who can grow up smoothly like the king of the Zhou Dynasty, the Wanli of the Ming Dynasty, and the Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty.
Before the old emperor died, the ministers he chose were definitely deeply trusted by himself, but after his death, some of the ministers who held the government for a long time, it was inevitable that there would be "further" non-divisions.
Chengdu Wuhou Ancestral Hall
Of course, most of the orphan ministers had a process of arbitrariness, not to kill or abolish the young emperor from the beginning, but to gradually elevate him and become a puppet in his hands. Therefore, whether those young emperors can sit in this dragon chair under their hips, the political ethics of the orphan ministers has become the key.
At this point, the author can draw a conclusion: Liu Bei mainly made Zhuge Liang loyal to the Liu family in the White Emperor's orphans, and did not force him to settle the Central Plains in the north and complete the great cause of reunification. Therefore, Zhuge Liang later disregarded the actual situation of the Shu Kingdom and insisted on going his own way, and Professor Miao could not put the blame on Liu Bei's head, but could only blame his own brain for being too rigid and did not know how to be flexible.
The Ming Dynasty thinker Li Yan once titled himself a couplet: Zhuge was cautious in his life; Lü Duan was not confused about major matters. He praised Zhuge Liang's merits, but also pointed out flaws.
Set of Mao Zedong's books couplets
A person like Zhuge Liang, who was meticulous in his mind, strict in law, and grasped everything in detail, was obviously insufficient in his pioneering spirit, as the later lord Liu Chan said, it was still good to be a Taiping prime minister, but it was better to guard liangchuan himself and divide a force to give the general Wei Yan to try his luck, perhaps it was possible to play a miraculous feat, even if the army was defeated, it would not shake the country.
January 6, 2022 at Yijin Library, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University