The Three Kingdoms: If you don't have money to buy an official position, you can only be the em

Chapter 69: Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are “unworthy”

Yes, that's right, there were three fugitives fleeing from Xuchang: After Yuan Shao's death, Jiang Cheng quickly occupied Sizhou, while Lu Bu led his troops eastward to Xuzhou.

Tao Qian did not dare to provoke this evil god, so he gave Xiaopei to him and temporarily appeased him.

Liu Bei, on the other hand, integrated the military forces of Yuzhou and wanted to get rid of Cao Cao, who was respectful on the surface but actually had evil intentions. The two of them even had a fight outside the city of Xuchang, each leading tens of thousands of troops, with countless nobles in the court waving flags and shouting, and even the Han Emperor Liu Xie went to the top of the city to watch.

Unexpectedly, Liu Bei's army, which had the upper hand in terms of military strength and generals, collapsed at the first touch.

We were defeated in a head-on battle!

It was because Cao Ren, a general under Cao Cao, set up an "Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation". Liu Bei relied on the bravery of Guan and Zhang and led his troops directly to charge in, and then... when he came out, only three brothers were left.

Two generals who were born as peasants and had only read some military books, plus a commander whose family had fallen on hard times and had little inheritance.

The three of them didn't have a deep understanding of "array formation" at all.

I thought that elite soldiers and strong generals could sweep away everything.

As a result, despite having a great advantage, they suffered a terrible defeat - this was the norm before Liu Bei met Xu Shu, as almost every time he had more soldiers, he would suffer a crushing defeat.

There is a lack of counselors and a lack of "talented generals" who can truly command the army.

Throughout his life, we can see that whenever Liu Bei brought counselors to fight, he always won battles because of his ability to use people well. But once he fought in person, he could rely on bravery to win in a small group, but he would lose if he had too many soldiers.

The reason why he died in the end was that he did not know himself well and went directly to attack the Eastern Wu without any advisers.

He became the emperor of Shu Han, and the kingdom became so powerful that Eastern Wu and Northern Wei had to unite to resist it.

It gave him the illusion that he was "capable".

But in fact, he himself was not good at leading troops to fight. The three brothers Liu, Guan and Zhang were all good at being generals but not commanders!

"Zilong, what do you think of these three people?" Jiang Cheng looked at the battlefield from afar and chatted with Zhao Yun and Gongsun Zan.

Hearing this, Zhao Yun thought for a moment and said, "Guan and Zhang are both brave and powerful generals, no less powerful than me. Liu Bei's martial arts are mediocre, but he was also first-rate at the time. His literary talent is not high, but he has a firm mind."

Having said that, he looked at Jiang Cheng.

He added: "If I hadn't met the Great Heavenly Master, I think I might have chosen to serve Liu Bei in the end!"

There is no doubt that he still recognized Liu Bei.

It was in line with his expectations of a wise leader.

However, Gongsun Zan shook his head upon hearing this and said, "My junior brother is too self-centered as a minister and too cautious as a ruler. His character and abilities are impeccable, but he is not fit for great use."

This statement made Jiang Cheng look curious.

"So, he has been under your command for several years, but you haven't made any use of him?"

"How can I use him?" Gongsun Zan shook his head and said, "He is only temporarily under my command and is not really loyal to me. The more I give him, the more I will lose!"

He sees things very clearly.

Liu Bei was not the kind of person who would be inferior to others. No matter how many soldiers he was given or how high an official position he was given, he could not be kept.

Looking at Liu Bei's life, this is indeed true.

Lu Bu was just a slave of three surnames.

As for Liu Bei, he surrendered to Liu Yu, Lu Zhi, Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Liu Biao... No matter who he surrendered to, he would never truly submit and would establish himself as soon as he had the chance.

What Gongsun Zan said, "As a minister, I am too selfish," is just nice talk.

The implication is that "this person is a traitor."

Of course, he would never tell anyone before joining Jiang Cheng. After all, they were brothers, and more friends meant more paths. Although Liu Bei would not surrender, he could be relied upon in times of trouble.

As his lord he may not be reliable, but as his friend he must be reliable.

But when Jiang Cheng talked about Liu Bei, he thought the other party wanted to recruit the three brothers, so he had to say it.

He even said bluntly: "If the Great Heavenly Master wants to recruit those three people, I advise you to give up. Liu Bei is definitely not a person who will be inferior to others. And Guan and Zhang will only recognize Liu Bei and will not recognize anyone else!"

After saying that, he glanced at Zhao Yun.

He added: "Just like Zilong only recognizes you." Gongsun Zan had only seen these two examples of such complete trust and acceptance of life and death in all his years - this was probably the reason why he released Zhao Yun to Liu Bei.

Gongsun Zan was very open-minded about not trying to keep someone he couldn't keep.

"Then what do you think Liu Bei would have achieved without me?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"This..." Gongsun Zan thought for a while, and finally said: "Guan and Zhang have the courage of a hegemon, but they don't have the strategy of a hegemon. Even a hegemon can't win the world, so it's difficult for Liu Bei to rely on Guan and Zhang. As for himself, he has the ability to recognize people and the tolerance to tolerate others. Maybe he can become the hegemon of the world, but he will definitely not be able to reach the final position!"

This judgment surprised Jiang Cheng.

He didn't expect that the ordinary Gongsun Zan could see Liu Bei so clearly.

Zhuge Liang's prediction that the world would be divided into three parts is just like this, right?
"Why?" Zhao Yun asked.

With Jiang Cheng around, he naturally knew that Liu Bei's great cause would be difficult to accomplish, because the general trend of the world was irreversible.

Taiping Dao is now the trend of the times.

But Jiang Cheng's assumption was based on the situation without him - in Zhao Yun's view, with Liu Bei's benevolence and righteousness, he would surely be followed by capable ministers and generals, so how could he not rule the world?
He had a good idea.

In the entire Three Kingdoms, there were only eight peerless generals, and he had five of them.

Xu Chu, the most powerful general under Cao Cao, was not as good at martial arts as Huang Zhong, the lowest ranked of the Five Tiger Generals. That was when Huang Zhong was old.

The top strategists of the Three Kingdoms include the genius Guo Jia, Sima Yi, Zhou Lang, Wulong, Fengchu, etc.

A limited number of people.

If one of them could be the Dragon or the Phoenix, the world would be at peace; Liu Bei had both.

Who can compare with him, civil officials or military generals?

But unfortunately, Liu Bei didn't get the world!
"Because they value friendship too much!" Gongsun Zan sighed and said, "Friendship can sometimes make things happen, but it can also ruin things. I have suffered a lot from it, so I know that to gain the world, you can rely on wisdom, intelligence, and even bravery, but you can't rely on benevolence!"

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhao Yun immediately understood.

Jiang Cheng also suddenly realized.

Yes.

Wasn’t it that Gongsun Zan’s White Horse Volunteers were gathered together based on loyalty?

He succeeded because of the White Horse Volunteers, who had only 3,000 men and could defeat all enemies in the north. But he also failed because of the White Horse Volunteers, because whenever there was a civil war, these people were not in high spirits.

He didn't put in any effort in fighting Jiang Cheng, he was just doing nothing in fighting Dong Zhuo, and he had no interest in fighting Yuan Shao.

But when they fought against Goguryeo and Japan, their combat power soared instantly.

This was the reason why Gongsun Zan would originally fail.

For Liu Bei, the problem was even more serious: he lived in the world with benevolence and righteousness, and anyone could tolerate Guan Yu's death except him.

If you endure it, you will lose your brotherhood and disappoint many people.

It will be difficult to lead a team without the support of the people.

So even though he knew the odds were against him, he had to fight, and even though he knew he might be defeated, he couldn't retreat.

In the end, he lost the world.

This is the general trend. In terms of details, he attached too much importance to his two sworn brothers and even indulged Zhang Fei in beating and scolding soldiers. This also made Guan Yu increasingly arrogant and proud, thus offending too many people, and no one came to rescue him when he was in trouble.

Politics is about compromise and communication, and the harmony of human relationships and interests.

It's too complicated, and it's not something that a righteous person can handle!

"In that case, Liu Bei is not loyal as a minister and not a wise ruler. He is really 'unworthy of great use'!" Jiang Cheng sighed and gave up the idea of ​​recruiting the person he admired in his previous life.

Liu Bei was a good man, but he was neither a good ruler nor a good subject.

"In the battle between Liu Bei and Yuan Shao, who do you think will win, Bogui?" Jiang Cheng asked again.

(End of this chapter)