In the history of the Three Kingdoms, the regime established by Liu Bei was actually called "Han", which was the same as the "Han" of the Western Han and Eastern Han Dynasties, that is to say, Liu Bei, like Liu Xiu, thought that he had continued the Han Dynasty, so the name of the country was the same, and because the Han regime established by Liu Bei was located in Yizhou, that is, Shudi, it was called "Shu Han", and because the Shu Han was preceded by the Former Han (Western Han) and the Later Han (Eastern Han), the regime established by Liu Bei was also called "Ji Han", which is the meaning of the third Han Dynasty.
When Liu Bei established the Shu Han regime, the last emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xie, was actually still alive, but he ceded the throne to Cao Pi, and Liu Bei did not know these things at first, Liu Bei also specially wore ma dai filial piety for Emperor Xian of Han, and also posthumously honored Emperor Xian of Han as "Emperor Xiaoxuan", and it was not long before Liu Bei himself was proclaimed emperor.
So what was Liu Bei's attitude toward Emperor Xian of Han? Why didn't Liu Bei come to the rescue when Emperor Xian of Han was under Cao Cao's control?
Liu Bei
There are two things that can be seen in Liu Bei's attitude toward Emperor Xian of Han, the first is the Yidai Zhao incident, and the second is Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang talking about Longzhong's strategy.
The Yidaizhao incident was a suspicious case in the Three Kingdoms period, when the uncle Dong Cheng declared that he had obtained the edict written in blood by Emperor Xian of Han, and then Dong Cheng united a group of people to prepare to assassinate Cao Cao, including Liu Bei, but when Dong Cheng and others had not yet started to act, this matter was known to Cao Cao, so Dong Cheng and others were all killed by Cao Cao, and Liu Bei escaped a disaster because he led an army to fight Yuan Shu.
At that time, Liu Bei was dependent on Cao Cao and led his men and horses to attack Yuan Shu, after which Liu Bei took the opportunity to attack and kill The Xuzhou Assassin Shi Che appointed by Cao Cao, captured Xuzhou, and openly made enemies with Cao Cao, and not long after, Cao Cao personally led an army to attack Liu Bei, defeated Liu Bei and captured Liu Bei's wife and children and Guan Yu, Liu Bei fled and surrendered to Yuan Shao.
Liu Bei participated in the edict of the belt
It should be noted that in the Yidaizhao incident, Liu Bei never had the intention of rescuing Emperor Xiandi of Han, but took the opportunity to seize the territory at the first opportunity, and even at the critical moment of the Yidaizhao, Liu Bei took the soldiers away, Emperor Xiandi of Han was under house arrest in Xudu at that time, and Liu Bei led his troops to Xuzhou, which shows that Liu Bei cares about Xuzhou, not Emperor Xian of Han.
Looking at the dialogue between Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang on the strategic side in the discussion of Longzhong, Liu Bei's first words when he saw Zhuge Liang were:
The Han chamber fell into decay, the traitors stole their lives, and the Lord was covered in dust. Loneliness does not measure the strength of virtue, and desires to believe in righteousness in the world, and the wisdom is shallow, so it is rampant, as for today. However, before the will be done, will the king say that the plan will be released?
The translation of this statement is as follows: the Han Dynasty is in decline, the traitors are plotting to usurp the throne, and the emperor (Liu Xie, the Emperor of Han Xian) is running away. I didn't measure up to my strength and wanted to do justice for the world, but my wisdom and power skills were very shallow, so I encountered setbacks, so I reached this point today. But my ambitions have not changed, what do you think to do?
Liu Bei and Cao Cao went on to see the emperor
Note that Liu Bei's words did not have the slightest intention of trying to rescue Emperor Xian of Han, he only mentioned that the emperor was running away from home, and then Liu Bei said that his ambition was to do justice for the world, not to rescue Emperor Xian of Han, or to restore the Han Room.
What is justice for the world? This is actually just Liu Bei's cliché, the so-called justice for the world is to establish political power for himself, only after the establishment of political power to control the world, can justice be done for the people of the world, at that time more than two-thirds of the entire world was controlled by Cao Cao, at that time Cao Cao already occupied the entire Central Plains and the four states of Hebei, the thirteen states of the world Cao Cao monopolized eight states, how did Liu Bei uphold justice for the world? You simply can't do it.
In addition, the history books also record a story of Liu Bei's childhood, that is, the story of Yu Bao gai car, saying that Liu Bei said that he would take the Yu Bao Gai car in the future when he was a child, and the so-called Yu Bao Gai car refers to the car that decorates the canopy with bird feathers, generally referring to the vehicle in the world, Liu Bei is taking the sitting emperor as his future ideal.
Emperor Xian of Han, Liu Xie
Although Liu Bei was born into the imperial family, but does not mean that the imperial family can become the emperor, Liu Bei's expenditure since the ninth son of the Western Han Jing Emperor Zhongshan Jing Wang Liu Sheng, Liu Xiu's expenditure after the sixth son of the Western Han Jing Emperor Changsha Ding Wang Liu Fa, although three hundred years ago was a family, but after hundreds of years of development, the blood has been very far away, Liu Bei's line in addition to having a reputation after the imperial family, and ordinary people are not much different.
Liu Bei's ideal was called great rebellion at that time, so Liu Bei's uncle Liu Zijing told Liu Bei not to talk nonsense, and to be exterminated, so an imperial family like Liu Bei did not respect the Eastern Han Emperor since childhood, and wanted to replace him, not to support Han, Liu Bei was only politically under the banner of Fu Han, and at the same time used his imperial status to seek political benefits for himself, in this regard, Liu Bei and Liu Xiu were no different.
Judging from the sum of these events, Liu Bei's attitude toward Liu Xie, the emperor of Han Xian, was very cold, not only did he not have any idea of rescuing Emperor Xian of Han, nor did he even make any move to support the Han dynasty, Liu Bei's filial piety for Emperor Xian of Han was only to win the hearts and minds of the loyal Han people and seek political benefits for himself.
Liu Xie and Cao Cao
If Liu Bei had the opportunity to control Emperor Xian of Han like Cao Cao, such as Emperor Xian of Han to Shu Han, how would Liu Bei treat Emperor Xian of Han?
Although Liu Bei was relatively cold to Emperor Xian of Han, Liu Bei's life was very generous and benevolent, and he treated people with courtesy, and Chen Shou, author of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, commented that Liu Bei was:
Hongyi is generous, knows people and treats soldiers, and is covered with the wind of the high ancestors and the instrument of the hero.
That is to say: Liu Bei is firm-willed, generous and benevolent, knows people well, treats people with courtesy, has the demeanor of Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, and the courage of a hero.
Some people say that Liu Bei is a hypocritical person, pretending to be benevolent and falsely righteous, seeking political benefits for himself under the banner of benevolence and righteousness, which is more or less influenced by the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and TV dramas, and Liu Bei in real history is even reluctant to kill assassins, how can it be hypocritical? When Liu Bei fled south from Fancheng, more than 100,000 people fled with Liu Bei. In ancient times, whenever there was a good official who loved the people like a son, there would be people to follow, and there were too few good officials in ancient times.
Liu Bei is known for his benevolence
Some people also say that Liu Bei killed Liu Qi, the eldest son of Liu Biao, and seized Liu Qi's troops and territory after the Battle of Chibi, which is purely out of nothing, the history books clearly record that Liu Qi died of illness, Liu Biao was 67 years old when he died, and Liu Qi, as Liu Biao's eldest son, will not be young, may be forty or fifty years old, and may even be older than Liu Bei's age.
Moreover, Liu Bei did not want Liu Qi to die, Liu Bei could use Liu Qi to justifiably expel Sun Quan's forces, once Liu Qi died, Jingzhou became a borderless land, and it had to rely on force to fight, in fact, Liu Qi's political interests in living were greater for Liu Bei, so Liu Bei would not harm Liu Qi, and Liu Bei never killed anyone in his life, and even his own people rarely killed when they made mistakes.
If Emperor Xian of Han surrendered to Liu Bei, Liu Bei would not blackmail Tianzi like Cao Cao to order the princes, but it would be another version of the power to control the emperor, first of all, the Shu Han regime was established by Liu Bei, he could not return Shu Han to Emperor Xian of Han, at most he would let Emperor Xian of Han be an emperor in name, unlike Cao Cao, Liu Bei would not hold Emperor Xian of Han hostage, but would control Emperor Xian of Han, the difference is that Liu Bei would not force Emperor Xian of Han to do anything, but would use gentle means to achieve the goal.
Liu Bei used the reputation of the Han Chamber to fight the world
The next thing will be Liu Bei's courtiers to persuade Emperor Xian of Han to cede the throne to Liu Bei, after all, Jiangshan was fought by Liu Bei, and Emperor Xian of Han was actually a wise man, who knew that it was difficult to retreat and protect himself with Mingzhe, and he would most likely agree to this, after all, he had long known that none of the princes under the world really wanted to support the Han Dynasty, and they were all for their own turf.
Even if Emperor Xian of Han did not agree, Liu Bei would never do harm, he could not bear the notoriety of killing the king, which would ruin Liu Bei's reputation for life, Liu Bei would use glory and wealth to provide for Emperor Xian of Han until he lived his whole life, and then replaced him, appearing more justified.
Liu Bei once said the difference between himself and Cao Cao, as follows:
Now I am a person of water and fire, Cao Cao also. with urgency, I am lenient, I am violent, I am benevolent, I am obedient, and every time I am against it, things can become ears.
Liu Bei said that he and Cao Cao were in a state of fire and water, and Cao Cao left no room for quick success and quick profit, while I Liu Bei treated people generously, Cao Cao was cruel and unkind, while I Liu Bei was generous and benevolent, Cao Cao was scheming, and I Liu Bei was loyal, and every time I was contrary to Cao Cao, great things could be accomplished.
Liu Bei and Cao Cao were completely different
This is indeed the difference between Liu Bei and Cao Cao, Cao Cao blackmailed tianzi to order the princes to kill the concubines and empresses of Emperor Xian of Han, and Liu Bei would never do such a thing, Liu Bei would certainly be much more lenient in treating Emperor Xian of Han, and would not harm Emperor Xian of Han, nor would he force Emperor Xian of Han, although he would also put Emperor Xiandi of Han under house arrest, but the means were not the same as Cao Cao.
But Liu Bei and Cao Cao also have the same place, they all use Emperor Xian of Han to seek political benefits for themselves, the purpose is the same, the process is different, this is the difference.