In 207 AD, after Cao Cao's northern expedition to Wuheng, the north was calmed down, and his next goal was to expedition to Jingzhou in the south.
At this time, Liu Bei was here in Liu Biao, Jingzhou, and there were not many people under him at that time, there were only a few thousand people before he defected to Liu Biao, and many of them were Yellow Turban Soldiers, these people were not loyal to Liu Bei, and once the situation was not right, they would definitely leave him.
Fortunately, Liu Biao added a lot of soldiers to liu bei after taking him in, and Liu Bei's reputation in the Jingzhou area was not bad, and many locals defected to him.
At this time, Liu Biao died, and Liu Biao's younger son Liu Chun took charge of Jingzhou and wanted to defect to Cao Cao.
At this time, Liu Bei was stationed in Fancheng, and when he heard that Cao Cao's army was moving south, Liu Biao's son was ready to surrender to Cao Cao, and after Cao Cao's army reached Wancheng, Liu Bei had to quickly lead the army to withdraw from Fancheng.
When he retreated south from Fancheng, there were many ordinary people following him along the road, and by the time he arrived in Dangyang County, there were already more than 100,000 people.
Hundreds of thousands of people plus thousands of trucks of grain and grass materials, so the action is very slow, and they can only walk more than a dozen miles a day.
Liu Bei's men and horses walked slowly, but Cao Cao's army was very fast, even if it was Cao Cao's infantry, they could walk a hundred miles a day when they were in a hurry to march, even if they were not in a hurry, fifty or sixty miles a day was no problem.
Therefore, within a few days, Liu Bei would be caught up by Cao Cao's main forces.
And there were not many people under Liu Bei's hands, it seemed that there were only a few people who could really be used for combat, and when facing Cao Cao, Liu Bei was simply powerless to resist.
Liu Bei's men were also very aware of this, so they suggested that Liu Bei should go to Jiangling at full speed, where it was possible to resist the attack of Cao Cao's army, and that there were a large number of military supplies in Jiangling that could support Liu Bei and Cao Cao in battle.
But Liu Bei did not agree, believing that since the common people were willing to follow him, he should not abandon them.
Although Liu Bei did not want to abandon these ordinary people, Cao Cao did not give him a chance.
At that time, It would take a few days for Cao Cao's main army to catch up with Liu Bei, and Liu Bei was already dozens of miles away from the Jiangling area, and it was estimated that Liu Bei would reach Jiangling in three or five days at most.
Cao Cao considered that there was a large amount of grain and grass in the Jiangling area, and if these fell into Liu Bei's hands, it would be very unfavorable to him, so he personally led 5,000 cavalry to chase Liu Bei overnight.
In one day and night, Cao Cao marched more than 300 miles, and as a result, he caught up with Liu Bei in Danyang County.
Liu Bei was not an opponent, and was defeated, so he had to flee under the escort of Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei and others, and hundreds of thousands of people were also taken away by Cao Cao.
Then, Liu Beiming knew that he could not defeat Cao Cao, and it was easy to be caught up by Cao Cao, so why take such a big risk to walk with the people?
Liu Bei was actually gambling that Cao Cao would not send cavalry to chase him overnight.
Because, Dangyang County is only fifty or sixty miles away from Jiangling, even if Liu Bei leads more than 100,000 people to walk more than ten miles a day, he can reach Jiangling in about 4 days.
Cao Cao's army was nearly 400 miles away from the Jiangning area, and even if the rapid march was 100 miles a day, it had to walk for 4 days, just before and after Liu Bei reached Jiangling.
However, if Cao Cao's army used a rapid march for 4 days, and when it reached Jiangling, its combat effectiveness was greatly reduced, and it was necessary to take a good rest.
Then, after Liu Bei entered the city, he could have time to organize a battle against Cao Cao.
As a result, the grain and grass in Gangneung were as many as the hundreds of thousands of people who were loyal to him.
Hundreds of thousands of loyal people were willing to go south with Liu Bei, and how could these people select 20,000 or 30,000 soldiers, which would not only help defend Jiangling, but also become Liu Bei's most powerful weapon for the world after strict training.
At the same time, Liu Bei's attitude of not abandoning or giving up on his followers will also make the people of the world admire him and yearn for him, and accumulate enough people's hearts for him to unify the world.
But what I didn't expect was that Liu Bei didn't gamble to win!
Cao Cao unexpectedly left the main force behind and personally led the cavalry to chase after him overnight, only to catch up with Liu Bei in one day.
Therefore, Liu Bei not only lost more than 100,000 people, but also did not get grain and grass in Jiangling City.
However, fortunately, this time Liu Bei did not put the eggs in the same basket, and the cost was still there.
When Liu Bei led the people south to Dangyang County by land, he had actually realized that if he was caught up by Cao Cao, he would have to become the commander of the light pole.
Therefore, here Liu Bei asked Guan Yu to lead a group of men and horses from the waterway to Jiangling.
At that time, the army that set out with Guan Yu had hundreds of ships, and this army had to have more than 10,000 people, which should be Liu Bei's main force.
If Liu Bei had not divided his troops with Guan Yu in Dangyang County, it is estimated that he would not have the capital to fight the Battle of Chibi with Cao Cao.