Guan Yu was the former general, Zhang Fei was the right general, Ma Chao was the left general, and Huang Zhong was the rear general. All four of them were rewarded by Liu Bei,
This is puzzling. Where is Zhao Yun, who has followed Liu Bei for many years and saved Liu Bei many times? It turned out that he was given a title that was not important: "General Huwei", why? Did Liu Bei feel that Zhao Yun could not be reused?
High status does not mean great power
The positions of these four generals before and after were very high, this is certain, and according to the military attaches of the Han Dynasty, their rank is the second highest, only one level behind the first highest, and Zhao Yun's Huwei General is equivalent to the fourth rank at that time, you can imagine how big the gap is, although at that time the war was chaotic, the high-ranking official Houlu was a means of buying forbearance, but many people in power would also take another way to buy people's hearts.
At that time, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, and Huang Zhong were four generals, but the only ones who really held real power were Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Why do you say that? First, let's take a look at Ma Chao.
Ma Chao's fate as a person is actually very anxious, heroic and invincible when he was young, but because of his recklessness, he still had to destroy his own family, and then after he submitted to Liu Bei, we rarely heard about Ma Chao's deeds, why is this? Ma Chao died in 222 AD, at the age of 47, and had just been knighted the year before his illness
The general of the Hun Horse was the highest military general of the Shu Dynasty at that time, why did Ma Chao die of depression? One is because of the decline of the family, the second is that he has not been reused in Shu, the family's vendetta has not been repaid, Liu Bei's explanation to Ma Chao is that in order to recover the hearts of Xiliang's people, compared to Ma Chao is a famous general in Xiliang, in Xiliang is very prestigious, not to be despised, Huang Zhong is the same, after the Battle of DingjunShan, Huang Zhong, although he has military achievements, but can not be compared with Zhao Yun, but Huang Zhong is jingzhou, Liu Bei's family is dependent on Jingzhou, so it is necessary to raise these people. When Huang Zhong encountered difficulties, he had to ask Zhao Yun to send troops to rescue him, and he could imagine the real power between them.
Zhao Yun is the true confidant and the master of real power
Zhao Yun followed Liu Bei for twenty years, and they knew each other very well, even if zhao Yun was not given a high position, Zhao Yun would not say anything, which Liu Bei knew very well, so Liu Bei was very relieved to choose Ma Chao and Huang Zhong, and did not choose Zhao Yun.
According to later records, after Liu Bei was crowned king of Hanzhong, he entrusted wei yan with the heavy responsibility of guarding Hanzhong, while Zhang Fei was stationed in Bazhong, and Yu Zai in the three places of Jingzhou was related to Yu Zai, while Zhao Yun was a small official in Jiangzhou, who became Liu Bei's support army after the war, and later Liu Bei defeated Zhao Yun and went to rescue him. Therefore, the real power is in the hands of Zhao Yun.
Zhao Yu also had another identity as the leader of Liu Bei's Janissaries, responsible for Liu Bei's personal safety, and if he did not have Liu Bei's 100% trust, it would be absolutely impossible to assume this position.
Therefore, although the four great generals are famous, the real power is still Zhao Yun, only he does not care about these fame and fortune.