The second Jingzhou storm brewed in Sun Liu's ten-year alliance history, but it was Guan Yu's army that attacked Xiangyang in the north. Guan Yu attacked Xiangyang with all his might, opening the opportunity for Lü Meng to attack Jingzhou, and led to the fire of Sun Liu in Yiling, and the situation of Sun Liu separating Wu Shu in the south was basically finalized.
The general history of warfare sets the time when Guan Yu began to attack Xiangyang as July of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219). Why did Guan Yu attack Xiangyang north at this time? Many scholars believe that Guan Yu made his own opinion. When I discussed the "Struggle between the Three Kingdoms and Jingzhou" in the book "Laying Out the World: The General Trend of Ancient Chinese Military Geography", I also used the argument that Guan Yu's actions did not meet the conditions of "changes in the world" mentioned in Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Pair", nor were they the needs of the battlefield on the Western Front, and attributed Guan Yu's actions to unauthorized military provocations. There is a correction here.
Guan Yu's northern attack on Xiangyang was not his own initiative, but part of Liu Bei's phased layout. We only need to clarify two questions before we can make a judgment on this matter. The first is whether Guan Yu and Liu Bei communicated in advance, and the second is whether Guan Yu's attack on Xiangyang and Liu Bei's overall layout are related to their strategic intentions.
According to the Book of Shu: The Biography of the First Lord, after Liu Bei obtained Hanzhong in May of the 24th year of Jian'an, he "sent Liu Feng, Meng Da, and Li Ping to attack Shen and delay in Shangyong". At that time, Liu Feng and Meng Da were not together, Liu Feng went east from Nanzheng in Hanzhong, and Meng Da went north from Zigui in Jingzhou. The "Book of Shu: The Biography of the First Lord" narrates in this way, showing that Liu Feng and Meng Da's actions are an overall deployment.
Meng Da was ordered to go north from Zigui in Jingzhou to attack Fangling (present-day Fangxian County, Hubei Province). First, Meng Da and Fa Zheng each led 2,000 troops to Jingzhou; later, Liu Bei and Fa Zheng entered Shu, and ordered Meng Da to lead Fa Zheng's troops and stay in Jiangling; after Liu Bei settled in Yizhou, he took Meng Da as the appropriate capital to guard and return to Tunzi; at the same time, Liu Bei worshiped Guan Yu and Dong supervised Jingzhou affairs and took full charge of Jingzhou's military and political affairs. Meng Da, who is the Taishou of Yidu, should be restrained by Guan Yu. And when Lu Xun attacked Yidu in November of the 24th year of Jian'an, "Beiyidu was too guarded by Fan Youwei County". In other words, after Meng Da went north, Liu Bei appointed the new Yidu Taishou. Liu Bei ordered Meng Da to attack Fangling from Zigui to the north, and caused personnel changes in Jingzhou, such a thing, Liu Bei could not communicate with Guan Yu of the "Dong Governor Jingzhou Affairs", and it was impossible not to communicate with Guan Yu about the strategic intention of this move. Therefore, before Guan Yu attacked Xiangyang, Liu Bei's deployment of the attack on the three eastern counties was actually related to Guan Yu in Jingzhou.
The record of the connection between Liu Bei and Guan Yu in the Book of Shu is that Liu Bei said that the queen of Hanzhong sent Fei Shi to Jingzhou to worship Guan Yu as a former general. At this time, Guan Yu had already been under the city of Xiangyang. From Liu Bei sending Meng Da north to Liu Bei becoming the king of Hanzhong, the time was not long. Guan Yu raised troops to the north, and Liu Bei brewed to become king, all of which happened during this period. Liu Bei is impossible not to communicate with Guan Yu for such a major event as being the king. When Liu Bei was preparing to be called the king of Hanzhong, Guan Yu was listed on the list of emperors of the Han Dynasty. It can be seen that before Liu Bei sent Fei Shi to worship Guan Yu as a former general, Liu Bei actually maintained close ties with Jingzhou. Guan Yu raised troops to attack Xiangyang in the north, and Liu Bei could not have known in advance.
Guan Yu's northern attack on Xiangyang was apparently actively supported by Liu Bei. "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty and the Chronicle of Emperor Xian" contains, "In the autumn and July Gengzi, Liu Bei proclaimed himself the king of Hanzhong". According to Chen Yuan's "Twenty Historical Shuo Leap Table", there was no Gengzi day in July of the 24th year of Jian'an. Gengzi is suspected of being a mistake by Gengwu, that is, July 20. This was during Guan Yu's northern attack on Xiangyang. Liu Bei worships Guan Yu as a former general, and he is fake. According to the practice of the Han and Wei dynasties, the holding festival is the first, the holding section is secondary, and the false festival is the bottom. The general is a false festival, "who has to kill the one who violates the military order". At this time, in Liu Bei's group, except for Guan Yu, the only people who fake the festival are Ma Chao, the left general, and Zhang Fei, the right general. Fake Yue is even more weighted. Huang Yue was originally the king's instrument of "Gong Xing Heavenly Punishment". King Wu fell, swore to Muye, his right hand was white, and his left staff was Huang Yue. Therefore, those who are courtiers can only be fake - the meaning of temporary granting. "Song Shu Baiguan Zhi" summarized the situation of fake Yue since the Han and Wei dynasties, saying, "Fake Huang Yue is a special killing general, not a common tool for human ministers." The fake Yue is indeed "inhuman". In the entire history of Shu Han, the fake Yue only had Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang. However, when Zhuge Liang worshiped the prime minister, it was just a fake festival; Zhuge Liang's fake Yue was in the spring of the third year of Jianxing (225 years) when he conquered the southern central government; in the spring of the fifth year of Jianxing (227 years), Zhuge Liang went out of the Tun Han Dynasty to do the northern expedition, and the later lord issued an edict saying, "Today, I will give him the weight of the Yue and pay him the right to give his special life." It can be seen that in the history of Shu Han, it was not based on status, but when there was something to do in the expedition, it was fake. The people are subordinate and pretended, which means that the punishment of the king is executed. Nine years ago, Liu Bei had just obtained Nanjun, that is, he appointed Guan Yu as the Taishou of Xiangyang, and Guan Yu may have been preparing for the attack on Xiangyang for many years. At this time, Guan Yu attacked Xiangyang in the north, and Liu Bei pretended that Guan Yu was a festival, and this matter could not be temporarily contracted by Fei Shi, showing that Liu Bei not only knew in advance, but also regarded this move as the punishment of the king on his behalf, as Liu Bei's action embodiment of the queen of Hanzhong "fighting against the fierce rebellion".
Liu Bei's main military operation after Dehanzhong was to deploy and attack the three eastern counties. What does this have to do with Guan Yu's strategic intent in attacking Xiangyang? According to the "Shu Shu Biography of Liu Feng", after Meng Da captured Fangling, he would attack Shangyong, and Liu Bei "was afraid that it would be difficult to reach the sole responsibility, so he was sent from Hanzhong to take the underwater army of Tongda", and Meng Da was under the command of Liu Feng from then on. Meng Da went west from Fangling, and Liu Feng went east from Hanzhong along the water (now Hanshui), passing through Xicheng County, and then from blocking the water to the south, reaching Shangyong. Liu Feng and Meng Da will attack Shangyong, and Cao Cao will put Shangyong too shou Shen to surrender. Liu Bei took Shen Tan as the general of the expedition to the north, continued to lead Shangyong Taishou, and Shen Tan's younger brother Shen Yi as the general of Jianxin, and led Xicheng Taishou. At this point, Xicheng, Shangyong, and Fangling—the "three eastern counties" as history calls them—fell under Liu Bei's control.
Mr. Tian Yuqing has carefully examined the historical and geographical evolution of the three eastern counties and analyzed their status between the two prefectures of Jingyi. Xicheng County, now Ankang, Shaanxi, Shangyong County, now Zhushan, Hubei, Fangling County, now Fang County, Hubei. The three counties of Xicheng, Shangyong and Fangling were all subordinate counties of Hanzhong County in the Western Han Dynasty, and belonged to the Yizhou Thorn History Department; at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, they were upgraded to counties. The connection between the three counties and Nanzheng in Hanzhong mainly relied on the water: Xicheng was on the edge of the water. Along the water to the east, through the water tributary to block the water (now the river) to reach Shangyong, through the water tributary to build water (now to build the river) to reach Fangling. In this way, the three counties are connected by the water, and through the water, it can be extended to Nanzheng in Hanzhong and to Xiangyang downward.
After Liu Bei obtained Hanzhong, he immediately sent Meng Da and Liu Feng to take the three counties of Fangling, Xicheng and Shangyong from the two directions of Zigui in Jingzhou and Nanzheng in Hanzhong respectively, and his strategic intention was obvious: that is, to connect Jingzhou and Hanzhong by controlling the three eastern counties, so as to make the connection between Jing and Yi closer. In this way, in the future, whether it is seeking a more stable "cross-border benefit" or engaging in the Northern Expedition, the situation will be more favorable.
The most important link between the three eastern counties, and between Jingzhou and Hanzhong through the three eastern counties, is the water, and after the water flows out of the Qinba Mountains, the most important strategic hub is Xiangyang. From Xiangyang, along the main stream of the river, it can lead to the direction of Jiangling and Jiangxia, and along several tributaries of the river, it can radiate the strategic bases of the Nanyang basin to the north.
If the water is the link between Hanzhong and Jingzhou, then in order to pull up this link and thus support a situation, it depends on controlling the important strategic bases at both ends of this link: Nanzheng and Xiangyang. Therefore, if you want to connect Hanzhong and Jingzhou through the three eastern counties, you must occupy Xiangyang, and if you do not control Xiangyang, the role of the three eastern counties in connecting Jingzhou and Hanzhong will be greatly reduced.
Judging from a series of actions of Liu Bei's group in the summer of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an—Liu Bei occupied Hanzhong in May of that year, and then immediately mobilized forces from Jingzhou and Hanzhong to capture the three eastern counties, and Guan Yu's division to attack Xiangyang in the north almost followed—Guan Yu's army led his army north to attack Xiangyang in July of that year, which should be part of Liu Bei's phased layout, rather than Guan Yu's own assertions. This phased layout is to open up the passage connecting Hanzhong and Jingzhou through the water, so as to have a closer connection between Jingyi.
However, it should be pointed out that Liu Bei's layout is still a limited goal. Liu Bei called the queen of Hanzhong, pulled Wei Yan as the governor, and guarded Hanzhong, but Liu Bei himself led the public to govern Chengdu. From this point of view, Liu Bei did not plan to go north in a big way that year.
Guan Yu's northern attack on Xiangyang does not mean that Guan Yu planned to "take Jingzhou's army to Wan and Luo" according to the plan in the 24th year of Jian'an. When Mr. Lu Simian recounted the history of Guan Yu's northern attack on Xiangyang, he first mentioned the incident of Hou Yin, the defender of Wancheng, who rebelled against Cao in the winter and October of the 23rd year of Jian'an, suggesting that there may be a connection between the two events. In the first month of the 23rd year of Jian'an, when the Han Tai physician Ling Jiben, Shaofu Geng Ji, and others were opposing Cao in Xuchang, there was a discussion of "aiding Liu Bei from the south"; in October, when Hou Yin was opposing Cao in Wancheng, he also had the saying of "making peace with Guan Yu", but it is believed that these two events were not directly related to Guan Yu's northern attack. When Hou Yin rebelled against Cao, Cao Cao ordered Cao Ren to lead an army from Fancheng to besiege Wancheng, and in the first month of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, Cao Ren began to break through Wancheng and behead Hou Yin. Cao Ren transferred troops from Fancheng and besieged Wancheng for three months. Obviously, during these three months of siege, the Fancheng direction was not under pressure from Guan Yu. In other words, Guan Yu did not react to the anti-Cao incident in Wancheng, let alone the anti-Cao incident that occurred in Xuchang ten months ago. Therefore, the anti-Cao incidents in Xuchang and Wancheng were not directly related to Guan Yu's northern attack on Xiangyang.
People tend to use the strategic planning of "Longzhong Pair" to measure Guan Yu's attack on Xiangyang, which may be related to the impact of the battle. Guan Yu attacked Fancheng and Xiangyang in the north, and the start was very smooth. After entering the autumn, he took the opportunity of flooding the Seventh Army to capture the ban, beheaded Pang De, and then besieged Cao Ren in Fancheng and Lu Chang in Xiangyang. There was also a commotion in the Zhongzhou area. "Shu Shu" contains, "Liang, Jia, Lu Hun group of thieves or remote by the feather seal, for the party to support the party, Yu Wei shocked China." Cao Gong discussed moving Xu to avoid his sharpness." Such an impact inevitably makes people tend to look forward to Guan Yu's goal from the direction of the Central Plains, and then think about whether Guan Yu is already "taking Jingzhou's army to Wan and Luo".
Guan Yu attacked Xiangyang in the north, and together with Liu Feng and Meng Da, he captured the three eastern counties, aiming to open up the communication channel between Jingzhou and Hanzhong. The final achievement for this goal was the capture of Xiangyang.
In the early autumn of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, no one doubted that Guan Yu would capture Fancheng and Xiangyang.
(Excerpted from "The Han Empire in Bashu", Rao Shengwen/Author, Beijing United Press/Publishing)