So after the defeat at Yiling, when Liu Bei told Zhuge in his will, did he abandon this established strategy? We said still no. 2. Liu Bei's political testament is still to firmly implement "Longzhong

So after the defeat at Yiling, when Liu Bei told Zhuge in his will, did he abandon this established strategy? We said still no. 2. Liu Bei's political testament is still to firmly implement "Longzhong Dui"

Liu Bei, who had been fighting for a lifetime, was finally defeated by the scholarly commander Lu Xun and the little brat Sun Huan. , my mood was shrouded in shame all day long. This emotion made Liu Bei's hatred of Soochow even more serious, and Liu Bei would not give up the Longzhong strategy. Let’s take a look at what Liu Bei’s political testament is? The first was to appoint two important ministers, Tuogu. The former master was seriously ill, and Tuogu became the prime minister. The minister ordered Li Yan to be his deputy ("The Biography of the First Master"); the second was to determine Li Yan's responsibilities, with Yan as the central protector and the unified general. Internal and external military affairs, staying in Yong'an ("The Biography of Li Yan"). Many historical researchers say that the reason why Liu Bei entrusted the orphan to two people was not only to use Li Yan to contain Zhuge, but also to create a balance. The choice of Li Yan, a native of Yizhou, was to encourage the people of Yizhou to enthusiastically participate in the Northern Expedition. We say that this view seriously misunderstands Liu Bei, and the basic historical data is unclear. Because first of all, the power Liu Bei gave Zhuge Yafu could not be restricted by Li Yan; secondly, Li Yan was not a native of Yizhou at all, so how could he inspire the people of Yizhou? What's more, the decadence of the Yizhou natives is unmatched by the Cai and Kuai tribes in Jingzhou. How can they be encouraged? ! Let’s discuss the meaning of the Li Yan part of the will.

1. Why did Liu Bei choose Li Yan as his second most important minister? Liu Bei paid special attention to warriors and did not want to see ordinary literati at all. Apart from Zhuge, the only intellectuals Liu Bei looked up to were Fazheng, Pang Tong, and Liao Li. What were the personalities of these three people? He is bold, rugged, and aloof, comparable to Guo Jia and Cheng Yu in the Cao Wei camp, and among them he is the most upright. As for Mi Zhu, Jian Yong, Sun Qian, Liu Yan, Yi Ji and others, they can be treated kindly, but they will not be reused. Liu Bei did many things to look down on or even belittle civil servants, including Xu Jing, Ma Su, Qin Mi, Liu Ba, Jiang Wan, Fei Shi, and Chang Yu. These people include both Jingxiang literati and Yizhou literati, as well as honorable ministers of the central government during the period of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty. Among them, Qin Mi was actually imprisoned by Liu Bei for admonishing him (the general was going to conquer Wu, and Mi Chen Tianshi would have no benefit, so he was imprisoned in seclusion, and then he loaned out the "Qin Mi Biography"), Chang Yu was executed for making a joke on Liu Bei, and Zhuge Liang They couldn't hold him back (the former master often criticized him for being disrespectful, and was angry at his omissions, so he showed Yu's advice to Hanzhong but it was not accepted, so he was thrown into prison and executed. Zhuge Liang confessed his crime... Yu then abandoned the market). Liu Bei responded to Zhuge's plea with the famous saying "Fanglan has a family, so he has to marry her". Liu Bei hates literati, but what he likes is of course warriors and rough people. It seems that rough people are straightforward and easy to deal with. Let’s see which generals Liu Bei admires? Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Wei Yan. Guan Yu and Wei Yan looked down on literati, but Liu Bei liked them very much. Liu Bei clearly knew that Zhang Fei was a drunkard and liked to whip his soldiers after drinking. He was too rough and he tried to persuade him many times, but he did not punish Zhang Fei for this. Before the Battle of Yiling, when the commander-in-chief of Zhang Fei's tent suddenly arrived, Liu Bei could guess that Zhang Fei was dead. ). When Fazheng gained power and became the prefect of Shu County, he would retaliate against those who had offended him. He would avenge his private grievances to the extent of abusing the death penalty. , Liu Bei also turned a blind eye. When Fa Zheng died, Liu Bei even cried bitterly for several days (the former master had shed tears for many days). So why did Li Yan become Tuogu's second most important minister? Is Li Yan the kind of military commander or rugged scholar Liu Bei likes?

2. Li Yan’s magical escape from Zigui. How did Li Yan start his career? First of all, Li Yan is not only not from Yizhou at all, but also very unceremoniously from Nanyang, and even belongs to the so-called "Nanyang Gang generals group" that we deliberately divided. When he appeared, he was the magistrate of Zigui County of Nanjun. Who was his direct superior? It was not the prefect of Nanjun, but Liu Biao, the shepherd of Jingzhou, because there was no prefect of Nanjun in Liu Biao's time, and Liu Biao directly governed Nanjun. Why did Liu Biao send Li Yan to be the county magistrate of his own county? It suddenly flashed into our minds that Liu Pan and Huang Zhong were sent to garrison in You County, Changsha County.

When Cao Cao marched south to Jingzhou and 5,000 elite cavalry went south to rob Jiangling City (Cao Cao sent 5,000 elite cavalry in hot pursuit, traveling more than 300 miles a day and night ("The Legend of the First Master")), Zigui County Magistrate Li Yan was not far away. Instead of surrendering to Cao Cao with the four southern counties of Jingzhou, he ran away and went to Liu Zhang in Yizhou. He was quickly appointed as the county magistrate of Chengdu by Liu Zhang. Liu Zhang meant that anyone who was against Cao Cao was one of his own! At this time, there were still five years before Liu Bei entered Chengdu. When Liu Bei attacked Chengdu, Liu Zhang promoted Li Yan to the guard army and led his troops out of Chengdu to garrison Mianzhu. Li Yan simply led his troops to surrender to Liu Bei (Yan led his troops to surrender to the First Lord, The First Lord pays homage to General Yan Pi). Liu Bei treated Li Yan just like Cao Cao treated Huang Zhong, and immediately named him General Pi. At the same time, Xu Jing, the governor of Shu County, was also ready to surrender to Liu Bei, but Liu Bei looked down on Xu Jing because of this (in the 19th year, when he besieged Chengdu, Xu Jing, the governor of Shu County, was Jing general crossed the city and surrendered, but it was not successful. Zhang thought that danger was imminent, so he did not punish Jing. What's going on? Under the pressure of Cao Cao's hundreds of thousands of troops, Li Yan refused to surrender to Cao Cao. When Liu Bei came, he immediately surrendered. However, Li Yan and Xu Jing had the same behavior of surrendering to their master, but their treatment was completely different. This rhythm was exactly what Li Yan said when he was waiting for Liu Bei and then contacted Liu Biao to ask Liu Bei: "My son is not talented, but my son is not talented." All the generals were scattered, and after my death, you took pictures of Jingzhou ("The First Master Biography of Wei Shu"), and why did Liu Bei dare to safely lead a large number of people to slowly and leisurely rush south to Jiangling? We have already analyzed in the previous post "Liu Biao is waiting for Cao Cao to usurp the Han". Liu Biao Tuogu will definitely introduce his generals to Liu Bei, especially the generals Liu Biao placed in the south of Jingzhou. Then Li Yan's escape from Zigui is easy to understand. Li Yan is the capable person and general in Jingzhou left to Liu Bei by Liu Biao. In the above list of Liu Bei's application for King of Hanzhong, Li Yan was impressively included in the eleven-man list. Although he was ranked last, there were only a few particularly senior ministers and ministers left by Liu Zhang's father Liu Yan in this list. Apart from Liu Bei's direct descendants and Ma Chao, only Fazheng and Li Yan are at the bottom of the list. Fa Zheng was considered as a super important minister like Zhuge in Liu Bei's eyes because of his active planning to offer Yizhou. As a prefect, why could Li Yan be on the list? In addition to Liu Biao's factors, personal abilities must be extraordinary.

3. What are Li Yan’s abilities? He has been known for his talents since he became an official. Liu Biao specially asked him to go to various counties and counties for training (the younger one was a county official, known for his talents, and Liu Biao, the shepherd of Jingzhou, went to all counties and counties), and finally he went to Nanjun, which Liu Biao was directly responsible for. This was to improve governance. local capabilities. After Liu Bei settled in Chengdu, he promoted Li Yan to the position of governor of Qianwei, and became one of the few generals who actually commanded the army, and was named General Xingye. At that time, Liu Bei's Zuo General status could confer the highest authority to the generals: generals with mixed numbers (former general Dong Zhuo designated the five great generals), the king of Hanzhong designated the four generals, and the emperor designated the four commanders. When Liu Bei went north to Hanzhong to confront Xia Houyuan, there was a rebellion of tens of thousands of thieves in Zizhong County, Jianwei County under Li Yan's rule. Li Yan did not report to Liu Bei and asked Liu Bei to send regular troops. He led 5,000 local troops in the county to quell the rebellion and killed the bandits. Ma Qin and Gao Sheng were beheaded. Not long after, another ethnic minority rebellion broke out in the Nanzhong area. The rebels led by Gaoding surrounded Xindao County. Li Yan led his army to rescue the rebels, and the rebels were defeated. Li Yan was added as a general to assist the Han Dynasty. It can be said that Li Yan was a talented man with both civil and military skills. Lu Xun and Zhuge Ke of Soochow had similar experience in counterinsurgency, but they were known for their resourcefulness. Based on Liu Bei's preferences, we guess that Li Yan performed more of leading troops to attack.

4. Liu Bei suddenly promoted Li Yan before his death. The process of appointing Li Yan as the second most important minister of Tuogu is also very magical. When Liu Bei was defeated in Yiling and fell ill in Yong'an Palace, he summoned Li Yan, a prefect who had no experience in central government work, to Yong'an City and appointed him as Shangshu Ling to replace the deceased Liu Ba.

Guang Luxun's official position is very interesting, as it allows General Li Yan to take charge of the internal affairs of the palace. According to Liu Bei's intention for Li Yan to stay in Yong'an and command the Eastern Front Army, this Guang Luxun could only be led by Li Yanyao. In any case, this appointment arrangement allowed Li Yan to fully enjoy the status of Tuogu's second most important minister. At this time, the relationship between Zhuge and Li Yan should be relatively harmonious, and there is mutual respect between the chief and the deputy. (Yan and Meng Da wrote in a book: "Kong Ming and I are both entrusted, we are deeply worried and responsible, and we have a good companion." Liang Liang He also said with Da Shu: "Parts are like flows, tending to give up but not stagnate, and they are righteous." This is what he sees (Li Yan Zhuan). In the third year of Jianxing, Zhuge put down the rebellion in Nanzhong and prepared for the Northern Expedition. In four years, Li Yan was promoted to former general. In the sixth year of Zhuge Dynasty, the Northern Expedition began. In the eighth year of Jianxing's reign, when Wei Yanjin was promoted to General of the Conquest of the West, Li Yan was promoted to Marshal (Hussars General) without ceremony. In other words, after the death of the old fourth general Guan Ma Zhang Huang, Li Yan has always been the first military rank, and Wu Yi and Wei Yan have never surpassed Li Yan. However,

1. Zhuge's rejection of Li Yan's request to govern the government and serve as the governor of Bazhou (merging five counties including Bajun into Bazhou) made it clear that the Hanzhong Army was not only the main force of the Northern Expedition, but also the main force of the Northern Expedition. Li Yan's Eastern Front Army no longer even had the status to cooperate. In the end, Zhuge simply defeated Fei Yao and Guo Huai in the eighth year of Jianxing Dynasty at Yangxi in Wei. When Cao Zhen launched a three-pronged army to besiege Hanzhong, he transferred Li Yan to lead the army. 20,000 Yong'an troops from the eastern front rushed north to support (Cao Zhen wanted to march to Hanchuan in three directions, and ordered 20,000 soldiers to go to Hanzhong). Only a small number of troops from the Eastern Front Army guard Chen Dadu were left to guard Yong'an, and Li Yan's son Li Feng was in charge of Jiangzhou. This incident was a landmark event that Zhuge gave up on Longzhong's strategy.

2. Is it a reasonable use of Li Yan for Zhuge to make Li Yan fully responsible for the affairs of the Prime Minister's Mansion? On the surface, Zhuge handed over all the power of the Prime Minister's Office to Li Yan (ordering Yan to protect the affairs of the office). At that time, the officials did not understand Zhuge's approach (on the day of Pingzhi, they all entrusted everything, All the ministers blame him for being too generous). If Zhuge was responsible for frontline command and logistics in the first two Northern Expeditions, then in the subsequent Northern Expedition he left the logistics supply to Li Yan, then what was Zhuge himself responsible for? Responsible for frontline troop movement matters. Wei Yanchang was good at field battles, Li Yan was good at commanding on the spot, and Zhuge was good at careful planning. But in fact, Zhuge became the chief general, Wei Yan became the deputy general, and Li Yan became the logistics manager. This chaotic personnel arrangement that did not adapt to people's conditions will inevitably make Li Yan He went crazy, made Wei Yan feel aggrieved, and made Li Yan upset.

3. Was Li Yan’s mistake so serious that he was deposed as a civilian? How did Li Yan know that the supply of grain and grass in Hanzhong was so difficult? The joke was inevitable. In fact, this kind of thing can be reported truthfully. Li Yan felt that he couldn't stand it, so he played the trick of lying about the queen. Is this mistake as serious as Zhuge's mistake in the first Northern Expedition? Obviously not, why can't Li Yan, who pleaded guilty, be demoted? Why should Li Yan be abolished as a civilian? Therefore, some historical researchers speculate that Li Yan actually made a very serious mistake - treason, and wanted to defect to Cao Wei. In order to take the overall situation into consideration, Zhuge concealed the truth and did not kill Li Yan, but just deposed Li Yan as a civilian. . Although this conjecture has a certain possibility, it cannot explain the historical fact that Li Yan's son Li Feng was later promoted and used. And Li Yan, who was deposed, naively thought that Zhuge would use him again in the future. If this was the case, how could Zhuge, who was so thoughtful and thoughtful, not mention re-appointing Li Yan at all in his funeral arrangements? Is a person of Li Yan's level and ability inferior to that loser Jiang Wan? Will we no longer need talented people like Li Yan in the future Northern Expedition? So does Li Yan know about Zhuge's strategic adjustment for the Northern Expedition?