In the Battle of Yiling, the most fundamental reason why Liu Bei failed was that Lu Xun of Eastern Wu retreated backwards, retreated to the mountain to defend, and gave up a flat space of several hundred miles to Liu Bei. If Liu Bei wanted to fight Wu Jun, he had to camp in such a flat space. As a result, Lu Xun used the method of fire attack to burn the Shu army camp tent, so that the Shu army collapsed. Then Lu Xun led his troops to pursue the victory and finally defeated Liu Bei.
(Liu Bei stills)
It can be seen from here that the reason why Liu Beiyiling was defeated was that what was lacking was strategy. At the beginning, he entered Lu Xun's trap and camped on the flat ground. Relying on the flat land to break through Lu Xun's condescending and strong defenses, how can this be achieved?
Of course, Liu Bei also used some strategies, such as setting up an ambush to lure Wu Jun out and into his encirclement. For example, sending soldiers to the front of Wu Camp to challenge, loudly insulting Lu Xun back and forth, trying to arouse Lu Xun's anger, so as to come out and fight with him. However, these so-called strategies are obviously too pediatric. As long as Lu Xun calmed down and ignored the Shu army, it could be said that the Shu army could do nothing about him.
This had to make people sigh that there was no good military division around Liu Bei, and no one gave Liu Bei a good idea. If Pang Tong did not die, follow Liu Bei. If Fa Zheng did not die, he would be taken by Liu Bei with him. If Liu Bei believed Zhuge Liang, let him go with him. In this way, if someone gives Advice to Liu Bei, will Liu Bei not be defeated?
Someone also noticed that when Liu Bei went to Yiling, there was another person who followed him, and this person was Ma Liang. Why didn't Ma Liang advise Liu Bei very well?
You know, Ma Liang is a pretty good person, he is Ma Chen's brother. There are five brothers in Ma Liang Ma Mo, and in their names (characters), there is a "Chang" character, so it is called "Ma Shi Wu Chang". Among these five brothers, Ma Liang was the most prominent, and at that time there was also a saying that "Ma's five constants, the white eyebrows are the best". The "white eyebrow" here refers to Ma Liang, because he has white eyebrows.
Since Ma Chen had read a lot of martial arts, and Ma Liang was born from the same family, he should have also read a lot of military books. Another point, Liu Bei did not look at Ma Chen, but he always took Ma Liang with him. From Liu Bei's time as a pastor in Jingzhou, to being the king of Hanzhong, to becoming emperor in Chengdu, Ma Liang was one of the most trusted people around him. Finally, he went to Yiling to fight against Eastern Wu, and Liu Bei also took Ma Liang with him.
(Stills of Ma Liang)
So, why didn't Ma Liang think of some strategies for Liu Bei?
On this subject, I see it this way.
First, Ma Liang "has a specialty in the art industry".
Ma Liang was indeed admired and trusted by Liu Bei, but his greatest talents were administrative and diplomatic.
When Liu Bei entered Sichuan, Zhuge Liang and Ma Liang did not go with him at first. Later, Pang Tong was killed in battle, and Liu Bei recruited Zhuge Liang to go. When Liu Bei re-conquered Luocheng, Ma Liang wrote a letter to Zhuge Liang, in which ma Liang advised Zhuge Liang to pay attention to the moral indoctrination of the local people so that the local people could tame the Shu Han regime. Zhuge Liang told Liu Bei about this, and Liu Bei was very happy, transferred Ma Liang over, and made him the general of Zuo.
It can be seen from here that Ma Liang really has a lot of ideas in administrative governance.
Later, Ma Liang was ordered to send an envoy to Eastern Wu. Before going to Eastern Wu, a letter needs to be submitted. At that time, Zhuge Liang said to Ma Liang, you should write this letter yourself. So Ma Liang wrote: "The widow sent Ma Liang to succeed him, with Shao Kunwu and Feng Wei Zhixun. His man, Ji Shi, the Order of Jing Chu, is rarely a second-in-command, but has the beauty of the end, and is willing to surrender his heart to comfort his life. In this, Ma Liang did not humble himself and exaggerated himself. This shows that Ma Liang is quite confident. And later after Ma Liang went to Eastern Wu, Sun Quan had great respect for him.
It can be seen from this that Ma Liang's diplomatic ability is indeed good.
Ma Liang had both administrative and diplomatic skills, but this does not mean that he also had military skills. At least not historically.
(Battle of Yiling)
Second, Ma Liang may not have been with Liu Bei at that time.
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records: "Sending Liang into Wuling to recruit the Wuxi Barbarians, the Barbarian Canal Commanders were all sealed, and xian Ruyi pointed out." That is to say, when Liu Bei led his army to conquest Eastern Wu, he sent Ma Liang to Wuling and recruited the "Wuxi Barbarians" to accompany the army to the crusade. That is to say, at that time, Ma Liang went to Wuling. In the end, the leaders of the various tribes of the "Wuxi Barbarians" all accepted the sealed envelope of the Shu Han and agreed to send troops.
You know, it takes time to do this, and the "Wuxi Barbarians" at that time were not only one tribe, but many tribes. To convince these many tribes, it takes more time. Therefore, when Liu Bei was lined up in Yiling, Ma Liang was probably not by Liu Bei's side at that time.
Although Ma Liang died in the Battle of Yiling in the end, he should have arrived at the last minute. But by then it was too late.
Third, Ma Liang's good strategy is useless.
In fact, Liu Bei played a game of death in the Battle of Yiling. The Shu army came from afar, and the grain and grass were very problematic, and there were no good fortifications. The Wu army, on the other hand, defended according to the danger and refused to fight. In this case, as long as Liu Bei could not mobilize the Wu army, there was no way to fight this battle. You have to retreat, and the Wu army will not follow you; you will attack, and you will not be able to pass. In short, under the circumstances at that time, even if Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong were there, they might not have been able to come up with a good strategy, not to mention that Ma Liang's military was not very good at itself, and he only went later.
Therefore, even if there was Ma Liang, he was really helpless at that time.
(Reference: Romance of the Three Kingdoms)