Is Liu Bei hypocritical or benevolent? This issue has been discussed countless times by scholars of all generations, which has also caused countless conjectures of Liu Beituo's lone zhuge liang.
In fact, where is so complicated, these questions are just that later generations of thick black scholars have learned black with thick black, as long as you understand zhuge liang and Liu Bei's personalities, the answer is obvious.
Zhuge Liang followed Liu Bei for 17 years from his departure from the mountain until Liu Bei's death. At first, Liu Bei did not trust him very much, and Zhuge Liang was affirmed by Liu Bei step by step by virtue of his excellent ability and absolute loyalty. It wasn't until he captured Yizhou that Liu Bei could fully trust him.
Liu Bei said to Zhuge Liang: "The juncai is ten times cao pi, and he will be able to secure the country and finally set great things." If the heir can be supplemented, he shall be supplemented; if he is not talented, he may take it upon himself. Then he said to Liu Chan, "Ru and Xiang xiang are engaged in things like fathers." ”
Liu Bei's ability to recognize people, no one in the Three Kingdoms can surpass him. Like Deng Zhi, Ma Zhong, Tian Yu and others, Liu Bei talked to them for a while and knew their personalities and abilities, Zhuge Liang followed him for 17 years, can he not know Zhuge Liang's personality? He was well aware of Zhuge Liang's loyalty.
So why did Liu Bei still say this? Because Liu Bei knew that Zhuge Liang was a cautious person, he was afraid that he would not be able to completely let go of his hands and feet when he assisted Liu Chan in the future, so saying that he was "ten times Cao Pi" and letting Liu Chan "do things like a father" was telling him: You can be like the emperor and his father, let go of the hands and feet.
Liu Bei understood very well: the Shu kingdom is too weak, Zhuge Liang is loyal and capable, and with his ability, he can completely govern the Shu state and make the Shu state strong, but the premise is that Zhuge Liang can boldly do it! Once Zhuge Liang's power is limited or subject to people, the weak Shu kingdom will perish!
In order to prevent anyone from suspecting, Liu Beituo orphaned Li Yan and also asked him to be a witness, otherwise when Zhuge Liang published these words, he was afraid that no one would really believe him.
In addition, the "Biography of Zhang Zhao in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms" quotes the Wu Li as saying that Sun Cetuo was alone zhang Zhao: "If Zhong plotted not to do anything, the king would take it upon himself." Exactly like Liu Beituo's words, was Sun Ce also worried that Zhang Zhao would abolish Sun Quan's self-reliance and say such a thing to beat him? Apparently not.
As for Zhuge Liang's exclusion of Li Yan's dictatorship, not to mention that Li Yan himself made mistakes first, even Zhuge Liang's dictatorship is normal. In the era of autocracy, anyone who wants to do something big has to hold power in their hands, and this is not the case before the Shang Martingale Reform Law and then Zhang Juzheng's reform.
To evaluate Zhuge Liang, we should look at what he did after he took power, Zhuge Liang did not live up to Liu Bei's trust, has been bowing down to exhaustion, conscientious, pacifying the south and central regions, actively northern expedition, the family has no surplus wealth, after death the Shu state can still stand for 30 years.
Therefore, Liu Beituo's lone Zhuge Liang was just a sincere chat, and those thick black scholars interpreted that "Liu Bei knocked Zhuge Liang" and so on, which was just the other side of his own heart.