The Battle of Yiling was the last of the "Three Great Battles" of the Three Kingdoms period, and like the battle of Guandu in which Yuan Shao attacked Cao Cao and the Battle of Chibi in which Cao Cao attacked Sun Liu's army, the battle was not only huge in scale, but also had an important impact on the course of history.
In 221 AD, in order to retake Jingzhou and avenge Guan Yu, he personally led more than 40,000 troops to attack Eastern Wu. This battle was fought quite fiercely in the Shu kingdom, most of the Shu army's eastern expedition troops were annihilated, many generals were killed, and Liu Bei, who had just been proclaimed emperor, also died of hatred in the White Emperor's City. Some people said that if Zhuge Liang was brought with him during the war, the ending might be reversed, and he might be able to step on Eastern Wu and unify the world.
So is this really the case?
With such a major battle, why didn't Liu Bei take Zhuge Liang with him? The view in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms is that Because Zhuge Liang opposed Liu Bei's crusade against Eastern Wu, Liu Bei did not take him. But this is clearly.
First of all, there is no record of Zhuge Liang persuading Liu Bei, only Zhao Yun and Qin Mi, and the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Biography of Qin Mi" records: "Since the first lord is called an honorific title, he will conquer Wu in the east, and when Mi Chen Tianshi is unproductive, he will sit in prison and claustrophobic, and then lend out." The Tale of the Clouds says, "The Lord was furious and wanted to seek power." Yun zhi said: "The thief of the state is Cao Cao, not Sun Quanye, and if he destroys Wei first, then Wu obeys himself." Although the body is killed, the Son Pi usurps the thief, when the hearts of the people, early in the guanzhong, juhe, Wei upstream to please the fierce rebellion, the Kanto righteous soldiers will wrap grain and horses to welcome the king's master. Wei should not be ignored, and wu should be fought first; Once the troops are exchanged, they must not be disbanded. 'The First Lord did not listen, so he went on a crusade to the east, and left Yun to oversee Jiangzhou. ”
Why didn't Zhuge Liang persuade him? First, let's look at Zhuge Liang's positioning in the Shu Han Dynasty. After the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei appointed Zhuge Liang as a general in the military division zhonglang, in charge of the affairs of the three counties: "The first lord took jiangnan, with Liang as the general of the military division, and made the three counties of Lingling, Guiyang, and Changsha, and adjusted their taxes to replenish the army", after Liu Bei conquered Shuchuan, "Chengdu Ping, with Liang as the general of the military division, and the affairs of the left general." The first lord went out, Liang Chang town guarded Chengdu, enough to eat enough soldiers. "Zhuge Liang has always sat in the rear and dispatched logistics. From the beginning of following Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang was trained as a candidate for the chancellor, not a courtier, Pang Tong and Fa Zheng were Liu Bei's real advisers, and Zhuge Liang helped Liu Bei deal with internal affairs.
After the great defeat of Yiling, Zhuge Liang also sighed and said: "If the law and filial piety are straight, then it can control the lord and order not to go east; if you go east, you will not fall into danger." It can be seen that Liu Bei did not bring Zhuge Liang, and it was not because Zhuge Liang opposed the Eastern Crusade.
Second, Zhuge Liang also had an embarrassing identity at this time, because at this time Zhuge Liang's brother Zhuge Jin was doing things in Eastern Wu, because Zhuge Liang had previously sent an envoy to Jiangdong to promote the formation of the "Sun Liu Alliance", Shu Han was responsible for Zhuge Liang, and Eastern Wu was responsible for Zhuge Jin and Lu Su, but Lu Su fell ill and died, so Zhuge Liang's brother Zhuge Jin took over and became the person in charge. After Guan Yu and Zhang Fei died, they wrote to Liu Bei, and the person who advised Liu Bei not to raise troops was Zhuge Jin. If zhuge liang still dared to persuade Liu Bei to strike at this time, it is estimated that Liu Bei would have to worry about Zhuge Liang's intentions.
Assuming that Zhuge Liang really went out with him, would he be able to defeat the Wu army with his talent? Zhuge Liang's strength lies in his strict management of the army and never taking risks, and judging from the results of Zhuge Liang's five Northern Expeditions, it can be seen that fighting blitzkrieg is not what he is good at. If Zhuge Liang was placed in Liu Bei's army at the Battle of Yiling, the army would most likely fight steadily, which would become a war of attrition, which was extremely unfavorable to the Shu army.
At the beginning of the war, Eastern Wu adopted a strategic retreat, completely withdrew from the high mountains and mountains, insisted on no war, and left hundreds of miles of mountainous land to the Shu army, but it was difficult to deploy the troops here, which directly destroyed Liu Bei's strategic intention of concentrating superior forces and making a quick decision. The generals of the Shu Army gradually lost their morale and lost their position of active superiority. Later, Liu Bei made a seven-hundred-mile joint camp to disperse the troops, giving Lu Xun the opportunity to take advantage. When Emperor Cao Pi of Wei learned that Liu Bei's company camp was seven hundred miles, he said to his courtiers: "If you don't know how to prepare soldiers, how can there be a seven-hundred-mile battalion that can resist the enemy?"
In This style of play in Eastern Wu, Zhuge Liang's coming did not help, but perhaps it was possible to avoid the later burning of the joint camp and make the losses smaller. But if Zhuge Liang followed Liu Bei in attacking Eastern Wu, then another problem arose. Who will stabilize the rear area, because at this time the country is not very stable, from the ethnic minority rebellion that broke out later, it can also be concluded that the Shu state at this time did not settle this big rear, the Battle of Yiling caused almost a disaster to the Shu state, Liu Bei in the expedition to Eastern Wu, the Shu Han accumulated for many years of family foundations to bring, and this part of the family foundation was exhausted in this battle, which is already poor Shu country, is tantamount to worse.
In the nearly four decades after this battle, the territory between the three countries remained basically unchanged, and the situation between the three countries was stable, and the Battle of Yiling was therefore considered to be one of the dividing points between the three countries.