Mr. Shui Jing Sima Hui recommended two people to Liu Bei who had not yet established himself. One was Wolong Zhuge Liang and the other was Feng Chu Pang Tong. He even asserted that with either of these two people, the world could be settled. As for Liu Bei and Liu Xuande , both of them once got it. Zhuge Liang devoted his whole life to Liu Bei's Shu Han even till death, but why was Shu Han eventually destroyed?
Pang Tong’s death
Let’s first look at how Feng Chu Pang Tong died. At that time, after Liu Bei and Liu Zhang met, Liu Zhang did not provide enough food and grass for Liu Bei who defected, which would not be beneficial to himself in the long run. In order to solve the current dilemma, Pang Tong gave Liu Bei three strategies.
The first is to get Chengdu. Liu Zhang was temporarily unprepared for Liu Bei, and the success rate of taking Chengdu was very high. Moreover, Liu Bei's cavalry had an advantage over Liu Zhang, which made it easier.
The second is to annex Yang Huai and Gao Pei in Shu. When the time comes, Liu Bei pretends to return to Jingzhou , and these two people will definitely come to see him off. Take this opportunity to get rid of these two people, and you can successfully occupy their territory and troops. However, this strategy will make Liu Zhang wary of Liu Bei and make future plans more difficult.
The third and worst strategy is to return to Jingzhou, my hometown. When the time is right in the future, we will find a way to capture Yizhou.
Among these three strategies, Liu Bei thought about it and decided to use the second one. Seize the food, grass, troops and horses of Yang Huai and Gao Pei. Therefore, Liu Zhang also understood Liu Bei's thoughts and sent his generals to fight against Liu Bei. Unfortunately, these people were no match for Liu Bei's army and could not stop Liu Bei from marching into Shu.
During the march, although it went smoothly, there were still some strong cities that were easy to defend and difficult to attack. In order to capture Luocheng , two marching routes were chosen to set off together. Pang Tong suggested that Liu Bei lead the army to take the small road, while Pang Tong led the rest of the army to take the main road.
Unfortunately, the final result was just the opposite. Pang Tong took the trail, and there was a place on this trail called Luofengpo. Pang Tong also died here.
In fact, when Pang Tong arrived here, he knew that he was in danger, so he ordered his troops to evacuate quickly, but it was still a step too late.
Why didn’t Crouching Dragon and Phoenix Chu help Liu Bei settle down the world?
Through Pang Tong's death, we can find that if Pang Tong had followed Pang Tong's ideas and Liu Bei had taken a small path, Pang Tong would not have died. On the road, Pang Tong was guarded by generals, and it was easy to avoid him on the road. However, Liu Bei let Pang Tong take a small path. Pang Tong asked the scholar whether he had any military value, and he was eventually killed on the spot.
In fact, this reflects Liu Bei's talent. If he doesn't cherish his talents, how can he complete his great cause of restoring the Han Dynasty? When Zhuge Liang passed away, he also said that he was born at the wrong time. In fact, it still shows that Liu Bei is not good enough and cannot make reasonable use of talents and follow the advice of their counselors.
Now we look back. If Liu Bei had listened to Pang Tong's suggestion for the first time and let Pang Tong take the high road, Pang Tong would not have died. In the future, if he cooperated with Zhuge Liang, he would have succeeded in the Northern Expedition and annexed Cao Wei. The second time, when Guan Yu lost Jingzhou carelessly, if Liu Bei had followed Zhuge Liang's advice, stayed calm, tried to take revenge, and not marched eastward Soochow , Liu Bei would not have lost his life in Baidi City.
Although Liu Bei was very good at winning people's hearts, he also gained a group of capable generals and counselors who were loyal to him. But unfortunately, he is always impulsive and irrational at critical moments. Those who achieve great things are dragged down by their emotions and are destined to fail to dominate the world. This has nothing to do with how outstanding talents Liu Bei can get. No matter how outstanding talents are, they cannot help him achieve great things. This is the fatal weakness of Liu Bei as the lord, and it cannot be accomplished without the ability of Crouching Dragon and Phoenix.
