The author of this article is the depths of dusk, and the editor-in-chief is Sasha, if reprinted, please be sure to indicate
Three Kingdoms Little People Zhi 0030: The poor puppet who can't help himself - Liu Chun
Liu Chun, the poor puppet of the Three Kingdoms who can't help himself: His life is a script written by several directors
Liu Chun is the second son of Liu Biao in the Three Kingdoms era, and is also a famous soft egg image in the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". According to the narrative in the rendition, Liu Chun was the son of Liu Biao who was born to his new wife Lady Cai after he came to Jingzhou, and he was sixteen years old and clever, so he was favored by the teenager, deeply loved by Liu Biao, and also supported by Cai Mao Zhang Yun and other jingzhou real power factions.
After Liu Biao's death, Liu Chun became the lord of Jingzhou, but instead of thinking about protecting the territory and defending the territory, he was instead a representative of the local famous and prestigious clans in Jingzhou (mainly Cai, Zhang, and Ku), and surrendered to Cao Cao without firing a single shot. Try to use the way of taking the initiative to sacrifice the city to seek glory and wealth, and in exchange for the peace of the second half of his life.
However, what Cao Cao did not expect was that although Cao Cao promised to protect Liu Chun at first to "Yongzhen Jingxiang", he then rebelled and overturned his promise. Under the premise that Liu Chun was reluctant, he was hard-named "Qingzhou Assassin History" by Cao Cao, and rushed to Qingzhou on the same day. Not only that, Cao Cao also sent his generals to ban the halfway robbery and behead Liu Chun and Lady Cai's orphans and widows on the road to avoid future troubles.
As a result, Liu Chun, who had no remorse, died under Cao Cao's conspiracy in this way, and left "having a son like Sun Zhongmou!" in history! If Liu Jingsheng's son, the guinea pig ear "allusion ...
Is the real Liu Chun in history also such a weak and incompetent loser, who was frightened and dared not resist by Cao Cao, who was pressed in by the soldiers, and gave away the Jiangshan that his father had worked so hard to manage for twenty years, in vain, and in the end he could not end well?
I think we should still open the records of historical materials such as the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" to see what the real Liu Chun in history really looked like.
First of all, Liu Chun was not born to Lady Cai, he was born to Liu Biao's ex-wife like his brother Liu Qi, and the two were the closest brothers of the same father and mother. Moreover, Liu Chun's place of origin in the history books is Shanyang County, which is Liu Biao's hometown. According to this view, he should have been born before Liu Biao came to Jingzhou.
According to historical records, Liu Biao's reign in Jingzhou lasted for almost twenty years, and according to this calculation, when Liu Biao died of illness and Liu Chun surrendered to Cao Cao, he was at least 20 or even more than 30 years old, not 16 years old as stated in the speech.
Speaking of this, then the problem is, since Liu Chun is not the son of Lady Cai, he is not closer than Liu Qi in terms of blood relations with the powerful family of Jingzhou. So why did the powerful people of Jingzhou favor him and are bent on helping him to the throne and sitting on the chair of the lord of Jingzhou?
Is it because Liu Chun married Lady Cai's niece and has since climbed in-laws with the Cai family, so he can get the support of the big families in Jingzhou?
In fact, anyone familiar with history knows that the so-called marriage relationship does not play a decisive role in political circles. At best, it can only bring a kind of icing on the cake on the basis of the original relationship between the two sides. That is to say, the so-called marriage relationship of politicians and the climbing of relatives and families are only a continuation of political relations, and marriage relations cannot replace the interest relationship, let alone transcend the interest relationship.
Besides, if the power of the marriage was really so great, Liu Chun could get the support of the powerful people in Jingzhou, and it was entirely because he married a woman from the Cai family. Then why didn't Liu Qi want to do it, and also marry a daughter-in-law of the Cai family, and by the way, he could also take a young lady of the Zhang family and the Pu family as a concubine, and occupy all three families. Wouldn't this completely overwhelm Liu Chun and gain more support from the powerful people of Jingzhou?
Therefore, Liu Chun's marriage with the Cai family was not the reason why he could get the support of the Jingzhou family, but the result of the jingzhou magnates supporting him.
So, let's go back to the topic at the beginning: why did the local nobles in Jingzhou, including Cai Mao, Zhang Yun, And Ku Yue Puliang, support Liu Qi and oppose Liu Qi?
In fact, the reason for this problem can be largely attributed to Liu Biao.
At the beginning, Liu Biao was appointed by the imperial court to enter Jingzhou alone, and was able to rely on his own strength to pacify the eight counties of Jingxiang in a short period of time, because he had the support of the local magnates in Jingzhou. That is to say, Liu Biao's position in Jingzhou was actually guarded by the Cai family, the Zhang family, and the Ku family.
To put it bluntly, Liu Biao was only a ruler in Jingzhou, and even ugly, he was just a housekeeper used by the noble families of Jingzhou to manage the eight counties of Jingxiang. He seems to be very beautiful on the outside, but in fact, he does not have any real power in Jingzhou, and he can neither control the army of Jingzhou, nor can he control the lifeblood of grain, grass, economy and so on. The only thing he could do was to constantly wander between the several major families in Jingzhou, balance their relationship, and safeguard their interests, otherwise they might be knocked down by them at any time...
Does Liu Biao want to be a puppet like this for a lifetime, and have been working for the giants of Jingzhou?
Of course, Liu Biao did not want to be willing to do so, and he appointed a number of officials of the concubine lineage, such as Yi Yuan, Xiang Lang, etc., and also promoted a number of talented military generals, such as Huang Zhong and Wei Yan. In addition, Liu Biao also arranged for some of his own sons to enter Jingzhou as officials (such as his nephew Liu Pan, who guarded Changshayou County).
Liu Biao's purpose in doing so is undoubtedly to gradually cultivate his own power in Jingzhou, slowly grasp the military and political power of Jingzhou into his own hands, and become the true lord of Jingzhou. Naturally, these deeds of his could not conceal the eyes and ears of the jingzhou family, and they would certainly not sit still.
However, Liu Biao was also a state pastor appointed by the imperial court and was nominally the lord of Jingzhou. Doing things like appointing officials and military generals was entirely justified for him. If you openly oppose Liu Biao, you will not only be saddled with the black cauldron of "disobeying the imperial court", but it is more likely to cause internal strife in Jingzhou, and finally cause both sides to be unable to step down, but instead damage their own strength.
Since the hard method is not good, then the big family in Jingzhou can only come soft, first find a way to separate and provoke the relationship between Liu Biao's father and son, and then find a way to break it each way.
Therefore, the representatives of the Jingzhou giants, including Cai Mao, Zhang Yun, and Ku Yue Puliang, on the one hand, vigorously praised Liu Qi, both openly and secretly praised Liu Qi in front of Liu Biao, how clever and enterprising, and how he was a corporal; on the other hand, they also vigorously suppressed Liu Biao's eldest son Liu Qi, counting how disloyal and filial piety, talentless and unscrupulous, and asked Liu Biao to depose Liu Qi's status as the eldest son as soon as possible and establish Liu Qi as the heir (the "Biography of Liu Biao in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms" records: The table and his wife love shao zi Qun and want to think that they are the queen, and Cai Mao and Zhang Yun support the party)...
I have to say that this trick is really quite despicable, and it is very effective:
First, he played a demonstration role against Liu Biao, telling him from the side that the size of Jingzhou was not up to him alone;
Second, it also involved Liu Biao's energy, so that he had to be embarrassed by the issue of his own "concubine", and he was not a person between the two sons;
Sanlai also successfully provoked the relationship between Liu Qi and Liu Chun, making them jealous of each other and fighting for each other, so that the two brothers could not twist a rope...
That is to say, the reason why Liu Chun was supported by the elites in Jingzhou was entirely the result of political mediation. On the surface, Cai Mao Zhang Yun and these people were pampering him and supporting him to ascend to the throne. In fact, it is completely for their own benefit, using him and using him as a gun.
Under the arrangement of Cai Mao and others, Liu Chun, who was not yet married, also married the niece of the Cai family... There is no doubt that this is just a political marriage, and the purpose is only to kidnap Liu Chun to the Cai family and become their puppet. And Liu Chun? He can neither change all this nor stay out of the matter, but can only listen to these people's arrangements and let them be at their mercy...
It can be seen that Liu Chun is also a person who cannot control his own destiny, and the situation he is in is not necessarily much better than that of his brother Liu Qi. In that chaotic world of the herds of deer, in this constantly strifeed political arena, they have neither a backstage nor a strength, they can only be at the mercy of others in the competition of various forces, and seek the space for survival on the cusp of the storm...
Liu Qi, who was alone, threw himself at Liu Bei and, with Liu Bei's support, had political and military backers. However, Liu Bei, who was benevolent in appearance, was not a good stubble, and the purpose of his coming to Jingzhou was also to seek the territory of the eight counties of Jingxiang. Obviously, Liu Qi was ostensibly an object of respect in his camp, but in fact he was also a pawn in Liu Bei's plot to seize Jingzhou.
In this way, the two brothers Liu Qi and Liu Chun involuntarily became weapons used by different interest groups to compete for control of Jingzhou...
With the passage of time, Liu Biao, who was already old and sick, entered the last days of the wind and candle years, and gradually became unable to manage the government, and the power fell by the wayside. Cao Cao in the north defeated Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guandu and pacified the remnants of Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, and gradually turned his strategic attention to the south.
Cai Mao, Zhang Yun, and other powerful Jingxiang magnates, in order to avoid the family being affected by the war, decided to sacrifice jingzhou territory and surrender to Cao Cao. In order to avoid the loss of reputation and the insult of falling without a fight, they also deliberately pushed Liu Chun to the front of the curtain. First, after Liu Biao's death, they jointly elected Liu Chun to succeed him as Jingzhou Mu, and then let Liu Chun "lead" them to surrender as a state pastor...
Of course, Liu Chun did not want to surrender without a fight, and gave up his father's hard work for 20 years, so he gave it away in vain, and he also had to carry the black pot and bear the name of soft eggs... However, all this can't help but be decided by him. In the past, there was the menacing Tiger and Wolf Division of Cao Cao's army, and then there was the Jingzhou giants who held military power to force them, and Liu Chun, who was isolated and helpless in it, what could he change?
If he did not do what his uncle Cai Mao wanted and presided over the surrender of Cao Cao, then he could be sent to reunite with his father, who had just died, at any time...
According to historical records such as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, after surrendering to Cao Cao, Liu Chun was not expelled from Jingzhou and assassinated in the middle of the road, as the interpretation says. Instead, he took Cao Cao's letter of appointment and came to Qingzhou to take up his post and assumed the post of "Assassin History". The so-called history of assassination is actually similar to the status of local inspectors, with neither military power nor local real power. And the qingzhou territory was cao cao's hinterland, and the actual power was controlled by Zang Ba, a general who was extremely trusted by Cao Cao, where else could Liu Chun be used to supervise what?
It can be seen that Liu Chun's "Qingzhou Thorn History" is basically an empty shelf in name, holding a generous salary, and living a pension and mixing days... Obviously, Cao Cao's policy toward him was similar to that of other capitulators before. They are all the ones that are 'in a high position and eat empty wages, and have enough food and clothing without real power'.
Speaking of which, Qingzhou is still Liu Chun's hometown (from Gaoping, Shanyang, which belongs to the qingzhou territory), and he is equivalent to returning to his birthplace. Since then, Liu Chun has lived a low-key life in his hometown without power and power, and there is no shortage of money to spend. Regarding his follow-up story, it is no longer recorded in the history books...
In summary, we should be able to more clearly outline the true face of Liu Chun in history. In fact, like his brother Liu Qi, he is a child who can't help himself in the chaotic world. From the beginning to the end, they could not control their own destiny, and could only let the various people around them constantly manipulate and use, playing between the palms of their hands.
Neither of them had any political or military talents, or perhaps some talents, but there was no room for them to play. However, neither brother lacked political vision and wisdom, not only acting in a low-key manner, but also knowing how to mediate in political disputes.
More importantly, both of them know how to cater to the wishes of the "master" and how to bring corresponding benefits to the "master". Therefore, both of them had successively sat in the chair of the supreme ruler of Jingzhou, although they were only puppets, and they did not stay long, but at least in the end, they saved their lives and could also die well.
After all, in this chaotic world full of guns and arrows, everyone licking the blood of the knife, it is already much luckier than most people to be able to avoid the threat of war and political disputes, and to live a moist life with official positions and money to spend...
PS: About "Having a son should be like Sun Zhongmou!" If Liu Jingsheng's son, the guinea pig ear" this evaluation, I personally feel that its true meaning is not only to belittle Liu Qi's ability, but more to lament their suffering.
Cao Cao's generation of overlords naturally hopes that his children and grandchildren can also inherit the aspirations of their fathers like Sun Quan, keep the foundation of their fathers, point out the country and mountains, and become the hegemons of a new generation. Instead of being like Liu Biao's sons, fate drifts to zero, and they can't help themselves, they can only be puppets for others, watch other people's faces and eat...
What Cao Cao did not expect was that his descendants also became what he called decades later, the so-called "generation of guinea pigs", and became puppets for others...