The Three Kingdoms: Zhaolie, the strategist, and the rise of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 43 Should Kong Rong be saved? (Please read on!)

"My Lord, what do you think of Kong Beihai?"

Li Yi asked Liu Bei.

Liu Bei and Kong Rong were not very familiar with each other. They met for the first time when Liu Bei rescued Beihai.

"Kong Beihai is a man of great knowledge, extraordinary talent, and a gentleman."

Li Yi smiled softly:
"Kong Beihai is indeed 'righteous', but unfortunately he is too righteous, and a little pedantic."

"He was conceited about his talent and ambitions, and was determined to pacify the troubled times and support the Han Dynasty."

"It's a pity that he has high aspirations but low skills, and is not the master of chaos."

When Kong Rong advised Liu Bei to take over Xuzhou, he once commented that Yuan Shu was not a leader who could bring order to a chaotic situation. However, Li Yi then said that he was not a leader who could bring order to a chaotic situation either.

Kong Rong was indeed a talented person and a good writer. Cao Pi was his loyal reader.

He spent many years in Beihai, setting up schools in various places and educating the people by promoting Confucianism.

Don't tell me, the effect is not bad.

Because the Yellow Turban Army was rampant in Qingzhou, through Kong Rong's efforts, many people saw his good deeds and abandoned the Yellow Turban Army to join Kong Rong.

So far, Kong Rong has done a pretty good job.

He felt that the time was ripe and it was time to attack the Yellow Turbans.

As a result, due to his poor military command, he was beaten to a pulp by the Yellow Turban Army.

In the end, he could only come to Liu Bei for help in a desperate situation.

"Although I have not had many contacts with Kong Beihai, I have heard for a long time that he has lived in Beihai for a long time, has a heroic spirit, and his articles are shocking. Is your statement biased?"

Perhaps Liu Bei remembered Kong Rong's old friendship with Xuzhou, so he helped him make up for it.

Kong Rong does have many merits. Sir, please stop focusing on his shortcomings.

But unfortunately, the shortcomings of a ruler in troubled times will be infinitely magnified.

Because subordinates are different, they only need to do their own jobs well.

But the lord needs to coordinate the overall situation. If you don't do one thing well enough, you will be criticized.

Li Yi said that Kong Rong was too pedantic, but that was not an awkward criticism.

The story of Kong Rong giving away his pears is well-known to everyone.

But behind the act of giving away the pears, Kong Rong did not want to emphasize "humility" but "propriety and law".

Kong Rong's persistence in etiquette and laws lasted throughout his life, which meant that he was destined to be unsuitable to be a lord.

For example, when it comes to hiring people, they are all trolls who are good at speaking but have no real skills.

However, Kong Rong had no power to control the corrupt officials and bullies who disrupted society.

But he felt quite happy when he killed his subordinates.

Once, his subordinates confiscated all the taxes and in a rage they beheaded all five inspectors.

For example, a subordinate named Zuo Chengzu once reminded Kong Rong to choose a side between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao.

This was definitely out of kindness, as Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were the most powerful at the time.

Beihai is such a small place, so it is better to take sides early and protect yourself.

As a result, Kong Rong became furious when he heard this, and cursed Zuo Chengzu as a traitor, because in his opinion Yuan and Cao were both traitors and disloyal to the Han Dynasty.

So he killed Zuo Chengzu.

This is Kong Rong's overly extreme understanding of "loyalty".

Kong Rong’s understanding of “filial piety” is even more incredible.

Once, Kong Rong saw a man on the roadside, crying and offering sacrifices to his father beside a grave.

Kong Rong looked at him for a long time, but could not see any sadness in him.

So they concluded that the person was crying fake tears and was unfilial, so they killed him.

This is Kong Rong’s extreme understanding of filial piety.

You say that if someone is crying for his father, what does it have to do with you whether he is sad or not?

But Kong Rong was too obsessed with "rituals and laws".

As the 20th generation grandson of Confucius, Kong Rong emphasized that "for those who follow Confucius, loyalty and filial piety come first"!
He not only strictly demands himself, but also uses this standard to demand others. "Sir, do you foresee that Kong Beihai will definitely fail?" Liu Bei asked.

"……hehe."

Li Yi smiled and said, "In terms of extensive knowledge and strong memory, my lord and I are not as good as Kong Wenju. In terms of knowing people and assigning them to the right positions, Kong Wenju is far inferior to my lord."

Liu Bei remained silent after hearing this. With Liu Bei's vision, how could he not see that Kong Rong did not know how to employ people?
As early as when Liu Bei first met Kong Rong, he had already seen that Kong Rong had a serious "class" concept.

Kong Rong’s first reaction when he saw Liu Bei was, “A warrior from the border area would actually come to save me.”

In the eyes of Kong Rong, who came from a scholar family, Liu Bei was just a low-level person who became an official by relying on military merit.

Therefore, it is completely nonsense for some people to say that Liu Bei achieved his great success by claiming that he was a relative of the Han royal family.

Liu Bei did not divide the empire into three parts by relying on his status as a relative of the Han royal family. Rather, it just happened that one of the three parts of the empire was a relative of the Han royal family.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, when relatives of the royal family were everywhere, Liu Bei was not valued by the scholar circle at all.

How did Kong Rong change his attitude towards Liu Bei?
It was because he knew that Liu Bei was Lu Zhi's student that he changed his attitude towards him.

This also explains why he, the Prime Minister of Beihai, was short of generals under his command.

Because he had to find someone from the circle of scholars, he had to be able to fight, have good knowledge, and have a good family background.

If we promote generals according to this standard, how many can we find?

That's why Kong Rong was easily subdued by the Yellow Turban Army, and Taishi Ci also looked down on him.

People like Lao Liu are the real ones who know how to appoint people to the right positions, regardless of their background.

Not to mention the distant past, let’s just talk about the present, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Chen Dao who are around us.

They all came from the lower classes, and they had real talents and skills, and they would all achieve great things in the future.

Now that Yuan's mighty hand was reaching out to Qingzhou, Kong Rong could hardly protect himself and could only turn to his old friend Liu Bei for help.

According to Li Yi, Kong Rong is bound to fail. So should Liu Bei save him?
"If you listen to my advice, we can use the strategy of destroying Guo by pretending to be a foreign country and remove Zang Ba's military power."

"What about Kong Beihai..."

Li Yi asked back: "My Lord, do you want to rescue him?"

Liu Bei stroked his beard and said thoughtfully:
"As you said, although Kong Beihai is not a perfect man, he is a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty after all, and he has done his best in Beihai over the years."

"Besides, he and I have a long history. He was able to take over Xuzhou, and Kong Beihai also made great contributions."

"Now that I am forced by the Yuan family, I can't just stand by and watch him die."

He paused for a moment, as if afraid that Li Yi would persuade him not to save her, and then added:
"Beihai is adjacent to Xuzhou. According to what you said, the purpose of our merger with Langya is essentially to relieve the pressure in the north of Xuzhou."

"If we can keep Beihai and rely on it, Langya will be safe and northern Xuzhou will be stable."

"What do you think, sir?"

Ha ha ha.

Li Yi smiled and said:

"My Lord, your idea is good, but have you ever thought that if we really send troops to the North Sea, we will officially break off relations with the Yuan family."

"Yuan Shao is the most powerful person in the world today. Gongsun Zan will be destroyed by Yuan Shao sooner or later. It is only a matter of time before the Northern Lands have the surname Yuan."

"Our Xuzhou is not stable yet. My Lord, do you have the confidence to challenge the Yuan family now?"

This soul-searching question made Liu Bei stunned and his brows furrowed tightly.

The current situation in the north is basically a confrontation between Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao attacked Qingzhou because he was targeting Gongsun Zan's younger brother Tian Kai. Yuan Shao regarded Qingzhou as a sure thing.

As long as Qingzhou is swallowed up, Gongsun Zan's connection with the south will be cut off, and there is no way he will give in.

With Liu Bei's current strength of less than 10,000 soldiers, it is indeed a pipe dream for him to challenge the wealthy Hebei.

Even Cao Cao had to swallow up Yanzhou, Yuzhou and Xuzhou and grow for several years before he dared to turn against the big brother.

Even so, Yuan is still strong and Cao is still weak.

……

　Thanks to book friend 20221112113506355 for his two monthly tickets, thanks to brother Poor man fighting rich man for his three monthly tickets, and thanks to my brothers.

　　Just asking for a follow-up read, thank you!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)