In April 223, the smell of spring had already contaminated the entire country, and Liu Bei's residence, Yong'an Palace, had a slight sense of spring, but Liu Bei, as the owner of the residence, was not infected by this spring.
Zhuge Liang and Li Yan were ordered to take the crown prince Liu Chan to this somewhat cold Yong'an Palace, along with Liu Bei's second son Liu Yong. Liu Bei's face was haggard, and he deeply knew that his time was running out, so he had the idea of being lonely.
He told Zhuge Liang at the hospital bedside: "If you are only ten times Cao Pi, you will be able to secure the country and be a great event for life." If the heir can be supplemented, supplemented, if he is not talented, then the king can take it himself. "If the talent is much higher than Cao Pi, and can stabilize the country, if the child Liu Chan can have the talent to be assisted, please sir, you should assist him well, if not, please take his place."
Then Liu Bei held his last breath and told his children to treat Mr. Zhuge like their fathers, and then he passed away.
Two views on wills are disputed
Liu Bei, a tyrant, entrusted his children to Mr. Zhuge at the last moment of his life, and the will about his orphanage, after the reading and study of posterity, such two views appeared.
The first is that if Liu Chan himself has no ability to lead the world, and even Zhuge Liang's assistant cannot let him succeed, then Zhuge Liang can replace him. The second view is that if Liu Chan is not worthy of being assisted, then he can choose his other son to assist, and this world is still the world of the Liu family.
I believe that everyone sees Liu Beituo's last words, that sentence "then the king can take his own" will default to the first view is right, if Liu Chan is really overwhelmed, then Zhuge Liang's wisdom can also make the Shu kingdom develop well, Liu Bei is also a benevolent and benevolent monarch image, he has every reason to entrust the world to Zhuge Liang.
But if you think about it, which king is truly benevolent? Truly benevolent and virtuous people cannot sit in the position of king, because they face bloody cruelty and the various tests of life. Especially Liu Bei, who grew up in the chaotic world, will anyone really think that he is a naïve and kind "silly white sweet"?
Let's look at the real purpose represented by Liu Bei's last words before his death, he wants to emphasize zhuge Kongming's status to his two sons, to hold Zhuge Kongming a little higher, and to let the children realize that he is really worthy of use, and not to believe in those treacherous villains.
Analyze the views represented by Liu Beituo from the perspective of ancient Texts
Liu Bei said that "Jun can take it yourself" when he was alone, which made his will have the biggest incomprehensibility, and indeed some people thought that you could take it yourself, but in the ancient translation, there is more than one meaning.
First of all, for the translation of "self-picking", self-taking is not necessarily to replace it yourself, but it is also possible to choose one of the other children. Liu Bei is not only Liu Chan's child, but Liu Chan he occupies the eldest, in the ancient times when the primogeniture inheritance system prevailed, Liu Bei's thinking was inevitably limited, and he could only look at his identity to finally determine the heir, so Liu Bei did not know whether this child could be used seriously.
Perhaps What Liu Bei meant at that time was that the hard-won jiangshan of the Shu Kingdom was all achieved by relying on the hard work of everyone for so many years, and could not be completely lost because of an overwhelmed king. If Liu Chan himself is too stupid to be talented enough, even sir, you can't help him, then please elect a child among my other sons who can shoulder the heavy responsibility to inherit this country.
Secondly, it may also be necessary to change the way of thinking about Liu Beituo's will, we all focus on the four words "Jun can take it by himself", but what if his self-inflicted object is not zhuge liang or one of his sons at all? Then the focus is on the first sentence: "If Cao Pi is ten times more talented, he will be able to secure the country and be a lifelong event."
Think about it carefully, what is the relationship between Liu Bei and Zhuge Kongming? It was superiors and subordinates, of course, more than superiors and subordinates, after all, Liu Bei needed to sincerely ask Zhuge Kongming to take his children with him when he died. It's a bit like the current contract, one is the principal and the other is the principal. And the ultimate goal they want to achieve is to kill Cao Pi and make the country unified and stable.
Therefore, "Jun can take his own life" may take cao Pi's life, Zhuge Kongming is talented, Cao Pi is also very talented, Zhuge Kongming can kill Cao Pi himself and replace him, become the think tank of the Great Shu State, and kill the opposing regime, which is Liu Bei's ultimate goal.
Of course, this is just my guess, if this is really the case, then Liu Bei is really a too cruel and sinister person. If Zhuge Kongming finally killed Cao Pi, the Shu kingdom would be unified, but Zhuge Liang would also become a thorn in the flesh of the people of the future one day, and finally be eliminated quickly.
Little insight
I don't know what kind of thoughts Liu Bei's heart is, after all, people have really gone. But what is certain is that Liu Bei definitely did not want Zhuge Liang to replace him, let the Liu family's Jiangshan change his name and surname, and let Zhuge Liang take his place, this idea is simply nonsense. As a king, Liu Bei was qualified, he was cruel enough, much like the capitalists who now squeeze their employees, but if Liu Bei was regarded as a flesh-and-blood person, this person was absolutely unqualified.
If we think about it naively, maybe Liu Bei didn't think so much at that time, he just simply hoped that his children would become instruments, hoping that Zhuge Liang could teach them well, and hoping that Jiangshan would be forever solid. Or maybe he was already very sick and confused at the time, maybe he didn't think carefully about these things at all, but just made a decision based on his last subconscious, just to let the child ascend to the throne and let Zhuge Liang assist with his heart.
No matter what, Liu Bei was thinking about the country he had laid for himself at the last moment of his life, and he was also worried about his children, which was the sorrow of a leader and the hard work of his life as a father.
I don't know if Liu Bei was happy in the last time of his life? After all, his life is weighty, full of responsibility, and cannot be escaped casually.
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References: A New Exploration of the Connotation of Liu Bei's Will from the Perspective of Legal Relationship Analysis Author: He Dan; Title: Journal of Kaifeng Institute of Education