Chapter 17 108 A Dou Who Can't Help

After Deng Ai destroyed the Shu Han, the successor Liu Chan stayed in Chengdu.When Zhong Hui and Jiang Wei launched a mutiny, Sima Zhao felt that it would not be appropriate for the queen master to stay in Chengdu, so he sent his confidant Jia Chong to take Liu Chan to Luoyang. Liu Chan was originally a fatuous and incompetent person.When Zhuge Liang was alive, he relied entirely on Zhuge Liang to be in charge of military and political affairs, and he did not dare to make his own claims.After Zhuge Liang's death, although Jiang Wan, Fei Yi, Jiang Wei and other civil and military ministers assisted him, he was not as cautious as Zhuge Liang was after all.After the deaths of Jiang Wan and Fei Yi, the eunuch Huang Hao gained power, and the politics of Shu Han became worse and worse.

When the Shu Han was destroyed, Jiang Wei was killed, and the ministers died and left.He went to Luoyang with him only the relatively low-status officials He (xi) Zheng and Liu Tong.Liu Chan is ignorant and doesn't know how to deal with people, so he depends on Hezheng's guidance in every move.Normally, Liu Chan didn't pay much attention to Hezheng at all, but only now did he feel that Hezheng was a loyal person. When Liu Chan arrived in Luoyang, Sima Zhao named him Lord Anle in the name of Emperor Wei Yuan, and made his descendants and more than fifty former ministers of the Shu Han Marquis.Sima Zhao did this for nothing more than to win over people's hearts and stabilize his rule over the Shuhan area.But in Liu Chan's view, it was a great grace.

Once, Sima Zhao held a banquet, and invited Liu Chan and the former ministers of the Shu Han to attend.During the banquet, a group of singers were specially called to perform the songs and dances of Shu. Some ministers of the Shu Han watched these songs and dances, thinking of the pain of subjugation, they were so sad that they almost shed tears.Only Liu Chan grinned and watched intently, as if in his own palace. Sima Zhao observed his expression, and after the banquet, he said to Jia Chong: "Liu Chan has no heart to go to this stage. Even if Zhuge Liang's words have reached this point, he may not be able to keep the Shu Han going, let alone Jiang Wei!"

A few days later, when Sima Zhao received Liu Chan, he asked Liu Chan, "Do you still miss Shu?" Liu Chan replied cheerfully: "It's very happy here, I don't miss Shu."Back at Liu Chan's mansion, Hezheng said, "You shouldn't have answered King Jin (referring to Sima Zhao) like that." Liu Chan said, "How do you say it according to your meaning?" Hezheng said: "In the future, if the King of Jin asks you again, you should say with tears: The tombs of my ancestors are all in Shu, I feel very sad, and I don't think about it for a day.

In this way, maybe King Jin will let us go back. " Liu Chan nodded and said, "You're right, I'll just remember it." Later, Sima Zhao asked Liu Chan again and said, "We treat you well here, do you still miss Shu?" Liu Chan recalled what Hezheng said, and recited the exact words Hezheng taught him.He tried to look sad, but he couldn't cry, so he closed his eyes. Seeing him like this, Sima Zhao understood more than half of his heart, and said with a smile: "This seems to be said in a proper way!" Liu Chan opened his eyes in surprise, looked at Sima Zhao foolishly and said, "Yes, yes, that's exactly what Hezheng taught me."

Sima Zhao couldn't help laughing, and the attendants on the left and right couldn't help laughing too. Only then did Sima Zhao see clearly that Liu Chan was indeed a fool and would not pose a threat to himself, so he did not intend to kill him. Liu Chan's incompetence is well-known in history. Later, people often used "A Dou who can't help him" as a metaphor for the kind of weak and incompetent person who can't cheer him up.