Why is it said that the Battle of Yiling sowed the seeds of Shu's demise? Look at what Kong Ming has been busy for 11 years
Introduction: Liu Bei may be the warlord with the lowest starting point in the Three Kingdoms, although he was born poor, he eventually crossed the two major states of Jing and Yi and established the Shu Han, which shows his ability. However, his career soon declined when it reached its peak, and it was only 4 years from 219 AD to 223 AD, and all this was already doomed after the Battle of Yiling, so why say that the Battle of Yiling has already sown the seeds of Shu's demise? Let's take a look at what Kong Ming has been busy with for 11 years of hard work.
In the winter of 219 AD, Liu Bei had just enjoyed the joy of being king for only a few months, and there was bad news that Guan Yu had died, and at the same time there was news that Jingzhou had been taken by Sun Quan, which shocked the Shu Han Dynasty, and many ministers passionately demanded revenge on the Eastern Expedition, after 2 years of preparation, Liu Bei gathered 50,000 horses to march east to attack Jiangdong, but unfortunately, Liu Bei may be really old, and he has always been experienced this time but he made a lot of low-level command mistakes, and finally was defeated by The Later Life Lu Xun. After this war, he was also physically and mentally exhausted, and died of illness in less than 1 year.
Many people believe that although Jingzhou was lost, it was not enough to shake the foundation of the country, Liu Bei should not be so impulsive, in fact, he could concentrate on capturing Liangzhou and copying Cao Cao from the west according to Pang Tong's suggestions, which was far easier than from the south to the north. However, Liu Bei also had his own grievances, most of his henchmen were jingzhou nationals, if he did not try his best to recover jingzhou, these people would probably leave him, and the so-called revenge was just an excuse to send troops. After his death, Kong Ming also knew that there was no hope of recovering Jingzhou, and he could only do his best to maintain the Shu state.
First of all, diplomatically, he sent emissaries to make peace with Eastern Wu to avoid continuing to suffer enemies on both sides, and at the same time resolutely opposed to the usurper Cao Thief, flaunting the uniqueness and legitimacy of his own regime in order to attract more loyal people to the Han dynasty. Then, in internal affairs, he promoted the legal system on the one hand, and on the other hand developed production, and after three or four years of hard work, the national strength finally recovered. In 225 AD, he personally led tens of thousands of troops to march south, and within a few months he quelled the rebellion of the barbarians in southern China, and used the offensive tactics to win over the hearts of the local people and ensure the stability of southern Xinjiang.
When these preparations were completed, Kong Ming was about to complete his ultimate goal, which was the Northern Expedition. The first time to send troops to Longdao, took Longxi, but because of the horse and defeated, the second time to besiege Chen Cang, unfortunately the other side has long been prepared, after several months of offensive battles are also fruitless, the third, small-scale attack, successfully captured Wudu and Yinping. The fourth time, out of Qishan, Sima Yi's army was greatly destroyed, but in the end it was forced to withdraw because the grain and grass could not be received. The fifth time was the most adequate preparation, he led his army into Weishui, confronted the Wei army for several months, but the other side insisted on not fighting, and The minister finally died of illness due to overwork.
Conclusion: During the 11 years of Zhuge Liang's reign, the first five years he had been stabilizing the interior through internal affairs, diplomacy, and counterinsurgency, and in the next six years, he did only one thing, that is, the Northern Expedition. Unfortunately, the Battle of Yiling not only made the Shu state lose its elite, the national strength was completely inferior to Cao Wei, but also made it lose the best opportunity to capture Liangzhou, so Kong Ming's plan to take Liangzhou and then threaten Guanzhong was always just a bubble, he worked hard for 11 years, and he was only doing his best.