If we count from the beginning of Liu Bei's claim to the throne and the establishment of the Shu Han regime, then the peak moment of the Shu Han was the moment when he founded the country.
Two years back from Liu Bei's claim to the throne, 219 years is the peak of the Shu Han Dynasty.
Even at its peak, the gap between Shu Han and Cao Wei's cards was still very large.
Zhuge Liang pointed out early on that Shu Han had the only chance to win: to be good at himself (to show his skills that were far superior to his opponents) + to change the world (luck was good enough to explode, or the opponent encountered bad luck)!
At the peak of the Shu Han Dynasty in 221, Cao Pi usurped the throne, and Liu Bei was also proclaimed emperor. The Shu Han regime was formally established.
Unfortunately: Liu Bei Group has just ended its peak moment.
2 years ago, 219, was the peak moment of Liu Bei Group.
At that time, Liu Bei won the Battle of Hanzhong and took all of Yizhou. Soon, Guan Yu besieged Xiangfan, flooded the Seventh Army, and threatened Huaxia.
However, "carelessly losing Jingzhou", Guan Yu's army was wiped out, and subsequently, Shangyong was taken by Cao Pi, and Liu Bei's military strength and territory were greatly reduced.
Liu Bei was proclaimed emperor and did not "chong xi".
Soon, at the Battle of Yiling, Liu Bei was once again defeated, with a large number of elite and material losses, so that Shu Han suffered an unprecedented heavy blow.
Zhuge Liang ruled Shu well, and Shu Han survived the darkest moment after the Battle of Yiling, and its strength was restored to a certain extent, but no matter the military strength, territory, and population, Shu Han never recovered to the level of its peak moment.
In 234, Zhuge Liang died. Zhuge Liang buried himself in Dingjun Mountain.
Perhaps, Zhuge Liang also realized that the 219 years represented by the Battle of Dingjun Mountain were the peak moment of the Shu Han Dynasty!
However, even at its peak, the gap in strength between Shu Han (including before the founding of the people's republic) and Cao Wei was still surprisingly large.
The History of Chinese Mouth analyzes the comparison of the national strength of the three countries in the second year of the Huang Dynasty (221).
The population of Shuguo was 1.32 million and 200,000 households, about 12% of the total number of people in the Three Kingdoms; the population of Wu was 3.155 million, with 478,000 households, accounting for about 28% of the total population of the Three Kingdoms; and the population of Wei was 6.824 million, 1.03 million households, accounting for 60% of the total population of the Three Kingdoms.
Divided into states and counties in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the State of Wei occupied 9 prefectures, the State of Wu had 3 prefectures, and the State of Shu had 1 prefecture.
In other words, when Wei and Shu were each proclaimed emperor, the population of the Shu state was only 1/5 of that of the State of Wei, and the number of states was only 1/9 of that of the opponents.
If you extrapolate to 219. This gap may be slightly smaller, especially in terms of military strength.
After the Battle of Yiling, the Shu state had about 100,000 troops. If you count the losses in the Battle of Jingzhou, the Battle of Shangyong, and the Battle of Yiling, the Shu army at its peak may be close to 200,000.
The number of Wei troops has long been stable at around 500,000.
Therefore, at the peak of the Shu army, the number of his army was about 2/5 of that of the State of Wei.
In terms of military strength alone, there is a gap between the two sides, but it is not yet irreversible. During the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao fought with one enemy and ten enemies, and the situation was even more unfavorable!
Therefore, although the strength of the two sides is very different, it is not necessary to say that the chess game of the three kingdoms has already determined the victory or defeat at this moment, and the Shu kingdom has already been killed.
The two conditional wars in which the Shu Han Dynasty took over the world were by no means simple "ratio size", otherwise, there would be no war in this world.
Zhuge Liang once envisioned the opportunity for Shu Han to take over the world.
The cards in Shu Han's hand were much worse than those of his opponents, and he only had a chance if his own card skills were much better than his opponents and his luck was much better than his opponents.
Zhuge Liang's idea of playing cards is: do yourself well (play cards well) + the world changes (bad luck of opponents).
The so-called good self-cultivation means that in addition to taking Yizhou and Jingzhou, we should then "go west and Zhurong, south to Fu Manyue, east to Sun Quan, and internal revision of political reasoning."
At that time, the combined strength of Wu Shu accounted for about 40% of the world's population. If Shu Han could really do a good job of relations with Sun Quan and integrate the forces of Xi Rong and Nan Man (not counting Gongsun Yuan), then the strength of the two sides would be very close.
The so-called change in the world is to look forward to the opportunity that is beneficial to oneself.
The Wei state had a good card face, and the political and military literacy of cao cao's clique was also very high. If people are not unlucky, Shu Han will have no chance even if he does a good job.
Do yourself well, the world changes, two conditions appear at the same time, there is a chance!
Peak moments: narrow intersections. In 219, a narrow intersection of these two conditions took place.
The world has changed: the unlucky Cao Cao.
The years 217-219 were Cao Cao's most unfortunate moments.
In 217, the 22nd year of Jian'an, a plague rarely seen in history appeared in the Central Plains.
"There is the pain of zombies in the house, and there is the mourning of the trumpet in the room." Jian'an had seven sons, and five died in the prime of the year.
At the same time, the Cao family army under the world military system is in a stage of stagnation. In the early years, the soldiers who followed Cao Cao in the southern conquest of the northern war were old, and the new generation of soldiers was not yet mature.
Cao Cao's repeated use of troops against the northwest and Hanzhong also overwhelmed the people of Nanyang and other places, and they rebelled one after another, echoing Guan Yu.
What was even more unfortunate was that the Forbidden Legion was actually wiped out in a flash flood!
Successive accidents caused Cao Cao to waver for a time and tried to move the capital to avoid the army.
At the same time, Sun Quan and Lü Meng in the east also believed that if they attacked to the north, they could capture Xuzhou.
It can be said that if there was no problem with "Donghe Sun Quan" at that time, and Liu Bei seized this opportunity, then, as Man Yu said: "South of the Honghe River, not owned by the state." Sun Liu was likely to push the front to the Yellow River Valley.
Sincerely, the latter things are really difficult to say.
However, there was a problem with "Donghe Sun Quan", Guan Yu "carelessly lost Jingzhou", and the situation was reversed in an instant!
This is the only chance that Sun and Liu may significantly reverse the situation.
Unfortunately, Liu Bei neither managed to strengthen relations with Sun Quan nor deployed appropriate forces to guard against them.
In the end: Liu Bei Group quickly slipped from the peak!
After the opportunity did not come again, Shu Han did not have such an opportunity in 219.
During Zhuge Liang's reign, Zhuge Liang ruled Shu well, and his alliance with Sun Quan was also maintained well.
However, Cao Wei's rule was solid, and "the world remained unchanged."
During the Jiang Wei period, "the world has changed." Three rebellions in Huainan, there were hundreds of thousands of levels of civil war within Cao Wei! Eastern Wu also sent tens of thousands of troops north.
However, the Shu Han Dynasty had long been "the people have a dish", and the national strength was weak. Jiang Wei responded with an army, but was easily blocked by Sima Wang and Deng Ai.
The opportunity must not be lost, and the time will not come again, much so.
Not only in the sky, but also in order for shu han to win, the requirements for "doing oneself well" are very harsh.
Fight with the weak, you have to be better at fighting than the other side to have a chance!
Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, the strength of each engagement is not at an absolute disadvantage.
Especially during the First Northern Expedition, the Shu army's troops in Xiegu and Qishan were "more than thieves".
However, even so, Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei's repeated northern expeditions still had little effect.
The reason is precisely because Zhang Gao, Cao Zhen, Sima Yi, and Deng Ai are all masters of the moment. Their ability to use soldiers is not under Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei.
If we cannot win a victory even if there is not much difference in strength, why should we defeat the strong with the weak?
Shu Hanzhi could not make a difference, "not only when it is heaven, but also suppresses people's plots."
In general, Wei Shu's national strength has always been very uneven. Only when the Shu Han chess player's chess skills are much higher than the opponent's, and the luck is far better than the opponent, there is a chance to win.
Liu Bei said to Zhuge Liang: "Juncai is ten times better than Cao Pi", which is exactly what he expects Zhuge Liang to play chess well and use "human conspiracy" to change his life.
From the perspective of future generations: Cao Cao and Sima Yi are all masters of the moment, and they are slightly worse than Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, and Shu Han wants to rely on people to change his life, how easy is it to talk about?
However, for Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, who are parties in history, they do not easily admit their fate and strive to find opportunities, which is worthy of respect.