My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 696: The Book of Life and Death of the Lord of Mount Tai is not as accurate as mine
Zhuge Jin pondered for a long time and finally sorted out his thoughts. He figured out why the reasoning his second brother had just said was inconsistent with previous historical facts.

However, he did not feel the joy of winning the debate, but instead a sense of calmness that came from seeing through the truth.

He calmly retorted, "Second brother, what you just saw seems to be a bird's-eye view of the changes of the past and present, but there are also things you can't see.

If people have a sense of legitimacy, it will make it less likely for the people to support powerful and rebellious princes. Then why did it take Emperor Guangwu much longer to revive the Han Dynasty than Emperor Gaozu?
It can be seen that the key is not only whether people's hearts are right, but also what kind of enemy you are facing. Some princes, even if they are usurpers and rebels, even if they do evil things, as long as they are good at using people and can win the hearts of their subordinates, they can still persist for a long time in troubled times.

Even if the tyrannical Qin Dynasty committed atrocities and lost the support of the six states, it would not have perished so quickly if Zhao Gao had not caused trouble, preventing the Qin people from using their own loyal ministers and generals. Similarly, even if Cao Cao committed atrocities today, we should not underestimate the enemy.

Because Cao Cao was good at employing people, selecting people based on their talents, and promoting people who were not well-known, he was far superior to Gongsun Shu and others during Emperor Guangwu's reign, and also far superior to Qin II. Cao Cao was able to allow talented but unvirtuous people who were not valued during the Han Dynasty to show their strengths.

But the lord cannot imitate Cao Cao's style of employing people. Although the lord's talent in employing people is better than Cao Cao's, after all, he must "do the opposite of Cao". For those who are obviously unkind and unfilial but talented, the lord cannot use them without any worries like Cao Cao.

Therefore, even if Cao Cao is doomed in the future, we must be careful of talented but immoral people in the world who cling to Cao Cao, die for him, and fight to the end. In that case, Cao Cao will defend Heluo and Guanxi to the death, and may continue to cause harm to the world for several years, which is not what we want to see. "

Truth becomes clearer the more it is debated. Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang, two of the world's top minds, debated with each other and immediately made the issue more and more clearly understood.

Liu Bei looked left and right, watching from the sidelines, impartially, and finally said in a playful voice: "This time... it seems that what Zi Yu said makes more sense?"

Zhuge Liang did not refuse to accept it, but thought about it seriously for a long time, as if he really wanted to understand the historical inevitability.

After a long while, Zhuge Liang seemed to have found some circumstantial evidence and said in a probing tone:

"So, according to my elder brother, Gongsun Shu and his men were not as talented as Xiang Yu in terms of military strategy, but they were able to last longer than Xiang Yu. Was it because they were better at using people? At least they were able to unite a group of loyal followers who didn't care about right or wrong, and resisted to the end?

And was Xiang Yu defeated so quickly because, although he was a great warrior, he was not as good as Gongsun Shu in employing people? Sima Qian did record in "The Records of Xiang Yu" and "The Records of Emperor Gaozu" that Xiang Yu was stingy with his rewards and played with his seal until it was worn out, and he could not bear to give it away, so he was so quickly deserted by his friends and relatives? However, if we really believe this statement, we will underestimate Xiang Yu. "

Zhuge Liang spoke very naturally, with no intention of arguing. He was purely discussing the facts, but one could feel the charm of his language.

Zhuge Jin was a little choked when he heard this, and it was difficult for him to refute it directly.

On the one hand, let’s not talk about how Xiang Yu employed people, but the fact that he was unwilling to easily promise official positions or titles is indeed undeniable.

Especially in the Han Dynasty, this conclusion was written into the court's will, and Zhuge Jin had no intention of challenging it.

However, Zhuge Jin was reluctant to admit that Xiang Yu was so bad at employing people that he was even worse than Gongsun Shu.

Although he was not very familiar with Gongsun Shu and others, the cohesion of Xiang Yu during his peak period was obvious to the whole world.

Isn't it a lie to say that no one is willing to be loyal to Xiang Yu?

From Dongcheng to Wujiang, he dragged the army to 28 riders and fought to the death until the last moment. How could this mean that no one would be loyal to him? If he had gone to Jiangdong, would the hundreds of thousands of elders really not "take pity on him and make him king"? Xiang Yu's head was chopped off, and he was given a fief in Lu, but the locals were still unwilling to surrender.

It is certain that Xiang Yu lost the support of the people in some areas, but it is absolutely nonsense to say that he lost the support of the people to the extent that he could not find a single base.

So, how to explain this problem?

Zhuge Jin racked his brains and brainstormed repeatedly, and finally an inspiration flashed across his mind and an idea came to him.

I only heard him analyze the matter objectively: "In the era of great contention, after the absolute strength and weakness of the world have been determined, how long the weak can last and how long the chaos can last is not only determined by the factor of "whether people's hearts are upright and whether they want to settle down." It is also not determined by "whether the tyrant can use people." There must be other factors to consider.

At least in the era of Emperor Gaozu and Xiang Yu, there was an additional factor that had not existed for thousands of years. Well, it cannot be said that it was completely absent, but at least it was suspected. Perhaps King Zhou's refusal to flee Chaoge and relying on the army that had gone on an expedition to the Dongyi to counterattack King Wu of Zhou could be considered a half-example. "

Zhuge Jin's careful choice of words aroused the curiosity of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang at the same time. They both couldn't help but ask in unison: "Oh? What factor is unprecedented?"

Zhuge Jin said calmly: "During the confrontation in Xingyang, Xiang Yu made a statement and act that has been criticized by the world for four hundred years, but if you think about it carefully, it may not be his true words - during the confrontation in Xingyang, Xiang Yu stood on his horse with a spear in his hand and said to Emperor Gaozu, 'The world has been in turmoil for several years, just because of the two of us. I am willing to challenge the King of Han to decide who is the better, so as not to make the people of the world suffer in vain.'

This challenge was undoubtedly met with widespread ridicule. Xiang Yu was then in his prime, renowned for his bravery and strength. Emperor Gaozu, however, was already over fifty and not particularly skilled in martial arts. Wasn't Xiang Yu's suggestion to exploit his own strengths to exploit the enemy's weaknesses? Emperor Gaozu's response, "I prefer a battle of wits to a battle of strength," was also worthy of praise.

But in my opinion, although the content of the challenge chosen by Xiang Yu was despicable, his original intention of challenging him may not have been to take into account the sufferings of the people in the world.

Sima Qian said that when Xiang Yu met Qin Shi Huang in his youth, he said, "He can replace the emperor." When Emperor Gaozu met Qin Shi Huang in his middle age, he only said, "A real man should be like this." These two sentences are enough to show that Xiang Yu and Emperor Gaozu had different life ambitions.

Xiang Yu's ambition was to replace the Qin Dynasty. As for how the world would develop after replacing the Qin Dynasty or whether he would become an emperor like Qin Shihuang, it was not important.

Gaozu's ambition was to be like Qin. Since it was "should be like this", Gaozu wanted to be the emperor himself in the future.

For Emperor Gaozu, gaining the whole world was the most important thing. For Xiang Yu, getting rid of Qin was the most important thing. As long as he could destroy Qin, his own death would not matter.

Therefore, at the time of Xingyang, Xiang Yu had already completed his historical mission of "no Qin". In the end, he could not gain the world, which was just a bonus to ensure that Qin would not be revived. Although it was important, it was not that important and was not his most fundamental pursuit.

He knew that if the war reached that point, as long as one of him and Emperor Gaozu died, the war in the world would end, and the rest would be insignificant. If possible, he certainly did not want to die, and of course he hoped to get the bonus of "gaining the world" at the same time, so he made this challenge and wanted to make a quick decision.

But since he was defeated quickly within the next year, after he went to the Wujiang River to prove that it was God's will and not his fault, he no longer crossed the Yangtze River to fight a protracted battle on the land of his fathers and elders. He no longer cared.

Otherwise, with Xiang Yu's ability, he returned to Jiangdong, the territory of the Xiang family. Although he could not counterattack Emperor Gaozu, he could delay the rebellion longer than Wei Xiao and Gongsun Shu in the reign of Emperor Guangwu. I think it would not be difficult."

Zhuge Jin's remarks were made behind closed doors, purely for academic discussion and reasoning, so there weren't many taboos. He simply wanted to prove the historical deduction that "in an era where people have a legitimate government, would a usurpation by a clearly weaker party lead to a more rapid collapse?"

After hearing this, Zhuge Liang was a little bit surprised and doubtful. Even though he knew that his elder brother and his lord had mutual trust and no grudges, and could be absolutely frank with each other, Zhuge Liang still felt that his elder brother was a little too open-minded to talk about Xiang Yu's gains and losses to such an extent.

In comparison, although Liu Bei was also shocked, he was the lord after all. He had the confidence and magnanimity. He also knew that Zhuge Jin would definitely not overturn the verdict for a man who had been dead for four hundred years. They were just discussing the matter at hand.

Besides, the Han Dynasty has been established for four hundred years. Why should we be afraid of people discussing things that happened so long ago?
Ziyu said this, probably for the sake of historical dialectics, to explain that there were other reasons why Xiang Yu could not survive Gongsun Shu, not because his previous theory was wrong. In this way, it can also help his own camp to take Cao Cao seriously, so that they will not completely think that "the advantage is mine" if they gain a little advantage in the future.

On the other hand...I guess Tzuyu has other intentions as well, right?

Anyway, based on Liu Bei's understanding of Zhuge Jin, he believed that the other party would not speak without purpose and discuss history purely for the sake of discussing history.

Therefore, after Liu Bei sorted out the conversation, he couldn't help but probe: "Perhaps there is another deeper meaning behind what Zi Yu said? Can it be used as a reference for the present generation?"

Zhuge Jin nodded slowly and firmly: "It can indeed be used as a reference - when Emperor Gao unified the country, he did not exterminate the descendants of Xiang Yu, but only gave some of them the surname Liu. As long as these people really expressed their rupture with Xiang Yu's lineage, they can live out their lives in peace.

For four hundred years, no one has ever analyzed the reason for Emperor Gaozu's decision. Perhaps it was because he was worried about the pressure from the imperial power, so he kept it a secret. But this does not mean that we today cannot interpret it. The world has become so chaotic now. In order to better restore the territory of the Han Dynasty, we should not be afraid to hide our illness.

Especially when this interpretation comes from the high-ranking officials under the Lord, and spreads it throughout the world, people in the world might think that this is the result that the Lord wants to imply. "

Liu Bei seemed a little confused after hearing this, and couldn't help asking in detail: "How does Ziyu want to interpret this to the world? What does he want to imply?"

Before Zhuge Jin could answer, Zhuge Liang on the side quickly reacted.

He couldn't help but pat his folding fan, and then quickly tried to guess what his elder brother meant:

"Brother, could it be that you wanted to tell the world that when the world was divided into two, Xiang Yu saw clearly the difference between him and Emperor Gao. As long as one of them died, the people of the world would no longer be troubled by the suffering of war. So when it was destined that he could not turn the tide, he decisively committed suicide and admitted defeat, saving the people of the world a few years of suffering.

And it was precisely because Emperor Gao quickly gave up the pointless resistance after the victory was decided and did not cause more killings that he spared the entire Xiang clan and only needed to draw a clear line with Xiang Yu himself? ', this behavior of 'only two people left in the world, the weaker one will die quickly' can be regarded as a slight redemption of virtue and fortune? So Xiang Yu's entire clan was not destroyed together? "

Liu Bei was stunned when he heard this. As soon as Zhuge Liang finished speaking, he quickly turned to Zhuge Jin and asked quickly, "Is that so? Is Kong Ming's guess right?"

Zhuge Jin nodded, "That's right, my second brother really guessed it. That's right, as long as we spread it like this, we can insist that Emperor Gaozu thought so. Then it doesn't matter what Emperor Gaozu thought back then. What's important is that people all over the world believe that the lord guessed Emperor Gaozu's original intention in this way, so the lord will think so in the future.

If Cao Cao resists to the end and continues to fight despite knowing he will definitely lose, then his entire clan will be destroyed.

But if he can commit suicide like Xiang Yu after the situation is irreversible and the people are divided, so that our Han Dynasty does not have to fight bloodshed to recover the last state, then it may not be a bad idea to let one or two of his Cao family members live and change their surnames as a sign of leniency. "

Zhuge Jin's idea was not something he had planned for a long time.

I swear to God, these ideas came out of his intense brainstorming and debate with his second brother today.

But now that he had thought of it, he couldn't help but improve it along this line of thought.

The two brothers discussed the matter in detail for a few more sentences, chatting as if no one was around. Liu Bei, who was sitting at the side, could not follow the brothers' train of thought at all.

Finally, the Zhuge brothers quickly came to a conclusion: since this matter has been thought of, it is time to make arrangements. For example, this year we can find a way to write a book to promote and publicize this historical interpretation.

Because academic propaganda needs a process to spread and be effective. Especially when Cao and Liu were in hostility, it was difficult to expect Cao Cao's camp not to block the things promoted by Liu Bei's camp and allow them to spread.

Therefore, it is very important to take advantage of the two-year truce and farming period between Cao and Liu in the future to publicize these academic viewpoints, slowly infiltrate and spread them, and let the scholars in the areas occupied by Cao Cao hear about them as much as possible.

Because only when everyone in the world subconsciously believes in this view, will the resistance will of Cao Cao's camp in the final stage be further weakened and disintegrated, allowing the Han Dynasty to avoid the level of "bloody battle to recover the last state" in the future war of unification.

This merit is quite significant.

If the Han Dynasty could regain unification by conquering one less state, or even two states, and force the other side to surrender directly, how many lives would be saved?
Moreover, only by doing so could Zhuge Jin give Cao Cao hope that "if it really comes to that, the side branches of the Cao family may also survive."

In that case, Cao Cao would have the opportunity to guess Liu Bei's thoughts at the last moment and think, "What should I do to preserve my lineage when the army is defeated?"

No matter how Cao Cao guessed or interpreted it, as long as Cao Cao knew how to be afraid and guess in the final stage, the final result would definitely be in Liu Bei's favor.

It's that simple.

……

After discussing and understanding these principles, Zhuge Jin took the opportunity to give Liu Bei a frank suggestion:
"My lord, I think that starting from this year, our army can consider writing a book on history and widely publicize the above historical interpretation, so that the top leaders of Cao's camp can gradually know our ideas.

Whether it is Taishigong's "Shi" or Ban Gu's "Han Shu", we can also comment again on the previous comments on the dispute between Liu and Xiang. No matter how effective these arguments are, even if the top leaders of Cao Ying do not believe them, they can still have the effect of undermining the morale of the enemy.

Because this will let the enemy see that our army has already begun to plan how to put an end to this chaotic period in the future. This gesture is enough to let the enemy see the lord's confidence. "

Liu Bei didn't quite understand these things, but after hearing what Zhuge brothers explained, he felt that it sounded really encouraging and could demonstrate his confidence and breadth of mind.

This is not the kind of arrogant "opening champagne at halftime", but a pure and profound discussion of historical inevitability.
It is similar to writing "On Protracted War" before victory, telling the enemy that according to the inevitable objective laws of history, you are finished and are just waiting to be settled.

What we say is the truth of history. We say how the enemy will die in the end, and that is how he will die. It is as unavoidable as the oracle and the Book of Life and Death of the Lord of Mount Tai.

(End of this chapter)