In the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208), Cao Cao swung his army south to Jingzhou, and Liu Chun, the pastor of Jingzhou, surrendered without a fight, and Liu Bei, who was in Fancheng, had to wait for Jiangling to retreat.
Cao Cao personally led the tiger and leopard to gallop three hundred miles from Xiangyang and defeated Liu Bei's army at Changsaka in Dangyang. At this time, Lu Su, who was on the mission of Sun Quan, was also in Dangyang, and he asked Liu Bei what his next plan was, and Liu Bei replied, "I have an old relationship with Cangwu Taishou Wu Ju and want to throw myself into it." Lu Su said to Liu Bei, "Ju is a mortal, partial to a distant county, and will be merged by people. He also persuaded Liu Bei to unite with Sun Quan, who was more powerful than Wu Ju, to jointly fight against Cao Cao.
Since his debut, Liu Bei has not been able to have his own territory, and can only send people to survive under the fence. However, he had previously been attached to the princes of the dominant side, such as Gongsun Zhan, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Tao Qian, and Liu Biao, who owned at least one prefecture. And Wu Ju was only a small county sheriff, and he had no reputation, so why did Liu Bei have to lower himself to him?
To answer this question, we must first confirm whether Liu Bei and Wu Ju are old friends.
Are Liu Bei and Wu Ju old friends?
In the spring of the fifth year of Jian'an (200), the edict of the garment belt occurred. Cao Cao personally led an army to conquer Xuzhou, vowing to capture Liu Bei, who had slipped through the net. Liu Bei was defeated, first defecting to Yuan Shao, and a year later to Jingzhou to join Liu Biao, who was treated by Liu Biao as a guest of honor.
Liu Bei stayed in Jingzhou for eight years, during which he spread benevolence and righteousness, befriended Haojie, and recruited talents, so that "more and more People in Jingzhou Haojie returned to the ancestors." Wu Ju was Liu Biao's subordinate at that time, and although he did not "return" to Liu Bei while he was in office, it should be a fact that he and Liu Bei became friends under Liu Bei's conscious infiltration.
Therefore, the phrase "having an old relationship with Cangwu Taishou Wu Ju" is not a pretext for Liu Bei to open the river, but a fact.
Why did Liu Bei turn to Wu Ju?
Cangwu (Jiaozhou) is not only remote and environmentally closed, but also not the location mentioned in the strategic plan of the "Longzhong Pair", why did Liu Bei, who was responsible for the "Kuangfu Han Room", condescend to this land far away from the Central Plains? Could this be his panicked move under Cao Cao's pursuit?
However, if we carefully examine it, we will find that Liu Bei's defection to Wu Ju was a well-thought-out decision, a brilliant move.
1. Purpose: To pressure Sun Quan
After Liu Bei's defeat at Dangyang, he fled to Xiakou. Once Cao Cao occupied Xiakou, Sun Quan would lose the natural danger of the Yangtze River, and the strategic idea of "the Yangtze River was extreme, according to what was based on it" in the "Strategy on the Bed" could not be realized, so Sun Quan had to do his best to ensure that Xia Kou was not lost. However, at the critical moment when Cao Cao was about to march his army to the East, Liu Bei said that he would abandon Xiakou and go south to Cangwu, which was obviously forcing Sun Quan to send troops.
Liu Bei's implication was: If you don't send troops, then I will give up Xiakou.
2. Geographical location: Cangwu can reach Jingzhou, as well as Yizhou
The northeast, due north and northwest of Cangwu (Jiaozhou) are adjacent to Yangzhou and Jingzhou respectively, and Jingzhou can be reached from the north of Cangwu, and Yizhou can be reached from Cangwu through the south.
In the fifteenth year of Jian'an (210), Sun Quan moved to Poyang Taishou Buqi as the general of Jiaozhou Assassin History and Liwu Zhonglang, and commanded more than a thousand Wu archers to take over Jiaozhou. In 265, Huo Yi, on behalf of Cao Wei, rescued Lü Xing, sent troops from Nanzhong to sweep through Jiaozhou, and pacified the three counties of Jiaolan, Nichinan, and Jiuzhen. However, it is difficult to enter Yizhou from Cangwu through Nanzhong, and relatively speaking, entering Yizhou from Jingzhou is the best way.
If he did not negotiate with Sun Quan, Liu Bei would choose to go south to Cangwu and then wait for the opportunity to send troops from Cangwu to attack Jingzhou or Yizhou, which was also a viable option.
3. Selection: Three strategies are optional
In the case of Cao Cao's pursuit of soldiers and Sun Quan's former, there were not many options left for Liu Bei. To be precise, there are only three options for Liu Bei to choose from.
Top strategy: Unite with Sun Quan to resist Cao Cao
In the case of Yuan Shao's defeat, Liu Biao's destruction, and Ma Chao's whiplash, only Sun Quan was left with the strength to fight Against Cao Cao. In this case, if Liu Bei could join forces with Sun Quan to fight against Cao, there was no doubt that it was the best choice. Because this was Liu Bei's only chance to defeat Cao Cao, and it was also a good opportunity to seize the territory of Jingzhou by taking advantage of Liu Biao's new death and Cao Cao's lack of a foothold.
However, Liu Bei's strength at this time was relatively weak, and he did not have the qualifications to sit on an equal footing with Sun Quan, and whether Sun Quan was willing to join forces with him or not, Liu Bei had no bottom in his heart. Therefore, when Lu Su asked him what his plans were, Liu Bei took the retreat as an advance, saying that he would go south to Cangwu to join Wu Ju, in fact, forcing Sun Quanfang to make a choice.
Middle strategy: go south to Cangwu
As analyzed above, it is also possible to reach Jingzhou and Yizhou from Cangwu. However, it was more difficult to reach Yizhou from Cangwu via Nanzhong; in addition, once Cao Cao occupied Jingzhou or even Eastern Wu, with Liu Bei's strength, it was basically useless to try to attack Jingzhou from Cangwu in the north.
Therefore, compared with joining forces with Sun Quan to resist Cao, going south to Cangwu was obviously only Liu Bei's second choice.
The next strategy: turn to Sun Quan
Before the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei was repeatedly defeated, and in order to survive, he could only turn to the princes who were on the dominant side, at the cost of acting as a thug (vanguard) for the princes. For example, although Liu Biao ostensibly treated Liu Bei as a guest, he actually let Liu Beitun soldiers in Xinye and acted as an outpost to guard against Cao's army moving south.
Liu Bei was in Jingzhou for eight years, during which The Three Gu Maolu invited Zhuge Liang, the strength is no longer what it used to be, he can no longer turn to Sun Quan, and equal cooperation between the two sides is his acceptable way.
To sum up, Liu Bei's choice to go south to Cangwu does not mean that he has abandoned the ideal of "Kuang Fu Han Room", which is actually a wonderful move to retreat into advance, with the purpose of forcing Sun Quanfang to take the lead in taking the lead in taking a stand and then making the most favorable choice for himself.
epilogue
Cao Cao's Crusade was a crisis for Eastern Wu, but it was an excellent opportunity for Liu Bei to rise. Liu Bei also seized this fleeting opportunity and defeated Cao Cao with the help of Sun Quan's strength, becoming the biggest winner of the Battle of Chibi. Threatening to defect to Wu Ju was the beginning of a series of god-level operations by Liu Bei.
Although Lu Su was the leading strategist in Eastern Wu, he was still used by Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, two old slippers, to persuade Sun Quan to agree to join forces with Liu against Cao. It can be seen from this that Luo Guanzhong's description of Lu Su as an honest man in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, although exaggerated, is not completely unfounded, and in the main history, Lu Su is indeed inferior to Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang in terms of strategy.