Battle of Red Cliff , Liu Bei successively won Jingzhou and Yizhou . Later, he defeated Cao Cao in the Battle of Hanzhong and successfully captured Hanzhong . At this time, Liu Bei's strength reached its peak and had the foundation to divide the world into three parts. So, how powerful was Liu Bei after seizing Hanzhong?
Liu Bei was displaced for the first half of his life. Although he had the ambition to support the Han Dynasty, his fate was tragic and he could never get a base that could allow him to develop stably. For example, when Liu Bei occupied , Xuzhou , he thought he could achieve great things, but in the end he was driven out, but even his wife and children were lost. It was not until after occupying Jing and Yi that Liu Bei became truly stable and had the strength to compete with Cao Cao and Sun Quan.
However, although Liu Bei has the strength to compete with the other two companies, and is more popular than Sun Quan on the surface, he is still the weakest of the three parties. Not to mention that compared with Cao Cao, who dominated the north, Liu Bei could not gain much advantage even compared with Dongwu . Perhaps Liu Bei had many famous civil and military officials under his command, but Sun Quan's strength was not inferior.
Sun Quan's talent is very outstanding. Cao Cao once praised " should have a son like Sun Zhongmou !" In addition, the lineup of civil and military officials and generals under Sun Quan is also very luxurious. The four generals of Zhou Yu , Lusu , Lu Meng , Lu Xun , Lu Xun are all civil and military talents. Cheng Pu , Huang Gai , Han Dang , Zhou Tai and other military generals may not be as strong as Liu Bei's five tiger generals, but they should not be underestimated. More importantly, the 81 counties occupied by Sun Quan were far richer than the Yizhou in Liu Bei's hands.
Yizhou has rich resources and has been known as the "country of Heavenly Prefecture" since ancient times. Why is it said that it cannot compare to the counties in Jiangdong? This is mainly because although Liu Bei took advantage of the civil unrest in Yizhou to seize most of Yizhou, Liu Bei did not actually occupy Yizhou completely. The southern, northern and eastern parts of Yizhou were not part of Liu Bei's territory. The south was controlled by barbarians, and the north and eastern parts were firmly controlled by Cao Cao.
If Liu Bei could occupy the entire Yizhou, he might be comparable to Sun Quan, but this is obviously unlikely. Moreover, although Liu Bei was playing in Hanzhong, Xiangfan and other places, this is just a flash in the pan. The places occupied by Liu Bei are all not good, the economy is not good, and the population is small. As long as he loses once, he will have a chance to turn around. Battle of Yiling is a good example.
However, whether it is Liu Bei or Sun Quan, the place they occupy can only be settled in one corner at most, and it is unlikely to fight for dominance in the world. In the history of more than two thousand years in ancient times, there was only one Zhu Yuanzhang , and only one Liu Bang was out of Hanzhong to conquer the world. Think about it, no matter how powerful Liu Bei and Sun Quan are, they are somewhat inferior to Zhu Yuanzhang and Liu Bang.
After Liu Bei captured Hanzhong, although his strength was already very strong, he was still very inferior to Cao Cao, and even half as strong as Cao Cao. This is mainly because the economic centers of the entire Han Dynasty during the Han Dynasty were in the Central Plains. The areas controlled by Cao Cao not only have a large population and arable land, but also have very rich products. This is also the main reason why those who fought to dominate the world in ancient times wanted to occupy the Central Plains, because it was too rich.
Most of the ancient agricultural planting relied on land and weather for food, and the climate in the Central Plains was the most suitable for crop growth. Compared with the Central Plains, both Sun Quan and Liu Bei's territory are places that have not been fully developed, and are far inferior to the Central Plains in terms of population and economy. After Liu Bei and Sun Quan took these two places, they were destined to find it difficult for them to unify the world.
In ancient times, wars were not only about who had the most counselors and generals. The base of the population determined the number of soldiers they could support, and the amount of goods also determined the length of time they could use the troops.Judging from these two aspects, Liu Bei's strength is far inferior to Cao Cao. This is why in the late stage of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, women had to be ordered to transport supplies on the battlefield, because the population base was insufficient, and it was difficult to meet the consumption and needs of the war.
After Liu Bei occupied Yizhou and Hanzhong, although he could not compare with Cao Cao, his family's foundation was actually very rich, and even Sun Quan was afraid of him. But Liu Bei's Battle of Yiling was really defeated too badly, and almost all his family was burned out by the Eastern Wu. At this time, Liu Bei was only left with an empty shell, and his true strength was probably not even half of Cao Cao's. If it weren't for the hard work of Zhuge Liang for several years, it would be hard to say how long Shu Han could last.
