The Three Kingdoms is a period of history between the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Western Jin Dynasty in the mainland, and three independent regimes were formed in the Central Plains, namely Wei, Shu, and Wu. The Wei State led by Cao Cao occupied the north, the Shu State led by Liu Bei occupied Sichuan, and the Wu State led by Sun Quan occupied the south of the Yangtze River.
Let's first take a look at the origin of the Three Kingdoms, the founder of the Cao Wei regime was Cao Cao, but Cao Cao did not ascend the throne and claim the emperor during his lifetime, but his son Cao Pi officially ended the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty and established the Wei State. Cao Cao was born in a family of eunuchs, and when he was young, he was dissolute and uninhibited, did not like to study knowledge, but was interested in the art of war and strategy. But at this time, the world was in chaos, and there were heroes everywhere, and the Han family was not able to pacify the Quartet. This gave Cao Cao a chance to get ahead.
Cao Cao first united with other armies to defeat Dong Zhuo, but Cao Cao's strength was too weak at that time and he had no say in other armies, resulting in Cao Cao's defeat. Then Cao Cao changed his policy, first attacked some places with small forces, slowly accumulated strength, and defeated the peasant rebel army Yellow Turban Army, integrating the elite troops to form the Qingzhou Army. At this time, Cao Cao initially formed his own forces.
Then Cao Cao made a wise decision, coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, and took the Han emperor into his own hands. Although the Han family has existed in name only, no one in the world wants to be the first chaotic minister and thief, so this title is still a bit useful, at least it is justified to let Cao Cao do anything. At that time, the most powerful force in the north was Yuan Shao, who did not want to see Cao Cao's power growing and decided to send troops. Cao Cao's strength was far inferior to Yuan Shao's, but Cao Cao knew people well, could listen to the opinions of others, defeated Yuan Shao in one fell swoop in the Battle of Guandu, and solved his biggest enemy in the north.
After the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao's position in the north was already very solid, he began to build water conservancy, restore production, and the society in the north tended to develop steadily. After that, Cao Cao also sent troops to Shu and Wu, but they all returned in vain. In 220 AD, Cao Cao died of illness, and in October of the same year, Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor and established the Wei state.
Liu Bei, the founding emperor of Shu, was originally a descendant of the Han family, and if Cao Cao was a hero, then Liu Bei was the representative of benevolence and righteousness. History has not heard of Liu Bei's outstanding talent in other aspects, his most commendable thing is that he has a benevolent heart and a corporal of courtesy, so people defect to him wherever he goes.
Liu Bei was the same as Cao Cao at the beginning, he didn't have any soldiers and horses, and he also began to accumulate strength by resisting Dong Zhuo, but he was not as lucky as Cao Cao, so he could only rely on others to slowly strengthen himself, Liu Bei successively attached himself to Gongsun Zhan, Tao Qian, Cao Cao, Liu Biao and others. When Liu Bei took refuge in Cao Cao, Cao Cao thought that Liu Bei was the one who could compete with him in the world, so he had murderous intentions. Seeing this, Liu Bei hurriedly fled, and later took refuge with Liu Biao. Since this time, Liu Bei's career has begun to take a turn for the better.
Liu Bei has accumulated a certain amount of strength in Jingzhou for several years, and the most important thing is that he got Zhuge Liang from three times, analyzed the current situation for him, and chose a path to fight for hegemony. After Liu Biao died of illness, Liu Bei obtained Jingzhou, and took the opportunity to attack Zhang Lu, and destroyed Liu Zhang to get Yizhou. At this time, Liu Bei's strength could not be underestimated, and in the battle with Cao Cao for Hanzhong, he defeated Cao Cao and completely secured the land of Sichuan. In 221 AD, Liu Bei saw Cao Pi proclaimed emperor, and immediately ascended the throne in Chengdu and established Shu Han.
Finally, Sun Quan, the emperor of Wu, gave him far less time than Cao Cao and Liu Bei in terms of history. Sun Quan had a good brother Sun Ce, and when Sun Quan was still a teenager, Sun Ce had been fighting abroad for many years and unified Jiangdong. Later, Sun Ce was assassinated, and Sun Quan took over Jiangdong at the age of nineteen. The young Sun Quan quickly gathered military power, solved the forces that resisted him, stabilized the local clans, and stabilized the situation in Jiangdong.
Since the country of Wu has been defeated by Sun Ce, it is more about Sun Quan not to fight the world, but to defend the world. Sun Quan moved between Wei and Shu, first defeating Cao Cao in the Battle of Red Cliffs with Liu Bei, and then attacking Liu Bei with Cao Cao and capturing Jingzhou. Although it feels a little immoral, if you want to be invincible in the troubled times, you have to use some means, and in the negotiation with Wei Shu, Sun Quan got the greatest benefits for himself and Wu State. In 229 AD, Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor and established the state of Wu, the last of the three kingdoms to become emperor. So far, the situation of the three kingdoms has emerged.
In the decades that followed, the three kingdoms fought against each other, but neither could destroy the other. With the passage of time, the figures who established the Three Kingdoms disappeared in the long river of history, Shu since the death of Liu Bei, Liu Chan who succeeded to the throne did not want to forge ahead, it was difficult to become a great weapon, and the government was supported by Zhuge Liang, and after Zhuge Liang also died of illness, Shu was in a slump and was soon destroyed by Wei.
Although the country of Wei has developed steadily, since the death of Cao Cao, the power of the Sima family led by Sima Yi in the Wei State has risen, and the subsequent emperors have been unable to curb the development of the Sima family, and the power of the Wei State is basically in the hands of the Sima family. The Shu State was destroyed by the Sima family with troops, and two years after the Sima family destroyed the Shu State, they launched a coup d'état and changed Wei to Jin. So Wei was the second of the Three Kingdoms to be destroyed.
As for the state of Wu, it became weaker and weaker after Sun Quan's death. It's just that at that time, the Sima family was ready to destroy Shu first and then Wu, and later they were busy changing the dynasty, so they didn't take care of Wu. Let Wu Guo stay until the end, and wait until the affairs of the Jin State are arranged, and finally free up his hands to clean up Wu State, and Wu State will be destroyed. At this point, the situation of the Three Kingdoms was completely over, but none of the three were winners, and the Jin Dynasty established by the Sima family won the final victory. How ironic it sounds that the three families have returned to Jin!
By taking people as a mirror, we can know the gains and losses, and by taking history as a mirror, we can know the rise and fall.