In the 24th year of Jian’an, Guan Yu launched the Xiangfan campaign. Although the seven armies were flooded and the town of Huaxia was threatened, it eventually led to the fall of Jingzhou and the killing of Sun Quan. However, it is puzzling that the whole battle of Xiangfan lasted for half a year. From the beginning, the envoys from Wu to Wei kept coming and going, to the later Cao Cao sent Yu Jin, pound, Xu Huang and other soldiers to reinforce Fancheng. For such a large-scale military action, Shuhan did not take any countermeasures. Finally, when Guan Yu was defeated and the whole army was destroyed, the reinforcements of the Shu army were still delayed, which aroused the suspicion of later generations. Recently, zhuziyan, a professor of the History Department of Shanghai University, wrote an article in the professional journal history collection, pointing out that Guan Yu was defeated by the Wu Wei alliance, but it may be his family Zhugeliang who put Guan Yu to the guillotine.
The battle of Xiangfan lasted half a year. Why didn’t Shu Han send a soldier? Many scholars have commented on this. In his early years, zhangtaiyan, a master of Chinese traditional culture, put forward his unique opinion. He believed that Guan Yu guarded Jingzhou with a heavy army and was arrogant. Not only would Yi Dai (after Liu Bei’s death) be difficult to deal with, but even when Liu Bei was alive, Zhugeliang would be difficult to cross the barrier of Guan Yu and absorb more power. Therefore, the “Ge family” would rather lose Jingzhou than kill Guan Yu with the help of Wu people. Zhang Taiyan’s view is very bold, but it is only speculation. In his article, Professor zhuziyan discussed this view in depth.
Liu Bei and Guan Yu have made a “pact” since childhood. Liu Bei will never be so slow as to just sit on the sidelines.
Zhuziyan pointed out in his article that although Zhugeliang could not take charge of military and political power at that time, he knew that the conditions for Guan Yu to capture Xiangfan were not mature, and completely violated the strategic decision of “waiting for changes in the world” and “two-way northern expedition to the Cao Wei” proposed in Longzhong DUI. However, there is no record of Zhu Ge’s exhortation in the text of the annals of the Three Kingdoms and Fei’s notes.
To take a step back, even though Liu Bei favored Guan Yu and did not take Longzhong Dui to heart, after the Xiangfan campaign, Liu Bei and Zhugeliang could not fail to pay full attention to every move of the campaign. Although the mountain roads between Sichuan and Hubei are blocked, the traffic is inconvenient, and the information dissemination is not very smooth, the entire Xiangfan campaign began in July of the 24th year of Jian’an and ended in December. It lasted for half a year from the beginning to the end. As a complete emerging regime, Shuhan cannot have any information transmission channels. When Guan Yu attacked Xiangfan and guarded Jingzhou, his troops were insufficient. In addition, the alliance between sun and Liu was on the verge of breaking. Sun Wu could use strange soldiers to attack Jingzhou at any time. Zhugeliang knew the art of war well. Would he take it lightly? As we all know, Zhuge was cautious all his life and never took risks. Why didn’t he remind Liu Bei of his “slowness”?
Zhuziyan believed that as long as Zhugeliang took up his responsibility as a “military master”, he would remind Liu Bei of the “danger” of Jingzhou at any time. Liu Bei, who had “made an agreement with Guan Yu since childhood” and was close friends with Guan Yu, would never “slow down” to just sit on the sidelines and not save Guan Yu when he was defeated in the war (the place where Guan Yu was captured and killed). So it was not others who really put Guan Yu on the guillotine, but Zhugeliang, one of his own. So why did Zhugeliang get rid of Guan Yu? We should also find the answer from Zhugeliang’s ambition and Guan Yu’s personality.
Zhugeliang had the world in mind, and Guan Yu was undoubtedly the biggest obstacle for him to seize power.
Zhuziyan pointed out that Zhugeliang was lying high in the middle of the mountain. He claimed that he “lived in troubled times without seeking to be known to the princes”. In fact, he “hid his weapons in his body” and was ambitious. He once said to his good friends Shitao, Xushu and mengjianyun: “the three ministers of Qing Dynasty can go to the governor and the governor.” When the three asked him what official he could be, “bright but smiling without saying”. Why laugh without saying? Because Zhu Geliang didn’t think of such official positions as Ci Shi and Jun Shou, it was difficult for him to tell others what he wanted.
Before the battle of Chibi, Zhugeliang was sent to Dongwu. Zhang Zhao, an important Minister of Dongwu, wanted to recommend him to serve the Lord of Wu. Zhugeliang said, “general sun is the Lord of man. However, judging from his degree, he can be virtuous and bright, but not bright. I will not stay.” The profound implication of the words “Xian” and “Jin” must be understood. The so-called “virtuous” means that Zhugeliang is regarded as a “virtuous man”. The highest standard for treating “virtuous men” is to treat them as “national scholars”. However, it is difficult to express the meaning of “being as bright as possible” in oneortwo sentences.
However, after Zhugeliang entered Liu Bei group, his status and power also gradually rose and improved. In fact, Liu Bei did not confide in Zhugeliang from the beginning. The monarchs and ministers were like fish and water. Before and after Liu Bei became emperor, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were higher than Zhugeliang, and others such as Zhao Yun, pangtong, Fazheng, Huang Zhong and Ma Chao were no lower than Zhugeliang. As most historians have pointed out, the relationship between Liu Bei and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei is obviously better than Zhugeliang. This is a serious obstacle to Zhugeliang’s official career, who is bent on seeking more than one person and more than ten thousand people.
Guan Yu has always looked down upon the scholar bureaucrats. After the battle of Chibi, he was very jealous of Zhugeliang.
Zhuziyan then pointed out that Guan Yu was famous for being arrogant and domineering, which was recorded in many historical books. In the 19th year of Jian’an, Liu Bei attacked Yizhou, and Ma Chao from Xiliang came to invest in it. Ma Chao was a well-known tiger general at that time. Liu Bei was overjoyed by him, and he was named General of Pingxi, the same as Guan Yu. Guan Yu, who was far away in Jingzhou, was extremely dissatisfied. He immediately wrote a letter to Zhugeliang, “asking who can be compared with super talents”. Zhugeliang wrote a book and replied that Ma Chao was “outstanding and outstanding all his life” and “should compete with Yide, even before the beard (Guan Yu) is unique”. After reading the letter, Guan Yu was complacent and “showed the guests” the letter.
In the 24th year of Jian’an, Liu Bei claimed to be the king of Guanzhong and wanted to appoint Huang Zhong as the later general. Afraid of Guan Yu’s displeasure, he sent Fei Shi to Guan Yu and worshipped Guan Yu as a former general. However, after hearing this, Guan Yu was furious and said that “the eldest husband will not join the veterans” and refused to be worshipped. Guan Yu is so arrogant. Why doesn’t Zhugeliang stop him? Instead, he wants to curry favor with him? Zhuziyan believed that this was Zhugeliang’s hidden strategy.
What is the relationship between Liang and Yu? There is no written record in history. However, on closer examination, we can also get a glimpse. When Zhugeliang was a novice, Liu Bei “had a close relationship with Liang, but Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were unhappy”.
During the battle of Chibi, Zhugeliang made great achievements, which not only consolidated his position in Liu Bei group, but also established a certain prestige, so that Guan, Zhang and others no longer dared to underestimate him. However, Guan Yu’s contempt has changed into jealousy. Master Wang clearly sees this, He said: “zhaolie was defeated by changban, Yu army was the only one, and Cao Cao crossed the river. He could not add one arrow to the other. Zhuge Gongdong envoy, Lu Su and Xi Jie, decided to make the friendship between the two countries. Zisun family broke Cao Cao, and Yu could not make any contribution, but the contribution came out of brightness. Liu Qi said: the imperial court has trained troops for 30 years, and great achievements have produced a Confucian scholar. Yu therefore avoided Su by avoiding Zhu Ge, because he avoided Wu, and Ge and Lu made a plan, so it was destroyed and could not be recovered.”
The battle of Xiangfan was a good opportunity for Zhugeliang to get rid of Guan Yu.
Zhuziyan believed that why Zhugeliang wanted to get rid of Guan Yu had a great relationship with Guan Yu’s character. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei have very different personalities. According to the history books, “Yu is good at treating his soldiers and proud of the scholar bureaucrats. Fei loves to respect gentlemen but does not care for villains.” It means that although Zhang Fei is not good at treating the soldiers, he respects the talented scholar bureaucrats very much. Although Guan Yu caresses the soldiers, he is always hostile and domineering to the scholar bureaucrats. As the number one scholar bureaucrat in Liu Bei’s group, Zhugeliang was certainly among them.
Zhugeliang was very clear about Guan Yu’s supercilious situation. However, he was worried about his special relationship with Liu Bei. In addition, he joined Liu Bei much later than Guan Yu, and his official position was lower than Guan Yu. Therefore, he had to “trust the snake in vain” to deal with it. What Zhugeliang considered was to fundamentally solve the problem, that is, to wait for the opportunity to get rid of Guan Yu. In the 24th year of Jian’an, Guan Yu rashly launched the Xiangfan campaign. When such a great opportunity came, Zhugeliang certainly would not remind Liu Bei of his “slackness” in the war situation.