The incident of the angry whipping and supervising the post has indeed happened in history! It's just that Luo Guanzhong carried out a transfer of flowers and trees for the characters in the story.
The one who really started beating people was not the irascible Zhang Fei, but the good old man in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei.
As for why Liu Bei broke out and beat people, this is a long story.
As a distant relative of the royal family from the bottom, Liu Bei lived quite poor when he was a child, and he once sold straw sandals. But fortunately, there are still some relatives of the old Liu family who are relatively wealthy. Later, with their sponsorship, after Liu Bei grew up, he also successfully enrolled in school, and also worshiped under the disciple of the great Confucian Lu Zhi.
However, after several years of studying under Lu Zhi, Liu Bei still failed to change his class. The reason is very simple: first, because Liu Bei himself is not particularly good at commenting on scriptures. According to the evaluation standards of Confucianism at that time, it was difficult for him to rely on his personal knowledge to make a name for himself.
- Liu Bei's family was basically in decline at that time. In the era of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, this meant that it was difficult for Liu Bei to take the road of the inspection system and become an official.
Therefore, after studying under Lu Zhimen for several years, Liu Bei is still an ordinary person. Although he made a lot of rich friends during this period, he was even willing to help Liu Bei and took the initiative to give Liu Bei money. But none of these things can fundamentally change Liu Bei's class.
But later, when Liu Bei was twenty-four years old, an unexpected event suddenly changed his fate.
In 184 AD, the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out.
After the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Uprising, Liu Bei's teacher Lu Zhi directly became one of the commanders of the pacification of the rebels. Moreover, the war zone that Lu Zhi is responsible for happens to be the area of Liu Bei's hometown. In addition, Liu Bei himself is also ambitious and wants to do a career. So soon, Liu Bei responded to the government's call, joined the army, and began to participate in the suppression of the Yellow Turban Army.
In "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", it was by virtue of this battle that Liu Bei obtained enough military exploits, and then became the county lieutenant of Anxi County. But in the canonical history, it's not that simple.
After Liu Bei joined the army, although Liu Bei did get some military exploits, he did not directly enter the army by virtue of his military exploits. As for the reason, it is probably because not long after Liu Bei joined the army, his teacher Lu Zhi was changed on the front line because he did not send money to the eunuchs. After Lu Zhi withdrew, Liu Bei had no one above him, so naturally no one was willing to promote him.
Therefore, after the suppression of the main force of the Yellow Turban Army, Liu Bei actually waited for another four years. It was not until 188 AD, when suppressing Zhang Chun's rebellion, that Liu Bei made enough military achievements.
Speaking of which, Liu Bei's meritorious service this time is actually related to a deduction of military salaries.
Zhang Chun was previously an official of the Han Dynasty and also served as the minister of Zhongshan. It stands to reason that this kind of experience can be regarded as a personal master in the Han Dynasty, but because of one thing, he also became dissatisfied with the Han Dynasty.
It turned out that not long after the Yellow Turban Army uprising, there was also a rebellion in Liangzhou. At that time, the imperial court needed to transfer 3,000 people from Wuhuan to quell the rebellion. This Zhang Chun recommended himself and asked him to lead these 3,000 people to quell the rebellion.
The person in charge of the rebellion at that time was Zhang Wen, who obtained the position of the third prince by paying bribes.
Zhang Wen did not agree to Zhang Chun's request, but gave the task to another person. This person is Liu Bei's old classmate, Gongsun Zhan.
Zhang Chun's request was frustrated, so he held a grudge, but he didn't have a chance to attack.
At this time, Zhang Wen sent an assist. Zhang Wenke deducted the food and salary of the 3,000 Wuhuan soldiers.
These Wuhuan soldiers did not receive the promised salary, and even the food was deducted, so in anger, they defected one after another.
After Gongsun Chan came over, the 3,000 soldiers who had been promised were gone.
Zhang Chun took the opportunity to encourage Taishan to guard Zhang Ju: "Liangzhou rebelled, and the imperial court could not be pacified; After seeing that the Han Dynasty will be over sooner or later, it is better for us to be the opposite, you will be the emperor, right?"
In this way, a wave of anti-thieves has not been settled, and a wave of anti-thieves has risen again.
Let's go back to Liu Bei, he made meritorious contributions to pacify the Yellow Turban Army, but he did not get an official position. And Liu Bei's teacher Lu Zhi at that time had also been dismissed. So after that, Liu Bei went to his old classmate Gongsun Zan to see if he could follow Big Brother to find some opportunities.
If Zhang Wen does not withhold military salaries, Liu Bei should work with Gongsun Zan to quell the rebellion in Liangzhou at this time. But now that the Wuhuan soldiers are gone, Liu Bei followed Gongsun Zhan to quell Zhang Chun's rebellion.
After quelling Zhang Chun's rebellion, Liu Bei finally relied on his military exploits before and after to obtain the position of county lieutenant of Anxi County.
After rolling in the sword for so long, there is finally an official.
But Liu Bei, an official, can't keep his ass before he sits hot.
Not long after Liu Bei became a county lieutenant, the Central Committee of the Eastern Han Dynasty suddenly issued a document, saying that a group of them who had become officials because of their military merits would be eliminated.
Then soon, a postal supervisor came to Anxi County, preparing to eliminate Liu Bei, a person who became an official by virtue of military merits.
Some people may be curious, how long has it been since Liu Bei put down the rebellion, why did the imperial court dismiss these people who had been awarded positions for military merits?
The reason is very simple, because the emperor at this time was Emperor Ling of Han. As a faint monarch, during the reign of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, he often sold official beards, and the price was clearly marked. And when Emperor Han Ling knew that many officials had entered the government through military exploits and had not paid at all, he was immediately unwilling.
So after that, Emperor Ling of Han ordered a strict investigation of officials in various places. If there are those who have entered the ranks with military merits, and those who have not yet paid the money, they must be examined. As long as you find something wrong, you can get it all to the end.
In this way, because of this order of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, the post supervisor came to Anxi County.
The post superintendent of the Eastern Han Dynasty was actually an official position of a supervisory nature. The main task of this official position is to supervise the local officials, and then go to the Taishou to make a small report. In history, Liu Bei is not the only one who has conflicts with roles like the post governor. For example, Tao Yuanming of the Jin Dynasty also resigned and returned to his hometown because of the post supervision.
And then, after the post supervisor went to Anxi County, Liu Bei quickly realized that his official position might not be guaranteed, so he wanted to visit the post supervisor to see if he could intercede and lay off his staff.
However, the superintendent kept saying that he was sick and never met Liu Bei.
We can't tell why this superintendent has not met with Liu Bei. Maybe it's really like guessed in some novels, and I really want to ask for a bribe in time.
After all, the imperial court didn't say that it would be abolished all, and a few people could be retained, as for who to keep, it was the one with the highest price.
There is also a possibility that Liu Bei followed Gongsun Zan to quell Zhang Chun's rebellion. Zhang Chun has been the minister of Zhongshan, and it is also said that he is the county guard of Zhongshan.
And Anxi County, where Liu Bei worked, belonged to Zhongshan County.
It is said that when Zhang Chun rebelled, many of his old people went to attach themselves to him. It seems that Zhang Chun's popularity is quite good.
Zhang Chun has held senior positions such as county guard or minister of state in Zhongshan County, so does he have some "old people" in Zhongshan County?
If so, will these people affect the attitude of the superintendent towards Liu Bei to some extent?
Of course, this is only a possibility.
Anyway, Liu Bei asked to see the superintendent several times, but he didn't see him, and he must be very angry in his heart.
If Liu Bei had money, or was willing to pay, then it would be easy for him to keep this position, or to find a petty official to do.
However, Liu Bei is not a person who compromises.
According to the Five Virtues, the Han Dynasty should be for fire virtue, and Liu Bei seems to be a manifestation of the temperament of the Han Dynasty.
In Liu Bei's view, it was very unreasonable to lay off those of them who had waited for their posts because of their military merits. Now I want to see the superintendent, this fox and fake tiger villain is still playing tricks with himself?
So soon, Liu Bei's anger came up, he directly broke into the residence of the superintendent, tied up the superintendent, and then untied his official seal ribbon, whipped the superintendent two hundred times, and killed the superintendent.
But in the end, under the pleading of the superintendent, Liu Bei still did not kill him, but abandoned the official and ran away.
Therefore, in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Zhang Fei angrily whipped the post, which was purely to carry the black pot for Liu Bei. Perhaps, in Luo Guanzhong's eyes, Liu Bei's own beating of people would damage his 'benevolent' image, so he gave this black pot to Zhang Fei.
But at the same time, through this incident, we can also see some of Liu Bei's personalities.
At least, if Liu Bang or Liu Xiu were to deal with this matter, there was a high probability that the result would not be like this. If it is Liu Bang, there is a high probability that he will use all means to keep his official position. If it was Liu Xiu, he would probably directly contact his family and the local Haoqiang, and then give gifts after putting pressure on the superintendent, and finally get the greatest benefits.
But when it came to Liu Bei, Liu Bei could only choose to beat the post supervisor violently, let out a bad breath, and then escape.
I have to say that compared with Liu Bang and Liu Xiu, Liu Bei is indeed a lot worse.