A detailed explanation of longzhongdui

Scholars have published a lot of articles about Zhuge Liang's Longzhong Dui. But as far as I can see, most of these discussions focus on whether Longzhong's strategy is in line with the reality at that time, the reasons for failure, who should bear the responsibility, and how to evaluate Zhuge Liang's talents. Although different people have different opinions, they are generally beyond the scope of Wang Fuzhi's Zi Zhi Tong Jian. The author thinks that there are still some unfinished places in the study of Longzhong Dui. In the following discussion, the author takes Longzhong Dui Zonglve as a gradually formed strategic ideological system, analyzes the limited historical materials in combination with the evolution of the historical background at that time, and tries to outline the formation of Longzhong Dui Zonglve. On this basis, the related issues are analyzed, so as to reinterpret Longzhong Dui.

one

Longzhongdui is the crystallization of Zhuge Liang's ten years of seclusion. This is recognized by most people. One is that Zhuge Liang has great ambitions, and to realize this great ambition, there must be certain methods and strategies. This is the internal motive force of Longzhong's thought of general outline. Moreover, at the age of 17, Zhuge Liang had been able to escape from the protection of Liu Biao and live in seclusion independently. When he was in Longzhong, he stayed for ten years. It also shows that his personality is mature and independent, and he has the psychological conditions to brew Longzhong's general plan thought. Third, at that time, the world was at war, scholars and celebrities gathered in Jingzhou, and the local culture was prosperous. It provides a good cultural atmosphere for Longzhong's generation of general plan thought. Therefore, the author thinks that Long Zhong-dui's general idea should sprout when Zhuge Liang began to live in seclusion in A.D. 197, and finally came out when Liu Bei visited the thatched cottage in A.D. 207. In the past ten years, Longzhong's general plan thought has gradually formed. This is the basis of this paper.

According to the records in the History of the Three Kingdoms, Longzhong's core idea of the general program is: "If Jing Yi crosses, defends its rock resistance, builds a strong army in the west, comforts Yi Yue in the south, builds Sun Quan in the outside, repairs politics at home, and the world changes, then the general is ordered to turn Jingzhou's army into Wanluo, and the general will lead Yizhou's people out of Qinchuan."

Because Longzhong's thought of the general program is mainly manifested as an idea in its brewing process, it is unlikely to be shaped into words. Therefore, it is impossible for us to directly find out its formation context through historical materials. The ideological system of Longzhong Dui Master Program is an organic whole composed of several small strategies. We can first analyze the possible time, evolution and position of these small strategies in the whole ideological system of Longzhong Dui Zonglve, and then comprehensively draw the formation context of Longzhong Dui Zonglve.

Crossing jingyi, waiting for the northern expedition. This is undoubtedly the core of Longzhong's overall planning. Because, whether it is internal politics or external sun quan, it needs a certain site as the foundation. Whether the Northern Expedition is the criterion to judge whether Longzhong's strategy is to dominate the world or to seek only one side. First of all, we will analyze the formation and evolution of the thought of trans-Confucian classics.

First of all, according to the general law, when a thing is still in its infancy, it contains the basic characteristics of its mature state. Therefore, when the general program of Longzhongdui is still in the brewing stage, it should contain the basic idea of its mature state: crossing Jing Yi and waiting for the Northern Expedition.

Secondly, the aristocratic families in Jingzhou at that time mainly included Kuai, Cai, Pang, Huang, Ma and so on. Zhuge Liang is closely related to them: his two sisters married Pang Shanmin of Pang family and Kuaiqi of Kuai family respectively, while he married Huang's daughter Huang. In addition, due to the marriage between these most popular names, Zhuge Liang indirectly became in-laws with Jia He. Zhuge Liang and these big names formed a in-laws group. Considering that Zhuge Liang was 17 years old when he lived in seclusion, the marriage age in Han Dynasty was even lower: men were 14 to 18 years old, and women were 13 to 17 years old. This in-laws relationship was formed shortly after Zhuge Liang began to live in seclusion. At the same time, Zhuge Liang studied with Pang Degong and Si Mahui, representatives of Jingzhou Shi Ming Group. Or as friends, such as Pang Tong and Brother Ma, they are closely related. (Most of these Jingzhou celebrities later went to Shu with Liu Bei and stood on the same front with Zhuge Liang, which became the basic support of the Shu-Han regime. It can be said that Zhuge Liang has been integrated into the Jingzhou landlord group and has become the spokesperson of their interests. That's why he said, "China Rao scholar-bureaucrat, why visit your hometown?" Therefore, Zhuge Liang took Jingzhou as the standard when formulating the general plan of Longzhong, which was based on his group interests. Thirdly, judging from the external situation at that time (197) (which was also one of the basic bases for Zhuge Liang to formulate Longzhong's general plan), the separatist regime in the world was in the ascendant: Gongsun Du occupied Liaodong, Gongsun Zan occupied Youzhou successively, Yuan Shao occupied Qingzhou in Jizhou, Cao Cao occupied Yanzhou, Yuan Shu occupied part of Yangzhou, Zhang Xiu occupied Nanyang, Tao Qian Liu Bei and Lu Bu occupied Xuzhou successively, Sun Ce occupied Jiangdong and Liu Bu successively. In this competitive situation, if a new force wants to protect and develop itself and finally unify the world, it must have a base that can be attacked and retreated. Jingzhou, "based on Han Mian in the north, benefiting the South China Sea, connecting Wu Hui in the east and Bashu in the west, is a country that uses troops", which can be sent to the hinterland of the Central Plains; Retreat can rely on the superior terrain of Hanshui River to resist attacks from the north. If the camera can capture Yizhou, it will be even more powerful. Therefore, Jingzhou, as the foothold of Longzhong's strategy, has its geographical advantages as the foundation. Moreover, in the later historical development process (which is also the brewing process of Longzhong's general plan thought), especially after the battle of Guandu, the north was gradually unified, and Sun Quan's rule in Jiangdong was consolidated day by day, leaving only Jingzhou and Yizhou as optional areas. Therefore, the position of Jing Yi Thought in the ideological system of Longzhong Dui General Program will not be shaken, but will only be strengthened.

In a word, it is not only reasonable but also reasonable for Zhuge Liang to choose Jingzhou as a foothold and brew a general plan to unify the world. The Northern Expedition, as the core idea of the general plan of Longzhongdui, crossed Jing Yi and stood idly by. It first appeared in the general plan of Longzhongdui and always accompanied the brewing process of the general plan.

Look at the germination of Lian Sun's thought of rejecting Cao Cao: by 207 AD, Cao Cao was undoubtedly the biggest separatist force at that time. But his development also has a tortuous process. In its ruling area, there has been a long-term rebellion of the powerful and the yellow turban insurrectionary. The war with other warlords is not always smooth, for example, the war between Zhang Xiu and Nanyang is full of twists and turns. The battle of Guandu in 200 AD was a big test for Cao Cao Group. At that time, Yuan Shao's army was under siege outside, and Sun Ce in Jiangdong was plotting to attack Xudu. Liu Biao in Jingzhou was at both ends of the rat's head. Runa thief Liu Pi and others responded to Yuan Jun's rebellion, and Yuan Shao also sent Liu Bei to contact him. Even in Cao Ying, many people don't believe that Cao Jun can win, but secretly communicate with Yuan Shao. Afterwards, even Cao Cao felt: "Shao is strong, and loneliness can't protect himself. What about everyone?" It can be seen that even Cao Cao himself thinks that the battle of Guandu won by luck. Therefore, Cao Cao before the battle of Guandu was not an invincible role. It was only after this battle that "many people broke the salt and the world was invincible."

Look at the development of power in Jiangdong: Although the efforts of Sun Jian, Sun Ce and his son, especially Sun Ce, laid the foundation for the development of Sun Group. However, at the beginning of Sun Quan's accession to the throne, it was still: "The land of deep danger is still unfinished, and all heroes in the world have counties. People who live in hotels are interested in safety and have no solid foundation for monarchs and ministers. " At that time, it pointed out several problems that Sun Quan needed to solve urgently: the problem of crossing mountains, the surname of Jiangdong and the problem that Jiangdong tourists did not cooperate with Sun Shi. It's just that after Sun Quan took over, on the one hand, he crusaded against Shanyue, on the other hand, he won the cooperation of the big family.

Therefore, both Cao Cao's irreconcilable struggle and Sun Quan's unprofitable struggle appeared at some time after 200 AD. In other words, the thought of Lian Sun rejecting Cao came into being after the battle of Guandu. The battle of Guandu was a major adjustment to the development of general plan thought in Longzhong.

As a complete strategy, it should include the subject, the object, the goal and the process. Longzhong's thought of the master plan originated from 197, and Liu Bei visited the thatched cottage in 207, which leads to a question: Did Longzhong initially consider the master plan for Liu Bei?

As mentioned above, Zhuge Liang is inextricably linked with Jingzhou Haozu and Jingzhou Shi Ming Group, and he has actually integrated into Jingzhou Landlord Group. So who he will work for in the future depends on who can represent the interests of Jingzhou. Moreover, although Zhuge Liang may not have said such a thing, he said in the Teacher's Watch: "The first emperor didn't mean to his ministers, and he was wronged by his accusation. He took care of his ministers in the thatched cottage, and he was grateful to his advisers for their worldly affairs, so he promised the first emperor to drive him away. " However, this feeling exists. Under the guidance of this concept, the prerequisite for a scholar to be a master is that the master appreciates the scholar. In fact, Zhuge Liang also attaches great importance to this point. He once refused to stay in Jiangdong to serve Sun Quan on the grounds that Sun Quan was "brilliant but not brilliant".

Liu Bei went to Jingzhou to defect to Liu Biao in 20 1 year. Before that, I didn't know that he was closely related to Jingzhou people, let alone that he represented the interests of Jingzhou. It was only after arriving in Jingzhou that "more and more Jingzhou heroes returned to their ancestors" gradually became the spokesperson of Jingzhou. From the perspective of employing people, Liu Bei is not a corporal Li Xian. A Qing Zhao Yi's evaluation of Liu Bei's employment is characterized by "temperament". He shared a bed with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun once shared a bed, which shows that Zhao Yi's theory is extremely accurate. This view of employing people seems to be more suitable for attracting military commanders, but it has a certain gap with the scholars' psychology of asking what they know and do. Therefore, Liu Bei used to have first-class military commanders like Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun, but he didn't have first-class advisers like Yu Xun, Guo Jia and Lu Su, which led to a long-term failure in his career. Visiting the thatched cottage is a great change in Liu Bei's way of seeking talents. He went to see Zhuge Liang three times (among which Zhuge Liang may have meant to test Liu Bei), and what is more valuable is that he only listened to Zhuge Liang's general remarks, that is, he established a relationship with him. Only Liu Bei can let Zhuge Liang, a scholar, work for him. In short, it was not until 207 that Liu Bei fully possessed the conditions for Zhuge Liang to serve him. It may become the executive subject of the strategy of enriching the masses. That is to say, in the brewing process before this, Longzhong's executor of the general plan was an imaginary image (ideally representing Jingzhou's interests and meeting Zhuge Liang's princes), not a real person. Cao Lu made clear the executive subject of the strategy, which marked the official release of this strategy.

Based on the above discussion, we can sort out the general idea of Longzhongdui. The formation process of Longzhong's general plan thought can be divided into the following three stages:

In the first stage, before the battle of Guandu, Longzhong's basic conception of the general plan was formed.

In the second stage, after the battle of Guandu and before visiting Cao Lu, according to the new situation after the battle of Guandu, it is considered that

The third stage, visit the thatched cottage.

two

The formation process of Longzhong Dui Zonggang, especially the two major changes in this process, has accumulated new contradictions or intensified and exposed some hidden contradictions in the ideological system of Longzhong Dui Zonggang. Finally, it led to the failure of the overall program system in Longzhong. At that time, the battle of Guandu was the most likely event to change the world, which was envisaged in the General Program of Longzhong Dui. Since then, Cao Cao gradually unified the north, which directly threatened the security of Jingzhou. Jingzhou can't stand by and wait for favorable opportunities. The idea that some original ideas were based on Jing Yi's secret intention of waiting for the world to change has actually lost its practical significance, and Longzhong's failure in the master plan is doomed here.

In the face of the threat of Cao Cao and the consolidation of Sun Quan's rule in Jiangdong, it is undoubtedly realistic and natural to put forward the idea that Sun Lian rejects Cao Cao. On the surface, the combination of Sun and Cao Cao became a short-term strategy, while the standby northern expedition across Jingyi became a long-term strategy, and the two seemed to be integrated. In fact, they are incompatible.

First, there is Jing Yi across the border, waiting for the Northern Expedition, which seems passive and contains the spirit of annexing the world, and its planned geographical scope involves the whole world. But rejecting Cao Cao is basically a conservative strategy. Since we can't compete with Cao Cao and seek Sun Quan, we have actually confined ourselves to this narrow area of Jingxiang. This is the last big retreat.

Second, there is an uncoordinated contradiction between Sun Guo and Cao Cao. Jingzhou is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, which has the potential to build a river in the lower reaches of Jiangdong. If Sun Quan wants to consolidate Jiangdong, he must seize Jingzhou. In fact, as early as the beginning of Sun Ce's crossing the river, Zhang Hong made a plan for his career in Huan Wen: "If you vote for Danyang and retire from Wuhui, you will get a good reputation and you will be able to report the defeat of the enemy. According to the Yangtze River, Fenweide will clean up the Han Dynasty, and your achievements will be lost in Huan Wen. " When Sun Quan arrived, Lu Su made an imperial career for him: "Set foot in the east of the Yangtze River and watch the chaos in the world. There is nothing wrong with such a scale. who is it? There are many things in the north. Because of many tasks, Huang Zu was destroyed and Liu Biao was attacked, all based on the Yangtze River. Then build an emperor to take advantage of the world, which is also the highest thing. " It can be seen that Jingzhou is one of the main targets of Sun Quan Group's external expansion. It is extremely difficult for the two sides to have * * * in common on this issue, and it is also difficult to cooperate sincerely against Cao Cao. It is a thorny contradiction in Longzhong's general plan system to fight against Cao Cao and safeguard Jingzhou's vital interests. After Liu Bei visited the thatched cottage, Longzhong's executive subject of strategy changed from a virtual image to a real person. This exposes some hidden contradictions.

The first question is how to seize Jingzhou. It should be said that Zhuge Liang could not have considered this problem clearly before. Because: the fundamental focus of its strategy is how to take action to unify the world after occupying Jingzhou, but how to seize Jingzhou is not the focus of consideration; Secondly, the executor of Longzhong Dui Master Program has been in a virtual state for a long time. Because they don't know the specific subjective conditions of the future executors, they lack the basis needed to formulate a specific strategy to seize Jingzhou.

Liu Bei's three visits to the cottage became the main body of Longzhong's implementation of the general plan. How to seize Jingzhou has become a realistic problem. It should be said that this is a difficult problem. Liu Bei stayed in Jingzhou as an outsider, and there was no deep foundation in the local area. Liu Biao "suspected his heart and concealed it" and only let him guard the north gate of Jingzhou, without credit; The external Sun Quan Group has been trying to seize Jingzhou, and it is inevitable that there will be conflicts between them. However, Cao Cao's army may go south at any time, and it is impossible to capture Jingzhou calmly, let alone consolidate the rule thereafter.

To sum up, as early as shortly after the battle of Guandu, Longzhong's strategy was not suitable for the historical situation at that time. This determines its fate of failure. Although Lian Sun rejected Cao's idea of adapting to the historical changes at that time, he could only keep Jingzhou from being destroyed and strive for three points in the world, but he could not fundamentally save Longzhong's failure in general plan and realize the unification of the world. After it was made clear that Liu Bei was the main executive of Longzhong's general plan, some hidden contradictions were exposed, which increased the reasons for failure.

three

In order to further illustrate the point of view in the second part of the article, we can look at the implementation process of Longzhong's General Program:

After the three visits, Longzhong's strategy for China began to be put into practice. The first step was to capture Jingzhou by two main means: first, Liu Bei suggested Liu Biao in Fancheng: "Make all tourists in the country self-sufficient and record them for the benefit of the public", thus increasing his own department; Secondly, he used Liu Biao's mistake of establishing an heir to win over his eldest son Liu Qi, which was an important force. Battle of Red Cliffs, Liu Qi's men accounted for half of Liu Bei's total strength, and more importantly, Liu Qi was a banner, with him as the cover. After the war, Liu Bei quickly pacified a large area of Jingzhou.

Soon, Cao Jun went south, and Liu Bei's plan to seize Jingzhou was interrupted. In the face of the same enemy, Sun and Liu almost formed a line of fire alliance and defeated Cao Cao in Chibi. Jingzhou was divided by three parties: Cao Cao occupied Nanyang County and the northern part of Nanjun County; Sun Quande Jiangxia County, south of Nanjun County; Liu Bei owns Wuling, Lingling, Changsha and Guiyang. After the war, Liu Bei acquired most of Jingzhou, borrowed the southern part of Nanjun from Sun Quan, and soon went to Shu to occupy Yizhou, thus initially achieving the goal of crossing Jing Yi. On the surface, Longzhong's general plan has a bright future, but it is not: first of all, Liu Bei only occupies a part of Jingzhou, and it is a relatively remote and backward area that can be developed. Cao Cao also occupied the northern part of Jingzhou and managed the two cities of Xiangfan in an all-round way, which made the hinterland of the Central Plains have a barrier and it was difficult to realize the idea of sending troops to Wanluo. Sun Quan's influence also went deep into Jingzhou. Zhou Yu also "begged for courage to fight for Shu, winning Shu and Zhang Lu. Because he stayed brave and made friends with Ma Chao, Zhou Yu also worked with the general according to Xiangyang, and the north was also beneficial. " Yizhou is also listed as a target. It is only a matter of time before the plan conflicts with Liu Bei Group. At that time, the situation in Jingzhou was just as Pang Tong said: "Nothing grows in Jingzhou, and people are exhausted. There are Wusun in the east and Cao Zhi in the north, so it is difficult to achieve great things." Secondly, according to the original idea, according to the previous statement, Sun refused Cao Lian. Before the alliance, Liu Bei tried to seize Jingzhou, but he had never heard of any connection with Sun Quan. Obviously, it is only an idea to unite Sun and exclude Cao, and an alliance is necessary only when Cao Cao's threat to both sides becomes a reality. Now, after Sun rejected Cao's alliance, there is new evidence. In fact, there was confusion in the implementation of the overall planning of Longzhong. This is fatal for a prudent strategic system. One consequence of this is the loss of the dominant position in the Sun-Liu Alliance. Because of the alliance with Sun Quan in Jingzhou, we can rely on geographical advantages to deter Sun Quan and gain the dominant position in the alliance. Now Sun Quan's influence has gone deep into Jingzhou, which makes Liu Bei face a powerful opponent, not to mention the dominant position in the league. Third, Liu Bei has been directly involved in fierce disputes in the process of refusing Cao with his grandson. Although the battle of Chibi defeated Cao Cao, it formed a tripartite confrontation. Liu Bei can't stand by and wait for the fisherman to benefit. The external environment for implementing the general plan of Longzhong has completely disappeared.

Therefore, the good situation after Battle of Red Cliffs does not mean that Longzhong's general plan has improved. Soon its internal contradictions were exposed, leading to its failure step by step. At that time, the biggest problem faced by Liu Bei Group was how to deal with the contradiction between Jing Yi and Sun's refusal to Cao. Facts have proved that Sun's rejection of Cao Cao is the inherent stipulation of Longzhong's general plan. This has led to the embarrassing situation of Liu Bei Group: on the one hand, according to the evidence, Jing Ke is the basis of the whole Longzhong strategy and Liu Bei's career, and Liu Bei naturally has to make every effort to achieve this goal; On the other hand, the formidable enemy Cao Cao has not been eliminated, and Liu Bei still has a survival crisis, which requires that the alliance with Sun Quan cannot be destroyed. Therefore, both Guan Yu and Liu Bei's tough stance towards Jingzhou and Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun's insistence on forbearance have actually deviated from the inherent provisions of Longzhong's general plan. This is actually caused by the contradiction of Longzhong's general plan itself. In the end, this situation was solved by Sun Quan's attack on Jingzhou and Yiling in Wu Shu.

After the battle of Yiling, Liu Bei died of illness, Bai Di died of illness, and Zhuge Liang came to power. He gave up the battle of Jingzhou completely and turned to Yizhou. At the same time, he painstakingly repaired his alliance with Sun Quan, striving to find a breakthrough in the Northern Expedition from Longxi and Qin. Abandoning Jingzhou also put aside the contradiction with Sun Quan. At least on the surface, the two sides maintained an alliance, which is crucial for the survival of Shu Han. It is also realistic to find a breakthrough from Longxi Qin land. But at the same time, Longzhong's strategy also lost its original spirit of swallowing the world. Its wisdom lies in its benefits, waiting for the opportunity to explore the North, but also shattered. The rest of the United States refused Wei and sought a breakthrough in the Northern Expedition from Longxi and Qindi, but it was only the remnants of Longzhong's original strategy. Its overall value is greatly reduced, although it can maintain the situation of three points in the world, but it can no longer bear the heavy responsibility of unifying the world. Later, due to the exhaustion of national strength in constant wars and the lack of talents to govern Shu after Zhuge Liang's death, the Shuhan regime was defeated. Longzhong's strategy was a complete failure.

Therefore, as soon as Longzhong implemented the strategy, it went to failure step by step. It is worth noting that the strategy of rejecting Cao by United Sun played a great role, maintaining the situation of three points in the world for a long time, delaying Longzhong's failure in the general plan as a whole, but it could not be redeemed.

four

To sum up the full text, the basic point of this paper is that the formation process of Zhuge Liang's general idea of Longzhongdui has gone through three stages. The first stage, from A.D. 197, when he began to live in seclusion, to the occurrence of the Guandu War in A.D. 200, was the formation and development stage of Jing Yi Thought. The second stage is from 200 AD to 207 AD, which is the formation and development stage of Sun's thought of rejecting Cao Cao. In the third stage, marked by Liu Bei's visit to Caotang in 207 AD, it was made clear that Liu Bei was the executive subject of Longzhong's strategy, which was the completion stage of Longzhong's strategy. The formation process of Longzhong's thought on China decided Longzhong's final fate: after the battle of Guandu, Longzhong had a wide range of interests in the main idea of the general plan, and the alternate northern expedition lost its practical significance, which determined Longzhong's failure in the general plan; In view of the new situation after the battle of Guandu, the idea of combining Sun and Cao was put forward, which delayed Longzhong's failure in the general plan, but it could not fundamentally save Longzhong's failure in the general plan. After it was made clear that Liu Bei was the executive subject of Longzhong strategy, some hidden contradictions were exposed, which increased the failure of Longzhong strategy. In a word, Longzhong's strategy has failed before it is put into practice.