As can be seen from the records of the Three Kingdoms, when Liu Bei was dying, he summoned two people at the same time, and these two people were Zhuge Liang and Li Yan. At that time, Zhuge Liang's official position was Prime Minister, and Li Yan's official position was Shang Shuling. Shang Shuling, originally a small official, belonged to the official who managed the private property and life of the emperor's family in the early Qin and Han Dynasties. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Shang Shuling gradually became a senior official and became one of the "three independents" alongside Li Si, a captain and Yu Shi Zhong You. The prime minister is the traditional chief executive with real power and the highest chief executive who assists the emperor. So in terms of real power and tradition, Zhuge Liang's position is higher than Li Yan's, which shows that Zhuge Liang is stronger than Li Yan in terms of ability alone.
Neither Li Yan nor Zhuge Liang is Liu Bei's old subordinate, but from the time of following Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang is obviously earlier than Li Yan, and Zhuge Liang is the representative of Liu Bei's old subordinate. Therefore, from the perspective of loyalty, Zhuge Liang is obviously more loyal, so Liu Bei should completely trust Zhuge Liang, logically speaking, there is no problem. Li Yan, formerly the old headquarters of Liu Zhang, belongs to Xishu, representing the new forces following Liu Bei. Li Yan entered the core layer of Shuhan very early, indicating that Liu Bei attached great importance to Li Yan, on the one hand, because Li Yan had a high WeChat among the new forces; On the other hand, Li Yan listens to Liu Bei more, but these are not the key points of entrusting orphans. After all, the survival of the country is the first consideration, so from this perspective, Zhuge Liang is also the object that Liu Bei really wants to entrust an orphan to.
Before Liu Bei died, he chose Zhuge Liang and Li Yan to appear at the same time. Personally, it is mainly based on the following considerations: 1, although Zhuge Liang is a little taller than Li Yan, as long as Li Yan doesn't make mistakes, Zhuge Liang can't help but take Li Yan, so Li Yan has restricted the trust of orphans and important officials; 2. Zhuge Liang's ability is super-strong, but he belongs to the representative of the old school and lacks integration with the new forces. Li Yan can prove this for Zhuge Liang at the scene of entrust an orphan, especially in the new forces; It is an acknowledged fact that Zhuge Liang has high loyalty and strong ability. But Zhuge Liang did everything by himself, which made others very powerful. Li Yan could just adjust Zhuge Liang's bad habits, but judging from the historical results, Li Yan did not complete his mission.
In a word, Zhuge Liang is the most important official Liu Bei really wants to entrust an orphan with. On the one hand, Zhuge Liang has strong ability and high loyalty. Afterwards, it has been proved that Liu Bei is not mistaken. On the other hand, Zhuge Liang has a heavy sense of responsibility, taking the world as his own responsibility and robbing the Lord of the world will make the Shu-Han regime unstable and the people live in dire straits. Zhuge Liang would never do such a thing, so Liu Bei chose Zhuge Liang, and Zhuge Liang did devote himself to death.