During the Three Kingdoms period, Eastern Wu was able to capture Jingzhou, but never took Hefei. Guan Yu, the defender of Jingzhou, and Zhang Liao, the defender of Hefei, were of equal level. But there are two outcomes, and what is the reason? The reasons here are mainly as follows:
First, the strategic needs are different.
For Soochow Group, Jingzhou and Hefei have different strategic positions. After the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao withdrew his main forces to the north. Throughout the south, two strongholds were left to support the defensive line. One is Jiangling, Nanjun in Jingzhou, and the other is Hefei.
For Eastern Wu, in order to realize its strategy of "all the Yangtze River, northward for the world", Jiangling, which is located in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, must be taken. Therefore, the main force of Eastern Wu, under the leadership of Zhou Yu, took Jiangling directly. After a year of fighting with Cao Ren, Cao Ren abandoned the city and fled, and Zhou Yu finally took Jiangling.
Zhou Yu ignored Hefei and fixed his eyes on Jiangling because of the importance of Jiangling's strategic location. It is the guarantee of security in Eastern Wu. Only when Eastern Wu held Jiangling in its hands would it ensure its strategic security.
As for Hefei, compared with Jiangling, its strategic position is much lower. Eastern Wu did not need it so urgently. Hefei is only the starting point for the development of Eastern Wu to the north. According to Eastern Wu's strategy, only after the Yangtze River has been fully based on the Yangtze River and solved its own strategic and security problems can we say that the next step is to develop northward.
Therefore, Sun Quan attacked Hefei only in a tentative way. After the Xiangshui Dispute, Sun Quan tried to fight Hefei. After Xiaoyaojin was defeated by Zhang Liao, he returned to his original old path. Zhang Liao was facing an Eastern Wu army that did not have the confidence to die, and of course it was much easier to deal with than Guan Yu.
Sun Quan and Lü Meng deliberated on whether to fight Hefei first and take Xuzhou, or take Jingzhou, and the two sides reached a consensus. It is believed that although he can take Hefei and occupy Xuzhou with all his strength, in comparison, it is most beneficial to Eastern Wu to take Jingzhou first. Therefore, Eastern Wu focused all its main forces and energies on capturing Jingzhou. In this way, Guan Yu and Zhang Liao faced different pressures from Eastern Wu, and of course the results were different.
Second, the means of seizure are different.
Eastern Wu captured Jingzhou in the form of a sneak attack. As for Zhang Liao's Hefei, the means adopted were strong attacks. In these two campaigns, different means were used and the results were different.
The fighting power of the Eastern Wu army was also very strong, but the armies of Zhang Liao and Guan Yu were not weak. In terms of the ability of the generals, guan yu and Zhang Liao's personal ability was superior to that of the generals of Eastern Wu. In the Battle of Hefei, Zhang Liao faced the strong attack of Eastern Wu and fought hard with Eastern Wu to the death, playing a prestigious name.
For Guan Yu, Eastern Wu also had a fearful heart. According to the history books, Sun Quan believed that Guan Yu was in the upper reaches and had the intention of annexation, so he did not take Jingzhou and then fast. Because of the lessons of fighting Zhang Liao, Eastern Wu took Jingzhou entirely by deception and scheming.
In order to take Jingzhou, Eastern Wu made a careful plan. First, he secretly surrendered to Cao Cao and gained Cao Cao's support. Then Lü Meng was sick and recuperated, and let the unknown Lu Xun replace Lü Meng. After Lü Meng took office, he wrote a letter to Guan Yu and praised Guan Yu on his knees, causing Guan Yu to lose his vigilance and transferring the army guarding Eastern Wu to the front.
Taking advantage of the emptiness of Jingzhou, he sent troops to cross the river in white clothes and attacked the beacon tower by the river. ShiRen and Mi Fang were forced to surrender, giving preferential treatment to Guan Yu's family members, causing Guan Yu's subordinates to disperse. In the end, the soldiers took Jingzhou without bloodshed.
From the passage through which Eastern Wu took Jingzhou, we can see that Eastern Wu completely used the defeated alliance to attack Jingzhou. If it is attacked hard, Eastern Wu will be like Hefei, and it will be difficult to take Jingzhou.
Third, the specialties of the Eastern Wu army were played differently.
In the campaigns against Hefei and Jingzhou, it was also a test for the eastern Wu army. The naval forces of Eastern Wu were the best of the three nations. Therefore, in the war, Eastern Wu has always paid attention to playing to its own strengths. Eastern Wu's armies generally fought relatively close to their own water armies.
In the battle against Jingzhou, the main battle targets were on the riverside, and the public security and Jiangling were under the threat of the Eastern Wu water army. During the battle, overnight, Eastern Wu made a surprise attack and surrounded the important stronghold of Jingzhou. This made Jingzhou powerless to resist. This greatly reduced the casualties of Eastern Wu and accelerated the course of the campaign.
In the battle against Hefei, Hefei was far from the waterway, and Eastern Wu was unable to exert its water army expertise. In land warfare, Eastern Wu lacked warhorses and could not compete with Cao Cao's iron horses. Although Eastern Wu adopted various methods, it has never been able to solve the problem of war horses. You can only bow to the wind in land battles.
Later, Cao Wei seized on this weakness of Eastern Wu and decisively relocated Hefei to its original location. In the new location, farther away from the waterway, this completely eliminated the advantages of Eastern Wu. At the same time, due to the defeat of Eastern Wu, it had to fight a two-defeat battle with Shu Han in the Battle of Yiling, and its strength was damaged.
The capture of Jingzhou doubled Eastern Wu's defense line to the north. In the case of its own strength being damaged and the defensive line being lengthened, Eastern Wu was even more powerless to advance north. As a result, Hefei became an obstacle that Eastern Wu could never cross.
epilogue:
It was precisely because Eastern Wu adopted the correct plan and exquisitely organized the campaign to capture Jingzhou. This enabled the Eastern Wu soldiers to seize Jingzhou without bloodshed. However, this was a surprise result achieved by taking advantage of the defeated alliance, and it was not the real strength confrontation between Eastern Wu and Guan Yu.
Zhang Liao in Hefei was a hard-hitting attack by Eastern Wu. In this battle, the weaknesses of the Eastern Wu Army were exposed. Coupled with The strategic policy of Eastern Wu, it is necessary to take Jingzhou first, so Eastern Wu does not want to fight hard in Hefei, so it did not do its best to take Hefei.
However, after taking Jingzhou, due to the Battle of Yiling and the extension of the defensive line, Cao Wei's migration made Eastern Wu no longer able to take Hefei and advance into the Central Plains. This is also the fault of Sun Quan and Lü Meng.