The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms comments on Liu Bei: "The Hongyi of the Ancestors is generous, knows people and treats soldiers, covers the wind of the high ancestors, and is the instrument of the hero." And its whole country is lonely than Zhuge Liang, and the heart is undeterred, the sincerity of the king and the most righteous, the grand track of ancient and modern times. The machine power is strategic, not to arrest Wei Wu, is based on Ji Yu and narrow. But if he does not bend, he who will not be inferior in the end will not tolerate the amount of the other, not only to compete for profits, but to avoid harming Yun'er. ”
Compared with the starting point of Cao Cao and Sun Quan, Liu Bei can be described as poor and white at the beginning. Although he had a very remarkable identity - the son of the Han Jing Emperor and a descendant of Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, he was a real royal family. However, Liu Bei,an imperial family, was nothing more than a fallen imperial family, and after the implementation of Emperor Wu of Han's "Tui En Order", when Liu Bei's generation came, even food and clothing became a big problem, and he had to weave mats and sell shoes for a living.
In the first year of Zhongping, Liu Bei suppressed the Yellow Turban Rebellion and made military achievements; it was not until the thirteenth year of Jian'an, when Cao Cao was defeated at Chibi, that Liu Bei really had his own power, which showed the hardships involved. However, in the eyes of many people, Liu Bei's strength is not strong, especially his military ability, and he relies on Zhuge Liang's divine ingenuity to win every battle.
Therefore, more people think that Liu Bei does not have the ability to lead troops to fight, but he is able to distinguish himself from knowing people and appointing people, and he can make meritorious achievements. But in fact, judging from the records of the canonical history, Liu Bei actually still has a fairly strong ability to lead troops.
In the early years, there were repeated defeats
In his early years, Liu Bei participated in activities such as suppressing the Yellow Turban Rebellion and attacking Dong Zhuo, and later in the situation of the mixed wars between the princes, he also attached himself to Gongsun Zhan, Tao Qian, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao and other princes. At that time, Liu Bei was able to repeatedly lead troops to fight under others, and his ability was naturally not weak. In fact, during this period, Liu Bei also fought many victorious battles.
So why is Liu Bei considered to be a frequent defeat? This has to mention the famous "Battle of Yiling".
In April 221, Liu Bei was in Chengdu preparing to ascend the throne as emperor and establish the Shu Han Dynasty. After that, in order to retake Jingzhou, Liu Bei thought that Guan Yu had taken revenge and led an army to attack Sun Quan. At that time, Zhao Yun and other ministers tried to dissuade Liu Bei, but Liu Bei still led a large army of tens of thousands of people to attack Eastern Wu in July.
He first sent the generals Wu Ban, Feng Xi, and Zhang Nan to lead an army of 30,000 people, and when Sun Quan was underprepared, he quickly occupied the gap and invaded The territory of Eastern Wu. Sun Quan saw that the Shu Han army was coming, but was not fully prepared, so the Wu army Li Yi, Liu Abu and other troops were broken by the Shu army in Wudi, and Liu Bei occupied Zigui from then on.
In order to prevent the Wei state from taking advantage of the attack, Liu Bei ordered the Zhenbei general Huang Quan to be stationed on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and at the same time sent the servant Ma Liang to the Wuling area, so that the local tribal leader Sha Moke would come to fight sun Quan.
Under such circumstances, Sun Quan immediately appointed Lu Xun, who had previously made great contributions in the Jingzhou Surprise Attack, as the governor of Dadu, and let him command 50,000 troops in order to resist the Shu army. In order to prevent Cao Pi from attacking, Sun Quan also specially sent emissaries to Cao Pi to repair his subjects.
Lu Xun carefully compared and analyzed the conditions of the two sides' strength, morale, and terrain, and finally came to the conclusion that although the Shu army was strong and high and dangerous, it was eager to win. Because Lu Xun believed that under such circumstances, the Wu army would inevitably temporarily avoid the Shu army's sharp edge, and then wait for the opportunity to break the enemy.
As a result, Lu Xun successfully delayed the Shu army to the Yiling area in a relaxed manner, and the shu army's cross-border operations were inevitably unfavorable over time, and the military's morale was even more turbulent. And Lu Xun found this opportunity to burn Liu Bei's company for eight hundred miles, and finally defeated Liu Bei.
The real reason behind the defeat
In fact, from Liu Bei's early experience, it is not difficult to see that Liu Bei did not have a brilliant record of a great war, but he was highly praised by almost all the princes in the Three Kingdoms. Even after his defeat at the Battle of Yiling, he remained the guest of honor of the other princes.
The reason for this is that although Liu Bei failed, he was not afraid of his own failure. Instead, he is proud of his failures, because he can get more experience from repeated failures and provide the best nourishment for his own growth.
Therefore, as the military commander of the Shu state, Liu Bei was able to survive in the environment of the warlord melee at the end of the Han Dynasty, and gradually develop and grow, which was not easy. With this alone, Liu Bei can also be called a dragon and phoenix among people.
Moreover, in the first half of Liu Bei's life, he experienced wars of unequal strength, and he was often the side with inferior troops. It was not until after Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu were divided into three worlds that Liu Bei had military strength comparable to Sun Quan's Cao Cao.
In the later war of equal strength, Liu Bei's performance can already be said to be very good.
"Rise" after the Battle of Chibi
During the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan and Liu Bei joined forces to defeat Cao Cao. It was also until this time that Liu Bei's life took a turn for the better. After the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei occupied Jingzhou and began to use Jingzhou as a base to attack Yizhou according to the established policy of Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Pair".
In the Battle of Yizhou, Liu Bei was always on the front line to command the battle. In the process of feeding the war with war, Liu Bei's military strength was constantly enhanced.
When he first entered Yizhou, Liu Bei's army was still less than 10,000 people, but it was in this situation that Liu Bei still occupied Yizhou. Of course, behind such success is not only the credit of Liu Bei, but also the contribution of soldiers and generals, such as Fazheng, Pang Tong's strategy, Ma Chao's joining, and so on.
After the pacification of Yizhou, Liu Bei also fought a local war with Cao Cao in Hanzhong, that is, the Battle of Dingjunshan.
Finally, in the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Liu Bei camped at Dingjun Mountain, and Xiahou Yuan led an army to attack the Shu army, but was killed by Huang Zhong. Liu Bei thus defeated Cao Cao in one fell swoop and eventually occupied Hanzhong.
In the eyes of many people, the credit for seizing Yizhou and Hanzhong should belong to Fazheng, Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, and others. But in fact, as the commander of the army, Liu Bei was also under command. If there is no outstanding commander, it is useless to have even the most powerful strategists.
From the beginning of Liu Bei's conquest of the Yellow Turban to the process of Xinye, it can be seen that his ability is slowly growing, and Pingyi Prefecture and Dinghanzhong are his peak period.
Moreover, Liu Bei enlisted in the army in the first year of Zhongping, and until his death, he fought for almost 40 years. In the society at that time, the life expectancy of 40 years was already very long. How many of his contemporaries, such as Sun Quan and others, were more experienced in combat than him?
In fact, many of the battles in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, such as the burning of Bowangpo, were actually directed by Liu Bei. However, in order to highlight Zhuge Liang's merits in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei's merits were weakened or even covered up.
When Cao Cao was defeated at the burning of Chibi, he also once said that Liu Bei and his own military ability were almost the same, but the Shu state was weak. This may be the best affirmation of Liu Bei's military ability.
In fact, in the process of Liu Bei's Eastern Expedition, in addition to losing to Lu Xun in the Battle of Yiling, he had also won consecutive battles before, and although Eastern Wu achieved the final victory, it was also a heavy loss, which shows that Liu Bei's military ability is not bad, and it can even be said that it is excellent. The reason for frequent failures, the disparity in strength between the enemy and ourselves, is indeed an extremely important reason.
brief summary
Throughout Liu Bei's life, although the battle record is more defeat than victory, if you carefully explore the defeated battles, it is not difficult to find that in addition to the Battle of Yiling being his own reason, most of the defeats still lie in the strength of the army.
Moreover, although Liu Bei was repeatedly defeated, he was never captured, not even wounded. Compared with Xiahou Yuan, Sun Jian and other people who led troops to conquest and finally died on the battlefield, his survivability was already excellent enough.
All in all, although Liu Bei's ability to lead troops is not the top in the Three Kingdoms, it is definitely not bad, it is a general level of long-term conquest, although it lacks miracles, it can also fight steadily and steadily, and has the role of a mainstay.
Reference: Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The picture comes from the network, if there is infringement, contact to delete!