In 263 AD, the Cao Wei general Deng Ai smuggled himself into Yinping, fought a bloody battle, came to the city of Chengdu, and persuaded Liu Chan to surrender. At this time, although the Capital of the Shu Han Dynasty, Chengdu, was besieged, but there were still more than 100,000 reinforcements from Jiang Wei of the Jiang Pavilion, Huo Yi in Nanzhong, and Yan Yuluoxian in Yong'an City, why did they open the city gate and surrender?
After comprehensively considering the situation of these three reinforcements, Liu Chan was "tempted" by the surrender faction Zhou, believing that the general trend had gone and continuing to resist, and there was little point in continuing, so he opened the city gate and surrendered to Deng Ai.
First, analyze the situation of Jiang Wei, Huo Yi, and Luo Xian, the three reinforcements.
Jiang Wei of the Sword Pavilion was held back by the Zhong Hui army
In the early period of Cao Wei's reign, Jiang Wei and Deng Ai confronted YuZhong and soon retreated to Yinping. Zhong Hui's army besieged the cities of Han and Le, as well as the pass. After a fierce battle, Fu You, the son of the rearguard general Fu Wei, was heroically killed, while Jiang Shu, who was afraid of death, surrendered Kaesong. After taking the pass, Zhong Hui drove straight into the hinterland of Hanzhong. Jiang Wei and Liao Hua were no longer trapped in Yinping, which had no practical significance, so they abandoned Yinping, joined Zhang Yi and Dong Yue's armies, and retreated to the Sword Pavilion. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Jiang Wei records:
Wing, 厥甫 to HanShou, Wei and Hua also retreated from Yin Ping, and when they were suitable for Wing and Qi, they all withdrew to the Sword Pavilion to refuse to meet.
The Sword Pavilion was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it was the last gateway to Yizhou, and Jiang Wei had no way to retreat. He concentrated his army in the Sword Pavilion and fought with Zhong Hui. Since Zhong hui had more than 100,000 troops, far exceeding Deng Ai's 50,000 troops, it belonged to the main force of this expedition to Shu. Jiang Wei concentrated all the elite troops retreating from Hanzhong, and then relied on the Heavenly Danger Sword Pavilion to fight a draw with Zhong Hui. If Jiang Wei split half of the elite troops from the Sword Pavilion to rescue Chengdu, the Sword Pavilion would not be safe and there was a danger of loss. If the Sword Pavilion is lost, it is no less than Ma Mo's loss of the street pavilion, which is fatal to Shu Han.
Huo Yi in nanzhong was rejected by Liu Chan
Huo Yi was the son of Huo Jun and had been stationed in Nanzhong for many years. In Nanzhong, he was able to "reconcile with foreign customs, legislate and teach them, allow them to be light and heavy, and yi jin anzhi." Huo Yi heard that the Wei army was coming, and went to the rear lord Liu Chan, planning to go to Chengdu to defend. Liu Chan, on the other hand, thought it was no big deal and refused Huo Yi's support. After Liu Chan surrendered to Wei, Huo Yi wore mourning clothes and wept bitterly for it. His subordinate generals all advised Huo Yi to surrender as soon as possible, and Huo Yi only led the Taishou of the Six Counties of Southern Central to surrender when he was treated with courtesy by Liu Chan and was made the Duke of Anle County.
Yong'an Luoxian and Yan Yu personally rushed to the rescue
In 263, Cao Wei attacked, and the later lord Liu Chan ordered Yan Yu to lead the main army back to Chengdu, leaving Luo Xian with 2,000 soldiers to guard Yong'an City. Due to the long distance, Yan Yu's army had not yet arrived in Chengdu, and the later lord Liu Chan had already surrendered Kaesong. After he arrived in Chengdu, he could only surrender to Deng Ai. After Luo Xian learned that Liu Chan had surrendered and shu Han had perished, he led the army under his command to Linduting for three days.
The above is the situation of these three armies after the siege of Chengdu in 263 AD, and then analyze why Liu Chan surrendered Kaesong.
Among them, Jiang Wei of the Sword Pavilion led the main force of the Shu Han Dynasty and was also the division of the Hundred Battles of the Perennial Wei Dynasty. However, his opponent was also the main army of Cao Wei Zhonghui, with as many as 100,000. Therefore, if Jiang Wei divided his troops to aid Chengdu, it would be useless to send less, and more would be sent, afraid that the Sword Pavilion would be lost.
The situation in southern Central China was chaotic, the local ethnic minorities, the people's customs were fierce, there were often rebellions, such as rebellion after Liu Bei's death, and finally was quelled by Zhuge Liang, and in the late Shu Han Dynasty, there was turmoil, and the general Xiang Yu was killed in battle at Pingshi. This was why Liu Chan preferred to transfer troops from Yong'an instead of Huo Yi to lead the troops to serve the king.
Yong'an City was the border between Shu Han and Eastern Wu, also known as the White Emperor City. In that year, Liu Bei was defeated in the Battle of Yiling and fled back to the White Emperor City (Yong'an), where he stationed heavy troops to prevent Eastern Wu from taking advantage of the victory to pursue. After Sun Quan heard that Liu Bei had retreated to the White Emperor City, he was too frightened to pursue, and ordered Lu Xun to retreat, also because the White Emperor City had heavy troops. Although Shu Han and Eastern Wu reassorbed, Shu Han still stationed heavy troops in the White Emperor City. This time, the Wei soldiers were fierce, and Liu Chan disregarded the safety of the border and sent the general Yan Yu to come to his aid, which was already a last resort.
In summary, although there were three large armies of Sword Pavilion, Nanzhong, and Yong'an, Liu Chan considered it for a long time and could only transfer troops from Yong'an to return to reinforcements. However, due to Zhuge Zhan's death in the Battle of Mianzhu, a large number of elite imperial forest troops were buried, resulting in the emptiness of Chengdu. With the strength of Chengdu at that time, it was not necessarily able to hold out until Yan Yu's reinforcements arrived.
Liu Chan held an urgent meeting to discuss a way out. At the meeting, some ministers believed that they should abandon Chengdu and flee to their allies Eastern Wu, some people thought that they should flee to the seven counties of Nanzhong, and with the dangerous terrain in Nanzhong, self-protection would not be a problem, and some people said that this and that. However, Tan Zhou said: "From ancient times to the present, there has been no emperor who sent people under the fence, and if you enter Eastern Wu now, you will be a vassal of Eastern Wu." Now the strongest Cao Wei was able to destroy the weak Shu Han, and in the future he could also destroy Eastern Wu. Now, we have defected to Eastern Wu and have been humiliated, and in the future, cao Wei will destroy Eastern Wu again, and we will be insulted again. Now, if we flee to South Central, can we hold on? At present, Yizhou, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, has also been captured, and Nanzhong is not safe, not to mention that Nanzhong belongs to the territory of ethnic minorities, a barren land, and it is difficult to confront Cao Wei. ”
Doctor Guanglu's remarks to Zhou zhou vigorously defied the public opinion, believing that fleeing and sticking to waiting for help were not the best strategy, and strongly advocated surrender. His words persuaded the others, and most of the courtiers agreed. The local forces in Yizhou, represented by Yu Zhou, opposed it as early as zhuge liang and Jiang Wei's repeated attacks on Wei. They believed that Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei had launched a great war, laboring the people and hurting their wealth, causing a heavy burden on the people of Shu Han.
After the resistance faction Zhuge Zhan and others were killed in battle, while Jiang Wei, Huo Yi, Luo Xian and others were at the border pass, only the surrender faction represented by Chen Zhou was left in Chengdu. To tell the truth, for the local people in Yizhou, the revival of the Han Room is not much good for them, and they are not very interested. Launching a big war and fighting a series of wars in the Central Plains, with heavy casualties, for Yizhou, there are only disadvantages, no benefits. Therefore, after Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei's conquests for many years, Shu Han's anti-war sentiment was high from top to bottom, and they united to persuade Liu Chan to surrender when Deng Aibing approached the city.
epilogue
Later Lord Liu Chan was on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of the current situation of reinforcements from Jiang Wei, Nanzhong Huoyi, and Yan Yuluoxian of Yong'an City, and was "tempted" by the surrender faction in Chengdu City, Zhou Zhou, before opening the city gate to surrender. Facts proved that Liu Chan was wise to surrender To Cao Wei early on, and was given the title of Duke of Anle County, much better than sun hao, the emperor of Eastern Wu, who later surrendered.