A brief analysis of the battle of Xiangfan and the mystery of Guan Yu’s loss to Jingzhou

1? Foreword

In July of the 24th year of Jian’an (AD 219), Guan Yu, the former leader of Shu, was called the queen of Hanzhong in Mianyang, and led most of the Jingzhou corps to encircle caoren’s headquarters in Fancheng. In August of the same year, when the Han river overflowed and the water was several feet deep, the “seven armies” launched a fierce attack on the Yu Jin reinforcements stationed in the north of Fancheng. As a result, pound was killed, Yu Jin was captured and Cao Ren was trapped. The first world war shocked China. Cao Cao, the king of Wei, heard that he wanted to move Xu du to avoid his sharp edge. He was blocked by the prime minister Sima Yi and Xi Cao, who were under the control of Jiang Ji. Later, Cao Ren and Xiangfan were liberated by the plan of “uniting Wu to attack Shu”. Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, sent an emissary to surrender to the Wei Dynasty, and deeply accepted the conspiracy of Lu Meng and Lu Xun to “cross the river in white”, and took the opportunity to attack Guan Yu at Maicheng, so as to seize the six prefectures of Jingxiang and control the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River at one fell swoop. This process was called the “battle of Xiangfan” in history.

There have been many debates about the battle of Xiangfan. Many commentators believed that Guan Yu’s loss of Jingzhou was caused by his personality defects of “being conceited and fond of Lingren” and “being arrogant and arrogant, and mauling people”. He eventually lost Maicheng due to his careless loss of Jingzhou and was captured and killed by the great general of the eastern Wu Dynasty. As a result, Zhugeliang’s strategy of “if the world changes, he orders a general to move the people of Jingzhou to Wanzhou and Luozhou, and the general leads the people of Yizhou to Qinchuan” in Longzhong Dui could not be implemented, which became a regret for thousands of years. Some commentators also believe that the loss of Jing and Xiang in the Shu Han Dynasty was caused by the former leader Liu Bei and Prime Minister Zhugeliang’s intention to use the hand of Wu and Wei to get rid of Guan Yu, the world’s tiger general, so as to avoid becoming “tail heavy” after his death. For example, zhangtaiyan, a master of Chinese traditional culture, believes that:

“The tiger ministers of Guan Yu’s world have many merits and are innocent. If they are not eliminated, they will be insufficient. If they are not eliminated, they will be beyond the control of the world (Liu Chan ascended the throne). Therefore, they do not hesitate to use the whole land of Jingzhou to fake their hands on the Wu people to damage Guan Yu’s life.”

Wang Fuzhi, a famous historian, also holds this view. He once said in “on reading Tongjian”:

“When zhaolie was defeated in changban, Yu’s army was the only one. When Cao Cao crossed the river, he could not add one arrow to the other. However, Zhuge Gongdong and Lu Su joined the west, so the two countries established a diplomatic relationship. Zisun’s family broke Cao, and Yu could not make any contribution, but the contribution came from brightness. Liu Qi said: ‘the court is suitable to raise troops for 30 years, and the great contribution came from a Confucian scholar’. Yu therefore avoided Su if he avoided Zhu Ge. Because he avoided Wu, GE and Lu made a plan, so it was destroyed and could not be recovered.”

Again:

“If Lu Suye wants to unite with the sun family to jointly pursue the Central Plains with the sun family, and if he wants to unite with the sun family to jointly reject Cao Cao, Zhuge Kongming and his two sons will keep it for life and will not be easy. Covering Wu is the plan of Zhou Yu and Lu Meng, and covering Shu is the plan of Guan Yu and breaking Zhuge.”

As said, the battle of Xiangfan lasted six months from July of the 24th year of Jian’an to the first month of the 25th year of Jian’an. However, in such a long time, it is doubtful that the Shuhan side has never sent troops to assist Guan Yu and sat back and watched his destruction. Next, we will use historical facts to uncover the historical doubts shrouded in this battle.

2? The beginning and end of Xiangfan campaign

In order to better understand the war that took place before 1788, it is necessary for us to use historical data to conduct in-depth analysis and Research on the background of its outbreak, the process of its evolution and its consequences, in order to restore the truth of this period of history.

(I) the brewing stage of Xiangfan war

1. The former leader, Liu Bei, conquered Hanzhong, took the west city from the East, Fangling and Shangyong, called himself the king of Hanzhong, and worshipped Guan Yu as a former general and a false Festival Cheng, which provided strategic preparations for the launch of the Xiangfan campaign.

In the spring of the 24th year of Jian’an, the first leader Liu Bei personally led his main force out of Yangping and across Mianyang, and stationed troops along Dingjun mountain to capture Hanzhong. Xia Houyuan, the general of Wei Zhengxi, brought troops to fight. Huang Zhong, the famous general of Shu, climbed to the heights and clamored down to defeat yuan’s army. He killed Xia Houyuan and Zhao Yu, the governor of Yizhou appointed by Cao Cao. In March, Cao Cao, the leader of the Wei Dynasty, marched southward from the xiegu valley of Chang’an in an attempt to recapture Hanzhong. Liu Bei, the former leader, set up a defense according to the danger and did not fight against it. More than a month later, Cao Jun fled because he could not attack the danger. In the summer and may of the 24th year of Jian’an, Cao Cao had to lead his troops back to Chang’an, and the former leader Liu Bei took possession of Hanzhong.

For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei, Emperor Wu Ji, it is said that:

“XiaHouYuan and Liu Bei fought against Yu Yangping and were killed in preparation. In March, the king came to Yangping from Chang’an out of the xiegu valley. He wanted to cover up the middle of the Han Dynasty. He resisted because of danger. In May of summer, he led his troops back to Chang’an.”

In the annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei, the biography of Xia Houyuan, it is said:

“In the 23rd year, Liu Bei’s army was at Yangping pass. Yuan led his generals to reject him and stayed together for years. In the first month of the 24th year, Yuan prepared to burn the antlers at night. Yuan sent Zhang Ying to protect the eastern encirclement, and he took his own light troops to protect the southern encirclement. He was prepared to fight against the enemy, but the enemy was at a disadvantage. Yuan’s branch helped him half. To prepare for an attack, Yuan died.”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, biography of the first master says:

?? “In the spring of the 24th year, I crossed the Mianyang River from Yangping to the south, and camped in the mountain near the edge of the mountain. The yuan generals came to fight for their land. The former Lord ordered Huang Zhong to take advantage of the high drum noise to attack the yuan army, and cut off the yuan army and Zhao Yu, the governor of Yizhou under the command of Cao Gong. Cao Gong proposed the southward expedition from Chang’an. The former Lord said:” although Cao Gong comes, I can do nothing, but I will have Hanchuan. “And Cao Gong arrived. The former Lord collected the people and refused to fight. After months, many people died. Xia, Cao Gongguo led the army back, so the first lord had Hanzhong. ”

After occupying Hanzhong, the first leader Liu Bei ordered Liu Feng, Mengda and Liping to march to Xicheng, Fangling and Shangyong, and finally completely controlled Hanzhong and the middle and upper reaches of the Han River. In the autumn and July of the same year, when the crowd urged him to advance, Liu Bei set up an altar to worship heaven and earth in Mianyang, Hanzhong, claiming to be the king of Hanzhong.

For example, the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu and the biography of the first master said:

“Liu Feng, Meng Da and Li Pingping were sent to attack and delay the Shang Yong.” “In autumn, the first lord under the group is the king of Hanzhong.”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu and Liu Feng Chuan also said:

“In the 24th year of Jian’an, Da was ordered to attack Fangling from Zigui to the north, and Kuai Qi, the governor of Fangling, was killed by Da Bing. Da Jiang attacked Shangyong, and the former Lord Yin was afraid that Da could not be alone. He sent an order from Hanzhong to unify Da Jun under the Mianyang River, and met with Da Yong. Shen Dan, the governor of Shangyong, summoned all the people to surrender, and sent his wife and clan to become the capital. The former Lord Jia Dan enlisted the northern general, led the governor of Shangyong, Xiang Hou, as before. He took Dan Diyi as Jianxin general, Xicheng governor, and moved to the post of deputy general.”

Called the queen of Hanzhong, the former leader Liu Bei sent the former Sima Feishi to the front line of Jingxiang, worshipped Guan Yu as a former general of Shuhan and a fake Festival Cheng, and authorized his director to supervise Jingzhou affairs, which laid a strategic foundation for Guan Yu to launch the battle of Xiangfan.

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu and the biography of Guan Yu said:

“In the twenty-four years, the former Lord was the king of Hanzhong, and Baiyu was the former general. It was a fake Festival Yue.”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu and Fei Shizhuan said:

“The former Lord was the king of Hanzhong. He sent a poem to worship Guan Yu as the former general. Yu heard that Huang Zhong was the later general. Yu angrily said:” the old man will not be in the same line with the old soldier! ” Refuse to be worshipped Feather has a great understanding and is worshipped immediately. ”

2. The internal instability of the Cao and Wei dynasties led to the rebellions such as the Han Tai medical order gibbon, the Wancheng general Hou Yin, the peiguo Wei satire and Daijun, and the Shanggu wuwan non official Di, which provided an external echo for the outbreak of the Xiangfan campaign.

In the first month of the spring of the 23rd year of Jian’an, Ji Ben, a doctor of the Han Dynasty, together with Geng Ji and Si Zhi Wei Huang, the Shaofu, attacked the Prime Minister Wang Bi’s camp at night while Cao Cao was away from Xudu. They wanted to coerce the son of heaven to destroy Cao’s house, which was appeased by Yan Kuang, a typical farmer in Yingchuan.

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei, Emperor Wu Ji, states:

“In the first month of the spring of the 23rd year, the Han Tai doctor ordered Ji ben to fight against the Shaofu Geng Ji and Si Zhi Wei Huang. He attacked Xu, burned the prime minister, long Shi Wang Biying, and would fight with Yingchuan diannongzhonglang general Yan Kuang to kill him.”

“Zizhi Tongjian · sixty years of Han Dynasty” says:

“In the spring of the 23rd year of Jian’an, in the first month, Ji Miao and his party led more than 1000 people to attack the king at night, burn his door, hit his shoulder, and help his subordinates to rush to the south city. When they meet at dawn, Miao and others will be defeated, and they will discuss with Yingchuan diannongzhonglang, general Yan Kuang, to kill them.”

In summer and April, Wuhuan wuchendi, who lived in Daijun and Shanggu, successively rebelled and spread widely. Cao Cao sent his son, general Cao Zhangxing, a Marquis of Yanling, to fight the rebellion. In autumn and July, he chased the north of Sanggan and returned. So far, the North was determined.

For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei, Emperor Wu Ji, it says:

“In summer and April, the traitors, such as Daijun, Shanggu and wuwan, who had no ministers, sent Marquis Zhang of Yanling to attack them.”

“Zizhi Tongjian · sixty years of Han Dynasty” says:

“In summer and April, there were no officials and other rebels in the Daijun and Shanggu Wuhuan. Cao Cao, his son, marquis Yanling, sent a cavalry general to attack the Daijun Wuhuan. Cao Zhang attacked the Daijun Wuhuan, fought by himself, hit several arrows in his armour, and his spirit became more and more fierce. He took advantage of the victory to the north of Sanggan, smashed it, beheaded it, and gained thousands of lives. The emperor Ke Bi of Xianbei could watch tens of thousands of cavalries to see whether they were strong or weak. When he saw Zhang’s strength, all directions were broken. Please take it, and the north is flat.”

In winter and October, the officials and people in Wancheng area of Nanyang suffered from the Yao service. Under the leadership of general Hou Yin, they now rebelled against the city and echoed with Guan Yu from afar. Cao Cao ordered Cao Ren, who was stationed in Fancheng, to send troops to besiege Wancheng. By the first month of the 24th year of Jian’an, he killed Hou Yin and slaughtered Wancheng. The chaos caused by Hou Yin was brought to an end.

For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei, Emperor Wu Ji:

“In winter and October, Wan’s garrison general Hou Yin and others revolted. He took charge of Nanyang’s Prefecture and robbed officials and people to protect Wan. At the beginning of the year, Cao Ren attacked Guan Yu and Tun fan city. It was the moon that made Ren surround Wan. In the first month of the spring of the 24th year, Ren Tu Wan and cut off Yin.”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei and the biography of caoren said:

“Hou Yin rebelled with Wan. There were thousands of people near the county. Ren led all the troops to attack Yin, beheaded him, and returned to fan, that is, to worship and conquer the general of the south.”

“Zizhi Tongjian · sixty years of Han Dynasty” says:

“Nanyang officials and people worked hard. In winter and October, Hou Yin, the Wanshou general, rebelled. Dongligun, the Nanyang Prefecture governor, and Gongcao rushed to get it. Yin sent a horse to chase him and exchange arrows. Yu covered him with his body. He was killed by seven wounds. Yin Qi held him back. Cao Ren, the general of the south, was stationed in fan to town Jingzhou. Cao Ren, the king of Wei, ordered him to return to Jingzhou.”

Zhong Yao’s western Cao Wei allegation caused a sensation in the capital. In the winter and September of the 24th year of Jian’an, he made a secret plot to attack yedU with Changle Wei Wei Wei Wei Wei, Chen Yi and others. At the end of the day when the incident began, Chen Yi was afraid and denounced, and Prince Wei PI was angry and killed Wei Yu. The prime minister Zhong you was dismissed.

For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei, Emperor Wu Ji:

“In September, Zhong you, the prime minister, sat down in the West and laughed at Wei’s irony.”

“Zizhi Tongjian · sixty years of Han Dynasty” says:

“In the early days, Wei allegation in Pei state confused many talents and moved Ye capital. Zhong Yao, the Prime Minister of Wei state, thought that he was a Western Cao. Xingyang was in charge of the survey and was friendly to allegation. Zheng Kuang, the son of Tai, in the same county, said,” if you satirize a treacherous hero, you will end up in chaos. ” In September, he satirized the potential disciples and plotted an attack on ye with Changle Wei Wei Wei Wei Wei; If it is not due, tell it with fear. The prince PI took the blame, sitting thousands of dead people, and Zhong you was dismissed from office. ”

3. Sun Quan of the eastern Wu Dynasty marched northward into Hefei to contain Zhang Liao and other Eastern armies of the Cao Wei Dynasty in the Jianghuai front line, providing Guan Yu with tactical support for the northern expedition of the Cao Wei Dynasty from Xiangfan.

In the 24th year of Jian’an, Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, stormed Hefei on the eastern front, providing tactical support for Guan Yu in the battle of Xiangfan. For example, the annals of the Three Kingdoms Wei Shu Wen Hui contains:

“In the 24th year of Jian’an, Sun Quan attacked Hefei. At that time, all the prefectures were garrisoned. Hui said peiqian, the governor of Yanzhou, said:” although there are thieves here, there are not enough worries, but there are changes in the fear of invading the south. Today, there is no long-term preparedness for the aquatic and filial army. Guan Yu, who is sharp and sharp, will certainly be in danger if he takes advantage of the advantages. ” So there is Fancheng. The imperial edict called Qian and Lu Gong, the governor of Yuzhou Prefecture, and so on. Qian and so on were postponed. Hui whispered, “Xiangyang must be in a hurry to go. Therefore, those who don’t hurry to meet don’t want to disturb the people far away. On the first two days, there will be a secret letter urging you to enter the Tao, and Zhang Liao and others will be called. Liao and others have known the king’s intention, and you will be held accountable after the call!” He received his words, placed his baggage, loaded it lightly and sent it quickly. He was ordered to do so. The Liao and other dynasties have been searching for each other to see the call, just as the Hui had planned. ”

When Guan Yu attacked Fancheng for a long time, Sun Quan sent an envoy to Guan Yu’s army to help him. At that time, Guan Yu’s “seven armies were drowned in the water”. He had the merits of beheading pound, being captured by the ban, and trapping caoren. Hu Xiu, the governor of Jingzhou of the Wei Bureau, and Fu Fang, the prefect of Nanxiang, also fell on the wind. “Liang, Ying, Lu hunqun stole or received the feather seal from afar to support the party.”, For a time, even Cao Cao wanted to move to Xuchang to avoid his sharpness. Of course, he was so arrogant that he didn’t pay any attention to Wu Lord Sun Quan. Sun Quan tolerated it repeatedly and wrote an apology in person, but he really hated it, just to wait for the time. For example, peisongzhi’s note in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu and Guanyu biography quoted the synopsis of the code as saying: “Yu surrounded fan. He had the right to send envoys to ask for help. Don’t hurry in. He also sent the master book to kill Yu first. Yu was angry that he was drowned late, but he got the ban himself. He scolded:” if you pull out the fan city, I can’t destroy your evil! ” The right to hear about it, know that it despises itself, and write a fake calligraphy to thank Yu, and promise to go from there. ” Guan Yu insulted Sun Quan as a “cuzi” (that is, an animal) and openly said that after conquering Fancheng, he would move east to destroy Wu. It can be said that he was extremely arrogant, completely ignoring the former friendship between Wu and Shu. According to the records of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu and Guan Yu’s biography, “first of all, Quan sent an envoy as a son to SuoYu’s daughter. Yu scolded and humiliated the envoy, and Quan was furious if he didn’t marry.” All these actions seriously annoyed the Wu Lord Sun Quan and the “Hawk” generals of the eastern Wu, and laid the foundation for Sun Quan’s plan to attack the six prefectures of Jingzhou and capture and kill Guan Yu.

(II) stalemate and evolution stage of Xiangfan war

1. Guan Yu attacked Fancheng in the north. Taking advantage of the overflow of the Han River, he flooded the seven armies, killed pound, captured Cao Ren, and shocked China.

After making strategic preparations and tactical planning for the battle of Xiangfan, Guan Yu sent Mi Fang, the southern county’s prefect, to guard Jiangling and general (Fu) Shiren Tun public security in the autumn and July of the 24th year of Jian’an, and personally led more than 30000 people of the Jingzhou Corps northward to attack caoren’s headquarters in Fancheng.

At that time, Cao Cao, the leader of the Wei Dynasty, had just returned from Hanzhong and stayed in Chang’an. Hearing that Cao Ren was in a hurry, he immediately sent General Zuo to supervise the seven armies in the south to save Cao Ren in Fancheng. Cao Ren sent General Yu Jin and Liyi general pound to the north of Fancheng to reject Guan Yu’s headquarters. In August, the Han River flowing through the north of Fancheng overflowed, and the water depth on the flat was several feet. Yu Jin and pound’s headquarters were sheltering from the water on the embankment. At this time, Guan Yu led his army to attack by boat, and the seven armies under Yu Jin’s command were lost. Yu Jin also surrendered to Guan Yu. Only the righteous general pound died in a generous and awe inspiring manner. At that time, the bandits in the Liang, Ying and Luhun areas were all under the seal of Guan Yu, echoing them from north to south. So Guan Yu took advantage of the victory to attack Fancheng, and sent his ministry to besiege general LV Chang in Xiangyang City. Caoren and his ministry wanted to abandon the city and escape before Guan Yu closed the siege. They stopped with urgent admonition for Nanyang prefect man Chong. Man Chong and caoren, together with their general Chen Baima, vowed to live or die with Fancheng. After Guan Yu failed to conquer the city, he held a stalemate with caoren in Fancheng for more than a month.

For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei, Emperor Wu Ji:

“In autumn and July, his wife Bian was taken as the queen. Yu Jin was sent to help caoren attack Guan Yu. In August, the Han river overflowed, filling the imperial army. The army disappeared. Yu was banned, so he surrounded Ren and asked Xu Huang to save him.”

In the annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei, biography of caoren

“When Guan Yu attacked fan, the Han river overflowed. Yu Jin and the other seven armies were all lost and were forbidden to lower their feathers. Thousands of benevolent men and horses guarded the city, and those who did not lose the city counted the number of boards. Yu took a boat to the city, surrounded the City, cut off from the outside and inside, and wanted to run out of food. He could not save the soldiers. Benevolent and fierce soldiers showed that they would die, and they felt no difference.”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei and the biography of pound said:

“Ren emissary de Tun was ten miles north of fan. After more than ten days of rain, the Han river overflowed. The fan was five or six feet flat. De and his generals avoided the water and went up the dike. Yu took a boat to attack it. He took a big boat shooting at the dike on all sides… As his income, but did not kneel down. De scolded Yu and said,” what is the meaning of falling down? The king of Wei took millions of armour and awed the world. You and Liu Bei are mediocre. How can you defeat evil? I would rather be a national ghost than a thief general. ” So he was killed by Yu. ”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei, the biography of man Chong says:

“When Guan Yu surrounded Xiangyang, he helped the Southern General caorentun to reject it, while general Yu Jin and other troops of the left army lost it because of the rain. Yu Yu rushed to attack Fancheng, and Fancheng often collapsed and was overshadowed by the public. Chong said: “The mountains and rivers are fast moving, and I hope it won’t be long. I heard that Yu had sent his farewell generals to the south of Jiaxia. He promised that the people would disturb him. Therefore, Yu didn’t dare to enter. I’m afraid that my army would fall behind his ears. If you run away now, the south of Honghe River is no longer a country. You should wait for it.” Ren said, “good.” The pet is Shen Baima. He has made an alliance with the soldiers. When Xu Huang and others were rescued, Chong Li fought for meritorious service, and Yu retired. ”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms · Shu Shu · biography of the first master says:

“At the age of, Yu led his people to attack caoren in fan. Cao Gong sent him to help Yan. In autumn, it rained heavily, the Han river overflowed, and all the seven armies under the command of the ban were lost. Ban lowered Yu, and Yu killed general pound. Liang, Ying, Lu hunqun stole or were remotely marked by Yu. Yu was a party branch, and Yu shocked China.”

“Zizhi Tongjian · sixty years of Han Dynasty” says:

“Lu hunmin, sun Lang and others made a riot, killed the county master’s book and attached Guan Yu to the south. Yu gave the wolf seal, gave soldiers, and was also a bandit and thief. He often responded to Yu from the south, and Yu was powerful in China.”

2. Cao Cao transferred general xuhuang back from the front line of Hanzhong, and ordered him to lead his troops to help Cao Ren urgently. After joining the follow-up reinforcements, Xu Huang took Yancheng, attacked weitoutun, and occupied the four tombs, breaking Guanyu’s army under Fancheng, and then removed Cao Ren from the siege of Fancheng and Xiangyang.

In September of the 24th year of Jian’an, Cao Cao heard in Chang’an that pound had been killed after all the seven forbidden armies had been destroyed. He immediately transferred General Xu Huang back from the front line of Hanzhong and ordered his headquarters to quickly go south to Fancheng to reinforce Cao Ren. After sending more reinforcements several times, he was still worried, so he personally stationed in Mopei and commanded in the middle to solve the siege of Xiangfan.

Xu Huang was stationed in yanglingpi because all his troops were newly recruited soldiers and the number of his supervisors was not enough to solve the siege of Fancheng. After the subsequent reinforcements arrived, they adopted the plan of Yi Lang and Zhao Yan. They exchanged information with caoren in Fancheng through tunnels and arrow books. The city knew that the reinforcements had arrived, and the morale was greatly boosted. After xuhuang pretended to be a tunnel to show that he wanted to attack Yancheng, Guan Yu was afraid that the road would be cut off, so he gave up Yancheng and retreated to Weitou, Sizhong and other villages. General xuhuang of the Ping Kou army threatened to attack Weitou and Sizhong. Seeing that Sizhong was about to leave, Guan Yu led more than 5000 infantry and cavalry to rescue Sizhong. The first battle was unfavorable. Xu Huang led his army to break through several siege camps. The Shu army was defeated. Thousands of people died when he threw himself into Mianyang. Hu Xiu, the governor of Jingzhou, and Fu Fang, the governor of Nanxiang, were also killed in the chaos.

After he had no hope of conquering Fancheng and heard that LV Meng of the eastern Wu had attacked Nanjun and Gongan, Guan Yu had no choice but to withdraw his troops to the south, and the siege of caoren Fancheng and Xiangyang was relieved. However, Guan Yu’s Navy still cruises over Mianyang, isolating the traffic between Fancheng and Xiangyang.

For example, the biography of Xu Huang in the annals of the Three Kingdoms states:

?? “Huang was sent back to help caoren fight against Guan Yu and garrison Wan. He met with a fierce pass in the Han River, and Yu Jian waited. Yu surrounded Ren in fan and general Lu Chang in Xiangyang. Huang had many new soldiers and fought with Yu Nan, so he went to yanglingpo village… The thief village was in Yancheng. Huang arrived, and the deceptive path became a moat, indicating that he wanted to cut it off, and the thief burned the village away. Huang got to Yancheng and joined the camp on both sides… Huang raised his voice to attack Weitou village and attack the four tombs. Yu saw that the four tombs were going to be bad, so he rode 5000 steps and attacked them He retreated, then chased the enemy and all of them into the shortlist, broke them, or threw himself into Mianyang to die. ”

Records of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Shu, biography of caoren:

“When Xu Huang was rescued, the water also decreased slightly. Huang attacked Yu from the outside. Ren De broke out and Yu retreated.”

“Zizhi Tongjian · Han Ji 60” also says:

“Guanyu has a garrison around his head, but he doesn’t want to garrison the four tombs. Huang shouts that he should attack the four tombs. Yu sees that the four tombs are going to be bad, so he rides 5000 horses to fight. Huang strikes them and retreats. Yu Wei cuts ten antlers, and Huang chases Yu. All of them are in the enclosure. Fu Fang and Hu Xiu are dead. Yu then retreats. However, the boat is still in Mianyang, and Xiangyang is isolated.”

2. the plan of Wu Lord Sunquan, Lu Meng and Lu Xun, crossed the river in white clothes and captured the two cities of Nanjun and Gongan. After taking possession of Jingzhou City, he did not commit any offense. He extended benevolence and righteousness to break Guanyu’s military heart in one fell swoop.

In the autumn and August of the 24th year of Jian’an, when Guan Yu took advantage of the overflow of the Han River to “flood the seven armies”, he killed pound, captured Cao Ren and trapped Cao Ren. For a time, it was a great shock to China. Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, was deeply disturbed. After being refused to marry Guan Yu’s daughter for his son and sending an envoy to help Guan Yu to be humiliated, he made up his mind and adopted LV Meng’s plan to attack Guan Yu and set Jingzhou as early as possible.

For example, the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu and Guan Yu’s biography say:

“First of all, Quan sent an emissary as a son to SuoYu’s daughter. Yu scolded and humiliated his emissary and refused to marry him. Quan was furious.”

In addition, peisongzhi’s notes in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu and Guan Yu’s biography quote from the classic:

“Yu surrounded the fan. He had the right to send envoys to ask for help. He ordered the envoy not to enter quickly. He sent the master book to kill Yu first. Yu was angry that he was too late to drown, but he got his own ban. He scolded:” if you dare to pull out the fan city, I can’t destroy your evil! ” The right to hear about it, know that it despises itself, and write a fake calligraphy to thank Yu, and promise to go from there. ”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, Wu Shu, Lu Meng Zhuan says:

“It’s difficult to stay in the upper class of the country for a long time. Meng Naimi and Chen Jice said:” (today) The troops were captured to defend Nanjun, pan Zhang lived in Baidi, and Jiang Qin sent thousands of troops up and down the river to meet the enemy. The country was under the former control of Xiangyang, so why worry about the operation? Why rely on Yu? Moreover, Yu Jun and his officials are reserved for their deceitful power. They should not be treated with their hearts and minds. Today, the feather is not easy to move eastward. It is the supreme sage, and Mongolia still exists. This is not the time to be strong. Once you become a stiff servant and want to restore your strength, you can get evil. ” Power is deep in its strategy. ”

In autumn October, after determining the general plan of attacking Jingzhou, Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, sent an emissary to represent Cao Cao, the Lord of Wei, to fight against Guan Yu. Cao Cao wanted Wu and Shu to fight against each other to solve the siege of Xiangfan, so he promised to grant Sun Quan the land in the south of the Yangtze River.

For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei, Emperor Wu Ji:

“In October, the army returned to Luoyang… Sun Quan sent envoys to write to Guan Yu to help himself.”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei, and the biography of Dong Zhao say:

“And Guan Yu besieged caoren in fan. Sun Quan sent an emissary to say, ‘send troops to the west to cover up Yu. Jiangling and public security are heavy, and Yu will run away if he loses two cities. If the fan army is besieged, he will solve the problem if he is not rescued. If he asks for secrets, Yu will be prepared.'”

In order to reduce the resistance of the Wu army to attack Jingzhou and mobilize the Shu army from Nanjun and Gongan to the north, Sun Quan adopted Lu Meng’s plan and issued an imperial edict to recall Lu Meng to build his career and recuperate from his illness on the grounds of his health. At the same time, Lu Xun, who was “not well-known”, replaced Lu Meng to guard Lukou. At the beginning of his tenure, Lu Xun wrote a book with Guan Yu in order to paralyze Guan Yu and make him proud. The book is extremely humble and says:

“If the enemy is defeated, he will benefit from the alliance. When he hears the news of the festival, he wants to sweep across the country and win a prize for Wang Gang. Recently, he was not sensitive. He was appointed to the west, admiring the light and dust, and thinking about good rules.”,

He also said with compliments:

“Yu Jian and others were so excited that they thought that the general’s merit was enough to last forever. Although in the past, the division of Wen Chengpu in the Jin Dynasty, Huaiyin pulled out Zhao’s strategy and despised him.”

Guan Yu was puzzled by this letter, which boasted so much that he mobilized some of the Shu troops stationed in Nanjun and Gongan to attack Fancheng in the north, no longer thinking of the eastern Wu. Lu Xun saw that the time was ripe for a sneak attack on Jingzhou, and wrote Sun Quan, “Chen Qi can be captured.”. Sun Quan then led the pro unification army to the west to capture Guan Yu, so he ordered Lvmeng to lead 20000 elite troops to attack Jiangling and Gongan. And don’t order general Pian and right governor Lu Xun to take wanyidu, attack Zigui, Zhijiang and Yidao, garrison Yiling, and guard the gorge with heavy troops to prevent the Shu army from reinforcing Guanyu along the river.

For example, the biography of Lu Xun, the book of Wu in the annals of the Three Kingdoms:

“… Quan naiqian marched forward with Xun and LV Meng as the front, and reached Gongan and Nanjun. Xun marched in, led the governor of Yidu, worshipped the general of Fubian, and granted the Marquis of Huating. The governor of Beiyi, fan Youwei, walked away from the county, and all the City Chiefs and barbarian monarchs came down. Xun asked for gold, silver and bronze seals to fake the first attachment.”

Also known as:

?? “Xun dispatched 3000 generals, including Li Yi and Xie Jing, to attack Shu generals Zhan Yan and Chen Feng. Different generals, including the Navy and infantry, cut off the danger, that is, broke Yan and so on, and gave birth to Feng. He also attacked Fangling Prefecture governor Deng Fu and Nanxiang Prefecture governor Guo mu, and greatly defeated them. Thousands of Heyi soldiers, including Wen Bu and Deng Kai, from Zigui, came from the West. Xun Fu’s troops attacked rags and Kai. Bu and Kai left, and Shu thought they would be generals. Xun was seduced, and bu Shuai all surrendered. Before and after they were recruited, every Tens of thousands. ”

LV Meng threw his elite soldiers into the cabin, made them wear white clothes and paddle in a rowing boat, pretended to be businessmen, and walked day and night. He captured all the guards of the beacon towers along the river, so that the beacon fires along the river were not raised, and the army rushed to Nanjun. At that time, MI Fang, the southern county’s prefect, was stationed in Jiangling. General (Fu) Shiren Tun public security, because the front-line military funds were not provided in time, Guan Yu threatened to be severely punished after returning to the army. They were often insulted by Guan Yu. Therefore, after lobbying by Yu fan, they all fell to Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu. Therefore, LV Meng occupied Jiangling and Gongan, and all of them owned Jingzhou.

For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, biography of Guan Yu:

“Another Nanjun prefect, MI Fang, is in Jiangling. The general (Fu) Shiren Tun public security officer, has always suspected that Yu (himself) despised him. When Yu left the army, Fang and Ren provided military funds and did not know how to save him. Yu said that” it should be governed “, Fang and Ren were afraid. So power Yin lures Fang and Ren, and Fang and Ren make people welcome power. ”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wu and the biography of Sun Quan say:

“In the leap month, Quan Zhengyu sent LV Meng to attack the public security, and obtained general Shi Ren. Meng was sent to Nanjun, and the Nanjun prefect Mofang fell to the city.”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wu and the biography of Sun Quan say:

“When Meng Zhi sought the sun, he subdued all his elite soldiers among the deer. He used white clothes as oars to dress the SHANG Jia people. He traveled day and night. When he arrived at Yu’s residence in the riverside village, he collected all his troops and bound them. Therefore, Yu didn’t know. So he went to Nanjun County, where Shi Ren and Mi Fang all fell.”

Lu Meng was bloodless, so he took Jingzhou and Nanjun, and did a lot of benevolence and righteousness to win the hearts of the people. He was kind to Guan Yu, the captive, and the family members of his soldiers. In addition, we will make people close to us have compassion on the elderly, give medical treatment to those suffering from diseases, and give clothing and food to those suffering from hunger and cold. Secondly, the army should not interfere with the people, or the military law should follow it. At that time, LV Meng had a fellow countryman from Runan. Because he took a coir hat from the people’s home to cover the official armor, LV Meng killed it with tears, so “there was a tremor in the army, and there was nothing left.”. All the treasures hidden by Guan Yu are sealed and stored until the Lord of Wu, Sun Quan, comes to deal with them. After taking a series of measures to reassure the people, the order of Jingzhou City quickly became stable.

For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Wu Shu, Lu Meng Zhuan:

?? “When Meng entered the city, Yu and the families of the officers and soldiers were all very sad. They agreed that the army should not work in other people’s homes and ask for something. The corporal under Meng’s command, who was from Runan, took a bamboo hat from the people’s home to cover the official armor. Although the official armor was public, Meng thought that the law could not be abolished in the village because of the violation of the military order, so he dropped his tears and beheaded it. So there was a tremor in the army, and there was nothing left. Meng Danmu made people close to the old people to take care of the old people, and asked for what they lacked. The sick people gave medicine, and the hungry and cold people gave food. Yu’s house kept treasures, All are closed and waiting for power. ”

When Guan Yu withdrew his troops to the south, he sent envoys to Jingzhou City many times to blame LV Meng for violating the friendship between Wu and Shu. In order to break Guanyu’s morale, Lvmeng met with Guanyu’s envoys who came to blame, and asked them to travel around the city to bring back greetings from their families. Only when Guan Yu and the soldiers knew that their families were all right, and saw that they had been treated much more than before, the morale of the army broke up. Guan Yu led his son Guan Ping and more than a dozen riders to defeat Jingzhou and xibaomai.

For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Wu Shu, Lu Meng Zhuan:

“Yu Huan, on the road, has been known to Mongolia for several times. Meng often meets his envoys with great kindness. He travels around the city, asking questions from his family or sending letters in writing. Yu Ren, who is still in private, knows that his family is all right. Seeing that he has been in peace, Yu officials and scholars have no desire to fight. When he finds the right to meet him, Yu knows that he is lonely and poor. He goes to the wheat city and west to Zhangxiang township. All the people appoint Yu to surrender.”

“Zizhi Tongjian · sixty years of Han Dynasty” says:

“Guan Yu told people to meet LV Meng. He was often treated favorably by his envoys. He traveled around the city, asking questions from his family, or sending letters in writing. Yu people also consulted privately. They knew that their family was all right. Seeing that they were treated too often, Yu officials and scholars were not willing to fight.”

(III) final stage of Xiangfan campaign

In the winter and November of the 24th year of Jian’an, Guan Yu knew that he was alone and could not compete with Wu and Wei, so he surrendered his job to Macheng in the West. Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, deeply cherished Guan Yu’s talent and sent people to say “surrender”. Guan Yu pretended to surrender and sent people to set up more flags on the city wall as a sign of surrender, trying to lead his troops away at night. Sun Quan had already ordered Zhu ran and pan Zhang to ambush along the road and cut off their way back to Shuhan in the West. In December, the general Sima Mazhong led his troops to capture Guan Yu, his son Guan Ping and the governor Zhao Lei in linjuzhang township. Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, wanted to persuade Guan Yu to surrender for his own use. He persuaded Guan Yu and his son, Guan Ping, to stop him by fighting against Liu and Cao, so he beheaded Guan Yu and his son, Guan Ping. So far, Jingzhou was completely settled and finally owned by Sun Wu.

For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, biography of Guan Yu:

“Yu could not be conquered, so he led the army back. Quan had occupied Jiangling, captured all the wives of Yu scholars, and Yu army dispersed. Quan sent his generals to attack Yu, cut Yu and Zi Ping in Linju.”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wu and the biography of Sun Quan say:

“Guan Yu returned to Dangyang and protected the wheat city in the West. He was lured by the power. Yu puppet fell and set up flags as an elephant in the city. Due to his escape, the soldiers were disbanded and there were still more than a dozen riders. The power first made Zhu ran and pan Zhang cut off their path. In December, Zhang Sima Zhong captured Yu, his son Ping, and governor Zhao Lei in Zhang Township, so he settled in Jingzhou.”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, Wu Shu, Lu Meng Zhuan says:

“When Hui Quan was found, Yu knew that he was poor. He went to the wheat city and to Zhangxiang in the West. All the people appointed Yu to surrender. The power made Zhu ran and pan Zhang cut off their path, that is, both father and son got it, and Jingzhou was settled.”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wu and the biography of Zhu ran say:

“In the twenty-four years of Jian’an, from discussing Guan Yu, parting with Pan Zhang, to Linju Qinyu, the general of Zhao moved to Xi’an and was granted the title of Xiang Hou.”

The annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wu and the biography of Pan Zhang said:

“The right to seize Guan Yu, Zhang and Zhu ran cut off the feather aisle, arrived at Ju, and lived in Jiashi. The Sima Mazhong, a subordinate of Zhang, took charge of Qin Yu, Yu Ziping, the governor Zhao Lei, and so on. The right means that fenyidu (Zhi) and Zigui counties are Guling counties, worshipping Zhang as the prefect and general Zhenwei, and the Marquis of Liyang.”

Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, took all the six prefectures of Jingzhou. Cao Cao also broke the siege of Cao Ren and Xiangfan. Therefore, when Wu and Wei granted meritorious officials and celebrated each other, Cao Cao expressed Sun Quan as an Hussar general, a holiday, a shepherd in Jingzhou, and a marquis in Nanchang. Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, also sent Liang Yu, the school captain, to Chang’an to pay tribute. He wrote a letter to Cao Cao, saying his destiny and persuading him to ascend to the throne.

So far, the battle of Xiangfan was won by the joint efforts of Wu and Wei, and the Shuhan abandoned Jingzhou, Yizhou and Pianan. However, in the whole process of the Xiangfan war, there are still many doubts that are difficult to break, such as who launched the Xiangfan war, why it was launched, who should be responsible for the Xiangfan war, and why the Shuhan side did not send troops to help in the Xiangfan war. The following will be a brief analysis to help you learn.

3? Analysis of doubtful clouds in Xiangfan campaign

(I) who launched the Xiangfan war

Who launched the Xiangfan war? On this issue, there have been different opinions in the history circle. To sum up, there are two different opinions:

The first is represented by Mr. zhangzuoyao, the author of the biography of Liu Bei. He believes that the battle of Xiangfan was launched by “Guan Yu at the instigation of Liu Bei and Zhugeliang” and that the strategy of “if the world changes, a general will be ordered to move the people of Jingzhou to Wanzhou and Luozhou, and the general will lead the people of Yizhou out of Qinchuan” planned by Zhugeliang in Longzhong. The most direct historical evidence is that after Liu Bei became the king of Hanzhong in the 24th year of Jian’an, he sent Sima Feishi to Jingzhou and granted Guan Yu the title of former general. For example, the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu and Guan Yu’s biography say:

“In the twenty-four years, the former Lord was the king of Hanzhong, and Baiyu was the former general. It was a fake Festival Yue.”

In the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu and Fei Shizhuan, it is said:

“The former Lord was the king of Hanzhong. He sent a poem to worship Guan Yu as the former general. Yu heard that Huang Zhong was the later general. Yu angrily said:” the old man will not be in the same line with the old soldier! ” Refuse to be worshipped Feather has a great understanding and is worshipped immediately. ”

“False Festival” is a kind of treatment with great power and position given by the monarch in order to win over and reward the lower officials in the feudal society of China. There are two forms of “false section” and “false section”. The so-called “false Festival” means that the ancient envoys were supposed to hold the festival in accordance with the festival. In the late Han, Wei, Jin, southern and Northern Dynasties, officials in charge of local military and political affairs often added the title of holding festivals, holding festivals or fake festivals. So that officials below the intermediate level can be killed if they hold integrity; Those who hold integrity will be killed without official position; Those who violate military orders on holiday. For example, according to the biography of Yuan Shu in the book of the later Han Dynasty, “when Li Li entered Chang’an, he wanted to tie up his martial arts for help, but he granted general Zuo a false holiday and sealed off Zhai Hou of Yang.”. It is clearly pointed out in the records of officials in the book of Jin that “if you make a festival, you will have to kill less than 2000 stones; if you make a festival to kill people without official positions, if you are military, you will have to be the same as making a festival; if you make a festival, you will only have to kill those who violate military orders.” According to the book of Zhou. Biography of Quan Qi, “at the beginning of Xiaochang, general Longxiang, holiday and other generals were added to guard against Luozhou, and the Sheriff of Shangluo was found out.”. By the Sui and Tang Dynasties, holding festivals and fake festivals had no real name, but they were still commonly known as serving as an assassin and a prefect as fake festivals. The “false Festival Cheng” is the highest treatment given by the monarch to his ministers. It has the privilege to act on behalf of the monarch’s will and to master life and death. Liu Bei, the king of Hanzhong, chose to confer Guan Yu as a former general at this time. It is meaningful and makes people suspicious. Therefore, some scholars take it for granted that the battle of Xiangfan was launched “at the instigation of Liu Bei and Zhugeliang”.

It was also in July of the 24th year of Jian’an that the former leader Liu Bei immediately ordered Mengda to attack Fangling on the west side of Xiangyang. After occupying Fangling, Mengda was ordered to attack the Shang Yong in the West. While advancing westward with Mengda, Liu Bei “feared that it would be difficult for him to hold the post alone”, and ordered Liu Feng, his adopted son’s deputy military division, Zhonglang army, to go east along the Han River to attack the Shang Yong with Mengda. Liu Feng quickly captured Xicheng in the middle of the Han River, and then went straight to Shangyong. Under the attack of Liu Feng and Meng Da, Shen Dan, the supreme Minister of Cao Cao, could not resist and led the people to surrender. He was granted the title of general for the northern expedition by the former Lord, and led Yong Taishou as a township marquis. He also took his brother Shenyi as Jianxin general and Xicheng Taishou, and moved to the title of deputy general. For example, the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu and Liu FengChuan say:

“In the 24th year of Jian’an, Da was ordered to attack Fangling from Zigui to the north, and Kuai Qi, the governor of Fangling, was killed by Da Bing. Da Jiang attacked Shangyong, and the former Lord Yin was afraid that Da could not be alone. He sent an order from Hanzhong to unify Da Jun under the Mianyang River, and met with Da Yong. Shen Dan, the governor of Shangyong, summoned all the people to surrender, and sent his wife and clan to become the capital. The former Lord Jia Dan enlisted the northern general, led the governor of Shangyong, Xiang Hou, as before. He took Dan Diyi as Jianxin general, Xicheng governor, and moved to the post of deputy general.”

So far, Xicheng, Shangyong and Fangling, known as the “Three Eastern prefectures” in Hanzhong, all fell into the hands of Liu Bei group. The purpose of occupying the “East three counties” is to open up the Han River, because the “East three counties” are near the Han River. The occupation of the “Three Eastern prefectures” opened up the Hanjiang River from Hanzhong to Xiangyang, and completely controlled the Hanzhong region and the middle and upper reaches of the Han River. Thus, it is possible to support Guan Yu’s army from the west to attack Xiangyang from Jiangling to the north, which is obviously the strategic preparation made by the former leader Liu Bei for the battle of Xiangfan.

However, some people have put forward different views. For example, Mr. hequanzi, an expert on the history of the Three Kingdoms, believes that the battle of Xiangfan was launched by Guan Yu without the consent of Liu Bei and Zhugeliang. There are two main bases. First of all, according to all the historical records, there is no relevant historical record about Liu Bei ordering or instructing Guan Yu to launch the battle of Xiangfan, but there are other historical evidences about Liu Bei sending or instructing Guan Yu. In witness whereof, they are listed as follows:

Example 1: records of the Three Kingdoms · Shu Shu · biography of the first master:

“The former Lord controlled xiapi. Ling and others returned. The former Lord killed Che Zhou, the governor of Xuzhou, and left Guan Yu to guard xiapi. He was still Xiaopei.”

Example 2: the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, the biography of the first master says:

“Yang Feng, Han Siam, Kou Xu and Yang Jian, the first lord invited the attack and killed them all. The first lord asked Yu Lvbu to make peace with his wife. The first lord sent Guan Yu to guard xiapi.”

Example 3: the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, the biography of the first master says:

“When we arrived at Dangyang, there were more than 100000 people with thousands of liang of luggage. We traveled more than ten miles a day. Don’t send Guan Yu on hundreds of ships to the Jiangling.”

Example 4: the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, the biography of the first master says:

“The first leader, Yiqiang, sent generals to the subordinate counties of Zhuping. Zhugeliang, zhangfei, Zhaoyun and other generals went back to settle Baidi, Jiangzhou and Jiangyang, but Guan Yu stayed in Jingzhou.”

Example 5: the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, the biography of the first master says:

“… the first leader led 50000 soldiers to the Public Security Bureau and ordered Guan Yu to enter Yiyang.”

Example 6: Annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, biography of Guan Yu says:

“The former Lord attacked and killed Che Zhou, the governor of Xuzhou, and made Yu guard xiapi city and act as the prefect. Wei Shuyun: LED Xuzhou with Yu. But he was still Xiaopei.”

Example 7: Annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, biography of Guan Yu says:

“As a pawn, Duke Cao decided to cross the river from fan Jiang to Jingzhou. Don’t send Yu on hundreds of boats to huijiangling.”

Example 8: Annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, biography of Guan Yu says:

“The former Lord collected all the counties in the south of the Yangtze River, but he was granted a title of worship. Yu was Xiangyang’s prefect and general Dangkou, stationed in the north of the Yangtze River. The former Lord set Yizhou in the west, and worshipped Dong Yu to supervise the affairs of Jingzhou.”

It can be seen from the above historical data that Liu Bei ordered or dispatched Guan Yu to “stay”, “send” and “order” in the annals of the Three Kingdoms. As for the battle between Guan Yu and Xiangfan, Pei’s annotation to the synopsis of classics in the annals of the Three Kingdoms – Shu Shu – Biography of the first lord only states: “it was prepared to build pavilions and barriers from Chengdu to Baishui pass, covering more than 400 areas. At that time, Guan Yu attacked Cao Ren, the general of Cao, and banned birds from fan. Russia and Sun Quan attacked Yu and took Jingzhou.”. In the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu and the biography of Guan Yu, it is only said that “in the twenty-four years, the former Lord was the king of Hanzhong, and Yu was the former general. At the age of, Yu led his people to attack caoren in fan.”. There is no record in the above official history that Liu Bei ordered or instructed Guan Yu to launch the Xiangfan campaign. Therefore, it is reasonable to infer that Guan Yu launched the Xiangfan campaign without authorization.

Secondly, after the first leader Liu Bei took Hanzhong, the soldiers were tired and needed to be repaired. It was not appropriate to launch another large-scale campaign. Liu Bei and Cao Cao competed for Hanzhong. The time span (from the 23rd year of Jian’an to the 24th year of Jian’an) was one year. During this period, there were several major battles, such as sending generals Wu Lan and Lei Tong to Wudu, which were lost by Cao’s army; Second to the Yangping pass, it rejects the yuan and the union; Set the army on the mountain and cut through the summer Houyuan, breaking Cao’s army; Liu Feng, Mengda and Liping were ordered to attack Xicheng, Fangling and Shangyong. It should be said that the former leader Liu Bei captured Hanzhong after a series of bloody battles. Therefore, after this battle, the soldiers were exhausted and needed to be repaired. In July of the same year, Liu Bei, the former leader, became the king of Hanzhong in Mianyang. He stayed in Wei to supervise Hanzhong and then returned to Chengdu. Under the chairmanship of Zhugeliang, there was no enough time and energy to plan new strategies, let alone to make detailed strategic planning and related logistics support for the upcoming Xiangfan war.

In a word, when the former Lord had just captured Hanzhong and claimed to be the king of Hanzhong, the situation was unstable and it was really not suitable to launch a new large-scale campaign. Therefore, it was doubtful that the former Lord Liu Bei had inspired or ordered Guan Yu to launch the battle of Xiangfan at this time.

But who launched the Xiangfan war? After reviewing the historical data, we believe that the Xiangfan campaign was initiated by Guan Yu at the instigation or acquiescence of the former leader Liu Bei for the purpose of making contributions and making contributions to the cause and avenging Cao Ren for many times. The main reasons are as follows.

First of all, before the battle of Xiangfan was launched, Cao Ren led his troops to subdue Guan Yu for many times. In the spring and first month of the 24th year of Jian’an, he slaughtered Wan City and killed Hou Yin under Guan Yu’s eyes to calm the chaos of Hou Yin.

For example, the annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei and the book of Emperor Wu contain:

“In winter and October, Wan Shoujiang, Hou Yin and other officials, took charge of Nanyang Prefecture. It was the moon that made Ren Weiwan. In the first month of the spring of the 24th year, Ren Tu Wan, cut off the sound.”

According to the biography of Cao Ren in the annals of the Three Kingdoms:

“Hou Yin rebelled with Wan. There were thousands of people near the county. Ren led all the troops to attack Yin, beheaded him, and returned to fan, that is, to worship and conquer the general of the south.”

According to Guan Yu’s natural disposition, he could not bear it for a long time. Only considering that the former leader Liu Beizheng and Cao Cao refused in Hanzhong at that time, and that Sun Quan of the eastern Wu had no desire to covet Jingzhou, Guan Yu tolerated it. In fact, before that, Cao Cao had ordered Cao Ren to attack Guan Yu, but the scale of the war was too small, and there was no clear record in historical books. For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei and the book of Emperor Wu, it said: “in the early days, Cao Ren attacked Guan Yu and garrisoned the city of fan. It was the moon envoy Ren who surrounded Wan.”, This shows that at that time, Cao Renbu, who killed Hou Yin and Tu Wancheng, was stationed in Fancheng. It was only for the need of guarding Jingzhou and crusading against Guan Yu. Therefore, Cao Cao Cao, the leader of Wei Dynasty, “again used benevolence to subdue Southern generals. During the holiday, he garrisoned fan and garrisoned Jingzhou.” (Annals of the Three Kingdoms · Wei Shu · biography of Cao ren).

As a result, Guan Yu and caoren, the two old enemies, were at a stalemate in Xiangfan area. They had attacks and defences against each other, but they were different because of time and situation. When Cao Cao captured the middle of Han Dynasty and was near the danger of Bashu, Cao Ren was ordered by Cao Cao to invade Guan Yu in Jingxiang for many times. Therefore, in July of the 24th year of Jian’an, after Guan Yu was granted the title of former general and holiday Cheng, he took advantage of the opportunity of the former leader Liu Bei to conquer Hanzhong and ascend to the throne of Hanzhong king to vigorously promote the army of Jingzhou to the north and attack caoren’s headquarters in Fancheng, so as to revenge caoren for his repeated testimony and revenge.

Secondly, in July of the 24th year of Jian’an, Guan Yu was granted the title of former general and holiday Cheng. According to the Han system: a general can be appointed a marquis only if he has military merit. A large number of officers and men who came to Sichuan with the former leader Liu Bei were granted Marquis when the former leader Liu Bei ascended the throne because of their merits in determining Bashu and according to Hanzhong. Although Guan Yu had been guarding Jingxiang for nine years, he had never made great military achievements. This time, he was appointed a general as a marquee because of his ministers and brothers. It was inevitable that he felt ashamed. In addition, other Sima Fei poems praised Huang Zhongding’s military achievements before Guan Yu and all the officers and men. In addition, the new former general and the holiday season were granted the privilege to do the will of Liu Bei, so Guan Yu took the opportunity to lead most of the Jingzhou army to the north without authorization, hoping to assert his authority in Jingxiang He made great contributions to Mianyang.

Moreover, before or after Guan Yu’s northern expedition to Xiangfan, Liu Bei should have acquiesced after knowing it. There are three historical bases. First, when Guan Yu surrounded Xiangyang and Fancheng, he sent a jade seal found under the Han River to Chengdu. For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, the biography of the first master, it is said that “… Before Guan Yu surrounded fan and Xiangyang, Xiangyang men Zhang Jia and Wang Xiu presented a jade seal. The seal dived into the Han River, fell over the Yuanquan spring, and the light of the scenery and candles penetrated the sky.”. Second, at the same time, the former leader Liu Bei sent other Sima Feishi to the front line of Xiangfan to worship Guan Yu as a former general and a fake Festival Cheng, which can be regarded as recognition or reward for his launching the battle of Xiangfan. Even though Sima Feishi arrived in Jingzhou before Guan Yu launched the Xiangfan campaign at the end of the reign of Guan Yu, he should have known that Guan Yu was about to launch the Xiangfan war. After returning to Chengdu, he would have reported to Liu Bei, the former leader. However, there was no record of Liu Bei stopping Guan Yu from launching the Xiangfan war in later historical materials. Third, after taking possession of Hanzhong, Liu Bei ordered his adopted sons Liu Feng, general Mengda and Li Pingping to send troops to the three prefectures of Xicheng, Shangyong and Fangling, and finally occupied the “Three Eastern prefectures” to open up the Han river channel between Hanzhong and Xiangfan. Therefore, when Guan Yu led his troops to besiege the two cities of Xiangfan, and his troops were stretched to the limit, “Lian called for Feng and DA, and ordered them to send troops to help themselves. Feng and Da resigned as the first attachment of the mountain county, which should not be shaken and would not accept Yu’s life.” (Annals of the Three Kingdoms · Shu Shu · Liu FengChuan) obviously, the army of the golden mean could have been Guan Yu’s backup force. Moreover, the Shangyong land is adjacent to Xiangfan and very close to it. When Guan Yu “flooded the seven armies”, killed pound, captured Cao Ren and trapped Cao Ren. The first world war shocked China, Liu Feng repeatedly refused Guan Yu’s order to send troops to help; When Guan Yu lost Jingzhou and went to the wheat city, it was obviously against his original intention not to help him, but to sit back and watch Guan Yu perish. Therefore, he was deeply hated and severely blamed by his predecessor. In the end, “when the seal was granted, the first lord was responsible for its invasion of the mausoleum without rescuing Yu. Zhugeliang thought that the seal was strong and fierce. After changing the world, it would be difficult to control the emperor. He advised the first lord to eliminate it. So he was granted the seal to make himself adjudicated.” (Annals of the Three Kingdoms · Shu Shu · biography of Liu Feng).

It can be seen from this that the first lord actively prepared and supported Guan Yu to launch the Xiangfan war. Although it can not be said that Guan Yu was instructed or inspired by him, at least he agreed with it with tacit consent.

(II) why the Xiangfan war was launched

As for why Guan Yu started the battle of Xiangfan without authorization, I think in addition to Guan Yu’s purpose of making contributions and making a career to repay Cao Ren’s repeated testimony and revenge, it should also be related to Xiangfan’s unique geographical location and military strategic position, the successive rebellions within Cao Wei and the ancestors’ desire to advance by an inch and recapture Xiangyang as a place of Jingzhou. The reasons are as follows:

First of all, Xiangfan has a unique geographical environment and an important military strategic position. It is an important cornerstone for the realization of Zhugeliang’s strategy of “if the world changes, a general will be ordered to move the people of Jingzhou to Wanzhou and Luozhou, and the general will lead the people of Yizhou out of Qinchuan” in Longzhong DUI. First, Xiangfan has a unique geographical environment. Because it is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Han River, it is composed of two towns, Xiangyang and Fancheng, which are separated by the Han River. Its geographical conditions are superior. As the biography of Zhugeliang in the annals of the Three Kingdoms · Shu Shu Shu said: “Jingzhou is based on the Han and Mianyang in the north, makes full use of the South China Sea, connects Wu Hui in the East, and connects Ba and Shu in the west, which is a country of military use”, and its water and land transportation conditions are also very convenient. From the perspective of land route, there is a post road going north from Xiangfan to Luoyang in the Central Plains through Xinye and WAN (now Nanyang in Henan), that is, the Northern Expedition Route designated by Longzhong Dui for Jingzhou Guanyu army group; To the south, there are post roads through Yicheng, Dangyang and Jiangling to Hanshou (now Changde, Hunan). From the perspective of waterways, you can go up along the Han River and mianshui to the three prefectures of Xicheng and Hanzhong, go down along the south of the Han River to Xiakou (now Wuchang, Hubei), enter the Yangtze River, and then go up the river to Jiangling, Zigui, and enter Shu; If you go down along the Yangtze River, you can reach Jianye (now Nanjing, Jiangsu), so Xiangfan has a very prominent military strategic position and is also a place for strategists. Second, Xiangfan also has a very important military strategic position. If the Shuhan side has Fancheng and Xiangyang, it can not only connect Hanzhong, “three counties in East China” and Xiangfan into a line, and push the northern defense line of Shuhan to the north as a whole, forming a strategic base of Jingyi that can facilitate mutual contact and mutual support. In this way, when the war in Hanzhong was tight, the Sichuan troops in Jingxiang could quickly reinforce them through the Hanmian waterway; If something happens in Xiangfan, the Shu troops of Hanzhong, Xicheng, Jiangling and Gongan can also be quickly reinforced; For example, once Jiangling and the public security were attacked, the Shu troops in Xiangfan could go south at the same time. At the same time, it can also compress the power of Cao Cao to the north of the Yellow River, laying the foundation for “chasing the Central Plains” in the future. Third, in Zhugeliang’s Longzhong Dui, the two cities of Xiangfan were regarded as one of the most important bases for the northern expedition in the strategy of “if the world changes, the first general will be ordered to move the people of Jingzhou to Wanzhou and Luozhou, and the general will lead the people of Yizhou out of Qinchuan”. This is because from the north of Fancheng, through Xinye and Wancheng, the army can directly take Xuchang, the center of the Wei Dynasty, and then threaten Luoyang, the eastern capital of the Han Dynasty. This route is also the most direct and shortest Northern Expedition Route for rejuvenating the Han Dynasty and restoring the Central Plains. Therefore, when Fancheng was about to be besieged by Guan Yu and caoren wanted to abandon the city and flee, Nanyang prefect man Chong admonished and said, “if you run away now, the south of the Honghe River will not be restored to the country.”, It can be seen that if Cao and Wei lost the city of fan, the south of the Yellow River would not be protected. Based on his deep understanding of the importance of Fancheng’s military strategic position, Cao Cao still felt uneasy after sending five batches of reinforcements led by General Yu Jin and Xu Huang, so he personally led a large army to settle in Mopei and mediate in the middle. It can be said that the army of the whole country went South to fight for Fancheng. He must defeat Guan Yu in Xiangfan to solve the danger of Xuchang and Luoyang. Therefore, Xiangfan City is the southern barrier of Xuchang, the political center of the Wei Dynasty, and Luoyang, the eastern capital. It must not be lost. At the same time, it is also one of the most direct and shortest Northern Expedition routes for Shuhan to revive the Han Dynasty and restore the Central Plains. Therefore, the purpose of Guan Yu’s launching the battle of Xiangfan was to capture the two cities of Xiangfan, so as to achieve the goal of “occupying Hanmian in the north”, so as to directly attack Xuchang, the political center of the Cao Wei Dynasty, and Luoyang, the eastern capital, and achieve the political goal of “restoring the Han Dynasty to the old capital”.

Secondly, between the spring of the 23rd year of Jian’an and the autumn and July of the 24th year of Jian’an, the internal instability of the Wei Dynasty occurred. There were rebellions successively, such as the Han Tai medical order gibbon, the Wancheng general Hou Yin, the peiguo Wei satire and Daijun, and the Shanggu wuwan non official di. In addition, Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, led his army to attack Hefei in the north, which restrained the main forces of the Wei Dynasty, such as Zhang Liao, on the eastern line. All these made Guan Yu mistakenly believe that the opportunity to “revive the Han Dynasty and restore the Central Plains” had come. Therefore, despite the fact that the Soochow was lying on the side of his bed and that he was dying of coveting Jingzhou, he blindly led most of the Jingzhou Corps north to strive for the two cities of Xiangfan, with a view to making contributions and making contributions to the Han Mianyang area in Jingxiang. As a result, Sun Quan of the eastern Wu, in violation of the friendship between Wu and Shu, attacked Jiangling and the public security from behind, took Jingzhou as a whole, forced Guan Yu to leave Maicheng, and even killed him in the face of Ju.

In fact, if we can analyze calmly and objectively, although these rebellions could disturb the stability of the Cao Wei regime to a certain extent, they could not be enough to give a fatal blow. For example, Ji Ben, the doctor of the Han Dynasty, Geng Ji and Si Zhi Wei Huang, the Shaofu, attacked the Prime Minister Wang Bi’s camp at night when Cao Cao’s expedition was not in Xudu. However, the next day, Yan Kuang, the general of Yingchuan, was defeated by Yan Kuang, the chief nongzhonglang, for less than two days, and the scope was limited to Xudu; The officials and people in the Wancheng area of Nanyang suffered from the Yao service. Under the leadership of general Hou Yin, they now rebelled against the city and echoed Guan Yu from afar. The rebellion was pacified by caoren, who was stationed in Fancheng from October of the 23rd winter of Jian’an to the first spring of the 24th year of Jian’an. It took less than three months, and the scope of its spread was very limited. In the winter and September of the 24th year of Jian’an, Wei Xie of peiguo and Chen Yi, the Wei Wei of Changle, conspired to attack yedU. Even before the day of the incident, Chen Yi was afraid and denounced, and Prince Wei PI was angry and killed thousands of people. The rebellion was suppressed before it was launched, and there was no impact at all. As for the rebellion of ethnic minorities such as Shanggu wuwan Wuchen Di, it was appeased by Cao Zhang, the third son of Cao Cao, the Marquis of Yanling. It can be seen that these rebellions are very small or even limited in terms of their duration, scope and attack on the Cao Wei regime, and they simply do not pose a fatal threat to the Cao Wei regime. As for Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, who attacked Hefei in the north, fettered the main corps of Cao Wei, Zhang Liao and others on the eastern line, which played a certain role in the early stage of the war. However, although Sun Quan was in Hefei at this time, he “had his heart set on the sidelines” and watched and noted the Jingzhou war situation all the time. Even many people in the Wei Dynasty saw this. Wen Hui, the then governor of Yangzhou, said to peiqian, the governor of Yanzhou: “although there are thieves here, there are not enough worries, but there are changes in the fear of invading the south.” When Cao Cao wanted to move his capital to avoid Guan Yu, the prime minister, Sima xuanwang and Jiang Ji, subordinate to Xi Cao, dissuaded him and said:

“… Liu Bei and Sun Quan, who are close to each other but not close to each other, and Guan Yu’s ambition will make their power disappear. They can send people to persuade him to follow them and allow him to cut the south of the Yangtze River to seal the power, and Fan Wei will be liberated.”

They all believed that Guan Yu was successful and completely occupied Jingzhou. Sun Quan would not be reconciled and would certainly draw a picture. Sure enough, when he learned that Guan Yu had “flooded the seven armies”, killed pound, captured Cao Ren, and shocked China, Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, immediately approved LV Meng’s plan to sneak into Jingzhou. He would not hesitate to violate the friendship between Wu and Shu and move his troops westward to fight for Jingzhou. It was precisely because of the overly optimistic estimation and wrong judgment of the situation that Guan Yu made a fatal decision to strive to occupy Xiangfan and Mianyang in the north, and was eventually defeated and killed.

Moreover, the former leader Liu Bei inspired or acquiesced in Guan Yu’s launching the battle of Xiangfan. There was also a potential real purpose: to recapture Xiangyang from Cao Cao and become a true herdsman in Jingzhou. Because the administrative offices of Jingzhou herdsmen have always been in Xiangyang. After the battle of Chibi, Liu Bei took advantage of Cao Cao’s defeat to return to the north to invade the four southern prefectures of Jingzhou, forcing “Wuling prefect Jin Xuan, Changsha prefect Han Xuan, Guiyang prefect Zhao fan, and Lingling prefect Liu du to all fall.”, Hence, the four prefectures of Wuling, Changsha, Guiyang and Lingling were seized. At the same time, Zhugeliang was appointed as the general of the military Zhonglang and the governor of Changsha, Guiyang and Lingling. His job was to “adjust his taxes to pay off the army”, thus completely controlling the four counties of Jingzhou in the south.

In the 15th year of Jian’an, after the death of Liuqi, the governor of Jingzhou, all the people elected the former leader as Jingzhou herdsman. Since Xiangyang, the governing seat of Jingzhou at that time, was in the hands of Cao Cao, Liu Bei could not win it, so he temporarily took public security as the governing seat. For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, biography of the first master, it is stated that “Qi died of illness, and the group pushed down the first master to serve as a herdsman in Jingzhou and administer public security.”, Moreover, Wuling, Changsha, Guiyang and Lingling, which were obtained by the former Lord Liu Bei at that time, were the poorest four of the seven counties in Jingzhou, so they could not settle down. For example, the biography of Jiang Biao cited by peisongzhi in the annals of the Three Kingdoms – Shu Shu – Biography of the first master says:

“Zhou Yu was the prefect of Nanjun, and he divided the land on the south bank into several prefectures. Bei BIE set up a camp in youjiangkou and changed its name to public security. When Liu saw that he had come from the northern army, many rebels came to prepare. Bei Yu gave little land, which was not enough to calm the people. Later, he lent power to several prefectures in Jingzhou.”

So he turned to Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, to “ask the governor of Jingzhou”, that is, the so-called “borrowing Jingzhou” of later generations. Because Xiangyang, the seat of Jingzhou, belonged to Nanjun, and Xiangyang was under the control of Cao Cao, Liu Bei had to borrow Jiangling, the seat of Nanjun, as the seat of Jingzhou. Following Lu Su’s advice, Sun Quan lent Jiangling, the administrative seat of Nanjun, to Liu Bei, the former leader, in an attempt to join forces against Cao Cao. However, neither the Public Security Bureau (youjiangkou) nor Jiangling, the seat of Nanjun Prefecture, is the real seat of Jingzhou. It is obviously an unacceptable fact that Jingzhou herdsman, who was approved and appointed by the Han Dynasty, could not take office in Xiangyang, the capital of Jingzhou. Therefore, Liu Bei took the opportunity of Guan Yu’s launching the battle of Xiangfan to recapture Xiangyang, the governing seat of Jingzhou, and become a true herdsman of Jingzhou.

(III) why did Sun Quan sneak attack Guan Yu behind the Wu Shu Alliance

During World War II, the famous British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said a famous saying in the history of Diplomacy: there is no eternal friend or eternal enemy, but only eternal interests. It is really appropriate to use this sentence to summarize the evolution of the diplomatic relations between Wu and Shu. In the final analysis, the interests of both sides in Jingzhou led the sun and Liu families to depend on each other from the battle of Chibi in 208 A.D. to the war of Xiangfan. To this end, we will focus on the political, military and diplomatic strategies of Wu and Shu to explore the deep-seated reasons why Sun Quan betrayed the Wu Shu alliance and secretly attacked Guan Yu.

First of all, from the military and geographical point of view, the ownership of Jingzhou has always been the safety of Jiangdong regime. This is mainly because Jingzhou is located in the upper reaches of Jiangdong. As a result, Jingzhou shares the natural danger of the Yangtze River with Jiangdong, and the natural barrier Jiangdong relies on no longer exists. For example, before the battle of Chibi, after Cao Cao occupied Jingzhou, most of Jiangdong’s advisers advocated surrender, of which Xiandu said:

“If the general’s general situation is such that he can refuse to operate, the Yangtze River will also… This is the danger of the Yangtze River, which has already been shared with us. It is impossible to say how many forces there are. It is better to welcome it than to call it a big plan.”.

This is because Jingzhou is the best base to attack Jiangdong. Most of the successful battles in history were launched from Jingzhou. Therefore, whoever owns the land of Jingzhou will control the fate of Jiangdong. Therefore, when the Sunwu regime felt the pressure from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, it would not hesitate to choose to lead the army westward and strive for Jingzhou, thus choosing to control its own destiny in its own hands. From the aspect of Shuhan, Jingzhou is the South Gate of Yizhou, and it is also the basic guarantee for Zhugeliang to occupy Jingzhou and Yizhou and attack Wei by two routes. The loss of Jingzhou will make the eastern barrier of Yizhou no longer exist, and the whole Chengdu Plain will be under the attack of the downstream Soochow regime. After the loss of Jingzhou, there was only a Northern Expedition Route from Hanzhong to attack the state of Wei, which basically lost its strategic initiative, let alone the grand goal of “northern expedition to the Central Plains and the restoration of the Han Dynasty”. For Cao Wei, Jingzhou was the south gate to defend the Central Plains and an important base to attack Jiangdong. In the defensive stage, as long as a part of the north of Jingzhou can be maintained, a buffer zone will be built for Xudu and the Central Plains of Luoyang, which will act as a barrier and early warning, so as to ensure the military security in the south of the Central Plains. In the offensive stage, after seizing Jingzhou, they could fight for Wuling, Changsha, Guiyang, Lingling and other four prefectures in Jingzhou to the south, and they could also go down the river to the east to eliminate the Sunwu regime in Jiangdong. Therefore, facing the long front of the sun Liu alliance, Cao Wei mainly established three strategic points: Hefei on the eastern line, Xiangfan on the southern line and Qishan on the western line. One of the three is indispensable. Therefore, Jingzhou is also indispensable for the Cao Wei Dynasty. Therefore, after the battle of Chibi, the interests of Wei, Shu and Wu in Jingzhou were intertwined and played games with each other to form a balance of power. In the 24th year of Jian’an, after Guan Yu launched Xiangfan, there was a trend to break the balance of the interests of the three parties in Jingzhou. This was not tolerated by both Cao Wei and Sun Wu. Therefore, it is not surprising that the two parties colluded to destroy Guan Yu.

Secondly, from a political point of view, Sun Wu and Liu Shu, for their respective purposes, have successively borrowed Jingzhou, begged Jingzhou and “crossed the river in white clothes to attack Jingzhou”, which are caused by the political and military interests of both sides. The most critical factor for Sun Quan’s sneak attack on Guan Yu was the continuous development and expansion of Liu Bei group, which made Sun Quan feel a serious threat to the Shuhan regime in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and prompted him to take risks. In the 18th year of Jian’an, in order to preserve the Jiangdong regime of Sun Wu, Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, risked the death of Liu Bei and the burning of jade and stone, and joined forces with Liu Bei, who was at a dead end, to fight against Cao Cao Yu Chibi. It can be said that at this time, Wu and Shu won a war that must be won for the common interest. After the battle of Chibi, Liu Bei took the opportunity to acquire Wuling, Changsha, Guiyang, Lingling and other four counties in Jingnan. In order to reassure the people, Liu Bei “asked Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, for the governor of Jingzhou” and borrowed the Jiangling of Nanjun as the governing place of Jingzhou. In order to “reject Cao Gong altogether”, Lu Su persuaded Sun Quan to “borrow Jingzhou”, saying:

“… although the general is powerful, Cao Gong is powerful. He first came to Jingzhou. He has no good faith. He should be prepared to appease the enemy. He should be more manipulative of the enemy and build his own party.

Following Lu Su’s advice, Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, borrowed the Jiangling of the southern county of Jingzhou from Liu Bei. Later, in order to further consolidate the Wu Shu alliance, Sun Quan married his younger sister to Liu Bei, so as to “enter the younger sister to strengthen friendship”. At this time, the relationship between Wu and Shu entered a “honeymoon period” full of conspiracy. In the 19th year of Jian’an, Liu Bei accepted the strategy of Fazheng, entered Chengdu and led Yizhou herdsmen. The next year, Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, sent Zhugeliang’s brother zhugejin to beg for Jingzhou. However, Liu Bei said, “if you want to win Liangzhou, you should make peace with Jingzhou.”. Sun Quan was so angry that he sent his own officials to Changsha, Guiyang and Lingling. Guan Yu, who was in Jingzhou at that time, rushed them back. The Wu Lord was furious. “He sent LV Meng to attack and seize Changsha, Lingling and Guiyang.” Since leading the army in Lukou, Lu Su was sent to lead 10000 troops into Bachu (now Yueyang City, Hunan). Hearing this, Zhu Geliang was told that the situation was serious, so he left Zhugeliang to guard Chengdu. He led 50000 troops to the public security. At the same time, he ordered Guan Yu to lead 30000 troops to Yiyang to prepare for a decisive battle with Sun Quan. The war was imminent. Just at this time, Cao Cao led his troops to Hanzhong. Liu Bei was afraid of the loss of Yizhou, so he negotiated peace with Sun Quan. The two sides agreed to carve up Jingzhou with Xiangshui as the boundary. Sun Quan is to the east of Changsha, Jiangxia and Guiyang, and Liu Bei is to the west of Nanjun, Lingling and Wuling. Liu Bei used “land for peace” to avoid the double attack of Cao Cao and Sun Quan. However, the loss of Jiangxia, a strategic area, made Jiangling and Gongan City remove the eastern barrier, which opened the door for Sun Quan’s sneak attack on Jingzhou. What is more serious is that the two countries of Wu and Shu have been estranged since then, and entered a sensitive “breaking up period”.

Moreover, the resurgence of the “hawks” in Jiangdong and Guan Yu’s tough attitude in dealing with the relationship between Wu and Shu prompted Sun Quan to make up his mind to sneak attacks on Guan Yu at the expense of the Wu Shu alliance to seize Jingzhou. Many generals of the Sunwu regime had already seen the threat of Liu Bei’s occupation of Jingzhou to the Jiangdong regime and had repeatedly admonished Sun Quan. For example, Zhou Yu, the then governor of Nanjun County, said:

“Liu Bei is a hero, but Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are powerful generals. They must not have been used for a long time. It is foolish to say that the big plan is to relocate Wu to build a palace. Most of the beauties play well to amuse their eyes and ears. They are divided into two people, one for each, so that those who are like Yu can be coerced and attacked. The big event can be settled. Now they are gathering these three people to wreak land and property. They are all on the battlefield, fearing that dragons will get clouds and rain. They are not things in the pool.”

Later, before his death, he wrote to Sun Quan:

“In today’s world, there’s something to be done. Yu is worried about all day and night. The Supreme Master was worried about the future first, and then had a good time. Now that he is an enemy of Cao Cao, Liu Bei is close to the public security, the border is close, and the people are not attached to him. It’s appropriate to have a good general to pacify him.”

And repeatedly exhorted:

“… now Cao Gong is in the north, and the battlefield is not quiet. Liu Bei lives in his house. It is like raising a tiger. The world’s affairs are unknown from beginning to end…”

At that time, Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu, did not listen to Zhou Yu’s advice because he thought that “Cao Gong was in the north, so he should attract many heroes, and he was afraid that it would be difficult to prepare for death.”. Instead, Lu Su, who advocated “uniting Liu with Cao school”, lent Liu Bei the Jiangling in the southern county of Jingzhou to be the governing seat of Jingzhou, in an attempt to “jointly reject Cao Gong”. After Zhou Yu’s death, Lu sudai, the leader of the “Lian Liu sect” recommended by Zhou Yu, was the Nanjun prefect and guarded Jingzhou. After taking office, Lu Su advocated to unite with Liu Bei to resist Cao Cao, and in dealing with such incidents as “several suspicions and wrong frontiers” at the border with Guan Yu, Lu Su started from the overall situation of uniting with Liu Bei to resist Cao Cao, “often comforting them with joy.”, So the alliance between Wu and Shu was maintained during his lifetime. Lu Meng, an important “Hawk” general who came to power after Lu Su’s death, said in secret to Sun Quan at the beginning of taking office:

“The emperor Baidi lives in panzhang, and the emperor Jiang Qin marches thousands of troops up and down the river to meet the enemy. Mongolia is the former base of the country in Xiangyang. So, why worry about the manipulation? Why do you rely on Yu? And Yu Junchen, who shows his deceitful power, can’t treat it with heart and soul. Now Yu is not easy to move eastward. He still lives in Mongolia with supreme holiness and brightness. If he wants to recover his strength, he can get evil?”.

He made it clear that the eastern Wu would control Jingzhou to resist Cao Cao. This is mainly because the Sun Wu side, after years of fighting with the state of Wei, believed that it could achieve the goal of preserving Jiangdong by relying on its own strength. As for Jingzhou, a strategic place endangering the security of Jiangdong regime, it is safer to control it in their own hands than to take possession of it by Guan Yu, who is not friendly to Soochow. Therefore, Lu Meng suggested Sun Quan to say, “it is better to take the feather and rely on the Yangtze River. The situation is becoming more and more prosperous.”. Sun Quan obeyed Lvmeng’s advice and ordered him to go to Lukou to guard Jingzhou in the East on behalf of Lu su. However, Lvmeng “came to Lukou at the first time, and was kind and friendly to Yu.”, In the dark, he sharpened his knife and peeped at Guan Yu all the time to map Jingzhou. Lu Xun, another important general of the “hawks”, privately admonished Lu Meng when he went to Jianye to visit him who pretended to be ill:

“The feather is proud of its Xiao Qi, and the mausoleum is superior to the people. He began to have great achievements and is proud of his ambition. However, he was not averse to me when he moved north. If he hears of illness, he will be unprepared. Now he can make it by himself. I see the Supreme Master. It should be a good plan.”

Lu Meng ostensibly promised, but privately recommended Lu Xun to Sun Quan, praising him for saying:

“Lu Xun has a profound meaning. He can carry a heavy burden. Judging by his rules and considerations, he can eventually be a great task. He has not gained a far-reaching reputation, which is not something yu should avoid. If he uses it, he should hide from the outside, observe the form and then overcome it.”

Sun Quan followed Lvmeng’s advice. On the grounds of good health, Lu Xi recalled Lvmeng from the front line of Jingzhou to build up his career and recuperate from his illness. At the same time, he worshipped Lu Xun as a partial general and right lieutenant general to guard Jingzhou instead of Lvmeng. After Lu Xun took office, in order to paralyze Guan Yu and relax him, he wrote a book with Guan Yu, which is extremely humble. But it was secretly designed to get rid of Guan Yu. It was all based in Jingzhou. Under this situation, Guan Yu’s tough stance in dealing with the relationship between Wu and Shu undoubtedly added fuel to the fire and made things irreversible. According to the biography of Guan Yu in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, it is said that “first of all, Quan sent an emissary as a son to SuoYu’s daughter. Yu scolded and humiliated his emissary. If he didn’t marry him, Quan became very angry.”, As we all know, this kind of marriage is mostly for political needs. Its purpose is to consolidate the alliance between the two sides. Cao Cao and Sun Quan have done this. For example, Sun Quan has a record of marrying his brother Sun Yi’s daughter to Cao Cao’s son. However, Guan Yu’s way of handling this matter was too rough, and his attitude was extremely bad and rude. According to some historical records, Guan Yu even said that “how can a tiger girl marry a dog”, which is too willful and arrogant. According to peisongzhi’s notes in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu and Guan Yu’s biography, Dian Lue says:

“Yu surrounded the fan. He had the right to send envoys to ask for help. He ordered the envoy not to enter quickly. He sent the master book to kill Yu first. Yu was angry that he was too late to drown, but he got his own ban. He scolded:” if you dare to pull out the fan city, I can’t destroy your evil! ” The right to hear about it, know that it despises itself, and write a fake calligraphy to thank Yu, and promise to go from there. ”

Guan Yu abused Sun Quan as a “cuzi” (that is, an animal) and openly said that after he conquered Fancheng, he would move east to destroy Wu. It can be said that he was so arrogant that things got out of hand. In August of the 24th year of Jian’an, after “flooding the seven armies”, Guan Yu was forced to take rice from the Hunan pass for military food because of too many captured Wei troops and the incompetence of general (Fu) Shiren, the prefect of Nanjun County of Jiangling stationed in the rear area. Wu Lord Sun Quan was so angry that he took this as an excuse to launch a large-scale attack on Jingzhou.

(IV) why did the Shuhan regime sit back and watch Guan Yu perish but not save him

The battle of Xiangfan began in July of the 24th year of Jian’an and ended in the first month of the 25th year of Jian’an. The battle lasted as long as six months. However, for such a long time, there has never been any record that the Shuhan side sent troops to assist Guan Yu until he sat and watched his death. What was the reason? Later generations were puzzled, so some scholars concluded that the loss of Jingxiang in the Shu Han Dynasty was caused by the former leader Liu Bei and Prime Minister Zhugeliang who wanted to use the hand of Wu and Wei to get rid of Guan Yu. For example, zhangtaiyan, a master of Chinese studies, wangfuzhi, a famous historian, and zhuziyan, a professor of modern history, all hold this view. But is history really like this? We believe that the Shuhan side had to wait for Guan Yu to perish and did not save him. There was a reason for this.

First of all, Shuhan believed in Guan Yu’s strength and gave full trust and expectation to his Garrison of Jingzhou and the northern expedition to Xiangfan. During the Three Kingdoms period, there were many famous generals. Guan Yu was undoubtedly one of the best. He was not only excellent in martial arts, but also resourceful. He conquered cities and territories in his life and rarely failed. His bravery, loyalty and righteousness were praised by many people at that time. Cao Cao paid special attention to Guan Yu. “It’s very polite to be a general.” Later, Guan Yu abandoned him and went to Liu Bei, claiming that he was “a righteous man in the world who never forgets his origin”. Zhugeliang called him “a man of extraordinary integrity”; Cheng Yu called him “the enemy of all men”; Liu Ye called him “brave in the three armies”; Zhou Yu called him “the general of the tiger”; Lu Xun called him “a hero in the world”. Chen Shou called him “the enemy of all men and the world’s tiger minister”. Based on Guan Yu’s bravery, loyalty and righteousness, the former leader Liu Bei paid special attention to him and did not hesitate to entrust him with the task of guarding the party alone. This can be seen from the fact that in July of the 24th year of Jian’an, he sent Sima Feishi to the front line of Jingxiang, worshipped Guan Yu as a former general of Shuhan and authorized his director to supervise Jingzhou affairs. Because “false Festival Cheng” is one of the highest courtesies granted by the monarch to his ministers, and has the privilege of acting on behalf of the monarch’s will and acting arbitrarily, which is no exception in the entire Shuhan regime. In the annals of the Three Kingdoms and other relevant historical books, Liu Bei always let Guan Yu lead the army to fight alone as long as the Shu army was divided, which also shows that the former leader Liu Bei fully trusted him and recognized his independent combat ability. In the 16th year of Jian’an (A.D. 211), liuzhang, a herdsman in Yizhou, sent a law to invite Liu Bei to help him attack Zhanglu in Hanzhong. Liu Bei left Zhugeliang and Guanyu town Jingzhou. Three years later (A.D. 214), Liu Bei returned from Jiameng pass to attack Liu Zhang. Zhugeliang left Jingzhou and “led people to the river with zhangfei, Zhaoyun, etc., divided counties and counties, and surrounded Chengdu with his predecessor.” If Guan Yu had been guarding Jingzhou for nine years from the 16th year of Jian’an to the 24th year of Jian’an and died in the winter of Jian’an, and had been guarding Jingzhou alone for six years, the overall situation in Jingzhou would be good. So Liu Bei was satisfied with Guan Yu’s guarding Jingzhou.

Secondly, the Shuhan side was intoxicated with the victory of Lien Chan in the early stage of Guan Yu’s northern expedition to Xiangfan, and was too busy to consider the logistics support and reinforcement. In the autumn and August of the 24th year of Jian’an, Guan Yu took advantage of the overflow of the Han River and the water depth of several feet to launch a fierce attack on the Yujin reinforcements stationed in the north of Fancheng. As a result, he killed pound, captured Yujin, and trapped caoren. The thieves in Lianliang, Jiaxing, and Luhun were also remotely sealed by Guan Yu, echoing from the north to the south. At that time, Guan Yu’s reputation reached the extreme, which could be described as awe inspiring in China. Even Cao Cao, the king of Wei, wanted to move to Xu to avoid his sharpness. Guan Yu’s successive victories not only gave Liu Bei a great gift as the king of Hanzhong, but also made the optimistic estimators of the war in Xiangfan dominate the mainstream of the Shuhan regime. Just as Lu Bi quoted huangrentong in the collection of the annals of the Three Kingdoms, it is “happy with its victory, not afraid of its defeat”. In addition, at the time when Liu Bei was just called the king of Hanzhong, a great hero and a system was established, there was a lack of sufficient awareness and corresponding preventive measures for the actions of Wu allies who looked ahead and plotted to sneak attacks. Moreover, Shuhan was obviously ill prepared for the speed of Guan Yu’s defeat. For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, the first master’s biography, it was said: “when Guan Yu attacked Cao Ren, the general of Cao Gong, birds were banned from fan. Russia and Sun Quan attacked Yu and took Jingzhou.” For Guan Yu’s defeat in Xiangfan, Chenshou, the author of the annals of the Three Kingdoms, used the word “Russia”, which is worth pondering. It can also prove from the side that the speed of Guan Yu’s defeat was unexpected for the Shuhan regime, who was intoxicated with the great victory at that time.

Finally, when Shuhan learned that Guan Yu had lost Jingzhou and gone to Macheng, Guan Yu had been captured and killed by Sun Quan in linjuzhang township. At this time, the main roads leading to Jingzhou had been blocked by the heavy troops of Wu and Wei, and could not be rescued. For example, in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Wu Shu, Lu Xun’s biography:

?? “Xun dispatched 3000 generals, including Li Yi and Xie Jing, to attack Shu generals Zhan Yan and Chen Feng. Different generals, including the Navy and infantry, cut off the danger, that is, broke Yan and so on, and gave birth to Feng. He also attacked Fangling Prefecture governor Deng Fu and Nanxiang Prefecture governor Guo mu, and greatly defeated them. Thousands of Heyi soldiers, including Wen Bu and Deng Kai, from Zigui, came from the West. Xun Fu’s troops attacked rags and Kai. Bu and Kai left, and Shu thought they would be generals. Xun was seduced, and bu Shuai all surrendered. Before and after they were recruited, every Tens of thousands. ”

It can be proved that Sun Quan of the eastern Wu Dynasty had sent Lu Xun, a partial general and right governor, to take down Yidu, attack Zigui, Zhijiang and Yidao, garrison Yiling, and guard the gorge with heavy troops to prevent the Shu army from going down the river to reinforce Guan Yu. At the same time, he attacked Fangling and Nanxiang, cutting off Guan Yu’s attempt to return to Shuhan along the Yangtze River. In addition, the Cao Wei Dynasty had already deployed heavy troops to guard the return road from the Han River to Hanzhong. At this time, Guan Yu could not escape. The Shu Han army could not get through the main road to Jingzhou. In the end, it could only sit back and watch Guan Yu’s demise without providing assistance.

In a word, Shuhan did not send troops to assist Guan Yu in time. The main reason is that, as Yi Zhongtian said in tasting the Three Kingdoms, “I believe too much in Guan Yu’s ability to defend Jingzhou and the northern expedition to Xiangfan; I can’t predict the speed of Guan Yu’s defeat; I can’t believe the joint attack of Wu and Wei on Jingzhou.”.

4? The mystery of Guan Yu losing Jingzhou

Guan Yu’s careless loss to Jingzhou has always been praised and lamented. But looking at the historical records, we believe that the loss of Jingzhou’s strategic location is not only caused by Guan Yu’s carelessness, but also has deeper reasons. The following will focus on this issue to be discussed in depth.

First of all, from a political perspective, in the autumn and July of the 24th year of Jian’an, when Guan Yu led most of the Jingzhou corps to attack Xiangfan. At this time, the Wu Shu alliance was frequently on the edge of rupture. The cause was that Sun Quan sent Zhugeliang’s brother zhugejin to Chengdu to seek Jingzhou, but Liu Bei passed the buck with the words “if you want to win Liangzhou, you should make peace with Jingzhou”. As a result, the armies of Wu and Shu faced off in Yiyang, and the war broke out immediately. It was only because Cao Cao led troops into Hanzhong and Liu Bei was afraid that Yizhou would be lost that they sat down with Sun Quan for peace talks. The two sides agreed to carve up Jingzhou with Xiangshui as the boundary. In fact, before that, Sun Quan was furious because Liu Bei “broke his faith” and took Yizhou from himself. He immediately sent people to Jingzhou to pick up his sister. Mrs. sun even planned to take Liu Bei’s only son, Liu Chan, away. She was suspected of taking his son as a hostage in exchange for Jingzhou. It was only because Jingzhou had already made preparations. For example, Mr. Chen Erdong said in his gossips:

“In order to fear that Sun Fu’s life would change under his elbows and armpits, Zhugeliang quietly paid attention to the rear, and Zhao Yun’s entry and exit were on guard. They were always on tenterhooks at any time.”.

Upon learning the news, Zhugeliang urgently ordered Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei to “rein in troops to intercept the river” and recaptured Liu Chan from the eastern Wu. Although it can be seen in the unofficial history “Yun biezhuan”, it should be a historical fact accepted by “Zizhi Tongjian”. Another thing to note is the resurgence of the “hawks” in Jiangdong, which is also one of the key factors for the rupture of the relationship between Wu and Shu. In the entire Jiangdong military community, whether it is Zhou Yu, Lu Meng, Lu Xun and other “hawkish” generals, they have always advocated “swallowing Liu arrogance”, that is, the eastern Wu army should control the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and move the strategic focus along the river westward to Zigui, Zhijiang and Yidao in the Xiling Gorge section, so as to cushion the military pressure from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Although Lu Su and other “Hawk” forces in Jiangdong still dominated the military, especially after Lu Meng, Lu Xun and other “Hawk” generals continued to take charge of Dongwu and India, seizing Jingzhou has become one of their important and established military strategic goals. At this time, the Dongwu side is only waiting for the best and most appropriate time. While the eastern Wu coveted Jingzhou from time to time, Liu Bei, the former leader of the Shu Han Dynasty, Zhugeliang and other military masters, including Guan Yu, the general of Jingzhou, were not aware of the seriousness of this problem. They still encouraged or acquiesced in Guan Yu leading the main Jingzhou regiment to the North to launch the battle of Xiangfan, which was one of the main reasons why Guan Yu lost Jingzhou.

Secondly, from the military point of view, it was a serious mistake for Guan Yu to lead the main Jingzhou army group to the north to launch the battle of Xiangfan. The following is an analysis from the aspects of military strategy, tactics and the comparison and allocation of troops. First, from the perspective of military strategy, Guan Yu’s solo northern expedition was a serious mistake. According to the general plan for the founding of the people’s Republic of China, Longzhong Dui, which Zhugeliang had planned for the Shu Han Dynasty, the general plan for the northern expedition was as follows: after Liu Bei’s group had crossed Jingzhou and Yizhou, when the time was ripe, Jingzhou troops attacked Wanzhou and Luozhou in the north and chased the Central Plains. The main force of Yizhou was led by Liu Bei out of Qinchuan and Guanzhong, echoing East and West, and attacked the Cao Wei with a powerful pincer attack. However, during Guan Yu’s Northern Expedition, the main force of Yizhou did not take any action, which seriously violated Zhugeliang’s Longzhong decision and made the main force of Jingzhou led by Guan Yu go north and become an isolated force. After going deep into the enemy’s territory with a lone army, not only did they not receive assistance from the Shu and Han Dynasties, but even the Shu troops such as Liufeng and Mengda, who were near the three counties of Xicheng, Shangyong and Fangling in the upper reaches of the Han River, refused to send troops to help. At that time, in order to protect Fancheng from being lost, Cao Wei successively mobilized several reinforcements to the south to rescue Cao Ren in Fancheng. It can be said that the army of the whole country was used to fight for Xiangfan and Fancheng. Obviously, even if the eastern Wu did not attack Jingzhou from behind, the fate of failure was still inevitable. For example, the famous historian wangfuzhi believed that:

“Guan Yu’s cover on LV Meng has made unexpected changes. However, without the disturbance of LV Meng, Yu is now on the same level as Cao Cao. Can Yu control Cao Cao’s death? It’s more than enough to control Cao Ren, but less than enough to consolidate the enemy Cao.”

The reason why Cao Cao did not let the Wei Army take advantage of the victory to attack Guan Yu in the South was that he wanted to “make the two thieves hold each other’s titles and wait for their disadvantages”. Therefore, Mr. Hu Sansheng commented:

“Huang Ying broke Yu Wei so that it could not be controlled, so that LV Meng would not attack Jiangling, and Yu would also be broken by Cao. Those who manipulate their fake hands in Mongolia want to make the two bandits cheat themselves and take the credit of the fisherman and Tianfu.”.

Both of them thought the same thing, and they were right in the words. They both pointed out the mistakes of Guan Yu’s military strategy that the northern expedition would inevitably fail. Second, from the tactical point of view, Guan Yu’s command was seriously improper, which made the Shu army from active to passive, and eventually lost people. In August of the 24th year of Jian’an, Guan Yu took advantage of the overflow of the Han River and the water depth of several feet to launch a fierce attack on the Yujin reinforcements stationed in the north of Fancheng. As a result, he killed pound, captured Yujin, trapped caoren, and won the first battle, putting the Shu army in an extremely favorable position. However, under such circumstances, Guan Yu gave up concentrating superior forces to attack Fancheng, but sent his troops south to cross the Han River. “He sent LV Chang, a general of Wei Dynasty, to Xiangyang.” he also sent the wandering army to Jiaxian County near Xudu, which further dispersed the Shu army, which had only 30000 troops. As a result, Fancheng was unable to attack Xiangyang for a long time, and Guan Yu’s army spent twoorthree months under these two strong cities. The soldiers were tired and the morale was low. Cao Cao took advantage of this precious twoorthree months to send back a large number of reinforcements from Hanzhong and the eastern front to reinforce Fancheng. Sun Quan of the eastern Wu also took advantage of this time to calmly complete the joint efforts with Cao Wei, assemble troops, transport food and grass, and make preparations for the occupation of Jiangling and public security. When the Shu army was in great danger of being attacked from behind, Guan Yu did not abandon Fancheng to defend Jingzhou. Instead, he “relied on the two cities to defend the stronghold”. He ignored it and continued to attack Xiangfan and Fancheng, resulting in the loss of the rear base soon. In fact, when Guan Yu besieged Fancheng, the news of sun and Cao’s collusion was well known. If Guan Yu quickly returned to protect Jiangling and Gongan, not only Jingzhou but also the whole Shu army could be protected. Unfortunately, Guan Yu “hesitated not to go” at this time, which not only frustrated the Shu army by Xu Huang, but also delayed the best time to rescue Nanjun. When he learned that Jingzhou had fallen, Guan Yu was desperate to recapture Nanjun. The two cities of Jiangling and Gongan were not gained by Wu’s army. Therefore, their morale was booming. Guan Yu defended the city. How can he be invincible when he attacked Wu’s army with a terrified and tired division. It can be seen that in the whole Xiangfan campaign, Guan Yu’s command art was a little immature, and he did not have the qualities of wisdom, boldness and courage that an excellent military commander had. Therefore, he repeatedly missed opportunities and was eventually captured by the enemy. Third, from the comparison of the troops of Wei, Shu and Wu and the allocation of generals, it is inevitable that Guan Yu will lose Xiangfan and Jingzhou. In the era of cold weapons, the key to determining the outcome of a war is still the amount of troops invested by the belligerents. As far as the Xiangfan campaign is concerned, Wei, Shu and Wu successively invested nearly 100000 troops to fight each other in this strategic area in order to compete for Jingzhou. In Shuhan, most of the Jingzhou Corps led by Guan Yu &\8211; About 30000 people went north, including about 5000 sailors. This figure is estimated based on the military strength of Guan Yu when he was ordered by Liu Bei to lead his army to fight for Yiyang in the south in the 20th year of Jian’an. According to the records of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wu and the biography of Lord Wu, “the general will prepare for the public security, so that Guan Yu will send 30000 troops to Yiyang, and Quan naizhao, Meng and other envoys will also help Su”. During this period, after four years of development, the Jingzhou army should also grow, estimated at about 40000 to 50000. In addition to leaving 10000 to 20000 troops stationed in the strategic Jiangling and Gongan cities, the actual strength Guan Yu can invest in the Xiangfan campaign is about 30000. In the Wei Dynasty, the Cao troops who took part in the Xiangfan campaign were mainly composed of three parts: the first part was the Xiangfan garrison of Cao Ren and Lu Chang, with thousands of people in each city, totaling about million people; The second part is Yu Jin’s reinforcements, about 40000 people; The third part is Xu Huang’s reinforcements. The troop strength is not recorded, but it can be estimated. Xu Huang’s troops are estimated to be 5000. In addition, Xu Shang and Lu Jian, the two generals sent from behind, are not very famous, so they don’t bring many soldiers. They should be half of Xu Huang’s, about 2500 each. So the combined strength is about 10000. Therefore, Xu Huang didn’t dare to go to rescue the two besieged cities immediately. For example, according to records of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Shu, biography of Xu Huang:

“Huang’s generals were many new soldiers, so they fought with Yu Nan, so they went to Yangling potun. The Taizu returned and sent generals Xu Shang and LV Jian to Huang. The order said:” we must gather our troops and horses, but we must all go ahead. ”

The troops of the 12th battalion of Yinshu and Zhugai who arrived later. There were about 30000 people, because Xu Huang would not dare or be unable to attack Guan Yu’s army with high morale if the total troops were not about the same as Guan Yu’s. Therefore, in addition to the 30000 troops led by Cao Cao, the total number of Cao Cao’s troops participating in the Xiangfan campaign was about 80000, more than two times that of Guan Yu, making Cao Wei an absolutely dominant force in the Xiangfan campaign. In the Sun Wu area, the total number of troops invested in the Xiangfan campaign was about 40000. Sun Quan sent three troops to sneak attack: Lu Xun’s army was 10000, Lu Meng’s army was 20000 (the main force of sneak attack), and Sun Quan later brought some troops. The number was not clear. It was estimated that there were about 10000 troops. Therefore, the total number of troops sent by the eastern Wu was about 40000, roughly equal to Guan Yu’s Jingzhou army. At the early stage of the battle of Xiangfan, Guan Yu besieged Cao Ren with 30000 troops and 5000 soldiers in Fancheng. His strength was in an absolute advantage, so Cao Ren was forced to ask Cao Cao for help. Cao Cao ordered about 40000 people from the seventh army of the forbidden director and governor to go south to Fancheng for reinforcements. At this time, the military strength of the two sides in the north of Fancheng was basically the same, but Cao Jun had a slight advantage, so pound led him to attack Guan Yu’s headquarters and shot Guan Yu on the forehead. In August of the 24th year of Jian’an, Guan Yu took advantage of the overflow of the Han River and the water depth of several feet to launch a fierce attack on the Yu Jin reinforcements stationed in the north of Fancheng. As a result, he killed pound and captured Yu Jin, captured more than 30000 people of the seven armies led by Yu Jin (including nearly 10000 casualties of the Wei Army), and sent them to Jiangling, public security and other places for resettlement. Guan Yu led more than 20000 people to besiege Fancheng, and sent another general to lead 10000 Shu troops across the Han River and encircle Xiangyang City with the Jingzhou Navy above the Mianyang river. When Wei general xuhuang led his troops to Fancheng to ask Cao Ren for help, the elite division transferred from the front line in Hanzhong had to supplement half of the recruits because it had fought against Liu Bei for years. For example, the biography of Xu Huang in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, the book of Wei, contains that “Huang Suo’s generals were so new that they fought against each other with difficulty, so they went to yanglingpotun.” It is estimated that the entire military strength is only about 5000, so they dare not fight with Guan Yu. They have to stay in yanglingpo and wait for follow-up reinforcements. The troops of the 12 battalions of Yin Shu and Zhu Gai who arrived later reached more than 30000. When the total strength of the Wei army reached more than 40000 and had an absolute advantage, they launched an offensive against Guan Yu. As a result, Xu Huang led his army to break through the encirclement camp several times. The Shu army was defeated. He threw himself into Mianyang and killed thousands, so he broke Guan Yu to the north of Fancheng. Later, Lu Meng of the Wu army led more than 20000 people to attack Jiangling and Gongan in Jingzhou. He also forced the Nanjun prefect Mi Fang and general (Fu) Shiren to surrender through half lobbying and half coercion under the condition of absolute military superiority. Therefore, although the Jingzhou regiment led by Guan Yu had more than 30000 people, in the whole Xiangfan campaign, it was always defeated by the opponents in an advantageous position when the local forces in the campaign were at a disadvantage. The only time was when the “seven armies under water” were captured. That was a great help from heaven. Therefore, Guan Yu’s defeat in Xiangfan and loss of Jingzhou were related to the objective reasons such as insufficient forces. From the perspective of the general allocation of Wei, Shu and Wu, at the beginning of the campaign, Cao Cao, the commander of the Wei army, and Sun Quan, the commander of the Wu army, led the army to be at the strategic point of Mopo or Lukou, mediating and planning the curtain in the middle, commanding the whole army’s offensive against Guan Yu. On the other hand, the former leader Liu Bei never sent a single soldier to help Guan Yu. Even the Shu troops such as Liu Feng and Mengda, who were near the three counties of Xicheng, Shangyong and Fangling in the upper reaches of the Han River, refused to send troops for help. The Cao and Wei dynasties sent pound, Yu Jin, Xu Huang and other famous generals in the middle of the Wei Dynasty. The sun and Wu dynasties also sent Lvmeng, Lu Xun and other young talents to fight. The Shu and Han Dynasties only had Guan Yu, a famous general, who not only wanted to defend the important areas of Jingzhou, but also tried his best to resist the joint attacks from the Wu and Wei dynasties. It was obvious that some forces failed to follow his heart. Therefore, the defeat of Xiangfan and the fall of Jingzhou became inevitable.

Moreover, from the character of the generals of all sides who participated in the battle of Xiangfan, it is obvious that Guan Yu’s loss of Jingzhou has a lot to do with his arrogant, arrogant, arbitrary and frank character defects. As everyone knows, to be a general, we must avoid arrogance and arrogance. For example, Zhugeliang general court said:

“A general should not be arrogant. Arrogance is disrespectful. Disrespectful people will leave. If people leave, people will rebel. A general should not be stingy. If a person is stingy, he will not be rewarded. If a person is not rewarded, he will not be fatal. If a person is not fatal, the army will be useless. If a country is empty, the country will be empty. If a country is empty, the bandits will be solid. Confucius said:” if there is the beauty of the talents of the Duke of Zhou, he will be arrogant and stingy, and the rest will be inadequate. ”

But Guan Yu was famous for his arrogance during the Three Kingdoms period. For example, Lu Xun said, “Yu is proud of his Xiaoqi, and his mausoleum is superior to others. He has made great achievements and is proud of his ambition…” Lu Meng once commented on Guan Yu: “he is quite conceited and a good mausoleum man.”. According to records of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu, biography of Guan Yu, in the 19th year of Jian’an (AD 214), when Liu Bei attacked Chengdu, Ma Chao came to run from Hanzhong. Guan Yu wrote a letter to Zhugeliang, asking “who can be compared with Superman”. Knowing that Guan Yu was ashamed of himself, Zhugeliang replied, “Meng Qi is both a scholar and a martial artist. He is a hero of the world. The disciples of Tsin and Peng should compete with Yide, even before he can compete with the rest of the world.”, Guan Yu looked at the letter Zhugeliang had written to him and looked at the visitors. His complacency and arrogance were evident in his words. In July of the 24th year of Jian’an (AD 219), Liu Bei called himself the king of Hanzhong, worshipped Guan Yu as the former general, zhangfei as the right general, machao as the left general, and planned to worship Huang Zhong as the later general. When Sima Feishi was sent to announce the imperial edict, Guan Yu jumped up and said angrily, “the old man will not be in the same line with the veteran!” Refuse to accept. After he had done all his ideological work, he reluctantly worshipped. It can be seen that Guan Yu’s arrogance and stubbornness were also well known in Liu Bei group. As Mr. Yi Zhongtian said in tasting the Three Kingdoms:

“Liu Bei group has always been used to Guan Yu. Guan Yu has become a ‘spoiled child’. The ‘spoiled child’ has two characteristics, one is willful, the other is naive. Because he is spoiled, he is willful; because he is a child, he is naive.”

This remark is to the point. In the whole Xiangfan campaign, all these were expressed incisively and vividly. First of all, it is not impossible to be self willed. However, if we do not distinguish between ourselves and the enemy, we will not only hurt ourselves, but also hurt others. For example, when Guan Yu had been attacking Fancheng for a long time, Sun Quan sent envoys to Guan Yu’s army to send troops to help him. This would have been a good thing. However, Guan Yu “resented his late drowning and was forbidden by himself”. Ignoring the friendship between the Wu and Shu allies, he angrily scolded: “if you dare to pull out the fan city, I can’t destroy your evil!”. It was arrogant to insult Sun Quan as a “cuzi” (that is, an animal) and openly say that after conquering Fancheng, he would move east to destroy Wu. However, Sun Quan tolerated it again and again, and wrote an apology in person. However, he did not know how to hate Guan Yu. He was just waiting for the opportunity to prepare for the move. At the same time, Guan Yu’s willfulness is manifested not only in dealing with the enemy, but also in dealing with internal relations. According to historical records, Guan Yu was “proud of the scholar bureaucrats for being kind to his soldiers.”, It is just the opposite of Zhang Fei’s “respect for gentlemen rather than villains”. It may be that during the period of guarding Jingzhou, he abused the Nanjun prefect Mi Fang and general (Fu) Shi Ren, who were the representatives of scholar bureaucrats, for many times. Later, because of the untimely supply of military funds from the front line, Guan Yu threatened that he would be severely punished after returning to the army. Therefore, once Yu Fan lobbied, he immediately surrendered to Sun Quan, the Lord of Wu. As a result, LV Meng successfully occupied Jiangling and the second city of public security in Jingzhou, which also became one of the important reasons for Guan Yu’s loss of Jingzhou. Yi Zhongtian said in “tasting the Three Kingdoms” that “it is not easy for you to fight in the front and for people to guard their homes in the rear. Can’t you be nice to them?”, This is true of both emotion and reason. Secondly, in addition to his willfulness, Guan Yu also showed the naive and frank side of “spoiled children” everywhere. For example, according to peisongzhi’s notes in the annals of the Three Kingdoms, Shu Shu Shu, biography of Guan Yu, Shu Ji says:

“Yu and Huang Su fell in love and talked together at a distance, but said that their life was not as good as military. In a moment, Huang dismounted and announced: ‘get Guan Yunchang’s head and give him a reward of a thousand kilograms.’ Yu was terrified and said to Huang, ‘brother, what evil words are you talking about?’ Huang said: ‘it’s a matter of this country.'”

Guan Yu and Xu Huang worked together in Cao Ying and were also good friends. However, when they meet on the battlefield, they can’t abandon their official position. Just as xuhuang said, “it’s a matter of this country”, Guan Yu was still surprised and asked, “brother, what are you talking about?”, It’s really naive and lovely. I don’t know that “there is no father and son on the battlefield”, let alone the so-called “true brothers”? Even if you meet a friend again after parting, you can choose a quiet place to drink and chat. On the battlefield, in full view of the public, can you tell us the feelings of friends? In order to deceive Guan Yu, Lu Meng and Lu Xun of the eastern Wu, Sun Quan came forward to transfer Lu Meng back from Nanjun on the grounds of recuperation, and then used Lu Xun, who was “not well-known”, to guard Lukou on his behalf. As soon as Lu Xun took office, he wrote a letter to deceive Guan Yu. In the letter, it is both flattery and flattery. “Yu looked at the book with humility and self trust. He wanted to be safe, so he felt very satisfied. He naively transferred some of the main forces in Jingzhou, which were left behind in Jiangling and Gongan, to the front line of Xiangfan, creating a void in the rear, and was attacked by the Eastern Wu. What is more ridiculous is that after learning that Lu Meng of the eastern Wu had succeeded in sneaking attacks on Jingzhou, Guan Yu also “made people know about him” on his way back to Nanjun. As a result, Lu Meng took the opportunity to skillfully “attack his heart” and disintegrated Guan Yu’s military heart in a short time. Guanyu was forced to lose Jingzhou and go to Macheng. Finally, he was captured and killed by Sun Quan in Zhangxiang, Linju. So far, it can be said that the loss of Jingzhou has a lot to do with Guan Yu’s arrogant and headstrong character defects.

5? Afterword

Today, after 1788, when we look back on the battle that affected the historical process of the Three Kingdoms, we feel a lot. Just as the opening words of Luo Guanzhong’s Romance of the Three Kingdoms in the Ming Dynasty said: “the rolling Yangtze River flows eastward, and the waves wash away the heroes. Success or failure turns around in vain. The green mountains are still there, and the sun is red for several times. White haired fishermen and woodcutters are used to watching the autumn moon and spring breeze on the river bank. A pot of muddy wine likes to meet each other. Everything in ancient and modern times is a joke.” All the great achievements, merits and demerits of heroes are just “passing clouds” in the eyes of future generations. And how many past events have happened in ancient and modern times, all of which are commented on by virtue of moral character in the laughter of muddy wine.