Chapter 5 Chapter 4 From Selling Straw Sandals to Being an Emperor

Among the heroes of the Three Kingdoms, only Liu Bei came from a humble background. From selling shoes and weaving mats in his early years to riding a car covered with feathers in his later years, he was famous alongside Cao Cao and Sun Quan. Jiangshan, commonly known as Liu Bei, cried out. Historians often regard him as a sample of generosity and benevolence, which is all biased.In fact, he is a hypocrite and a double-faced person, who is best at practicing pragmatism, and he is soaked in Liu Bang's "grandfather style". Since ancient times, heroes have cherished each other.Cao Cao was placed among the heroes of the Three Kingdoms, and he faced a lot of people of all kinds, and there were few people he liked.Only for Liu Bei, he once cooked wine with green plums, and said calmly: "Today, the heroes are only the emperor and the ear. There are not enough people from the beginning." In the fourth year of Jian'an (199), Liu Bei temporarily lived in Xu The capital is under the fence of Cao Cao.

Liu Bei was eating and drinking, when he heard the words, he was so frightened that he even dropped his chopsticks to the ground.Fortunately, Lei Zhen happened to be there, and he quickly explained to Cao Cao: "The sage said that 'the thunder and the wind will change', and there is a good reason for it. The power of a shock can reach this point! "Very well-behaved to cover up the past. Liu Bei also regarded Cao Cao as an enemy. Later, when he was about to enter Shu in the 16th year of Jian'an (211), he said to Pang Tong: "Now it means Cao Cao is the one who is in trouble with me.Act with haste, and I will be lenient; act with violence, and I will be benevolent; act with deceit, and I will be loyal.Every time you fight against it, things can come true. "These words show that Liu Bei's confrontation with Cao Cao is to regard "every rebellion against Cao Cao" as an established strategy, and "lenient", "benevolence" and "loyalty" are the basic components of this strategy, so he and Cao Cao formed two Types of.

Liu Bei, styled Xuande, was born in Zhuo County, Zhuo County (now Zhuozhou City, Hebei Province) in the fourth year (161) of Yanxi, Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, six years later than Cao Cao.From the genealogy, he is the eighth son of Jingdi Liu Qi of the Western Han Dynasty, after Liu Sheng, King Jing of Zhongshan, and has the royal lineage of the Liu surname.However, the branch of his family fell into decline as early as the fifth year of Yuanding, Emperor Wudi of the Western Han Dynasty (112 BC), because Liu Zhen, the son of Liu Sheng, "sit down and lose the prince". Grandfather Liu Xiong and father Liu Hong both worked as county junior officer.After the early death of his father, Liu Bei became an orphan, and was reduced to follow his widowed mother to "sell shoes and weave mats for business", experiencing the bottom life.Despite this, Liu Beipin, a young man of royal blood, was not discouraged. He once played games with children of the same clan under a mulberry tree that was more than five feet high and shaped like an umbrella beside the house. Using the tree as a metaphor, he said: "I will ride this feather." Keep the car covered!" Liu Yuanqi of the same clan looked down on him from a young age, thinking that "there is such a boy in my clan, he is very human", so when Liu Bei was fifteen years old, he sponsored Liu Bei and his own son Liu Deran to study together, and paid homage to the great scholar Lu in Zhuojun County. planted under the door.Gongsun Zan, a Hanzi in western Liaoning, also studied in the same school, and he was congenial with Liu Bei, and Liu Bei treated him like a brother.During his school years, the young Liu Bei "didn't like reading very much, but liked horses, music, and beautiful clothes." Unexpectedly, he was quite similar to the young Cao Cao.However, his physical appearance and temperament are quite different from Cao Cao's.He is seven feet five inches tall, one foot of Wei Chi is 0.242 meters today, and seven feet five inches is about 1.815 meters. He is tall and burly;In daily life, "speak less, be kind to others, and not show your emotions and anger", even if you are hiding in the city, you can not be angry.Coupled with "good friends with heroes, young people fight for him", he seems to have become the "boss" of the gang.Rich merchants Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang from Zhongshan County (in today’s Tang County and Ding County, Hebei Province) came to Zhuo County to sell horses.Liu Bei received the first bucket of political donations, and used them to recruit disciples and began to build up armed forces.

In the year when the Yellow Turban Uprising broke out, Liu Bei was twenty-four years old. Together with his righteous brothers Guan Yu from Jiexian County (now Yuncheng, Shanxi) and Zhang Fei from the same county, he pulled up a team of brave men and put them under the command of Zou Jing, the captain of Zhuojun County. , Participated in the crusade against the Yellow Turbans.He made meritorious service in the battle and was appointed Captain of Anxi (now east of Ding County, Hebei). Although he was only a sesame official equivalent to the chief of the county's public security bureau, he finally took it as an opportunity to enter the political stage of the Central Plains at the end of the Han Dynasty.It's just that it was not smooth at the beginning. After the large-scale Yellow Turban Uprising once reached a low ebb, the Eastern Han Dynasty decided to lay off some officials, and Liu Bei, who had no foundation, was naturally among the cuts.Duyou (the chief supervisor at the county level, equivalent to the director of personnel and supervisory director of today's prefecture-level city) who was in charge of inspecting the downsizing of officials arrived in Anxi County and lived in the Chuanshe. It was shut down.How could the young and energetic Liu Bei be willing to be humiliated? In a fit of anger, he led the officials and soldiers into the Chuanshe, pulled Duyou off the bed, tied him up, dragged him outside, tied him to a tree, beat him with a whip, and then beat himself The official seal and ribbon hung around the governor's neck, and he abandoned his official position and walked away.

Transferring "Angry Whip Supervising Mail" to Zhang Fei's head, in fact, this kind of feat of ignoring in a fit of anger is in line with Liu Bei's heroic nature.It's just that with the accumulation of political experience, he has mastered the practice of "invisibility of emotions and anger", and he can easily stop being angry. After that, Liu Bei was known for being insignificant and few, and he was unwilling to withdraw from the political arena, so he had to try his best to make compromises and rely on the power of warlords to find a place to stay.After successively serving as Xiami (now east of Changyi County, Shandong) Cheng, Gaotang (now southeast of Shandong Yucheng) Wei and other county officials, the rest of the Yellow Turbans were frustrated, so they had to go to Gongsun Zan, a former classmate and friend who became Zhonglang General. Under his command, he became a Sima of individual departments (equivalent to the current regiment-level staff officer).Running east and west, relying on others, Liu Bei always has no territory of his own.Until the fourth year of Emperor Xian's Chuping (193), Cao Cao campaigned against Tao Qian to avenge his father. Tao Qian, the Xuzhou shepherd at the time, asked Tian Kai, the governor of Qingzhou at the time, Tian Kai was under the administration of Gongsun Zan, and Liu Bei was appointed by Gongsun Zan as Pingyuan ( Today's Prime Minister of Pingyuan County, Shandong Province, accompanied Tian Kai to rescue Tao Qian, and his political career unexpectedly got a turning point.At that time, Liu Bei had only a thousand men under his command, and Tian Kai's men were no match for Cao Cao. Several confrontations ended in failure.Fortunately, Lu Bu attacked Cao Cao's "backyard" Yanzhou, Cao Cao was forced to withdraw his troops, and Xuzhou was saved.Tao Qian presented Liu Bei as the governor of Yuzhou, and gave him 4,000 Danyang soldiers to station in Xiaopei (another name for Pei County in the Han Dynasty, now in Jiangsu), and he left Gongsun Zan.Tao Qian died of illness the following year, and Liu Bei led Xuzhou Mu again. For the first time in his life, he occupied a state and entered the ranks of warlords in the late Han Dynasty.This step, Liu Bei has gone for 10 years, he should be a politician.However, Liu Bei, who got Xuzhou by accident, was not yet a mature politician, but he showed a momentum unique to political nouveau riche.He didn't know how to use the identity of the royal family to try to get the "emperor card", and he didn't know how to use Xuzhou's inherent military and geographical superiority to recruit talents, protect the environment and the people to cultivate the foundation, but relied on the courage of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Compete with Yuan Shu and Lu Bu, who also lack the vision of a statesman, in Xuzhou and Yuzhou.In June of the first year of Jian'an (196), Yuan Shu attacked Liu Bei to fight for Xuzhou. Liu Bei left Zhang Fei to guard Xiapi (now south of Pi County, Jiangsu Province), and personally led the main force to confront Yuan Jun in Xuyi and Huaiyin (now Jiangsu).At that time, Lu Bu was defeated by Cao Cao, and he took refuge in Liu Bei and lived in Xuzhou. Yuan Shu wrote a letter to persuade Lu Bu to attack Xiapi, promising to pay for the army rations.Sure enough, Lü Bu led his troops eastward and captured Xiapi. Zhang Fei escaped, and Liu Bei's wife and general's family became Lv Bu's captives.Liu Bei and Yuan Jun were defeated in another battle. "Hungry and poor, officials and officials eat each other", so they had to "please surrender" to Lu Bu.It happened that Yuan Shu didn't mean anything and couldn't continue to transport food. Lu Bu turned against him and returned his wife to Liu Bei.In September of the same year, Yuan Shu sent Ji Ling to lead 30,000 cavalry to attack Liu Bei, and Liu Bei hurriedly asked Lu Bu for help.Lu Bu personally led more than a thousand people on foot to Xiapi, invited Liu Bei and Ji Ling to have a drink in the southwest of the city, and said in front of both parties:

"Xuande, Budi, is trapped by the lords, so he came to save him." It was agreed to shoot the halberd at the gate, "the ones in the middle should relieve their troops, and if they don't win, they can stay in a duel." Strike.Liu Bei expanded his armaments in Xiaopei, growing to more than 10,000 people, which aroused Lv Bu's uneasiness, and Lv Bu sent troops to defeat Liu Bei.Desperate, Liu Bei had to flee to Xudu and defected to Cao Cao, who gave him the false title of "Yuzhou Shepherd".Cao Cao increased Liu Bei's strength and let him attack Lv Bu eastward. Liu Bei was still defeated by Lv Bu's general Gao Shun, and his wife became Lv Bu's captive for the second time.It wasn't until the third year of Jian'an (198) that Cao Cao personally marched eastward and captured and killed Lu Bu, and Liu Bei regained his wife.In the past four years, Liu Bei's political status has improved, but he has been defeated repeatedly in the military, and has been forced to surrender to his enemies many times, and his life is not good.

Learning war from war, learning politics from politics, the four years of "tuition fees" are not in vain, setbacks and humiliation have become Liu Bei's wealth, making him more and more proficient at manipulating power and scheming.After Lu Bu was captured, he was bound to the white gate tower to see Cao Cao, and said to Cao Cao: "Ming Gong is not more troubled than Bu. Now that he has subdued, the world has nothing to worry about. Ming Gong will command Bu and order Bu to ride, and the world will not be stable. "Cao Cao was moved, but he hesitated.Lu Bu immediately said to Liu Bei:

"Xuande, you are a guest, and I am a prisoner. Can't you be lenient with a word?" Liu Bei, who has always "seldom speak" and "expresses his happiness and anger", said to Cao Cao: "Minggong will not see it." Is it about Ding Jianyang and Grand Master Dong?" A single sentence killed Lu Bu's life.It was only when Lu Bu was about to die that he realized: "He is the most untrustworthy person!" Translated into modern vernacular, Lu Bu said, "This kid is the most unfaithful person."The courageous Lu Bu only knew that he had saved Liu Bei, so he reprimanded Liu Bei as "the most unfaithful", but he didn't understand that Liu Bei, a statesman, valued his fundamental interests. Cao Cao, the great opponent, may be most beneficial to Liu Bei because of the increased power he gained by surrendering Lu Bu.

Cao Cao would not rest assured of Liu Bei, so he left his general Che Zhou as the governor of Xuzhou, and brought Liu Bei back to Xudu.In Xudu, the two politicians are both yang and yin, and they are wrestling for power.On the surface, Cao Cao treated Liu Bei very affectionately. He praised him as the left general, worshiped Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as the generals of the middle class, and he and Liu Bei "shared the same opinion when they go out, and share the same table when they sit." Temptation, but also sent people to spy on.Liu Bei is well aware of this, in addition to the excellent performance of Wen Lei's loss of chopsticks and adapting to the situation, he especially practiced keeping a low profile and keeping a low profile.He closed the door to thank guests, planted vegetables in the backyard all day long, and made a great show of being mediocre and self-sufficient.In secret, Liu Bei joined Dong Cheng and others to murder Cao Cao's "clothes belt edict" small group, always ready to wait for an opportunity.In the winter of the fourth year of Jian'an (199), Yuan Shao wanted to attack Xudu, and Yuan Shu planned to go northward via Xuzhou to join Yuan Shao. Liu Bei saw Cao Cao's taboo against the confluence of the two Yuans, and took the opportunity to ask Ying to stop Yuan Shu.Cao Cao agreed, and Liu Bei immediately left Xudu and got rid of Cao Cao's control.When Cao Cao regretted it, it was beyond his reach.As soon as Liu Bei arrived in Xuzhou, he played the political banner of enshrining the "clothes edict" to punish "national thieves", killed Che Zhou, and established a north-south echo relationship with Yuan Shao.Although due to poor strength, the second occupation of Xuzhou did not gain a firm foothold, but since then it has publicly broken with Cao Cao and has become an old political enemy, which has improved Liu Bei's image after all.

At that time, the battle of Guandu between Yuan and Cao was about to break out, and Cao Cao had to clear the flanks first.In the first month of the fifth year of Jian'an (200), Dong Cheng and others were all killed by the Yi tribe, and then led the army to attack Liu Bei.Liu Bei was defeated in the first battle, and quickly abandoned the crowd and fled. Yuan Shao passed through Qingzhou Beitou. His wife, Guan Yu and others were all captured by Cao Cao.After the Battle of Guandu began, Yuan Shao first sent Liu Bei and Yan Liang to serve as vanguards. In February, they surrounded Baima (to the east of Huaxian County, Henan Province). In April, Yan Liang was beheaded by Guan Yu, and Liu Bei fled.Later, Wen Chou pursued Cao Jun, Wen Chou was tricked and killed, and Liu Bei had to die.Coincidentally, Liu Pi, the remaining Yellow Turban tribe in Runan (now Xixian County, Henan Province), rebelled against Cao Yingyuan. Yuan Shao sent Liu Bei to lead his troops to join Liu Pi, and changed his plunder to disrupt Cao Cao's rear. Guan Yu took the time to return to Liu Bei's side.Liu Bei was defeated by Cao Ren, and when he went to see Yuan Shao, he realized that Yuan Shao was not Cao Cao's opponent, and "wanted to leave Shao", so he suggested that Yuan Shao let him go to "Nanlian Jingzhou Shepherd Liu Biao".Seeking help under the name of Yuan Shao, in fact, escaped from the golden cicada's shell, so as to avoid dying on the same boat with Yuan Shao.When Liu Bei went to Runan, he recruited the rest of the Yellow Turbans, Gong Du and others, and the tribes gathered thousands of people.Cao Cao sent Cai Yang to attack Liu Bei, and Liu Bei killed Cai Yang.As soon as the Battle of Guandu was over, Cao Cao led his army to attack Liu Bei himself. Knowing that he was no match, Liu Bei abandoned Runan and fled to Jingzhou to join Liu Biao.Although Liu Biao "treated him with the courtesy of the above-mentioned guests, benefited his soldiers, and envoys stationed in Xinye (now Xinxian County, Henan Province)", he also "suspected his heart and controlled him secretly".

Living in Xinye for six or seven years, Liu Bei was trapped in the dry lake like a dragon, so desolate.By the twelfth year of Jian'an (207), Cao Cao had basically unified the north, but he still lived under the fence.Recalling that he started the army at the age of 24, fought in the South and North for more than 20 years, from being a county official to a state shepherd, occupying Xuzhou twice and losing Xuzhou twice, his wife was captured three times, and he repeatedly admired Gongsun Zan, Lu Bu, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and Liu Biao Waiting for others to snort, and now at the age of forty-seven, "the old general is coming, but the achievements are not built", and I can't help "the flesh in the belly is raw, and the tears are flowing."These six or seven years were indeed a trough in Liu Bei's political career, enough to make him short of breath.But the same seven years gave Liu Bei a gap period and a buffer period, so that he could conduct self-reflection relatively calmly, sum up experience and lessons, change course and re-emerge while running around and running for his life.The biggest benefit among them is to attract people's hearts, and to recruit talents. "There are more and more heroes in Jingzhou returning to their ancestors."In particular, after visiting the thatched cottage three times, he found his good assistant Zhuge Liang, which fundamentally improved the level of strategic planning, and finally seized the excellent opportunity of the Battle of Chibi to open up a new situation. Liu Bei visited the thatched cottage three times and asked Zhuge Liang to come out to assist him. In his political career, it was undoubtedly a major event with breakthrough significance.He told Zhuge Liang his own heart, not only expressed his "will" of "desire to believe in the righteousness of the world", but also poured out the suffering of "short of wisdom, so he used it rampantly, as of today", and clearly asked "the plan will be safe" .Self-confessed as "short of intelligence" and asked "plans will come out", it shows that Liu Bei, who is struggling in Xinye, has found the crux of his "rampant" for more than 20 years after reflection. This is a remarkable self-breakthrough.The key point that Zhuge Liang emphasized on prescribing the right medicine is to overcome the enemy and win, and to use the weak to become strong.Regardless of the past and present, these eight characters are applicable, and in the troubled times of "heroes rise together", "renmou" especially played a decisive role. Zhuge Liang analyzed the situation and planned a "plan" for Liu Bei to "success" from the four aspects of politics, military affairs, diplomacy, and internal affairs.Politically, it is advocated to make full use of the orthodox card of "the emperor's family" and play the banner of "rejuvenating the Han Dynasty" to call on the world.In terms of military affairs, it is suggested that "there are thorns and benefits, and the rocks are blocked" as a strategic base. In the future, "the world will change" and then two northern expeditions will be carried out.In terms of diplomacy and internal affairs, the general policy of "harmonizing Zhurong in the west, pacifying barbarians and Yue in the south, making friends with Sun Quan in the outside, and cultivating political principles in the interior" was put forward.If he can do this, Liu Bei will have a political program opposite to Cao Cao's "following the emperor's orders and not ministers", and it will be easier to establish his orthodox image to win the hearts of the people, and he can also achieve a major strategic shift and withdraw from the "struggle for the front" in the Central Plains. ", to seek their own place to settle down and make contributions.Liu Bei was like a fish in water and readily adopted it, thus achieving a fundamental breakthrough in strategic thinking and action lines.Later, the Shu Han regime was established, and although it was repeated, it has always been the basic national policy. For Liu Bei, there is still a tortuous and even painful process to turn a breakthrough in understanding into a breakthrough in fact.The first big test that bears the brunt is whether to seize Jingzhou from the hands of the clan members surnamed Liu?In July of the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208), Cao Cao personally led the army to the south.Liu Bei led his troops to flee through Xiangyang, "Zhuge Liang said to attack Cong first, and Jingzhou can have it."It was also suggested that Liu Cong and Jingzhou officials be hijacked and go south to Jiangling together.But Liu Bei couldn't bear to do this. He said: "Liu Jingzhou asked me to be an orphan when he died, and I broke my trust to help myself. If I don't do what I don't do, what will it look like to see Liu Jingzhou?" He just gave up a chance to try.Not only that, he also took in many Jingzhou people and led them to flee south. "Compared to Dangyang, there are more than 100,000 people, thousands of liang of luggage, and more than ten miles a day."Some people from left and right said that the burden was so heavy, "If Cao Gong's soldiers arrive, why refuse them?".He still insisted: "Husband aid must be people-oriented. Now that people belong to me, how can I bear to abandon them?" It was not until Cao Cao rode five thousand horses and chased him to Changban in Dangyang that he "abandoned his wife and went with Zhuge Liang and Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and other dozens of riders rode away, and Duke Cao received a lot of luggage from his people." These two actions have always been hailed as "despite the ups and downs, but the faith is getting clearer, and the situation is compelling and the crisis is not lost."But tracing back to the source, although there is no basis to say that he is purely hypocritical, it is also difficult to deny that it belongs to women's benevolence.Since he is loyal to Liu Biao's entrustment, then taking back Jingzhou from Liu Cong who has surrendered to Cao is to uphold the righteousness of the benevolent entrusted by loyal people.Taking advantage of the trend to win Jingzhou and implementing Zhuge Liang's strategy in Longzhong is the king's righteousness and hegemony commonly used by politicians.Liu Bei may not have had this intention at the time, but compared to Zhuge Liang who was fledgling and had never fought against Cao Cao, he was obviously more realistic and understood that the little army he controlled alone (there were only 2,000 people when he joined Zhou Yu later, At that time, there would not be much more), even if you picked up the big pie that fell from the sky in Jingzhou from Liu Cong, you couldn't eat it, and it was easily taken away by Cao Cao.It's better to avoid reality and pretend to be false. If you can't be defeated, run first, preserve your strength as much as possible, and do some benevolent shows by the way. It's more affordable to gain a little reputation.This can be indirectly confirmed from the fact that he was overtaken by Cao Jun at Changban in Dangyang, abandoned the crowd and escaped even his wife, and later captured Yizhou from Liu Zhang. Liu Bei dared to give up opportunities that were too small and risky, but he was good at seizing opportunities that came suddenly, could never be lost, and were really beneficial to him.After fleeing to Xiakou (now Wuchang, Hubei), it happened that Sun Quan sent Lu Su to pay homage to Liu Biao. Lu Su suggested that Liu Bei and Sun Quan should "respect the friendship between the two, and help the world together." He immediately accepted this wishful suggestion, " Send Zhuge Liang to follow Su to visit Sun Quan, and form an alliance oath."This is indeed a rare wise decision in Liu Bei's life, showing political wisdom.From this, the alliance between Sun and Liu was derived, and the battle of Chibi caused a major reversal of the situation. Liu Bei not only survived the desperation, but also became the biggest winner of the tripartite carve-up of Jingzhou, occupying Wuling, Changsha, Guiyang, and Lingling among the seven counties of Jingzhou Four counties, and after Liu Qi's death, he was established as Jingzhou Mu. This time, he was no longer as restless and rash as he was in Xuzhou in the past. Instead, he displayed political Tai Chi Kungfu and focused on building a consolidated circle of influence.There is nothing better than three hands.One is to make a humble gesture and personally go to Jingkou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) in the fifteenth year of Jian'an (210) He met Sun Quan, expressing the meaning of "preparing for Enji" and "borrowing" Jingzhou.He also completed a political marriage. Liu Bei, an old man who was fifty years old at the time, became the brother-in-law of Sun Quan, a young man who was twenty-nine years old at the time. In addition, Cao Cao's main attack direction after the Chibi War was on the western front, and Liu Bei Group got a rare opportunity to gain a firm foothold and expand its strength in order to develop.The second is to adopt Yin Guan's opinion and decline Sun Quan's request of "to take Shu together" on the grounds that "the counties are newly occupied and cannot be moved".This "strategy of advancing and retreating" enabled the Liu Bei Group to "receive the benefits of Wu and Shu" and take the initiative in their hands.The third is to take the opportunity to recruit talents.Pang Tong, Huang Zhong, Yi Ji, Ma Liang, Chen Zhen, Liao Li, Liu Feng, Wei Yan, Yang Yi, Huo Jun, Xiang Lang and other advisers and generals all belonged to Liu Bei during Jingzhou.After Zhuge Liang, many outstanding talents gathered in Liu Bei's camp, which fundamentally reversed the unfavorable situation that Liu Bei had been competing in the Central Plains for several years, and his auxiliary forces were only brave generals such as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun.In the chaotic world where "people's schemes" often play a decisive role, "people's schemes" come from talents, and the competition for strength is ultimately the competition for talents, this reversal is undoubtedly a milestone for Liu Bei's political achievements. Another big opportunity came in the 16th year of Jian'an (211).That year, Cao Cao sent Zhong Yao and others to lead an army to attack Hanzhong to attack Zhang Lu. Liu Zhang, the shepherd of Yizhou, was very frightened when he heard the news.Liu Zhang sent military counselor Wei Fazheng to lead 4,000 people to Jingzhou to meet Liu Bei, and gave Liu Bei successively "billion billions" of military resources.He didn't know that Zhang Song and Fazheng had secretly contacted Liu Bei, and they were doing the trick of betraying their masters for glory.Naturally, Liu Bei did not miss this golden opportunity, and immediately left Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu stationed in Jingzhou, personally led Pang Tong and tens of thousands of soldiers into Yizhou, went up the Yangtze River and Jialing River to Fucheng (now Mianyang, Sichuan), and met Liu Zhang .Fazheng and Pang Tong persuaded Liu Bei to take advantage of the Huanhui to attack Liu Zhang, but Liu Bei said, "This is a big event, so don't rush it."For more than a hundred days during Liu's banquet, Liu Zhang gave Liu Bei "very rich supplies of vehicles, armor and equipment", allocated his white water army to Liu Bei's command, and let Liu Bei support more than 30,000 troops before returning to Chengdu.Little did he know that Liu Bei did not attack Hanzhong, and the army stationed in Jiameng (now Guangyuan, Sichuan), "to cultivate kindness and virtue to win the hearts of the people." In the second year, Cao Cao attacked Sun Quan, and Sun Quan asked Liu Bei for help. Liu Bei asked Liu Zhang to give him "ten thousand soldiers and resources" under the pretext that he had to rescue Sun Quan.Liu Zhang only gave him four thousand soldiers, and half of the rest.It happened that Zhang Song's secret communication with Liu Bei was exposed. Liu Zhang took Zhang Song and ordered the generals in Guanxu to stop "passing" (notifying) Liu Bei.So Liu Bei was "furious", tore the smiling face of the previous happy meeting, and returned to the south with lightning speed, breaking through Fucheng and Mianzhu (now Deyang, Sichuan), and besieged Luocheng (now Guanghan, Sichuan).At the same time, Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun also led their armies westward, going up the Yangtze River to capture Baidi (now Fengjie, Chongqing), Jiangzhou (now Yuzhong, Chongqing), and Jiangyang (now Luzhou, Sichuan), and marched towards Chengdu.The war lasted for more than a year, and in the summer of the nineteenth year of Jian'an (214), Liu Zhang finally left the city and surrendered.Liu Bei moved Liu Zhang to Nanjun Public Security (now Hubei), and took Yizhou animal husbandry by himself.Since then, Liu Bei has occupied most of Yizhou and Jingzhou (the original four counties, plus the "borrowed" Nanjun from Sun Wu), and has become one of the "three legs" that stand apart from Cao Cao and Sun Quan.During the more than three years of dealing with Liu Zhang, he was scheming, used both soft and hard, and used both grace and power until he replaced him quickly, almost reaching perfection.Looking at his life, eating and swallowing Yizhou can be regarded as a proud work, and Cao Cao's introduction of him as a heroic colleague was finally verified.On the day of Liu Zhang's surrender, whether he was heartbroken and remorseful for letting the wolf into the house, has never been kept secret in history books, but it is not difficult to judge whether the present sees the past as the future sees the present. From entering Yizhou to dominating Yizhou, Liu Bei's political program is "to cultivate kindness and virtue to win the hearts of the people".The so-called "people's heart" certainly includes "people's heart," but it is mainly "official heart" or "scholar heart."The feudal centralized and autocratic system was quite complete in the Han Dynasty, and the bureaucratic scholar-officials had become the most constant support force for this system. Therefore, emperors, monarchs or dictators knew how to "receive" the "heart" of the bureaucratic scholar-bureaucrats, and even Dong Zhuo forced Cai Yong served him willingly, and Liu Bei naturally had a better way.As soon as he occupied Chengdu, he "put wine to the soldiers, took gold and silver from the city of Shu to distribute to the soldiers, and returned the grain and silk", letting them share the fruits of victory.Then the official positions were divided, "Zhuge Liang is the stock, Fazheng is the mastermind, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Ma Chao are minions, Xu Jing, Mi Zhu, and Jian Yong are guests and friends, and Dong He, Huang Quan, Li Yan, etc. Granting and employing, Wu Yi, Fei Guan, etc. and Zhang's marriage and relatives, Peng Yi and Zhang's rejection, and Liu Ba's envy and hatred in the past, all of them are prominent in their positions and do their best."Chen Shou's list of names generally and truthfully summed up the situation of the official closure, but it also covered up a joint that was easily overlooked.That is, there are 15 famous people mentioned, among them Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Mi Zhu, and Jian Yong are all trusted elders who have followed Liu Bei as early as the early days of Liu Bei's rise. Zhuge Liang is one person, and the other nine "significant officials" are all Yizhou new ministers.Zhuge Liang served as the general of the military division and the office of General Zuo. The former position is equivalent to the current chief of staff, and he was in Jingzhou; As a certain official position, "General Zuo" was originally the official position Liu Bei received when he was in Xudu.And Fazheng "is the prefect of Shu County, a general who raises his prestige, governs the capital outside, and is the mastermind inside", he is Liu Bei's most "believing and loving" person, and Zhuge Liang often avoids him three points.On the other hand, Xu Jing, with his senior qualifications and high reputation, served as the commander-in-chief of the left general (equivalent to the current Secretary-General of the Central Committee), The general who led the town army often "talked tirelessly" and "all Zhuge Liang worshiped him".In the 22nd year of Jian'an (217), Liu Bei went to Hanzhong. It was Fazheng who came up with the idea, and Fazheng was the one who "followed the action".In the twenty-fourth year (219), Liu Bei came to the throne of Hanzhong, led by Ma Chao and Xu Jing, and Zhuge Liang ranked fifth; two years later, Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor, led by Xu Jing and Mi Zhu, and Zhuge Liang ranked third.In the traditional feudal centralized autocratic system, the ranking order of bureaucrats is sacred and inviolable. These two rankings are enough to show that Zhuge Liang was always behind Xu Jing at that time. The powerful groups that Liu Bei reused in Chengdu were Yizhou new ministers represented by Fazheng and Xu Jing, which fully demonstrated that his "strong dragon" relied on "local snakes" and "official officials" who wanted to "receive" and buy "local snakes". "Heart" and "Scholar's Heart" for their own use.His second political marriage in Chengdu was also based on Fazheng's words. He took the widow of Liu Mao, the son of Liu Yan's son Liu Mao (whose father Wu Yi was also one of the new ministers of Yizhou) as his wife, and later as the queen and wife. The queen, that is, Empress Mu who was "buried in Huiling" with him after his death.Using the "local snake" and Mrs. Naxin in this way clearly shifted the focus of relying on Yizhou's new officials politically, so that the occupant quickly established an image of "benevolence" in exchange for a cluster of bureaucratic scholars in central Shu. The "homecoming" formula provides a guarantee for a smooth transition.However, the relative indifference to the old Ministry of Jingzhou also led to potential conflicts between the old and the new (later the power struggle between Zhuge Liang and Li Yan was an obvious example). The old officials such as Zhao Yun and Liao Li were not reused for a long time, and even There was a lack of outstanding talents in the later period, "There is no general in Shu, Liao Hua should go first."Although Liu Bei's pragmatic employment policy is reasonable, in the long run there are gains and losses, but the gains outweigh the losses. In terms of military affairs and diplomacy, Liu Bei also had gains and losses before and after he became king and emperor, but the gains were less than the losses, and the losses were seriously greater than the gains.In the 20th year of Jian'an (215), Sun Quan sent an envoy to ask Liu Bei to return Jingzhou. Liu Bei replied, "You must (wait until) get Liangzhou, and you should use Jingzhou as your counterpart."In a fit of rage, Sun Quan sent Lu Meng to attack the three counties of Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang. The two sides joined forces for the first time to start a war.Liu Bei immediately retaliated and led 50,000 troops to the police to take back the three counties.When Cao Cao captured Hanzhong, Liu Bei was worried that Cao's army would take the opportunity to attack Yizhou, so he had to change his face and reconnect with Quan.After negotiations, an agreement was reached: Jingzhou was divided into Jingzhou with the Xiangshui River as the boundary, Jiangxia, Changsha, and Guiyang counties belonged to Sun Quan in the east, and Nanjun, Lingling, and Wuling counties belonged to Liu Bei in the west.This diplomatic breach of trust and dishonesty exposed Liu Bei's "cunning" and "deceitful" inferiority that he had successfully concealed for many years. He should bear the main responsibility for the fragile and unsteady Sun-Liu alliance.After fighting by force, they failed to preserve the three counties in the south of the Yangtze River in Jingzhou. They also lost face and lost their land.Although the fragile alliance was barely maintained, the rift was torn open, and it was destined to be irreparable, which laid the root of disaster for Guan Yu's loss of Jingzhou later. Liu Bei swallowed this loss of land on the eastern front as bitter wine, and only returned from the northern front in the 22nd year of Jian'an (218).At that time, he adopted Fazheng's suggestion and marched into Hanzhong.In the spring of the following year, crossing Mianshui from Yangping Pass to the south, Huang Zhong beheaded Xia Houyuan at Dingjun Mountain, defeating Cao's army in the first battle.Cao Cao personally led the army to fight, and Liu Bei "gathered the crowd to take advantage of the danger, and would not fight in the end."The stalemate lasted until the summer, Cao's army was unable to attack, and "there were more and more dead", so he had to choose to retreat and return to the north, and Liu Bei "had Hanzhong".Occupying all the lands of Bashu and Hanzhong, together with the three counties of Jingzhou, basically realized the "crossing Jingyi" planned by the Longzhong strategy twelve years ago. In front of Liu Bei, Liu Bei seems to have reached the top.In that year, he was fifty-eight years old, and he became the king of Hanzhong with great ambition, fulfilling the heroic dream of "riding a chariot covered with feathers" in his childhood.Unfortunately, he didn't realize that because he planted the root of Guan Yu's downfall, his political career would soon fall from the peak to the trough. In the year when Liu Bei became King of Hanzhong, Guan Yu, who had just been worshiped as a former general and fake Jieyue, lost Jingzhou and passed on his head.Liu Bei was "angry with Sun Quan's attack on Guan Yu", refused to listen to the advice of Zhao Yun and others, and decided to go east to take revenge.In the autumn and July of the first year of Zhangwu in the Shu Han Dynasty (221), Liu Bei, who had just ascended the throne of the emperor, personally led his troops to march eastward.Sun Quan sent envoys to ask for peace, but he was furious and refused. Liu Bei, who whipped Duyou back then, reappeared.The Shu Han army was nearly 80,000 people. Although the momentum was huge, the action was very slow. It was postponed for five months and arrived in Zigui (now Hubei) in the first month of the second year of Zhangwu (222).Sun Wu's army had only 50,000 people. Under Lu Xun's command, he took the initiative to implement a strategic retreat, retreating five or six hundred miles in one breath, and deployed heavy troops in Yiling (now east of Yichang, Hubei Province), the "border of the country", and put "although there are There are millions of sharp troops, but the journey is only a thousand men, the axis is thousands of miles, and the front is no more than a hundred ships." The rugged area of ​​​​the Three Gorges was given to the Shu army.Liu Bei's company camp was 700 miles away, and the marching column was stretched into a long strip, separated by water and land from north to south, and the main force did not enter Xiaoting (now north of Yidu, Hubei) until March.Lu Xun stood firm and did not fight, and the two sides faced each other.Dragging until June, the Shu army blocked in the mountains suffered from the scorching heat, and the soldiers were exhausted and depressed. Lu Xun took the opportunity to launch a fire attack and smashed more than 40 camps of the Shu army. Generals Zhang Nan and Feng Xi of the Shu army were killed. Lu, Liu Ning and others surrendered.Liu Bei fled in a hurry by night, and fled from Zigui to Yufu (now east of Fengjie, Chongqing), where he was picked up by Zhao Yun and Ma Zhong and settled down.In this battle, more than half of the Shu army was lost. "Boats, equipment, and water infantry were almost exhausted for a while, and the corpses drifted down the river." The vitality was severely injured, and Jingzhou completely fell into the hands of Sun Wu.Fortunately, in December of the same year when Cao Wei attacked Wu, Sun Quan was worried about being attacked on both sides, so he sent envoys to make peace, and the Sun-Liu alliance, which had been suspended for three years, was restored.This battle of Yiling, which determined the final formation of the Three Kingdoms, ended with Sun Wu's complete victory, and also announced the end of Liu Bei's military career with an unprecedented defeat. Liu Bei suffered such a disastrous defeat, and his mental and physical breakdown was complete. He changed Yufu's name to Yong'an, and spent his last days in Yong'an.In August of the second year of Zhang Wu (222), he summoned Li Yan, the general of Fu Han, to Yong'an City, worshiped him as the minister, and began to arrange the funeral.In the spring of the following year, he contracted dysentery, and then he was infected with other diseases, so he couldn't afford to get sick.In February of the third year of Zhangwu (223), Zhuge Liang, the prime minister, was summoned, and in April, he asked Zhuge Liang and Li Yan to complete the last major political event in his life; The detailed description and textual research in "Staying in Yong'an" will not be expanded here.Xia Siyue Guisi, that is, April 24, Liu Bei died of illness in Yong'an Palace at the age of sixty-three. "Three Kingdoms Shushu Biography of the First Lord" records: "In May, Zigong returned to Chengdu from Yong'an, posthumously called Emperor Zhaolie. In autumn and August, Huiling was buried." Huiling is now stored in the southern suburb park next to Wuhou Temple in Chengdu. The dormitory hall is rather simple and flat, and the tombstone is engraved in "the fifty-three years of Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1788)", which has undoubtedly been repaired by later generations. For more than a thousand years, people have believed that Liu Bei, Mrs. Gan, and Empress Mu were buried together in Huiling, unlike Cao Cao's tomb, which has a "suspect tomb".However, since Guo Moruo pointed out during his investigation in Fengjie in 1961 that Liu Bei died in the scorching heat, and there was no formaldehyde, crystal ice coffin and other equipment at that time, the body could not be transported back to Chengdu in good condition. The words came out. In the 1960s, when the office building of the county party committee was being built in Fengjie, a large hole was dug on the construction site, and a one-meter-wide soil groove was dug there when the road out of the city was built. In 1982, the Anhui Institute of Physical Detection was invited to conduct a survey and found an 18-meter-deep cave in the Kuizhou Hotel near the county party committee office building, and there was a metal reaction. It was speculated that it might be an iron tomb door or a metal burial object.There is also a "Liu Family Tree" in Fengjie County, which identifies that Liu Bei's tomb is indeed in Fengjie.因此，刘备是葬在成都，还是葬在奉节，两说之争各有其依据，相关资料在奉节县白帝城博物馆辟有专室加以陈列。文物界内外不少的人建议，趁三峡工程之机，对上述地址作考古发掘，以便探明真相。非常遗憾，2006年9月25日，奉节老县城基本被全淹，所谓“刘备墓遗址”自兹将沉入水底，真正成为了千古之谜。 陈寿评刘备，拿他同两个人进行了比较，从中引出褒贬。一是同刘邦相比，说他“弘毅宽厚，知人待士，盖有高祖之风，英雄之器焉”。在两汉、三国的刘姓帝王中，刘备确实与刘邦在待人接物上近乎出于同一模具，最有高祖之风。但也有不同，四百年前的刘邦颇多市井流氓之气，四百年后的刘备则更具政客权诈之气。吕布死到临头才看透他“最叵信”，孙权一再被他耍赖才斥为“猾虏”，更多的古今人注意不到他的权诈之气，正说明他精于掩诈，大伪似真，千古一绝。鲁迅批评“欲显刘备之长厚而似伪”，其实是冤枉了罗贯中，忽略了罗贯中在思想上政治上与陈寿保持着高度一致，《三国志》里的刘备，原本就是那么一个“似伪”而且真伪、大伪的角色。陈寿推崇备至的“举国托孤于诸葛亮而心神无贰，诚君臣之至公，古今之盛轨”一事，恰好就是刘备“似伪”而且真伪、大伪的样板。即便对隆中对策，他也是在困阨之际当作一根救命的稻草，表示全盘接受，全力施行；一旦兼并了益州，地盘大了，底气足了之后，他就不再恪守“结好孙权”的既定方针，对诸葛亮也不再是如鱼得水、言听计从了。这其间，既包含权诈之气，又表现出实用主义价值取向，所以隆中对策的既定目标只能够部分实现。由兹决定了第二个比较，同曹操相比，陈寿说他“机权干略，不逮魏武，是以基宇亦狭”，十分公正允当。最精到的是八个字： “折而不挠，终不为下。”这才是刘备最可贵的政治品质和人格魅力，虽百代而下，无论是叱咤风云、旋转乾坤的时代英雄，还是寄身平凡、锐意进取的基层众生，都可以从中汲取到精神营养。