Li Yan was a second-rate figure in the Shu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms, he played very little role, and he did not leave a deep impression on us, but he also had a highlight moment, and even had the same respect as Zhuge Liang, and his power was tilted toward the opposition, but in the end he was deposed as a commoner, and the late festival was not guaranteed. Li Yan's history of origin is like climbing a mountain, he climbed higher and higher, and when he was about to reach the top of the mountain, he stepped on the air and fell into the abyss.
Today we will explore how Li Yan broke a good hand of cards - from the peak to the abyss, only one step away.
Li Yan was originally a subordinate of Liu Biao. After Cao Cao occupied Jingzhou, Li Yan did not want to surrender to Cao Cao, so he went all the way west to Shu. Liu Zhang was very serious about him and arranged for him to be the Chengdu Order. Later, Liu Bei entered Sichuan, and Li Yan led his troops to resist at Mianyang, but because they were outnumbered, they soon surrendered. In just a few short years, he changed three masters, although they were all surnamed Liu.
Li Yan
After Liu Bei pacified Chengdu, Li Yan was appointed as The Prince of Qian. Li Yan showed his outstanding ability, he chiseled through the Tianshe Mountain, built a road along the river, built a large number of civil engineering, and renovated the county town, and the people loved him very much. At this time, it was the "honeymoon period" of Li Yan and Liu Bei, and Liu Bei showed full trust in Li Yan.
This is not only because of his own outstanding ability, but also Liu Bei's consideration of stabilizing people's hearts. Although Liu Bei succeeded Liu Zhang as the owner of Shu Land, his original cultural relics officials in Jingzhou were obviously not enough to govern the entire Shu Land, and it was inevitable to continue to use some officials under the former Liu Zhang, of which Li Yan was an outstanding representative. The appointment of Li Yan was a political signal to these people to show their favor and to quickly gain their support.
Although Li Yan mixed well at this time, there was still a big gap between his status and Liu Bei's direct subordinates. After Li Yan had been a Taishou for several years, a turning point that was enough to make him soar came.
Zhuge Liang
In the second year of Zhang Wu, Liu Beifa Wu was defeated by Lu Xun and retreated to the White Emperor's City. When Liu Bei was young, he was uprooted and displaced, and often lost battles, but at that time he was poor and white, and he was barefoot and was not afraid to wear shoes, and if he lost, he would lose. But now that his family was in a big business, but a fire made Lu Xun burn clean, Liu Bei swallowed this breath, and soon he was in a hurry, seeing that he would soon die, and began to prepare for the aftermath.
After that, there is the bridge section that we are all familiar with - Liu Beituo lonely. Liu Beituo was lonely with Zhuge Liang and told Liu Chan to "take the father's business" as his father. But Liu Bei also entrusted the orphan to another person, that is, Li Yan. In fact, Together with Zhuge Liang, Li Yan was entrusted with the will to assist the young lord Liu Chan, and Li Yan was the protector of Zhongdu and stayed in the White Emperor's City. (The White Emperor's City was renamed Yong'an after Liu Bei's permanent residence.) ）
Although Liu Bei entrusted Li Yan alone, it did not mean that he really trusted Li Yan 100%, as mentioned above, Liu Bei also had to consider how to alleviate the contradiction between Liu Bei's group and the former Liu Zhang's group after his death, if he only trusted Zhuge Liang, it was bound to cause dissatisfaction among the former Liu Zhang's subordinates. Li Yan was highly valued by Liu Zhang, a very high-status demotion, and had close relations with many people, and including him in the list of orphans was a brilliant plan to win the hearts and minds of the people.
But Liu Bei was not completely at ease with Li Yan, after all, he was not a brother like Guan Yu Zhang Fei who had been born and died together since he was young, and besides, Li Yan liked to surrender so much, what if he sold his son again one day? Out of this consideration, Liu Bei added an insurance to elevate Zhuge Liang's status.
The first lord was sick in Yong'an, and summoned Liang in Chengdu, which belonged to the later events, which was said to be Bright: "The king 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. Liang Sobber said, "The subject dares to exert all his strength to be loyal to the Festival of Chastity, and then die!" The First Lord also said to the Lord after the edict: "Ru and Xiang are engaged in things like fathers." ”
The meaning of Liu Bei's words was very concise and clear, that is, to tell Zhuge Liang that if my son could assist him, you would assist him, and if he really couldn't do it, you would become the emperor yourself. But with Liu Bei's knowledge of Zhuge Liang, he must have known that he was not the kind of person who usurped the throne and stood on his own.
However, these words hid a deep political signal, reflecting Liu Bei's great trust in Zhuge Liang, whose identity was no longer just an auxiliary politician, but a hidden unique advantage of the imperial candidate, although Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang tacitly agreed that this plan would not be realized. But Zhuge Liang has this layer of identity, then it is quite convenient for him to balance Li Yan, and he will not fall into the trouble of being constrained by Li Yan everywhere because of his equal status.
Of course, although Li Yan had the name of auxiliary government, he actually did not have corresponding power, at this time, the military and political power of the Shu state was controlled by the chancellor Zhuge Liang, and although Li Yan controlled the military power, he could only be responsible for the defense near Yong'an, and did not have much power.
It turned out that Liu Bei's prediction was very accurate, and Li Yan soon showed his ambition. He wrote a letter to persuade Zhuge Liang to accept the Nine Xi and become king. You know, Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor soon after he was called king, and calling himself king was almost equivalent to not wanting to continue to work with Liu Chan.
Li Yan said this to a large extent for his own consideration, he and Zhuge Liang were ordered to go to politics, and nominally the status of the two was very close, if Zhuge Liang could be called king, wouldn't his position as Li Yan also have to take a big step forward? How clever Zhuge Liang was, he quickly understood Li An's intentions and li Yan's ambitions, but before he could clean him up, Zhuge Liang politely replied with a letter.
Liang replied: "I have known each other for a long time with my feet, but I will not understand each other again!" To teach the kingdom of light at the foot, and to abstain from the way of non-restraint, is to be silent. Wu Ben Dongfang Corporal, misused for the former emperor, a very popular subject, Lu gave tens of billions, now the thief has not worked, the confidant has not answered, and Fang Favor Qi, Jin, sit on the noble, not his righteousness. If Wei is destroyed, the emperor will return to his former residence and ascend with his sons, although ten lives can be endured, but the situation is more than nine evils! ”
Zhuge Liang said, we have known each other for such a long time, why don't you understand me? I was originally a cloth cloth, the former emperor lifted me up, gave me a high-ranking official Houlu, now the Northern Expedition has not yet achieved results, did not reward the former emperor for the grace of knowledge, I became the king, that is really not kind. When we are in the Central Plains, we will naturally join you in adding officials and knighthoods, and at that time it is not a problem to be appointed king.
But does Zhuge Liang really want to be king with Li Yan? Definitely not, he naturally just wanted to stabilize Li Yan for the time being, and wait for the time to free up time to solve this problem. This letter can be said to be self-confessing, so that Zhuge Liang completely recognized Li Yan's true character and purpose, Zhuge Liang realized that Li Yan's heart was not right, and if he continued to appoint him, it would only do more harm than good.
After Zhuge Liang's several years of severe punishment and rectification, the atmosphere in Shuzhong has improved a lot, and Li Yan's value has declined in disguise, and the plan to suppress him has been put on the agenda.
In the fourth year of Jianxing, Zhuge Liang wanted to send an army to Hanzhong, and Li Yan, when he knew what was going on, moved to Tunjiang Prefecture, and left Chen to garrison Yong'an, where Chen was to accept Li Yan's command. Jiangzhou was southwest of Yong'an, closer to the hinterland of the Shu state.
Zhuge Liang also transferred Li Yan from Yong'an because he was afraid that he would operate in Yong'an for too long and form a trend that he would not be able to fall, and he was also worried that if li Yan was to be dealt with one day, he could quickly escape into the territory of the State of Wu by virtue of his advantage in Yong'an and pose a threat to yong'an's defense. So Zhuge Liang sent Chen To take over Li Yan's post, and although Chen Zhi nominally wanted to obey Li Yan's command, he was the commander of Liu Bei's personal guard, and naturally he was loyal to the Liu family and would not be at the mercy of Li Yan.
After Li Yan arrived in Jiangzhou, he quickly built a large city here, hoping to make Jiangzhou another of his base areas. This act of Li Yan was also a silent protest against Zhuge Liang, who was unruly and unruly and was not good at establishing good relations with people, and fellow villager Chen Zhen even evaluated him as "having scales in his belly" and said that he was difficult to approach. Li Yan's behavior made his relationship with Zhuge Liang even more tense, and made Zhuge Liang realize that this problem must be solved as soon as possible.
In the eighth year of Jianxing, Cao Zhen led an army to attack Hanzhong, and Zhuge Liang ordered Li Yan to lead 20,000 troops to Hanzhong to assist in the defense. Of course, this is also Zhuge Liang's strategy to transfer the tiger away from the mountain, transferring Li Yan away from Jiangzhou and placing it within a controllable range to facilitate future disposal. Zhuge Liang also cleverly chose the successor of the governor of Jiangzhou, Li Yan's son Li Feng. Li Yanming knew that there was deception, but Zhuge Liang's arrangement made him unable to find any reason to refuse, so he had to go on the road hard. In this way, Li Yan, who was originally divided, completely lost his territory and troops and became a fish meat to be slaughtered.
Shortly thereafter, Li Yan had an accident.
In the spring of the ninth year, Liang Jun Qishan, Ping urged to supervise the transportation. In the autumn and summer, when the rain was falling and the grain was not carried out, Ping sent fox loyalty and overseers to the army into the Domain Yu Zhi, hu Liang came and returned; Liang Chengcheng withdrew. When Ping heard that the army was retreating, he was even more alarmed, saying, "If the army has enough food, why should it return?" If you want to solve the responsibility of not doing it, you will show the sorrow of not making progress.
In the ninth year of Jianxing, Zhuge Liang went out of Qishan to cut down Wei, and Li Yan was responsible for his logistical support. (At this time, Li Yan had changed his name to Li Ping) Because of the weather, Li Yan was not transporting grain well, and the grain could not be guaranteed, so he had to let Zhuge Liang retire. When Zhuge Liang questioned, Li Yan looked very innocent again, saying that the army food was abundant, so why did he retire? Zhuge Liang was furious, seized on the matter, and joined forces with dozens of senior Shu Han officials to write a letter to the empress dowager Liu Chan, requesting that Li Yan be deposed.
"Ping is a minister, he has received too much grace, he does not think of loyalty, he makes things up and down, he does not do anything in danger, he is confused, he abandons the prison, he leads people to commit adultery, he is narrow-minded, and he has no heaven and earth." Self-deprecating betrayal, suspicion of the heart, the arrival of the army, the westward rebellion to return to depression, zhang, the army to the depression, the return of Jiangyang, ping join the army fox loyal advice is stopped. Now the usurpers have not been destroyed, the society is difficult, the state affairs are only harmonious, and it can be overcome, not to be hidden, so as to endanger the great cause. ”
Li Yan was therefore deposed as a commoner and moved to Zitong County, and after Zhuge Liang's death, Li Yan died depressed.
But in fact, when you think about the transportation of grain, you can find many flaws, and even some meaning of "if you want to add sin, why do you have no excuses". The terrain of Shudi is rugged, and the traffic in many places depends on the boardwalk and is difficult to navigate, and Zhuge Liang also specially made wooden cattle and horses to improve the transportation conditions, even so, Zhuge Liang was repeatedly forced to withdraw his troops because of insufficient military food during the Northern Expedition.
Coupled with the weather, Li Yan's transportation of military food is not in place, which is probably not deliberate, but due to objective conditions. On the other hand, because of the shortage of military food, Zhuge Liang could certainly only retreat, whether Li Yan said it or not. However, putting the hat on Li Yan's head, which caused the objective results of the retreat, can be said to be seamless, and Li Yan is bitter and cannot say it.
Based on the Zhuge Liang table mentioned above, he listed many of Li Yan's crimes. It can be said that the poor delivery of military grain is only the last straw that crushed the camel, and it is also an excuse that Zhuge Liang found. Li Yan's long-term disobedience to orders and his various obedient performances in a vain attempt to compete with Zhuge Liang were the direct cause of his sad ending. According to Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang's arrangement, Li Yan himself should make a political vase, just like Situ Xujing. But this vase is actually working against the owner everywhere, then its ending is also very clear.
Shortly after dealing with Li Yan, Zhuge Liang transferred Li Feng, who was then the governor of Jiangzhou, and transferred him to the southern central region to handle southern affairs. In this way, Jiangzhou, Yong'an and other places under Li Yan's long-term control finally returned to Zhuge Liang's embrace one after another. For Zhuge Liang, the Li Yan problem also has a relatively happy ending.
Resources:
The Collected Interpretations of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Zizhi Tongjian
"Huayang Guozhi"