Before Liu Bei died, he handed over the military power to Li Yan. Why didn't he hand it over to Zhuge Liang?

Z0z knows that Liu Bei asked Zhuge Liang to be lonely before he died, and pretended to tell Zhuge Liang that if you think that Liu Chan is a talent, then you can help him, if you think Liu Chan is not a talent, you can replace it. Then he immediately asked Liu Chan to recognize Zhuge Liang as his father, and explained that Liu Chan would treat Zhuge Liang like his biological father. Zhuge Liang was so touched that he immediately said that he would dedicate his life to Shu Han. After listening, Liu Bei nodded, and then handed over the military power to Li Yan .

​​Many people think that Liu Bei handed over the military power to Li Yan because Li Yan's military capabilities on the surface were stronger than Zhuge Liang. This may be one reason, but in fact it has a deeper meaning, related to the safety and stability of the Shu Han.

Li Yan and his person

Li Yan is a native of Nanyang. Because of his talent, he was promoted to an official by the Nanyang prefect. Later, Nanyang was occupied by Cao Cao, and the Nanyang prefect was beheaded by Cao Cao because of dissatisfaction. Li Yan deliberately ran away overnight for fear of being implicated. Originally wanted to work in Jingzhou, on the way I heard that Yizhou Liu Zhang was recruiting talents, so he changed his plan and entered Yizhou by boat from South County. Liu Zhang’s original intention of recruiting talents was actually to ease the relationship with the local gentry in Yizhou, and Li Yan was willing to act as an intermediary after understanding.

​​Li Yan first told the local gentry in Yizhou that he was the future order of Chengdu appointed by Liu Zhang, and he was willing to come over to coordinate the conflict. After he promised that he would re-draw the policy for the gentry to ensure the interests of the gentry. If you don’t believe you can marry the gentry. In fact, Li Yan's ultimate goal was to marry the gentry, so as to ensure that Liu Zhang looked up to himself and ensure that the plan went smoothly. Perhaps it was due to the occlusion of the news, or Li Yan's courage and performance persuaded this group of gentry that the Wang clan of Yizhou really married his daughter to Li Yan. Since then, Li Yan and the gentry of Yizhou have been bound together.

​​After Li Yan and Liu Zhang recommended themselves and expressed their attitudes and ideas, Liu Zhang really appointed Li Yan as the Chengdu Order, with the authority to be responsible for the formulation of policies on the gentry and commercial policies. Li Yan originally had the foundation, now he integrates the two parts of resources, and he has become a favorite in front of Liu Zhang.

​​Liu Bei once expressed to Liu Zhang that he was willing to help him attack Zhang Lu after he captured Jingzhou. The purpose was to maintain a good relationship with Liu Zhang, and he only needed Liu Zhang to provide food and grass. Liu Zhang Shaozhi, really believed that Liu Bei had shown goodwill to him, and he wrote back to Liu Bei before consulting a counselor, welcoming him to bring troops into Shu. After a while, Li Yan learned about the incident and quickly put down his official duties and told Liu Zhang of Liu Bei's ambitions, attempts, and the harm of entering Shu. Liu Zhang felt that since the order had been passed out, he could not take it back, so he deliberately promoted Li Yan to his protection. The army told Li Yan that if Liu Bei made trouble in Chengdu, he would use his army to attack Liu Bei.

​​Li Yan once fought Liu Bei in Mianzhu. On the battlefield, he clearly felt the difference between Liu Bei's army and Yizhou army. He understood that Liu Zhang would eventually be annihilated by Liu Bei, and immediately surrendered Liu Bei, saying that he could persuade many Yizhou generals to surrender. . Sure enough, all tribes from Yizhou nobles like , Wu Yi, Zhang Mao, and Wang Yong were persuaded to surrender by Li Yan. After Liu Bei pinged Chengdu, he promoted Li Yan to Xingye general and concurrently served as Qian as prefect. When the Shu Han was founded, Li Yan, as the representative of the Yizhou clans, was appointed by Liu Bei as the general of the Han Dynasty, who belonged to the general of the five tigers with the highest official rank.

checks and balances Zhuge Liang

Liu Bei The purpose of this arrangement is to check and balance Zhuge Liang. Although Zhuge Liang was willing to do his best to assist Liu Chan, Liu Bei was not sure whether he would really do so, nor did he believe in verbal promises. Moreover, Zhuge Liang has already achieved the post of prime minister, in fact he is already an extremely human minister, and now he has become a minister of Tuogu, his power is actually comparable to Liu Chan. If Zhuge Liang really had ambitions, the consequences would be disastrous.

​​can only promote another general, let him and Zhuge Liang be the minister of Tuogu together, so as to check and balance Zhuge Liang and maintain the court balance. It's not that Liu Bei didn't think about , Zhao Yun, and , but Zhao Yun's job is to lead the defense army, which actually protects the safety of the palace, and giving Zhao Yun military power will distract Zhao Yun's energy. It is not that Liu Bei has not considered Wei Yan, but Wei Yan, as the prefect of Hanzhong, is responsible for protecting the safety of the northern side of the Shuhan, and his responsibilities are more serious and cannot be replaced. If you choose Chen Dao, Chen Dao’s prestige is obviously not better than Zhuge Liang’s, and he listens to Zhuge Liang’s very much.Well, it's no different from handing over military power to Zhuge Liang. Only Li Yan is the only one to choose.

Stabilize Yizhou gentry

The last point is to release goodwill to Yizhou gentry and achieve the purpose of stabilizing Yizhou gentry. Before Liu Yan became Yizhou Mu, the entire Yizhou was actually managed by the Yizhou governor and the local gentry. Liu Yan's Yizhou animal husbandry is more powerful and ambitious. Liu Yan originally thought that this group of gentry would support him, but he did not expect to expose his ambitions too much, and in the end he would be hostile by the entire Yizhou gentry. In order to consolidate his position, Liu Yan deliberately used the Yizhou gentry's deadly rival Dongzhou gentry to manage the court, and wanted to use their power to replace and assimilate this group of "ground snakes". However, Liu Yan's ability was insufficient, and the gentry were also dead but not stiff. With the accumulation of time, the contradictions between the two sides continued to intensify. This was the fundamental reason why Liu Zhang had to ease relations with them after he came to power.

​​Although Liu Bei took control of the state, he also executed many Dongzhou factions and Liu Yan's relics in accordance with the law and 's recommendations, and actually avenged this group of gentry. Moreover, in order to gain the support of the Yizhou clans, Liu Bei married Wu Yi's sister, the famous widow. This in itself has released enough goodwill to them, and of course it has also been rewarded.

​​But what Liu Bei was worried about was that if Zhuge Liang or Liu Chan's policies went wrong after his death, it would hurt the hearts of Yizhou nobles again, and the country might face the risk of civil unrest. Rather than leaving such a risk, it is better to promote Li Yan, a representative of the Yizhou gentry, and let him balance Zhuge Liang, stabilize the gentry and ensure the interests of the gentry. In this way, the safety of Shu Han can be guaranteed fundamentally and Liu Chan can be protected.

Summary

Judging from the subsequent developments, Liu Bei made this move very well. Just after Liu Bei passed away, the three Nanzhong counties of Yizhou resolutely rebelled. Originally, some Yizhou clans also wanted to rebel, but because of Li Yan’s lobbying, they remained neutral. Even during Zhuge Liang’s southern expedition, he strongly supported Zhuge Liang to contribute to the stability of Shu Han Made a great contribution. During the Northern Expedition of Zhuge Liang, Li Yan, as the chief logistics officer of the Shu army, worked hard to deliver grain, grass, uniforms, and materials to the frontline soldiers, which greatly boosted the morale of the Shu army. If Liu Bei did not make such arrangements, or arranged for others to do this, it might not have the effect of checking and balancing Zhuge Liang, and might even be defeated by Zhuge Liang.