In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, we can often see Liu Bei taking Liu Sheng, the king of Zhongshan, as his "propaganda slogan".
And Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty also confirmed Liu Bei's identity after consulting the royal genealogy, calling him Uncle Liu Huang, which attracted a large number of followers.
For Liu Bei himself, his ability to occupy Shu is due to the abundance of talents under his command on the one hand, and the fact that he is a descendant of King Jing of Zhongshan on the other hand.
However, some readers believe that it is debatable whether Liu Bei is a descendant of Liu Sheng, the king of Zhongshan. So, is Liu Bei really a descendant of King Jing of Zhongshan?
Before understanding Liu Bei, we must first know what kind of character Liu Sheng is.
Liu Sheng's identity is very noble, he is the son of Emperor Liu Qi of the Han Dynasty and the half-brother of Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty.
On June 25, the third year of the first century, Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty named his child Liu Sheng as the king of Zhongshan.
Liu Sheng is also very happy, although he did not inherit the throne, it is also very good to be a relative of the emperor, and he also has his own territory.
As a result, when waiting for his brother Liu Che of the Han Wu Emperor to ascend the throne, the ministers took the lessons of the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms of Wu and Chu that broke out during the reign of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, and they sued the princes and kings for their mistakes at every turn.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Liu Che, was very clever, ostensibly appeasing these princes and kings, but he used the strategy of the minister's master and father, that is, the Tui En Order.
Let the princes and kings divide the land to their children according to their own ideas, and the court will formulate systems and titles for them, and these fiefs will be divided into counties under the imperial court.
In this way, as long as the princes and kings have more children, their fiefdoms will be smaller, and in the end, there will be no land to seal, leaving an empty title.
But Liu Sheng is not an ordinary person, he is different from other princes and kings, and he is particularly capable of life.
Historical records: Liu Sheng likes wine and has more than 120 children and grandchildren. Regardless of whether these 120 people are sons or daughters, Liu Sheng's fertility can rank first in the two Han Dynasty.
Due to the implementation of the "Tui En Order", it is normal for Liu Sheng to actively respond to the policy in order to save his life.
After all, the "Tui En Order" is the most unfavorable to the eldest son, but it has great benefits for the other sons. The palms and backs of the hands are all meat, and naturally they will be treated equally.
If it's okay to have two sons, it's enough to divide your own territory. But in the case of so many children, it is necessary to divide the fiefdom, which is a headache for Liu Sheng.
The area of his fiefdom is not large, which is equivalent to more than a dozen counties today, and there is no division.
This leads to a consequence, that is, the descendants of the descendants do not have fiefs, and when they divide the family, they receive some money and make a living for themselves.
Therefore, it is possible that Liu Bei said that he was a descendant of Liu Sheng, the king of Zhongshan. Maybe the entire local surname Liu has something to do with Liu Sheng.
Some people are curious, why can Liu Sheng have so many children?
Playful nature. Liu Sheng has an elder brother named Liu Pengzu, who is also a prince and king, but the two do not deal with each other.
As soon as they met, they accused each other, and Liu Pengzu said, "The king of Zhongshan only loves wine, and does not want to assist the king and bless the people." If you can't contribute to the country and the people, how can you be embarrassed to be called a vassal king? ”
Liu Sheng said teasingly: "As my elder brother, you are also the prince and king, specializing in managing officials and affairs. Then I should listen to ** every day and enjoy singing and dancing beauties. ”
It is this kind of character that makes Liu Sheng not care about politics, as long as he is comfortable.
Liu Sheng had one hundred and twenty heirs with names and surnames alone, and as for the others without names, the number was at least zero or more.
If we consider the spread of children and grandchildren, then by the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the number of Liu Sheng's descendants may be difficult to estimate.
Is Liu Bei really a descendant of King Jing of Zhongshan?
There is such a sentence in the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms: The first lord's surname was Liu, and he was also the son of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty.
Let's take a look at Liu Bei's birthplace, Liu Bei is a native of Zhuo County, Zhuo County (now Dashulousang Village, Zhuozhou City, Hebei Province), and the fief of King Jing of Zhongshan is in the area of Dingzhou City, Hebei Province, and the difference between the two is not very far.
Let's look at Liu Bei's family relationship, Liu Bei's grandfather Liu Xiong was promoted to filial piety and honesty, and the official was Fan Ling of Dongjun.
In the Han Dynasty, most of the "filial piety" were the children of Confucianism and the rich. This further convinces Liu Bei's identity.
In the fourth year of Xiping, when Liu Bei was fifteen years old, his mother asked him to go out to study, which can only be carried out by people with status.
The historical material "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" records: Liu Bei, Liu Deran, a fellow sect, and Gongsun Zhan, a native of Liaoxi, worshiped the former Jiujiang Taishou and Lu Zhi, a native of the same county, as teachers to study.
Who is Gongsun Zhan? Gongsun Zhan is a noble child, but because of his mother's humble background, he can only serve as a scholar.
Even if Gongsun Zhan's mother is not from a good background, he does not receive much attention at home, but his identity is here.
In the Han Dynasty, where identity and background were particularly important, if Liu Bei's ancestor was an ordinary person, probably Gongsun Chan would not have become friends with him.
Liu Bei went out to study, and the teacher he worshipped was not ordinary.
The three of them worshiped the former Jiujiang Taishou and Lu Zhi, a native of the same county, as a teacher to study. At that time, Lu Zhi had become a world-famous Confucian, and it was basically impossible for ordinary people to worship him as a teacher.
Moreover, if there is no relationship between Lu Zhi and Liu Bei, Liu Bei will probably not be allowed to apprentice.
I'm looking at how Liu Bei performs under Lu Zhi! Historical records: Liu Bei doesn't like to read much, likes dogs and horses, and beautiful clothes.
This is probably not a diligent farmer's child, and as a local ordinary person, he will not be exposed to these.
From between these lines, we can find that Liu Bei's own identity is not ordinary, he is not from an ordinary person's background.
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" describes that when Emperor Liu Xie of the Han Dynasty met Liu Bei for the first time, Emperor Han Xian asked: "Who is the ancestor of Qing?" Liu Bei replied: "The minister is the great-great-grandson of His Excellency Emperor Xiaojing, the grandson of Liu Xiong, and the son of Liu Hong. ”
Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty then sent someone to find the genealogy to check, and Ling Zongzhengqing, who was responsible for managing the affairs of the clan, read it out according to the genealogy: "Emperor Xiaojing gave birth to fourteen sons.
The seventh son was Liu Sheng, the king of Zhongshan. Shengsheng Lu Cheng Tinghou Liu Zhen; Zhensheng Peihou Liu Ang; Aung Sang......There is no doubt that Liu Hui, Hou of Jichuan; Fan Ling, Liu Xiong, Wison Dongjun; Xiongsheng Liu Hong; Hongbushi. Liu Bei is the son of Liu Hong. ”
If according to this statement, Liu Bei is still the distant uncle of the current emperor Liu Xie, and since then, Liu Bei has been respected by the people of the world as Uncle Liu Huang.
However, in the official history "Three Kingdoms", Liu Bei's identity is not recognized.
Another historical material, "Zizhi Tongjian", also wrote: "Preparation, after the victory of King Jing of Zhongshan Lucheng Tinghou, since his grandfather and above, the lineage cannot be examined. ”
In other words, the official history recognizes the identity of Liu Bei, the descendant of King Jing of Zhongshan, but no one can prove whether he is the emperor's uncle, and there is no way to verify it.
At the beginning of Liu Bei's business, this identity brought him great convenience after King Jing of Zhongshan, and many heroes took refuge in him because he was the identity of the Han family.
Although Liu Bei has repeatedly introduced himself like this, other Liu powerhouses, such as Liu Biao and Liu Yan, have not taken him seriously, and still regard strength as the first criterion for measuring Liu Bei.
However, it is undeniable that after Liu Bei called himself Liu Sheng, many heroes took refuge in him because of this identity and helped him through the most difficult initial period.