In the long history of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Han bore the brunt of its demise. The reasons for his demise are complex and multifaceted, but one thing is particularly noteworthy - after Zhuge Liang's death, the later lord Liu Chan changed the employment policy established by Zhuge Liang and embarked on the old path of the late Eastern Han Dynasty. As we all know, in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, the imperial power was deeply in the hands of eunuchs and relatives, and this rotation of power eventually led to the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty. And Zhuge Liang was deeply saddened by this. In "The Teacher's Table", he once sighed: "Pro-virtuous ministers, far villains, this ancestor is so prosperous;Pro-villain, Yuanxian Chen, after that, the Han Dynasty fell into decline. He clearly recognized the importance of being close to the virtuous and alienating the villains to the rise and fall of the state. However, after Liu Chan came to power, he changed this established policy of employing people, which led to a crisis in Shuhan.
After Zhuge Liang came to power, he not only strictly implemented the principle of selecting talents and using energy, but also clearly stated in the "Teacher Table": "The palace and the palace are all one, and it is not appropriate to punish Zang or not, and it is not appropriate to have similarities and differences." He advocated that the imperial palace and the prime minister's palace should be consistent in their employment policies, and that scholars and talents should be selected instead of relying on eunuchs. Because in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, eunuchs had too much power in the imperial palace, which eventually led to the chaos of the regime. Since the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty, the vast number of scholars have always had the political ideal of eliminating eunuchs, which is recorded many times in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty. Zhuge Liang's concept of governing the country reflects the practice of this concept.
Under Zhuge Liang's governance, Shu Han was politically stable and the people's livelihood was peaceful. He held important positions with Dong Yun and other scholars and talents to maintain internal harmony and balance. However, with the death of Dong Yun and Jiang Wan one after another, after Liu Chan "took charge of state affairs", the eunuch Huang Hao began to interfere in government affairs. Liu Chan reused eunuchs, relatives, and some former ministers, destroying the internal balance and returning to the political model of the Eastern Han Dynasty. And Huang Hao, without restraint, unscrupulously interfered with the government and caused great damage to the politics of Shu Han.
Zhuge Liang's policy of selecting and using talents was seriously undermined after Liu Chan came to power. Liu Chan focused more on personal relationships than on virtuousness, which led to the promotion of many unsuitable talents, upsetting the balance of internal power and laying a hidden danger for the demise of Shu Han. Especially for some people who were abandoned by Zhuge Liang, Liu Chan re-activated, such as Lai Min and others. This change has led to turmoil and crisis in an otherwise relatively stable regime.
After Liu Chan's "self-regent", the Shu Han regime went to the road of destruction. Chen Shou commented in "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms": "After (Chen) only died, (Huang) Hao was ordered from the Yellow Gate to be the regular servant of the Zhongchang, the captain of the Che, and the commander of the guards. After the fall of Shu Han in 263 AD, He Shao of Eastern Wu concluded that Shu Han was terrainous, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it could be described as impregnable. However, because Liu Chan did not use virtuous ministers but villains, the eternal industry was destroyed in his hands. This is a profound lesson that we should take as a warning.