Strictly speaking, in the feudal dynasty, there was no so-called second-in-command.
The second in command belongs to the deputy post and has the power to succeed the first in command. I would like to ask, who is qualified to succeed Liu Bei and become the owner of Shu Han?
None of the three were qualified, and the only ones who could replace Liu Bei were Liu Bei's descendants, Liu Feng, Liu Chan, and other sons.
Here is a digression, Liu Feng has Liu Bei's inheritance rights, and has a certain degree of military power, which is too much of a threat to Liu Chan, and Zhuge Liang had to consider eliminating this threat.
Returning to the truth, we continue to discuss Liu Bei's "second in command", in fact, the correct question should be: of the three people, who is Liu Bei's deputy.
Guan Yu was in charge of Jingzhou, and Fazheng and Zhuge Liang followed Liu Bei, and from this point alone, Guan Yu could be excluded.
For the power of the place is never inferior to that of the center.
Most people say that Guan Yu sits in Jingzhou, has soldiers and food under his command, and has great power. But this is not the case.
Many people have questions: Why did the general of Bianzhen and the thousands of soldiers and horses under him be killed by the neck as soon as he wrote an edict, and did not even dare to resist?
Here is a concept to be understood: commanding an army is not the same as having an army.
Armies are made up of people, and people have seven passions and six desires, entangled with the interests of others, and have more basic needs - food and money.
Food keeps itself alive, and money can support a family or lead to a better life. Both of these conditions were in the hands of the imperial court, not the general of the town guard.
Guan Yu's Jingzhou army, the distribution of money and grain, the promotion and demotion of generals, and the supply of equipment were all in Liu Bei's hands. Guan Yu was able to order the Jingzhou armies because of Liu Bei's permission.
Those who want to rebel must have their own soldiers, and they must also have money and food. Didn't Cao Cao "scatter his family wealth" and only then recruit thousands of Danyang soldiers?
Only by controlling the money and grain can we control the army, and where is the money and grain of the Jingzhou army? In Liu Bei's hands.
Central power and local power are like two ends of a seesaw, and when the central power is strong, it is impossible for local separatist regimes to appear. The local separatist regime existed only because the center of the imperial court lost power.
Just like Sima Yi, whether it was to fight Liaodong or defend Zhuge Liang, as long as Emperor Cao Wei let go, he could only obediently surrender his military power. Not to mention Cao Pi and Cao Rui, even Cao Shuang couldn't get it, and could only rely on the three thousand dead soldiers recruited by his son Sima Shi to turn over.
In Jingzhou, Guan Yu had a certain degree of autonomy, but it did not reach the point of a hall of words, otherwise he would not be locked out of the city by Mi Fang.
Unless Guan Yu is self-reliant and Jingzhou is self-contained, Guan Yu's power will never exceed zhuge liang and Fazheng in the center.
Guan Yu's duties are different from those of Fazheng and Zhuge Liang, with the former being the main external and the latter two mainly managing the inside.
The power of the three people is actually difficult to distinguish between big and small, but the focus is different. But the closer you get to the center, the greater the power is an indisputable fact. Of course, the deputy is going to stay around.
Therefore, Liu Bei's deputy would only be between Fa Zheng and Zhuge Liang. So who are the deputies of these two people? In fact, we can see it more clearly from the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
First look at Liu Bei's positions as the first two men of the king:
Chengdu Ping, with Liang as the general of the military division, was in charge of the affairs of the left general's office. The first lord went out, Liang Chang town guarded Chengdu, enough to eat enough soldiers.
With Zheng as the Taishou of Shu Commandery and the general of Yangwu, the outer commander of the capital and the inner master.
Those who read the "Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Book of Shu" will know that before Liu Bei was called the King of Hanzhong, his subordinates were full of miscellaneous generals, Zhuge Liang's military division generals (this was an official position specially set up by Liu Bei for Zhuge Liang), Mi Zhu's general An Han, Guan Yu's general Dang Kou, and so on.
The reason for this is only because Liu Bei is a general of the left, and other people cannot be higher than this official position, and even the state pastor and the history of the assassination are not very good.
Before the King of Hanzhong, Liu Bei could only take a number of miscellaneous generals and county guards to manage his own territory.
Generally speaking, county orders are responsible to the county sheriff, the county sheriff is responsible to the thorn history or the state pastor, and the thorn history or the state pastor is responsible to the imperial court, like a ladder. The Han court was in Cao Cao's hands, and Liu Bei could not have listened to Cao Cao.
But local power must be subordinated to the center, otherwise there will be chaos, where is Liu Bei's center? It is the Left General's Mansion.
Therefore, here in Liu Bei, the ladder of power became the county order - county shou - left general's mansion. Zhuge Liang's military division general is the post, and the left general's office is the power.
Earlier I said that the Zuo General's Mansion is Liu Bei's center, so Zhuge Liang, who is in charge of the Left General's Mansion, is naturally a key member of the center, and the Fa is the Shu Commandery Taishou, a local official.
Note: In fact, both of them followed Liu Bei's side to give advice, and here is only from the aspect of authority to analyze, explain the difference between the two.
The deputy will only stay in the center, accompanying the "emperor".
As queen, Liu Bei had two sets of leadership groups: one set of the Hanzhong kingdom system, and the other set of the Great Sima Mansion of the Han Dynasty.
Let's look at the changes in the powers of Zhuge Liang and Fazheng:
He was the first lord of Shu, Zheng He was the general in charge of the army, and together with the military division general Zhuge Liang, he took charge of the affairs of the left general Sima Fu.
He was made the King of Hanzhong and the General of Shang Shuling and the General of the Protectorate.
Fa zheng was a Shang Shu Ling, who belonged to Liu Bei's Hanzhong kingdom system and became the "minister" of the Hanzhong kingdom.
Zhuge Liang's official position did not change, and he was still a miscellaneous general of the Han Dynasty, but his authority was increased, not only in charge of the affairs of the Left General's Mansion, but also in charge of the Grand Sima Mansion.
Some people will say that Fazheng's Shang Shuling should be Liu Bei's deputy, right? Not really.
In his early years, Xun Yu was the Shang Shu Ling of the Han Dynasty, a veritable prime minister who could be described as Cao Cao's deputy. However, Fa Zheng was only the prime minister of the Hanzhong Kingdom, not Liu Bei's deputy. Because Liu Bei is not only the five counties of Hanzhong.
Liu Bei's Hanzhong King only had five counties, and even Yizhou was not covered completely, let alone Jingzhou in the east. The king of Hanzhong had a high status and limited power radiation, and could only issue orders in the five counties of Hanzhong, just as the emperor of the Southern Dynasty had great power and could not control the territory of Northern Wei.
Liu Bei, the king of Hanzhong, could "do whatever he wanted" in the five counties of Hanzhong, but what about other territories? To talk about the king of Hanzhong is not right. Therefore, Liu Bei also had to rely on the Han official system, the Great Sima Fu.
The power ladder of Liu Bei's forces became the county order - county shou - Sima Fu, and Sima Fu replaced the Zuo General Mansion as Liu Bei's new center.
Sima Fu had the right to administer Jingzhou, Yizhou, and even the territory of the King of Hanzhong, but the King of Hanzhong could only administer the five counties of Hanzhong. You see?
Similarly, Fa Zheng's orders could only be in the five counties of Hanzhong, but Zhuge Liang could manage Liu Bei's entire territory, and it was obvious who was his deputy.
Cao Cao and Cao Pi's father and son both had two identities: the Han Dynasty and the King of Wei. Cao Cao's chancellor was able to command the world, but although his status as the king of Wei was noble, his power was not as good as that of the chancellor, and the orders of the king of Wei were only useful in the State of Wei.
Cao Cao had exclusive power as a chancellor, but Cao Pi did not ascend the throne as a chancellor (which was really a rebellion), but the King of Wei, who "rewarded" himself with the entire Territory of the Han Dynasty.
The ancients paid attention to the right words and words, so Zhuge Liang, Fazheng, Cao Cao, Cao Pi, and Liu Bei, their positions were not used casually, they all had hidden meanings.
In fact, in liu bei's subordinate letter to Liu Bei's request to be crowned king of Hanzhong, it can be seen that fazheng and Zhuge Liang have a high or low status:
Zhuge Liang, the general of the military division, Guan Yu, the general of Hanshouting, the general of Zhengyu, Zhang Fei, the general of Xinting, Huang Zhong, the general of Zhenxi, Lai Gong, the general of Zhenyuan, and Fazheng, the general of Yangwu...
In addition to ma chao in front of him, in Liu Bei's lineage, Zhuge Liang ranked first and Fa Zheng ranked sixth, can't you explain anything?