When it comes to the Battle of Chibi, later scholars generally regard it as the beginning of the establishment of the Three Kingdoms, and the three families of Cao, Liu, and Sun are clearly distinguished, which is also the beginning. However, in the one or two years after the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei was not the spirit of posterity, but had the feeling that "people under the eaves had to bow their heads".
According to the Zizhi Tongjian Han Ji Fifty-Eight:
"Liu Biao's former officials returned to Liu Bei, and zhou Yu gave him little land, which was not enough to accommodate his people, but he saw Sun Quan and asked the capital to oversee Jingzhou."
In order to seek more "benefits", Liu Bei risked being placed under house arrest and went to Jingkou to pay homage to Sun Quan (Zhou Yu and Lü Fan had suggested that Liu Bei be detained). After this meeting, Liu Bei played Sun Quan as Xuzhou Mu, who was quite satisfied, not only "entering the sister Yu Bei", but also allowing Liu Bei to supervise Jingzhou.
The strange thing is that Xuzhou is far away in the Central Plains, and it is not Sun Quan who can touch it. So, how did Liu Bei use Xuzhou Mu's "empty check" to impress Sun Quan?
Above_ Qingzhou, Xuzhou
First, take the initiative to give up the dominance of the alliance
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, the Biography of Lord Wu:
"Liu Bei expressed the right to ride the general and lead Xuzhou Mu. Prepare jingzhou mu, tun public security. ”
According to Liu Bei's biography, before he played Sun Quan, he had already roughly determined the four counties of Jiangnan; after the death of Liu Qi, the mu of Jingzhou, Liu Bei naturally took over the position of mu of Jingzhou under the recommendation of everyone.
Having said that, Liu Bei's situation was quite difficult. Because although the four counties of Changsha, Lingling, Guiyang, and Wuling were under the jurisdiction of Liu Bei, several important strongholds in the four counties that were connected to the Yangtze River were controlled by Zhou Yu.
On the land route, There was Cao Cao (Xiangyang and Wancheng still belonged to Cao Wei), and the waterway was restricted by Jiangdong, so Liu Bei's development in Jingzhou was not smooth.
Because of this, Liu Bei would venture to pay homage to Sun Quan. The so-called "seeking to oversee Jingzhou" refers to Liu Bei's hope that Sun Quan would truly recognize his dominance in Jingzhou.
Liu Bei (161–223)
The reason why Chen Shou mentioned the matter of "preparing to lead Jingzhou Mu" again shows that Liu Bei was now overseeing Jingzhou and had already been recognized by Sun Quan. In other words, Liu Bei played Sun Quan as the che riding general and Xuzhou Mu, and Sun Quan recognized the legitimacy of Liu Bei's appointment as Jingzhou Mu.
According to the trading principle of "equal exchange", since Liu Bei had already received a lot of benefits, then the che general and Xuzhou Mu were certainly of great benefit to Sun Quan.
Prior to this, although Sun Quan had already taken the six counties of Jiangdong, his apparent position was only that of a general and a taishou. Liu Bei, on the other hand, was the general Zuo and Yuzhou Mu.
Judging from both military and official positions, Liu Bei's political status was higher than Sun Quan's. According to the custom, Liu Bei should be the "ally lord" of Sun Liu's alliance.
Above_ Sun Quan's inscription
However, Liu Bei also knew that his comprehensive strength was far inferior to Sun Quan's, so he took retreat as an advance, and played Sun Quan as a che riding general and Xuzhou Mu, making his position higher than half his head.
Especially the che riding general, it is often one of the "standard" of the "thief" alliance alliance lord since the end of the Han Dynasty. For example, when the Kwantung Coalition army was fighting Dong, yuan shao, the leader of the alliance, led the che riding general; for example, the unwarranted "yibag edict" incident, Dong Cheng, the chief envoy who plotted to accuse the "Han thief" Cao Cao, was also a che riding general.
It can be seen that Liu Bei's worship of Sun Quan as a cheri general has the meaning of honoring him as the leader of the "anti-Cao alliance"; at the same time, this also clarifies Sun Quan's dominant position in Sun Liu's alliance.
Of course, the political reasons behind Sun Quan's remote leadership of Xuzhou Mu cannot be ignored.
Above_ The location of Xuzhou during the Eastern Han Dynasty
Second, make up for the lack of geographical orthodoxy
Xuzhou originally belonged to Cao Wei, and was neither under Liu Bei's jurisdiction nor sun quan. Therefore, Sun Quan's act of leading Xuzhou Mu belonged to the remote collar.
"Those who are remote rulers do not enter the land of the territory, but do not set up assassins and counties in other parts of the country to govern them."
(See History of China's Territorial Evolution by Gu Jiegang and Shi Nianhai.
The phenomenon of remote collar during the Wei and Jin dynasties was quite common, of which Wu and Shu were the most common.
After the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei created Guan Yu the Taishou of Xiangyang, Sun Quan changed his era name to Huanglong, and Zhu Ran was also given the title of Yanzhou Mu. However, Xiangyang County belonged to Cao Wei, and Yanzhou was Cao Cao's home. It can be seen that Wu and Shu often "falsely delegated" the territory within Cao Wei to their subordinates.
What is more interesting is that after Sun Quan officially became emperor, he also "shared" the territory of Cao Wei with the State of Shu.
"Quan nai is divided into worlds, Yu, Qing, Xu, and You belong to Wu, and Yan, Ji, and Liang belong to Shu." The land of its sizhou is bounded by Hangu Pass. ”
Because Yanzhou and Jizhou were "divided" to the Shu state, Zhu Ran's Yanzhou Mu and Buqi's Jizhou Mu did not take long and were removed.
Cao Cao (155–220)
Why is the phenomenon of remote collar between Wu and Shu so common?
This is by no means a bluff. In fact, as a necessary political means, The two countries wanted to express their own orthodoxy through remote leadership.
Cao Cao "obeyed the Son of Heaven to order not to be subordinate" and "moved to the imperial court", occupying a high position in politics; coupled with Cao Wei's defense of the Central Plains, he occupied 78 out of 10 of the world's land. As a result, Cao Wei occupied an orthodox position geographically.
On the other hand, Sun Liu's alliance, relying on Liu Bei's identity as a "descendant of the royal family", played the slogan of "Kuang fu Han Room, return to the old capital". Yes, Wu and Shu occupied an orthodox position in terms of reputation.
In this case, the reason why the two countries of Wu and Shu in a remote corner of the country had a large number of remote collars and false seals (similar to the remote collar, referring to the fiefdom of the recipient in other countries) was to make up for their own disadvantages in geographical orthodoxy.
In summary, Liu Bei's performance of Sun Quan as Xuzhou Mu can be regarded as the beginning of the remote leadership of Wu and Shu. This not only clarified the unified goal of Sun Liu's alliance to compete for legitimacy, but also allowed Sun Quan to reasonably rely on the Orthodoxy of Shu Han to make up for his dual disadvantages in geography and reputation.
Above_ Jizhou, Hezhou
Third, help Sun Quan to gather the Liuyu clan
Sun Quanyao leads the state pastor, can be Jizhou pastor, can also be Jizhou pastor, why is it Xuzhou pastor?
Judging from the fact that Sun Quan later "talked about revenge and discussed taking Xuzhou" with Lü Meng, Liu Bei's performance of Sun Quan as Xuzhou Mu was most likely the result of the latter's active choice.
This is because some of the important strategists (Liu Yushi clan) in Jiangdong were mostly born in Xuzhou. For example, Zhang Zhao was a native of Pengcheng, Zhang Hong and Chen Duan were from Guangling, Zhuge Jin was from Langya, and Buqi was from Huaiyin (then part of Linhuai County).
Within the Jiangdong regime, although Sun Quan had reached a cooperative relationship with the Jiangdong Hao clan, he still needed other forces to balance them. In addition to the sun clan relatives and the old generals of Huaisi (referring to Sun Jian and Sun Ce's Yuan Congwu generals, mostly from the Jiangxi clan), the Liuyu Shi clan (referring to the foreign warrior clan that went to Jiangdong to take refuge) was also an important force.
The Liuyu clan represented by Zhang Zhao and Zhuge Jin was not from Jiangdong. Therefore, Sun Quan was more willing to co-opt them to help him suppress the Hao clan in Jiangdong.
Zhang Zhao (156-236), zibu
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, the Book of Wu is quoted:
"Quan is Xuzhou Pastoral, with Qiu as the ruler, and Maocai."
According to the Han system, local governors had the right to recruit and examine local talents. Therefore, sun Quan was the pastor of Xuzhou, so he could legitimately promote the Liuyu clan from Xuzhou and unite them to his side.
From this point of view, Liu Bei's performance of Sun Quan as Xuzhou Mu is not a "blank check". This move would not only make up for the jiangdong regime's dual disadvantages in geography and reputation, but also help Sun Quan consolidate his rule.
It can be seen that the transaction between smart people is often a win-win situation.
author:
Yingzhou Haike
Correction/Editing:
Lilith
References: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zizhi Tongjian, Geography of the Eastern Han Dynasty, History of The Evolution of China's Territory, The Great Han Empire in Bashu
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author