Chapter 29 Fourth, let’s talk about Zhuge Liang

Zhuge Liang was exhausted. This is not surprising.He has too many affairs to deal with, and too many threads.However, he is also a serious and responsible person, who does everything by himself, for fear of disappointing the high expectations of the late emperor.It can be said that he is going to risk his life to complete the mission, and is determined to "dedicate himself to death and die." Responsibilities and responsibilities have been overwhelmed, not to mention that I still have ideals. Trouble also arises from this. The real trouble lies not in the revival of the Han Dynasty, but in what kind of Han Dynasty to revive.If the surname is Liu, why not assist Liu Biao?If you still want to follow the old path of the Eastern Han Dynasty, why not follow Yuan Shao?You know, Zhuge Liang was already twenty years old at the time of the Battle of Guandu, and he had already regarded himself as Guan Zhong and Le Yi.

Choosing Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang must have an idea. In fact, like Cao Cao, Zhuge Liang is both the builder of the new order and the reformer of the old system.What he implemented in Shuhan was actually a "Cao Cao route without Cao Cao", and he might even go further. For example, "rule the country by law". This is what both Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang advocated, and it is impossible for them to fully achieve it.However, the rule of man and the rule of law are 40-60, or even 50-50 for Cao Cao.When he killed Kong Rong, Cui Yan, and Yang Xiu, there was no rule of law at all, even though he had always been rewarded and punished clearly, and he had "judicially" himself.

Zhuge Liang achieved a 30-70 split, or even a 20-80 split.He also condoned Fazheng's misbehavior and unjustly killed a large family in Yizhou, but that was either a last resort or a political need.He always tried to be impartial whenever possible. What was the outcome? The noble and the humble, the virtuous and the foolish all admire and resent.Admiration is due to the fairness of the law enforcement, while resentment is due to the strict legislation.In fact, fairness does not mean that it is not harsh, but that it is equally harsh to everyone.Therefore, on the one hand, it is "those who have severe punishments but have no complaints", and on the other hand, "since gentlemen and villains harbor grievances".

So, is Zhuge Liang's law a harsh law? certainly.Because his government is a military government, his political and economic management is also a wartime system.Looking at it this way, even the case of Peng Yi was probably motivated by political needs, even though Zhuge Liang hated this person extremely.But more importantly, people cannot be allowed to talk nonsense during the war years.freedom of speech?Don't think about it! Even Zhuge Liang himself was cautious. Caution is also a political imperative.You must know that Zhuge Liang's power and authority in the Shu Han far surpassed Liu Chan, and the Northern Expedition to Cao Wei suffered successive defeats, costing people and money, and it is not wise to misuse Ma Su to suppress Wei Yan.The high places are not very cold, not to mention the wind and waves are everywhere, so you are not afraid of other people's gossip?

Also afraid. Under such circumstances, the only way to achieve "authority without disrespect, and conduct the affairs of the king without suspicion among the people of the country" is to be strict with yourself.At least, Zhuge Liang has no surplus inside and no money outside, and he has indeed achieved a breeze with two sleeves.It is this kind of lofty integrity that has won him the sincere admiration and memory of the people. The question is, does he have to be so tired? nor. In fact, the so-called incompetence of Liu Chan is not true.After Zhuge Liang's death, Liu Chan no longer appointed a prime minister. Instead, Grand Sima Jiang Wan was in charge of administration and military affairs, and General Fei Yi was in charge of military affairs and administration.Such a check-and-balance political structure and distribution of power, how could a mentally handicapped person come up with it?

Liu Chan is not confused either.When Sima Yi conquered Liaodong, the Shu people thought it was a great opportunity to conquer Cao Wei in the north, but Liu Chan was very calm.He ordered Jiang Wan to be stationed in Hanzhong, and at the same time instructed that he must wait until the Wu army also started to move, the east and the west responded to each other, and there were problems within Wei before launching an attack. Retarded?no! So, why did Zhuge Liang want to monopolize power and refuse to return the power to the king? Perhaps, he wants political reform. In other words, what he wants to revive is actually the ideal Western Han Dynasty.

The political ideal implicit in the state system in the early Western Han Dynasty was to distinguish between the court and the imperial court, the imperial power and the ministerial power, and the palace and the mansion.The emperor is the head of state and mainly plays the role of symbolizing the unity of the country; the prime minister is the head of the government, leading officials to manage the country and taking all practical political responsibilities. This kind of system is called "virtual ruler and real reality". The truth of the virtual king, okay? Not the best, but not bad either.Because according to this system, the emperor is authorized but not responsible, and the prime minister is responsible but has no sovereignty.Once something happens to the country, the unadministrated head of state can question the actual responsible prime minister in the name of the authorized person, and the latter may become a "responsible cabinet" or "accountable government."

This was the case with the Shu Han when Zhuge Liang was in power. "Teacher's Table" said: "May your Majesty entrust your ministers with the effect of reviving the thieves, and if you fail, you will punish the ministers, so as to sue the spirit of the late emperor." This means that there is both authorization and accountability, which is actually better than the emperor's own administration. However, there are many problems here. First of all, how to ensure that the prime minister with real power will not take the opportunity to coup and become the new emperor who both usurped the throne and pro-government?Zhuge Liang's method is to use his own personality as a guarantee, but unfortunately moral guarantees have never been reliable.Zhuge Liang himself is not Wang Mang, which does not mean that anyone else is not Cao Pi.

Secondly, in the absence of a constitution and a parliament, we don't know how to produce a prime minister who has real power and will never coup.Of course Liu Bei was very lucky, but Liu Chan didn't dare to gamble on it.After Jiang Wan's death, he simply "covered state affairs by himself", and became the king of subjugation, so he could only go to Luoyang to pretend to be crazy. Zhuge Liang's political reform finally failed, if he really intended. if. Zhuge Liang, who failed in political reform, can only be a moral model, even Lu Dongbin's brother.People marveled at his "unsuccessful" and envied his "three times to see" and even asked him to wear gossip clothes, shake a goose feather fan, and pull out tricks from his sleeves. "Symbol of Wisdom".

No one mentions the virtual king and the real truth, and governing the country by law. To sum up experience and learn lessons, don't even think about it. Maybe this is history.History is not always able to truly present its true colors, and historical images are not always as far-reaching as literary and folk images, and the idols of the common people are not allowed to be criticized and discussed. Zhuge Liang's spirit in heaven can only chew on his own loneliness. So, what about Cao Cao?