In the autumn of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, Guan Yu took advantage of the fact that the main force of the Cao army was transferred east to resist Sun Quan's attack on Huainan, and suddenly launched the Battle of Xiangfan, also known as the Battle of Jingzhou.
From August of that year when Guan Yu sent troops to attack Fancheng to December when he was defeated and killed, the entire Jingzhou campaign lasted for four months, and in such a long span, Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang in Xichuan did not send a single additional soldier to Jingzhou. Until Guan Yu was attacked by the Wu army and came to an end, Liu Bei did not send troops east to help Yu, and until Guan Yu was captured, he did not receive any rescue.
For this question, in a period of more than 1800 years, some people have tried to interpret it from different angles. There are several representations that are representative and all have some truth, but none of them can justify themselves.
The first point of view: Guan Yu has always been arrogant and arrogant, and he is so happy with his achievements; he is brave and stubborn, and he sent troops to attack Xiangyang and Fancheng, which were occupied by Cao Wei, without authorization, not only was he unorganized and undisciplined, but he also had no sense of the overall situation. Because Guan Yu was arrogant, brazenly provoked war, and did not implement the basic national policy of "the east and Sun Quan, the north rejected Cao Cao", which Zhuge Liang had long formulated, he was eventually defeated and killed, and Shu Han lost Jingzhou forever.
The second point of view: Zhuge Liang had congenital deficiencies in his genius work "Longzhong Pair", Jingzhou (two lakes) to Yizhou (Sichuan) mountains and rivers are far away, and the Shu road is difficult and dangerous, not only the distance is long, but also the road is difficult, resulting in Liu Bei's inability to reinforce Guan Yu, who is in a desperate situation.
In fact, although the Shu Road is difficult and the Three Gorges area is also rugged and difficult, the waterway is still unimpeded. For example, in the twenty years of Jian'an, Guan Yu and Sun Quan fought hard to capture Jingzhou, Liu Bei led an army out of Sichuan to support Guan Yu, successfully arrived at Jingzhou Tunbing Public Security, and immediately recaptured Jingzhou, could it be that the Shu army could not go out of Sichuan and go east down the river after only a few years? So rescue is not a question of whether it can be, but whether it is wanted or not.
The third point of view: Jingzhou is a strategic place and a dangerous Jedi, and Guan Yu was pushed to the cusp of the Wu-Shu struggle because he defended Jingzhou, because Guan Yu was unruly, and his power began to expand after entrenching Jingzhou, and there were people in high positions within Shu Han who wanted to use Sun Quan's hand to get rid of Guan Yu.
The third view involves "conspiracy theories," which are relatively new and eye-catching. The representative of the third view is Mr. Jang Tae-yan, the master of Park Hak.
Zhang Taiyan once wrote an article to discuss his own views, he believed that after Guan Yu stayed in Jingzhou, he was like a domain town on one side, not only arbitrary, but also rapidly growing in strength, and was named a former general by Liu Bei, the first of the four "famous generals (generals)", and also the first general of Liu Bei's forces, inadvertently blocking Zhuge Liang's way to climb to the core of Shu Han's power, so Zhuge Liang instructed Guan Yu to take the initiative to provoke trouble, and when the war was going on at the most critical juncture, he refused to send troops to rescue, resulting in Guan Yu being attacked by Xu Huang, Lü Meng's front and rear defeat was a big defeat, and he was finally killed by Sun Quan.
There is also a view similar to Zhang Taiyan, that Liu Bei is the one behind the murder with the (Sun Quan) knife. The reason was that after Guan Yu defended Jingzhou, he had already become the number two figure in Shu Han de facto, posing a threat to Liu Bei's supreme position, so Liu Bei made a game and used Sun Quan's hand to get rid of the arrogant and uncontrollable Guan Second Master. This view is the same as Master Zhang, but the suspicion behind the scenes is replaced by Liu Bei from Zhuge Liang. This view has been buzzing on the Internet recently, and it has a lot of traffic.
Personally, I think that these two "conspiracy theories" are pure nonsense! Although Liu Bei had some suspicions about him, he generally trusted him, and with Liu Bei in the wind and rain for so many years, practice proved that Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and other Shu Han generals also admired Zhuge Liang and obeyed him. On the other hand, after the defeat in the Battle of Jingzhou, Zhuge Liang's position within the Shu Han did not change. Besides, if Zhuge Liang really murdered Guan Yu for his own selfishness, this was tantamount to abolishing Liu Bei's grand deeds of Ding Cao Wei and Kuang Fu Hanzuo, could Liu Bei tolerate him doing this? Obviously, Zhuge Liang's argument that he harmed Guan Yu is far-fetched and untenable.
As for Liu Bei's murder of Guan Yu, it is even more absurd! It's impossible to talk about. Liu, Guan and Zhang are entrepreneurial partners and vow to live and die together. Guan Yu was loyal to Liu Bei, and Cao Cao could not keep his heart when he was given marquis and gold, and the friendship between the two was tested by blood and fire, and it can be said to be enduring. If Liu Bei really wanted to get rid of Guan Yu, there was a way, was it necessary to take the entire Jingzhou in order to eliminate the next general under his command?
When Guan Yu went to Maicheng, not only Liu Feng and Meng Da, who were close to Fangling and Shangyong, refused to send troops to rescue them on the grounds that "the mountain county was first annexed and the people's hearts were undecided", but Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang, who were far away in Xichuan, did not send a single soldier to rescue Yu, which is still an unsolved historical mystery. What are the views of the officials? You can express your opinion in the comment area.
【Illustration from the Internet】