In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219 AD), Guan Yu led an army from Nanjun to attack Xiangyang and Fancheng, known in history as the Battle of Xiangfan.
In this battle, Guan Yu first besieged Xiangyang and Fancheng. Wei General banned the 30,000 men of the Seventh Army to rescue Fancheng, but encountered a natural disaster caused by heavy rain that "overflowed the Han water and harmed the people", so that the Seventh Army flooded. Guan Yu took the opportunity to attack with a large ship, captured Yu Ban and others, severely damaged Cao Wei, and shocked Huaxia!
However, after achieving such a huge victory, Guan Yu suffered from the enemy, but was finally attacked by Wei and Wu, and his troops were defeated and killed. This also became a turning point in the decline of the Shu Han power! It can be said that it is a battle to subvert the national fortune of Shu Han!
So who ordered the battle of Guan Yu's Northern Expedition? In the context of the Battle of Hanzhong, why did you start this war?
After Liu Bei entered Shu, the military and political power in Jingzhou was controlled by Guan Yu, and all the counties he occupied in Jingzhou were also guarded by Guan Yu.
On the eve of the Battle of Hanzhong, because of the issue of the ownership of Jingzhou, Sun and Liu also had some friction, almost tearing their faces, in order not to fight with Sun Quan on the eve of the Battle of Hanzhong, in the twentieth year of Jian'an (215), Sun and Liu reached an agreement to solve the problem of land ownership in Jingzhou, that is: Xiangshui demarcation, also known as the Xiangshui Alliance.
The main content of the agreement is: Liu Bei and Sun Quan divided Jingzhou equally, that is, with Xiangshui as the boundary, Jiangxia County, Changsha County and Guiyang County in Jingzhou belonged to Sun Quan, and Nan County, Lingling County and Wuling County in Jingzhou belonged to Liu Bei.
After experiencing the "Xiangshui Demarcation", Guan Yu Town guarded Jingzhou South County, Wuling County, and Lingling County.
However, fundamentally speaking, the demarcation of Xiangshui has not fundamentally resolved the contradictions between Liu Bei and Sun Quan, and the relations between the two sides have deteriorated. This also laid the groundwork for Lü Meng's later attack on Jingzhou.
After the Battle of Hanzhong, Liu Bei defeated Cao Cao and became king of Hanzhong, and Liu Bei's power also reached its peak at that time.
At the same time, Guan Yu also besieged Cao Ren in the Battle of Xiangfan, flooded the ban, shocked Huaxia, and even Cao Cao moved the capital to avoid Guan Yu's attack. But then Guan Yu was defeated and killed under the attack of Wei and Wu.
So a wave of in-depth analysis, why did Guan Yu launch the Northern Expedition?
Strictly speaking, there is no historical record of whose order Guan Yu's Northern Expedition was, although Guan Yu's attack on Xiangfan was in line with Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong" proposal of "ordering General Yi to send the army of Jingzhou to Xiangwan and Luo", but at this time Liu Bei had just pacified Hanzhong, was it necessary to send troops to the Northern Expedition at this time?
Moreover, Liu Bei did not immediately send troops from Qinchuan to fight Cao Cao with Guan Yu, and then realize the two-line attack plan proposed by Zhuge Liang.
So did Liu Bei order Guan Yu to go on a campaign, or did Guan Yu make his own initiative to go to war, or was it some other reason?
➢ The first possibility: Guan Yu made his own claim and sent troops without authorization to launch the Battle of Xiangfan
First of all, this possibility is relatively unbelievable to me.
The reason for this statement is that Guan Yu received the right to "fake jiejie" after the Battle of Hanzhong, and was theoretically qualified to take the initiative to launch the Battle of Xiangfan, but in fact, this statement is untenable.
"Twenty-four years, the ancestor is the king of Hanzhong, Bai Yu is the former general, and the false jieyue."
——"Three Kingdoms · The Legend of Guan Yu
One of them:
In terms of time, the Battle of Hanzhong ended in May of the 24th year of Jian'an, and Liu Bei became King of Hanzhong in July of the 24th year of Jian'an, and it was also in July of that year that Cao Cao sent Yu Ban to Fancheng to help Cao Ren.
"(Jian'an 24th year) autumn and July, with his wife Bian as queen. Sent to help Cao Ren attack Guan Yu. In August, Han overflowed, instilled the forbidden army, the army was lost, Yu was banned, and then Weiren. Let Xu Huang save it. ”
——"Three Kingdoms · The Legend of Cao Cao
Since Cao Cao's dispatch of Yu Ban to lead an army to rescue Cao Ren also occurred in July, it can also be proved that Guan Yu must have besieged Cao Ren before July, and it can be further seen from the records of the Huayang Guozhi that Guan Yu had besieged Cao Ren before Liu Bei gave Guan Yu the right to "fake jieyue".
"Shi Guan Yu besieged Cao Ren from Jiangling to Fancheng, and sent the former Sima Qian to pay homage to Fei Shi for the holiday."
——"Huayang Guozhi"
Second:
First of all, we need to know what power the false knots have.
The "false festival" is to represent the emperor's travel, and all the envoys who hold the festival represent the emperor's personal presence, symbolizing the emperor and the state, and can exercise the corresponding power.
If a military general "fake jieyun (or false yellow yun)", he does not need to ask for instructions on the left and report on the right in his wartime state, and can directly kill the soldiers in his army who violate military orders.
Before the Jin Dynasty, false festivals and false festivals were of equal status, but the etiquette was different. For example, Xin Pi of the false festival could restrain Sima Yi of the false festival according to the emperor's order.
Beginning with the Jin Dynasty, the "False Festival" became the highest-ranking monarch authorization method. With the power of "false knots", not only can he kill soldiers who violate military orders at will, but also can go on expeditions instead of the monarch, and has the power to kill generals.
It can be seen that the "false jieyue" does have the power to replace the monarch in battle, but that is also after the Jin Dynasty, the biggest power of the "false jieyue" is that in wartime, it can directly kill sergeants below 2,000 stones who violate military law without asking for instructions.
So theoretically, Guan Yu does not have the power to directly wage war.
If you want to insist on telling me that Guan Yu is Liu Bei's lineage, so "false jieyue" is not the same as the ordinary meaning, then I have nothing to say...
Based on the above two analyses, I think it is untenable to say that Guan Yu sent troops to launch the Northern Expedition without authorization after obtaining the right to "fake jieyun".
➢ The second possibility: Guan Yu received Liu Bei's order to go to the Northern Expedition
Honestly, this possibility is the greatest.
We can simply sort out the schedule:
- In May of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219 AD), Cao Cao lost the battle for Hanzhong and retreated to Chang'an;
- In July of the same year, Liu Bei was called the king of Hanzhong, and Guan Yu began the Northern Expedition (I also analyzed above, in fact, the time of Guan Yu's Northern Expedition must be earlier than this, let's calculate it as July);
- In August of the same year, Guan Yu flooded the Seventh Army and threatened Huaxia;
- In October of the same year (including a leap month), Cao Cao returned to Luoyang from Chang'an, Sun Quan captured Jiangling, and Guan Yu led his army to retreat south;
- In November of the same year, Lü Meng swept through Jingzhou;
- In December of the same year, Guan Yu was defeated and captured.
From this simple timeline, we can also get a glimpse of the clues.
After Cao Cao retreated from the Hanzhong battlefield, he never meant to leave the northwest region, which always had an indescribable pressure on Liu Bei;
More importantly, this also means that the battle of Hanzhong is not completely over, because Cao Cao is still sitting in the northwest, who dares to guarantee that Cao Cao will not attack Hanzhong at any time?
Moreover, after Sun Quan of Eastern Wu saw that Liu Bei's group captured Hanzhong, he would definitely continue to blush Jingzhou, and it was difficult to guarantee that he would not have the idea of sneaking up on Jingzhou, and if there were further military operations, he could also come to deter Sun Quan.
Therefore, in this context, Liu Bei ordered Guan Yu to lead an army to attack Xiangfan, which was completely no problem.
In short, the military mission that Guan Yu initially accepted was such a very limited military mission.
All in all, the main purpose was to put pressure on Cao Cao in the Xiangfan battlefield to force him to withdraw from the northwest.
In this sense, Guan Yu successfully achieved this strategic goal in early October.
If this had been the end, if Guan Yu had led his army back to Jiangling, then Liu Bei and Cao Cao's war for Hanzhong would have ended with Liu Bei's victory. Because Liu Bei not only succeeded in driving Cao Cao out of Hanzhong, but also successfully forced Cao Cao to return to the Central Plains.
But because of chance, Guan Yu's victory in the Xiangfan region was too great. In this way, Liu Bei Group will inevitably think of changing the established strategic goals.
Optimistically, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, Guan Yu is on the Xiangfan front, and may break through Cao Cao's central defense line at any time; Sun Quan was on the front line in Hefei and could take the opportunity to expedition north at any time; Liu Bei could also lead his army to the Northern Expedition at any time in Hanzhong.
If everything goes well, it is not surprising that Cao Cao is directly beaten to the ground.
Simply look at it, the legendary "Long Zhong Pair" is about to become a reality!
This is the main reason why Cao Cao suddenly had plans to move the capital.
Lu Hunmin, Sun Wolf and others made a chaos, killed the county chief bookkeeper, and attached Guan Yu to the south. Feather gives the wolf seal, gives the soldier, and also the thief, from the south of the promise, often far away to the feather, the feather is mighty in China. King Wei manipulated Xu Du to avoid ...
——"Zizhi Tongjian • Han Ji 60"
In fact, what really made Cao Cao panic was not how good Guan Yu was, but if Sun Quan at that time took advantage of the situation to attack Xuzhou and echoed Guan Yu from a distance; Liu Bei took advantage of the situation to attack Guanzhong and echoed Guan Yu from a distance, and Cao Cao would definitely be stretched.
Cao Cao could only do his best to block Guan Yu while sending people to "promise (promise) to cut Jiangnan to seal (Sun) Quan" to seek peace (at that time, Cao Sun Liu Jun was not declared emperor, and Feng Sun Quan was in the name of Han). This was nominally not a problem in the general environment at that time, so Sun Quan's surrender theory was not valid), and lobbied Sun Quan to attack Guan Yu's rear to reduce the pressure on the Cao army.
Prime Minister Sima Sima Yi and Xicao Jiang Jiyan said in the day: "Yu Ban and so on are submerged by water, and the loss of non-war attacks is not enough damage to the country's plan." Liu Bei and Sun Quan, external relatives and internal alienation, Guan Yu has the will, and Quan will not want to do it. But after the widow persuaded the power to stomp on it, Xu cut Jiangnan to seal the power, and Fan Wei relieved himself. "it.
——"Zizhi Tongjian • Han Ji 60"
In a sense, it was a game of three families at that time, so where Sun Quan went was crucial.
In fact, Sun Quan had the intention to attack Xuzhou from the eastern front. The problem was that Lü Meng told Sun Quan that it was better to rob Cao Cao while the fire was better than to rob Guan Yu.
Quan Ri: "If you want to take Xuzhou first, and then take the feathers, what is it?" To Japan: "Today the cao is far away in Hebei, Fuji You, Hebei, not time to go east, the remaining land to guard the army, heard nothing to say, go to self-defeat." However, the terrain is land-wide, and the horse is riding, and the Supreme takes Xuzhou today, and will come to fight for it in the later months, although it is guarded by 780,000 people, it should be worried. It is better to take the feathers, all according to the Yangtze River, the situation is increasing, and it is easy to defend. "Quan Zenzhi.
——"Zizhi Tongjian • Han Ji 60"
Previously, because the importance of "uniting with Liu against Cao" was greater than the importance of Jingzhou, the alliance represented by Lu Su in Jiangdong had not attacked Jingzhou, and at this time, Guan Yu's attack on Xiangyang and Fancheng was going quite smoothly, and if ignored, Liu Bei's strength increased greatly enough to compete with Cao Cao, while Eastern Wu became the weakest side.
Guan Yu was more threatening, he occupied the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and it was very easy to go down the river to annex the state of Wu. The importance of "Lianliu Anti-Cao Cao" is less than that of Jingzhou.
Later, Sun Quan chose to attack Guan Yu, so Guan Yu was instantly hopeless; If Sun Quan at that time chose to attack Xuzhou from the eastern front, it was estimated that it would be more difficult for Cao Cao to contain Guan Yu's offensive on the Xiangfan front.
Cao Wei's adviser Huan Jie also advised Cao Cao not to personally rush to Xiangfan, because Cao Cao personally led his army into Xiangfan, Liu Bei on the western front and Sun Quan on the eastern front would inevitably act rashly.
Cao Cao sat in Luoyang without moving, which is equivalent to telling the world that Cao Cao was not tormented by the Xiangfan battlefield, and that there were wars in other places, and Cao Cao had the spare strength to deal with it. Against this background, Sun Quan naturally did not dare to casually attack Cao Cao on the Eastern Front; Liu Bei also did not dare to casually attack Cao Cao on the western front.
For Cao Cao, the things he feared most were:
- Guan Yu attacked in a big way on the Xiangyang front;
- Sun Quan attacked in a big way on the Hefei front;
- Liu Bei launched a major attack in the Guanzhong region.
If this situation really occurs, Cao Cao's choice to move the capital is not too exaggerated.
Stepday: "Imin and others are under siege, and those who guard the death are sincerely the power of the great king." Where a husband dwells in the land of death, he will have a heart for death. Fighting to the death inside, strong salvation outside, the king according to the six armies to show strength, why worry about defeat and want to go forward?" Speak well, but the garrison of Mopi, before and after the Yin Department, Zhu Gai and other 12 battalions of Fan.
——"Zizhi Tongjian • Han Ji 60"
By analogy, Guan Yu at this time is in a very similar situation to the famous American MacArthur in the last century.
Initially, the strategic task entrusted to MacArthur by the US government was to bring North Korea back to the 38th parallel. But the early victory was too brilliant for MacArthur to expand the set strategic goals.
Their biggest concern when expanding their strategic goals is also the attitude of third parties.
- MacArthur's biggest concern was that China would send troops to North Korea;
- And Guan Yu's biggest concern was that Sun Quan would send troops to Jingzhou.
MacArthur, for various reasons, firmly believed that China would not enter the war; Because there are too many reasons for China not to enter the war.
For various reasons, Guan Yu also firmly believed that Sun Quan would never send troops out of Jingzhou, because there were too many reasons why Sun Quan would not send troops to Jingzhou.
The problem is that, unfortunately, they guessed wrong.
As a result of their expanded war, they fell from the apex of their military careers.
From a theoretical analysis, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang certainly supported the expansion of this war. Because of the optimistic estimate, the legendary "Longzhong Pair" may become a reality at that time, fighters are difficult to find, and when they see this opportunity, they will naturally not give up easily.
In general, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang at that time were probably like the US government in the early days of the Korean War. That is, excited and scared, worried and excited about all that is about to happen.
The point is that he also supported the former enemy commander-in-chief with a gambling mentality.
But unfortunately, Sun Quan did not act according to the legendary "Longzhong Pair" at a critical time. Instead, he suddenly made a strange move and stabbed Guan Yu directly in the back.
Guan Yu and MacArthur, there is also a very similar place. That is, when the war situation deteriorates dramatically. They all look red-eyed.
- MacArthur clamored to take out the atomic bomb and use it;
- As for Guan Yu, he directly asked Liu Feng to send troops to assist him.
The result? These demands of theirs were rejected by the base camp.
Based on Liu Bei's perspective, he can obviously only accept the failure of this one. Because now Cao Cao and Sun Quan have teamed up to fight Shu Han. From the perspective of strength comparison, no matter how much bet Liu Bei invests, he will lose everything.
Because this is a war that cannot be won. Therefore, the question Liu Bei is now thinking about is how to end this unfavorable situation with the least cost, rather than thinking of a desperate copy.
Guan Yu's situation at that time was much worse than MacArthur's.
Because MacArthur's side is absolutely sufficient: the comprehensive national strength of the United States is not weaker than the sum of the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea.
In terms of Guan Yu, the gambling capital was somewhat insufficient, because the comprehensive national strength of Shu Han was also somewhat weak compared with either Cao Wei and Sun Wu; Compared with the sum of the power of Cao Wei and Sun Wu, it is even more incomparable.
Against this background, Liu Bei naturally could only watch the chips on the gambling table lose, and did not dare to continue to add.
In traditional history, Guan Yu's battle of Xiangfan became cloudy. Mainly because the war was later lost too badly, Guan Yu not only died because of the destruction of the entire army, but Liu Bei also lost Jingzhou.
In the process of historical accounting, there is a relatively classic phenomenon, that is, a very failed and humiliating event, which usually becomes cloudy, such as the humiliation of Jingkang.
Everything is obvious, since this matter is very failed and very humiliating, all the parties concerned will naturally habitually prove that this matter has nothing to do with him.
If the historical parties are all in this way, it will naturally become very difficult for people to understand the ins and outs of this matter.
For similar reasons, the reason why Guan Yu launched the battle of Xiangfan could only be that Second Master Guan's mind was hot, so he said let's go; They were too lazy to report to Liu Bei; Not to wait for Liu Bei's consent, he led his army to kill Xiangfan.
The point is that during the entire war, Second Master Guan was too lazy to constantly report the battle situation to Liu Bei, and Liu Bei was too lazy to understand the situation of Xiangfan's battle, so the great victory in the early stage of the Xiangfan War, or the fiasco in the later period, were all made by Second Master Guan himself, and had nothing to do with Liu Bei.
The question is, let's look at the battle of Xiangfan, what level of war?
Throughout the Xiangfan War, Cao Wei's side was a war of the Cao Wei state, so Cao Cao personally presided over the relevant wars, and continuously allocated manpower, material and financial resources to the Xiangfan battlefield.
Cao Cao first asked Xu Huang to lead an army to support Xiangfan, and then rushed from Chang'an to Luoyang, and even planned to personally lead the army to Xiangfan at one point, but under the persuasion of Huanji, Cao Cao did not personally go to Xiangyang, but successively sent twelve battalions to support Xu Huang.
Throughout the Xiangfan War, Sun Wu's side was a war of Sun Wu's country, so Sun Quan personally presided over the war, and Sun Wu's military and political resources continued to gather on the Jiangling front. Lü Meng, Sun Quan, and Lu Xun all participated in relevant military operations.
Lü Meng went to Xunyang, and he did his best to ambush his elite soldiers, so that the white clothes swayed, and the merchants and Jia served, and walked day and night, and the riverside where the feather was placed was waiting for him, and he collected all the bounds, but the old feather did not know it. Mengdan twilight brought close to the elderly, asked for the inadequate, gave medicine to the sick, and gave food and clothing to the hungry and cold. The treasures hidden in the Yufu are all closed to wait for power.
The power of the meeting went to Jiangling, and Jingzhou annexed all the officials;
In November, Xun asked for gold, silver, and bronze seals to falsely grant the first annex, and defeated Shu generals Zhan Yan and others, as well as those who supported the army with the surname of Zigui, all of whom surrendered, and captured and recruited tens of thousands of people. Quan Yixun served as the right protector and general of Zhenxi, and entered the Marquis of Lou, Yiling, and guarded the gorge.
——"Zizhi Tongjian • Han Ji 60"
The entire Xiangfan War, the Shu Han side was obviously the war of Guan Yu of Jingzhou. Because during this period, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang were like nothing. Even after Sun Quan swept through Jingzhou, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang were just like nothing;
After a long time, Liu Bei learned that Guan Yu was dead, so he was very sad.
In this context, Guan Yu could only be attacked by Cao Cao and Sun Quan on both sides, becoming more and more desperate, and finally defeated and captured.
The entire battle of Xiangfan, from the beginning to the end, took about half a year.
- This war began in July at the latest;
- In August, Guan Yu flooded the Seventh Army, and Cao Cao sent Xu Huang to Xiangfan;
- In October, Cao Cao rushed from Chang'an to Luoyang, Lü Meng led his army to conquer Jiangling, and Guan Yu led his army to retreat south;
- In November, Sun Quan swept through Jingzhou, and Guan Yu struggled alone;
- In December, Guan Yu was defeated and captured and died.
In the face of this kind of war, we can only say that during this period, Second Master Guan worked too hard; And Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang are too leisurely.
The question now is, in the face of a war of this rare scale (Cao Cao and Sun Quan both mobilized the most luxurious lineup), why did Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang always look like nothing?
The answer is obviously that the battle of Xiangfan is too unsuccessful, and about the second master can back the pot, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang will naturally say in unison that this matter is only Guan Yu alone tossing from beginning to end.
➢ The third possibility: Guan Yu passively fights and changes from passive to active
The possibility is also very large and real.
For nine months from the beginning of Cao Ren's campaign against Guan Yu in October of the 23rd year of Jian'an to the siege of Guan Yu in July of the 24th year of Jian'an, we have no way of knowing how the two sides won or lost the battle due to the lack of historical materials.
However, Guan Yu, as the attacked party, turned passive to active, but let Cao Ren fall into a besieged situation, and it has to be said that Guan Yu's military ability is very good.
"Twenty-four years, the ancestor was the king of Hanzhong, Bai (Guan) Yu was the former general, and the false jieyue. It was the year, and Yu led the crowd to attack Cao Ren Yu Fan. Cao Gong was sent to Forbidden Helperen. In autumn, the rain fell in Dalin, the Han water overflowed, and the seven armies of the forbidden house were gone. ”
——"Three Kingdoms · The Legend of Guan Yu
"(Jian'an 23rd year) In the winter and October, Wanshou rebelled against Hou Yin and others, commanded Nanyang Taishou, plundered the people, and protected Wan. At the beginning, Cao Ren begged Guan Yu, Tun Fancheng, and was the moon envoy Ren Weiwan. ”
——"Three Kingdoms · The Legend of Cao Cao
"Fuyi (Cao) Renxing Zhengnan General, False Festival, Tunfan, Zhenjingzhou. Hou Yin rebelled with Wan, and thousands of people in the county, Ren led all the troops to attack Yin, beheaded him, and returned Tun Fan, that is, to pay homage to the general Nan. ”
——"Three Kingdoms · The Biography of Cao Ren
It can be seen that Guan Yu was flooded in the 24th year of Jian'an, but the Records of the Three Kingdoms records that as early as October of the 23rd year of Jian'an, Cao Ren had garrisoned Fancheng in order to attack Guan Yu in Jingzhou, and was also given the right to "fake festivals".
During this period, the people of Wancheng were dissatisfied with Cao Wei because they suffered from Cao Wei's conscription, and the defender Hou Yin took the opportunity to kidnap Taishou Dongligon, and united with Guan Yu to rebel.
That is to say, the start of the Battle of Xiangfan was fought in the twenty-third year of Jian'an, and Cao Ren started first, but it happened to encounter Hou Yin's rebellion, and Hou Yin connected with Guan Yu, and Guan Yu was most likely sent in response to Hou Yin.
Hou Yin began the rebellion in October of the 23rd year of Jian'an and was killed in the 24th month of Jian'an, and was pacified by Cao Ren only two months before and after. Because the people's hearts were unstable, the Houyin Rebellion broke out, and it was said that after quelling the rebellion, he should take some time to rest and stabilize the people's hearts and military hearts, but Cao Cao's ideas were always unexpected.
"Hou Yin, Wei Kai, and others rebelled with Wan, and the (Pang) De generals and Cao Ren jointly attacked Wanwan, cut Yin, opened it, Suinan Tunfan, and begged Guan Yu."
——"Three Kingdoms · Biography of Pound
"In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, Taizu was in Chang'an, and made Cao Ren beg Guan Yu Yu Fan, and sent (Yu) to ban Zhuren."
——"Three Kingdoms · Forbidden Legend
Pang De was sent to help Cao Ren quell Hou Yin's rebellion, and then followed Cao Ren to Fancheng and continued to attack Guan Yu. That is to say, after experiencing Hou Yin's rebellion, Cao Wei did not have a moment of respite, and still happily launched an attack on Guan Yu. This also affirmed that the battle of Xiangfan was actually initiated by Cao Wei.
So how did Guan Yu become passive to proactive? The author believes that this is because Guan Yu, as an excellent general, has an extraordinary vision.
"In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, Sun Quan attacked Hefei, and all the prefectures were in tunshu. (Wen) said that Yanzhou thorn history Pei Qian: 'Although there are thieves here, they are not worried, but they are afraid of changes in the south. Now Shui was born and the son Xiaoxian army has no far-reaching preparation. Guan Yu Xiaorui, taking advantage of the profit, will definitely be troubled. So there was the matter of Fancheng. ”
——"Three Kingdoms · Wen Hui Chuan"
The Zhengnan in Wen Huan's mouth refers to Cao Ren, "county" means "hang", and Zixiao hangjun means that Cao Ren's situation is very dangerous.
Also in the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, Sun Quan harassed Cao Wei in the Hefei area, but Wen Hui believed that Cao Ren in Jingzhou was more dangerous than Sun Quan's invasion, on the grounds that it was the "aquatic" season. Then, as Wen Hui expected, Guan Yu really took advantage of the rainy season to flood Fan Cheng, and also flooded Yu Ban, who came to support.
Guan Yu's actions would be accurately expected by Wen Hui, but Guan Yu still achieved a phased victory in the war, indicating that this Guan Yu's excellent military vision was ultimately owned by a small number of people, and Cao Ren, Yu Ban and others were obviously inferior.
To sum up, the general process in the early stage of the Battle of Xiangfan should be that Cao Ren conquered Guan Yu, and when Hou Yin rebelled in Wancheng, Cao Cao sent Pang De to help Cao Ren, and after quelling the Houyin Rebellion, Cao Ren and Pang De continued to conquer Guan Yu, and Guan Yu turned to attack and approach Fancheng, and then effectively used the help of the rainy season to flood the Seventh Army and Shock Huaxia.
Therefore, the author believes that the battle of Xiangfan was not initiated by Guan Yu, but by Cao Ren on his own initiative, and after several months of friction between the two sides, Guan Yu effectively seized the fighter, thus putting Cao Ren in a very dangerous situation.
That is, Guan Yu was a passive attack, thus creating the feat of Megatron Huaxia. To put it simply, the so-called Guan Yu launched the battle of Xiangfan, which was actually Cao Ren fighting Guan Yu, and then Guan Yu fought back.
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In any case, this Northern Expedition directly determined the ownership of the three counties of Jingzhou (mainly the southern county), and Eastern Wu occupied the six counties of Jingzhou from then on, not only increasing the territory, but also "completely occupying the Yangtze River", further consolidating the security of the Eastern Wu regime.
Shu Han lost the three counties of Jingzhou, the losses were extremely heavy, firstly, Shu Han lost the large base of the Eastern Northern Expedition, making Longzhong a false statement, secondly, Jingzhou's army and talents were basically lost, secondly, Meng Da defected to Wei, resulting in the loss of Shangyong and other places, and finally, the crushing defeat of Shu Han in the Battle of Xiangfan directly led to Liu Bei's later Battle of Yiling against Eastern Wu, making the already weak Shu Han regime even worse.
As for what the truth of Guan Yu's troop dispatch is, it depends on which one you are willing to believe.
In conclusion, I would like to say:
Reading history, everyone is God's perspective, as for what is the truth, then it can only be said that the benevolent and the wise see the wise