Liu Bei borrowed Jingzhou - borrowed and did not repay.
For thousands of years, people have believed that Liu Bei borrowed the whole of Jingzhou, but this is not the case, and in fact, the "Jingzhou" borrowed by Liu Bei has already been repaid to Eastern Wu.
Jingzhou is located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, rich in resources, a large population, economic and cultural development, the geographical location is very important, the west can be enterprising Yizhou, the east can try to plot Jiangdong. The Cao, Sun, and Liu families all attach great importance to this territory. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was Liu Biao who occupied Jingzhou, and before Liu Biao died, he wanted to entrust Jingzhou to Liu Bei, but due to the obstruction of local forces such as Cai Mao, he failed to do so.
There are seven counties in Jingzhou, namely Nanyang County, Nan County, and Jiangxia County, the three counties of Jingbei, and Wuling County, Lingling County, Changsha County, and Guiyang County, the four counties of Jingnan. After Liu Biao's death, his younger son Liu Chun surrendered to Cao Cao, so "nominally" Jingzhou had become Cao Cao's territory. However, because it was separated by the Yangtze River, Cao Cao actually controlled only Nanyang County and parts of Nan County in the north of Jingzhou, and failed to control the entire territory of Jingzhou.
In addition, Liu Biao's eldest son Liu Qi (劉琦) was in Jiangxia County, and he was reluctant to surrender to Cao. At this time, Liu Bei did not even have a place to stay, so he had to rush to Xiakou in Jiangxia County to meet Liu Qi. That is to say, at this time, the seven counties of Jingzhou, Cao Cao actually occupied Nanyang County and part of Nan County, Liu Bei Liu Qi actually occupied Jiangxia County, and the remaining four counties of Jingnan were temporarily "ownerless". Therefore, Sun Quan, Zhou Yu and others coveted this and regarded it as something in their pockets.
But then, the Battle of Chibi began, and Eastern Wu resisted Cao with all its strength and had no time to capture the four counties of Jingnan. With Cao Cao's defeat, Cao Ren led his army to retreat to xiangyang city in the north of Nan Commandery, while Eastern Wu took the southern part of Nan Commandery (江陵城) and actually occupied the southern part of Liu Qi's Jiangxia Commandery. This narrow and long territory separated the three counties of Jingbei and the four counties of Jingnan, and Cao Cao was completely unable to reach the four counties of Jingnan. Seeing that most of Jingzhou was about to fall into his hands, Sun Quan was very proud.
However, Sun Quan did not expect that at this time, Liu Bei suddenly attacked, under the banner of Liu Qi, the eldest son of Liu Biao, and forcibly captured the four counties of Jingnan! Sun Quan is in a hurry! Chibi War, I Eastern Wu is the main force, you Liu Bei is the weakest, the least contributed, but the backhand ate the meat, Eastern Wu did not fish anything. Isn't this a white-eyed wolf?
But no matter what, the four counties of Jingnan had already eaten into his mouth, and Liu Bei could not spit it out again! What's more, Liu Bei was under the banner of Liu Qi to recover the "ancestral father's homeland", nominally there was no problem, and Sun Quan had no way to do it for a while. However, although Liu Bei had a foothold, after all, the family foundation was too thin, although the four counties were huge, but the population was sparse, the economy was backward, and if he wanted to expand his strength, he could only try to enrich Yizhou.
However, due to traffic reasons, the four counties of Jingnan were not connected to Yizhou, and Liu Bei's only way to enter Yizhou was from the southern part of Nan County (Jiangling City), which was occupied by his ally Sun Quan. In the end, Liu Bei negotiated with Sun Quan and wanted to borrow land. This is the real "Liu Bei borrowing Jingzhou", in the final analysis, it is to borrow a "Jiangling County".
Liu Bei borrowed land, and Zhou Yu was fully opposed, because he was determined to get rid of Liu Bei. However, after his untimely death, Lu Su of the Lord and faction became the governor of Eastern Wu, and Lu Su insisted on allying with Liu Bei to jointly resist Cao, and under his mediation, Sun Quan finally agreed to lend Jiangling to Liu Bei. Why is Sun Quan willing to borrow land? In fact, his little abacus is also very shrewd.
First of all, although Cao Cao was defeated by Chibi, his ambition to annex the world was unstoppable, and sun quan was left with a force to resist Cao in the entire south, and Sun Quan needed a helper to help him relieve the pressure.
Secondly, the strategic position of this territory occupied by Sun Quan is not good. There was Cao Cao in the north and Liu Bei in the south, this narrow territory became a land of two wars, Eastern Wu was worried all day long, it was not easy to defend, lending Liu Bei was not only conducive to alliances, but also save worry and effort.
Third, give grace to Liu Bei. According to Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Pair", Liu Bei was going to take Yizhou sooner or later. When Liu Bei took Yizhou, Sun Quan enwei and Shi Shi could justifiably ask Liu Bei for Jingzhou territory.
Liu Bei obtained the Jiangling area and opened the passage into Shu. After that, Liu Zhang of Xichuan also asked Liu Bei for help without dying, and in this way, Liu Bei led his army into Xichuan. Then, the dove occupies the magpie's nest. Twenty years after Jian'an, Liu Bei took Yizhou, and Sun Quan quickly sent someone to beg Liu Bei for the Jiangling area borrowed and demanded the division of Jingzhou. But Liu Bei was very embarrassed, because he couldn't pay it back!
The Jiangling area is the only passage for the four counties of Jingnan to enter Shu, if it is returned to Sun Quan, Liu Bei's territory Yizhou and the four counties of Jingnan will be separated into two, and there is no way to contact. So Liu Bei said: "
Liangzhou must be taken as Jingzhou.
"Sun Quan is anxious again,"
Lü Meng attacked and captured the three counties of Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang.
"Liu Bei's strength increased greatly at this time, and he also had the confidence, and his backhand was going to fight with Sun Quan, and he deliberately rushed back to Jingzhou from Xichuan."
50,000 troops were drawn to the public security and Guan Yu was ordered to enter Yiyang.
”
However, at this time, Cao Cao attacked the Hanzhong region, and Liu Bei's newly acquired Yizhou was about to open! Unable to balance both the beginning and the end, Liu Bei decided to give priority to Yizhou and agreed to divide Jingzhou with Sun Quan. Sun Liu's two families divided Jingzhou and agreed to take Xiangshui as the boundary: the three counties of Changsha, Jiangxia, and Guiyang belonged to Sun Quan; Nan County, Lingling, and Wuling belonged to Liu Bei, and Liu Bei and Sun Quan occupied the three counties, and Nanyang County was still in Cao Cao's hands at this time.
At this point, Liu Bei's borrowing of Jingzhou was considered to be the end. Liu Bei only borrowed a County of Jiangling county in Nan County, but returned half of Jingzhou to Sun Quan. Sun Quan felt that there was a profit, but also so that the two sides did not really tear their faces, so he agreed. However, Sun Quan was still unhappy.
Because Liu Bei's occupation of Nan County, Lingling, and Wuling were in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, Liu Bei seized Yizhou, and his power expanded sharply, and when Liu Bei eased up, he could lead his army down the river at any time to attack Eastern Wu. Moreover, Liu Bei deployed Guan Yu, the first general of the Shu Han Dynasty, in Jingzhou, which was like Liu Bei hanging his sharpest knife above Sun Quan's head, which could be chopped down at any time.
Sun Quan could not even eat well, believing that only by driving Liu Bei out of Jingzhou completely and controlling the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in his own hands could he feel at ease. In this way, Sun Quan could use the whole of Jiangnan to confront Cao Wei and thus plot against the world. Then there is the plot that everyone knows, Guan Yu's Northern Expedition, Sun Quan inserted a knife in his back, and sent Lü Meng to "cross the river in white clothes" to stop Guan Yu's retreat and kill Guan Yu.
Liu Bei lost the important territory of Jingzhou, and was killed by Sun Quan's favorite second brother, and in anger, he sent an army to attack Wu, and the Battle of Yiling began. This battle ended with Liu Bei's defeat, and the failure to recover Jingzhou also meant that Liu Bei's dream of unifying the world and reviving the Han Dynasty was shattered, and the victorious Sun Quan was not comfortable, and both families were greatly weakened, indirectly helping Cao Wei. This incident is actually related to the historical trend of the three countries.
In summary, it can be seen that "Liu Bei borrowed Jingzhou" not only did not "borrow and did not return", but even returned the profits, but Sun Quan was not satisfied and wanted more, so he betrayed his faith and secretly attacked Guan Yu with a knife behind his back, so that Shu Han went into decline and triggered an inflection point in the history of the Three Kingdoms.
[Reference: "Sangokushi", etc.]