【Historical Story】Revealed: Why did Guan Yu "carelessly lose Jingzhou"?

Both Guan Yu and Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang made serious mistakes in judging Eastern Wu and eventually lost Jingzhou. (Source: Palace Museum)

In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219 AD), Guan Yu led an army to attack Fancheng in northern Jingzhou. The defender of Fancheng would be Cao Ren, and Cao Cao sent the general Ban to lead the Seventh Army to the rescue. By August, the Han River had soared, and the water was five to six meters high, and all the Seven Armies led by Yu Forbidden were submerged. Guan Yu took the opportunity to lead the water army to attack Yu Ban and Pound, and finally Surrendered, and Pound was killed.

At this time, the local forces in Liang County, Yu County, and Luhun County accepted Guan Yu's seals and orders, and as his branch troops, Guan Yu's prestige was greatly enhanced for a while, and the Central Plains were shaken. Cao Cao believed that Xu Du was too close to Guan Yu's army and planned to move the capital in order to temporarily avoid Guan Yu's front. However, Sima Yi and Jiang Ji believed that the reason for the defeat of Yu Ban and others was because of the flooding, not the defeat of the offensive, which did not cause major damage to the country's grand plan. (That is to say, as long as the conditions of the flood do not exist, the situation on the battlefield can still improve.) ）

Cao Cao's layout The situation was reversed

Liu Bei and Sun Quan, on the surface, appear to be closely related, but in fact they are very distant. If Guan Yu wins the zhi, it must not be what Sun Quan wants to see. If at this time he sent someone to persuade Sun Quan to attack Guan Yu's rear, promising to give Sun Quan the Jiangnan region, the siege of Fancheng would be lifted. Cao Cao heeded this advice.

At the beginning, Sun Quan once sent an emissary to ask Guan Yu's daughter for his son, but Guan Yu not only refused the marriage, but also insulted the emissary, and Sun Quan was very angry. When Cao Cao sent Xu Huang to reinforce Cao Ren, who was firmly entrenched in Fancheng, and Guan Yu was unable to conquer Fancheng for a while, Sun Quan wrote to Cao Cao, requesting that troops be sent to attack Guan Yu's rear to contribute to the imperial court, and asked Cao Cao to keep it a secret. Cao Cao agreed to Sun Quan's request, but spread the news of Sun Quan's attack on Guan Yu, and Cao Ren in Fancheng defended the city more resolutely.

Nanjun Taishou Mi Fang and the general Fu Shiren were poorly supplied with military resources, and Guan Yu once said, "I will cure your sins when I return." The two were always afraid and uneasy in their hearts, and under the temptation of Sun Quan, they betrayed Guan Yu. On Fancheng's side, Cao Cao continued to increase his troops, and Xu Huang also broke the encirclement circle of Guan Yu's siege of Fancheng, and the connection between Fancheng and the outside of Fancheng was restored. Guan Yu saw that Nan Commandery had been lost and had to withdraw his troops from Fancheng. However, due to the impassable way back to Xiangyang, Guan Yu had to retreat in the direction of Linfeng.

Lü Meng's army occupied Jiangling and captured all the wives and children of Guan Yu and his generals. Lü Meng gave preferential treatment to the family members of Guan Yu's army, and after these news reached Guan Yu's army, the soldiers had no intention of fighting again and fled one after another. Guan Yu knew that he was isolated and poor, and retreated west to maicheng. Sun Quan ordered Zhu Ran and Pan Zhang to cut off all of Guan Yu's way, and Guan Yu was eventually captured and killed by Eastern Wu. At this point, Shu Han lost Jingzhou.

Lu Xun was humble and Guan Yu relaxed his vigilance

There is a passage in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" that Guan Yu attacked Fancheng, and Lü Meng wrote to Sun Quan: "Guan Yu conquered Fancheng, but left a lot of troops to defend, must be afraid that I will attack him from behind." Therefore, Lü Meng, on the grounds that he was often ill, asked Sun Quan to let him return to Jianye for treatment, which would paralyze Guan Yu. When Guan Yu learned of this news, he would withdraw the army defending Eastern Wu and then transfer to Xiangyang. Sun Quan agreed to Lü Meng's plan and publicly issued an order to send Lü Meng back and let Lu Xun go to Lukou to replace Lü Meng as the commander of the front.

When Lu Xun arrived, he wrote to Guan Yu congratulating him on capturing Yu Ban and then warning Guan Yu to prevent Cao Cao from adding troops. He also said that he was a scholar, and he was deeply powerless to be the leader of this front. But it was a great pleasure to be able to be a neighbor to Guan Yu. And said that even if his suggestions did not conform to Guan Yu's strategy, he could see his yearning and hoped to get Guan Yu's attention. Guan Yu read Lu Xun's letter and felt that he had the meaning of "being humble, willing to be loyal and paying for his future, so he relaxed his heart and no longer doubted that Eastern Wu would have any changes", so he gradually withdrew his defensive army and rushed to Fancheng.

This fully shows that Guan Yu was wary of Eastern Wu when he launched the Xiangfan Campaign. It was only after Eastern Wu changed commanders that the new main general Lu Xun was so humble that Guan Yu relaxed his vigilance, thinking that Eastern Wu had no intention of attacking him from behind, so he transferred the heavy troops of the defense away. That is to say, Guan Yu's defeat was careless, not because he did not take Dongwu in his eyes.

Error of judgment Carelessness

There is also the problem of Guan Yu not marrying Sun Quan. In fact, this matter is more complicated, it may really be about Yu's intention of looking down on Sun Quan, and there is another situation, Guan Yu believes that Sun Quan has bad intentions. After all, at this time, the world's full potential has been roughly formed, sun Quan did not propose to marry Guan Yu through Liu Bei, will it make Guan Yu feel that he has other intentions?

Speaking of which, it is not only Guan Yu who "carelessly lost Jingzhou" in this regard, but also liu Bei and Zhuge Liang's responsibility for losing Jingzhou, and it was they who were also careless.

In general, whether it was Guan Yu or Liu Bei or Zhuge Liang, they all made serious mistakes in judging Eastern Wu, and it was this kind of "carelessness" that eventually lost Jingzhou. Therefore, the fact that "carelessly lost Jingzhou" can be recognized by people for more than a thousand years has a factual basis and a reason for existence.