Liu Chan ascended the throne in the third year of Zhangwu (223) and reigned for forty-one years around the first year of Yanxing (263), making him the longest-reigning monarch of the Three Kingdoms period. So, how did Liu Chan rule for forty years? In fact, it should be divided into internal and external causes.
Internal factors: Zhuge Liang was in power in the early stage, and Liu Chan made a certain contribution in the later stage.
Liu Chan reigned for about forty years, although he was assisted by Zhuge Liang in the early years, but Zhuge Liang could assist for thirty years after that, which is enough to show that Liu Chan was not complete"Adou who can't be helped"In terms of internal affairs, Liu Chan actually still has a certain contribution, although he is not a Ming master, but he can be regarded as a conservative monarch.
1. Support Zhuge Liang v. Liu Bei died at the age of 60, Liu Chan ascended the throne at the age of 16, due to the defeat of Yiling, the Shu Han at that time was in crisis, but fortunately, Zhuge Liang did not completely collapse with his support. Zhuge Liang's ability in internal affairs is self-evident, and he also led his troops south to quell the southern rebellion, and after two years of recuperation, he ensured internal stability in the third year of Jianxing (225). Since then, although Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition has been criticized, it has also avoided the chronic disease of Shu Han's demise, although it has not achieved remarkable results, the actual national strength consumed is not large. It can be said that in the first ten years of Liu Chan's rule, Zhuge Liang definitely played a leading role.
2, Zhuge Liang smoothly passed from the dynasty. After Zhuge Liang's death, Wei Yan was killed, while Yang Yi and his ilk continued, Liu Chan said"For his sins, he pondered his previous achievements and buried his coffin", Yang Yi was also exonerated by the common people. Subsequently, Liu Chan no longer established himself as the prime minister, he changed Fei Qu to Shang Shuling, Jiang Wan as the general, the great Sima, thus ensuring the balance of power in the central region of the DPRK and no longer occupies a dominant position, after the death of Jiang Wan and others, Liu Chan began to take power. From this experience, it can be seen that Liu Chan is not a political fool. Under his rule, the political situation in Shu and Han remained basically stable, and compared with Cao Wei and Eastern Wu in the same period, Liu Chan's performance was remarkable.
3.Liu Chan treats ** and the people well. Liu Chan showed a relatively peaceful side when treating his subjects, even if the subjects could not accept the strategists, he could be lenient, even if Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition failed, Liu Chan did not easily relieve the military power, and several rulers of Eastern Wu, especially Sun Hao and others, Liu Chan was extremely generous and tolerant. Liu Chan also has a set of ways to deal with people, so that people can live and work in peace and contentment in troubled times, which is extremely rare. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Shuzhong people also built temples for Liu Chan, which were located on the east and west sides of the Wuhou Temple and the Zhaolie Temple, which proved that Liu Chan won the hearts of the people during his reign.
Although, as mentioned above, Liu Chan had problems with dynastic stability and caused dynastic chaos due to the reuse of Huang Hao and his ilk, comparing the rulers of Cao Wei and Eastern Wu horizontally, Liu Chan's performance was quite good.
External causes: Wei and Wu fought in the early stage, and there was no time to take care of each other in the later period.
In the early days of Liu Chan's reign, Shu Han suffered a crushing defeat at Yiling, Cao Wei and Eastern Wu first went to war, and then resumed the Sun-Liu alliance, Wei, Shu and Wu frequently fought wars, and after Zhuge Liang's death, Liu Chan's reign ended briefly. After Zhuge Liang's death, Cao Wei and Wu had no time to take care of themselves due to internal contradictions.
1.At the beginning of the Wei Dynasty, Shu and Wu were often at war. Battle of Yiling"After that, Cao Pi immediately sent troops south to attack Wu, and the two sides won and lost each other. Thereafter, from the first year of the Huang dynasty (222) to the seventh year of the reign of the Huang dynasty (228), the two sides clashed from time to time, but eventually the two sides clashed due to the presence of Cao Wei"Battle of Stone Pavilion"ended with defeat. However, due to the repeated wars between Sun Quan and Shanyue in order to maintain internal stability, the alliance relationship was restored, and it could not be continued in the short term. At the same time, Cao Wei was also unable to expand due to successive wars with Shu Han, Eastern Wu, and Xianbei.
2.Cao Wei's civil strife continued. After Shu Han lost Zhuge Liang, Cao Wei also entered the later period of Cao Rong's reign, but the mistakes in the later period of his reign, such as large-scale construction, abuse of people's power, and self-confidence in the last days, led to the later political turmoil. After Cao Fang ascended the throne, he helped Sima Yi and Cao Shuang fight a lot of battles"The change of Gao Pingling"Later, the Cao Shuang group was suppressed, and the Sima family began to occupy a dominant position in the party, but Cao Wei's contradictions began to become very obvious"Bundle Decree"、"With the outbreak of the Sima family, the contradictions of the Cao Wei family also began to become very obvious. "[2] The Cao Wei family was suppressed, and the Sima family began to dominate the party. Sima Zhao committed suicide. At the same time, although Cao Wei expanded outward, its strategic focus was concentrated in the northeast, leveling Gongsun Yuan of Liaodong, defeating Goguryeo, breaking Dong Hao, Ping Hao, and destroying Han Hao; As for Shu Han and Eastern Wu in the south, Cao Wei was unable to wage large-scale wars.
3.Civil strife in the late Wu period. After the death of Zhuge Liang, the later period of the Wu Kingdom was also ruled by Sun Quan, and in dealing with the issue of inheritance, it can be said that Sun Quan handled it extremely badly, resulting in"The battle between the two houses", there were many factions of ministers in the DPRK and China, Sun Quan was dismissed, and Sun Ba was killed. Sun Quan died in the second year of Wu Taiyuan (252), and Sun Liang was only ten years old when he ascended the throne. As a result, power fell into the hands of Sun Quan's ministers, who all showed good governance skills. However, Sun Quan's ** caused civil strife in the imperial court, and important generals such as Lu Zhi and Zhu Kun were killed one after another. Sun Liang was finally deposed in the first year of Yong'an (258), Sun Xiu ascended the throne, and Sun Quan was killed soon after. During this period, the internal strife in Soochow was serious, and there was no possibility of outward expansion.
As mentioned above, during Zhuge Liang's reign, the Sun-Liu alliance was restored, and Cao Wei was subject to Eastern Wu, Shu Han, and Xianbei, ensuring that Shu Han basically did not face major external crises, while Cao Wei and Eastern Wu were in a political crisis and were unable to wage large-scale wars. Of course, the relatively stable external environment is also an important reason for Liu Chan's long-term rule.
To sum up, Shu Han was internally stable, Liu Chan's performance was not bad, coupled with a relatively stable external environment, which allowed Liu Chan to sit on the throne for forty years. The internal stability of the Cao Wei Dynasty, coupled with the strong national strength of the Shu Han, Cao Wei went south on a large scale to destroy Shu, Jiang Wei was difficult to support alone, and Huang Hao invaded the Shu Han regime, which eventually led to the demise of the Shu Han.