"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" can be said to be not a sonorous and powerful epic masterpiece, however, Liu Bei and Cao Cao in the pen form a stark contrast, I have to say that this is not Luo Guanzhong's creative mistake, but more of the precipitation of history. In fact, when Luo Guanzhong wrote "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the record of the history of the Three Kingdoms had been praised among the people for thousands of years, and people had infinite sympathy for Liu Bei's Shu Han.
The tenacity and dedication of the strivers who founded Shu Han, especially the "dual-core" combination of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, are no less magnificent than the country they founded. Liu Bei's perseverance and Zhuge Liang's conscientiousness are not only reflected in their outstanding achievements, but also serve as role models in the hearts of generations after generations. Their deeds have become a beacon, illuminating that in the real world where utilitarianism is paramount, there are still people who dare to use themselves as torches and fight for their ideals.
However, perhaps because Shu Han was too glorious in history, when Deng Ai broke Shu, there was a jaw-dropping change in the situation. The civil and military officials of Shu Han shouted "surrender" one after another, and Qian Zhou and others even proposed to surrender to Eastern Wu or directly surrender to Cao Wei, which is incomprehensible. However, digging deeper into the root cause of this phenomenon, our eyes naturally focus on Zhuge Zhan.
Zhuge Zhan was Zhuge Liang's son, and he was only seven years old when Zhuge Liang died. It is worth noting that in the year Zhuge Zhan was born, Zhuge Liang created the famous "Teacher Table" with blood-dripping words, which opened the prelude to the Northern Expedition. Perhaps this is a wonderful inheritance, so when Zhuge Liang died, Zhuge Zhan was almost regarded as the second Zhuge Liang and was supported by the Shu Han Dynasty.
However, when Deng Ai's sneak attack on Yinping was successful, the voice of surrender within Shu Han was unusually high. All of this is almost concentrated on Zhuge Zhan. Zhuge Zhan did not hesitate to take on this important responsibility, even though he was 36 years old at this time. When Zhuge Liang was 36 years old, Liu Bei launched the Battle of Hanzhong, which led Shu Han to its heyday, and at this time, Zhuge Zhan faced the life and death of Shu Han, carrying the last hope, and bravely led the troops to the battle. As a result, the "Battle of Mianzhu" broke out, and Zhuge Zhan was defeated in the confrontation with Deng Ai. His sad and indignant words: "I don't except Huang Hao, I don't control Jiang Wei outside, I don't guard Jiangyou, I have three crimes, how can I face it?"Eventually, he sacrificed his life and ended his life.
Zhuge Zhan's death marked the demise of the spirit of the founding of the Shu Han Dynasty. His death in battle deprived the call for surrender within Shu Han to be a strong constraint. However, behind this superficial phenomenon, the deep-seated reason is contained in Zhuge Zhan's self-proclaimed "I have three sins". First of all, Huang Hao is not removed from the inside. Huang Hao is just an appearance, just like the eunuchs rampant in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Huang Hao's appearance is only an external manifestation of the imbalance of power within the Shu Han regime. And this imbalance was actually caused by Zhuge Zhan's wrong decisions in dealing with the local forces of Shu Han in the past. Secondly, Jiang Wei is not controlled externally. This "Jiang Wei" was actually a key figure in Shu Han's inheritance of Zhuge Liang's ideals, but Zhuge Zhan chose to oppose Jiang Wei, which ultimately led to his defeat. In the end, it is not necessary to defend Jiangyou. This reflected Zhuge Zhan's lack of military experience and command ability, which made him unable to compete with the experienced Deng Ai on the battlefield.
Overall, Zhuge Zhan's "Three Sins" reveal the imbalance inside and outside the Shu Han Dynasty. The local forces of Shu Han dominated the political struggle, and the opposition between genuine state supporters, such as Zhuge Zhan and Jiang Wei, led to internal strife. This ultimately contributed to the tragedy of the demise of Shu Han. Sima Yan made it clear in his evaluation that Zhuge Liang did his best when he was in Shu Han, and his son Zhuge Zhan sacrificed his life to take righteousness when he was in trouble, which is the good of the world.