In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Eastern Wu took advantage of Guan Yu's launch of the Battle of Xiangfan to sneak attack and capture Jingzhou, which directly led to Liu Bei being completely locked in the land of Hanzhong and Yizhou. In July of the first year of Zhang Wu 's reign (221), Liu Bei took advantage of Cao Wei's internal instability (Cao Cao had just died, and Cao Pi usurped the title of emperor of Han) and led an army to attack Eastern Wu, intending to regain Jingzhou and regain the strategic initiative, but was defeated, so why did Liu Bei lose?
Liu Bei sent troops to attack the State of Wu, and Lu Xun defeated the Shu army with Yi Zhilao
Jingzhou as a strategic place, once the Shu Han lost Jingzhou, not only lost a large amount of land and population, but also lost the threat to the hinterland of the Wu state, will be firmly locked in the "Wushan - Wuling Mountain west", if you want to develop externally, you can only go north with Cao Wei to compete for the Guanzhong region. Therefore, in order to regain Jingzhou and regain the strategic initiative, Liu Bei took the initiative to launch an attack on Eastern Wu. Let's take a look back at the whole course of the war, which can be roughly divided into three stages:
1. The first stage: Liu Bei took the initiative to attack, and Wu Guo waited for work. In July of the first year of Zhang Wu's reign (221), Liu Bei personally led tens of thousands of troops, spearheaded by Wu Ban, Feng Xi, and Zhang Nan's 30,000 troops (later joined by Sha Moke and other Five Xi barbarians, with a total strength of 50,000 troops), taking the lead in capturing the "Three Gorges Gap", the main passage between Wu and Shu, invading the territory of the State of Wu, and defeating Li Yi and Liu Abu of the State of Wu at Wudi and occupying Zigui. When Sun Quan heard the news, he immediately appointed Lu Xun as the governor of Dadu, commanding Zhu Ran, Pan Zhang, Han Dang, Xu Sheng, Sun Huan and other troops, and sending 50,000 troops to resist the Shu Han attack. In order to prevent Cao Wei from taking advantage of the situation, Liu Bei sent Huang Quan to garrison the north bank of the Yangtze River, while Sun Quan proposed to Cao Pi to repair his subjects. After Lu Xun arrived at the front line, through analyzing the strength, morale and local terrain of both Sides of Wu and Shu, he believed that Liu Bei's army was strong, high and dangerous, full of vigor, and eager to win, so he led his army to retreat to the yidao and Yiting lines, withdrew from the high mountains and mountains to wait for work, leaving hundreds of miles of mountainous land to the Shu army.
Lu Xun
2. The second stage: The two armies of Wu and Shu held each other, and the Shu army was fully formed. In the first month of the second year of Zhang Wu (222), the Shu Han Wu ban and Chen Shishui army entered the Yiling area, and the Tun army was on both sides of the Yangtze River, and Liu Bei's main force also arrived at Xiaoting in the following month, and established a base camp here. However, because Lu Xun was holding the key point and the Shu army's offensive was blocked, Liu Bei had no choice but to set up dozens of camps on the line from Wuxia and Jianping to Yiling for hundreds of miles. Liu Bei's division went on an expedition and wanted to make a quick decision, but Lu Xun just couldn't hold out, Liu Bei divided his troops to attack Sun Huan with the intention of luring Lu Xun into battle, but Lu Xun had a hundred times more confidence in Sun Huan and was not moved at all. The confrontation between the two sides lasted for half a year, and shu Han was already unable to retreat, coupled with the unbearable heat, Liu Bei gathered the water army and transferred it to land, and fully formed a camp in the deep mountains and dense forests of up to two or three hundred miles, leaning against the stream, resting the troops, and preparing to wait until the autumn to launch an attack.
3. The third stage: The Wu army launched a counter-offensive, and Lu Xun burned the company camp. Lu Xun saw that the morale of the Shu army was low, and the army was all placed in the mountains and dense forests, and with Sun Quan's consent, Eastern Wu began to launch a counterattack. After Launching a tentative attack, Lu Xun saw that the Shu army was all built by wooden fences, and the surrounding area was full of thatch and woods, so he decided to attack the Shu army with fire. Lu Xun ordered the Soldiers of the Wu Army to each hold a handful of thatch, and took advantage of the night to raid the Shu army camp, setting fire to the downwind, and the fire expanded rapidly, and the Shu army was suddenly in chaos and forced to retreat westward. Lu Xun ordered Zhu Ran to lead an army of 5,000 to break through the front camp of the Shu army, insert it into the rear of the Shu army, and besiege the Shu army with Han Dang's troops in Zhuoxiang, cutting off the Shu army's retreat. Pan Zhang's troops attacked the Shu army Feng Xibu and were defeated. Zhuge Jin, Luo Tong, Zhou Yin, and others cooperated with Lu Xun's main force to attack the Shu army at The Pavilion. Sun Huan's troops stationed in Yidao also took the initiative to attack and enter the battle. In the face of the wu army's all-round counterattack, the Shu army was completely defeated, and more than forty villages were breached in succession, and the Shu army on both sides of the Yangtze River was also cut off by the Wu water army. The Shu generals Zhang Nan and Feng Xi and the indigenous tribal leader Sha Moke were killed, and Du Lu, Liu Ning, and others surrendered. Liu Bei saw that the entire line collapsed, fled to Ma'anshan, northwest of Yiling, and ordered the Shu army to defend itself against danger. Lu Xun concentrated his forces, besieged on all sides, and annihilated nearly 10,000 Shu troops.
Liu Bei
At this point, the Battle of Yiling ended with the collapse of the Shu army, the Shu army collapsed, most of the casualties and fled, and the vehicles, boats and other military materials were lost. Liu Bei escaped by breaking through the siege at night, marched to Shimen Mountain, was chased by the Wu general Sun Huanbu, and was almost captured, and the rearguard general Fu Wei was killed. After relying on the station personnel to burn the equipment abandoned by the defeated soldiers to block the mountain road, they were able to get rid of the pursuing soldiers and flee into Yong'an City (also known as the White Emperor City).
The Wu generals Pan Zhang, Xu Sheng, and others originally wanted to take advantage of the victory to pursue and expand the results of the battle, but because Zhao Yun's rear army had already come to the rescue, coupled with cao Wei's active preparations because Sun Quan refused to send protons, Lu Xun had no choice but to retreat. In September, the State of Wei attacked Wu from the south, but Lu Xun had already made preparations, and the Wei army returned without success. In April of the following year, Liu Bei died in the White Emperor's City.
In the Battle of Yiling, Wu Shu had an equal strength, so why was Shu Han defeated miserably?
Although the historical data does not record how many troops were used by Shu Han in the Battle of Yiling, according to analysis and speculation, the army led by Liu Bei should have been about 50,000 at the beginning, and the army of the Five Xi Barbarians such as Sha Moke in the later period was roughly around 70,000. The State of Wu clearly recorded that Lu Xun commanded 50,000 troops. In terms of military strength, Wu Shu was roughly equal, so why did the Shu army suffer a fiasco?
Schematic diagram of the Battle of Yiling
1. The veterans of the Shu Army Division were tired, and the Wu Army waited for work. Since the twenty-second year of Jian'an (217), Shu Han first fought with Cao Wei for Hanzhong, and although it took two years to win, it had also reached the point of "men fighting and women being lucky", which was already a battle for Shu Han, who had a weak family foundation. Subsequently, in the year after the End of the Battle of Hanzhong, Guan Yu was attacked by Eastern Wu in the Battle of Xiangfan, not only losing Jingzhou, but also losing troops, which can be called a heavy blow to Shu Han. Just a year and a half after the end of the Battle of Xiangfan, Liu Bei launched the Battle of Yiling again, although the strategic position of Jingzhou was too serious, but the conquest for many years was already difficult for shu Han, who had a weak family foundation, although the troops were superior, but the army was already tired and difficult to fight for a long time, which was also the reason why Liu Bei was eager to make a quick decision. On the Eastern Wu side, not only did they have a thicker family foundation than the Shu Han, but they were also fighting on the ground, and they undoubtedly had a certain advantage in logistical supplies and military morale.
2. Liu Bei's strategy was wrong, and Lu Xun coped with it properly. It was precisely because Liu Bei was anxious to fight a quick battle and make a quick decision, which led him to make the mistake of bullying and adventuring, coupled with the lack of geographical advantages, which led the army into the rugged mountain roads that were difficult to unfold for two or three hundred kilometers, and directly lost the geographical advantage. However, after encountering the stubborn resistance of the Wu army and the fact that Lu Xun could not hold out, he saw that it was impossible to quickly end the war, and adopted the method of comprehensively forming a camp, which led to the dispersion of troops and the difficulty of saving each other at the beginning and end, laying the groundwork for the final defeat and all-round rout, and even Cao Pi said: "If you don't know the soldiers, how can there be a seven-hundred-mile battalion that can resist the enemy!" On the other hand, on the Eastern Wu side, Lu Xun's way of coping was incomparably correct, he gave full play to the advantages of local combat, took advantage of Liu Bei's eagerness to fight, first held firmly, concentrated troops, waited for opportunities, and attacked later, after discovering the loopholes in the deployment of the Shu army, quickly defeated the Shu army with the technique of fire attack, and then launched a comprehensive counterattack to defeat the Shu army, and finally created a successful example of turning from defense to counter-offensive, reflecting superb command art and military ability.
The Battle of Yiling undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to the Shu Han regime, not only losing a number of generals and a large number of soldiers and materials, but also Liu Bei's death caused civil unrest in the Shu Han Dynasty, and zhuge Liang spent five years to reorganize the army and quell the rebellion. More importantly, after this battle, the Shu Han basically lost the possibility of fixing the world, and although Zhuge Liang pursued development in the Northern Expedition many times, it was always difficult to succeed.