In 221 AD, Liu Bei was preparing to send troops to Eastern Wu, and many people objected. Zhao Yun took the lead in persuading Liu Bei: "The thief of the state is Cao Cao, not Sun Quan, we should destroy the State of Wei first, and Sun Quan will naturally be annexed." ”
In addition to Zhao Yun, many ministers did not recommend That Liu Bei send troops to Eastern Wu, and even a scholar in Guanghan County, Shangshu Liu Bei said that the army of Eastern Wu would definitely lose, so Liu Bei also arrested him.
In other words, in 221 AD, Liu Bei's invasion of Eastern Wu was opposed by many people, but Liu Bei still insisted on going his own way and insisted on sending troops.
Guan Yu's loyalty is known to the whole world, and his relationship with Liu Bei is even more intimate. Unfortunately, in 220 AD, Guan Yu died in Lü Meng's plot, when Guan Yu and Cao Cao fought, and Lü Meng took the opportunity to raid Guan Yu's old lair, there was a strong enemy in front of him, and there was no way back after that, and Guan Yu was forced to defeat Maicheng and die.
In 200 AD, Liu Bei was defeated by Cao Cao, and Guan Yu was captured by Cao Cao. Cao Cao admired Guan Yu very much, not only did not punish, but gave a generous reward, in order to repay Cao Cao's kindness, Guan Yu killed Yan Liang in the Battle of Guandu, and made a great contribution to Cao Cao.
Cao Cao very much wanted to leave Guan Yu to serve him, but Guan Yu said, "I know very well that Cao Gong treats me thickly, but I have been favored by General Liu, and I swear to die together, and I cannot betray it." I will not stay in the end, I will be effective to repay Cao Gong Nai. ”
Guan Yu refused to stay in Cao Ying and eventually returned to Liu Bei's side, and Cao Cao admired Guan Yu's loyalty and did not stop him. In this regard, Cao Cao sighed: "The emperor does not forget his essence, and the righteous soldiers in the world are also." ”
Guan Yu's death was a great blow to Liu Bei, and the scenes of the past were staged in Liu Bei's heart, which made him grief-stricken. Therefore, Liu Bei was bound to avenge Guan Yu.
In addition, Liu Bei sent troops to Eastern Wu to avenge Guan Yu, but also to show the whole army, the monarch has feelings and righteousness, then as a subordinate will also serve with death, so the probability of defeating Eastern Wu will be greater.
Cao Cao did not dare to call himself emperor in his lifetime, in Cao Cao's view, once he was called emperor, it was like being roasted on a fire, although Cao Cao had the ambition to be called emperor, but he always had many concerns and did not implement it. On the other hand, Cao Pi, as soon as he ascended the throne, immediately called the emperor, first do an emperor addiction, do not care at all, for Cao Pi, Liu Bei may have some contempt, but for the State of Wei, Liu Bei is still very jealous.
At that time, among the Three Kingdoms, Shu Han was the weakest, Sun Quan was in the land of Jiangdong, there were countless money and grain, and there were many talents, and if he wanted to avenge Guan Yu and destroy Eastern Wu, the best way was to put Sun Quan in the dilemma of fighting on two fronts, in other words, in Liu Bei's mind, if Cao Jun sent troops to attack Wu at the same time as him, then Sun Quan would be defeated.
Liu Bei's idea was not out of thin air, and even almost came true. In August 221, Sun Quan sent an envoy to Cao Pi as a vassal, his words were humble and earnest, and in order to show sincerity, he also sent back Yu Ban, who had previously surrendered to Guan Yu, and Cao Pi learned that Sun Quan was a vassal, and he was happy to dance with his eyebrows, and immediately wanted to agree.
At this moment, Liu Ye raised an objection: "Sun Quan called us vassals for no reason, he must have encountered difficulties, they killed Guan Yu at the beginning, and now Liu Bei must send troops to retaliate, in order to prevent us from taking advantage of the opportunity to send troops, so they asked us to surrender." At this moment, we should directly cross the river to attack Sun Quan, Liu Bei attacked from the outside, we sneaked in from the inside, and within ten days, Wu would perish. ”
Liu Ye's words were reasonable, but unfortunately, Cao Pi was not too cold about this, in Cao Pi's view, Sun Quan sent emissaries to claim subjects, and you also sent soldiers to beat people's homes, which was not in line with morality, so Cao Pi vetoed Liu Ye's suggestion.
If Cao Cao was still alive, he would definitely carefully consider Liu Ye's suggestion, which was undoubtedly a godsend for the State of Wei.
Guan Yu was defeated, the Shu army lost soldiers, and for Liu Bei, his biggest loss was the loss of Jingzhou. Liu Bei's family business began in Jingzhou, and after the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei took the opportunity to lend out the four counties of Jingnan from Sun Quan, and gradually developed and grew on this basis.
After taking Jingzhou, Liu Bei began to expand to Yizhou, in other words, it was precisely because Liu Bei occupied the important Jingzhou that he was able to divide the world with Cao Cao and Sun Quan.
If Liu Bei once again occupied Jingzhou, he could threaten Cao Wei from Hanzhong in the west, and in Jingzhou he could send troops from Nanyang to attack Cao, in addition, Jingzhou was in the upper reaches of jiangdong, and after occupying this area, he could always go down the river to attack Eastern Wu.
At the same time, if Jingzhou was preserved, it could also form a protection for Yizhou, and Shu Han would become much more relaxed when he conquered the world again.
Of course, what Liu Bei could see, Sun Quan could also see, so on the one hand, Sun Quan prepared for war, and on the other hand, he declared himself a vassal to Cao Pi to prevent a two-front battle.
Therefore, Liu Bei's biggest purpose in sending troops to Eastern Wu was to retake Jingzhou, and he knew very well that it was impossible to destroy Cao Wei with the strength of Shu Han at that time, and Eastern Wu was also not to be underestimated, but if they took Jingzhou, they could seize the initiative and thus lay the foundation for the world.
In 220, Guan Yu was killed by Lü Meng, much to Liu Bei's heartache. In 221, Liu Bei ordered Zhang Fei to lead 10,000 soldiers and horses from Langzhong to meet the army at Jiangzhou.
Although Zhang Fei was brave and fierce, there was a problem, that is, he was very cruel to his subordinates, and Liu Bei often persuaded Zhang Fei: "Your punishment is too severe, you kill too many people, and you keep those generals who have been flogged, which is going to bring disaster!" ”
Zhang Fei did not take Liu Bei's words seriously, and finally, before Liu Bei sent troops to Sun Quan, something went wrong. One day, his subordinates Zhang Da and Fan Qiang secretly attacked Zhang Fei, and a generation of Haojie was killed, and the two also surrendered to Sun Quan with Zhang Fei's head.
Zhang Fei and Guan Yu were like Liu Bei's right and left hands, and before the Battle of Yiling, all died of death, for which Liu Bei was very sad, in addition, Liu Bei was more and more worried about his own situation.
In 220 AD, Cao Cao died at the age of 65, and at this time, Liu Bei was already 60 years old, after that, the head of Cao Wei was replaced by Cao Pi, and Sun Quan was much younger than himself, and the enemies and brothers left him one by one, and the loneliness and unwillingness in Liu Bei's heart became more and more intense.
Liu Bei had the ambition to dominate the world, and also had many brave generals who could fight in battles, so in his lifetime, he could not sit still, and it was not enough to occupy only one state to protect himself, and he had to divide with Sun Quan again.
Even if the resistance to the expedition is greater, he Liu Bei must also go to war, even if the whole army is destroyed, Liu Bei will not give up this last opportunity, in other words, the Battle of Yiling is Liu Bei's last attempt!
References: Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 69, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Book OF Shu VI
Author: Our special guest author Nine Fish Pavilion