If we take a closer look at the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", we will find that Cao Cao, after sweeping the population and supplies of Hanzhong, built a buffer zone between him and Liu Bei, and as long as Liu Bei did not take the initiative to attack, he tried to keep the western front free of war.
The strategy of Cao Wei's group is to first Wu and then Shu, that is, they only want to fight Sun Quan and do not want to fight Liu Bei, and this idea is also the consensus of Cao Wei's main strategists.
After Jingzhou lost Guan Yu and was killed, Liu Bei's strategy was the same as Cao Cao's, that is, to eat Sun Quan first. The world's heroes are only the king and Cao Er, Liu Bei and Cao Cao both regard Sun Quan as the first target to eliminate, this strategy is in the vernacular, that is, "eat persimmons and pick up the soft pinch first": Cao Cao is the boss of the Three Kingdoms, there is no doubt that Liu Bei crossed Jingyi and occupied half of Hanzhong, and his strength has surpassed Sun Quan to become the second, such a change, we can see from the situation map of the Three Kingdoms after Liu Bei took Xichuan in the nineteenth year of Jian'an.
Liu Bei and Cao Cao competed for Hanzhong, Cao Cao got the population and resources, Liu Bei got the land, Sun Quan didn't get anything, and Zhang Lu lost all his family.
Cao Cao and Liu Bei did not exert all their strength in the battle for Hanzhong, because he also deployed a large number of troops on the front line of Hefei, and while preparing to launch an attack on Eastern Wu, he was also guarding against Sun Quan's sudden attack.
If we take a closer look at "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, Volume 1, Emperor Wu Ji", we will find that he spent most of his energy on Sun Quan: "In the spring and March of the fourteenth year, the army arrived at the war, made a light boat, and controlled the water army. In the autumn and July, from the vortex into the Huai, out of the fertile water, the army Hefei; in the winter and October of the 17th year, Sun Quan was conscripted; in the first month of the spring of the 18th year, he marched to the mouth of the river, broke through the camp of the west of Quanjiang, and was given the right to supervise Gongsun Yang; in the autumn and July of the 19th year, he was conscripted by Sun Quan; in August of the 20th year, Sun Quan besieged Hefei, and Zhang Liao and Li Dian broke it; in the first month of the spring of the 22nd year, Wang Jun lived in the nest, and in February, he marched to Hao Yu in the west of Tunjiang, and the right built a city at the mouth of the river and refused to defend it, so he was forced to attack it, and the right retreated. ”
Jian'an was defeated in Chibi in the thirteenth year, and Cao Cao never swallowed this breath, so he beat Liu Bei just sent his generals to passively respond to the battle, and he rarely went out in person, but when he beat Sun Quan, he would go to the front line in person, and it seemed that he was determined to avenge Chibi's burning revenge.
Cao Cao was the first hero in the world at the end of the Han Dynasty, saying that he beat Sun Quan to avenge the revenge of Chibi, he underestimated his mind and bearing, the reason why he held Sun Quan insisted, but did not continue to compete with Liu Bei for Hanzhong, nor did he launch an attack on Jingzhou, which Guan Yu guarded, naturally had his considerations.
If we take a closer look at the historical materials of the Three Kingdoms, we will find that after Liu Bei occupied most of Jingzhou, from the fourteenth year of Jian'an to the twenty-third year of Jian'an, there was basically no war on the front line of Xiangfan, there may be some small friction between the two sides, but there was no large-scale battle, if Guan Yu did not beat Cao Ren too aggrieved, Cao Cao would not have sent Yu Ban to lead the Seventh Army with 30,000 horses and horses to support.
Yu Ban Seventh Army was gone, Cao Cao first sent Xu Huang and Zhang Liao to meet the two routes, and he also rushed to the front line, but on the way to the army, he also told Xu Huang not to rush to war, everything will be said after he and other troops gather.
If it weren't for Xu Huang's greed to launch a general attack on Guan Yu first, Guan Yu learned that the Nanjun Public Security was attacked by Lu Meng Lu Xun, so he could return to the division to counterattack more calmly, and the Lu Meng white-clothed night attack team that lacked heavy equipment might not be Guan Yu's opponent.
Cao Cao once said that "giving birth to a son should be like Sun Zhongmou", but this does not necessarily mean that he regards Sun Quan as an equal opponent, Sun Quan's capriciousness makes the hero Cao Cao look down on him very much, and it is estimated that he has regretted that he has to give birth to a son like Sun Quan: "Sun Quan wrote to call him a minister, and said that he was called the Mandate of Heaven." The king (Cao Cao had been crowned King of Wei at that time) sent a letter of power to the outside world and said: 'It is a son who wants to be evil on my fire!'"
Not only did Cao Cao have a bad impression of Sun Quan, but even Cao Wei's strategists thought that Sun Quan was not a good bird, and Liu Ye persuaded Cao Pi to take advantage of the fire to rob when Liu Bei attacked Sun Quan: "Wu Jue is on the surface of Jiang and Han, and he has no heart for a long time. Although His Majesty is in danger, he does not feel the ugliness of his nature. Because it is difficult to ask for ministers, it will be difficult to believe. He will be forced to be trapped from without, and then he will send this to his ears, and he may take it because he is poor. The husband indulges in the enemy for one day, and the troubles of several generations must not be overlooked. "
According to Liu Ye, it was the best time to eliminate Sun Quan: "Shu attacked outside, I attacked inside, and Wu's death was not out of ten months." If Wu dies, Shu is lonely. If you cut Wu and a half, Shu Gu will not be able to survive for a long time, and Shu will be outside, and I will be inside!"
Liu Ye and Liu Bei are both relatives of the Han family, breaking bones and tendons, he picked up Cao Pi and Liu Bei to divide Sun Quan's territory equally, and he didn't know who he was thinking about, but he packed a ticket with Cao Pi, saying that Liu Bei would definitely join forces with Cao Pi to destroy Wu: "Now Bei is angry, so the army Wu attacked, heard that I attacked Wu, knew that Wu would die, and would be happy to enter and fight with me to cut Wu land, and he would not change his plan to suppress anger to save Wu, and the inevitable trend would also." "
Cao Pi has a set of ways to deal with his own brothers, but his strategic vision and mind are far inferior to his father, until the fire of Yiling has been extinguished, and the Sun-Liu Alliance has shown signs of recovery, he came to his senses and stabbed Sun Quan: "In the autumn and September, Wei Nai ordered Cao Xiu, Zhang Liao, and Zang Ba to go out of the cave, Cao Ren to go out of the wet beard, and Cao Zhen, Xiahou Shang, Zhang He, and Xu Huang to encircle Nanjun. ”
Cao Pi was like Yuan Shao "late to see things", his actions were three or five months in advance, and Eastern Wu had ceased to exist, and he marched to Eastern Wu when Liu Bei's main force was annihilated and most of the Wu soldiers were withdrawn, and the daylilies were cold.
If Cao Cao is still alive, he will never let go of such a good fighter to destroy Wu, before this, Liu Bei has already shown favor to Cao Wei (sent an envoy to express condolences to Cao Cao), if Cao Pi received Liu Bei's envoy, he would definitely "discuss" how to divide Eastern Wu, at that time, don't say that as long as half of the land in Jiangdong, it is all to be asked for and only leave Liu Bei the four counties of Jingzhou, Liu Bei will also agree.
Cao Wei withdrew all the troops facing off in Hanzhong and used them on the front line of the invasion of Wu, even if Zhou Yu was resurrected, it would be difficult to resist the Cao army and the full-fledged Liu Bei, even if Lu Su was still there, it was difficult to persuade Liu Bei to continue to fight against Cao.
When Cao Cao was alive, Cao Wei's strategy was to first Wu and then Shu, Cao Pi took over, and underestimated Sun Quan, who was fickle and good at subduing and being small, and Liu Bei refused to bow down, so Cao Liu joined forces to destroy Lu Bu's experience, which was not used on Sun Quan, and at the same time, there were different voices within Shu Han, such as Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun, who were determined to "unite Liu against Cao's faction", even if Sun Quan had torn up the covenant, attacked Jingzhou, and killed Guan Yu, they still fantasized about rebuilding the old friendship with Sun Quan.
The author has always respected Zhao Yun very much, but after reading his words to dissuade Liu Bei from attacking Wu, I suddenly felt that there was a reason why Liu Bei did not reuse him - Zhao Yun's statement was too wishful thinking: "The national thief is Cao Cao, not Sun Quan, and if you destroy Wei first, Wu will obey himself." Although the body is killed, Zipi usurped, when the hearts of the people, the early picture of Guanzhong, the river, the upper reaches of the Wei to beg for rebellion, the righteous men of the Kanto region will be wrapped in grain and horses to welcome the king. Wei should not be disregarded, and Wu should be fought first; ”
Jingzhou is lost, Zhuge Liang's Longzhong pair has come to naught, what can Liu Bei do to fight Cao Wei to the death? With Liu Bei's only half of the remaining territory, wouldn't it be a pipe dream to destroy Wei? Since Wei cannot be destroyed, won't "Wu Zifu" become a painting cake to satisfy hunger? Jingzhou will not avenge the loss of Guan Yu and the murder of Guan Yu, what will Zhang Fei and Wei Yan, who had not yet been assassinated at that time, think about it? If Liu Bei had shown no kindness in the matter of Guan Yu's murder, would Zhang Fei have gone to his wife's uncle (Xiahou Yuan is gone, Cao Cao and Xiahoudun seem to be Madame Zhang's uncles) and his brother?
Liu Bei must consider these questions, so it is a wise choice to go first to Wu and then Wei: only by eating small fish, can the middle fish grow into a big fish, and then compete with the whale Cao Wei for the world, how can there be a reason to gnaw hard bones first without eating soft meat?
Anyway, Cao Cao and Liu Bei had thought about killing Sun Quan, and then the Cao and Liu families had a showdown, but Cao Cao and Liu Bei could only die too early, so when Liu Bei attacked Wu, Cao Pi sat on the mountain to watch the tiger fight, and when Cao Pi attacked Wu, Shu Han did not make a comeback.
Readers, you can try to imagine: if Liu Bei was still alive when Cao Cao won the first battle of Yiling, would he let go of such an opportunity to eliminate Eastern Wu in one fell swoop?
Here we need to explain that Liu Bei's attack on Wu was not defeated or in a stalemate at the beginning, and the new generation of generals under him fought well: "Sun Quan sent a letter to ask for peace, but the first lord was angry and did not allow it, Wu generals Lu Yi, Li Yi, Liu A and other Tun Wu and Zi Gui; ”
Lu Yi is Lu Xun, when Liu Bei won the first battle, Ma Liang had already contacted the southern tribes to raise troops to assist, Sun Quan was facing great military pressure, if Cao Cao started from behind, Sun Quan would definitely not be able to take care of the whole thing, either return Jingzhou to Liu Bei, hand over the traitor and his sister, or as he later wrote to Cao Pi, "return the land and the people, beg to hand over the state, and end the rest of the year".
Cao Cao and Liu Bei died too early, and the successors did not seem to have their heroic spirit, which made Sun Quan snicker to the end, readers can imagine: if Cao Cao was still alive when Wu Shu fought against the army, what decision would he make?