In July of the second year of Zhang Wu (222 AD), Liu Bei was defeated by Lu Xun at Yiling and led the remnants of his army to retreat to the White Emperor's City. At this time, Liu Bei was already sixty-two, and he was also very old at that meeting, and with such a stimulus, he fell ill shortly after arriving at the White Emperor City. By March of the third year of Zhang Wu (223 AD), Liu Bei's health was getting worse and worse, and he knew that he was estimated to be more and less fortunate this time, so he began to arrange things after his death.
For Liu Bei, the biggest trouble at this time was that the crown prince Liu Chan was too young, and Shu Han suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Yiling, with Wei Wuhu on the outside and rebellions on the inside, and real internal and external troubles. Therefore, he had to choose the right assistant minister for Liu Chan to help him tide over the difficulties.
Therefore, Liu Bei summoned Zhuge Liang to the White Emperor's city, asked him to assist Liu Chan, and promoted Shangshu to make Li Yan the protector of zhongdu, in charge of internal and external military affairs, and served as Zhuge Liang's deputy to assist the auxiliary government.
Yan and Zhuge Liang were also entrusted with the edict to assist the young lord, with Yan as the protector of the capital, unifying the internal and external military forces, and staying in the town of Yong'an.
For Liu Bei's arrangement, many people believe that Liu Bei wants to use Li Yan to command military power, balance Zhuge Liang, and avoid Zhuge Liang's power being too large and threatening Liu Chan. However, if you look closely at Liu Bei's arrangement, you will find that there is another mystery.
According to Liu Bei's orders, it seems that Zhuge Liang was in charge, while Li Yan was in charge of the military of Shu Han, and the two were in charge of one piece each. However, liu bei's final arrangement was to let Li Yan stay in Yong'an, not return to Chengdu.
Yong'an is the only way from Jingzhou to Sichuan, and is the most important city on the eastern border of the Shu and Han Dynasties, and its geographical location is extremely important. It should be said that staying in Yong'an is indeed a very important task. However, Yong'an was only a border city after all, and If Li Yan stayed in Yong'an instead of returning to Chengdu as a minister, he would not be able to directly influence the affairs of the court, and his actual power would be greatly reduced, and he would not be able to control the military power at all.
For example, Zhuge Liang later quelled the rebellion in the south and the northern expedition to Guanzhong, and he directly commanded the troops himself, and did not pass Through Li Yan at all.
Moreover, when Liu Bei was entrusted with isolation, he also appointed Zhao Yun as the middle protector. The Zhonghu Army was also one of the senior generals in charge of the Zhongjun, although the position was not as good as that of the Zhongdu Protector, but Zhao Yun returned to Chengdu with Zhuge Liang, plus he was highly qualified, and he was responsible for internal affairs in his early years, which certainly had a greater impact on the Chinese army than Li Yan, who was far away in Yong'an.
Therefore, Li Yan's so-called "unification of internal and external military forces" has actually not been implemented at all. What he could really grasp was only the Shu army defending Eastern Wu on the front line of Yong'an, about 20,000 people. Later, Cao Zhen cut down Shu, and Zhuge Liang wanted to mobilize the Yong'an garrison in order to strengthen the defense of Hanzhong, which was also carried out through Li Yancai.
Although the strength of the Shu Han Dynasty is limited, the national strength is only a little more than 100,000, and the army of more than 20,000 is also a very large number, but compared with the general leadership power, it is obviously far behind. Therefore, Li Yan's actual power is not as great as it seems.
What's more, Zhuge Liang served as a minister of honor as a chancellor, a lu shang shu shi, and a lieutenant colonel. The Chancellor could administer the Hundred Officials, the Lu Shang Shu could handle the day-to-day affairs of the Emperor, and the Lieutenant Colonel had the power to supervise the officials. Any one of these three identities is extremely powerful, Zhuge Liang holds three positions at the same time, or he is a minister of life, let alone a minister.
Even if Li Yan is in Chengdu, it is difficult to resist, and at this time, people in Yong'an are naturally even more unable to play a role. In fact, in the later period, Zhuge Liang had the final say in the affairs of the DPRK and China, and Li Yan's influence on the government was minimal. After Li Yan later made a mistake, Zhuge Liang also easily removed him from office.
Obviously, Li Yan actually had no checks and balances on Zhuge Liang.
Liu Bei had also experienced a lot of storms, and he couldn't have been unaware of leaving Li Yan in Yong'an, in fact, it was impossible to control the military power, let alone restrain Zhuge Liang. If he really wanted to balance Zhuge Liang, he obviously wouldn't arrange it this way, so Liu Bei actually had another intention for Li Yan's appointment.
Liu Bei's men were mainly divided into four major factions: the Elder Clan brought from the north, the Jingzhou Clan composed of Jingzhou Scholars, the Dongzhou Clan composed of foreigners who followed Liu Yan to Yizhou, and the Yizhou Clan composed of Yizhou Scholars.
Among these four major factions, the Yizhou clan was bound to be difficult to control once it grew stronger, so Liu Bei had always controlled them, mainly relying on the other three factions.
Zhuge Liang lived in Jingzhou for many years, followed Liu Bei for a long time, and had a good relationship with the Elders and Jingzhou departments. By appointing him as a minister, he could control both factions. Li Yan was born in the Dongzhou clan. The essence of reusing Li Yan is to win over the Dongzhou system and show his importance to them, so as to strengthen the unity of the three foreign factions, so as to balance the Yizhou system and stabilize the situation in shu and Han.
However, Li Yan had not followed Liu Bei for a long time after all, and his trust was far inferior to Zhuge Liang's. Therefore, Liu Bei would arrange it this way, so that Li Yan only had nominal power, but he could not really compete with Zhuge Liang, which could be described as well-intentioned.