Text/Wending
Judging from the whole process of the strife at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao, the hero of the chaotic world, only played half a game of good chess. He was the first to stand up and set out to attack Dong Zhuo; he fought hard in the Central Plains to gain a foothold, dingXu Du, greeted the emperor, and "blackmailed the son of heaven to order the princes"; he defeated the invincible northern warlord Yuan Shao with a weak victory over the strong; he conquered Wuhuan and unified the north. In the first half of the game, he played every move very well. But the Yangtze River became a "Han Boundary Chu River" in front of Cao Cao, and he was ambitious, wanting to cross the river in one step, sweep across Jiangnan, and unify China. But he had just crossed the river when he touched a big nail, and Chibi was defeated and embarrassed, and the second half of the game was lost. Although his pawns were not eaten by the other side, he knew that he could not put the other party to death, and could only end up defending and ending.
After the Battle of Chibi, Jingzhou was dismembered into three parts: Cao Cao occupied a half county in the north (Nanyang County and the northern half of Nan County), with Xiangyang as its seat of governance; Eastern Wu occupied a half county in the central part (the southern half of Nan County and Jiangxia County), Nan Commandery with Jiangling as its seat, Zhou Yu as its seat of governance, Jiangxia Commandery (present-day Jinkou Town, Wuchang, Hubei), and Cheng Pu as Taishou; and Liu Bei monopolized the four counties of Jingzhou.
Seeking Jingzhou is the key to Liu Bei's strategic goal of "standing on top of one's feet.". The plan he had long made was to eat Liu Biao in Jingzhou first, and then try to annex Liu Zhang in Yizhou. Now, he has obtained the four counties of Jingzhou Jiangnan, but he is not satisfied, he is looking at the strategic point of Jiangling. Jiangling is like the heart of the whole Jingzhou, as long as Jiangling is controlled by Eastern Wu, although he holds the four counties of Jingzhou Jiangnan, his outward development is still restricted. Only by getting Jiangling in his hands can he truly gain a foothold in Jingzhou and exert his strategic advantage in the mutual competition in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River), and open his mouth to Sun Quan to "borrow Jingzhou".
Liu Bei's reason was that after the Battle of Chibi, Zhou Yu only gave him part of the Nan County territory, which was not enough to accommodate his people, and asked Eastern Wu to "lend" him the entire Nan County territory. But what Liu Bei actually wanted to "borrow" was the strategic point of Jiangling. Nan County is one of the seven counties of Jingzhou, and the county is governed by Jiangling; Jiangling is also the seat of Jingzhou. If Liu Bei could "borrow" Jiangling, he could control the entire Jingzhou. In this regard, there are different opinions within Eastern Wu. Zhou Yu resolutely opposed, believing that Liu Bei would be a scourge sooner or later, and urged Sun Quan to detain and get rid of Liu Bei. Only Lu Su urged Sun Quan to "lend" Jiangling to Liu Bei. His reasoning was that after the Battle of Chibi, the strategic situation in the Jingzhou area was that Cao Cao was in the north, Liu Bei was in the south, and Eastern Wu was sandwiched in the middle. In this way, Eastern Wu directly understood all the military pressure of Cao Cao, which was equivalent to serving as a barrier for Liu Bei.
If Jiangling was lent to Liu Bei, it would be equivalent to pushing Liu Bei to the front line of confrontation against Cao Cao, becoming a barrier for Eastern Wu and greatly reducing the military pressure on Eastern Wu. Sun Quan also felt that although Cao Cao was defeated in the Battle of Chibi, his military strength was still the strongest after all. Cao Cao already regarded Eastern Wu as his main rival for the world, and Eastern Wu was under too much military pressure from Cao Cao. He agreed with Lu Su's proposition in his heart and used Liu Bei to add a barrier to Eastern Wu to defend cao Cao.
At this time, Zhou Yu died suddenly in Baqiu (baqiu town, Xiajiang County, Jiangxi), at the age of thirty-six. The post of Nanjun Taishou was concurrently held by Jiangxia Taishou Chengpu. When Zhou Yu died, Liu Bei's "borrowing from Jingzhou" was missing one of the most stubborn obstacles. Soon, Eastern Wu officially "lent" Jiangling to Liu Bei, which was equivalent to basically "lending" the entire Jingzhou to Liu Bei.
Eastern Wu conquered Jingzhou through the Battle of Chibi, and finally retained only jiangxia and Hanchang counties. Hanchang County is a newly established small county from Changsha County. Cheng Pu was still the Taishou of Jiangxia, stationed in Wuchang; Lu Su was the Taishou of Hanchang, stationed in Lukou.
In the Battle of Chibi, there was only one loser, Cao Cao; there were two winners, Sun Quan and Liu Bei. Sun and Liu allied, and the leader of the alliance was Sun Quan, but the biggest victor was not Sun Quan, it was Liu Bei. Liu Bei borrowed chickens and eggs in the Battle of Chibi to maximize his interests.