Guide
In 192 (the third year of Chuping), Sun Jian, the fierce tiger of Jiangdong, was ordered by Yuan Shu to conquer Jingzhou and attack Liu Biao.
Sun Jian was unstoppable, and soon defeated the Liu Biao general Huang Zu, who had come to meet the battle, and took advantage of the victory to pursue and besiege Xiangyang, the capital of Jingzhou. While hanging up the exemption card, Liu Biao secretly sent Huang Zu out of the city at night to mobilize soldiers in an attempt to attack Sun Jian inside and outside.
Huang Zu made a comeback to fight Sun Jian again, and made a deceitful defeat. Sun Jian did not know what the plan was, and after chasing after him, he was led by Huang Zu to the ambush circle of Da Nang Mountain, and the ambush troops who had been waiting for a long time fired dark arrows together, and Sun Jian was unfortunately killed by the arrow.
Since then, Huang Zu has become the biggest obstacle to Eastern Wu's annexation of Jingzhou, and is regarded by the Sun clan as a thorn in the eye and a thorn in the flesh.
In the fourth year of Jian'an (199), Sun Ce, the tyrant of Xiaoba, pretended to ally himself with Liu Xun of Lujiang Taishou and persuaded Liu Xun to capture Yuzhang Shangji. After Liu Xun set out, Sun Ce attacked lightly at night
Anhui City, take it in one fell swoop
Lujiang County,
subsequently
Taking advantage of the victory to attack Huang Zu's soldiers, Sha Xian successfully defeated Huang Zu, but could not take Jiangxia and once again failed to take Jingzhou.
In this campaign, Sun Ce went on a killing spree, and more than 20,000 people on Huang Zu's side were slaughtered, and more than 10,000 people drowned, which made Sun's feud with the people of Jingzhou deeper and deeper.
After Sun Quan succeeded Sun Ce in charge of Jiangdong, he inherited his father's and brother's will and attacked Jiangxia three times. Eventually, with the help of the former Huang zu general Gan Ning, Sun Quan successfully captured Huang Zu in 208 AD and took most of the coveted Jiangxia Commandery.
However, before Sun Quan could attack Jingzhou, Liu Chun gave Jingzhou to Cao Cao.
After the soldiers took Jingzhou without bloodshed, Cao Cao wanted to take advantage of the situation to swallow Jiangdong in one fell swoop and unify the world. However, Cao Cao, who was accustomed to preemptive strikes, was caught off guard by Sun Liu's combined forces and suffered a major defeat at Chibi.
Cao Cao knew that there was no hope of unifying the world in the short term, so he withdrew his army and returned to the north, leaving Cao Ren and other "six armies" to guard Jingzhou.
Sun Liu's combined forces took advantage of the victory to pursue and jointly attacked Nan County, and the Battle of South County broke out.
In the fourteenth year of Jian'an (209), Zhou Yu, with the cooperation of Liu Bei and Guan Yu, after nearly a year, successfully forced Cao Ren to abandon the city and flee, and Nan Commandery was owned by Eastern Wu.
At this time, it had been exactly 17 years since Sun Jian first attacked Jingzhou.
After successfully taking Jingzhou, Sun Quan could finally comfort his father and brother in the spirit of heaven.
Unexpectedly, however, in less than a year, Sun Quan "lent" Jingzhou (南郡) to Liu Bei. What's going on?
To understand this problem, we must first start with who was the real master of Jingzhou after the Battle of Chibi.
Controversy: Is Jingzhou surnamed Liu or surnamed Sun?
Before Liu Chun surrendered to Cao Cao, it was indisputable that the masters of Jingzhou were Liu Biao and his son Liu Chun. It is also an indisputable fact that during the period between Liu Chun's surrender to Cao And the end of the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao was the de facto controller of Jingzhou.
However, after Sun Liu's alliance expelled their common enemy Cao Cao from Nan Commandery, the alliance began to roll in, and both Sun and Liu considered themselves masters of Jingzhou.
So, who is the master of Jingzhou?
After the death of Liu Biao, the mu of Jingzhou, his son Liu Chun took over as mu of Jingzhou. Then Cao Cao marched south, and Liu Chun tied his hands,
The people of Jingzhou surrendered to Cao Cao, Cao Cao
With Liu Chun as the Assassin of Qingzhou, he was made a Marquis of Lie.
Liu Biao's twenty-year reign in Jingzhou came to an end.
In the fourteenth year of Jian'an (209), Liu Bei, as a general of zuo, presented Liu Qi to the imperial court as the assassin of Jingzhou, and then in the name of Liu Qi, he surrendered the four southern counties of Jingzhou (Wuling, Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang).
In the same year, Liu Qi died of illness, and Liu Bei was elected as the pastor of Jingzhou. At this time, Sun Quan's military title was only General of the Miscellaneous Numbers (Miscellaneous Generals), and he also understood the Ji Taishou.
After Zhou Yu and Guan Yu joined forces to defeat Cao Ren and take Nan Commandery, Sun Quan appointed Zhou Yu as the Taishou of Nan Commandery,while Liu Bei worshipped Guan Yu as Xiangyang Taishou (遥陵), and Zhou Yu and Guan Yu were mistakenly located in Nan Commandery.
Liu Bei again served as a general of the left, and the above table played the role of Sun Quan as the acting che general, and concurrently served as Xuzhou Mu (Remote Leader).
In summary, Liu Bei was the new Jingzhou Mu after Liu Qi, while Sun Quan at the same time was Xuzhou Mu. Therefore, from a legal point of view, Liu Bei is the real master of Jingzhou. That is to say, at this time, Jingzhou was surnamed Liu (备), not Sun.
Liu Bei: The capture of Nan Commandery (荆州) was a set strategic goal
Jingzhou is north of Han and Chu, li exhausted the South China Sea, east of Wuhui, west of Tumba, Shu, this country of martial arts, and its lord can not defend, this heaven so the general, the general is not interested? --- "Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Biography of Zhuge Liang"
Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Pair" is a guide to action for Liu Bei Group.
Zhuge Liang believed that under the circumstance that Cao Cao was thriving and Sun Shi had occupied Jiangdong for three generations and was deeply rooted, if Liu Bei wanted to achieve the grand goal of "believing in righteousness in the world", he must first occupy Jingzhou, where "his master cannot defend", and gain a firm foothold, and then take Yizhou in the west, diligently cultivate internal affairs, and wait for the time to ripen, and then go north to the Central Plains from Jingzhou and Hanzhong at the same time to achieve hegemony. This is the strategic vision in "Longzhong Pair".
In order to realize the strategic vision in the "Longzhong Pair", as early as the Liu Biao period, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang began to lay out in Jingzhou.
In the sixth year of Jian'an (201), after Liu Bei was defeated by Cao Cao in Runan, he fled to Jingzhou to join Liu Biao. Because of the aura of the only survivor of Liu Bei's head, he was treated favorably by Liu Biao. However, etiquette returned to etiquette, and Liu Biao did not actually trust Liu Bei, he only arranged for Liu Bei to be stationed on the Xinye front as his outpost against Cao Cao.
Liu Bei recruited Haojie from all over the world in Xinye and took advantage of the contradiction between Liu Qi and his stepmother Cai Shi to successfully win Liu Qi over. Later, he instructed Liu Qi to replace Huang Zu, who was killed in battle, to serve as the Taishou of Jiangxia.
At this point, Liu Bei had completed the initial strategic layout in Jingzhou, and when the time was ripe, he would attack Xiangyang.
However, Liu Chun's surrender without a fight disrupted Liu Bei's plans. However, Liu Bei, who had the blessing of the Longzhong Pair, was no longer what he used to be, and he quickly launched Plan B, joining forces with Sun Quan to defeat Cao Cao and force Cao Cao to withdraw from Jingzhou.
In the process, Liu Bei once again preemptively launched a strategic layout in Jingzhou.
1. Preempting the North Road: Deterring Gangneung
Liu Bei and Zhou Yu besieged Cao Ren at Jiangling, and sent Guan Yu to the Northern Province—The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Shu, and Li Tong' Biography
During the Battle of Nan Commandery, in order to cooperate with Zhou Yu in attacking Jiangling, Liu Bei sent Guan Yu to block the reinforcements supporting Cao Ren in the northern area of Jiangling (Northern Province).
History is known as the Battle of The North Province.
Guan Yu successfully completed the blocking mission. Cao Ren was forced to abandon the city and return north, and Zhou Yu successfully took Nan County. However, at this time, the "North Province", that is, the northern part of Gangneung, was still in guan Yu's hands.
In other words, Guan Yu and Zhou Yu were actually "at fault" in Jiangling.
2. Capture the four counties of Jingnan: isolate Jiangling
At the same time that Zhou Yu was besieging Nan Commandery and Guan Yu was fighting in the "Absolute Northern Province", Liu Bei was not idle, and he led Zhao Yun and others to attack the four counties of Jingnan in the name of Liu Qi.
All four counties will descend.
Zhou Yu was able to take Nan County as he wished, and Liu Bei's contribution was indispensable. First, Guan Yu successfully blocked the Cao army supporting Cao Ren on the north side of Jiangling, and secondly, Zhang Fei directly participated in the campaign against Jiangling.
Therefore, after taking Gangneung, Zhou Yu took the other side of Jiangling
Xiaoling (later renamed Gong'an) was assigned to Liu Bei.
At this time, Liu Bei controlled the southern bank of Nan County, and as long as Liu Bei did not let him go, no soldier or soldier in Jiangling could go south. At the same time, since the south bank of Jiangxia (the north bank was in Cao Cao's hands) was also in Liu Bei's hands (Liu Qi's territory), it was necessary for Liu Bei to go to Jingkou from the east of Jiangling.
In summary, the biggest winner of the Battle of Chibi and the Battle of Nan County was Liu Bei.
After the two wars, Liu Bei took the four counties of Wuling, Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang of the seven counties of Jingzhou, as well as half of Jiangxia County. Although Nan Commandery was in the hands of Sun Quan, there was a strong enemy Cao Cao in the north of Jiangling, while the east and south directions were Liu Bei's sphere of influence, that is, Jiangling was already surrounded by Cao and Liu families.
For Sun Quan, Gangneung (Nam-gun) has actually become a hot potato.
Quan is a little afraid, and the sister is solidly good- "Romance of the Three Kingdoms: The Biography of the Ancestors"
Sun Quan was not confused, he knew very well that in the current situation, once Liu Bei turned his face and did not recognize anyone, and attacked Nan Commandery (Jiangling) as Jingzhou Mu, then Jiangling would be more fierce and less auspicious.
Therefore, he married his sister to Liu Bei in an attempt to consolidate Sun Liu's alliance through marriage.
However, "
Across the thorns, benefits
"It is the established strategic goal of Liu Bei Group.
Therefore, Liu Bei was determined to win Nan County, and he could not give up his ambitions for Nan County because he became Sun Quan's brother-in-law, and in this regard, Sun Quan was a mistake.
Cao Cao: Open up the eastern battlefield
In the spring and March of the fourteenth year, the army came to the army, made a light boat, and ruled the water army. Autumn and July, from the vortex into Huai, out of the fat water, the army Hefei - "Romance of the Three Kingdoms , The Chronicle of Emperor Wu"
After the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao learned the strength of Sun Liu's alliance, and he decided to change his strategy and carry out various attacks on Sun Quan and Liu Bei.
As a result, Cao Cao began to work in the Huainan region
Horses and horses
It was planned to attack Jiangnan from Shouchun, Hefei, and Wushu via Chaohu Lake, and directly attack Sun Quan's Jiangdong base area.
In the fourteenth year of Jian'an (209), Cao Ren was besieged by Sun Liu's allied forces in Nan County, and the situation was very critical. At this time, Cao Cao unusually did not personally rescue Cao Ren, but instead formed and trained water masters in the land. In July of the same year, Cao Cao arrived in Hefei and went out to tour Huainan.
In Tuntian, near Huangpi, be prepared to fight a protracted war with Sun Quan.
In addition, Cao Cao's old trick was repeated, forcing the people of Huainan to move inland (as a result, the people fled to Wujing in fear).
He attempted to use the tactics of clearing the field to prevent Sun Quan from moving north.
In summary, after the Battle of Chibi, in order to avoid Sun Liu's combined forces, Cao Cao opened an eastern battlefield in the Huainan region (Cao's army could be directly reached from Hefei via the south of the Shushui River
Mo Ling). Sun Quan thus faced the pressure of fighting on both fronts in Jingzhou and Huainan.
Sun Quan: The strategic center of gravity has shifted north, and Hefei has been dead
During the Battle of Nan County, Sun Quan personally led an army to attack Hefei in order to contain the Cao army, which is known as the First Battle of Hefei. This battle caught Cao Jun by surprise, and was only one step away from taking Hefei. However, at the critical moment, Sun Quan was caught in the bluff of Jiang Ji, mistakenly believing that a large number of Cao Cao's reinforcements were coming, so he burned the retreat and the siege of Hefei was solved.
This shows that after the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan decided to shift the strategic center of gravity north.
Why did Sun Quan do this?
"Jiangnan is at risk of Jianghuai, and those who guard the river are like those who guard Huaihuai." The south is enough to reject the north, and the north is enough to reject the north, and the north is not enough to restore the south. -------------------------------------
After the Battle of Nan County, Cao Cao retreated north of Jiangyou. However, there was only one Yangtze River between Cao Cao's sphere of influence and Eastern Wu's territory, and there was no strategic buffer zone in the middle.
This is very unfavorable to Sun Quan.
The Yangtze River Basin is not all a natural barrier with wide and endless water flow, on the contrary, there are many breakthrough points in many places that are easy to attack and difficult to defend. In this case, if Eastern Wu wanted to ensure the safety of the left side of the river, it was necessary to push the defensive line forward to the Huai River Valley, control the passage south of the Huai River, and establish a strategic buffer zone between the Yangtze River and the Huai River.
This is the strategic principle of "guarding the river and guarding Huaihuai" summed up by the ancients.
In terms of specific strategies, Sun Quan chose Hefei as a breakthrough. His six Northern Expeditions to Hefei were meant to be realized
The strategic goal of "guarding the river must guard Huai".
To sum up, after the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan opened up a northern battlefield in order to consolidate the territory of Jiangdong and stumbled on Hefei.
Under such circumstances, Sun Quan, who lacked troops, could not take into account the two-front operations of Jingzhou and Hefei, and in the direction of Jingzhou, he had to rely on Liu Bei's strength to confront the Cao army.
Sun Quan's Northern Expedition Route
Showdown: Liu Bei "begged" Jingzhou, sun Quan pushed the boat along the water
Cao Cao opened up the eastern battlefield, forcing Sun Quan to place more troops on the northern front, resulting in a gap in the number of troops guarding Nan County.
To make matters worse, Jiangling was surrounded by Liu Bei's clique on three sides under the threat of Xiangyang in the north, and the situation was not optimistic.
In addition, Sun Jian, Sun Ce, and Sun Quan fought against Huang Zu for 17 years, during which there was an atrocity against Tucheng, which led to a deep grudge with the people of Jingzhou. Liu Bei, the pastor of Jingzhou, was highly regarded and unanimously supported by the local officials.
What's worse is that Zhou Yu died of illness at this time, which made Sun Quan even more anxious.
Reserve Jing saw the power, asked the capital to oversee Jingzhou, but su persuaded the right to borrow it, and rejected Cao Gong together- "Romance of the Three Kingdoms And Zhou Yu Biography"
The capture of Jingzhou has always been the established strategic goal of Liu Bei Group.
After seeing the dilemma that Sun Quan faced in Nan County, Liu Bei knew that the time was ripe to capture Nan County, but Sun and Liu were all alliances after all, and Sun Quan was his brother-in-law, so Liu Bei decided to salute first and then fight. As the pastor of Jingzhou, he personally went to Jingkou to "ask" Sun Quan for Jingzhou.
Sun Quan was a wise man, and he knew that if he did not agree to return Nan Commandery to Liu Bei, then he would give Liu Bei an excuse to attack Nan County, after all, Liu Bei was the legitimate Jingzhou Mu. In this way, the Sun Liu Alliance will be dissolved.
If Cao Cao took the opportunity to go south to Chaohu Lake, then he would lose sight of one or the other, and in extreme cases, both Nan County and Moling might not be protected.
Therefore, after some consideration, Sun Quan decided to retreat and temporarily return Nan Commandery to Liu Bei.
This allowed Liu Bei to play the role of a vanguard against Cao Cao in Jingzhou, and he could concentrate his forces on attacking the Huainan region to achieve the goal of moving the defensive line forward to the Huai River Valley.
In summary, for Sun Quan, Gangneung has become a hot potato.
If Liu Bei turned his face and attacked Nan County as Jingzhou Mu, then Sun Quan might not be able to eat and walk. In this case, Sun Quan chose to push the boat along the water and temporarily returned Nan County to Liu Bei, which can be described as a wise move.
epilogue
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the idea of "borrowing" Jingzhou only appears in the Book of Wu, but it is never mentioned in the Book of Shu and the Book of Wei, which shows that this statement is only a one-sided statement of the Wu people.
In fact, Liu Bei, as a jingzhou pastor, "borrowing" Jingzhou is itself illogical. Therefore, Liu Bei "begged" Jingzhou from Sun Quan, not "borrowed" Jingzhou.
The reason why Sun Quan agreed to return Jingzhou to Liu Bei was due to the following three points:
Reason one: At that time, Liu Bei was barefoot and was not afraid to wear shoes, and he could not afford to provoke.
Reason 2: Sun Quan was short of troops at that time, unable to confront Cao Cao, who had many generals in the west and north, so he had to use Liu Bei's strength to fight Against Cao Cao on the western front (Jingzhou);
Reason three: Eastern Wu's immediate priority was to capture Huainan and control the Huai River in order to move the defensive line forward. Therefore, for Sun Quan, the strategic position of Jingzhou has declined relatively.
It was for the above reasons that Sun Quan decided to temporarily return Jingzhou to Liu Bei.