When reading the Three Kingdoms, there was a place that puzzled me very much, that is, when Guan Yu was on the Northern Expedition, why didn't Sun Quan take advantage of Guan Yu's Northern Expedition and Wei Zhen huaxia to cross the river from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, to explore Jianghuai and expand his territory, but instead went to Cao Wei as a vassal, destroyed Sun Liu's alliance and then secretly attacked Guan Yu to capture Jingzhou? As a result, Guan Yu lost all his achievements, and also triggered Liu Bei's crazy revenge, which plunged Eastern Wu into a big war?
Many lovers of the Three Kingdoms will scold the "Jiangdong Rat Generation" for their eyes, resulting in Guan Yu being captured and beheaded, Zhang Fei being assassinated by his subordinates, and Liu Bei collapsing in the middle of a fiasco, making many people sigh.
According to historical records, Cao Cao and his subjects discussed moving the capital to avoid Guan Yu's sharp edges, but were dissuaded by Sima Yi, Jiang Ji, and others. They believed that Guan Yu's continuous victory would make Sun Quan like a man on his back, and they could send people to persuade Sun Quan to sneak into Jingzhou, send troops from behind to attack Guan Yu, and promise to "seal" the land of Jiangnan to Sun Quan, then the siege of Fancheng would be naturally resolved, and Cao Cao agreed.
Regarding whether to attack Guan Yu and capture Jingzhou, there were also different opinions within Sun Wu.
Sun Quan originally wanted to take advantage of Guan Yu's Northern Expedition and the great defeat of Cao Jun's army to send troops north to attack Xuzhou, but was opposed by the governor Lü Meng.
Sun Quan had his own considerations, and it was often said that if he guarded the river, he would keep Huai. If the regime that divided Jiangnan wanted to have a longer state, it must occupy the Huai River Basin as a buffer zone in order to effectively defend the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Otherwise, if the army of the northern regime is allowed to reach the north bank of the Yangtze River, then the demise of the southern regime is just around the corner.
Lü Meng believed that Jingzhou should be attacked, because Jingzhou was located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and Sun Wu's territory was mainly located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and if Jingzhou in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River was occupied, then it would be possible to completely control the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, which would be beneficial to Sun Wu's strategic posture and national defense and security.
It can be said that Jingzhou is the gateway to Jiangdong, and the portal naturally has to be in its own hands. If it is in the hands of others, it is like a knife suspended on his head, and the enemy can build a warship from Jingzhou at any time to go down the river and attack Jiangdong.
Xuzhou is located in the north, located in the plain, The Cao army is mostly good at land warfare for cavalry, even if the sneak attack on Xuzhou can be attacked, but once the Cao army counterattacks, it cannot be defended.
After weighing the pros and cons, Sun Quan decided to send Lü Meng to attack Jingzhou and cut Guan Yu's back road, while Cao Cao also sent Xu Huang to lead a large army to meet Guan Yu.
Guan Yu was defeated by Cao and Sun, and Mai Cheng was captured and killed.
Most of Jingzhou was owned by Sun Wu.
But what if Lu Su was still alive and served as the governor? Would he agree to attack Guan Yu and sneak into Jingzhou?
I don't think so. Lu Su always believed that Cao Cao was the main enemy, and had always maintained this Alliance of Sun and Liu, and was at the same angle, so he would definitely oppose attacking Guan Yu and taking Jingzhou by force.
Although Lu Su had proposed the "Tatami Strategy", Jingzhou at that time was still under Liu Biao, not the later Emperor Liu Bei.
Liu Bei still had the strength to fight against Cao Cao, but Liu Biao directly collapsed, and was not an object of unity at all.
In fact, the reason why Sun Quan wanted to capture Jingzhou was already very clear as Lu Su's "Strategy on the Bed" many years ago.
Su said, "... The Han Chamber cannot be revived, and Cao Cao cannot be eliminated. For the sake of the general, only dingzu Jiangdong, to see the world's provocations. The scale is not to be blamed. Who? Northern sincerity is also multi-tasking. Because of its many tasks, he eliminated Huang Zu, entered Liu Biao, and even the Yangtze River was extreme, according to it, and then built an emperor to try to the world, and this high emperor's karma was also. ”
"Fu Jingchu is adjacent to the country, the water flows down to the north, the outside of the Jianghan, the inner obstruction of the mountains, the solidity of the golden city, the fertile wilderness, the people are rich, if there is a basis, the capital of this emperor is also." ...... If you are prepared to cooperate with him, and if you are in harmony with him, then it is advisable to be at peace and to be allied with: if there is a violation, it is advisable not to try to do so, so as to help the great things. ”
Therefore, capturing Jingzhou and improving Sun Wu's strategic posture is the "basic national policy" of Sun Wu's clique, which is far more important than going north to attack jianghuai.
Gan Ning and Zhou Yu went further, believing that after occupying Jingzhou in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, they would continue to go up the Shuo River, capture Bashu, completely occupy the entire Yangtze River Basin, and then map the Central Plains.
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Biography of Ganning": Ning Chen Ji said, "The land of the Southern Jing, the mountains and mausoleums, the rivers and rivers circulate, and the sincerity is the western trend of the country." Ning had already looked at Liu Biao, and his worries were not far away. The son is inferior, and the non-inheritor is also the one who inherits the inheritance. The Supreme Being should be disciplined in the morning, and must not be later. The plan of the picture should first take Huang Zu. Zu is old this year, he is very dim-witted, he lacks wealth and valleys, he cheats left and right, he is anxious for goods and profits, he encroaches on the officials, and the officials are resentful. Boats and ships and war tools are not repaired, and they are sluggish in cultivating the peasants, and the army cannot be armed. The Supreme Being is now and now, and its destruction may be inevitable. Once the ancestral army is broken, the drum marches west, the west is based on ChuGuan, and the general situation is widespread, and it can gradually regulate Ba and Shu. ”
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms of Zhou Yu (周瑜傳) Yu Nai Jing Jian Quan Yue :"Begging and Fenwei both forge ahead of Shu, and Shu and Zhang Lu, because they stay fenwei to stick to their land, so as to help Ma Chao." Yu also held xiangyang with the general Qi Cao, and the north could also be tuye. ”
However, Lu Su of the Sun Wu clique had the "Policy on the Bed", and Zhuge Liang of the Liu Bei clique had the "Longzhong Pair".
The main strategic objectives of longzhong pair are:
"Jingzhou is bounded by Han and Chu in the north, the South China Sea in the east, Wuhui in the east, Anduba and Shu in the west, and this country of martial arts ... Yizhou is dangerous, fertile and thousands of miles, the land of Tianfu, and Gao Zu became an emperor because of it. ...... If there is a jing, a yi, a rock barrier, a western and a Zhurong, a southern Fuyiyue, a good external alliance with Sun Quan, and an internal revision of political reasoning; if there is a change in the world, then the general of Jingzhou will be Xiang Wan and Luo, and the general will lead the people of Yizhou out of Qinchuan, and the people will dare not eat pot pulp to meet the general? If so, then hegemony can be achieved, and the Han room can be prosperous. ”
It can be seen that Liu Bei's clique also regarded Jingzhou as one of the important strategic fulcrums, so it is no wonder that after the Battle of Chibi, Sun and Liu's two families met several times in order to compete for Jingzhou.
Although Liu Bei and Sun Quan temporarily shelved the conflict with Xiangshui as the boundary, both sides would not be satisfied with the demarcation of the border this time, so Lü Meng's "white-clothed crossing the river" to capture Guan Yu was only the outbreak of contradictions between the two families for Jingzhou, and the Battle of Yiling finally determined the ownership of Jingzhou.
After occupying most of Jingzhou (a few parts such as Nanyang Commandery in the territory of Cao Wei), Eastern Wu's strategic posture was greatly improved, completely controlling the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and achieving the strategic goal of "according to the basis of the "Tata Shang Strategy".
In the second year of the Huang Dynasty (221), Cao Pi claimed that the empress dowager had given Sun Quan Jiuxi the title of King of Wu, a great general, a leader of Jingzhou, and a military governor of Jingzhou, Yang, and Jiaozhou.
In the first year of The Yellow Dragon (229), Sun Quan ascended the throne at Wuchang (present-day Echeng, Hubei) as emperor, and the founding name was Wu. In September, Sun Quan ordered the capital jianye (present-day Nanjing).
Jingzhou, as a strategic gateway to the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, a strategic place in Eastern Wu, played a role in defending the national gate.
Therefore, compared with the capture of Jianghuai, Eastern Wu's capture of Jingzhou was much more cost-effective and important.
Jingzhou is the life gate of Eastern Wu.
Although Sun Liu's two families met each other and Liu Bei was defeated and died of illness, the Shu Han clique had to swallow the bitter fruit of the loss of Jingzhou, swallowed it, and continued to ally with Eastern Wu against Cao Wei.
Sun Quan's move is high, it is really high!
The great man once said: "To seek unity through struggle is to unite and survive, and to seek unity through compromise is to unite and perish!" ”
Sun Quan is a master of even horizontal and vertical!
In the late Three Kingdoms period, Cao Wei destroyed Shu and the Jin Dynasty Cao Wei, and the general trend of the world became a confrontation between the Western Jin Dynasty and Eastern Wu.
The Western Jin Dynasty was far more powerful than Eastern Wu, and the destruction of Wu became the main strategic goal of the Western Jin Dynasty.
From which direction to attack Eastern Wu, the Western Jin general Yang Hu put forward his own point of view, he believed that the place of war between the two countries was in Jingzhou, and Jingzhou was the most important.
At that time, the Western Jin Dynasty and the Eastern Wu each occupied a part of the original Han Dynasty Jingzhou, forming a situation of confrontation between the north and the south.
Jingzhou in the Western Jin Dynasty included a small part of present-day Shaanxi and Henan and northern Hubei, while Jingzhou in the State of Wu had most of present-day Hubei and Hunan. The border between Jin and Wu is the longest in Jingzhou, so it is a key area in the war against Wu.
The two countries have fought many fierce battles here, such as the Battle of Xiling.
Eastern Wu naturally also knew the importance of Jingzhou, so it sent Lu Xun's son Lu Kangzhen to defend the place against the Western Jin general Yang Hu.
Lu Kang successively quelled bu xian's rebellion, repelled the attack of the Western Jin Dynasty, effectively defended the security of Jingzhou, and made the western border of Eastern Wu as stable as Mount Tai.
Yang Hu knew that Eastern Wu could not be destroyed in a short period of time, so he began to operate painstakingly in Jingzhou, allowing soldiers to cultivate the fields, reserve military grain, and expand the territory of the Western Jin Dynasty by building a walled city, gradually encroaching on the land between the Han River and the Yangtze River.
He also applied faith and righteousness to the wu soldiers and civilians, constantly shaking the loyalty of the generals of the Wu army, and winning the hearts and minds of the border people of Eastern Wu.
Many Wu generals came to surrender, and the people of the Eastern Wu border were satisfied with Yang Hu and respectfully called him "Yang Gong".
The attack is the top, and the siege is the bottom.
Before Yang Hu died, he recommended Du Pre as his successor, guarding Jingzhou, and continuing to prepare for the annihilation of Wu.
When the time was ripe, Du Pre began to attack Eastern Wu in Jingzhou, successively conquering Jiangling, Lexiang and other cities, completely occupying Jingzhou and capturing the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
At this point, the western gateway of Eastern Wu was wide open, the middle reaches of the Yangtze River had no danger to defend, and its demise was only in the course of the day.
The Western Jin Dynasty's Yizhou assassin Shi Mao built a warship and marched from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River into the middle reaches; crossed the Qutang Gorge and Wuxia Gorge and attacked Danyang; and then went down the river, entered the Xiling Gorge, burned the iron cables of the barrage, conquered Xiling, Jingmen, and Yidao, and reached Jianye. Lord Sun Hao of Wu surrendered.
Related reading links:
Who is the First Strategist of the Three Kingdoms? Please see Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Pair" and Lu Su's "Tatami Strategy" comparison
The hero of the Three Kingdoms said Deng Ai: Gestapo Qigong, destroy shu and do not return
The hero of the Three Kingdoms said Yang Hu: A good warrior has no outstanding merit
Shu Han's Hanzhong Strategy: Wei Yan Wang Ping's defensive counterattack won a great victory, and Jiang Wei's strategic mistakes destroyed the country
The Delirium of History: Zhuge Liang's "Restoration of the Central Plains" and Mussolini's "New Roman Empire"
Why didn't Liu Bei claim to be a descendant of Liu Bang, but to be called the Queen of Zhongshan Jing? Not unwillingly, but not daring
Does character determine destiny or national strength determine success or failure? Zhuge Liang's labor and inaction and Deng Ai's Gestapo Gong
Why is Xiang Favor, who was praised by Zhuge Liang on the "Table of Renunciation", obscure? Zhuge Liang's knowledge is unknown
Why did Liu Bei, Emperor Liu of the "Xingfu Han Room", have few celebrities follow him?
Why did Liu Bei betray Cao Cao? You don't understand the basics between heroes
The tragic fate of "Lao Lai" Liu Bei, his brothers were killed, Jingzhou was lost, and the soldiers were defeated and killed