Jingzhou's geographical location in the Three Kingdoms period is very important, from the entire map of China, the Qinling -- HuaiHe river line is the dividing line between the north and the south, the north wants to conquer the south to unify the world, from the north of Jingzhou Xiangfan south is the most convenient, because from the west of the Qinling South is too difficult to walk, here is the traditional Shu Road, Shu Road is difficult to travel, difficult to go to Qingtian, from the east of Jianghuai south, is a water town with a dense water network, completely rely on the water army, the north's foot riding can not play an advantage.
Therefore, from the Central Plains along the Nanyang -- Xiangfan -- Jingzhou line to the Jianghan Plain, and then occupy the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and then go west against the Yangtze River, you can conquer Yizhou, occupy the Chengdu Plain, to the east you can go down the Yangtze River, occupy the Jiangdong and Jiangnan, with a sentence to describe the importance of Jingzhou, that is: those who get Jingzhou get the Yangtze River, and those who get the Yangtze River get the world.
The location of Jingzhou during the Three Kingdoms period
It is precisely because of the important strategic position of Jingzhou that three major battles occurred in Jingzhou during the Three Kingdoms period, which determined the historical trend of the entire Three Kingdoms, these three battles were: the Battle of Chibi, the Battle of Xiangfan, and the Battle of Yiling. At the same time, the three major forces of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan also continued to confront and compete in Jingzhou, which became an important powder keg during the Three Kingdoms period, and the three major regimes continued to wage wars in Jingzhou.
As we all know, the highest military and political commander of Jingzhou appointed by Liu Bei was Guan Yu, but in the Later Battle of Xiangfan, because Sun Quan secretly attacked Jingzhou, resulting in the loss of the rear, while at the front line, although Guan Yu played a battle record of Wei Zhen Huaxia, he was eventually defeated in the Xiangfan battlefield, defeated by the Wei general Xu Huang, thus defeating Maicheng, and was eventually captured and killed by Sun Quan's men.
Guan Yu guarded Jingzhou
Guan Yu was killed, causing Liu Bei's forces to completely withdraw from Jingzhou, and also triggered the Battle of Yiling, starting from the Battle of Xiangfan, to the Battle of Yiling Liu Bei's defeat, the Shu Han forces fell into a continuous weakening, Guan Yu lost Jingzhou also became a turning point in the Shu Han regime, until the demise, Guan Yu himself had a great responsibility for the lost Jingzhou, so in addition to Guan Yu, who else under Liu Bei's generals guarded Jingzhou?
Jingzhou is the land of four wars, but also Zhuge Lianglongzhong in the strategy of the Northern Expedition is an important link, before the world changes, the Shu Han regime's strategy for Jingzhou should be to defend, not attack, Guan Yu's failure to a large extent lies in his continuous attack, resulting in the entire Jingzhou rear empty, thus being attacked by Sun Quan, if Guan Yu does not launch the Northern Expedition Xiangfan war, Sun Quan wants to take Jingzhou is not an easy task.
Liu Bei and Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhuge Liang
Although there are not many generals under Liu Bei, but the majority of offensive generals, such as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Wei Yan, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, and others, are good at attacking, not good at defense, Guan Yu has an arrogant personality, looks down on too many people, although he has outstanding ability, but there are defects in his personality, and there are also reasons for losing Jingzhou, but Guan Yu is the number one general under Liu Bei, and the town of Jingzhou is not only expected by everyone, but also within the reach of ability.
Zhang Fei's ability is slightly inferior to Guan Yu, and he is also a thousand enemies, but Zhang Fei's shortcomings are also very prominent, that is, he likes to beat his soldiers with a whip, and more importantly, Zhang Fei also arranges the soldiers who were beaten by him, even Liu Bei saw Zhang Fei's shortcomings, and reminded him to pay attention to precautions, but Zhang Fei did not care, and in the end Zhang Fei died in the unfortunate words of Liu Bei, Liu Bei saw people very accurately, so he did not let Zhang Feizhen guard Hanzhong, but let Wei Yan guard Hanzhong.
Zhang Fei was too grumpy to defend Jingzhou
Wei Yan from a certain aspect, is a scaled-down version of Guan Yu, Wei Yan's military ability is outstanding, and Xiao Yong is good at war, at the same time Wei Yan has an arrogant personality, it is difficult to get along with people, such a general is the front, the march is the best, let him defend Jingzhou, there will be problems, because Wei Yan even the most basic interpersonal relations are not good, there are contradictions with many people, he town shou Jingzhou will be the same as Guan Yu's end, or more miserable.
Ma Chao cannot be reused, Liu Bei will never let Ma Chao guard one side, because Ma Chao was once a prince who sat on an equal footing with Liu Bei, such a person will be independent once he has the opportunity, Liu Bei will not give Ma Chao such an opportunity, Ma Chao's identity determines that he cannot be reused.
Huang Zhong, like Wei Yan, was brave and good at war, charging into battle and leading the way, Huang Zhong relied on his bravery and killed the enemy general Xiahou Yuan on the battlefield to rank among the four generals of the same status as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, etc., but Huang Zhong's age was too old, and he had reached the age of the loess buried his neck, which was not suitable for the town guard.
Wei Yan had a character defect and was not suitable for shou jingzhou
In addition to Guan Yu, Liu Bei's men were the most suitable to defend Jingzhou, one was Zhao Yun and the other was Huo Jun.
Historically, Zhao Yun served as Liu Bei's Chinese army escort most of the time and rarely participated in the war, but there were two battles in which Zhao Yun performed prominently, one was the Battle of Hanshui, and the other was the Battle of Zhao Yun's Jigu during Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition.
In the Battle of Hanshui, Zhao Yun was the main general, Huang Zhong and Zhang Yi were all under Zhao Yun's control, when Huang Zhong led his troops to rob Cao Cao's grain and grass, he did not return for a long time, and Zhao Yun took dozens of cavalry out to look for it, and as a result, he encountered Cao Cao's main force, Zhao Yun's side was at an absolute disadvantage, but Zhao Yun did not panic at all, but retreated while fighting, and after returning to the camp, he ordered the camp gate to open widely and use the empty camp to meet the enemy.
Zhao Yun and Liu Bei
Cao Jun saw zhao Yun's camp door wide open, did not dare to advance, and then Zhao Yun led the army out of the camp to rush out, Cao Jun suddenly panicked, defeated and fled, the result was that people and horses trampled on each other, many people were trampled to death by their own people, and some people fell into the Han Water and drowned, Zhao Yun won a great victory, this was a battle to defeat the main force of the Cao army with fewer victories and more relying on strategy, after the war, Liu Bei praised Zhao Yun for being bold.
During Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, Zhao Yun was already a veteran general, and in the first Northern Expedition, as a suspect soldier, he sent troops from Jigu and pretended to attack Chang'an, attracting Cao Zhen's troops, the main force of Cao Wei, in fact, Zhao Yun was just the bait of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditionary Army, and it was very difficult to oppose the main force of Cao Jun.
However, in the Battle of Jigu, Zhao Yun was very stable, and after being identified by Cao Zhen as a suspicious soldier, Zhao Yun led his army to block Cao Zhen, because if Zhao Yun did not block Cao Zhen's army, once Cao Zhen attacked Hanzhong along the road of Zhao Yun's withdrawal, it would be the disaster of Shu Han, and the retreat of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition army could be cut off by Cao Zhen.
Zhao Yun was both offensive and defensive
In the entire Battle of Jigu, Zhao Yun performed well, both offensive and defensive, even if it was retreated, it was Zhao Yun himself who broke off, and the Shu army did not have any losses, which was very difficult, which showed that Zhao Yun's defensive ability was also quite strong.
From Zhao Yun's two battles, it can be seen that Zhao Yun has these two abilities:
The first is the ability to strategize.
The second is to have both offensive and defensive capabilities.
Such a ability as a general defending Jingzhou is the best, Shoujingzhou does not need to attack before the world changes, only need to defend, if it is defensive, there is no chance for Sun Quan to sneak attack, Sun Quan wants to attack is also impossible, Jingzhou is a strong city after all, when Zhou Yu fought the Jiangling City occupied by Cao Ren for a whole year, or Cao Ren took the initiative to retreat.
In addition, Zhao Yun also has two advantages: One is loyal to Liu Bei, Liu Bei is willing to entrust his family's life to Zhao Yun, which is absolute trust, let Zhao Yun guard Jingzhou, Liu Bei is definitely at ease.
Zhao Yun was loyal
Second, Zhao Yun has an upright personality, is selfless with an iron face, and loves the people. Zhao Yun came out to join Gongsun Zhan because of the pursuit of benevolent government, and later turned to Liu Bei for the same reason, Zhao Yun advised Liu Bei after Chengdu was attacked, do not seize the people's land and people, would rather offend some meritorious people, but also love the people, such a person to guard Jingzhou can also get the support of the people of Jingzhou. Trust + benevolent government + strategic ability + attack and defense at the same time, this is the reason why Zhao Yun can defend Jingzhou.
The second general who could defend Jingzhou was Huo Jun, he was a native of Zhijiang, Jingzhou South County, a local magnate, his family armed with hundreds of people, after Liu Biao's death, Huo Jun defected to Liu Bei, in 211 AD with Liu Bei into Sichuan, Liu Bei and Liu Zhang turned their faces and after a war, Liu Bei handed over the only rear area of Ye Meng City to Huo Jun, at that time Liu Bei was fighting on Liu Zhang's territory, and Ye Meng City was also Liu Bei's only stronghold, which shows Liu Bei's importance to Huo Jun.
Huo Jun
During the entire Battle of Yizhou for more than two years, Huo Jun relied on a few hundred people to defend Yemeng City, during which Zhang Lu tried to deceive Huo Jun into occupying Yemeng City, but huo Jun refused, Liu Zhang sent his generals to support ban and Xiang Cun to lead more than 10,000 people to attack Yemeng City, the result was more than a year, still could not be captured, Huo Jun only led hundreds of people to hold a city without any reinforcements, blocked more than 10,000 enemy attacks for a year, and what was even more miraculous was that Huo Jun also took the opportunity to kill Xiang Cun's head, how difficult it was.
With this battle alone, we can at least see three characteristics of Huo Jun: one is loyal, the other is good at defending the city, and the third is tenacious, such talents are rare, and there are at least two advantages for Huo Jun to defend Jingzhou:
First, Huo Jun was originally a Jingzhou native, and with the resources of the local people, it was easier to defend Jingzhou against foreign enemies.
Stone statue of Huo Jun
The second is that Huo Jun was loyal to Geng Geng, his son was Huo Yi who later guarded the south of the town, until the surrender of Shu Han, Huo Yi was also loyal, Liu Bei was more assured of Huo Jun, Liu Bei was still quite accurate, and the reason why he used Huo Jun to guard Ye Meng City was because he saw Huo Jun's loyalty.
Huo Jun could defend Yemeng City well, and he could certainly defend Jingzhou well, he was the most suitable general for the Shu Han Group to guard Jingzhou in addition to Zhao Yun, and he could guard Jingzhou alone or with Zhao Yun.