Before Liu Bei launched the battle of Yiling, there was only one person from the Shuhan Group in historical records that clearly opposed the attack on Soochow. This person was Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun advised Liu Bei to say:
The national thief is Cao Cao, not Sun Quan. After Cao Wei, Sun Quan would naturally surrender. Although Cao Cao passed away, Cao Pi usurped the Han family and caused public outrage. He should attack Cao Wei first. If he attacked Sun Quan now, the war would not be easy to stop at the beginning. Defying Wu is not the best policy.
Liu Bei refused to listen to Zhao Yun’s advice and insisted on the Northern Expedition. Besides, no one in the Shuhan Group clearly opposed the downfall of Wu, including Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang chose to remain silent when Liu Bei launched the war against Sun Quan. Zhuge Liang said in a vague and ambiguous sentence in "The True Story of Fazheng":
If Fazheng was still alive, he would definitely be able to dissuade the Lord from entering the Eastern Wu. Even if he entered the Eastern Wu, he would not suffer such a fiasco. !
Although Zhuge Liang said this, it did not clearly express Zhuge Liang’s attitude towards Liu Bei’s attack on Wu. The first half of this sentence says: If the law is right, Liu Bei can be discouraged from attacking Wu. Wu, it seems that Zhuge Liang tends to dissuade Liu Bei from killing Wu, that is, he opposes launching a war against Sun Quan. The second half of this sentence is to say: If you really want to send troops to attack Soochow, if there is a law, it will not be defeated so badly. It means that Zhuge Liang agreed with Liu Bei's defeat of Wu. This is an inconsistent statement, so Zhuge Liang's attitude cannot be explained.
But we can analyze it. From Zhuge Liang's standpoint, does he support the defeat of Wu or oppose it?
1. Zhuge Liang's overall strategy
Talking about Zhuge Liang's strategy, we must not get around Longzhong. Zhuge Liang has already made it clear in Longzhong, occupying Jingzhou and Yizhou, waiting for the world There are changes, and the division of troops from Jingzhou and Yizhou into the northern expedition. This is the core idea of Longzhong. Even if the overall strategy of a regime will be adjusted according to the current situation, the core idea will definitely not change.
Now Guan Yu is killed, Jingzhou is snatched away by Soochow, Shuhan Group has lost Jingzhou forever. Without Jingzhou’s Longzhong strategy, it would be flowers in the water and moon in the mirror. What is possible is also unacceptable to Zhuge Liang.
Obviously, Soochow took away the three counties of Jingzhou from the Shuhan Group and it was impossible to return them. The only way for the Shuhan Group to retake Jingzhou was to launch a war and seize Jingzhou from Soochow, so Liu Bei launched The battle of Yiling against Sun Quan was completely politically correct. Zhao Yun's advice to Liu Bei was from a moral point of view, not from a political point of view, so Zhao Yun was not a politician, but Liu Bei Yes, and so is Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Liang understands very well that only war can retake Jingzhou, so in theory, Zhuge Liang should be who supported the defeat of Wu.
2. The strategy of the Shuhan Group
The strategy of the Shuhan Group is not exactly equivalent to Zhuge Liang’s Longzhong strategy. This can be done by Liu Bei ordering Guan Yu to launch the battle of Xiangfan It can be seen that Longzhong was talking about changes in the world, the two northern expeditions, and now the world has not changed, but Jingzhou launched the northern expedition, and Yizhou has not cooperated. This means that Guan Yu was a lone army in the northern expedition and was remanded to the three counties of Jingzhou. All resources.
Zhuge Liang played the role of Xiao He or Zhang Liang from the beginning to the end of the Liu Bei era. He only has the right to make suggestions, but no decision-making power. All the decision-making powers of the Shuhan Group are in the hands of Liu Bei. The war is to listen to the law, Zhuge Liang’s Longzhong strategy is temporarily left aside, and the Liu Bei Group has been at the peak of rising from the Battle of Chibi until August 219, which made Liu Bei proud to underestimate the enemy. .
From Liu Bei launched the Battle of Hanzhong to defeat Cao Cao, to Liu Bei ordered Liu Feng and Meng Da to attack the three counties of Shangyong, to Guan Yu launched the battle of Xiangfan, this series of military operations combined is Liu Bei's total in 219 AD Strategy: Open up the Han River to prepare for the next Northern Expedition. This is also not a strategy for Longzhong.
From this,Since Liu Bei entered Shu, Longzhong’s execution of strategy has been abandoned by Liu Bei. Liu Bei pursued an aggressive northern expedition and actively pioneered the strategy. After defeating Cao Cao in Hanzhong, he began a strategic offensive. Obviously, Liu Bei was a little hastily. The huge loss of the battle made the entire Yizhou exhausted, so that during the entire Xiangfan battle, Liu Bei had no time to support Guan Yu, or was unable to support Guan Yu. After
Jingzhou was lost, Liu Bei made another decision to attack Dongwu. Zhugeliang did not discourage Liu Bei, nor expressed his consent, but was silent. It is more likely that Zhuge Liang felt that he had advised him and would be like Zhao Yun. If it doesn't work, it's better not to dissuade him. From Zhuge Liang's heart, he agreed to kill Wu, but obviously he didn't agree to be so anxious to kill Wu, so he said such a contradiction .
III. The strategic significance of Jingzhou
The strategic significance of Jingzhou mentioned here does not only refer to the geographical aspect, but specifically refers to the great strategic significance of Jingzhou to the Shu Han. If you carefully observe the Shu Han The birthplace of the group's senior leaders will find a problem. In the middle and senior leadership positions, most of them are people from Jingzhou. The Jingzhou native place mentioned here refers to Jingzhou, one of the 13 prefectures in the Eastern Han Dynasty, including seven counties. .
For example, Zhuge Liang, the son-in-law of Jingzhou, he is the son-in-law of Jingzhou celebrity Huang Chengyan, half a Jingzhou native, and he has a huge relationship in Jingzhou, which can be related to Liu Biao, Cai Xie, and Kuaiqi Relatives, such as Ma Liang, Ma Di and other Ma’s Wuchang, Zhuge Liang’s successors: Jiang Wan, Fei Yi, and one of the four phases of Shu Han Dong Yun and Dong He father and son, as well as Huo Jun and Huo Yi father and son, and Xiang Lang, Xiang Chong, and Wei Yan, Pang Tong, Liu Feng, Liu Ba, Liao Hua, Deng Zhi, Yang Yi, Feng Xi, Hu Ji, Yan Yu, Fu Tong, Dong Jue, Fan Jian, Luo Xian, etc.
The reason why Shuhan uses Jingzhou natives in large numbers is because Shuhan is a foreign regime in Yizhou. Foreign regimes want political stability and must use foreigners to manage locals. Therefore, the selection of senior officials by the Shuhan Group first looks at their native place. Therefore, the Shuhan Group formed a Jingzhou Group with Zhuge Liang as its leader in the early period and Jiang Wan and Fei Yi as its leaders in the later period.
Now the ancestral home of the Jingzhou Group, which is the leader in the Shuhan Group, was robbed by the Soochow. Whether in public or private, the Jingzhou Group hopes that Liu Bei will defeat Wu and retake Jingzhou. After all, Jingzhou is them. In their hometown, where there are their network of connections, ancestral temples, houses and land, relatives and fellow villagers, it can be said that Jingzhou has everything they own. Without taking it back, how can Liu Bei confess to Jingzhou Group?
Can Zhuge Liang as the leader of the Jingzhou Group not support the opinions of the entire group? Besides, Zhuge Liang himself also has a large number of connections and assets in Jingzhou. In addition, Zhuge Lianglong also needs Jingzhou for strategy. In public and private, Zhuge Liang will support Liu Bei's defeat of Wu. What Zhuge Liang does not support is that Liu Bei's defeat of Wu is too impatient , You should wait for the right time to defeat Wu again, such as letting Sun Quan and Cao Pi fall out and then take the opportunity to defeat Wu, because Zhuge was only cautious all his life, but obviously Liu Bei didn't want to wait for .
Liu Bei was 61 years old when he became emperor. He felt that time was running out and there was no time to spend any more. After Liu Bei completed his most lofty ideal of life and established power, he took advantage of the last days of his life to start the attack on the East Wu, Liu Bei has Liu Bei's reasons, Zhuge Liang also has Zhuge Liang's ideas, it is impossible for people to maintain the same ideas.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang’s opinion is: supports the killing of Wu, but does not support such anxious killing of Wu, so he would say such contradictory words to .
