The Western Han Dynasty, the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Shu Han Dynasty were three dynasties in the same line. Their founding emperors were Liu Bang, Liu Xiu and Liu Bei respectively, and both Liu Xiu and Liu Bei were Liu Bang's grandson, Han Jing Emperor Liu Qi, but Liu Xiu He is the fifth-generation grandson of Liu Fa, the sixth son of the emperor, Prince Ding of Changsha, and Liu Bei is the descendant of Liu Sheng, the ninth son of the emperor, Prince Jing of Zhongshan.
Stills of Liu Bang
Being able to found a country and proclaim themselves emperor in troubled times, these three people can be said to be heroes among men, but after all, people’s abilities are different. Relevant factors such as the time of day, favorable geographical location, and human relations have created three dynasties with different evaluations. In the Western Han Dynasty, there was the arrogant sentiment of enfeoffing the wolf to Xu, "The Huns have not been destroyed, so why should we take care of our family?"; in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was also the saying that "anyone who offends a strong Han will be punished no matter how far away he is." The Shu Han Dynasty left behind the tragic song of "died before leaving the army". Of course, Liu Bei's son Adou also contributed the joke of "I am happy here, but I don't miss Shu".
Emperor Shi Le of the Later Zhao Dynasty during the Five Husties Rebellion period once said: If he was the same contemporary as Han Emperor Liu Bang, then he would serve him like Han Xin, Peng Yue and others; if he was the same as Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu At the same time, he will rise up to fight with him, and it may not be certain who will win; as for Cao Cao, Sima Yi and others, they are just bullying other orphans and widowed mothers, and are not true heroes, and Liu Bei, who is not as powerful as Cao Cao, is estimated to be Shi Le. I really didn't notice it.
So why is there such an evaluation? Let us briefly review the conquests of these three emperors:
Qin lost its deer, and the heroes chased it away. Liu Bang was not the first to raise the banner of anti-Qin, nor was he the strongest among them. The first to raise the banner of anti-Qin was Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, who said, "Princes, generals, ministers, would rather have the seed." The leader of the world was Chu Huai at first. Wang Xiongxin later became the overlord Xiang Yu, but the dynasty that finally inherited the mantle of the Qin Dynasty was the Han Dynasty established by Liu Bang. In this regard, the situation of Liu Bang's two descendants was very similar to his. They were not the first to rise up, but they belonged to The kind of natural-born hero who rises up in times of great adversity.
Chen Sheng and Wu Guang Uprising
Liu Bang was actually only three years younger than Qin Shihuang, but they felt like people from two eras. This was because their political careers did not overlap. Qin Shihuang When he died, Liu Bang was just a small pavilion chief in Surabaya, one on the ground and one in the sky.
But Liu Bang rose quickly. In 209 BC, he raised an army and called himself Pei Gong. He then used this as a means of promotion to defect to Xiang Liang and was officially knighted. Then in 207 BC, he was knighted by Xiang Yu. King of Han, at that time Liu Bang had already been assisted by Xiao He, Han Xin, Zhang Liang and others, and he had already aspired to conquer the world. Then Liu Bang and Xiang Yu launched the "Chu-Han War" that lasted four years, and finally forced him to fight in Gaixia. Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, committed suicide in Wujiang River and ruled the world from then on.
Stills of Liu Bang
When Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, he also enfeoffed the nobles and heroes of the six countries as kings like Xiang Yu. He successively enfeoffed Zang Tu, Zhang Ao, Han Wangxin, Peng Yue, Han Xin, Yingbu, Wu Rui and others were kings, but Liu Bang soon felt that his decision was wrong. The existence of kings with different surnames would bring considerable hidden dangers to the Han Dynasty. Even if the evil consequences he planted were unintentional, he would have to do it himself. How can it be left to future generations if it is removed?
So Liu Bang eliminated these kings with different surnames one after another, and then began to ennoble the Liu family's children as kings, and killed the white horse as an alliance to make an oath that "anyone who is not the Liu family will be the king, and the world will attack him."
Liu Bang was later injured by an arrow when attacking Yingbu. Because he was too old, the doctors could not do anything about Liu Bang's injury, so they could only use medicine and stone to repair it. Liu Bang felt that even if the emperor died, he would die. He had dignity, so he refused the doctor's treatment and said: "I use a commoner to carry a three-foot sword to conquer the world. Isn't this destiny? My destiny is in heaven, so what's the use of being a magpie!"
Later in the Han Dynasty The emperor also inherited this arrogance and accumulated wealth through the rule of Wen and Jing. During the reign of Emperor Liu Che, general Wei Qing attacked the Xiongnu in the north, and Huo Qubing sealed the wolf in Xu. Although the country finally fell at the hands of his relatives, the famous saying "The country was destroyed by weakness, and the Han Dynasty was destroyed by strength" was left in the history books.
Stills of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che
Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu’s road to hegemony was more tortuous than that of Liu Bang. Liu Xiu grew up during Wang Mang’s new dynasty, when Wang Mang first established the new dynasty. , everyone in the world had great hopes for him, because Wang Mang was born in a long line of officials, and he was known for his virtuous reputation. He was a high-achieving and potential stock. Unexpectedly, Wang Mang went against the grain after taking office, offending the landlords and bureaucrats as well as ordinary people. The interests of farmers, so those whose interests have been harmed have risen up one after another. The more famous ones are the Green Forest Army and the Red Eyebrow Army.
In 22 AD, Liu Xiu raised troops in Wancheng with the slogan "Restore the great ancestor's legacy and determine the future of all ages." At that time, Liu Xiu's brother Liu Yan also raised troops in his hometown, and Liu Yan was a knight. He had long been dissatisfied with the Xin Mang regime and wanted to raise troops to plan for big things. However, Liu Xiu only agreed to raise troops after confirming that the world was indeed in chaos, so Liu Xiu led his guests to meet him.
Still photo of Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty Liu Xiu
The army after the two brothers reunited was called the Chung Ling Army. The Chung Ling Army was composed of the descendants of the Nanyang clan and the heroes of the county. There were very few personnel and equipment. Liu Xiu even rode an ox into battle, and was therefore known as the "Emperor on the Back of an Ox." It was not until after the capture of Xinye that Liu Xiu changed into a war horse.
In order to unite more anti-reckless forces, the Chongling Army united with some of the Green Forest Army, which meant that Liu Xiu and others accepted the Green Forest Army's incorporation. In 23 AD, the Green Forest Army Liu Xuan, a clan member of the Western Han Dynasty, was established as the emperor, reused the title of the Han Dynasty, and established the "Registration" of the Yuan Dynasty. Liu Yan and others in Nanyang were quite dissatisfied with this, but because of the powerful enemy on their side, they still accepted the solicitation of the Xuanhan court. Liu Yan was named "Da Situ", and Liu Xiu was named Taichang partial general.
The establishment of the Gengshi regime greatly disturbed Wang Mang's nerves, and the senior officials of the new dynasty were shocked. They were not afraid of peasant uprisings. Those short-sighted people could not achieve great things, but they were afraid of being exploited by the clan of the Han Dynasty. The Han Dynasty was restored in name only, because they were usurpers after all, so Wang Mang ordered Grand Sikong Wang Yida and Situ Wangxun to lead 420,000 elite troops southward, intending to strangle the new reform regime on the line between Kunyang and Wancheng.
Suspected time traveler Wang Mang
In the Battle of Kunyang in early June of the first year of Gengshi, Liu Xiu showed his luck as a "son of the plane" and wiped out the New Dynasty army in one battle The main force led to the defeat of Wang Mang's new dynasty. Three months later, the Green Forest Army invaded Chang'an City. Wang Mang was killed in the chaos, and the new dynasty was destroyed.
Winning the "Battle of Kunyang" made Liu Xiu's reputation unparalleled for a while. Liu Xiu also went south from Kunyang to siege the city, but at this time the bad news came. Gengshi Emperor Liu Xuan killed Liu Xiu. Xiu's elder brother, Great Situ Liu Yan, in order not to be offended by Emperor Gengshi, Liu Xiu endured the humiliation and returned to Wancheng to plead guilty to Emperor Gengshi. Liu Xiu's attitude was very low, which made it difficult for Emperor Gengshi Liu Xuan to harm him. After all, the world was not yet peaceful at that time, and there were still local separatist regimes such as Chimei, Tongma, and the Three Kings of Hebei, so Liu Xuan named Liu Xiu the Marquis of Wuxin.
In order to get rid of Liu Xuan's sphere of influence, Liu Xiu chose to proclaim Hebei and formed an alliance with Hebei's Zhending King Liu Yang. He married Liu Yang's niece Guo Shengtong as his queen. Liu Xiu started a struggle for hegemony by joining forces with local powerful men. model, and ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor in 25 AD, and then began the process of unifying the world. After the merger of Green Forest and Red Eyebrow, he powerfully killed the Red Eyebrow Army that had been in Shandong for more than ten years, and obtained the inheritance from the Red Eyebrow Army. The national jade seal finally unified the world in 36 AD, ending the twelve-year war of unification.
Still photo of Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty
Because the Western Han Dynasty lost its country due to its relatives, the Eastern Han Dynasty was more wary of the relatives. In order to suppress the relatives, the tyrants became aristocratic families. In order to suppress the aristocratic families, the emperor had no choice but to The eunuchs in the Eastern Han Dynasty were not favored and trusted, so most of the eunuchs in the Eastern Han Dynasty held great power, including the famous "Five Marquises", "Ten Constant Attendants", etc. The eunuchs could even decide who the emperor's successor would be. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty even said "Zhang "Always serve my father, Li always serve my mother."
Due to mutual internal strife, the national power of the Eastern Han Dynasty became increasingly declining, and local powerful families gradually became prominent, such as the Yuan family in Runan, the Yang family in Hongnong, the Cui family in Qinghe, the Zheng family in Xingyang, etc., especially The Yuan family of Runan, known as the Four Generations and Three Dukes, was vaguely expected to be the best family in the world. Originally, the Eastern Han Dynasty implemented the system of virtual prefectures and counties. In this way, the local powerful could only control one or several counties at most. The prestige of the county was It started to happen at this time.
Stills of Yuan Shu
The Yellow Turban Uprising in 184 AD sounded the death knell of the Eastern Han Dynasty and opened the prelude to the Three Kingdoms era. Although the Eastern Han Dynasty was not overthrown by the Yellow Turban Army, it was annihilated. This uprising brought people from all walks of life to the stage of history. Among them were frontier warlords, Han clan clan members, aristocratic families, emerging powerful people and all those who were hungry for opportunities. Liu Bei was one of them.
In order to effectively suppress the uprising, in March 188 AD, Emperor Ling accepted Taichang Liu Yan's suggestion and changed some governors to state pastors, who were appointed by clan members or important ministers. The power of state pastors override those of governors and governors. Above the prefect, and fully control the local military and political power, in order to strengthen the strength of the local government, make it easier to control the local area, and effectively suppress the remnants of the Yellow Turbans.
Situation map of the Yellow Turban Uprising
Because Emperor Ling decentralized power, the appointment of Zhou Mu paved the way for the warlord separatism in the late Eastern Han Dynasty and encouraged the local army's arrogance to support its own troops. From then on, the local heroes attacked each other and competed in the Central Plains, and even the emperor was like a puppet in the hands of the warlords.
During the Yellow Turban Uprising, Liu Bei was just twenty-four years old and participated in the war to put down the uprising. However, his merits were not enough to obtain an official position. The key was that his family background was not enough. If he had been replaced by Yuan Shu, he would have been regarded as a general. .
Liu Bei’s early team
It was not until 188 AD that Liu Bei got the official position of county captain of Anxi County, which was probably equivalent to the current director of the county public security bureau. As a result, the imperial court reduced its personnel. The supervisor who came to inspect the post did not give Liu Bei face and dismissed him. Liu Bei tied up the supervisor and whipped him two hundred times. Later, "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" beautified Liu Bei's image and put the blame on Zhang Fei.
In 191 AD, Liu Bei obtained the official position of acting magistrate of Pingyuan County, and was later promoted to Prime Minister of Pingyuan. Later, Kong Rong was besieged by the Yellow Turban Army and sent Taishi Ci to ask for help from Liu Bei. Liu Bei said: "Beihai Prime Minister Kong Rong actually knew that Liu Bei existed in the world, so he went to rescue him. After successfully rescuing the siege, Liu Bei became famous, so Tao Qian, who offended Cao Cao, also entrusted Xuzhou to Liu Bei. Later, Liu Bei and Lu Bu fought several times in Xuzhou, and Liu Bei suffered many losses. Sheng Shao, even his wife was captured by Lu Bu. Liu Bei went to Cao Cao alone, and was named Yuzhou Mu by Cao Cao, so people at the time called Liu Bei Liu Yuzhou. At this time, he paid a visit to Han Xian Emperor Liu Xie, and the fate of the two salted fishes The intersection began, and Xianyu Liu Xie bestowed luck on Xianyu Liu Bei. From then on, the uncle of the Han Dynasty became Liu Bei's most dazzling label.
Stills of Liu Xie, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty
After it was confirmed that Cao Pi was proclaimed emperor in 221 AD, Liu Bei claimed that Emperor Xian had died in Cao Wei and could not destroy the Han Dynasty, so he ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor. At this time Liu Bei is 61 years old, and his military career lasted for 38 years. He has only achieved one-third of the situation in the world, and he is the one with the smallest power.
Looking at the situation of the Three Kingdoms at that time in terms of percentages, Cao Wei held a steady 50, Sun Quan accounted for 28, and Liu Bei accounted for a maximum of 22. This was due to some high-end talents in Shu, such as Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Wei Yan, Jiang Wei and others waited until these old ministers withered away, and the country of Shu had no successors. The country's power dropped significantly, so there was a saying that "there are no generals in Shu, Liao Hua became the vanguard". Finally, Liu Chan surrendered when Deng Ai came to Chengdu. It is also because there is no one in Shu, so it is really difficult to delay it.
Stills of Liu Bei
For the Northern Expedition, Ji Han implemented military-first politics, but after all, the population in central Shu was limited, so the burden on the people was extremely heavy. Most of the people in the rear were old, young, women and children farming. , but Ji Han had to make the Northern Expedition. Just because Cao Wei regained his composure, he was able to push Shuzhong with his strength. As long as he captured Shuzhong and went down the river, Soochow was bound to die soon. Sima Yan, who later succeeded Cao Wei, , with little use of civil and military strategies, Ji Han and Soochow were destroyed one after another purely by relying on national power.
Judging from age and time, Liu Bang started his army at the age of 47 and was named King of Han at the age of 50. By the age of 54, he had unified the world, including taking over Guanzhong and defeating Xiang Yu. It only took seven years. Time, just when a marriage has just reached its shelf life, Liu Bang completed the counterattack from commoner to emperor; Liu Xiu started the army at the age of 27, proclaimed himself emperor at the age of 28, and brought peace to the world at the age of 40. It took twelve years, which is quite a long time. The time from the first grade of elementary school to the graduation of the third grade of high school was slightly longer than that of Emperor Gaozu, but he also completed the great unification; Liu Bei joined the army at the age of 24, and it was not until he visited the thatched cottage three times to invite Zhuge to come out and Zhuge Liang presented "Longzhong Dui" that Liu Bei started to compete. The plans and accurate goals of the world, he was 47 years old, until he took control of Chengdu in 214 AD, and officially had his own base, he was 54 years old, Liu Bei was already 61 years old when he became emperor, and then lost in the Battle of Yiling He lost most of his fortune and died with regret in Baidi City at the age of 63. He failed to complete the great cause of reunification in his life.
Zhuge Liang stills
Although it seems unfair to Liu Bei to compare directly with time. After all, there were many talents during the Three Kingdoms period, but there were also many heroes in the late Qin and Xinmang periods, including Emperor Guangwu’s subordinates. Among the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai, Xiang Yu, the protagonist of "Chu-Han Conflict", was a great military strategist. He was known as "the king cannot be overlord", but Liu Bang still won the battle with the help of the military immortal Han Xin.
Each of the "Three Heroes of the Early Han Dynasty" is good at winning, and Liu Bang can make use of them. There is nothing this person can't do. With such powerful ancestors, it is not surprising that the Western Han, Eastern Han, and Ji Han generations were not as good as One generation, it’s not that the descendants are incompetent, it’s that the ancestors are too strong!