The story of the Three Kingdoms | Guan Yu defeated Maicheng, Zhuge Liang kept his mouth shut, why did Liu Bei refuse to save him!
The story of "Taoyuan Three Knots of Righteousness" is well known, the feelings between Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei are also very strong, but in the end Guan Yu's ending is not good, after the Battle of Xiangfan, Guan Yu fell into a situation of isolation and helplessness, defeated Maicheng and was killed by Sun Quan, from the situation at that time, why did Liu Bei delay in reinforcing, which was also a key factor that led to Guan Yu's failure and killing, what was Zhuge Liang doing at that time?
In fact, to understand why Guan Yu was isolated and helpless, the reason why he would defeat Maicheng and not get reinforcements, it was necessary to consider the distribution of troops in the Shu state at that time, the battlefield communication situation at that time, the key point was Liu Bei's control of the situation, Liu Bei was called emperor soon, he had some considerations for Guan Yu's position in Shuzhong, which may be an important factor in Liu Bei's delay in reinforcing troops.
In July of the twenty-fourth year of the Eastern Han Dynasty (219 AD), Guan Yu, the Shu general who was stationed in Jingzhou at that time, had already received encouragement from his eldest brother Liu Bei to win the victory in Hanzhong, and he decided to attack Xiangfan and expand his military achievements.
Guan Yu's initial stage, he was still very smooth, in August, Xiangfan was flooding, and Cao Cao sent the Seventh Army of Yu Ban was flooded, Guan Yu took the opportunity to surround the Wei general Cao Ren in the city, at the critical moment, Cao Cao and Sun Quan united, perhaps this was something that Liu Bei did not expect at all in the later period, Sun Quan sent Lu Xun to pretend to watch the battle, which made Guan Yu relax his vigilance and dispatch the Jingzhou garrison, and the Eastern Wu general Lü Meng took the opportunity to take Jingzhou directly, and also rebelled against the Shu generals Fu Shi and Mi Fang, and Cao Cao also continuously sent reinforcements to support Cao Ren Xu Huang also engaged in a confrontation with Guan Yu, in which Guan Yu was defeated, and Cao Ren sneaked in to cut off Guan Yu's supply of grain and grass, and the situation on the battlefield immediately reversed.
In October, Guan Yu had to withdraw his troops and at the same time led the remnants to garrison Maicheng, but at this time Guan Yu was already in a situation of isolation and helplessness, Sun Quan came to persuade Guan Yu to surrender, but Guan Yu only pretended to surrender, and he led more than a dozen soldiers to follow and escaped from Maicheng, Guan Yu was captured by Eastern Wu in the process of fleeing, and was immediately executed, as well as his son Guan Xing, the general Guan Yu thus ended his life in a defeated battle.
From the whole process of Guan Yu's defeated soldiers being killed, Liu Bei has not had any increase in troops, as mentioned earlier is the distribution of the shu army, Liu Bei was focused on Hanzhong at that time, and for the Jingzhou area, Liu Bei made some concessions, at the same time Liu Bei just began to get the news of Guan Yu's victory, before October Guan Yu was not defeated, and Eastern Wu joined forces with Cao Cao, resulting in Guan Yu's quick defeat and killing, which is where Liu Bei did not expect. In addition, in the communication at that time, there were indeed some problems.
Anyway, perhaps the objective reasons are not enough to prove that Liu Bei did not go to aid Guan Yu, perhaps Liu Bei still has real considerations, Liu Guanzhang's three people, since they have three righteousness, they are sharing weal and woe, advancing and retreating together, killing four parties in the chaotic world, especially Liu Bei as a descendant of the Han family, his goal is to support the Han Room and establish his own dynasty, and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are also his right and left arms, before Liu Bei has obtained Jingzhou, Liu Bei has no base, after Liu Bei took Hanzhong, At this time, Liu Bei had the capital to develop by leaps and bounds.
After the situation in the Three Kingdoms was clarified, Liu Bei's primary task was to rectify the interior and establish a complete political clique, which was easier to say about Zhuge Liang, Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, and others, while Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, as Liu Bei's brothers- in arms, could obtain a good position, which may be a thorny issue.
Zhang Fei is still easier to manage, although it is the third brother, but Zhang Fei still has great respect for Liu Bei, nominally a brother, in fact, it is the relationship between the monarch and the subject, in contrast, Guan Yu is the most difficult to position, Liu Bei let Guan Yu come to the town to guard Jingzhou, Liu Bei is in the base camp of Hanzhong, although Jingzhou is not a rich land, but the situation in Jingzhou is more complicated, Liu Bei gave Jingzhou to Guan Yu to garrison, enough to see Guan Yu's superior position in Liu Bei's clique, but this status in Liu Bei's posthumous title, they are all courtiers, Liu Bei had to take measures.
Many people think that Liu Bei's claim to be the empress dowager does not care about these, but it can be seen from the title that Guan Yu and Huang Zhong are the generals before and after, and Zhang Fei and Ma Chao are the generals left and right, so from this point of view, Guan Yu is at the head of the four generals, in fact, the status is the same, Guan Yu also expressed dissatisfaction: "The eldest husband is not in the same line with the veterans!" That's why he wanted to attack Xiangfan, and the purpose was to continue to expand his military achievements.
The so-called Liu Bei's idea of being called emperor must require his subjects to be loyal to the king, the world is the king's world, the courtiers are just the king's domestic servants, so Liu Bei needs civil and military generals to serve Liu Bei, the monarch, it is impossible to appear people of the same status as him, and Guan Yu is proud and conceited, I am afraid that he did not take into account this psychology of the eldest brother, and at the same time Liu Bei called the empress, he was more than sixty years old, he would definitely consider his heir, considering that Liu Chan at that time did not have great talent, if Liu Bei died and seized power, then the consequences were unimaginable Therefore, Liu Bei could not give Guan Yu a better status.
Liu Bei refused to support Guan Yu, so what was Zhuge Liang doing at that time, in fact, as a military master, Zhuge Liang, he must have figured out the mind of the lord, Zhuge Liang was naturally silent, and he did not pay attention to Guan Yu's affairs, Zhuge Liang was still in Xichuan, once Zhuge Liang said many times that Guan Yu's future was not good, and he said to Liu Bei many times, but in the end it happened, the loss of Jingzhou, which also led to many northern expeditions in Zhuge Liang's later period.
Guan Yu's initial attack on Xiangfan, Liu Bei did not agree, but once the war began, then there were always many variables, Liu Bei may not want Guan Yu to establish military merit, that is not to kill him, of course, Eastern Wu sent troops to unite with the Cao army, and finally Guan Yu was killed and lost Jingzhou, which is not what Liu Bei wanted to see.