Chapter 25 Five, different routes lead to the same goal

Like the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Wei actually died long ago.After Sima Yi launched a coup in 249 AD, the government actually belonged to the Sima family.Sixteen years later, Sima Yan forced Emperor Wei Yuan to abdicate, but it was just a formality. The process of the coup will be discussed later (see "Wei and Jin Demeanor" in the eleventh volume of Chinese History for details), and here we only talk about the root cause. The reason has to start with Cao Wei Jianguo. Cao Wei's road to the founding of the country was explored step by step.Because Cao Cao's characteristic is that he has ideals but no blueprint.His ideal is to establish a "legalist regime" that is "non-gentry".Therefore, Cao Cao was naturally resisted by the gentry class, including extermination and assassination.

However, the Battle of Guandu changed the whole situation.Yuan Shao, who best represented the gentry class, proved to be a paper tiger, while Cao Cao, who "followed the emperor to order him not to be a minister", became a symbol of the empire.As a result, both the gentry and Cao Cao faced a dilemma: the gentry could not set up another central government without Cao Cao, and Cao Cao could not respect the emperor without the gentry, and without the card of the emperor, they would lose the legitimacy of their struggle. This is an important reason why Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was safe and sound.

It is not surprising that there are more gentry and celebrities around Cao Cao than other warlords.Because before Cao Pi replaced the Han, there was no difference between Cao Wei and the Han.Therefore, even if you go to Xudu, it doesn't mean you take refuge in Cao Cao; even if you take refuge in Cao Cao, it doesn't mean you are dead-hearted; In other words, Cao Cao, the gentry and celebrities are all planning the same plan: to use each other to achieve their own goals. At this time, it depends on who can play chess. It was Kong Rong who publicly challenged him, but Cao Cao unceremoniously killed him on the charge of "unfilial piety".It was Xun Yu who had fantasies, but he sacrificed his own life for his ideals because he opposed Cao Cao's appointment as Duke Wei.The two were regarded as anti-Cao and pro-Cao factions respectively, but they ended up in the same direction by different routes, which is unavoidable.

The tragedies of Kong Rong and Xun Yu were in the final analysis caused by their celebrity status, gentry position and Confucianism.The Eastern Han Dynasty rejuvenated the country with fame and religion, and the aristocratic families established themselves with Confucianism. The concept of loyalty to the emperor and chastity was deeply rooted. Dynasty change became the most sensitive issue, and even the standard for drawing lines seemed to have no choice. It was Chen Qun who chose the curve to save the country. Chen Qun, like Lu Su, knew that the Han Dynasty could not be revived, but firmly believed that the gentry class had a bright future.The key to success or failure lies in Cao Wei.Therefore, not only did he not oppose Cao Cao's founding of the country, but he even actively persuaded him to do so.But as soon as Cao Cao died, he submitted to Cao Pi the "Nine Ranks of Official Laws" he formulated.

The Nine-rank Official Personnel Law is also called "Nine-rank Zhongzheng System".To put it bluntly, the gentry monopolizes the official power, and then distributes official positions and official positions within the gentry according to the level of family prestige, the status of the family, and the size of the power.Therefore, if this bill can be passed and implemented, although the Eastern Han Dynasty will perish, the gentry will win. This is the difference between Chen Qun and Xun Yu.What Xun Yu defended was the dying Eastern Han Dynasty; what Chen Qun defended was the flourishing gentry class.Therefore, Xun Yu failed and Chen Qun succeeded; Xun Yu was noble and Chen Qun was brilliant.

Cao Pi figured out a question: Is the gentry's opposition to the Cao family for the sake of the Han Dynasty or the privilege of being an official?Cao Pi thinks it is the latter.So he accepted Chen Qun's suggestion and ordered it to be implemented.It didn't take long for him to become emperor with the help and support of the gentry in the Central Plains. This is Cao Pi's victory and Cao Cao's failure; it is Cao Pi's comedy and Cao Cao's tragedy.As a "non-gentry" "Government of the Legalist Han Clan", once its nature changes, will Cao Wei still have the value and significance of existence?

Therefore, Cao Pi's Wei Dynasty is no longer Cao Cao's Wei State.The day Cao Pi successfully replaced the Han Dynasty was the time when Cao Wei was about to perish.The gentry group headed by the Sima family overthrew the Cao Wei established by the non-gentry, but it was just another crowning of the regime of the gentry class.This is the way of Cao Wei and the root cause of its demise. So, what about Shu Han and Sun Wu? Sun Quan and Liu Bei were originally not qualified to found a country. They have to thank Cao Cao for providing both positive and negative experiences and lessons.The positive experience provided by Cao Cao is: the gentry is not terrible, and non-gentry can also conquer the world.The negative lesson provided by Cao Cao is: the power of the gentry is so great that they can only be used, not resisted.

Therefore, both Sun and Liu had to find another way. It was Sun Quan who followed the trend. Sun Quan's path is "Jiangdongization", that is, the "localization" and "gentryization" of the regime.This allowed Soochow to survive in the cracks and develop in times of crisis.Unfortunately, although Jiang Donghua consolidated the foundation of the Sun Wu regime, it also changed its nature.The former is what Sun Quan hopes, while the latter is what he fears. As a result, in his later years, Sun Quan gradually became divided in his heart, with a headstrong style and perverse behavior. He was even more suspicious of the Jiangdong gentry, so that he had his own power and tortured him harshly.As a result, there was no communication between the upper and lower levels, the monarch and his ministers were separated from each other, and unjust prisons continued to arise, and Wu became the most unstable country in the country.What's more, the Jiangdong gentry could not compete with the Central Plains gentry, so Sun Wu finally died in the Western Jin Dynasty.

It was Liu Bei who made a detour. Liu Bei's approach is to stay at a respectful distance and try to avoid direct conflicts with the gentry class.After Zhuge Liang came to power, he ruled the country according to the law and employed people according to the law, so his government was the most like the government, and the Shu Han became the best governed among the Three Kingdoms. However, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang also have an inextricable knot. First, they cannot be "indigenized".Because in that case, the Shu Han will inevitably become a conservative and narrow country, where everyone is content with the status quo and does not want to make progress. How can they go north to the Central Plains and realize the ideal of revitalizing the Han Dynasty?

What's more, as the leader of a foreign regime, it is impossible for Zhuge Liang to fully trust those natives.Therefore, not only could he not implement "Shu people governing Shu", but he had to control it politically and stabilize the economy, so as to prevent the gentry and tyrants in Yizhou from getting too big.Otherwise, there is no guarantee that the Shu Han regime will not be overthrown. Without "localization", there is no need to "gentlemanship". In fact, like Cao Cao, what Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang wanted to establish was also a "Legislative Han clan regime", but Liu Bei was more inclined to the Han clan, and Zhuge Liang was more inclined to the Legalist clan.However, it's the same if you don't follow Yuan Shao's route.

Liu Bei, known as the clan, was actually born in a poor family, and none of the early core members of the Liu Bei Group came from famous families. Guan Yu even dismissed celebrities and scholar-bureaucrats.Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang were outwardly polite but politically vigilant.They will not be relentless once they find out that the speeches and actions of celebrities endanger the regime. Therefore, Liu Bei killed Zhang Yu, Zhuge Liang killed Peng Yi, deposed Laimin, and deposed Liao Li.Peng Yi was charged with inciting rebellion and overthrowing the regime; Liao Li was charged with slandering the late emperor and ministers; Lai Min was charged with disorderly groups.Zhang Yu is a celebrity in Sichuan, Peng Yi is a famous scholar in Yizhou, Liao Li is a talented person in Chu, and Lai Min is a famous family in Jingchu. It can be seen that Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are only attacking the nobles and have nothing to do with the region. This is no different from Cao Cao. In fact, both Zhuge Liang and Cao Cao were legalists, and what they wanted to build was an efficient and clean government and a fair and clear society.However, fairness cannot favor the gentry, efficiency cannot only be based on family background, integrity cannot tolerate corruption, and purity cannot allow domineering.All of these are incompatible with the three major characteristics of the gentry and landlord class: "monopolizing official careers, controlling public opinion, and becoming powerful." How could they support it?More importantly, with the strength of Cao Wei, he had to give up his efforts; with the weakness of Shu Han, how could he fight? Therefore, the Shu Han must die first. Now it can be concluded that Wei, Shu, and Wu are all "non-gentry regimes" in essence, and the heads of the three families are not gentry, so they have conflicts with the gentry class.The result of the struggle was that Cao Wei gave up, Sun Wu compromised, and Shu Han insisted.Because of persistence, the Shu Han died first.Because of giving up, Cao Wei also died.Because of the compromise, Sun Wushang was able to survive, but he had to die.Because only the Jin Dynasty is a complete and complete regime of the gentry and landlord class. This is the "Three Kingdoms". How, then, should we view this history?