Why did Liu Bei choose Zhugeliang as his political client?

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Baidi city Tuogu

[the example of the former teacher] (excerpt)

Zhugeliang (Prime Minister of Shu)

The first emperor’s business was not half started, but the middle road collapsed. Today, Yizhou is facing difficulties. This is the autumn of crisis. Now that the South has been settled and the army armour has been sufficient, the three armies should be rewarded and the Central Plains should be settled in the north. The people are exhausted and dull, so as to eliminate the evil and evil, revive the Han Dynasty and restore the old capital. This minister is therefore loyal to the emperor.

In history, the separatist regimes in Bashu were all content with self-defense, and only the Shuhan always had strong political ambitions towards the Central Plains.

The reason why Shuhan was able to fight for the world year after year with the power of a state was that it established a war system with the northern expedition as the goal.

The war system of Shuhan was embodied in three aspects. Ideologically, the national ideology is highly unified with the goal of “rejuvenating the Han Dynasty and restoring the old capital”. The Shu Han Dynasty regarded itself as the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty, and all government speeches and political propaganda were based on the northern expedition to restore the country. In terms of national construction, Shuhan mainly focused on the northern expedition to the Central Plains. The accumulation of national strength is preparing for war, and the goal of diplomacy is to create a favorable environment for war. It is a strange phenomenon that Shu, with a population of less than one million, has maintained a standing army of nearly 100000 people. The third aspect of the war system is the establishment of a highly centralized political system throughout the country. Zhugeliang established his actual control over the whole country under the goal of war.

The origin of the whole war system can be traced back to the wandering of Liu Bei group in the Central Plains. The whole group is in a highly unstable and threatening migration process, and war has almost become the norm of the group. People seldom carry out economic construction, but adapt to the life of March 1 and May 1. After acquiring the four counties in the south of Jingzhou, Liu Bei group settled down relatively, but the genes of mobility and war were planted after all, and continued in the subsequent attacks on Yizhou and Hanzhong.

The generation of war gene is the requirement for the survival of the group. However, after Zhugeliang became minister Tuogu, he consolidated and developed this gene to make it flow in the blood of the country. The specific situation and Zhugeliang’s personal ability combined with it to establish a war system.

The sprout of the war system appeared at the time of Yong’an Tuogu. A few words scattered in the volumes of the annals of the Three Kingdoms show us the whole picture of this important event. According to the biography of the later Lord, “the former Lord was dying. He was left alone by the Prime Minister Liang. The minister ordered Li Yan to be his deputy. In April of the summer, the former Lord was in the Yongan palace. He was sixty-three years old.”

The biography of Zhugeliang said:

“In the spring of the third year of Zhang Wu’s reign, the first lord was ill in Yong’an, and called Liang Liang in Chengdu. It was a matter of later. Liang said: ‘you can secure the country and decide major events. If your descendants can help you, you can help them; if you don’t have talent, you can take it yourself.’ Liang cried with tears. ‘I dare to spare my strength, be loyal to the festival of chastity, and then die!’ the first lord also made an imperial edict, and the second Lord said: ‘you and the prime minister are like your father in doing things.'”

“On his deathbed, he called to the king of Lu and said: ‘after my death, your brother and father became the prime minister and asked you to work with the prime minister.'”

Later generations’ understanding of Liu Bei’s case of Tuogu was based on these two records. It tells us that General Liu Bei’s political power and son were entrusted to Zhugeliang, and Zhugeliang also made a vow of dedication. However, such a description is too brief to analyze the impact of this event on the future Shuhan regime. We need to start from these two paragraphs and carefully taste the precious information behind the text.

The first question that comes up is: Why did Liu Bei choose Zhugeliang as his political client?

In the first half of Liu Bei’s political career, he moved from place to place without a fixed base. What is rare is that a group of loyal talents always gather around him. This group includes Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Jian Yong, MI Zhu, MI Fang and Zhao Yun. They came from all over the north and formed the original subordinate faction of the Shuhan regime. However, the number of this faction is limited, and its military and political power are also very limited. By the third year of Zhang Wu’s reign, Zhao Yun was the only remaining “big man” from the original faction, and the Jiangzhou army he led was also the main force controlled by the original faction. When Liu Bei got Xinye, he not only gained a stronghold for development, but also a stronghold for promoting relations with Jingzhou aristocratic families. There are Kuai family, Cai family, Pang family, Huang family, Ma family, Xi family, etc. in Jingzhou, Liu Bei finally won the support of most local landlords. Pangdegong, pangtong, MALIANG, Ma Su, Huang Zhong, Iraqi, Zhugeliang, Zhang Nan, Feng Xi and others joined Liu Bei’s camp. Many of these people are powerful, forming the Jingzhou faction as the backbone of the Shuhan regime. The Jingzhou faction supported Liu Bei to forge ahead in Sichuan and supported Liu Bei to attack Wu after Guan Yu lost Jingzhou. After Liu Bei came into power, most of the aristocratic families in Sichuan turned to support the Shuhan regime. Fazheng, Zhang song, Mengda, Huang Quan, Liu Ba, Li Yan, Wu Yi and others formed the Sichuan faction.

Liu Bei had to obtain the support of the Jingzhou faction, which controlled the majority of the army and the regime, when he wanted to be an orphan. First of all, Zhugeliang is one of the core figures of Jingzhou faction, which meets this most important requirement. Zhugeliang’s uncle zhugexuan was an old friend of Liu Biao; Huangchengyan, a famous man in Mianyang, was his father-in-law; The Kuai family, who was originally in charge of administration in Jingzhou, was the mother-in-law of Zhugeliang’s eldest sister; Cai Mao, who holds military power, is his wife and uncle; The Pang family is the mother-in-law of Zhuge’s second sister. Through these changes in direct relations, Zhugeliang established relations with the Ma family and the Xi family. Zhugeliang is not a “cloth garment” of Nanyang, but a “pawn” of Jingzhou factional network.

Secondly, Zhugeliang was the most famous and meritorious person in the Shuhan regime, where the postwar talents were withered. Before Liu Bei’s eastern expedition, pangtong, Fazheng, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Huang Zhong had already died. The eastern expedition failed, Zhang Nan and Feng Xi died, Ma Liang was killed, and Huang Quan was forced to surrender to the state of Wei. After the war, situ Xujing and the minister Liuba, who had high reputation and seniority, as well as the Hussar general, Liangzhou mumachao, Liu Bei’s uncle and general Mi Zhu of Anhan, died one after another. No one in Shu could compete with Zhugeliang, the then prime minister, in terms of merit and fame.

Therefore, Liu Bei is not facing the problem of choosing who is the “Assistant Minister”, but the problem of how to make this person choose to assist children and continue the political power. According to the official history, Liu Bei is moving with emotion. On the one hand, he warned his son to respect and obey Zhugeliang as his father did; On the other hand, he praised Zhugeliang in public (and belittled the son of his old enemy Cao Cao) and said sincerely that if Liu Chan could help him, you would help him. If Liu Chan is really useless, you can take his place. Zhugeliang was grateful and tearful and said on the spot that he would be loyal to the victim.

Whether Liu Bei is sincere or false, Baidi Tuogu is a successful strategy of taking retreat as advance. The future political development has proved that Liu Bei’s judgment of Liu Chan and his grasp of the future are correct. Liu Bei “trusted the whole country with sincerity”; However, Zhugeliang “devoted himself to the country” and set up a model of loyal monarchs and ministers through the ages.

The second question is, after all, commitment is feeble. How can we restrict the behavior of the powerful officials? Before his death, Liu Bei designed a complex power structure, hoping to restrict Zhugeliang substantially. He divided the power behind him into three factions.

When Liu Bei summoned Zhugeliang, he also summoned Li Yan, the Minister of justice. While appointing Zhugeliang as the “Assistant Minister”, he also asked Li Yan to “take care of his life”. Li Yan is a very strange name to people, but he is the Minister of Liu Bei’s public expectations.

Li Yan, a native of Nanyang, served successively as a county official, county magistrate and military guard in Jingzhou and Sichuan. He is able to handle affairs and is valued for his posts in various forces. In the 13th year of Jian’an, Cao Cao attacked Jingzhou. Li Yan, who was then the magistrate of Zigui County, did not vote for Cao Cao or Liu, but abandoned his official position and went to Sichuan to work for Liu Zhang. He became the magistrate of Chengdu and became one of the representatives of Sichuan forces. In the 18th year of Jian’an, Liu Bei attacked Shu. Li Yan, who was then the military guard, was ordered to garrison Mianzhu to resist Liu Bei. However, Li Yan led his troops to surrender to Liu Bei and became an important figure in Liu Bei’s camp.

In the Shuhan regime, Li Yan served successively as general PI, prefect Qianwei, general Xingye and general Fu Han. During his tenure as a local official, Li Yan showed his outstanding ability and repeatedly used a small number of troops to quell large-scale rebellions; In addition, tianshe mountain was excavated, Yanjiang Avenue was built, and large-scale construction was carried out. In just two years, the county and city were renovated, “the officials and the people were pleased with it” and “the magnificent view building is the best place for a state”. Li Yan had the best political achievements in the previous Qianwei prefect.

Li Yan’s political achievements and official positions are on a par with Zhugeliang. In the autumn of the second year of Zhang Wu’s reign, Liu Bei defeated Wu and summoned Li Yan to the Yongan palace. He was promoted from the prefect to the Minister of justice ?. Li Yan led one of the few main forces of the Shuhan regime (the local army in Sichuan) to East Sichuan and was actually responsible for the size of Liu Bei’s camp, showing a strong “succession” posture.

Liu Bei finally chose Zhugeliang as the number one assistant minister. Instead, he let Li Yan “serve as the assistant minister at the same time”, “protect the central capital, unify the internal and external military”, and stay in Yongan Town. Such a power structure just allows Zhugeliang and Li Yan to check and balance each other, and the object of prevention is Zhugeliang who acts as the prime minister. In a short period of more than a year, Liu Bei repeatedly promoted Li Yan and replaced the dead veteran with his political status and original foundation, setting up a strong opponent for Zhugeliang.

Liu Bei chose Li Yan to keep a balance with Zhugeliang because Li Yan and Zhugeliang were fellow townsmen and had relations in both Jingzhou and Sichuan factions. This laid a foundation for the coordination and cooperation of the interests of both sides, so as to avoid the fierce internal strife of the Shuhan regime after Liu Bei’s death, which was difficult to control.

Liu Bei finally summoned Zhaoyun, a representative of the original faction. Liu Bei started his career as a faction. Zhao Yun opposed Liu Bei’s decision to attack Wu, so he did not participate in the eastern expedition. Instead, he led his troops and horses to Jiangzhou, gathering the last blood of the original faction. After the defeat, the Shuhan regime still relied on this new force to stabilize its position in eastern Sichuan. “The former Lord lost his favor in Zigui. The clouds moved to Yong’an, and the Wu army has retreated.”

All parties are well aware that the decline of the original subordinate faction is inevitable with the capricious expedition and the lack of successors. As the weakest of the three factions, the original subordinate faction is very suitable to play the role of “key minority”. Zhao Yun’s prestige and the army he controls are the best weights for this role.

When the fire of life was about to go out, Liu Bei recalled with emotion his early experiences of Youzhou starting the army, Hebei beacon fire and Central Plains fleeing, and thanked Zhao Yun for his loyal follow for nearly 40 years. Finally, Liu Bei affectionately asked Zhao Yun to continue to look after Liu Chan and the government. This entrustment gave Zhao Yun an informal status of “Assistant Minister”. Although Zhao Yun kept a low profile and never used this magic weapon, he and his faction were always cannons hidden behind the flowers.

The author takes great pains to analyze the Tuogu incident to show that Liu Bei is actually quite realistic when the fire of life is about to go out. He never forgot to revive the Han Dynasty and shouted “northern expedition! Northern expedition!”, Nor did they advise future generations to accumulate strength to wait for the opportunity to compete for the world. On the contrary, he only hopes that his career, which he has worked hard for half of his life, can be preserved in the hands of future generations, and does not want to see a situation in which powerful officials govern the country and endanger the position of children and grandchildren. The imperial edicts of Liu Bei contained in the collection of Zhugeliang are full of earnest instructions to his son Liu Chan, including famous sentences such as “do not do evil things because they are small, do not do good things because they are small”, and “only virtue and virtue can serve people”.

At the beginning of Liu Chan’s accession to the throne, it was the new defeat of Shu Han and the deficit of national strength. It must be called the autumn of survival. At that time, there were riots among ethnic minorities in the northwest and rebellions among people of all ethnic groups represented by Meng Huo in the south; The state of Wei in the Central Plains was eyeing covetously in southern Shaanxi; However, the eastern Wu in the south of the Yangtze river stood on the sidelines, and their enemies and friends were unknown. The infighting within the regime made the situation more dangerous.

Chengdu’s “political affairs are not big or small, but salty and bright”. Zhugeliang handled military and political affairs in his capacity as chief assistant minister. As a result, the military and political power of Shuhan began to be entrusted to individuals. In practice, Zhugeliang joined forces with the Qiang people in the north and the barbarians in the south, united with the eastern Wu, and went north to invade the Wei Dynasty. This was an objective choice to quell the party disputes in Shuhan, but it made Zhugeliang an unprecedented power minister.

According to the biography of Zhugeliang, “Liang used the prime minister to record books and holidays. After the death of Zhang Fei, he led the school captain of Sili. In the spring of the third year of Zhang Wu’s reign, the first lord was ill in Yong’an, and called Liang in Chengdu, which was a later event… In the first year of Jianxing’s reign, Liang was granted the Marquis of Wu Township, and the government started to govern affairs. Qing Zhi also led the herdsmen of Yizhou.” At the same time, Li Yan was also awarded the title of “capital, township Marquis, holiday, plus Guanglu”, but he was gradually at a disadvantage in the struggle with Zhugeliang group.

In the third year of Jianxing, Zhugeliang led the people to March south, and almost all the forces of all factions were collected. This can be regarded as Zhugeliang’s test of personal power. It may be that calming down the war in the south is a national event, and the Li Yan clique did not object to this arrangement. So in the second year, ZhuGeliang Group continued to take action. “When Zhugeliang wanted to leave Hanzhong, Yan should know the future affairs, move the garrison to Jiangzhou, and stay with Chen to garrison in Yongan.” Jiangzhou belongs to the inland and its strategic position is inferior to that of Yong’an. Although Li Yan’s rank was promoted to former general, although Li Yan still controlled Chen Dao on the surface, and Eastern affairs were “all strict”, Li Yan’s actual status declined. At the same time, it should be noted that Zhugeliang began to give priority to political and personnel arrangements with military action on the grounds of leaving Hanzhong.

In this case, Li Yan had no choice but to lower his posture and instead fully manage Jiangzhou and build Bajun, hoping to establish a base area that could rival Chengdu. During this period, Li Yan took two major actions. First, according to the records in the collection of Zhugeliang, Li Yan once “advised Liang to accept Jiuxi and become a knight and King”. Made in the Han Dynasty, no one can be crowned king unless he is surnamed Liu. This was Li Yan’s ungrateful and clumsy test of Zhugeliang. Zhugeliang immediately wrote back and refused to say, “I have known each other for a long time, but I can no longer understand each other! I have not been silent because I have taught you to light the country and discipline it so as not to restrict the way. I was originally an oriental corporal, and I was mistakenly used for the former Emperor. I was an extreme minister. I was rewarded with tens of billions of dollars. Now I have failed to ask for a thief, and my confidant has not answered. It is not just for Fang to favor Qi and Jin. If Wei is killed, the emperor will return to his former residence and rise with all the sons. Although ten lives can be accepted, the situation is nine evils!” In his reply, Zhugeliang made it clear that he did not understand the letter from Li Yan, an old friend. On the one hand, Zhugeliang promised to “rise together with the sons” after the destruction of Wei, meaning that after the unification of the north, we would share wealth and honor, and wrote a blank check; On the other hand, Zhugeliang also said that “although ten lives can be accepted, the situation lies in nine evils”, suggesting that Li Yan himself is the number one important Minister for supporting orphans, and reminding Li Yan not to act rashly.

Second, Li Yan demanded that “five prefectures Bazhou” be established within his own sphere of influence in East Sichuan, and he was the governor of Bazhou. Only Yizhou was really controlled by the Shuhan regime, and Zhugeliang was the state shepherd, so Zhugeliang controlled the only local regime in Shuhan. Now Li Yan wants to divide Sichuan into two and own a state. His intention to fight Zhugeliang with strength is very obvious. The court controlled by Zhugeliang naturally flatly refused. In the later compromise of impeaching Li Yan, Zhugeliang regarded Li Yan’s proposition as “poor and difficult”.

It should be said that these two moves of Li Yan group are “bad chess”. Li Yan is a man who “has scales in his belly”, “has a high self-esteem”, and is rebellious. He also “pretends to be Su and Zhang’s sophistication” and “has Su and Zhang’s things unintentionally”. Li Yan’s lack of calmness and acumen doomed him to failure. Although Zhugeliang was determined to eliminate Li Yan, the conditions were not yet fully ripe.

In the eighth year of the reign of emperor Jianxing, Li Yan was promoted to General of Hussars again with his seniority. In the same year, the war between Shu and Wei was fierce in Hanzhong. Zhugeliang led his troops to Hanzhong and took this opportunity to solve the Li Yan problem. Zhugeliang adopted the strategy of luring the tiger away from the mountain, and asked Li Yan to lead 20000 soldiers to leave Jiangzhou, the base area, and go to Hanzhong, the base camp, to resist the Wei Dynasty. This not only made Li Yan lose his foundation, but also reduced the possibility of unrest in Jiangzhou. Li Yan has no reason to disobey the enemy. Li Yan, who was well aware of the stakes, proposed to appoint his son Li Feng as governor of Jiangzhou to continue to control the army and base areas in eastern Sichuan. This time, Zhugeliang was very forthright, “showing that yanzifeng was the governor of Jiangzhou, and standardizing the affairs of later generations.”. Li Yan had to lead his army north. He forgot the reason why the tree fell and the monkeys scattered. As long as Li Yan is overthrown, his remaining clique is doomed to vanish.

After arriving in Hanzhong, “Liang Yi will be the army next year, and Yan Yi will be the official of the central protection department”. Li Yan served as the chief supervisor of all the troops in Hanzhong and took full charge of the affairs of the prime minister’s office. A year later, Zhugeliang’s memorial to impeach Li Yan commented on this transfer as follows: “last year, the minister wanted to march to the west, and wanted to make Ping ? Lord governor Hanzhong. Ping said Sima Yi and other officials set up a new government. The minister knew that Ping was despicable, the minister knew that Ping was despicable, and the minister wanted to make profits because of his trip. This was to show that Ping Zifeng was the Lord of Jiangzhou, and praised his encounter, so as to achieve a temporary task.” It means that Li Yan took the opportunity to blackmail, but he endured humiliation.

In the spring of the ninth year of Jianxing, Zhugeliang marched into Qishan and asked Li Yan to urge grain transportation.

The Qishan campaign lasted half a year. When it comes to summer and autumn social intercourse, “it rains and carries no grain.”. The annals of the Three Kingdoms records that Li Yan “sent Hu Zhong to join the army, supervised the army, called Liang to return, and Liang accepted to withdraw.”. Because of the difficulties in transporting grain and grass caused by the continuous heavy rain (the mountain road from Hanzhong to southern Shaanxi is still rugged and difficult to travel), Li Yan sent Huzhong and Cheng to inform Zhugeliang, who was at a stalemate with the Wei army in the Qi Mountain area, to withdraw. Zhugeliang withdrew as agreed.

“When I heard that the army was retreating, I was even more shocked. I said, ‘why should we return when we have enough grain?’ I wanted to relieve myself of the responsibility of not doing so and show my guilt of not advancing. I also said to my Lord, ‘the army is retreating falsely, and I want to lure thieves and fight’.” After Zhugeliang returned to the army, Li Yan adopted two tactics: on the one hand, he was surprised and said, “there is still enough grain for the army. Why do you withdraw?” In order to shirk the responsibility of not supervising the transportation of food and grass, Zhugeliang withdrew his troops because he was unable to advance; On the other hand, Li Yan said to Liu Chan, “the army pretended to retreat to entice the enemy to pursue and strike again.” This gave Zhugeliang a big problem.

Zhugeliang’s strategy is very simple. “The book before and after the book is clear, and the wrong chapter is burned. The poor emotion is exhausted, and the first thank you.” Zhugeliang just showed Li Yan’s handwritten letters before and after. In the face of hard evidence, Li Yan had to plead guilty and be punished. As a result, Li Yan was completely defeated and “abandoned the plain for the people, moved to Zitong county” and completely withdrew from the political arena. After his father was dismissed, his son, Lifeng, governor of Jiangzhou, was transferred to Hanzhong by Zhugeliang to succeed Li Yan in his work: supervising the transportation of grain and grass. In the end, Li Feng became an official and became the prefect of Zhu Ti. Juti is a county in the southwest minority areas.

After political contests at various levels, Zhugeliang eliminated his biggest political opponent, dealt a heavy blow to the local forces in Sichuan, and established his own authoritative rule. Around this time, Zhugeliang rewarded and punished himself under the banner of the northern expedition, and unified his thoughts by “Reviving the Han Dynasty and restoring the old capital”.

A prominent example in this regard is the deposing of Peng and Liao Li. Peng was a famous scholar in Sichuan who surrendered to Liu Bei. After Liu Bei pacified Yizhou, he promoted Peng to work in governing China. Peng was in such a high position all of a sudden that he could not help being “blatant in appearance and self-esteem”. It is hard to avoid feeling good and complacent in his position. On the surface, Zhugeliang was friendly with Peng, but he hated him in his heart. He told Liu Bei many times that Peng was ambitious and could not be reused. Liu Bei also hated Peng. He seized a small oversight of the latter and demoted Peng to the post of Jiangyang prefect.

Seeing that he was going to work in other places, Peng was very unhappy, so he went to work for machao. Ma Chao led the remnant army of Xiliang to surrender to Liu Bei, led the army to comfort Qiang Hu in the north of Yizhou, and kept a low profile in order to protect himself. He asked Peng, “you are a talented man. My lord attaches great importance to you. He said that you are on a par with Zhugeliang, FA Zheng and others. How can you be an official in a small county out of town?” Peng complained, “Liu Bei, a veteran, is absurd and unreasonable. What else can we say?” He also said to Ma Chao, “the general is outside, and I am inside. If we join hands, the world will not be peaceful.” Ma Chao relied on others and held the military power. He always kept the mentality of fear and avoiding disaster. When he heard Peng’s words, he was shocked. He didn’t answer them in silence. As soon as Peng left, he immediately wrote down the details and sent them to Chengdu. Peng was immediately taken into custody.

Later, Peng regretted in prison and wrote to Zhugeliang that he was arrogant and outspoken and did not really rebel. He hoped that Zhugeliang would let him go. But Peng was still executed for treason at the age of 37.

Liaoli has already appeared in the previous article, that is, Liu Bei was the Changsha prefect during the Jingzhou period. Liao Li was less than 30 years old when he was the governor of Changsha. He had a promising future. Liao Li’s sin was to criticize Liu Bei’s strategic mistake of contending for Jingzhou with Sun Wu instead of taking Hanzhong in the presence of Zhugeliang’s cronies such as Li Shao and Jiang Wan. According to the analysis of the chapter on alliance, Liao Li, as an expert on the Jingzhou issue, made a correct judgment, and there is nothing wrong with talking about political affairs in front of government colleagues. Liaolijian then criticizes Guan Yu that “his parents are brave and can’t serve as an army.” he also criticizes Zhugeliang’s trusted followers Xiang Lang, Wen Gong, Guo Youzhi, Wang Lian and others as mediocre people who follow people and are not good enough to do great things. The imperial court uses these talents to make the people tired. Li Shao and Jiang Wan naturally reported Liao Li’s correct and inappropriate comments to Zhugeliang. Zhugeliang, in the name of “slandering the former Emperor and damaging the ministers”, sent liaolifei as a civilian to Wenshan County, a remote county in the northwest.

Liaoli personally leads his wife and children to cultivate and colonize in the distribution area. Many years later, when Jiang Wei led his army through Wenshan, he paid a special visit to the old man and expert on Jingzhou. Jiang Wei saw that Liao Li was still in high spirits, talking eloquently and making great comments. Liao Li finally died in the distribution area.

The war system and Zhugeliang’s authoritative rule were established and consolidated through these incidents. Cao Ping commented on the political situation in Shu Han and said, “it is clear that the outside world admires the name of being an orphan, while the inside is greedy and expert.” Pointed out the authoritative political reality of Shuhan. No matter whether the ideological preaching of “rejuvenating the Han Dynasty and restoring the old capital” is feasible or not, the war system is necessary for the Shuhan regime. As a weak country, the establishment of a highly unified and targeted system is conducive to the concentration of national forces, the unified and rational allocation of resources, and the survival and strengthening of the country in troubled times. Just as the Wei Dynasty accumulated strength for the war by promoting the reclamation of farmland and pragmatic internal affairs, the Shu Han Dynasty concentrated its strength through internal centralization of power. Objectively speaking, Shu Han has a small population and a low level of productivity, so there is limited space to improve the national strength through cultivation.

Without Zhugeliang’s iron fist rule and the war system of Shu Han aiming at the northern expedition, Shu Han would not have made such brilliant achievements in history, would not have a good external environment, and would even perish early. If internal factions are not eliminated, it is likely to lead to Party strife, resulting in multiple internal orders and no government order; If Peng, liaoyong and other people are allowed to speak against unity, people in Shuhan will be divided, and politics will also consume its strength in the spreading suspicion and abuse.

Zhugeliang’s action nipped all possibilities in the bud. On the national development strategy, he is not wrong; His mistake was to be harsh in politics.

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