Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang were the two major helmsmen before and after the Shu Han Dynasty, in the early Shu Han Dynasty, both led by Liu Bei to fight, after Liu Bei's death, Zhuge Liang led the army to fight, but Liu Bei from the suppression of the Yellow Turban Army uprising, to the Battle of Yiling after the disastrous defeat died of illness, he spent half his life on horseback, never encountered the problem of grain and grass shortage, why after Zhuge Liang took over shu Han, he always faced the problem of grain and grass shortage as soon as he went north?
This has a lot to do with the environment in which the two are located.
First, Liu Bei
Before the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei, in addition to serving as The Pastor of Xuzhou and leading his troops to be stationed in Xia Pi, was mainly attached to other princes at other times.
Liu Bei was a pastor of Xuzhou, and during his stay in Xia Pi, he had land, a city, and a people, Liu Bei could collect taxes from the people, as well as the support of rich households such as Mi Fang, so that Liu Bei could solve the problem of grain and grass for the army, and during Liu Bei's conquest of the Yellow Turban Army for the imperial court, his grain and grass were supplied by the imperial court, and at other times, Liu Bei was attached to the accounts of Gongsun Zhan, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao, and other tyrants, and Liu Bei did things for Gongsun Zhan, Cao Cao, Liu Biao, and others, and naturally they supplied Liu Bei with grain and grass, plus Liu Bei had few soldiers and needed less grain and grass.
After the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei took advantage of Cao Cao's defeat and returned to the north, capturing the four counties of Changsha, Lingling, Guiyang, and Wuling, and also borrowed Nan Commandery from Sun Quan. At this time, Liu Bei had territory in his hands and could support the army by collecting taxes. At the same time, Jingzhou, under the administration of Liu Biao, was relatively peaceful and stable, and was a prosperous and prosperous place, which also allowed Liu Bei to have more money and grain to support the army after getting Jingzhou.
Soon after, Liu Bei, with the help of Zhang Song and Fazheng, led his troops into Shuchuan on the pretext of dealing with Zhang Lu on Behalf of Liu Zhang. After entering Shuchuan, the grain and grass of Liu Bei's army were supplied by Liu Zhang, the mu of Yizhou. The purpose of Liu Bei's visit was to capture Yizhou, and soon he exposed his ambitions, deliberately created trouble, and turned against Liu Zhang. Subsequently, Liu Bei led his troops to capture Liu Zhang's Yizhou, which gave him more territory and soldiers.
Liu Zhang, and his father Liu Yan had been working in Yizhou for many years, and Yizhou had not participated in the war between Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Dong Zhuo and other princes, which made Yizhou richer and more rich, so after Liu Bei got Yizhou, he soon got the territory and population of Yizhou, and also got the grain and grass materials accumulated by Liu Yan and Liu Zhang for decades. At the same time, after Liu Bei sat in Yizhou, Liu Ba also came up with a coinage law for Liu Bei, allowing Liu Bei to indirectly exploit the wealth of the people of Yizhou by creating a new currency, and solving Liu Bei's money and grain problem.
Second, Zhuge Liang
Liu Beirong spent half his life, but in the early period, he was mainly attached to Gongsun Zan, Cao Cao, Liu Biao and other tyrants, so that he did not need to worry about money and grain. Later, after Liu Bei had Jing and Yi Erzhou, because Liu Bei and Liu Zhang left him a lot of wealth, liu Bei did not need to pay for money and grain, but the Shu Han that Zhuge Liang took over was a mess, which made Zhuge Liang always lack food when he led his troops on the Northern Expedition.
Before Zhuge Liang took over Shu Han, Two major crises broke out in Shu Han.
The first was the Battle of Xiangfan. In 219, when Guan Yu led his troops to attack Fancheng and Xiangyang, he was attacked by Eastern Wu and captured Jingzhou, which caused Shu Han to lose tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Jingzhou, as well as hundreds of thousands of people in Jingzhou and Jingzhou, causing Shu Han to lose a large number of people and land.
The first was the Battle of Yiling. After Guan Yu was killed and Jingzhou was captured, Liu Bei, who was blinded by hatred, led his troops to attack Eastern Wu, but in the Battle of Yiling, Liu Bei was arrogant and arrogant, and there was a strategic problem, he let the soldiers camp in the mountains and rivers, and also camped for seventy miles, lu Xun seized the opportunity, a fire burned the Shu army camp, Liu Bei led the seventy thousand troops, instantly buried in the sea of fire, basically lost.
During the war, population and land were the most important strategic resources, and if there was population, there were people who planted crops, there was grain and grass, there was a source of soldiers, there were taxes, and without population and land, everything could not be discussed, Guan Yu lost Jingzhou, so that the population and land of Shu Han were reduced by one-third, and Liu Bei was defeated in the Battle of Yiling, so that Shu Han lost tens of thousands of elite soldiers, and even lost tens of thousands of adult men.
In the Shu Han Dynasty that Zhuge Liang took over, there was a serious reduction in land and population, and the land and population were smaller, and the annual grain output would also decrease.
In ancient times, agricultural production mainly relied on adult men, and Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition would take away many soldiers (adult men). At the same time, a large number of adult men were also needed to transport grain and grass for frontline soldiers, which would seriously reduce the number of adult men engaged in agricultural production in Shu Han, which in turn would affect the grain production of Shu Han. The people produce less grain every year, which will increase the difficulty of collecting grain in the government, but the soldiers on the front line, as well as the soldiers who escort grain and grass, consume a large amount of grain and grass every day, so there will be a situation where the collection of grain is unfavorable and the supply of grain and grass is not available.
Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition was to go out of qishan. The road to Qishan is difficult and long, which will increase the difficulty of transporting grain and prolong the time of transporting grain. The longer the grain was transported, the more difficult the journey, and the more food the soldiers consumed in the middle of the road, the less food was transported to the front line. In the rear of the Shu Han Dynasty, due to the fewer adult men engaged in agricultural production, the grain production was less, but the front line needed a large amount of grain and grass, and it was not easy to transport to the front line, which led to the poor sustainability of the Shu army, and Zhuge Liang could not hold out for long, so he was forced to withdraw due to lack of grain.