Foreword: The Battle of Yiling is one of the three major battles in the Three Kingdoms period. The three major battles of the Three Kingdoms period had one thing in common. Although the party that launched the war first was strong, it ultimately failed and suffered heavy losses. The passive party had no chance of winning at the beginning of the war, but in the end it was able to defeat the strong with the weak. The outcome of the war shows that the general historical situation is often not shifted by people's subjective will.
Compared to Cao Cao failed in Chibi Battle , Liu Bei failed even worse. Although Cao Cao had failed, he had already occupied a large area in the north, and he could withstand this defeat.
Liu Bei's entrepreneurial roots are basically very meager. His power was accumulated after several failures. Liu Bei's failure in the battle of Yiling almost caused the Shuhan who had just established the country to be destroyed.
▲Liu Bei in the film and television drama
The situation of the two sides of the Shu and Wu before the Battle of Yiling
The substantial increase in the military strength of the Liu Bei Group should first be attributed to Zhuge Liang, and Liu Bei decided to conquer Wu Shi. Zhuge Liang was opposed. Not only Zhuge Liang opposed it, but also the military attache camp headed by Zhao Zilong . In this way, almost all the people Liu Bei brought when he entered Shu were opposed. Moreover, after Guan Yu lost Jingzhou, the Shuhan regime has completely lost the possibility of dominating the world. Not only that, before and after Guan Yu lost to Jingzhou, a large number of civil servants and generals in the Liu Bei Group actually died or died unexpectedly. Then, when the situation is very unfavorable and the strength is greatly damaged, why does Liu Bei insist on starting this war? Had he never thought that he would fail? If he fails, how can he deal with the aftermath,How to save strength?
▲Liu Bei in the film and television drama
Liu Bei may have never thought about it, and even Zhuge Liang might not have thought that Liu Bei would be defeated. Even for Cao Wei there were still people who believed that Liu Bei would win, but Soochow would not suffer heavy losses because of the defeat, but the result of the war was that Liu Bei was defeated, even Cao Pi, who did not understand the art of war. Knowing that Liu Bei had set up camp in a lush forest, they all asserted that Liu Bei would be defeated, but Liu Bei, who had been on the battlefield for most of his life, did not think of the fatal flaw in his formation.
Maybe Liu Bei knows that he is old, and Jingzhou must not be lost, so he wants to work hard at the end, maybe Jingzhou can get it back? But even though Liu Bei commanded wars many times in his life, he lost more and won less. The Sun Quan before the Battle of Yiling also faced the dilemma of no generals, because the generals accumulated during the period of Sun Jian and Sun Ce had withered before the battle of Yiling. The generals of Soochow first had Zhou Yu , then Lu Su , and then Sun Quan personally ordered and later grew up Lv Meng .
▲Lu Xun in the film and television drama
Lu Xun was so unknown in the early stage that even the veteran of Soochow won't accept Lu Xun before the war. But since Sun Quan has gone to Jingzhou, he must be actively preparing for this battle with Liu Bei after killing Guan Yu.
The process of the battle between the two sides in the battle of Yiling
Liu Bei is determined to start the battle of Yiling,In addition to being stubborn, thinking that Cao Cao is dead, Cao Pi is not the pride of his opponent, and he also considers revenge for Guan Yu. In the official history, although Liu Bei and Guan Yu did not formally worship, the relationship between the two is still not a brother than a brother. Guan Yu died at the hands of Soochow. Liu Bei lost most of the land. It is impossible not to avenge Guan Yu.
And Liu Bei dared to launch a crusade against Soochow under the background that he seemed to be powerful but had actually declined. In fact, he felt that once he sent troops to defeat Wu, Cao Pi might actually take the opportunity to attack the borders of Soochow. In fact During the period when Cao Wei was in Liu Bei's defeat of Wu, some people suggested that Cao Pi "cooperate" with Liu Bei's defeat of Wu. This person was Cao Wei's celebrity Liu Ye.
▲ Cao Pi in the film and television series
However, Cao Pi did not seize this rare opportunity, and instead sat and watched the opportunity to slip away. Cao Pi should have been confused by Sun Quan's false claims to him. Cao Pi was still too young to be fooled easily by Sun Quan. When Sun Quan defeated Liu Bei, Cao Pi went to Soochow to ask for the benefits Sun Quanxu would give him. Sun Quan immediately changed his face, and Cao Pi wanted to attack Sun Quan again at this time. But Sun Quan had just defeated Liu Bei, and his morale was so strong that Cao Pi could only swallow that.
Liu Bei also sent someone to contact Wuxi barbarians in advance to help him conquer Soochow. In fact, Liu Bei's mass foundation in Jingzhou is much better than that of Sun Quan. Although the pro-Liu faction inside Jingzhou pretended to surrender in the early stage of Jingzhou, Sun Quan never gave up the struggle and hoped that they could return to the Liu Bei camp. But when Liu Bei raised his troops, the forces opposed to Sun Quan in Jingzhou had been completely defeated. If Liu Bei could get in touch with these people in advance and attack them inside and outside, perhaps the outcome of the battle of Yiling would have to be rewritten. It's a pity that Liu Bei didn't make good use of the mass base he had accumulated in Jingzhou for many years, and he was too anxious for success.
▲Liu Bei in the film and television drama
August 221,Liu Bei led the army of Shu Han to advance both on land and water, and went all the way to Zigui , breaking the first line of defense of Soochow, and camping in Zigui, a decisive battle is about to begin. Liu Bei attacked Soochow with three routes: Yiling Road in Jiangbei. Although this road is convenient for large troops to march and fight, it is easy to be attacked by Wu and Wei on this road. The defeat of Guan Yu and Jingzhou is a lesson from the past.
The second waterway, the Yangtze, is easy to walk, and it will soon be able to start a war with Soochow, but Soochow is also convenient and can also counterattack. The third road is the Jiangnan Yi Road. From then on, the troops can avoid the heavy defense of Soochow, and once they succeed, they can take the strategically important place, and there is no danger of Wu and Wei's attack.
The third path seemed the safest, but Huang Quan thought it was difficult to attack and retreat from here, and expressed his willingness to lead a small group of troops to tentatively attack, which was rejected by Liu Bei. But at this time, Lu Xun did not send the Dongwu navy to meet Liu Bei, but chose to retreat and let Liu Bei rush out of the Three Gorges. Soochow had no advantage in land warfare and was soon defeated. At this point, Liu Bei consolidated the victory and achieved the first stage of victory.
▲The situation of the battle of Yiling
The Wu army retreated more than 400 miles, the Shu army left the Three Gorges, and the front line was too long. Sun Huan , who was in charge of land warfare by Wu Jun, lost the battle in the early stage and was attacked by Liu Bei in the later stage. However, he took advantage of his very popular advantage and blocked Liu Bei in Yiling. Lu Xun camped in Huya Mountain, 50 miles away from Yiling, and blocked Liu Bei's navy here.
Liu Bei's army cannot stay in snails all the time, especially in summer. The army's sanitation, water supply, food, and morale are all problems. Liu Bei came all the way, which is not conducive to protracted combat.
Besides fighting for thousands of miles, Shu Han's disadvantages of lack of advisers and good generals were suddenly revealed. If Liu Bei had a fierce attack, perhaps Sun Huan would have been unable to withstand it a long time ago; if Liu Bei had advisers like Pang Tongfazheng on his side,It would not allow Liu Bei to camp for more than 700 miles, but would predict that the enemy might attack with fire.
▲Liu Bei in the film and television drama
If Zhuge Liang is by Liu Bei's side, he won't let Liu Bei do this. Unfortunately, Liu Bei’s defeat of Wu did not receive Zhuge Liang’s support, and Liu Bei sent troops. If Zhuge Liang also followed, Liu Bei’s base camp would lack a figure who could master the overall situation, and Liu Bei could not find a second person like Zhuge Liang at this time. A person who can master the overall situation in the rear. Therefore, the lack of talents led to the battle of Yiling, Liu Bei's defeat was doomed.
The loss of Liu Bei in the battle of Yiling
Liu Bei's military strength when he launched the battle of Yiling, according to the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" recorded a total of more than 700,000 amphibious armies, in fact not so many, the heyday of the Shu Han Dynasty The army's strength was no more than 1780,000, and at least 150,000. Later, Guan Yu lost Jingzhou and lost more than 30,000 troops. Later, Zhugeliang's Northern Expedition brought an army of 100,000 people. In the war, 50,000 troops were directly lost. The loss of 50,000 is not a small number for any regime, and it is even more deadly in the Shu Han, which has a severely insufficient population and troops. What's more, the loss of 50,000 horses is only Liu Bei's most direct and superficial loss, as well as indirect and invisible losses.
▲ Baidicheng Tuogu
First of all, Liu Bei did not attack Cao Wei this time, but sent troops to Dongwu, so that people could see that Liu Bei said that he wanted to revitalize the Han room, but just an expansion for himself The slogan of strength. Chairman Mao once said that Liu Bei could not distinguish between primary and secondary contradictions and that the strategic objectives were not clear, which was a very accurate evaluation. The biggest loss in the battle of Yiling was that Liu Bei lost most of the people's hearts that were hard to get.
Secondly, the battle of Yiling can be seen as a continuation of the battle of Guanyu and Jingzhou. The battle of Jingzhou and the Shuhan have lost the possibility of reunifying the whole country, and the battle of Yiling is even worse.And Liu Bei also lost a lot of talents. Huang Quan was defeated because Liu Bei insisted on going his own way, and finally surrendered to Cao Wei. After the war, Liu Bei deeply felt that he was sorry for Huang Quan and showed great attitude towards Huang Quan's surrender.
important adviser Ma Liang sacrifice. Generals Fu Tong , Zhang Nan , Feng Xi , Chengji sacrificed. The barbarian king Shamo Ke was killed by the Soochow general Zhou Tai . Shu generals Du Lu and Liu Ning surrendered to Soochow, but Chen Shi's whereabouts are unknown. In "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Huang Zhong died in the battle of Yiling. In the real history, Huang Zhong died before the war.
▲Liu Bei in the film and television series
Many soldiers also died in the harsh battlefield environment, including Liu Bei himself also eating or drinking during the war, which caused dysentery , And gradually derive more diseases, and eventually died of illness in Baidi City.
Liu Bei has been indomitable throughout his life. He walked out of the humble living situation and gained the trust and appreciation of many people. It also made Cao Cao think that Liu Bei was the only person capable of competing with him. However, Liu Bei's shortcomings are also obvious. He has the side of being arrogant, and he is also arrogant and arrogant. In essence, he and Guan Yu have something in common.
On his deathbed, Liu Bei's heart should be full of regret and unwillingness. His own hero I finally withdrew from the stage of history in a disastrous way. The future of Shu Han was worrying, and the domestic forces who were ready to move, knew that Liu Bei was defeated. Zhuge Liang went to Baidi City to accept the task of Tuogu,As soon as I left Chengdu, there was rebellion in the country. Therefore, before Liu Bei's death, not only the foundation of Shu was unstable, but it was also troubled internally and externally. At this time, there were not many people who really supported Liu Bei within the Shuhan area.
▲Zhuge Liang in the film and television series
Maybe we only saw the scene after the war, we still can't really understand what the loss caused by the failure of the Yiling battle actually means. Some scholars believe that the decline of talents in the later period of the Shu Han Dynasty was a matter of Zhuge Liang's employment pattern. In all fairness, even if Zhuge Liang wanted to use talents and dared to use talents, the Shuhan Liu Bei left him with not many people could use them.
The growth and experience of a talent requires a long period of time, and war itself is a very fast way of talent consumption. In the later period of the Shu Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang misused horse and did not dare to reuse Wei Yan . Although there were reasons for his own cautious personality and he did not dare to let go, the root cause of all problems was lack of talents. Zhuge Liang wanted to train horses, but Ma Di is a military theorist, but not an excellent general who is good at actual combat.
▲Zhuge Liang in the film and television drama
Wei Yan was very appreciated before Liu Bei was alive, but Wei Yan’s personality is actually very similar to Guan Yu, and he has a bad relationship with many people, and always feels himself It works. Not to mention that Wei Yan's strategy is not feasible at all, but it is feasible. Zhuge Liang did not dare to implement the too risky troop dispatch plan. Because Shu can't afford to fight, let alone defeat, it can only fight steadily and try to avoid defeat. As for achieving a victory with substantial progress, it is simply impossible.
Many people think that Zhuge Liang's continuous northern expedition is to adhere to his ideals, and it is not enough to judge the situation. In fact, if he does not insist on the northern expedition, perhaps the interior of Shu has already been scattered. Therefore, the Northern Expedition was not Zhuge Liang's active choice, but his decision to continue the life of the Shu Han based on the judgment of the domestic and foreign situation.
▲Zhuge Liang in the film and television series
Zhuge Liang's affairs must be personal. The main reason is that he is afraid of making irreversible mistakes during his administration, but no matter how strong a person is, he will always make mistakes. of.
It can be said that the defeat of Guan Yu's Jingzhou and the defeat of Liu Bei's Yiling directly led to the demise of the Shu Han. After that, Zhuge Liang's six outs of Qishan only delayed the demise of the Shuhan regime, and it was just a futile struggle for the great cause of unifying the world.
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