The Romance of the Three Kingdoms lists Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Liu Biao as a biography, so I call them the Four Princes of the Late Han Dynasty.
Now many people regard them as waste materials and brag about Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan, and such a view is contrary to the original face of history.
What can you expect from history?
Remember the great deeds of your ancestors, so that you can get a little self-confidence? Or can we learn some lessons from historical events? Or do you want to brag about these topics with others in order to gain a sense of presence?
History is there; whatever you need, you take. What is taken out is no longer history, but reality. Seeing through this, you will know why some people like Cao Cao and why some people like Liu Bei. In fact, he didn't like either Cao Cao or Liu Bei, he only liked himself.
If there is no righteous war in the Spring and Autumn Period, will there be a righteous war in the Three Kingdoms? Since it is a war of annexation, there is no need to discuss what is good and evil.
Some people judge history by "whoever laughs last laughs the best." Then, in the Three Kingdoms, the Sima family must have "laughed to the end", is his family "the best to laugh"? If we come to the conclusion that the Sima family is the "best to laugh", it is to ignore the chaotic world of the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Because these 400 years of chaos are aimed at overthrowing a family like the Sima family. It is because the family clan is so successful that only those ethnic minorities who have not been domesticated can reconstruct from the bottom.
We must know that the Sui and Tang Dynasties not only gave opportunities to the low-level people, but also those family families still maintained a certain particularity. That is to say, the Sui and Tang Dynasties integrated aristocratic culture and commoner culture very well.
Xuan Deyue: "Huainan Yuan Shu, with enough food and food, can be a hero?" Fu smiled and said, "The bones in the grave, I will catch them sooner or later!"
Xuan Deyue: "Yuan Shao of Hebei, the fourth and third dukes, the former official of Menduo; in the land of the tiger in Jizhou, there are many capable people under his command, can they be heroes?" Cao Xiao said: "Yuan Shao is fierce and bold, good at scheming; doing big things and sparing his life, seeing small profits and forgetting his life: non-heroes also.
Xuan Deyue: "There is a person named Bajun, Weizhen Jiuzhou: Liu Jingsheng can be a hero?" Cao Yue: "Liu Biao is false and unreal, not a hero."
Xuan De yue: "There is a man of flesh and blood Fang Gang, the leader of Jiangdong - Sun Bofu is a hero also?" Cao Yue: "Sun Ce is not a hero in the name of his father."
Xuan Deyue: "Yizhou Liu Jiyu, can you be a hero?" Cao Yue: "Although Liu Zhang is a clan member, he is the dog ear of the shouhu, and he is a hero!"
Xuan De said, "How about Zhang Xiu, Zhang Lu, Han Sui, and so on?" Cao clapped and laughed, "Such a little man, what a foot to hang his teeth on!"
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
On the hero of Qingmei boiled wine, the hero ranking in Liu Bei's mind is: Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, Sun Ce, Liu Zhang, etc.
Cao Cao was dismissive of these people and uttered the phrase "Heroes of the world, only the king and the ear." At that time, saying that Liu Bei was a hero really lifted him up; Cao Cao meant that he was a hero, and by the way, he lifted Liu Bei and let the people of the world feel his ambition. Who knows, it's really a slur.
The evaluation in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" can be said to be a kind of summary of the Three Kingdoms by posterity. This kind of summary is to push forward after knowing the result. Such inferences actually negate the most important aspect of human nature——。
Can Cao Cao's success be repeated? Of the four princes of the late Han Dynasty, who can Cao Cao defeat?
Dong Zhuo sent Cao Cao a head. If we only look at the military, in terms of tactics, Cao Cao is not enough to see; therefore, Cao Cao lost two defeats at the hands of Lü Bu, one defeated at Xingyang, and the other defeated at Puyang. In the final analysis, the Yanzhou Shi clan was only using Lü Bu, and Lü Bu was also guarding against these Yanzhou Shi clan. Cooperation on such a basis, whether in Yanzhou or Xuzhou, is actually to send heads to Cao Cao.
Because of the mutual distrust between the warriors and the warriors, the final defeat of the Dong Zhuo clique was inevitable. But who can guess, Cao Cao became the biggest beneficiary.
Everyone knew that the big man was going to die; but no one dared to be the first to eat crabs. Why did he dare to do this? Because he saw through the faces of those princes.
The Kwantung coalition forces attacked Dong Zhuo, and only Sun Jian, led by Yuan Shu, invaded Luoyang. If you take this opportunity to move west, the world can be decided in a war. This was not cao cao scolding the street in the sour jujube camp, but an opportunity created by Sun Jian and Yuan Shushi.
However, Yuan Shao only cared about the interests of his own small clique, and the infighting in the Kwantung Coalition army officially began. Since no one took the emperor seriously, Yuan Shu bravely stood up. The point at which he stood out happened to be two years before the Battle of Guandu. Cao Cao was definitely going to take this big gift package.
Is this a manifestation of Cao Cao's personal ability? Seriously, without Emperor Xian of Han, Cao Cao could only lie in Yanzhou and be a Yanzhou pastor. No matter how strong the ability, there is no chance to touch the world. With Emperor Xian of Han, Cao Cao defeated a bereaved dog, Lü Bu, and successfully pacified the Central Plains.
If Dong Zhuo and Yuan Shu were strategic failures, then Yuan Shao and Liu Biao were failures in the choice of heirs.
Yuan Shao and Liu Biao are speculators, so most of their subordinates are also speculators. The biggest speculation in the world is Lü Buwei's strange goods.
It seems that Cao Cao defeated them, but in fact they lost to their original choice.
If you want to make a profit, others want to profit; if you can't fight you, can't you fight your sons and grandchildren?
If speculation is only for yourself, then you will definitely be speculated by others. You will always be on the defensive that this state will continue to your offspring, and one day, you will be successfully speculated by others. It is better to break through like Cao Cao and Liu Bei.
Yuan Shao and Liu Biao speculated all their lives, and finally all cheapened others.
Cao Cao had fought all his life, and he really hadn't won many battles. Mostly, others gave up the victory.
Think about it, how many people can be called heroes? How many people are fighting for the world? It's just for one's own selfish desires. Such selfish desires will inevitably fall into the hands of heroes.
Because what the people of the world choose must be heroes for the sake of the people of the world.