Jingzhou is the place that determines the fate of the Three Kingdoms. This territory is located in the middle of three countries, and whoever controls it can gain an advantage over the other two countries. Therefore, all three countries are bound to win.
After the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei used his superb political and diplomatic skills to benefit greatly from Sun Quan. He first led troops to occupy the four counties of Jiangnan in Jingzhou, and then took advantage of Zhou Yu's death and borrowed Nan County from Sun Quan through Lu Su's mediation.
As a result, Sun Quan spent money on food and horses, and finally only gained one county in Jingzhou, while Liu Bei occupied five counties, and Cao Cao occupied the remaining two counties. In this way, Liu Bei became the biggest beneficiary of the Battle of Chibi, and Sun Quan became the wronged head of Liu Bei's work.
Sun Quan certainly wouldn't want to. In particular, Sun Quan is also a monarch with aspirations in the world, and he also wants to unify the Central Plains. If there is no opportunity to unify the Central Plains, we must also protect ourselves. Therefore, Jingzhou upstream is his lowest bottom line. Sun Quan first tried to control and co-opt Liu Bei, wanting Liu Bei to be used for himself.
However, when Liu Bei marched into Yizhou, Sun Quan understood that Liu Bei would never submit to the people, so he decided to expel Liu Bei's forces from Jingzhou. In this way, you can ensure your own safety. Therefore, in 215 AD, that is, in the twentieth year of Jian'an, when Sun Quan learned that Liu Bei had already pacified Yizhou, he sent Zhuge Jin to Liu Bei to ask for the counties of Jingzhou.
How could the old treacherous Liu Bei possibly agree. He shirked and said that he would wait until Liangzhou was conquered and then return all of Jingzhou to Sun Quan. Sun Quan said that Liu Bei did not want to return Jingzhou, but only used false words to delay time. As a result, Sun Quan directly sent people to take over the three counties of Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang, but was driven away by Guan Yu's men.
Sun Quan was furious and sent Lü Meng to lead 20,000 men to take the three counties. Liu Bei hurriedly personally led 50,000 horses from Chengdu to the public security, and sent Guan Yu to lead 30,000 horses to compete for the three counties. Sun Quan also personally stationed himself in Lukou, sending Lu Su to lead ten thousand people to resist Guan Yu in Tun Yiyang, and Lü Meng also led the main force to Yiyang to meet Lu Su after occupying the three counties.
In Yiyang, Lu Su and Guan Yu carried out the famous "Single Knife Meeting". Lu Su and Guan Yu led the generals to meet with a single sword. During the meeting, Guan Yu said that Liu Bei also contributed to the Battle of Chibi and deserved land. However, Lu Su explained the situation at that time, pointing out That Liu Bei's act of not paying attention to faith, leaving Guan Yu speechless. It was at this time that Cao Cao prepared to attack Hanzhong. In order to preserve Yizhou, Liu Bei made peace with Sun Quan. The two sides finally agreed that with Xiangshui as the boundary, the east of Xiangshui would belong to Eastern Wu, and the west of Xiangshui would belong to Liu Bei, and the alliance would be re-concluded.
In this conflict, Guan Yu did not show his prestige during the later Battle of Xiangfan. In that Battle of Xiangfan, Guan Yu flooded the Seventh Army, captured it, beheaded Pound, and threatened Huaxia. The only move he made in this conflict was liu bei sending him to fight for the three counties. Before that, he watched as Lü Meng occupied the three counties. After this, he led 30,000 horses and horses to hold Yiyang with Lu Su's 10,000 horses, which can be said to be inactive. Why is that? I think there are several reasons for this:
First, Liu Bei Group did not have a clear understanding of Sun Quan's determination to take back Jingzhou, and was too contemptuous of carelessness.
When Liu Bei and Sun Quan were just forming an alliance, in order to get Sun Quan's help, they were more attentive to Sun Quan. Sun Quan was also temporarily confused by Liu Bei, married his sister to Liu Bei, and handed over most of Jingzhou to Liu Bei.
However, the alliance between the two sides is based on mutual benefit. When Sun Quan found himself being used by Liu Bei, his grievances sprang up. Liu Bei, on the other hand, did not ask questions, but only insisted on going his own way. They differ from Sun Quan's philosophy and play the banner of orthodoxy. He believes that he is a Han family and takes Kuangfu Han as his calling.
They did not see that Sun Quan also had ambitions to become emperor, but only regarded him as an ordinary warlord. Liu Bei and Guan Yu despised Sun Quan in their hearts, and even treated them as subordinates. This is something that Sun Quan cannot stand.
Therefore, Sun Quan finally decided to implement his strategy of taking all the Yangtze River and driving Liu Bei's forces out of Jingzhou completely. He took back Lady Sun and sent someone to claim Jingzhou. In the case of fruitless demands, he took the initiative to send someone to take over the three counties.
The situation reached this point, and Liu Bei's group still did not care about Sun Quan's attitude. They did not expect that Sun Quan would use force at all. Throughout the incident, the counties of Jingnan were determined by Lü Meng. This was the root cause of Guan Yu's inability to react to Eastern Wu's military actions.
Second, both sides consciously avoid excessive intensification of the conflict and act cautiously and carefully.
At this time, although the two sides have met each other, the two sides still hope for a peaceful settlement. Dong and Sun Quan were strategic tactics in the Longzhong Pair, while the military commander on Sun Quan's side was Lu Su, who advocated a good alliance. Therefore, although the two sides have taken military action, they have still been mainly confrontational, and there has been no large-scale bloodshed.
At this time, the main enemy of the two sides was Still Cao Cao. If there is infighting between the two sides, it can only make Cao Cao a fisherman profit. Sun Quan also understood this, so he would acquiesce to Lu Su's "single knife meeting" move.
With Lu Su's mediation and the subjective needs of Sun Quan and Liu Bei, the military operations of both sides were mainly intimidation and did not cause an irreparable situation. Although Guan Yu led 30,000 troops to confront Lu Su and Lü Meng, he was morally poor and had to abandon the method of solving the problem by force.
Third, Liu Bei's strategic posture was unfavorable, and it was difficult to compete with Sun Quan.
At that time, Liu Bei himself brought 50,000 soldiers and horses, while Guan Yu brought 30,000 horses, and Sun Quan only had 30,000 horses and horses from Lu Su and Lü Meng on the front line. Liu Bei had an absolute numerical advantage, but why did Sun Quan dare to engage in a direct conflict with Liu Bei?
In addition to Sun Quan's moral superiority, Liu Bei's unfavorable posture put Liu Bei in a dilemma. At that time, although Liu Bei had already occupied Yizhou, Hanzhong had not yet taken it. Nishikawa did not have Hanzhong, and like a room with an open door, it could be broken in at any time.
In Jingzhou, Guan Yu's main stronghold was Jiangling in Nan County. However, Gangneung hangs alone on the north bank of the Yangtze River. Gangneung and Xiangyang trail four hundred miles, Gangneung without Xiangyang shield, just as Xichuan did not have Hanzhong, the enemy could not stand.
Therefore, the territory occupied by Liu Bei at this time was facing the strong pressure of Cao Cao. Although he led 80,000 horses, in terms of strategic posture, it was not as good as Sun Quan, who led 30,000 horses.
It was for this reason that before Liu Bei's 50,000 horses arrived, Guan Yu did not dare to risk being attacked by Cao Cao and Sun Quan and act rashly. Only after Liu Bei arrived did he accept the order and send troops to confront Lu Su. At this time, the three counties of Jiangnan had already been acquired by Lü Meng, and it was too late.
4. Cao Cao participated, and the two sides shook hands and made peace.
Cao Cao certainly would not give up this opportunity. Taking advantage of the confrontation between Sun and Liu's two families, he sent troops to Guanzhong and invaded Hanzhong. Due to the above reasons, if he and Sun Quan fight fiercely, Liu Bei will face the disaster of extinction.
If Cao Cao captured Hanzhong, Xichuan, which Liu Bei had just captured, would immediately be exposed to Cao Cao's troops. In this way, Xichuan was lost, and Jingzhou fell into the attack of Cao Cao and Sun Quan, and Liu Bei had no place to stand.
Therefore, Liu Bei had to make peace with Sun Quan. At this time, Sun Quan and Cao Cao were also in a state of hostility and did not want to expand the situation. In this way, the two sides divided the land in the south of the Jiangnan with the Xiangshui river as the boundary, and solved the problem more fairly.
However, Liu Bei led the main force into Sichuan to compete for Hanzhong, but did not pay attention to Sun Quan's attitude. He wishfully thought that the problem had been solved and that there was no way to make up for it. Sun Quan surrendered to Cao Cao without any knowledge, which eventually led to Guan Yu being killed and Jingzhou falling.
epilogue:
Although Guan Yu had outstanding military talent, he made many achievements in the battle against the Cao Army. However, he was self-effacing and arrogant, which made him despise Eastern Wu too much. This caused him to have no concern for Eastern Wu's strategic intentions and military ambitions. As a result, in the twentieth year of Jian'an, that is, in 215 AD, there was no action in this conflict with Eastern Wu.
What is even more tragic is that when this military conflict ended, Guan Yu still did not accept the lessons learned and made up for it. As a result, in the Battle of Xiangfan, although he achieved brilliant results, he was secretly attacked by Sun Quan and ended up with a defeat and death.