Zhuge Liang was not out of the woods, so he expected to set three points in the world. It is said that Liu Beisan took care of Maolu that year, and Zhuge Liang formulated a strategic decision for him to "Longzhong Pair". This decision, which was highly respected by later generations, was called the song of eternity. However, is there any problem with this "Longzhong Pair"? We look at its execution, and in the end it didn't succeed, then it must have some problems.
The main content of the Longzhong Pair is to unite with Sun Quan and jointly resist Cao Cao. First take Jingyi, then divide the troops into two northern expeditions, one led by Liu Bei, and send troops to Guanzhong. The other route, led by a general, sent troops to Wanluo. In this way, hegemony can be achieved, and the Han room can be prosperous.
When we look at this "Longzhong Pair", there are reasonable elements in it, and there are also subjective and speculative components. In this way, actions carried out on reasonable parts succeeded, while unreasonable parts resulted in failure. It can be said that Liu Bei is Chengye "Longzhong Pair" and defeated also "Longzhong Pair".
As a strategic vision, a logical part of the Longzhong Pair is that, first of all, it clearly raises the most fundamental issues. That is the crucial question of "who is our friend and who is our enemy?" It makes it clear that the biggest and irreconcilable enemy of Liu Bei's clique was Cao Cao. And the ally that Liu Bei could win was Sun Quan. To oppose Cao Cao, it was only possible to unite with Sun Quan.
Second, it points out the next development direction of Liu Bei Group. That is to seize the benefits of Jing and establish a foundation. Liu Bei was a widow at that time, and he was sent under the fence of Liu Biao's territory. He had no direction to develop, and was in the midst of worry.
Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Pair" can be said to have suddenly opened Liu Bei's vision, making him see the blue sky like a cloud. Liu Beirong spent half his life fighting in the whirlpool of war, and he had not yet deeply thought about such a strategic plan. In this way, Liu Bei has a realistic development strategy for the future.
According to the reasonable part of the Longzhong Pair, Liu Bei joined forces with Sun Quan and defeated Cao Cao at the Battle of Chibi. And taking advantage of the results of the Battle of Chibi, he occupied the five counties in Jingzhou and sent troops to Yizhou.
After fierce fighting, Liu Bei first destroyed Liu Zhang, then occupied Hanzhong and occupied the entire state of Yizhou. At this time, Liu Bei's career reached its peak, and he also ascended the throne of Hanzhong, occupied Shangyong, and prepared for the next step of the Longzhong Pair.
However, at this time, the irrational elements in "Longzhong Pair" also appeared. It directly brought serious setbacks to the Liu Bei Group. When Guan Yu took the first step of the two-way Northern Expedition in Longzhong, captured Xiangfan, and prepared for the next step of sending troops to Wanluo, everything changed.
When Guan Yu launched the Xiangfan Campaign, the timing, tactics, and troop strength were all properly chosen, and great achievements were also achieved. However, when Guan Yu flooded the Seventh Army and threatened Huaxia, an unexpected situation occurred. The Eastern Wu clique led by Sun Quan suddenly defeated the alliance, and Lü Meng crossed the river in white and attacked Jingzhou. When Guan Yu returned to the army, his troops dispersed, and he had to go to Baomai City and was captured and killed by Eastern Wu. As a result, the second half of the "Longzhong Pair" died without implementation.
Why is it that the second half of the "Longzhong Pair", the plan of dividing the troops into two northern expeditions, went bankrupt without implementation? This is because this part is Zhuge Liang's unrealistic vision and seriously violates reality. As a result, it failed.
The biggest mistake in this part is that sun quan's attitude is not planned. In the whole "Longzhong Pair", there is only one judgment on Sun Quan's Dongwu Group, and the rapid "can be helped and cannot be tried". In the planned strategy of the Northern Expedition, there was only one prejudgment for the Sun Quan clique, that is, "marry sun quan well outside", but how to marry well was not mentioned. It seems that Sun Quan's friendship with Liu Bei was taken for granted.
This only shows the wishful thinking in Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Pair". Zhuge Liang did not attach importance to the Eastern Wu clique at all, and did not seriously study the strategic intentions of Eastern Wu. He did not take into account the possibility of Sun Quan's defeat at all. This is the root cause of the failure of "Longzhong Pair".
Eastern Wu was an independent group, and its three generations of monarchs all had attempts to compete for the world. Sun Jian and Sun Ce went in and out of the Central Plains twice, but both were ambitious. In Sun Quan's generation, although Sun Ce's evaluation of Sun Quan was that Sun Quan had the ability to maintain Jiangdong, Sun Quan also had the ambition to compete for the world.
Sun Quan, along with Zhou Yu, Lu Su, and Lü Meng, all had the intention of conquering the Yangtze River and fighting north for the Central Plains. However, with the early death of Zhou Yu, Sun Quan repeatedly failed to send troops to Huainan, causing Sun Quan to begin to consider his own safety. Under this consideration, Sun Quan put all the Yangtze River and the preservation of Jiangdong in the first place. This is in strategic conflict with Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Pair".
According to the concept of the Longzhong Pair, Jingzhou was the starting point of the two Northern Expeditions to Wanluo. Liu Bei could never cede to Sun Quan. In order to control the Yangtze River and ensure his own safety, Sun Quan must occupy Jingzhou, which is crucial to him. This issue is the main contradiction between the two sides.
Because of this fundamental strategic contradiction, it was impossible for Liu Bei to marry Sun Quan without resolving the issue of the ownership of Jingzhou. However, Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Pair" does not consider this aspect at all. A simple marriage of Sun Quan without any specific measures is a huge strategic omission.
Because Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Pair" two-way Northern Expedition plan is based on the foundation of marrying Sun Quan, if there is no good Sun Quan, then the two Northern Expeditions behind him are just empty words. However, we can see that he did not make a plan if he could not marry Sun Quan. This made the Liu Bei group face the defeat of the Eastern Wu group later, and there was no ideological preparation at all.
After the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao learned the lesson of defeat. According to the strategy given to him by Guo Jia at that time, he judged that Liu Bei and Sun Quan "are in a hurry to protect each other, and slow is to be two plans.". Liu Bei and Sun Quan were on the defensive, and finally waited for the day when the two killed each other.
Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Pair" does not have Cao Cao's view of development, it is just wishful thinking that Sun Liu's alliance is unbreakable, but it does not occur that Sun Quan Group also has a strategic need for self-protection. This made The attitude of Sun Quan's clique undergo a sharp change in attitude when Liu Bei's strength was greatly strengthened, and he occupied the upper reaches, and the threat to Sun Quan's clique far exceeded that of Cao Cao, and even turned against him.
It is precisely because of this that "Longzhong Pair" has failed. The two-way Northern Expedition of "Longzhong Pair" seems to be suspected of dispersing troops. However, if he and Sun Quan are aligned, in Jingzhou, with the assistance of Sun Quan, they can be competent. If you make good friends with Sun Quan, then it will really be as Zhuge Liang said in "Longzhong Pair", "Hegemony can be achieved, and the Han Room can be prosperous."
However, due to ignoring the needs of Sun Quan Group and not having the vision of development, Sun Quan eventually lost the alliance, making "Longzhong Pair" finally abandoned halfway. Moreover, due to the failure to make a plan to increase its own strength, it would cause a change in the attitude of sun quan's group, which caused Liu Bei group to suffer unexpected setbacks. Therefore, Liu Bei Group can be said to be also "Longzhong Pair" and defeated also "Longzhong Pair".