What does it mean that Liu Bei set up a stall to sell shoes?

I am certain that Liu Bei never sold straw sandals. Let me tell you why from two aspects?

First, because straw sandals were not commercially available at that time. Unlike the current tourist market, a pair of straw sandals as souvenirs can sell you twenty or thirty. At that time, rich people liked to wear silk shoes. Because of the technical content, this could be marketed. Secondly, the leather shoes passed down from the nomadic people are relatively strong and not easy to break, so people who fight love to wear leather shoes. Moreover, Zhuo County, Zhuo County, Liu Bei's hometown, was a border county at that time, and there were many foreign races, so wars were commonplace. So Liu Bei is also very good at fighting. Naturally, the rich and soldiers would not wear straw sandals, only the poor wore them. Wearing straw sandals was a necessary skill for the poor. The ancients had a lot of physical labor and the straw sandals were easily worn out. It is unscientific to spend money to buy straw sandals every day.

Straw sandals

Secondly, although the ancients wrote exaggerated articles, they were still very particular about the use of words. The so-called shoes are just a general term for shoes. And if it is straw sandals, it must be written as straw sandals. In fact, the ancients also had a special word for straw sandals, which was called "山". Therefore, even if Liu Bei sold shoes, they were definitely not straw sandals. Maybe silk shoes or leather shoes.

Silk shoes

Leather shoes

Let’s talk about the exaggerated style of writing by our ancestors. This is rooted in the Book of Songs and Li Sao. No matter what, we should pay attention to the comparison, that is, exaggeration, metaphor, parallelism, contrast, etc., and pay attention to the beauty of the form. Even when Sima Qian wrote "Historical Records", subjectivity determined everything. This was used as formal historical material by later generations. Then let's take a look at the description of Liu Bei in "Three Kingdoms" (the official history), with his ears hanging down from his shoulders and his hands above his knees. This is a history book. Anyway, I have seen people with big ears.

Here comes the problem. Words like "weaving mats and selling shoes" are usually used together with idioms such as "dust and chaff", "lead knife and horse", and "butchering dogs and selling pulp" to describe people of low status. . Therefore, Liu Bei lost his father in his early years, which led to family difficulties. He followed his mother to do some work that ordinary people looked down upon to support the family. Whether they really weave mats and sell shoes is actually impossible to test.

Don’t forget, when Lu Zhi started recruiting students, the tuition was not low. Liu Bei’s uncle thought Liu Bei had a lot of potential and paid for him to study. In other words, if Liu Bei's father had not died, Liu Bei's family would at least be a middle class.

Assume that Liu Bei sells shoes, what shoes is he most likely to sell? Although high-ranking officials like silk shoes, it is a pity that Liu Bei is in the border county and is constantly involved in fighting. Silk shoes are not suitable for strenuous exercise, so the market transaction volume is not high. So the most practical thing should be "leather shoes", and Han people have relatively less leather, while Hu people have more leather, so the transaction volume is relatively much larger. What's more, Liu Bei was still in the era of Emperor Huan of Han when he was a child. It was when the life of the common people in the Han Dynasty began to go downhill. Therefore, Liu Bei naturally plays the role of a middleman, which is why he has developed his super high emotional intelligence. It is said that the emotional intelligence required for successful business is indispensable.