The Three Kingdoms (220-280 years) is a historical period between the Han Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty. It is divided into three countries: Caowei, Shuhan and Dongwu. During the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao was defeated by the Sun Liu coalition army, laying the prototype of the Three Kingdoms. In the decades that followed, Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei of the Shu Han Dynasty led their troops to the north of Cao Wei many times, but they still failed to change the three-legged pattern. The real power of Cao Wei's later period was gradually controlled by Sima Yi. In 263, Cao Wei's Sima Zhao launched the war of Wei to destroy Shu, and the Shu Han fell. In 265, Sima Yan, the minister of the State of Wei, abolished Emperor Wei and Yuan to stand on his own. In 280, the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Dongwu and ruled the world, and the Three Kingdoms period was completely over.
Among the Three Kingdoms, many people think that Shuhan is the weakest vassal state. Moreover, in terms of the time of destruction, the Shu Han was also the first to perish among the Three Kingdoms. However, in the author's view, although the Shu Han was indeed relatively weak after the Yiling War, it also had its own peak for Liu Bei's forces. To a certain extent, when Liu Bei's power was at its peak, not only could he compete with Cao Cao for the world, but he could also overpower Soochow where Sun Quan was. Of course, what is more regrettable is that because Guan Yu was careless in the battle between Jingzhou and Yiling, Liu Bei's forces suffered heavy losses and even went to extinction during the Three Kingdoms period.
一
First of all, in the author's opinion, the peak of Liu Bei's power was in 219 AD. To be more precise, it was before Liu Bei took the land of Hanzhong and went to Guan Yu to lose sight of Jingzhou. The Battle of Hanzhong was a battle between Liu Bei and Cao Cao during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of Han Dynasty. This war was initiated by Liu Bei from the 22nd year of Jian'an (217) and ended in May of the 24th year (219) of Jian'an. The war lasted for nearly two years. In the Battle of Hanzhong, both Cao and Liu invested a lot of combat power. Liu Beifang's participating generals Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, etc., Cao Cao's participating generals Xia Houyuan, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, Zhang Yun, Xu Huang, Guo Huai, etc., They are all famous generals in the Three Kingdoms period, and it can be described as a close war.
In the battle of Hanzhong, the end result was that Cao Cao took the initiative to withdraw his troops in 219 AD, allowing Liu Bei to seize the land of Hanzhong. In Liu Bei's life, Cao Cao was undoubtedly the biggest opponent. Especially in the initial contests, Liu Bei was undoubtedly repeatedly defeated and embarrassed. In the Battle of Hanzhong, Liu Bei finally defeated Cao Cao head-on, which means that the combat effectiveness of Liu Bei's forces has not lost to Cao Cao's elite divisions. Especially in the Battle of Hanzhong, Cao Cao was still on the defensive side. He originally had advantages in city and terrain, but he lost to Liu Bei.
二
Therefore, if Guan Yu didn’t lose sight of Jingzhou, Liu Bei would most likely point directly to Guanzhong in the next few years, that is, to advance the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, instead of waiting until 228 AD before Zhuge Liang The Northern Expedition to the Central Plains has officially begun. In 219 AD, the peak of Liu Bei's power was mainly reflected in two aspects. One was that Liu Bei had the most extensive territory, and the other was that Liu Bei had the most talented people under his command. On the one hand, as far as the site is concerned, in 219 AD, Liu Bei's site was mainly divided into three parts, one is the three counties of Jingzhou guarded by Guan Yu.
As early as AD 215, Liu Bei and Sun Quan agreed to divide Jingzhou equally, that is, with Xiangshui as the boundary, the Jiangxia County, Changsha County, and Guiyang County of Jingzhou belong to Sun Quan, and the South County of Jingzhou, Lingling County and Wuling County belong to Liu Bei. This is the famous demarcation of Xiangshui in the history of the Three Kingdoms. After the delimitation of Xiangshui, Guan Yu actually guarded the three counties of Jingzhou (Nanjun, Lingling County, and Wuling County). By 219 AD, Guan Yu still guarded the three counties of Jingzhou. In the entire Jingzhou area, Liu Bei, Cao Cao, and Sun Quan divided Jingzhou into three parts, that is, maintaining a relatively delicate balance. However, in terms of combat power in the land of Jingzhou, Guan Yu is obviously the strongest. This has been fully demonstrated in the battle of Xiangfan. In the context of Cao Cao’s continuous reinforcements, Guan Yu was able to surround Xiangfan, flood the Seventh Army, and slash. Kill Pound and get captured.
三
For Liu Bei's site, the second part is Yizhou, which Liu Zhang once occupied. In the nineteenth year of Jian'an (214), Luocheng was besieged for nearly a year before being conquered. Liu Beinai, Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others surrounded Chengdu together. At that time, Liu Bei sent Jianning Supervisor Li Hui to say that Ma Chao was dropped. When Ma Chao came to Chengdu, Liu Bei ordered him to lead his army to the north of the city, and the city was horrified. Liu Bei sent Jianyong to persuade Liu Zhang to surrender, and he received the benefits.State animal husbandry employs many talents in Shuzhong. Through the battle of Yizhou, Liu Bei not only won the Yizhou land, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and can be called the land of abundance, but also many talents in Yizhou. For Liu Bei's site, the third part is Hanzhong County and Dongsan County.
Hanzhong County is already very familiar to everyone. It is the gateway and throat of Yizhou. As for the Dongsan County, it is Fangling, Shangyong and Xicheng. Geographically, Dongsan County is a very important place connecting Hanzhong and Jingzhou. In this regard, in my opinion, 219 AD is undoubtedly the pinnacle of Liu Bei's site. Because just a year later, Liu Bei's forces lost the three counties of Jingzhou and the third county of Dongfang, which almost made the Shuhan lose half of the country, which became an important reason for the decline and even the demise of the Shuhan. On the other hand, in addition to the peak on the ground, in 219 AD, Liu Bei's command was still full of talents, not losing to Cao Wei and Soochow in quantity and quality.
四
Finally, the five generals of the Shu Kingdom, which everyone is most familiar with, died one after another in 220 AD, that is, in 219 AD, the five generals of the Shu Han, one None of them died. In addition to the five generals of the Shu Han Dynasty, Liu Bei also has Liu Feng, Meng Da, Wei Yan, Wu Yi, Wu Ban, Wang Ping, Zhang Yi, Liao Hua, Huang Quan, Li Yan, Ma Dai and many other generals. For these generals, there are both experienced veterans and young and energetic generals. And the existence of these generals will naturally become an important helper of the Shuhan in foreign conquests. For example, in the Battle of Hanzhong, Liu Bei killed Wu Lan, Lei Tong, Ren Kui and other generals. This also reflected the numerous generals under Liu Bei's command. In addition to military commanders, in 219 AD, Liu Bei also had civil advisers such as Fazheng, Zhuge Liang, and Liu Ba. Especially the adviser of Fazheng, who was Liu Bei's right-hand man, died in 220 AD.
It was under the plan of Fazheng that Liu Bei won the battle of Hanzhong. In this regard, when Cao Cao personally conquered Hanzhong, he heard that the Fazheng offered his plan to Hanzhong, so he sighed with emotion: "I know that Xuande does not do this, so I must be taught by others." In general, in 219 AD, Liu Bei's side not only had a vast territory, but also had a large number of talents, which can be described as the peak of his power. In this regard, in the author's opinion, in 219 AD, Liu Bei was not only able to compete head-on with Cao Cao, but even overwhelmed Sun Quan. As far as Sun Quan was concerned, if it had not been for the sneak attack on Guan Yu in the Battle of Xiangfan, there would have been no chance to seize Jingzhou. In other words, without the intervention of Cao Cao, the three counties of Jingzhou guarded by Guan Yu would be enough to deter Soochow. After Guan Yu's careless loss of Jingzhou, Liu Bei's battle of Yiling still posed a great threat to the survival of Soochow. Therefore, the power of Liu Bei in his heyday was naturally overwhelming Sun Quan. Of course, Liu Bei at his peak was still slightly inferior to Cao Cao.
