Shudi has been known as the "Kingdom of Heaven" since ancient times, and the fertile wilderness, rich water and soil, coupled with the existence of Dujiangyan, have made Shudi
"Water and drought come from man, and I don't know hunger."
Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, made his fortune from Shu. Later, when he and Xiang Yu fought for Kyushu, Shudi also provided sufficient grain and grass materials for the frontline battlefield. Later, however, Zhuge Liang said in the famous "Table of Teachers" throughout the ages:
"Today's next three points, Yizhou fatigue."
Why?
First of all, we need to understand the concept of Shuzhong, which literally refers to the central part of Shudi, that is, the central region of Sichuan Province centered on Chengdu, and later refers to Shudi in general.
The word Shuzhong comes from the Huayang Guozhi Liu Xianzhong Zhi, which reads:
"In the nineteenth year of Jian'an, the first Lord Keshu. Shuzhong is rich, shengle liquor assembly, food and food three armies. ”
Liu Bei used the materials of Shudi to reward the three armies, and his brow did not wrinkle, indicating that Shudi was still quite rich at that time. And from the nineteenth year of Jian'an (215) Liu Bei's entry into Shu to the sixth year of Jianxing (228) of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition,
In just thirteen years, the original kingdom of Heavenly Palace has become a place of "fatigue", what happened during this period?
The author's answer is conquest.
On this side, Liu Bei had just taken Yizhou, and Sun Quan sent envoys to demand that Liu Bei keep his promise to return Jingzhou that he had previously occupied, while Liu Bei played a rogue and said that he would take Liangzhou and return Jingzhou. Sun Quan was furious,
"It was Lü Meng who attacked and captured the three counties of Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang."
If you don't give, I'll take it back myself, and Liu Bei sent troops to reinforce Jingzhou and took 50,000 soldiers and horses from Yizhou.
Seeing that the war was about to break out, the result was reported that Cao Cao defeated Zhang Lu and took Hanzhong, and Liu Bei did not want to fall into the situation of being attacked by the enemy on his stomach and back, so he had to negotiate peace with Sun Quan, first returned Jiangxia, Changsha and Guiyang, and hurriedly returned to Yizhou with 50,000 soldiers and horses.
After that, the real highlight began, and in the twentieth year of Jian'an (216), Liu Bei and Cao Cao fought a fierce battle in Hanzhong. The war lasted four years, and although Liu Bei captured Hanzhong, he was also seriously injured. At this time, his sphere of influence was only the three counties of Yizhou, Hanzhong and Jingxi, and the Jingzhou soldiers and horses were commanded by Guan Yu, and basically did not participate in the hanzhong war. That is to say, Liu Bei's battle for Hanzhong relied almost entirely on Yizhou's manpower and material resources.
This is not the end, Liu Bei just ascended the throne of Zhang Wuyuan year (221), in order to avenge Guan Yu's revenge, Liu Beisheng dispatched troops in anger, and even exaggerated in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" that it reached 700,000 people, according to the historical survey, it should also be 80,000 to 100,000, for Liu Bei, who was left with only Yizhou after Guan Yu was attacked, this is an absolutely not small number. Later stories are widely known, the Shu Han dynasty was almost completely annihilated, directly in the Yizhou young and middle-aged population register, subtracting a huge number.
Emperor Liu Bei of Zhaolie died of illness in Yong'an Palace, and the later lord took the throne. However, it did not take long for the southern barbarian turmoil to break out, and in order to solve the worries of the future, Zhuge Liang quickly rectified the southern expedition of soldiers and horses.
The land of Nanzhong was hot and humid, there were countless snakes, insects, rats and ants, and the miasma formed by the decomposition of animal carcasses was pervasive, and the expeditionary forces in the south were unsatisfied with the water and soil, and there were many sick people. Zhuge Liang was able to quell the Southern Barbarians with difficulty, and Banshi returned to the dynasty.
Although the Shu Han Dynasty was originally rich in property, it could not withstand continuous wars, so when Zhuge Liang waved the Northern Expedition, it was already "tired", and by the second Northern Expedition, it was already there
"The people are tired"
Zhuge Liang wrote sadly in the "Table of Later Masters":
"From the subject to Hanzhong, in the middle of the year, Zhao Yun, Yang Qun, Ma Yu, Yan Zhi, Ding Li, Bai Shou, Liu Guo, Deng Tong, and others, as well as Qu Chang and Tun Generals, more than seventy people, and more than a thousand Tu Generals, Wu Qian, Wu Qian, Qi Shu, Qing Qiang, Scattered Horsemen, and Martial Horsemen. These are the elites of the four parties that have been entangled in decades, not the ownership of a state; if they are pluralized, they will lose two-thirds of the time, so why should they seek the enemy? ”
The middle and high-ranking generals and elite troops alone suffered such heavy losses, not to mention that ordinary soldiers, only in the first time of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, lost such manpower and material resources, coupled with years of large and small conquests, even if Shuzhong claimed to be the country of Heavenly Palace, it could not stand such a whole.
It can be seen from this that the war had a huge consumption of population and materials, and the sacrifice of soldiers also led to insufficient productivity in the rear of the Shu Han Dynasty, and there was no cultivation of young and middle-aged men, and the materials, grain and grass could not be replenished, and it could only be used less and less. Later, after many years, the war was gradually calmed down, and the Shuzhong that replenished the male Ding was revived and rejuvenated. Without war, even remote and backward villages are quiet and peaceful; when war comes, no matter how prosperous the town is, only the ruins of the wall will be left.