Following the side dishes, let's talk about today's protagonist Liu Chan.
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Liu Chan (shàn) (207–271), also known as Emperor Huai of Shu Han, also known as Hou Lord, Zi Gong He, nicknamed Ah Dou. During the Three Kingdoms period, the last emperor of the Shu Han Dynasty (reigned 223-263), the son of Liu Bei, the Emperor of Han Zhaolie, was the mother of Empress Gan of Zhaolie.
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In 263 AD, the State of Shu was defeated by the State of Wei, and Liu Chan ended his 40-year career as emperor. This makes the situation of "standing on three feet" a thing of the past. However, Liu Chan's fate as the greatest responsible person for the fall of the Shu state has not yet ended, and he has left a classic idiom of "happy not thinking about Shu" in the "post-Three Kingdoms era", which strongly impacts the sadness and indignation of posterity for the end of the Three Kingdoms. According to the plot of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Liu Chan is an "unsupportable Ah Dou", Zhuge Liang's "bow down and die and then die", but the ending is answered by Liu Chan with "Happy Not Thinking of Shu", making Liu Chan a laughing stock for people to think about after tea. So, is the real Liu Chan in history really so "idiotic" and "stupid"? How perverse it is for the mentality of a "destroyer" to be so "happy". Let's look at it from a historical standpoint.
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Some people will say that Liu Chan, even if he is not a wise and promising monarch, is not a completely cowardly and incompetent person, he also has medium wisdom, and the hat of "Ah Dou who can't get up" should be taken off for him. You see: Liu Chan reigned for 41 years, the longest reign of any monarch during the Three Kingdoms period. Living in a turbulent year of division and war, can you govern for so long, can you have a little talent? You will say again, this is all Zhuge Liang's assistance. Without Zhuge Liang he was nothing. Historical records record that Zhuge Liang died in 234 AD, and after his death, Liu Chan also served as emperor for 29 years, and it is difficult to say that it was all Zhuge Liang's auxiliary work.
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In addition, in order to let Liu Chan have a wide range of knowledge and master the ability to govern the country, Liu Bei let him study books such as "Shenzi", "Han Feizi", "Guanzi", and "Liutao", and also arranged for Zhuge Liang to personally copy these books for him to read; And let Liu Chan Baiyi study the "Zuo Zhuan" as a teacher. In addition, he also let him learn martial arts. The Book of Huanyu records that "Shooting Mountain, in the northern fifteen miles of Chengdu County, Liu Zhongchan learned to shoot here. For Liu Chan's performance, Zhuge Liang is obvious to all. Zhuge Liang commented on Liu Chan in the Book of With Du Wei: "The imperial court is eighteen years old, gifted Renmin, and Corporal Aide. This "min" word can show that Ah Dou is not a stupid person? It is also recorded in the Book of Jin and Li Mi that Li Mi believed that Liu Chan, as the monarch, could be compared with the Duke of Qi Huan, the first ruler of the Spring and Autumn Period, who had to manage Zhong and become hegemonic, and Liu Chan had Zhuge Liang to compete with Qiang Wei.
Not only that, on the issue of the Northern Expedition, Liu Chan's thinking was very clear, and when Zhuge Liang was anxious about the Northern Expedition, Liu Chan said to Zhuge Liang: "The southern expedition of Xiangfu is far away and difficult; Fang Shi returned to the capital and sat down without a seat; Now he wants to march north, afraid of thoughts. Although Zhuge Liang ignored his own advice, once the Northern Expedition resolution was formed, Liu Chan still fully supported Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition. After Zhuge Liang's death, Liu Chan immediately stopped the Northern Expedition, which consumed national strength and labored the people and lost money. In addition, in order to prevent the problem of too much power of the courtiers, Liu Chan made Fei Yi the Shang Shu Ling and the Great General, in charge of government affairs, and Jiang Huan as the Grand Sima and in charge of the military. After Jiang Huan's death, Liu Chan "was a self-regent" and took over the power of the state, completely resolving the political situation in the Shu state for many years in which "everything is big and small, and the saltiness is decided by the chancellor". Therefore, from the perspective of historical truth, Liu Chan is by no means a mediocre lord.
After the deaths of Zhuge Liang and other sages, the Shu state gradually declined. After the State of Wei vigorously cut down Shu, after the fall of the State of Shu, Liu Chan, who had no choice but to accept the reality and choose to surrender to the State of Wei. In the face of human nature, greed for life and fear of death is a normal reaction for Liu Chan. After all, decades of fine clothes and jade food have made him more attached to life. The State of Wei sent Liu Chan to Luoyang and made him the "Duke of Anle County", and at this dangerous stage, Liu Chan's "dementia" performance made the Wei people begin to completely relax him, and these old captives of the Shu State no longer placed any hope on him, and the contrast between the two was precisely the root of Liu Chan's life.
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Let's recreate the historical picture: Sima Zhao held a banquet for Liu Chan, and specially let Liu Chan perform the songs and dances of the past Shu Kingdom, and Liu Chan's former subordinates saw the pain of the fall of the country and shed tears sadly, only Liu Chan smiled happily, as if he had nothing to do with him. Liu Chan's performance made Sima Zhao feel very satisfied and ridiculous, and turned to Jia Chong and said, "A person who is ruthless and unrighteous can reach such a point!" Even if Zhuge Liang was there, he could not assist him in his long-term peace and stability, let alone Jiang Wei! Jia Chong responded, "If he is not like this, why do you rely on to annex the Shu Kingdom?" One day, Sima Zhao asked Liu Chan, "Do you miss the Shu Kingdom?" Liu Chan didn't even want to say, "I'm very happy here, I don't want to Shu Kingdom." The joke of "Happy Don't Think about It" comes from this. And Liu Chan had already known this well, and a thick and stupid performance completely reassured Sima Zhao, and finally Liu Chan obtained a "good ending" that is rare in history as a king of the fallen country.
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Seeing here, did you think of the picture of Liu Bei on Cao Cao's hero of boiling wine with green plums? Liu's father and son have never lacked the talent for acting.
Liu Chan has become a typical example of a philistine in people's minds. "A dou who can't afford it" has become a joke on the mediocre. Is this really the case? In the situation of the Three Kingdoms struggle full of trickery and cunning, sometimes cleverness is mistaken by cleverness, such as Cao Cao, such as Zhou Yu... We often say that great wisdom is like foolishness, and this sentence can be used in Ah Dou, who has always been underestimated by us.
What do you think? Feel free to leave a message in the comments section. Can you also leave a message in the next issue who you want to see? Let's discuss...