In 219 BC, Guan Yu was defeated in Maicheng, and in order to save himself, he sent people to the nearest Shangyong guards Liu Feng and Meng Da several times to ask for help, but they were all refused.
Due to the failure of Liu Feng and Meng Da to rescue, it eventually led to tragic consequences, Guan Yu's troops either surrendered or fled or were killed, and he himself was beheaded, and Jingzhou also fell into the hands of Eastern Wu.
This was an extremely serious blow to Shu Han, which directly led to the decline of Shu Han's national strength and laid the groundwork for the future destruction of Shu Han.
Although Liu Feng was Liu Bei's son, he made such a serious mistake that many people believed that he should be held responsible for Guan Yu's death.
But in fact, when Liu Bei dealt with Liu Feng, he only blamed him, and did not ask him to pay for Guan Yu's death, and the reason why he was finally killed by Liu Bei was actually because of Zhuge Liang's words.
So, is Liu Feng responsible for Guan Yu's death? What did Zhuge Liang say that led to his final brutal execution by Liu Bei?
1. Should Liu Feng save Guan Yu?
Liu Feng is actually not Liu Bei's own son, but an adopted son.
Here's the thing, Liu Bei originally had several sons, but because of the war, these sons all died.
In 201, after Liu Bei defected to Liu Biao in Jingzhou, he lived a stable life, but because he had no son and was over forty years old, he was very anxious.
Later, in order to have a successor, Liu Bei adopted a child in Jingzhou, this child is the son of Luohou Kou, the nephew of a family surnamed Liu in Changsha County, Jingzhou, whose real name is unknown, and was named Liu Feng by Liu Bei.
In ancient times, the adopted son was also a son, and he was legally qualified for inheritance, so although Liu Feng was Liu Bei's adopted son, he was the "young master" of the Eight Classics.
After Liu Feng grew up, he grew into a general, and his first appearance in the history books was when Liu Bei captured Yizhou.
The history books say that Liu Feng's martial arts are very good, and his strength is also very great, he followed Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei and others into Shu to fight, invincible, and made great achievements, after the pacification of Yizhou, Liu Bei was named the deputy army general.
And the first lord into Shu, since Jia Meng also attacked Liu Zhang, when the seal was more than 20 years old, there are martial arts, strength is outstanding, the soldiers and Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei and others traced to the west, where the battle is over. Yizhou was established, and he was named the deputy general of the army.
Later, Liu Bei and Cao Cao fought for Hanzhong, and Liu Feng also participated in the battle, and when Liu Bei captured Hanzhong, he asked Liu Feng and Meng Da to defend the three counties of Shangyong, namely Shangyong County, Fangling County and Xicheng County.
In the same year, Guan Yu took advantage of the capture of Shu Han and Hanzhong, sent troops to attack Xiangyang and Fancheng occupied by Cao Cao, flooded the Seventh Army, captured the generals Ban and Pang De, and shocked China.
However, the good times did not last long, and Cao Cao was worried that Guan Yu would threaten the safety of Xu Du after seizing Fancheng, so he listened to Sima Yi's strategy, sent people to contact Eastern Wu, and reached an alliance agreement with Sun Quan to attack Guan Yu.
At the end of 219, Sun Quan sent the general Lü Meng to cross the river in white clothes and persuaded the Nanjun Taishou Mi Fang and the general Fu Shiren, who guarded the public security, and Nanjun immediately fell, and the other two counties occupied by Guan Yu were also in danger.
After learning the news, Guan Yu quickly returned to help, but was pursued by the Cao army, due to the discouragement of the Shu army, Guan Yu's department was soon scattered, and when he arrived in Maicheng, there were only a few hundred people left, and there was a risk of being surrounded by the Eastern Wu army.
At this time, it is impossible to recapture Jingzhou, and the only thing Guan Yu can do is to save his life.
After analyzing the situation, Guan Yu sent envoys to the nearest Shu army, that is, Liu Feng and Meng Da, who guarded the three counties of Shangyong, several times, asking the two to send troops to rescue, but they were all refused.
Due to the failure of Liu Feng and Meng Da to rescue, Guan Yu was defeated and left Maicheng, entered the ambush circle of the Eastern Wu army in Linfu, and was finally killed together with his eldest son Guan Ping.
Guan Yu was one of the most important generals of Shu Han, and his relationship with Liu Bei was like that of a brother, and his death touched Liu Bei a lot, and it was also a huge loss for Shu Han.
One question is, why didn't Liu Feng save Guan Yu? The history books record it like this:
Since Guan Yu surrounded Fancheng and Xiangyang, he even called for sealing and reaching, and ordered the troops to help themselves. Sealed and resigned, it was attached to the mountain county at the beginning, and it could not be shaken, and it was not accepted by the feather.
It is to the effect that when Guan Yu was in trouble, he asked Liu Feng and Meng Da to send troops to rescue him several times, but the two of them had just gotten it to the three counties, and the people's hearts were not attached, so they could not leave easily.
Many people may say that this is just a pretext, Liu Feng and Meng Da deliberately did not save Guan Yu, which is very wrong, they did not save Guan Yu is actually the right choice.
Speaking of this, I have to say that the three counties of Shangyong are this place, which was originally Cao Cao's territory, and when Liu Bei seized Hanzhong, he also pocketed these three counties.
The geographical location of the three counties of Shangyong is very important, it is an important passage connecting Jingzhou and Yizhou, and the garrison here can also quickly support the military operations of Jingzhou and Yizhou.
Such an important place, of course, needs a trustworthy person to guard it, so Liu Bei sent Liu Feng here.
When Guan Yu defeated Maicheng, it was less than half a year before Liu Feng defended Shangyong, you must know that Cao Cao has been operating in Shangyong for a long time, and it is difficult for Liu Feng to stabilize Shu Han's rule over the three counties of Shangyong in a short period of time.
After determining that there was no suspense about the loss of Jingzhou, Liu Feng and Meng Da's most responsible choice was to guard the three counties of Shangyong and block the passage from Jingzhou to Yizhou, so as to ensure the safety of Yizhou.
Of course, rescuing Guan Yu is also very important, but compared with the safety of the three counties of Shangyong, it is obvious that the latter is the most important, and this is also the primary responsibility of Liu Feng and Meng Da.
In addition, there is another important reason why Liu Feng did not save Guan Yu, and that is the existence of Meng Da.
Meng Da is a very fierce man, he is a good general, but he is a slave with three surnames, in the early years he was a subordinate of Liu Zhang in Yizhou, and later took refuge in Liu Bei, and during the battle of Hanzhong, he and Liu Feng helped Liu Bei seize the three counties of Shangyong.
In terms of merit, Meng Da contributed the most to Shu Han's capture of the three counties of Shangyong, and he should have served as the main general, but because Liu Bei did not trust him very much, he let Liu Feng be his leader, and he was relegated to the deputy position.
Liu Bei's move, of course, made Meng Da feel unhappy, and what made him even more angry was that Liu Feng was still targeting him everywhere, because of Liu Feng's special status, he dared to be angry and did not dare to speak, and he always had the idea of voting for him.
For Meng Da, Liu Feng is distrustful, otherwise he would not bully Meng Da, because of this, he did not dare to rescue Guan Yu, he was worried that once he left Shangyong, Meng Da would take the opportunity to do something, causing a fire in the backyard, so that he could not save Guan Yu, but also lost the three counties of Shangyong.
Moreover, although Liu Feng's official position is lower than Guan Yu's, he is not Guan Yu's direct subordinate, and the two have no subordinate relationship.
Therefore, Liu Feng did not rescue Guan Yu, it cannot be simply understood as seeing death and not saving, he has a good reason, if he loses the three counties of Shangyong because of the rescue of Guan Yu, it will bring a greater crisis to Shu Han.
2. Why did Liu Feng die?
For the division of responsibility for Guan Yu's death, Liu Bei has his own measurements, emotionally speaking, he is very angry that Liu Feng did not save Guan Yu, but at the same time, he also knows that Liu Feng did the right thing, so he asked Liu Feng to continue to guard the mediocrity.
However, later Liu Feng made a big mistake, when Jingzhou had been lost, he did not judge the situation and unite with Meng Da to keep the mediocrity, but continued to bully Meng Da and robbed Meng Da's private band, causing Meng Da to defect to Cao Wei.
For this matter, the history books say this:
He also sealed the discord with Da Angry, and Feng Xun won Da and preached. Da was both afraid of sin and angry, so he resigned from the lord and led the leader to surrender to Wei.
said that Meng Da was worried that Liu Bei would ask him for his guilt because of Guan Yu's death, and he was afraid that Liu Feng would continue to persecute him, so he defected to Cao Wei.
Meng Da's defection had bad consequences, because he knew the situation of the three counties of Shangyong, and after he came to Cao Wei, Emperor Wen of Wei Cao Pi treated him very politely, saying that he had the talent of a general, so as to win him over, he suggested that Cao Pi send troops to recover the three counties of Shangyong.
Later, Cao Pi appointed Xiahou Shang as the main general, led Meng Da, Xu Huang and others to go to Shangyong, because the enemy was outnumbered, and Liu Feng's subordinates Shen Tan and Shen Yi brothers defected, resulting in the defeat of the Shu army, Liu Feng had to give up the three counties of Shangyong and return to Chengdu alone.
Liu Feng returned to Chengdu, and after seeing Liu Bei, Liu Bei's reaction was very interesting, he only blamed Liu Feng for bullying Meng Da, resulting in the loss of the three counties of Shangyong, and Liu Feng did not save Guan Yu, but did not punish Liu Feng.
The seal is coming, and the first lord is responsible for the invasion of Lingda, and he does not save the feather.
It can be seen that in Liu Bei's mind, Guan Yu's death and the loss of the three counties of Shangyong are not enough for him to kill Liu Feng, after all, Liu Feng is his adopted son, and he is known for his benevolence and righteousness, how can he kill him easily.
Originally, Liu Feng could land safely, but Zhuge Liang's words woke up Liu Bei:
Zhuge Liang was worried about the fierceness, and it would be difficult to control it after the change of world, so he persuaded the ancestors to get rid of it. So he sealed it up, and made it self-judgment.
To the effect, Zhuge Liang was worried that Liu Feng had a strong temperament and that the lord of later generations (that is, Liu Bei's crown prince Liu Chan) would be difficult to control, so he persuaded Liu Bei to kill Liu Feng, and Liu Bei followed the advice and gave Liu Feng to death.
Then the question arises, why is Zhuge Liang so worried, and why does Liu Bei follow Zhuge Liang's advice?
As mentioned earlier, Liu Bei adopted Liu Feng as a son in Jingzhou because he had no son, but in 207, Mrs. Gan gave birth to a son for him, namely Liu Chan.
Liu Feng, as the eldest son, should have become the heir, but Liu Chan was his own son after all, so Liu Bei intended to support Liu Chan to ascend to the throne, and Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, etc., also supported Liu Chan.
The reason why Liu Chan has so many people to support him is not only Liu Bei's attitude towards him, but also his life experience.
In 208, in the battle of Changbanpo, in the face of Cao Cao's army, Liu Bei abandoned his wife and children in order to escape, and fled with dozens of horses.
In 211, Liu Bei led the army into Yizhou, Sun Quan took the opportunity to send someone to Jingzhou to pick up Mrs. Sun, Mrs. Sun took Liu Chan away when she left, and she was already on the big ship, Zhuge Liang, who learned the news, hurriedly sent Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun to intercept it, and finally saved Liu Chan.
Because of these two incidents, the Jingzhou Group, headed by Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun, established a good relationship with Liu Chan, so out of their own interests, they supported Liu Chan to become the heir.
As for Liu Bei, whether it is from the overall situation or from personal feelings, he wants to make Liu Chan his heir, who wants to hand over the country to a person who is not related by blood?
So, in 219, when Liu Bei was proclaimed king of Hanzhong, he established Liu Chan as the crown prince and determined Liu Chan's legal inheritance status.
In this case, Liu Feng's position is very embarrassing, as Liu Bei's actual eldest son, he has lost his inheritance qualifications, and his existence has become a stumbling block to Liu Chan's succession, which makes Jingzhou Group unhappy.
In addition, Liu Feng is older, talented, and has a more rigid personality, while Liu Chan is young and has a more introverted personality, so Zhuge Liang is willing to make it difficult for Liu Chan to restrain Liu Feng in the future.
For the sake of Shu Han's future, and in order to stabilize the Jingzhou Group, Liu Bei followed Zhuge Liang's suggestion and gave Liu Feng to death to eliminate hidden dangers.
In fact, in order to support Liu Chan to ascend to the throne, Liu Bei has been suppressing Liu Feng, on the surface, he let Liu Feng guard the three counties of Shangyong, he is reusing Liu Feng, in fact, if he really values Liu Feng, he should leave Liu Feng in Chengdu and train him in all aspects, instead of letting him lead the army outside and let him only be a general.
Therefore, Liu Feng lost because he was not Liu Bei's own son, and he was nominally Liu Bei's eldest son, and his embarrassing identity and his character determined his final fate.
Some people may say that Zhuge Liang's judgment on Liu Feng is a little dark, and he can't convict Liu Feng because of his suspicions.
In fact, Liu Feng's words before his death exposed his character and proved that Zhuge Liang's suggestion that Liu Bei kill him was extremely correct.
3. Will Liu Feng really be bad for Shu Han?
After Liu Bei gave the order to kill Liu Feng, Liu Feng felt very desperate, but he was helpless, so he drew his sword and killed himself, and before he died, he said something like this:
I don't want to use Mencius's words.
Liu Feng said that he regretted not listening to Meng Da, so what did Meng Da say to him?
Before the start of the war, he wrote a letter of persuasion to Liu Feng, which is called "In Wei and Liu Fengshu".
Meng Da said in the letter that Liu Feng was not Liu Bei's own son, but he occupied the position of the eldest son, and he would be suspicious, and the ending would be tragic; Since Liu Chan was made the crown prince, many people have felt cold, he feels sad for Liu Feng, and hopes that Liu Feng will think more about himself.
Now under the foot and the king of Hanzhong, the ears of the people of the road, the relatives are not the blood and blood and the power, the righteousness is not the monarch and the minister is in the upper position, the levy has the authority of the partiality, and the residence has the name of the deputy army, and it has been heard from far and near. Self-reliance Adou as the prince has come, and people of insight are chilling.
Meng Da also said that Liu Feng was assigned to Shangyong, which was actually deliberately done by Liu Bei, and if he could stay outside for a long time, he could still protect himself; Once you return to Chengdu, you will definitely be killed. He also warned Liu Feng that it would be unwise not to take measures knowing that a catastrophe was coming.
Therefore, Meng Da persuaded Liu Feng to defect to Cao Wei, Liu Feng was the son of Luo Hou after all, and leaving Liu Bei was not considered a betrayal, and Cao Pi had promised that as long as Liu Feng surrendered, he could be made a marquis.
However, because Liu Feng did not have a good relationship with Meng Da, he did not listen to Meng Da's words, but led the army to resist stubbornly, and finally suffered defeat.
And Liu Feng's ending was also said by Meng Da, and after returning to Chengdu, he was really suspicious, and was finally killed by Liu Bei.
Although Liu Feng did not surrender to Cao Wei, what he said before his death showed that he had considered surrendering Cao Wei, but he did not think clearly about the stakes of the matter at that time, so he made a decision that he regretted.
If Liu Feng hadn't been killed, and he had deeply realized his embarrassing situation in Shu Han, I think that with his character, he might not continue to be loyal to Shu Han, and he would do something harmful to Shu Han.
Even if Liu Feng can accept the reality and become a loyal minister of Shu Han, his special status will become the most unstable factor within Shu Han.
The reason why I say this is related to the factions within Shu Han, in addition to the Jingzhou group, there are also several forces such as the Yizhou group and the Dongzhou group in the Shu Han court, and the struggle between these forces is very fierce, for the sake of their own interests, it is inevitable that someone will support Liu Feng to fight against other forces, which can easily cause the internal collapse of Shu Han.
Therefore, in any way, Liu Feng is the most unstable factor within Shu Han, his existence is very dangerous for the already weak Shu Han, only when he dies, can the political pattern of Shu Han be maintained, and ensure that Shu Han continues to survive and develop under the leadership of Liu Chan and the Jingzhou group.
So, what is wrong with Liu Feng?
In fact, except that Liu Feng should be responsible for the loss of the three counties of Shangyong, he is not at fault in other aspects, especially Guan Yu's death, which cannot be counted on his head.
Liu Feng's death, on the one hand, was because of his character traits, which made Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang feel uneasy; On the other hand, his status as Liu Bei's eldest son, when Liu Chan was already the crown prince, was destined to become the biggest obstacle to the stability of the Shu Han regime.
In general, Liu Feng was killed not because he did not save Guan Yu and the loss of the three counties of Shangyong, but because Liu Bei wanted to stabilize Liu Chan's position as the heir and ensure the stable development of Shu Han in the future.
Historically, many historians have cried out for Liu Feng, such as the Ming Dynasty scholar Li Zhen once said:
Although Liu Feng did not come to the rescue, his crime was in the same family as Mi Fang, and he was excusable. If Fu Shiren and Meng Da are thieves against the country, the crime cannot be punished. Anyone who reads history must be convicted in the same way as he is, so as not to wronged people.
It is understandable that Liu Feng did not save Guan Yu, Fu Shiren, Meng Da and others are traitors, and their crimes cannot be punished. When we read history books, we must find out what happened, and we must not wronged people.
Indeed, Liu Feng is not a traitor after all, he was unjustly killed, of course Liu Bei knew this, so he wiped his tears alone after Liu Feng's death, it can be seen that he is also very helpless, he doesn't do anything, it is not good for Jiangshan Sheji, so he can only abandon Liu Feng.