Peng Xizi Yongnian was a native of Guanghan (廣汉; present-day GuanghanBei, Sichuan). After Liu Bei entered Sichuan, he took the initiative to defect to Liu Bei, which won the respect of Pang Tong and the trust of Liu Bei. However, after Liu Bei pacified Shuzhong, Peng Xi was arrogant and self-effacing, causing Zhuge Liang to hate him, and Liu Bei was estranged from him. Later, because he was dissatisfied with the external official and conspired with Ma Chaoyan, he was reported and killed. So what kind of person was Peng Xi, and why was he killed? In order to understand the truth, we should also go into history.
Let's first look at what kind of person Peng Xi is, according to the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Peng Xi is eight feet long and has a very great appearance. Proud of posture, many neglects. That is to say, Peng Xi is a standard handsome guy according to the current words, not only growing tall, but also looking particularly good. However, the personality of Peng Xi, who is a talented person, has an innate deficiency, that is, he is very proud of his people, has no one in sight, and looks down on others. In his eyes, Qin Mi was not bad at the same time, and he once wrote a letter of recommendation for Qin Mi to Xu Jing, the Guanghan Taishou at that time. After entering the career path, Peng Xi's development under Liu Zhang's hands was particularly unsmooth. He was only in the state, holding a minor secretary position. Peng Xi, whose official position is not high, at this time, should be at ease with his own work and wait for the opportunity to appear. But Peng Xi not only did not work steadily, but also had a very arrogant temperament, looked down on most people, and the relationship with his colleagues was very stiff. In the end, he was most guilty of being slandered. But what we need to note here is that he was slandered by all, not by someone. It is estimated that he has not committed any major crimes, but he is arrogant, has a self-respecting and arrogant attitude all day long, ignores the existence of others, and it is estimated that he has not expressed his opinions on the advantages and disadvantages of leading colleagues, and his words are also very harsh, making colleagues very dissatisfied with Peng Xi and very annoying. After arousing the people's indignation, everyone went to Liu Zhang's office to complain to Peng Xi, framed him, and said a lot of bad things about Peng Xi. This caused Liu Zhang's dissatisfaction and punished Peng Xi, who was made an apprentice by The Tongs. That is to say, Peng Xi was shaved his head, chained, and became a labor prisoner. Especially being shaved, which is a great humiliation for Peng Xi, a handsome figure. Through this incident, we can also see that Peng Xi is a person who is very difficult to handle interpersonal relations, will not unite colleagues, and the official field has always been dark, and should have been cautious, low-key, and kind to others, but Peng Xi went against the way, and naturally he would cause trouble for himself.
Peng Xi, who was punished, could no longer enter the career under Liu Zhang. But history gave him a turning point. That is Liu Bei into the river. Liu Bei was originally at the request of Liu Zhang, defending him against Zhang Lu's invasion of Chuan. However, Liu Bei's trip was worried about seizing the opportunity to seize Liu Zhang's territory. Later, Liu Bei and Liu Zhang broke up and turned their faces, so he led his army from Yemeng Pass to attack Chengdu. At this time, Peng Xi, a civilian, learned that Liu Bei and Liu Zhang were attacking each other, and took the initiative to defect to Liu Bei. Peng Xi, who was obviously depressed under Liu Zhang, wanted to develop under Liu Bei. He did not see Liu Bei directly, estimating that he might have a low status and rush to see him, and he would be rejected. He first went to see Liu Bei's military master Pang Tong. When he met Pang Tong, Pang Tong was a guest at the conference, and he did not have any exchanges with Peng Xi, and he did not have a very intimate conversation with Peng Xi. Seeing that Pang Tong did not pay attention to himself, Peng Xian took the initiative to lie on Pang Tong's bed and said to Pang Tong: "When the guests are gone, I will talk to you again." Seeing Peng Xi's strange behavior, Pang Tong did not blame Peng Xi, but acquiesced to his behavior. After Pang Tong sent the guests away, he walked back and sat down next to Peng Tong, who asked Pang Tong to entertain and eat, and then talked to Pang Tong about the right thing, the two met and hated late, so they stayed at Pang Tong's home for two nights, or even talked all day. Later, Fa Zheng also knew that Peng Xi was coming, and he had always valued Peng Xi very much, so he and Pang Tong unanimously recommended Peng Xi to Liu Bei. Liu Bei's impression of Peng Xi was not bad, so Liu Bei "ordered Several orders to publicize the military, instructed the generals, and gave the envoys the praise, and met Ri jia." It seems that Peng Xi was responsible for preaching military and other work, and the completion of the first was quite satisfactory, which made Liu Bei more satisfied, and his favor for him increased day by day.
Later, Liu Bei pacified Chengdu, and Liu Bei led Yizhou Mu and promoted Peng Xi to be engaged in zhizhong. It seems that Peng Xi was appointed as a middle-level official in Shuzhong at this time. But at this time, Peng Xi's mentality changed. He was suddenly promoted from an apprentice under Liu Zhang to a middle-level official in Shuzhong, and his status was worlds apart. Therefore, he began to be a little fluttery, and he began to relapse from the old disease, and he was arrogant and arrogant, and he was very self-conscious, showing others a face of a villain. As for the crimes that were committed under Liu Zhang's hands, he did not learn the lesson at all, secretly reflected on himself, and had long forgotten the Nine Clouds. Peng Xi's pride and self-esteem caused Zhuge Liang's dissatisfaction, although he was still polite to Peng Xi in public, but privately he hated Peng Xi's personality. Therefore, Zhuge Liang repeatedly spoke to Liu Bei, saying that Peng Xi had a broad heart and ambitions, and it was difficult to protect him. Liu Bei has always respected Zhuge Liang, and he also knows that Zhuge Liang is not a person who makes a small report and says bad things about people, and it must be that there is something wrong with Peng Xi. Therefore, he began to pay close attention to Peng Xi's actions, believing that the problems reflected by Zhuge Liang did exist, that Peng Xi was indeed too self-respecting and arrogant in the world, uneasy with the status quo, and did not show more outstanding talents and performance in the workplace. As a result, Liu Bei began to alienate Peng Xi and sent him from the Capital Official to Jiangyang as Taishou.
Peng Xi, who was once again frustrated in his career, did not seriously sum up the lessons of his official failures and reflect on his character defects in the world, but instead complained everywhere and expressed his dissatisfaction. Once, he found Ma Chao to confide in his displeasure. Ma Chao said to Peng Xi, "You are a talented person, and the lord Liu Bei also attaches great importance to you, saying that you can be on a par with Zhuge Liang and Fazheng, how can you go to a small place this time and disappoint everyone?" When Ma Chao said this, it is also possible that he said good things in a smooth way, followed Peng Xi's meaning, and comforted him. But Peng Xi opened his mouth and scolded Liu Bei, saying, "He is an old thing, how can he do such a faint thing." Expressed his strong dissatisfaction. Peng Xian, who did not know the convergence, then said to Ma Chao: "Qing is outside, I am inside, and the world is not fixed." ", meaning that Ma Chao is allowed to organize people and horses outside, I am in Chengdu to meet, the world's affairs are easy to handle. As soon as Peng Xian's rebellious remarks were exported, Ma Chao was immediately frightened into a cold sweat and silently refused to answer. At this time, Ma Chao was cornered and his family was destroyed in the warlord melee, but fortunately Liu Bei accepted him and used him quite heavily. However, because he was not from Liu Bei's concubine background, Ma Chao was often afraid of danger, afraid of being framed and attacked, so he has always been low-key. In the ancient feudal society, the monarch was even more suspicious of the generals with heavy troops. Peng Xian openly instigated himself to rebel, so did liu Bei know that he was okay? Therefore, Ma Chao immediately reported Peng Xi's rebellious remarks to the imperial court, so Peng Xian was immediately arrested and imprisoned on the charge of treason.
Peng Xi, who was arrested and imprisoned, immediately realized that he had run into a catastrophe, and he took the initiative to write a letter to Zhuge Liang in order to get Zhuge Liang's help and exonerate him. In his letter, he praised Liu Bei as a hero and Zhuge Liang as a sage, saying that his own words of scolding Liu Bei were momentary confusion, and that what he said was confused, which was not my intention at all. I don't dare to talk about rebellion. I mean let Ma Chao go north to attack Cao Cao, expand the territory for the lord's open territory, and make meritorious achievements, how can there be other ideas? I hope that Zhuge Liang can understand my original intention, you must also work hard and love yourself. But Peng Xi's letter obviously did not play any role, and in the end he was killed.
However, the Three Kingdoms Chronicle here about Peng Xi's death, using the word "actually", was actually killed, and it is obvious that the author regretted Peng Xi's killing, and even had some unjust meaning. So let's see if Peng Xi really wants to oppose it? Obviously, from the perspective of official position and ability, Peng Xi simply cannot organize a rebellion, just as the so-called "show talent is caused, three years will not be successful", in the case, he and Ma Chao do not have any deep friendship, Ma Chao will not rely on his three or two sentences, he will echo his idea of rebellion. It is estimated that at that time, Peng Xi was just a momentary angry words, and the words came out of his mouth. The main thing is to express his own strong dissatisfaction with the transfer of official positions, the original intention is not to rebel, and he did not have specific plans and activities for rebellion. Although Peng Xi did not have a specific act of rebellion, he found a general with military power and told him about the rebellion, which was serious enough. Especially in the era of feudal autocracy of the imperial power, the rhetoric of rebellion was not tolerated by any ruler, not to mention that Liu Bei had just occupied Shuzhong, and he was still worried about whether he could gain a firm foothold in Shuzhong. Moreover, Peng Xi was a native of Yizhou, and originally Liu Bei did not particularly trust them, so such a person did not deal with how to do it, so Peng Xi was completely self-destructive. So why did Zhuge Liang, who received Peng Xi's letter, remain indifferent? First of all, Peng Xi's rebellious remarks are conclusive evidence, difficult to open up, characterized as treason, a major crime, and not casually able to intercede; moreover, Zhuge Liang himself also hates Peng Xi's personality, plus Peng Xi has not shown a particularly outstanding talent, and he has some serious character defects in his behavior in the world, which is an unstable element for the stability of the government, and Zhuge Liang will not intercede for Peng Xi from this aspect. There is no record in history that Fa Zheng interceded for Peng Xi, on the one hand, because Peng Xi did have remarks of rebellion at that time; on the other hand, after Fa Zheng took over great power, he once retaliated against those who had minor conflicts with him, killing and destroying several people without authorization. Some of his actions have violated the laws of the state, attracting the attention of others and reporting to the imperial court. Therefore, Fa Zheng, who began to converge and became cautious, was not willing to get involved in Peng Xi's muddy waters and add trouble to himself. Therefore, it was still Peng Xi's personality that harmed himself, and when the catastrophe was imminent, no one was willing to come out and intercede for him.
In summary, Peng Xi's death should have been ordered by Liu Bei. Although Zhuge Liang hated Peng Xian, at that time he did not have the power of life and death, and this power was still in the hands of Liu Bei. As Pei Songzhi said, Zhuge Zhi was a stock humerus, and the matter belonged to the head of state, the life of Lord Liu, Liang did not take Yizhou, and the reward for the punishment was not out of his own. Although Peng Xi only lost his words for a while, according to reason, he did not die, but because he was still unstable in all aspects shortly after Liu Bei took Yizhou, and he was still making remarks of rebellion against Ma Chao, who had just surrendered to the general, at this sensitive time, it was easy to cause turmoil and cause chaos in Shuzhong, and in the eyes of outsiders, Peng Xi was also a restless and self-guarding person. Moreover, any ruler is extremely sensitive and suspicious of rebellion, which also directly threatens Liu Bei's rule, how can Liu Bei easily let Peng Xi go? In addition, Liu Bei's handling of Peng Xi also had the meaning of killing chickens to show the monkeys, that is, to let the officials in Shuzhong learn from them, obey Liu Bei's leadership, and not casually express dissatisfaction with the authorities. In the final analysis, Peng Xi's death is completely self-inflicted, as Chen Shou commented: "Looking at his measures, marking his rules, and inviting disasters to blame, all of them are themselves." From Peng Xi's deeds, it can be seen that he does not pay attention to his own behavior to restrain himself, is not good at handling interpersonal relationships, but is high-spirited every day, self-esteem and arrogance, no one in sight, and learns not to be a low-key person and do things in a high profile, which will eventually lead to his own self-destruction. This is the death of Peng Xi, which has brought us a little historical experience and lesson to future generations.