In 219 AD, Liu Bei secured Xichuan and became king of Hanzhong . In the same year, Guan Yu launched his troops in the Northern Expedition, killed Pound , captured in the banned , flooded the seven armies , and shocked China.
When the situation was excellent, Soochow sent troops to the west to cut off Guan Yu's retreat and make him vulnerable to enemies from the front and back.
Guan Yu asked for help from Liu Feng who was sitting in the town. Liu Feng "does not take advantage of Yu's life" .
Guan Yu had no choice but to flee westward with his remaining soldiers, and was captured in Maicheng and later beheaded.
In 220 AD, Shangyong fell and Liu Feng fled back to Xichuan.
Military Advisor Zhuge Liang used eleven words to convince Liu Bei and give Liu Feng death.
Why didn’t Liu Feng save Guan Yu? What did Zhuge Liang say that finally decided Liu Feng's fate?
Who is Liu Feng who refuses to save him?
Liu Feng, the adopted son of Liu Bei, Emperor Zhaolie of the Shu Han Dynasty. Among Liu Bei's biological and adopted sons recorded in official history, is the oldest, has the highest military force, and is the most famous for his achievements .
Liu Bei met Liu Feng in Jingzhou. At that time, Liu was highly regarded by Liu Biao, the herdsman of Jingzhou, and he led troops to defend the northern part of Jingzhou against Cao Cao.
Liu Feng is the son of a wealthy local family named Kou. His original name was Kou Feng.
At a banquet, Liu Bei met Kou Feng for the first time. During the banquet, the soldier who was serving the food accidentally dropped a piece of meat on the ground. Kou Feng picked it up, put it in his mouth and ate it.
Liu Bei asked Kou Feng: "Don't you think it's dirty?"
Kou Feng said: "Those of us who are fighting should be considerate. These soldiers who serve food work very hard, and they should be forgiven for their occasional mistakes."
Decent Liu Bei was instantly moved by the answer.
At this time, Liu Chan was not yet born, and Liu Bei had no children, so he adopted Kou Feng as his adopted son and changed his name to Liu Feng.
Liu Feng was less than twenty at the time, but he was powerful and had great kung fu. After worshiping Liu Bei, he quickly became Liu Bei's favorite general.
Invited by Liu Zhang, Liu Bei led troops into Xichuan to help Liu Zhang resist Cao Cao's military pressure.
Liu Feng did not go to Sichuan with Liu Bei, but stayed in Jingzhou with Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others to ensure the safety of Jingzhou.
Liu Bei was named as supporting Liu Zhang, but he actually wanted to replace him.
Soon after, Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others were ordered to lead their troops to the west. Liu Feng also participated in the battle to capture Xichuan with the Westward March .
Liu Feng repeatedly made military exploits in battles, became an important military general under Liu Bei, and participated in many major military battles.
In "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the records of the period from Liu Feng's birth to his march westward are generally the same.
After Liu Bei captured Xichuan, he went north to attack Zhang Lu. Cao Cao led troops to assist Zhang Lu and confronted Liu Bei on the front line.
In this battle, the official history and the novel have slightly different descriptions of Liu Feng.
In "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Liu Feng serves as a vanguard and fights against the enemy. Cao Cao also sent his son Cao Zhang to fight. However, in "Three Kingdoms", Cao Zhang was not in Hanzhong at this time. Cao Cao originally wanted to transfer Cao Zhang over, but it did not happen.
In 219 AD, Liu Bei sent Mengda to attack Fangling and Shangyong. Soon, Liu Feng was ordered to support Meng Da's military operations. At the same time, served as the general to command Meng Da and his soldiers .
In this year, Guan Yu launched the Northern Expedition against Cao Cao. Soon after encountering Soochow's stab in the back, Guan Yu asked Liu Feng and Meng Da who were stationed at Shangyong for help.
Liu Feng listened to Meng Da's dissuasion and did not send troops to rescue, which led to the fall of Jingzhou and Guan Yu's defeat.
Before and after, Meng Da had a disagreement with Liu Feng, and later Liu Feng took away the band. He was unhappy, and had been secretly communicating with Cao Cao, and finally rebelled against Shu Han and went to Cao Cao's camp.
After Mengda rebelled, he led troops to fight against Shangyong. Liu Feng's subordinate Shen Dan was originally the Shangyong governor appointed by Cao Cao. Not long after he surrendered, he rebelled again.
There were enemy soldiers outside Shangyong City and rebellion inside. Liu Feng was defeated and fled back to Xichuan.
Zhuge Liang's few words determined Liu Feng's life and death
"Three Kingdoms" and "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" have another difference in Liu Feng's death.
In "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", because Liu Bei hated Liu Feng for not rescuing Guan Yu, and also lost Shangyong, "he was ordered to kill him" .
After Liu Feng was beheaded, Liu Bei learned that Liu Feng was guarding Shangyong and "destroyed the letter and beheaded the envoy" after receiving Meng Da's surrender letter. He felt regretful and became seriously ill.
After reading this paragraph, Zhuge Liang did not play any role in promoting Liu Feng's death.
In "Three Kingdoms", it is a different situation.
After Liu Feng fled back to Xichuan, he was severely criticized by Liu Bei. At the same time, Zhuge Liang said " He is so fierce that it will be difficult to control him after the Yi Shi", which helped Liu Bei make up his mind.
Liu Feng was not beheaded, but was allowed to commit suicide. The specific method is unknown.
Before Liu Feng died, he sighed and said: "Why didn't I listen to Meng Da?" It means: If I had known this, I might as well have surrendered Cao Cao...
At this point, whether it is "Three Kingdoms" or "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" ”, Liu Feng’s scenes were announced to be completed.
So, here comes the question, what does Zhuge Liang mean by this sentence? Why did Liu Bei make up his mind to kill Liu Feng?
This starts with the age of the senior ruling group of the Shu Han Dynasty at that time.
Liu Feng died in 220 AD. This year, Emperor Liu Bei of the Shu Han Dynasty was sixty years old, Guan Yu was dead, and Zhang Fei's birth year is unknown, but he should be no more than a few years younger than Liu Bei. Zhao Yun is said to be one or two years older than Liu Bei. This batch of old guys who followed Liu Bei to conquer the world for the first time will probably be soon.
Liu Feng should be less than thirty years old at the time, and he was in the prime of life. Liu Bei's legal heir Liu Chan is only fourteen years old and has not graduated from junior high school.
Although Liu Feng, as the adopted son, is not qualified to inherit the throne of Shu Han, the influence derived from the blessing of the "adopted son of the former emperor" will surely bear more military and national responsibilities, and then interfere with the court situation and affect the political balance of Shu Han.
Some people may ask, isn’t there Zhuge Liang? Yes, Zhuge Liang was forty years old at the time, which was also his prime year. With his ability and influence, it shouldn't take much effort to deal with Liu Feng.
However, once the older generation dies and the "strong" Liu Feng takes advantage of the situation to cause chaos, it is bound to cause turmoil within the Shu Han.. Even if the chaos is finally quelled, the already weak Shu Han will surely be greatly depleted in strength, which will affect the aspirations of Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang to revive the Han Dynasty.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang out of consideration for the future of Shu Han, reminded Liu Bei: "Liu Feng is a man of resoluteness and bravery. If one day you are no longer around, I'm afraid it will be difficult to control and control..."
The hero Liu Bei obviously understood. Zhuge Liang's words, considering that Liu Chan was still a young man and was always laughed at as stupid... Liu Feng could not escape death at this point.
Three years later, Liu Bei died of illness in Baidi City. He entrusted Liu Chan to Zhuge Liang and said, "If he is not talented, you can take it yourself."
I don’t know if Liu Bei was thinking at that time: "It’s so resourceful that it’s hard to control..."
Why didn’t Liu Feng send troops to rescue Guan Yu?
The cause of Liu Feng's death, official history and novels all mentioned Guan Yu's death and Shangyong's failure.
Among them, the fault of superiority will not lead to death. Let alone victory or defeat, which is a common thing for military strategists, Shangyong's loss is actually a result of the loss of Jingzhou. Liu Feng is responsible, but he can also be forgiven.
There has always been much discussion about Liu Feng's responsibility for Guan Yu's death. It is generally believed that Liu Feng's behavior is more worthy of recognition than Mi Fang, Fu Shiren who rebelled against Soochow, or Meng Da who rebelled against Cao Cao. After all, even in Shangyong, he still fought bravely to kill the enemy until there was no way out.
Although Liu Feng fought bravely, lacked intelligence and strategy. He could only be a general, not a handsome man.The first time I took charge of the military affairs of one side, I encountered a complicated situation such as the Jingzhou War and the war between the three countries. The lack of experience caused by his young age may also have disrupted his decision-making to a certain extent.
When Guan Yu asked for help, Shangyong, where Liu Feng was stationed, had just surrendered to the Shu Han, and the people's hearts were still unstable . This also posed a problem for Liu Feng's rescue plan. If there are few troops to rescue, it will have little effect; if there are too many troops to rescue, it will lead to an empty defense of Shangyong on the front line, giving Cao Cao an opportunity.
Even if troops are sent to rescue, Shangyong is located in the west of Jingzhou, separated by Wudang Mountain and Shennongjia . Even under current conditions, it would take 300 kilometers to travel on the highway, let alone back then. By the time reinforcements arrive, Guan Yu may have been captured.
I believe that Liu Feng, who was in a superior position, must have thought about it for a while before making the decision not to send troops.
The above are all considered from a normal perspective of sincere unity, mutual help and mutual assistance. However, people will have selfish motives and grudges. Is it possible that Liu Feng refused to send troops out of personal grudges?
There is no historical record, but it does not prevent future generations from digging. There is a short story that has been circulating among the people for a long time, which may be used to explain Liu Feng's behavior.
Legend has it that when Liu Bei met Liu Feng for the first time, he was moved by Liu Feng's martial arts and words and deeds, and wanted to adopt Liu Feng as his adopted son. As the three closest brothers in history, Liu Bei naturally wanted to seek the opinions of his second brother Guan Yu and third brother Zhang Fei.
The carefree Zhang Fei didn't put forward any opinions, but the proud Guan Yu was unhappy.
Everyone knows Guan Yu's bad temper. At that time, he criticized his elder brother: " If you don't have a child now, won't you have one in the future? Why should you adopt one to cause trouble in the future?"
Although his words were a bit rough, But it has the same meaning as Zhuge Liang's eleven-character mantra: as the eldest brother, you cannot accept sons casually, or you will be careful of trouble in the future.
How Liu Bei responded to Guan Yu is not told in the story. Anyway, he accepted Liu Feng in the end and treated him very well.
So, you see, with Guan Yu's temper and his attitude towards this matter, he probably won't look good on Liu Feng in the future. Liu Feng felt resentful because of this, and eventually watched Guan Yu's defeat . This possibility is also possible.
Conclusion
As the second most powerful figure in the Shu Han Dynasty, Guan Yu should have guarded Jingzhou and echoed Liu Bei. However, he failed to handle internal and external relations well, which led to his collapse and death.
Guan Yu's death indirectly led to Meng Da's defection, Liu Feng was killed, Shu Han lost Jingzhou, and the road to the east was completely closed.
Zhuge Liang took advantage of this opportunity to remove Liu Bei's adopted son Liu Feng, solving a major hidden danger in the succession of Shu Han imperial power. After some reshuffling, the Shu Han Dynasty officially entered the era when Prime Minister Zhuge was actually in power.
