Chapter 19 (19) The battleground

Jingzhou is one of the largest states among the thirteen states in the Han Dynasty. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the princes from all walks of life coveted this strategically important place because they believed that Liu Biao, the owner of Jingzhou, was incapable of defending Jingzhou.As the supreme officer guarding a place, is Liu Biao so useless?What kind of person is he?Professor Yi Zhongtian of Xiamen University is a guest of "Hundreds of Lectures", and will give you a wonderful taste of the Three Kingdoms - a place that must be contested. Jingzhou was a strategic place where heroes fought for hegemony at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the eyes of the princes, Liu Biao, the owner of Jingzhou, was a mediocre person who did not have much ability and only wanted to keep his own one-acre and three-point land. Means to compete for Jingzhou.This kind of competition changed the state of China at that time, and the result of the competition finally laid the foundation for the three kingdoms to stand together.So, what did Liu Biao, the owner of Jingzhou, do in Jingzhou during the struggle between the princes for hegemony?What are his merits and demerits?What kind of person is he?Professor Yi Zhongtian from Xiamen University is a guest on "Hundreds of Lectures", and will give you a wonderful taste of the "must contended land" of the Three Kingdoms.

In the previous episodes we mentioned that the place of Jingzhou was designated as a must-dispute by Lu Su, Zhuge Liang, including Cao Cao. Whether it was Lu Su’s plan for Sun Quan or Zhuge Liang’s plan for Liu Bei, it was Cao Cao himself. It doesn't matter if you make your own plans, this place in Jingzhou must be won.Why it is necessary to compete has already been mentioned before, and today we will talk about why it can be contended for.Why can we fight?Zhuge Liang made it very clear in "Longzhong Dui": "The owner cannot guard it", that is, Liu Biao, the occupant of Jingzhou at the time, could not guard Jingzhou, so why couldn't Liu Biao not guard Jingzhou?Then we have to see what kind of person Liu Biao is?

In "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", Liu Biao and Yuan Shao were combined into one biography.We know that from "Historical Records" to "Hanshu" to "Three Kingdoms" to "Hanshu", they are all biographical history books. These historians often combine certain people into one biography , and who are combined into one biography?Then these people who are combined into one biography, they are related to each other in some way.Then "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" combines Yuan Shao and Liu Biao into one biography, which shows that Yuan Shao and Liu Biao are the same type of people in his opinion. Who are they?If Cao Cao is a cute villain, then Yuan Shao and Liu Biao can be said to be beautiful idiots.

Let's take a look at Liu Biao's beauty first. Liu Biao can be summed up in 16 words, that is, a man of the imperial family, a talented person, a member of the party, and a celebrity in troubled times.According to "Three Kingdoms" and "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", we know that Liu Biao is an out-and-out clan after the Duke of Lu, and the identity of Liu Biao's clan seems to be relatively reliable, unlike Liu Bei's status as the emperor's uncle. It is water-infused pork.Moreover, Liu Biao was "more than eight feet long, and his appearance is very majestic". We know that Zhuge Liang was eight feet long, which is 1.84 meters tall now. Eight, and the appearance is very beautiful.He was a celebrity among scholars in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. We know that the struggle between the scholar group and the eunuch group was very fierce in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Later, when the eunuch group gained power, they imprisoned a group of scholars, also known as party members. Among them, Liu Biao was one of them. He was hunted down by the court at that time, but he survived because he ran fast.Then after the failure of the eunuch group, Liu Biao turned around, so he had a good reputation. He had a good reputation and was on the ranking list at that time. He was called "Ba Gu". What is "Gu"?They are virtuous people. At that time, people were appraised, and Liu Biao was one of the eight most virtuous people, so this is a beautiful person, and these were the capital of Liu Biao's career at that time.Now we seem to think it will be ridiculous. What does it matter if a person can achieve a career and how he looks?It was still important at the time.

Among the scholar class who pay attention to family background, appearance and conduct, Liu Biao's advantages are outstanding. When he governed Jingzhou, he also made Jingzhou obtain stability and peace for a certain period of time. This should be said to be the concrete embodiment of his ability. reflect.But Zhuge Liang believed that Liu Biao could not defend Jingzhou, and Guo Jia of the Cao Cao Group and Lu Su of the Sun Quan Group did not value Liu Biao's role when planning Jingzhou. So, is Liu Biao really fancy but not useful?Does he have the ability? Liu Biao also has skills.In the first year of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, that is, at this time in 190 A.D., Sun Jian, the prefect of Changsha, killed Wang Rui, the governor of Jingzhou. We have already explained this matter in the episode "Jiangdong Jiye", so the position of governor of Jingzhou will be vacant. So he appointed Liu Biao as the governor of Jingzhou.But Jingzhou was very chaotic at that time, how chaotic?One is that Yuan Shu, including Sun Jian under Yuan Shu, conspired in Jingzhou; the second is that there are so-called sect thieves in Jingzhou. What is a sect thieves?They are local non-government armed forces organized according to family and patriarchal relations.As a result, Liu Biao could not take office, which means that although Liu Biao was appointed by the court, he actually had no way to govern Jingzhou.At this time, Liu Biao took a correct measure, relying on the local rich and powerful families to pacify Jingzhou. He found two people, one named Kuai Yue and the other named Cai Mao.Kuai Yue is a very capable person. Kuai Yue’s character is Yidu. Even Cao Cao admired him very much. Later, after Cao Cao took Jingzhou, he wrote back and said that I was not happy that I got Jingzhou, but that I got Yidu. Kuai Yue.Cai Mao is a wealthy family in Jingzhou, very rich.

Liu Biao found these two people and said, what should I do now?After Kuai Yue said this, Kuai Yue said: "Those who manage peace first should be benevolent and righteous, and those who straighten out chaos should first seek political power." That is, what should you do if you want to govern a peaceful and prosperous world?It depends on the power of morality, the inspiration of morality, the enlightenment of morality, and benevolence and righteousness; then what should you do if you want to govern a turbulent place?Then use tactics and tactics, and use the threat of force.But now, Shijun, what you are facing is the invasion of Yuan Shu on the one hand, and the rebellion of the sect thieves on the other, what should you do?Get rid of the sect thieves first.Kuai Yue gave him an idea, eight words, called "to punish him for his innocence, and to use his talents", what does it mean?Just kill the worst leader among the sect thieves, the one who is the most angry and evil, and then recruit some of the sect thieves, using both soft and hard methods.Liu Biao adopted Kuai Yue's suggestion, and as a result, "Jiangnan Xiping", Liu Biao changed from governor to state shepherd, which shows that he succeeded in Jingzhou.

After the success, Liu Biao also showed great generosity. At that time, Zhang Xiu's uncle Zhang Ji, Ren Hussar General, was in Guanzhong. Because he had no army rations, he led his troops to invade Jingzhou and attack Rangcheng, but was killed by an arrow.At this time, officials of all sizes in Jingzhou came to congratulate Liu Biao. Congratulations to Zhou Mu. Zhang Ji came to beat us. You see, he is dead now, very happy.What did Liu Biao say?Liu Biao said: "Ji came from poverty, and the master was rude. As for the confrontation." He said that Zhang Ji came to Jingzhou because he had no food and had nowhere to go. "This is not the shepherd's intention. Shepherds are mourned and not congratulated." This is not our original intention, or I accept condolences but not congratulations.Then, after saying this, everyone felt that Liu Biao was really a gentleman, truly benevolent and moral. Zhang Ji's subordinates all expressed their admiration for Liu Biao.Liu Biao stationed Zhang Ji's nephew Zhang Xiu in Wancheng, which is now Nanyang City in Henan Province, and provided him with military supplies, and joined forces with him to deal with Cao Cao.In this way, in the third year of Jian'an, Liu Biao owned the seven counties of Jingzhou. What is Liu Biao doing at this time?Build schools and promote Confucianism.Caregiver.

Liu Biao governed Jingzhou, adopting a strategy of both power and strategy, not only quickly gained a foothold, but also managed Jingzhou in an orderly manner. From this point of view, Liu Biao is not only beautiful in appearance, but also beautiful in his work. It should be said that he has achieved some achievements.So, why is Liu Biao's evaluation not high in history?How does Mr. Yi Zhongtian analyze this matter? There are several reasons: First, Liu Biao has no ambitions.Guo Jia once said disdainfully to Liu Biao: "Biao, let's sit and talk with guests."Cao Cao also said disdainfully to Liu Biao, "the thief who guards himself", this is a thief who can only guard his own small stall.why?Liu Biao really did not have such an ambition to unify China and win the world. His wish is to have a wife, children, a hot kang, and a three-acre land. The first point.

The second point is that Liu Biao has no stomach either.At the time of the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were in a stalemate at Guandu. Yuan Shao sent someone to unite with Liu Biao. Liu Biao agreed, but he didn't send troops, and he didn't help Cao Cao. He sat on the mountain and watched the tigers fight.At this time, Liu Biao's subordinate Han Song and others came to persuade Liu Biao. What did Han Song and the others say?They said: "Heroes fight side by side, two heroes fight each other, the most important thing in the world lies in the general." Now when the two giants Cao Cao and Yuan Shao are fighting for power, the weight of the world is on you, the general, just like Liu Bang back then. In the decisive battle with Xiang Yu, Han Xin, who had set up his banner in the seventy-two cities, became the most powerful in the world. At this time, if you Liu Biao stood on Yuan Shao's side, Yuan Shao would win, and if you stood on Cao Cao's side, Cao Cao would win.Han Song said in such a situation, what should you do?Or take advantage of the fire to rob, or take refuge in one side, then they are fighting, the best way for you is to take advantage of the opportunity, at least you have to make a statement, who do you want to stand on, and why do you have to make a statement?Like you, "you can't help when you see the good, and you can't help if you make peace." When you see someone who should support you, don't support him. It's okay if you don't support him. You can persuade them to reconcile, and you can't persuade them. After the fight, the resentment of both sides will be concentrated on you. You are not pleasing to both sides, and both sides will hate you. "These two grievances must be concentrated on the general, and the general cannot be neutral."At this time, people like Kuai Yue came to persuade Liu Biao, and what are their propositions?It is also very clear, support Cao Cao, say that Yuan Shao is not a good person, he will not win the world, and Cao Cao must be the one who wins the world. Now that Cao Cao is weak, you should take the opportunity to support him.

After much deliberation, Liu Biao said to Han Song: Otherwise, you should go to the north to see the situation.Han Song said: "General, please think about it. If you plan to join Cao Cao, Han Song can go. If you don't plan to join Cao Cao, Han Song can't go. Why?"Because Cao Cao obeyed the emperor's order and refused to be a minister, now our Long Live Lord is with Cao Cao, Cao Cao does not represent him personally, he represents the imperial court, Han Song is an envoy to the imperial court from Jingzhou, and the imperial court will probably give Han Song an official position Of course, it is no problem for Han Song to dismiss him. If Han Song can't dismiss him and accept the appointment of the emperor, then I, Han Song, will be the Emperor's man from now on, not your general.Han Song made it very clear: "The king is the king, and he will no longer die for the general." Then our relationship has changed. I am a new minister of the emperor and an old official of the general. We are just friends, and there is no such affiliation. Yes, you have to think about it.Liu Biao said what do you mean?Are you afraid to go, go.Han Song went to the north, arrived in Xudu, met Cao Cao, and met the emperor, and was appointed as the prefect of Lingling. After Han Song came back, he said how good the court is, how good Cao Cao is, how good the emperor is Liu Biao was furious at the kind words of the emperor, Cao Cao, and the court. You kid betrayed me and killed him.Han Song said: You shouldn't kill me, you and I have something to say first, the general remembers what I said to you before I left.Liu Biao's wife, Mrs. Cai, also came to persuade Liu Biao at this time, saying that Han Song was so talented that he could not be killed. Liu Biao was still very angry, and finally locked Han Song up. Han Song was not released from prison until after Cao Cao took Jingzhou.Therefore, Chen Shou made a comment on this matter, saying that Liu Biao was "elegant in appearance, but suspicious in heart", which is the second point.

The third point is that Liu Biao doesn't know how to employ people.As mentioned earlier, Jingzhou is a place with a lot of talents. Among other things, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei, the king of the world, and Zhuge Liang, the dragon among men, are all by Liu Biao's side.Those scholars who fled from the north only saw Liu Biao settling down, but not Liu Biao’s reuse, especially for Liu Bei, Liu Biao was polite on the surface, and was always on guard in secret. "It's against Liu Bei.Even according to the book "Words of the World" quoted by Pei Songzhi's note in "Three Kingdoms", it is said that Liu Biao also held a grand banquet, and Liu Biao's men Cai Mao and others were planning to attack Liu Bei during the banquet. Liu Bei pretended to go to the toilet and escaped. After escaping, Liu Bei rode a horse named "De Lu" and ran all the way to Tanxi. The horse fell into the water and could not move. Liu Bei said anxiously, "De Lu, De Lu, you have to work hard today." Click it!Then Luma jumped three feet, jumped over the Tan River, and escaped with his life.Later, I wrote a story called "Uncle Liu Huang's Leaping Horse Crossing Tanxi", but Sun Sheng thought it was impossible. Sun Sheng said that if Liu Biao wanted to kill Liu Bei, Liu Bei would not be able to stay in Jingzhou safe and sound. Six years, I also think this is unlikely, but I am afraid it is true to beware of him. Then Liu Biao's fourth problem is that he has no successors.To say that he has no successors does not mean that he has no son, but that his son is useless and his arrangements are not appropriate.Liu Biao has two sons, the eldest son is named Liu Qi, and the youngest son is named Liu Cong. These two sons were born to Liu Biao's ex-wife, and Liu Biao originally liked the eldest son, but his second wife liked the younger son. Why?Because his step-wife, Mrs. Cai, betrothed her niece from her natal family to Liu Qi, so they became more intimate.In this way, the group behind Liu Biao's stepwife, the Cai family, is a Jingzhou rich and noble family group represented by Cai Mao, and they all stand on Liu Cong's side, and then they all go to Liu Biao's place to speak ill of Liu Qi. .What kind of person is Liu Biao?To borrow a Chengdu saying, it is called "ear", what is "ear"?It is a henpecked person with soft ears. What is " "? " " is a thing, a kind of food. After processing, the shape remains unchanged, but the inside is soft, which is called " ".For example, a sweet potato is whole. You put it in the oven and roast it until it becomes soft, which is called "sweet potato".The ears are complete, but soft. When the wind blows on this pillow, he becomes confused. He likes his youngest son Liu Cong, and Liu Qi becomes nervous. Liu Qi thinks of someone. He thinks this person should be able to help. Him, who is this person?This person is Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang is such a smart person, can this little matter still be settled?So Liu Qi went to Zhuge Liang, brother-in-law, please help me.Zhuge Liang declined again and again, why?Zhuge Liang is hard to say, in terms of identity, Zhuge Liang is now Liu Bei's subordinate, so he is also Liu Biao's subordinate; in terms of seniority, Liu Biao's current wife is the stepmother of Liu Cong and Liu Qi, and Liu Biao's wife and Zhuge Liang's mother-in-law are sisters Therefore, whether it is Liu Cong or Liu Qi, they are Zhuge Liang's step-in-law, so it is not appropriate for him to help anyone, and it is not good to get involved in this kind of thing.Liu Qi had no choice but to tell Zhuge Liang, brother, there are some treasures in my garden, come and take a look, and invited Zhuge Liang to his garden and said it was upstairs.When the two of them went upstairs, Liu Qi gave an order to withdraw the ladder, then knelt down and said: "Now we can't go up to the sky, and we can't go down to the bottom. There are only two of us in this area. Your words come out of your mouth, and you can't go down." My ears are rotten in my stomach, no one knows, can I say it?Alas, Zhuge Liang said, so how about it, he said, do you know the story of Chong Er and Shen Sheng?What are Chong Er and Shen Sheng?Jin Xiangong's son was born to Jin Xiangong's ex-wife, Shen Sheng was the prince, and Chong'er was the son.Duke Xian of Jin later married Li Ji and doted on his second wife, Li Ji. He wanted to make Li Ji's son Xi Qi the crown prince, so he wanted to murder these two sons. What happened?As a result, Shen Sheng stayed in the state of Jin and was murdered in the end. Chong'er escaped and saved his life. Finally, he returned to the state and became the king of the state, that is, Duke Wen of Jin.Having said that, Liu Qi suddenly realized, oh, I see. Just at this time, Huang Zu, the prefect of Jiangxia, was killed by Sun Quan, and there was no one left for the prefect of Jiangxia, so Liu Qi went to his father and said that I would become the prefect of Xia.OK, you go, Liu Biao approves.Liu Qi brought 10,000 people to Xiakou, which is now Hankou, Hankou in Wuhan City, and became the prefect of Jiangxia.Therefore, this history is sometimes very interesting. With Zhuge Liang's talent in the sky and the earth, the first plan for the fledgling is to handle housework for others.But he made a great contribution to Liu Bei, because the 10,000 people Liu Qi took away were half of Liu Bei's capital in the Battle of Chibi. Liu Qi's soldiers. Liu Biao's funeral arrangement was inappropriate. It laid the foundation for Jingzhou's split. It can even be said that since Liu Biao made the decision to let Liu Cong take over and send Liu Qi out to be the prefect of Jiangxia, the Jingzhou Group has in fact It has been split into two factions, one with Liu Cong as the nominal representative, and behind them are people like Cai Mao and Kuai Yue.As we said earlier, Kuai Yue was someone Cao Cao admired. Cai Mao probably had an old relationship with Cao Cao, and he had known Cao Cao for a long time. Later, after Cao Cao got Jingzhou, he went to Cai Mao's house, went to his inner room, and saw Cai Mao's Wife, it can be seen that the relationship between Cao Cao and Cai Mao is very good, so we can call this faction the Jiang Cao faction. The other faction uses Liu Qi as its nominal representative—these two people can only be nominal representatives, and these two are useless—who is behind it?Behind them are Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang.The political attitudes of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are also very clear. Liu Bei is determined to resist Cao, because Liu Bei cannot surrender to Cao Cao. Ear", Liu Bei surrendered to Cao Cao, what would happen to him, he could only die hard to the end.And Zhuge Liang has already planned it in "Longzhong Dui", even if he wants to divide the world with Cao Cao and Sun Quan, he will not advocate Liu Bei to surrender to Cao Cao, so we might as well call this faction the anti-Cao faction. What is Liu Biao's attitude?Liu Biao didn't want to surrender Cao, nor did he want to unite with Wu. He wanted to remain neutral, and he wanted to keep his one-third of an acre of land.But he can control himself, he can't control his son; he can control his life, he can't control his death.As for his funeral, he actually made such an arrangement, isn't it a fool.Therefore, Chen Shou did not think highly of Liu Biao. He also commented on Liu Biao and Yuan Shao together. He said that the common characteristics of Liu Biao and Yuan Shao are appearance, good looks, demeanor and elegance. Third, he is well-known and has a great reputation; fourth, he also has achievements. I have said that Yuan Shao’s achievements have surpassed those of his ancestors and fathers.But what they have in common is "tolerance on the outside and taboo on the inside, good plan but no decision, talent but not use it, hearing the good but not accepting it, abolishing the father-in-law and establishing the concubine, giving up rituals and adoring love." Chen Shou said that this is the commonality of these two people. Features, so it is a beautiful straw bag. Although Liu Biao gained a firm foothold in Jingzhou temporarily by virtue of his power and strategy, his limited power and strategy could not help him gain a foothold in Jingzhou for a long time, because he had no ambitions, narrow-mindedness, and some wrong decisions. It paved the way for the split of Jingzhou.And Yuan Shao is also a narrow-minded person, and made many wrong decisions, which eventually led to failure.So, apart from these similarities, what are the differences between Liu Biao and Yuan Shao? Here I still want to say something fair to Liu Biao. Liu Biao and Yuan Shao cannot be said to be exactly the same.First, Yuan Shao is suicidal, and Liu Biao is doomed.Yuan Shao provoked Cao Cao by himself. The Battle of Guandu was started by Yuan Shao. Liu Biao never started a war. He is a "self-defense thief". He just wants to defend his own territory. He is doomed, the first point. The second point, with Liu Biao's ability, he has no way out other than being a "self-defense thief", he has no ability to attack.His mistake was only that he did not understand that there are two kinds of defense. One of them is called offense as defense. He should adopt the strategy of offense as defense. He may have defended Jingzhou. This is the second point. The third point is that because of Liu Biao's policy of "loving the people, supporting scholars, and taking care of himself", under his administration, the Jingzhou area has achieved stability and peace for more than ten years. The people and scholars in Jingzhou area live a stable and relatively stable life A happy life, this should be affirmed.And Liu Biao is self-aware, he wants to keep Jingzhou in troubled times. Therefore, it may be too late to say that Liu Biao is a beautiful idiot. A more accurate evaluation was put forward by the historian Mr. He Ziquan. Liu Biao is "a virtuous minister who governs the world, and a mediocre man in troubled times".Liu Biao's greatest misfortune is that he shouldn't have been born in this chaotic world where the weak preyed on the strong. This is not his fault.And Liu Biao was not without luck at all, Liu You also had luck, it was his luck that he was sent to Jingzhou by the imperial court.Because Jingzhou was one of the largest states among the thirteen states in the Han Dynasty at that time, and two of the thirteen states in the Han Dynasty were the largest, one was Jingzhou and the other was Yizhou.This place is very large and rich, but it is not a political center. Therefore, the war for the world did not take place in the Jingzhou area first, but in the north. The war for the world between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao was fought in the north.Therefore, when the world is uncertain, Jingzhou is a good place to avoid chaos and save one's life, but when the world is about to be settled, Jingzhou will become a sheep that must be competed in the eyes of tigers and wolves, so Liu Biao is the unlucky one.Of course, Liu Biao is self-aware. He knows that in such a troubled world where the jungle preys on the strong, he can only adopt the policy of keeping Jingzhou in troubled times, but the tree wants to be quiet, but the wind does not stop. The strategic plans made by their respective monarchs also focused on Jingzhou, so what will be the fate of Jingzhou?Please see the next episode - Soldiers are approaching the city.