Original creator: Yu Shiliang
The Battle of Yiling is Lu Xun's famous battle, so he tried to interpret it with Sun Tzu's theory of the Art of War, so there is the fifth article in Lu Xun's series of articles, "Victory First and then War: Lu Xun's Way to Win - Interpreting the Battle of Yiling with Sun Tzu's Art of War", in order to facilitate the narrative of the article, the war story of the Battle of Yiling has been decomposed, and the article is theoretical, but it cannot be both interesting and readable. In addition, this article is more than 15,000 words, so this article is divided into three parts: upper, middle and second, and published three times:
May 5, 2024 The first part of this article will be released: Preface and pre-war preparations for the Battle of Yiling.
May 6, 2024 Published Part II of this article: The decision-making process of the Battle of Yiling.
On May 7, 2024, the second part of this article: the combat process and conclusion of the Battle of Yiling will be released.
Please pay attention to Lu Xun's series of articles, and look forward to your criticism and correction!
Lu Xun's victory in the battle of Yiling is simply attributed to "winning more with less, and defeating the strong with the weak", which may be called the result, but it is not the reason why "less" can win "more" and why "weak" can win "strong".
The Battle of Yiling, also known as the Battle of Yiling and the Battle of Yiting (猇亭 [Xiāotíng], an ancient place name, in the north of present-day Yidu, Hubei), was a large-scale battle launched by Liu Bei, Emperor Zhaolie of the Shu Han Dynasty against Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period, and was a famous successful example of active defense in the history of ancient Chinese warfare, and the last of the "three major battles" of the Three Kingdoms.
In July of the first year of Zhang Wu (221), Liu Bei waved his troops to attack Sun Quan of Eastern Wu, and the momentum was strong. After Sun Quan failed to sue for peace, he declared himself a vassal to Cao Wei on the one hand, and appointed Lu Xun as the commander-in-chief to lead the army to the battle. After Lu Xun and Liu Bei held each other for seven or eight months, they finally defeated the Shu Han army in the Yiling area. The fiasco in the Battle of Yiling was another major loss in strength of Shu Han after Guan Yu lost Jingzhou.
The real war in ancient times was neither like the "heads-up" personal heroism scene of the main general in the costume drama, nor the game tactics in the computer. In essence, war is a wrestling of multiple forces, multiple elements, and multiple directions, and the battle of wits and courage not only verifies the comprehensive strength of both sides, but also tests the courage, patience, and strategy of decision-makers.
This article is divided into three parts: First, the pre-war preparations for the Battle of Yiling. In the process of attacking Guan Yu, Sun Quan took into account Liu Bei's retaliation in the future, and how to deal with it, which is reflected in the chapter of "It is not easy for Sun Quan to defeat Guan Yu, and it is even more difficult to hold Jingzhou"; second, the decision-making process of the Battle of Yiling: presented in the chapters of "In terms of strategy, Sun Quan and Lu Xun attach importance to the 'five things'" and "In terms of tactics, Lu Xun carefully designed the 'Seven Strategies'"; third, the combat process of the Battle of Yiling: it is shown in the chapter of "The Good Attacker Moves on the Nine Heavens".
Through the elaboration of the above three aspects, Lu Xun's idea of "winning first and then fighting" is fully demonstrated.
1. Pre-war preparations: It is not easy for Sun Quan to defeat Guan Yu and it is even more difficult to hold Jingzhou
Before talking about the Battle of Yiling, it is also necessary to make it clear that before the Battle of Yiling, the Jiangdong Group did a lot of basic work for the victory of the Battle of Yiling in the future. The Jiangdong group led by Sun Quan won a major victory in the sneak attack on Guan Yu and the capture of Jingzhou, and they did not get carried away, but did a lot of work to consolidate the victory of recovering Jingzhou. It was the unremitting efforts of Sun Quan, Lü Meng, Lu Xun and others before the Battle of Yiling that the stable Jingzhou provided a strong backing for the victory of the Battle of Yiling.
[Sun Tzu's original text of the Art of War] the husband defeats the attack, but does not practice his merits, the murderer, the fate is called Fei Liu. Therefore, it is said: If the Lord is concerned, the good will repair it.
Victory and capture, but can not consolidate the victory, and the cultivation of politics, that is a bad omen, will suffer, this is called "Fei Liu". Therefore, a wise king should consider these things carefully, and a good general should study them carefully.
(1) Close the door and beat the dog, attack and kill Guan Yu. In the fourth article of Lu Xun's series of articles, "Using the Fox's Means to Achieve the Purpose of the Lion: Lu Xun Assists Lü Meng in Attacking and Killing Guan Yu", it is told that Lü Meng secretly attacked Guan Yu's Jiang defense army by crossing the river in white clothes, and successfully took the important town of Jingzhou Gong'an and Jiangling. Sun Quan knew very well that taking Gong'an and Jiangling was only the first step in taking Jingzhou, and only by completely eliminating Guan Yu's vital forces could Jingzhou be "surnamed Sun". Sun Quan believed that if Guan Yu retreated from Fancheng, there would only be two roads, to the south and to the west, so Sun Quan decided to cut off the two passages through which Guan Yu might retreat to Shudi:
First, capture Yidu. Lu Xun advanced straight west along the Yangtze River to attack Yidu, and Sun Quan appointed Lu Xun to lead Yidu Taishou, and was appointed as the general of Fubian and named the Marquis of Huating. Liu Bei's Yidu Taishou Fan You abandoned the county and fled, and the officials and barbarian leaders of the cities under him all came to surrender. Lu Xun requested that gold, silver, and bronze seals be issued to confer official positions on the newcomers. At this time, it was November of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an.
Zigui's surname, Wen Bu, Deng Kai and others entangled thousands of Yi soldiers and colluded with Western Shu. Lu Xun deployed Xie Jing to defeat Wen Bu and Deng Kai. Wen Bu and Deng Kai escaped, and Shu used them as generals. Lu Xun called for someone to persuade them, and Wen Bu led his troops back to surrender. Killed, captured, and surrendered before and after, a total of tens of thousands of people. Sun Quan appointed Lu Xun as the right protector and general of Zhenxi, and promoted him to the title of Marquis of Lou.
Second, the town guarded Linfu and attacked Fangling and Nanxiang. Sun Quan then sent Pan Zhang and Zhu Ran to cut off the back road of the guard Guan Yu, and Pan Zhang led the army to Linfu, lived in the rocks, and met Guan Yu's army.
In addition, Lu Xun sent generals Li Yi, Xie Jing and others to lead 3,000 people to attack the Shu generals Zhan Yan and Chen Feng. Wu general Li Yi led the navy, and Wu general Xie Jing led the infantry, controlled the dangerous places, quickly broke Zhan Yan and other troops, and captured Chen Feng alive. He also attacked Deng Fu, the Taishou of the Fangling of the Shu Han Dynasty, and Guo Mu, the Taishou of the Nanxiang of the Shu Han Dynasty, and defeated them.
"Romance of the Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Liu Feng" recorded: "Since Guan Yu surrounded Fancheng and Xiangyang, he even called for Feng and Da, and ordered the troops to help themselves. Sealed and resigned, it was attached to the mountain county at the beginning, and it could not be shaken, and it was not accepted by the feather. Will be defeated, and the lord will hate it. It means that in the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Guan Yu besieged Fancheng and Xiangyang. After that, Guan Yu repeatedly asked Liu Feng and Meng Da to send troops to help, but Liu Feng and Meng Da refused on the grounds that they had not been occupied by the three counties of Shangyong for a short time and did not dare to leave easily. After Guan Yu was defeated, Liu Bei blamed Liu Feng and Meng Da for this.
In fact, Meng Da and Liu Feng did not dare to leave Shangyong easily, they had something unspeakable, that is, Lu Xun sent Li Yi and Xie Jing to attack Fangling and Nanxiang County.
Third, Guan Yu defeated Maicheng. Note that Sun Quan sent troops to Fangling, Linfu and Nanxiang to the west, southwest, and northwest of Xiangyang, forming a coordinated triangle, so that Guan Yu's southward and westward directions were all cut off. More importantly, it cut off Guan Yu's retreat to Shu, and at the same time "blocked" the road for Liu Bei's expedition to Sun Wu in the future.
Guan Yu's attack on Fancheng failed, and he retreated and returned to Dangyang, marching west to defend Maicheng. Sun Quan sent people to persuade Guan Yu to surrender, Guan Yu pretended to surrender, set up a military flag on the wall of Maicheng, and set up more dummies, so he took the opportunity to escape, and the army was scattered, leaving only more than ten cavalry. Sun Quan first sent Zhu Ran and Pan Zhang to cut off Guan Yu's retreat. In December, Pan Zhang's Sima Ma Zhong captured Guan Yu and his son Guan Ping and the governor Zhao Lei in Zhangxiang, and pacified Jingzhou.
(2) To appease the people of Jingzhou, Sun Quan exempted the people of Jingzhou from taxes. After Lü Meng outwitted the public security and Jiangling, he captured all the families of Guan Yu's subordinates, comforted them, and ordered that the army should not harass the people and not take it from the people's homes. At that time, Lü Meng had a sergeant under him, who, like Lü Meng, crossed from the south of Runan County, north of the Huai River. He took a hat from the people's house to cover the armor of the government. Lü Meng believes that although the armor is a public artifact, it is still a violation of the military order to take the people's hat without permission. Behead him with tears. So the army was so shocked that the road was not left behind. Lü Meng also sent people to comfort the elderly in the morning and evening, caring about their lives and running out of supplies. If someone is sick, they are given medicine, and if they are hungry or cold, they are given food and clothing. The treasures in Guan Yu's treasury, Lu Meng did not take any of them, and sealed them all.
After Sun Quan pacified Jingzhou, the exiled scholars in Jingzhou had just returned, and some of them had not yet arranged appropriate official positions. As long as politics and religion can be prosperous, it is not necessary to consider the distance and proximity of relatives in the employment of personnel. Now that Jingzhou has just settled down, and the talented and virtuous people have not yet been revealed, the ministers are diligent and respectful, and I ask you to cultivate and promote the grace of the people, so that they can all be used, so that the people of the world will be admired, and hope to submit to your vast and far-reaching education. Sun Quan took his advice seriously.
In this year, there was an epidemic in Jingzhou, and Sun Quan was exempted from all the taxes of the people of Jingzhou.
(3) Continue to have good relations with the Xuchang court, and Sun Quan avoids fighting on two fronts. In order to take the opportunity to recapture Jingzhou, Sun Quan secretly eased relations with his old enemy Cao Cao, and even did not hesitate to ask Cao Cao to surrender. Guan Yu's northern attack on Xiangyang once caused tension in the Wan and Xiang areas, but he did not expect that Sun Quan would then appear to beg Guan Yu to beg for self-efficacy, which provided Cao Cao with an opportunity to solve the problem of Sun Liu in one fell swoop. Sun Quan's purpose in asking Cao Cao to surrender was obvious, that is, to ease the military confrontation with Cao Cao in Huainan, so as to relieve the worries of attacking Jingzhou. At the same time, Cao Cao also wanted to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to let the Sun and Liu families rise together in Jingzhou, so as to reap the benefits of the fishermen.
Because of this, after Sun Quan killed Guan Yu, he gave Guan Yu's head to Cao Cao. Cao Cao petitioned to appoint Sun Quan as a hussar general, conferred the title of Fu Jie, concurrently served as the pastor of Jingzhou, and was named the Marquis of Nanchang. Sun Quan sent Liang Yu, the captain of the school, to pay tribute to the Han Emperor, and ordered Wang Dian to buy horses, and sent Zhu Guang, the Taishou of Lujiang, who had been captured earlier, back to the north.
Sun Quan's military and diplomatic means, as well as the policy of appeasing the people of Jingzhou, enabled Sun Quan to occupy Jingzhou by force, but he could make Jingzhou society stable and peaceful. As the saying goes, it is not easy to win, but it is even more difficult to defend, and Sun Quan successfully solved the problem of "more difficult to defend" in Jingzhou. The smooth transition of Jingzhou also laid a relatively stable rear for the future Battle of Yiling.
2. Decision 1: In terms of strategy, Sun Quan and Lu Xun attach importance to the "five things"
3. Decision 2: In terms of tactics, Lu Xun carefully designed the "Seven Strategies"
Fourth, the battle: the good attacker moves above the nine heavens
Annotation:
(1) Except for the holding festival, the burning of the company camp and related pictures from the Internet, the other pictures are provided by photographer Yu Yuan, thank you very much!