Shu Han, a country that stood out during the Three Kingdoms period, suffered from infighting. How many outstanding talents have been led to by this infighting, which has become the fuse for the withering of talents in the later stage? Behind this historical mystery lies profound questions about the rise and fall of the country and the waste of talent.
Let's step into the turbulent years of Shu Han, delve into the great damage of this infighting to talents, and explore the reasons why Shu Han's talents withered so much in the later period in this turbulent period. Perhaps, this is a tragic history of infighting and national fortunes, waiting for us to solve the mystery.
When Liu Bei was in Jingzhou at first, he only had a few henchmen such as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Later, through marriage and making friends, he gradually gathered talents, coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, and occupied Yizhou after the Battle of Yiling. At this time, the strength of Shu Han has begun to take shape.
[Wenchen] is full of talents
After Liu Bei entered Shu, he was very lucky, and he got many talents from time to time. Pang Tong defected from Eastern Wu, giving Liu Bei one more strategist. At Sun Quan's place, Pang Tong felt that his talents had not been displayed, so he tried to find a ** to realize his ambitions. Defecting to Shu Han was a good opportunity for him to display his ambitions. Pang Tong was far-sighted and laid the foundation for the future division of Shu; Fa Zheng came to Shu to avoid trouble and gave advice to Liu Bei. These two contributed a lot to the development of the early Shu Han Dynasty.
Of course, the most important thing is to usher in Zhuge Liang from Longzhong. Zhuge Liang is not only strategic, but also civil and military, and is a rare talent in Shu Han. He came to Shuzhong with the "Book of Commandments" given by Liu Bei that year, and officially took on the responsibility of the Han family.
These Wenchen provided a huge boost to the development of Shu Han in the early stage. Zhuge Liang, Liu Yan and others suggested that Liu Bei should be proclaimed emperor and consolidate power; In "Longzhong Pair", he put forward the strategy of "uniting Wu and breaking gold" to stabilize the hearts of the army and the people internally, and to connect Wu to resist Cao externally, so as to accumulate strength for the future Northern Expedition.
Zhuge Liang and Fa Zhengzhi have the way of planning, and Pang Tong and Liu Ba are good at governing civil affairs, each showing their magical powers. With their joint efforts, the rudiments of the Shu Han Empire began to take shape. It can be seen that in the early period of the Shu Han Dynasty, many talents were gathered, and they were no less than the contemporaries of Soochow in terms of Wenchen.
【General】The five tiger generals swept the battlefield
In terms of military generals, Shu Han is more powerful. First Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong and other five tiger generals, and then Zhou Yi, Wang Ping fierce generals, Shu Han combat power is good. This group of generals laid a vast land for Shu Han and repelled many attacks by Cao Wei.
Among them, Guan Yu is the most prominent, he once guarded Jiangling for five years, defeated Lü Meng, and became famous. After Liu Bei entered Shu, he assumed most of the military responsibilities. Guan Yu has a straightforward personality and does not have a harmonious relationship with the ministers as Zhang Fei, but his military contributions are unparalleled.
Guan and Zhang were rated as "Lu Bu among the people, Zhang Feidi in Lu Bu", which shows their bravery. Zhao Yun won Liu Bei's trust and made many miraculous achievements; Ma Chao once captured Mr. Yan Liang as a horse; Huang Zhong should be strong and tireless. Such fierce generals make Shu Han's military strength unmatched.
Since the end of the Battle of Hanzhong, the strength of Shu Han has reached its peak. At this time, under Liu Bei's command, there was no shortage of talented people, and they already had the momentum to stand on top of Dongwu. There are no first-class military generals, and the early Shu Han Dynasty is not worthy of Eastern Wu at all.
However, the good times were short-lived. After Liu Bei's death and Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition failed, the national strength of Shu Han continued to decline and declined day by day. The most critical reason for this is the frequent civil strife and the loss of a large number of talents.
[Chain reaction caused by Liu Feng] Guan Yu was killed, and Liu Feng was "committed suicide".
After the pacification of Hanzhong, Liu Bei ordered Guan Yu to guard Jingzhou in order to prevent Eastern Wu and accumulate strength for the Northern Expedition. So Guan Zhang and the two went their separate ways. Liu Bei's original intention was to make Guan Zhang go hand in hand, but the two had different personalities and were incompatible.
Guan Yu has a black belly, while Zhang Fei is reckless and straightforward. If the two could have supervised each other, perhaps the battle of Xiangfan could have been avoided. However, fate made people, Liu Bei let the two of them divide the land and guard, causing Guan Yu to be isolated.
Unexpectedly, Liu Bei's brothers Guan Zhang had always been at odds, and Liu Feng misjudged the situation and did not provide timely support, which led to the outbreak of the Battle of Xiangfan. Liu Feng was originally Liu Bei's confidant, but he was involved in internal contradictions when Guan Zhang was dying and dying. This is embarrassing.
Guan Yu fought alone, and finally died because he was outnumbered, and Shu Han lost his first fierce general. Liu Feng hesitated and missed the rescue opportunity, and Liu Bei was very disappointed in him. Zhuge Liang even bluntly said that Liu Feng was a "moth", difficult to control, and strongly advocated his "suicide".
Liu Bei actually didn't want to kill Liu Feng, after all, he regarded Liu Feng as his own. However, forced by the situation, he was in a dilemma, but he still agreed with Liu Feng to stand up for his own death in order to prevent future troubles. The king puts the country first and has to put his beloved son to death, and you can imagine Liu Bei's pain.
One stone stirred up a thousand waves, and the defeat of Xiangfan directly led to the loss of Guan Yu and Liu Feng, two fierce generals of Shu Han. This avoidable civil strife greatly damaged Shu Han's vitality.
Power struggle] Wei Yan was killed, and Yang Yi was "belittled" and committed suicide
During the Northern Expedition, the internal factional struggle within Shu Han also became increasingly fierce. Wei Yan is impetuous, and he is at odds with Yang Yi, a long history. The two have been competing with each other, fighting openly and secretly, and affecting their officers and soldiers.
Wei Yan is conceited and extraordinary, and has great talents; Yang Yi despised Wei Yan and wanted to monopolize power. The two hit it off, which was naturally unfavorable to Yang Yi. Yang Yi saw that the situation was not good, so he secretly wooed Jiang Wei and others to isolate Wei Yan.
After Zhuge Liang's death, there was a power vacuum, and the contradictions between Wei and Yang broke out in an all-round way. Yang Yi colluded with Jiang Wei to frame Wei Yan for rebellion, and finally found an opportunity to get rid of Wei Yan. After Wei Yan's death, Yang Yi was not reused, but was demoted to a commoner. He wrote a letter slandering the imperial court, ** was imprisoned, and finally committed suicide in prison. Yang Yi calculated Wei Yan and finally harmed herself, which can be described as self-reaping.
With a large loss of talents, coupled with the weakness of the monarch Liu Chan, Shu Han entered an irreversible state of decline and eventually became a second-rate country. Facts like this make people have to face up to the fact that civil strife is an important reason for the decline of Shu Han.
[Wenchen withered] rookies have no one to grow, and the cadres are the only big tasks
In the early period of the Shu Han Dynasty, the important ministers were like clouds. The five prime ministers Fa Zheng, Sun Jun, Fei Yi, Dong Yun, Zhuge Liang and others each have their own titles. However, in the later period, almost no one stood out among the scholars.
Pang Hui was young and promising, but unfortunately died early; Jiang Wan was once known as "the talent of the prime minister", but he did not do much. None of these rookies have grown up and are not good enough to be on their own. Jiang Wei is diligent and planned, but too opinionated. Throughout his life, he failed to reverse the situation in Shu Han.
Fei Yi died early, and Dong Yun was unknown and did little. Jiang Wei is full of economy, but it is difficult to perform. None of the civil and military generals can take on the big responsibility. It can be said that in the later period of the Shu Han Dynasty, the Wenchen withered, and there was no longer the power of the Northern Expedition.
[General] most of the veterans have died, and the new ones have no intention of fighting
The generals are also in danger. Of the five tiger generals, none of them lived a long life. Ma Chao and Zhao Yun died successively, and Huang Zhong was old. There are few veterans left who can fight, and the Shu Han army is empty.
Latecomers are like Liaohua, and they live in seclusion for fear of civil strife. caused the exhaustion of the main military force of Shu Han. This directly led to the embarrassment of "no generals, Liao Hua became the vanguard" when Wei attacked Shu Han, so that "there was no general, and Liao became the vanguard".
The new generals have no intention of making meritorious contributions, the veterans are sick or old, and there are very few people available. The emptiness of civil and military forces caused the military strength of Shu Han to shrink rapidly and enter the last stream.
To sum up, civil strife is the most important reason for the decline of the Shu Han Dynasty, and this historical fact cannot be doubted. It made civil and military officials panic and suspicious of each other; It also led to the death or frustration of a large number of talents, and weakened their strength. If it weren't for the serial effects of civil strife, perhaps Shu Han would still be able to survive for several years.
Of course, the decline of Shu Han also has the factor of the monarchy system. However, the other vassal states also faced this institutional obstacle, but they did not decline as quickly as the Shu Han. It can be seen that civil strife was the most important reason for the decline of Shu Han.
All history has many facets, but there is no room for glorification when it comes to civil strife. Internal strife brings calamity to the country and the people, and this is a stern lesson of history. Today's people should also remember this bloody lesson if they are in the history of Shu and Han. We must not repeat the mistakes of the past and repeat the tragedy of civil strife.