The Battle of Yiling was the last of the Three Kingdoms' "Three Great Battles". The Romance of the Three Kingdoms depicts the Battle of Yiling in a colorful manner, in which Liu Bei was killed because Guan Yu did not listen to Zhuge Liang's advice, and in anger led an army of 700,000 to attack Eastern Wu, where lu xun burned the camp and the whole army was destroyed. Lu Xun led the Wu army in pursuit, but was frightened by Zhuge Liang's eight-array map, and the siege of the Shu army was lifted.
Yanyi's description of the Battle of Yiling is very exciting, and the ups and downs of the plot in it are also gripping. However, what about the real Battle of Yiling in history?
First, the cause of the Battle of Yiling
In the rendition, Liu Bei poured all his strength into attacking Eastern Wu because Eastern Wu killed Guan Yu, and Liu Bei wanted to avenge his brother. In fact, Liu Bei's decision to attack Eastern Wu may indeed have this part of the reason, but to think of Liu Bei, a generation of tyrants, as a person who can go to war at the expense of the national fortunes for the sake of his righteous brother, is really underestimating Liu Bei, or subjectively emotionalizing Liu Bei.
The real Liu Bei is neither the benevolent and simple heir of the Han family in the rendition, nor is he a "hypocrite" or "villain" that many people think of. Liu Bei's life is a life of inspirational struggle, he went from having nothing to shaking the world, and he was by no means blindly relying on kindness or cunning to succeed.
Liu Bei was a scheming politician, and the decisions he made were made through his own deliberations. When Eastern Wu attacked and killed Guan Yu, Liu Bei would certainly be angry, but it was by no means the fundamental reason for Liu Bei's attack on Eastern Wu. Liu Bei spared no effort to devote all his strength to Eastern Wu, and the most important reason was Jingzhou.
Guan Yu's death was an emotional blow to Liu Bei, a loss of talent, but it was acceptable, but the loss of Jingzhou was tantamount to breaking his arm and inserting a nail into his heart for Shu Guo and Liu Bei.
Needless to say, the importance of Jingzhou is jingzhou at the core of Zhuge Lianglong's strategy. For the Shu state in a remote corner, Jingzhou is their outpost that can be attacked and retreated, with it, Wei and Wu will be constrained, without it, the Shu state will become a beast trapped in the southwest, empty brute force but unable to exert.
Therefore, Jingzhou must not be lost, even if it is a gamble on national fortunes, Liu Bei must also fight. As for Guan Yu's death, it was more of a reason for Liu Bei to carry out against Eastern Wu.
2. The situation of the Battle of Yiling
In the speech, it is described that Liu Bei led an army of more than 700,000 people and slaughtered Eastern Wu in a mighty way. However, in fact, Liu Bei's army did not say 700,000, not even 100,000.
Liu Bei personally led the Shu army of about 30,000 people, plus more than 10,000 people of the Five Xi Barbarians, and the total strength of Liu Bei's former army was only less than 50,000. Sun Quan's distress letter to Cao Pi also stated that Liu Bei's army had 40,000. Therefore, in the Battle of Yiling, Liu Bei's troop strength was about 50,000, even if it was added to the later army, it did not exceed 100,000.
As for the 700,000 in the interpretation, it can only be an exaggerated dramatic description. If you think about it, you know how it was possible that there were 700,000 troops in the national strength and population of the Shu Han Dynasty at that time.
The State of Wu also did not have 200,000, and Sun Quan appointed Lu Xun as the governor of the capital, commanding an army of about 50,000 people. Therefore, the Shu army did not have an advantage in numbers, and it can only be said that the victory in the Battle of Hanzhong made the Shu army better than the Wu army.
In addition to the number of troops, the description of many of the participating characters in the yanyi is also inconsistent with historical facts. For example, Gan Ning and Huang Zhong, who actually died before the Battle of Yiling, Zhu Ran and Pan Zhang and others were not killed in battle, they actually made battle achievements and appeared again when facing Cao Wei in the Battle of Jiangling.
Lu Xun's lack of pursuit had nothing to do with Zhuge Liang's Eight Formations, and he withdrew his army because he was worried that Cao Wei would take the opportunity to attack the State of Wu, and the fact was exactly as he expected. When Lu Xun defeated Liu Bei, the State of Wei immediately attacked the State of Wu from the south, but because Lu Xun did not pursue Liu Bei and had already taken precautions against the Wei army, the Wei army returned without success.
THIRD, why did Liu Bei not take Zhuge Liang with him on his expedition?
Regarding the answer to this question, the description in the interpretation is that Zhuge Liang opposed Liu Bei's tearing up of the covenant and attacking Eastern Wu, and Liu Bei was so angry that his brother Guan Yu was killed and vowed to go out to take revenge, so he did not let Zhuge Liang follow.
However, the truth is far from simple.
Zhuge Liang in the rendition is the soul figure of Shu Han and the most trusted person of Liu Bei, but the real power of Zhuge Liang in history was after Liu Bei's death.
Just look at Liu Bei's history of his family. At the time of the capture of Xichuan, Liu Bei's military staff were mainly Pang Tong and Fazheng, and it was not until Li Yan surrendered to Liu Bei that Zhuge Liang was finally granted the task of performing the finale.
In the Battle of Hanzhong, it was Liu Bei who commanded the entire battle, Zhang Fei and Huang Zhong who served as the forward, and Zhuge Liang who sat in the base camp.
It can be seen that in these major events that were crucial to Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang's figure was relatively small, and sometimes he did not even appear at all. For Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang was primarily a role in charge of logistics and base camp governance, rather than a military staff officer who commanded the army to fight.
Of course, sitting in the rear is also a very critical position, which can reflect Liu Bei's trust in Zhuge Liang, but compared with Pang Tong Fazheng and others, Zhuge Liang is obviously a "marginal figure", as for the military field, Zhuge Liang basically cannot get involved.
Therefore, when Liu Bei decided to go on a crusade against the State of Wu, Zhuge Liang would say that he could definitely persuade Liu Bei, because at this time Zhuge Liang had no say in Liu Bei's military actions, and Liu Bei naturally would not take him with him.
Of course, there are also places in the interpretation that are consistent with historical facts, that is, Lu Xun did take a fire attack. Liu Bei treated this campaign too lightly with the enemy, and Cao Pi did say when he saw Liu Bei's garrison: "If you don't know the soldiers, how can there be a seven-hundred-mile battalion that can resist the enemy!" 'The soldiers are birds of the enemy', this soldier is also jealous. Sun Quan's affairs are now over. (Romance of the Three Kingdoms)
The impact of the Battle of Yiling on the Three Kingdoms was enormous, and the Shu State, which was at its peak of national strength, declined and was forced to fight with the State of Wu against the powerful State of Wei, and the situation of the Three Kingdoms was formed. Liu Bei also died of melancholy from this battle, and Zhuge Liang gradually became the core figure of the Shu state and stepped onto the stage of history.
Resources:
Romance of the Three Kingdoms