Chapter 50 10. Return of the Three Kingdoms to Jin

In 263 A.D., Wei State destroyed Shu; in 280 A.D., Jin Dynasty destroyed Wu.On the stage of chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan relied on their extraordinary abilities to surpass the heroes and each led a place, forming a three-legged confrontation.However, after some vicissitudes, the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu belonged to the Jin Dynasty together.What kind of historical laws are hidden behind these complicated and confusing layers of fog? In his later years, Sun Quan had forced Lu Xun to death. On the surface, it was because Lu Xun was involved in the struggle between the crown prince and Sun and Lu Wangsun for hegemony, but in essence it was not the case.After Lu Xun's death, many people who were involved in the dispute between the prince and the king of Lu were promoted. These people supported both the prince and the king of Lu.And those unlucky people, such as Lu Xun who was forced to death, Gu Tan who was exiled, and Wu Can who was executed, were all Jiangdong gentry.Although Sun Quan had stabilized his country with the help of the Jiangdong gentry, the Sun family itself belonged to the Jiangdong Han clan. In his heart, he was suspicious of the Jiangdong gentry.Therefore, Sun Quan always wanted to find opportunities to deal with the Jiangdong people, so he used the excuse of the princeling struggle to attack a group of Jiangdong gentry headed by Lu Xun.

In fact, Sun Quan dealt with the Jiangdong gentry a long time ago.The four major families in Jiangdong are Yu, Wei, Gu, and Lu. Yu Fan, the representative of Yu, was almost killed by Sun Quan. Once Sun Quan invited his ministers to drink. While drinking, Sun Quan poured wine for the ministers one by one. When the wine was poured in front of Yu Fan, Yu Fan pretended to be drunk and lay down on the ground. Sun Quan saw him like this, Pass him to pour wine for others, and as soon as Sun Quan walks by, Yu Fan gets up and sits down.Sun Quan was furious, isn't this intentional not to give me face?Immediately he drew his sword to kill Yu Fan, but his subordinates hugged him and said, my lord, Yu Fan is a celebrity in the world, so he cannot be killed.Sun Quan said, Cao Mengde could kill Kong Rong, why couldn't Gu kill Yu Fan?The subordinates said, my lord, don't learn from Cao Cao. Isn't Cao Cao notorious for killing Kong Rong?If you want to learn, you should learn from Yao and Shun.Only then did Sun Quan come to his senses, he dropped the sword, and gave an order saying, everyone, remember, from now on I will say that killing someone while drunk will not count.

However, Yu Fan still did not escape the fate of being punished.Once when Sun Quan and Zhang Zhao were discussing the issue of immortals, Yu Fan interrupted, pointed at Zhang Zhao, and told Sun Quan that those were all dead people.Sun Quan was furious again and exiled him to Jiaozhou. Not only Cao Cao and Sun Quan hate people like Kong Rong, even Zhuge Liang once said something similar.Zhuge Liang also abolished Liao Li and Lai Min in the Kingdom of Shu. When abolishing Lai Min, Zhuge Liang once said: "Lai Min is more chaotic than Kong Wenju." Kong Wenju is Kong Rong, Zhuge Liang said Lai Min Spreading rumors and undermining stability and unity are more serious than Kong Rong.

It can be seen from this that the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu have a common feature, that is, they cannot tolerate a gentry like Kong Rong, and they all have irreconcilable contradictions with the gentry.Why is this? The gentry is a family that has been officials for generations.At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were three conditions for being an official. One was to be a scholar, the other was to be knowledgeable, and the other was to have moral character.Scholars were the lowest rank of nobles in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, and the highest rank among commoners in the Qin and Han Dynasties. The era has naturally become an inherent member of the ruling class, a very powerful political force in society, and the imperial pillar of the Eastern Han Dynasty.

However, the world was in chaos at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and a new political force took advantage of the situation and broke the monopoly of the gentry. This new political force was those who won the world by force.Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan all belong to this force, so after Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan established their own local regimes, of course they would not use the gentry as their axis force.The gentry class represented by Yuan Shao also worked hard to regain power, but they were no match for the troubled heroes like Cao Cao.However, the gentry would never be silent. They were spying in the dark, waiting for an opportunity.

So, what kind of regime did these victorious people establish?Cao Cao established the Legalist Han regime.Cao Cao publicly announced several times when recruiting talents that only talents should be selected, regardless of background.Sun Quan had to rely on the strength of the Jiangdong gentry, but he and the gentry were two-way people after all, and they were at odds with each other, so they massacred in their later years, trying to drive out the high-ranking Jiangdong people in the core of the regime.However, Zhuge Liang ruled the country according to the law, which made the local gentry of Shu sink to the political bottom.

Therefore, looking at the history of the Three Kingdoms, it is a history in which other forces prevented the gentry and landlords from becoming the ruling class.However, the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu later belonged to the Jin Dynasty, and the Jin Dynasty was a 100% regime of the gentry and landlord class.The heroes at the end of the Han Dynasty went through changes, and after each showed their magical powers, they handed over the power to the gentry class. When did this invisible change start? In Cao Cao's political group, there were several forces. The force represented by Kong Rong unequivocally opposed Cao Cao's Han clan rule, and was brutally killed by Cao Cao.The forces represented by Xun Yu did not oppose Cao Cao's rule on the surface, but they supported the Han Dynasty in their hearts, hoping that Cao Cao could return the power to Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, so Xun Yu received Cao Cao's cold reception in his later years and died in depression.Another faction is represented by Chen Qun. On the surface, Chen Qun not only supports Cao Cao, but also supports Cao Cao as the king of Wei, because Chen Qun believes that whether Cao Cao is called king or emperor, as long as he protects the interests of the nobles That's fine.

However, Cao Cao has never proclaimed himself emperor, just the opposite of Chen Qun. He believes that it doesn't matter whether he is called an emperor or not. The most important thing is to maintain his consistent rule of the Legalist Han clan. After Cao Cao's death, Cao Pi came to the throne, but Cao Pi did not realize Cao Cao's persistence.Shortly after Cao Cao's death, Chen Qun proposed to Cao Pi a plan called the "Nine Ranks of Zhongzheng System", which was to protect the special power of the gentry to monopolize official careers.Cao Pi understood it at a glance. In order to be able to become emperor, he made a deal with the gentry and agreed to the Jiupin Zhongzheng System.In this way, Cao Pi won the support of the gentry, and Chen Qun and others immediately raised their hands to support Cao Pi's proclaiming emperor.

So when Cao Pi put on a yellow robe, Cao Cao would inevitably be painted a white face.Cao Pi won the title of emperor, but deviated from Cao Cao's original intention. Cao Cao's Legalist and Han clan regime transformed into a Confucian gentry regime.This is Cao Cao's tragedy and Cao Pi's comedy, and it is also the general trend of the world.The later Sima Daiwei just continued to perform an unfinished procedure. From the day Cao Pi became emperor, Cao Wei's regime had perished. What about Sun Quan?When Sun Quan's elder brother, Sun Ce, was alive, he mainly relied on the Huaisi general and the exiled northern scholars. Zhou Yu was the representative of the Huaisi generals, and Zhang Zhao was the representative of the exiled northern scholars, neither of which was from the Jiangdong gentry.However, these people are all foreign forces, with no roots and no roots. If Sun Quan wants to gain a foothold, he must rely on the local gentry. Therefore, in the middle and late stages, Sun Quan took Gu Yong as his prime minister and Lu Xun as his commander, and handed over power to the Jiangdong gentry. hands.

However, this was Sun Quan's helpless move, and Sun Quan was neither reconciled nor relieved.Therefore, in his later years, he became suspicious and either sent spies to monitor his officials, or used harsh punishments to maintain his rule. As a result, Wu's words were blocked, and no one dared to tell the truth. Such a country was bound to perish. Compared with Cao Cao and Sun Quan, Liu Bei has certain advantages.He was both a clan and a poor family, so people on both sides could accept him, but Liu Bei passed away two years after he became emperor, and Zhuge Liang was the real ruler of Shu.Zhuge Liang is a man with ideals, and his ideal is to rule the country according to the law, be fair and open.

Zhuge Liang's ideals are very worthy of admiration from today's perspective, but it was difficult to implement them in the past.Ruling the country according to the law cannot govern the country according to the people, but what the gentry class wants is to rule the country according to the people. They hope that as long as they are born well, no matter how stupid they are, they can become high officials, and those poor families, no matter how smart they are, can't get involved in politics. .Therefore, the gentry landlord class was very dissatisfied with Zhuge Liang's regime. They heard that Cao Wei implemented the nine-rank Zhongzheng system, and the gentry enjoyed many privileges, so they waited eagerly for Cao Wei to liberate them.When the soldiers of the Wei army were pressing down on the border, the scholars headed by Qiao Zhou enthusiastically persuaded Liu Chan to surrender quickly, and the Kingdom of Shu returned to the Kingdom of Wei and returned to the arms of the nobles. Wei destroyed Shu in 263 AD, Jin conquered Wei in 265 AD, and Jin defeated Wu in 280 AD. The Three Kingdoms came to an end, and the world was unified again. The Three Kingdoms, a rare stage in Chinese history where three pillars stand together and heroes emerge in large numbers, has gradually disappeared in the depths of history. However, the heroic spirit, brilliance of humanity, and crystallization of wisdom that burst out in that special era have long been deeply buried in the blood of the Chinese people.Zhuge Liang's long roar, Zhou Yu's elegant song, a thousand-year-old swan song composed by countless people with ambition and blood, are still sung by people today.