The Battle of Yiling was the second fiasco in which Shu's vitality was greatly damaged. In 221, Liu Bei officially ascended the throne. At that time, Cao Pi had abolished Liu Xie and established the Wei State by himself, but Liu Bei, who had always been proud of his Han clan, did not take the initiative to crusade against Cao Pi, and the first major thing he did was to attack Wu. Just because Sun Quan captured Jingzhou and killed Guan Yu, Liu Bei decided to give up Wei to attack Wu. Liu Bei has fought for half his life, and he is assisted by top talents such as Zhuge Liang, Zhao Yun, and Ma Chao, so he feels that he can easily eliminate Dongwu, but the fact is directly slapped in the face.
In the romance, the story of the Battle of Yiling is very tragic. The book says that Liu Bei attacked Wu with 750,000 soldiers, and at the same time brought Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun, two top generals, and Zhang Bao and Guan Xing were the vanguards, and went straight to Eastern Wu by land and water. At the beginning, Liu Bei's side still had an overwhelming advantage, and Zhou Tai, Han Dang and others sent by Sun Quan were abused and trembled. But later, Sun Quan sent Lu Xun as the governor, and the situation of the war began to change. As soon as Lu Xun came, he closed the door and fought a protracted battle with Liu Bei. Later, the war dragged on to the middle of summer, Liu Bei moved to a densely wooded place, and Lu Xun used fire to destroy the 750,000 soldiers of Shu.
Not only were 750,000 soldiers destroyed, but Huang Zhong was killed by an arrow, generals Zhang Nan and Feng Xi were killed, and the general Huang Quan surrendered to Cao Pi. Liu Bei's battle against Wu not only ended in defeat, but also greatly damaged the vitality of Shu at once. At that time, Ma Liang showed Zhuge Liang Liu Bei's relocation map, and Zhuge Liang directly said the exclamation words of "the Han Dynasty is resting". It can be seen that the fiasco of the Battle of Yiling directly pitted the Shu State, and also led to the later Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition to be more difficult. But these are just descriptions of romance, what is the situation of the battle of Yiling in history?
Although the romance is very detailed and wonderful, there are obviously some differences between the official history and the romance. According to the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms", Liu Bei only brought more than 40,000 soldiers to attack Wu, while Sun Quan's Lu Xun garrison had as many as 50,000. It can be seen that the disparity between the two sides in terms of numbers is not as great as the romance says. There are also some discrepancies in the list of generals who participated in the war. Historically, Guan Xing and Zhang Bao have never been on the battlefield, and they have not lived long, so these two people did not participate in the Battle of Yiling. And Huang Zhong died of illness long before the battle of Wu, and it is impossible for him to be resurrected to fight.
According to the records of the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms", Liu Bei and Wu brought a total of 21 military generals who left their names, including Feng Xi, Zhang Nan, Fu Wei, Sha Moke, Ma Liang, Cheng Ji, and Wang Fu, 7 people were killed in battle, Huang Quan, Shi He, and Pang Lin 3 people surrendered to Cao Pi, and Du Lu and Liu Ning surrendered to Sun Quan. At the same time, Liu Bei's more than 40,000 people were also lost. Whether it was a soldier or a general, Liu Bei's losses were huge. Fu Wei is the father of Fu Tong, a famous general in the late Shu Kingdom, but Romance wrote him as "Fu Tong". Cheng Ji fought against Xu Sheng and died in the battle of the gorge. Feng Xi died in Lu Xun's "burning company camp", and Zhang Nan died in the area of Yidao City.
After the loss of Jingzhou, Guan Yu and Guan Ping died, and Shu lost its territory and lost its troops. But in the Battle of Yiling, Liu Bei suffered another devastating blow, and Shu once again suffered a great loss of vitality. Everyone knows that there is a lack of outstanding talents on the side of Shu, and after the death of Huang Zhong, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, the status of second-tier talents such as Zhang Nan, Feng Xi, and Fu Wei is also very important, but these generals died in battle, and when Zhuge Liang went on the Northern Expedition, Shu could use fewer good cards.
(Information from "Three Kingdoms" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms")