At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao, who was originally only the adopted son of a eunuch, gradually occupied a large amount of land with his own iron blood, especially after the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao annihilated Yuan Shao' opponent and controlled the four prefectures originally occupied by Yuan Shao, in order to unify the Central Plains Cao Cao led the front-line combat troops to attack Sun Quan, and fought a major battle with Sun Liu's combined forces in Chibi.
Cao Cao's reaction after the Battle of Chibi
The result of the battle was unexpected by many people at that time, Cao Cao was defeated by Sun Liu's combined forces with a strategy of fire attack, and Cao Cao, who claimed to have an army of 800,000, only led a few major generals to flee from Huarong Province, so why did Sun Liu's coalition forces not take advantage of the Northern Expedition? In fact, after Cao Cao's defeat, he made a clever move, that is, to give up most of Jingzhou.
Jingzhou has been a rich land of talents since ancient times, previously it was Liu Biao's territory, after Liu Biao's death, Liu Biao's wife and brother Cai Mao supported Liu Biao as Jingzhou Mu, and after Cao Cao's army went south, Cai Mao and Liu Qi surrendered to Cao Cao, and Cao Cao also occupied most of the area except Jiangxia. Why is it said that Cao Cao's abandonment of Jingzhou is a wonderful move? In fact, Jingzhou was a key place that both Sun and Liu wanted to compete for.
The reason why Liu Bei did not go north
First of all, liu bei was on the side of Liu Bei, who was only a county order in Xinye before Cao Cao's army attacked Jingzhou, and did not have many soldiers and horses for him to send, after Cao Cao attacked Jingzhou, Liu Bei led his men to withdraw from Xinye with his people, and as a result, they were intercepted by Cao Cao's soldiers and horses.
At this critical moment, Guan Yu led 10,000 Jiangxia soldiers and horses to arrive and saved Liu Bei, so why could Guan Yu borrow Jiangxia soldiers and horses? In fact, at that time, Jiangxia Taishou Liu Qi was Liu Biao's eldest son, and the reason why he was able to become Jiangxia Taishou was because of Liu Bei's strategy, and he repaid Li Liuqi for saving Liu Bei.
In the Battle of Chibi, the reason why Liu Bei was qualified to cooperate with Sun Quan was also the sixty thousand soldiers and horses in Liu Qi's hands, at that time Liu Bei's headquarters was only more than 10,000 people, and he was not familiar with water warfare, Sun Quan was interested in Liu Qi's Jiangxia water army, after the victory in the Battle of Chibi, Zhuge Liang's suggestion to Liu Bei was that Jingzhou was now fighting for territory in order to have a foothold.
And Liu Qi of course also thought so, Jingzhou was originally the fiefdom of his father Liu Biao, and now he is the legitimate heir of Jingzhou, so his first priority is of course to retake Jingzhou, as for the Northern Expedition Liu Qi and Liu Bei do not have this ability, let alone this courage, so after the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei will use Liu Qi's name to ask the imperial court to seal Jingzhou Mu, reasonable and legal to lay the foundation for himself to seize the territory of Jingzhou.
The reason why Eastern Wu did not carry out the Northern Expedition
Sun Quan also always wanted to seize Jingzhou, because although Sun Quan occupied the rich land of the six counties in Jiangnan, he had always been threatened by the Jingzhou side, as long as the Jingzhou troops went down the river, they could directly insert themselves into the hinterland of Sun Quan's ruling area, so Sun Quan always wanted to seize Jingzhou to ensure his own stability, which was the main reason why Sun Quan later sneaked into Jingzhou.
As for the great cause of the Northern Expedition, Sun Quan did not have this plan at the beginning, as the main force of Sun Liu's coalition army, Sun Quan was forced to cooperate with Liu Bei, and when Cao Cao's army went south at the beginning, there were no few voices of peace in Sun Quan's camp, and finally all this was suppressed by Sun Quan and Zhou Yu, and the Battle of Chibi was completed.
Eastern Wu, from the lord to the civil and military officials, only wanted to preserve the foundation of Jiangdong, and they did not have this idea and strength in the Northern Expedition and cao Cao's bloody war.
brief summary
Therefore, Cao Cao only abandoned the newly acquired Jingzhou, and let Sun Liu's alliance break down directly, preserving most of the northern region. Taking 10,000 steps back, even if Sun Liu's coalition army wanted to go north, Cao Cao's second-line troops in Xiangyang and other places could resist for a long time, giving Cao Cao the opportunity to recuperate, and Sun Liu's coalition army was doomed to be unable to win the Northern Expedition.