The Battle of Chibi, which occurred in 208 AD (the thirteenth year of Jian'an in the Eastern Han Dynasty), was a famous battle in history, not only because the Battle of Chibi was a battle in which the weak won the strong and the less won more, but also after the Battle of Chibi, the Cao army suffered a crushing defeat and heavy losses, and after that, it did not dare to easily go south on a large scale, and the strength of Sun Quan and Liu Bei increased, which laid the foundation for the establishment of the Three Kingdoms. In the Battle of Chibi, Sun Liu's army, which had only 50,000 troops, confronted Cao Cao's army of more than 200,000 troops. I think that before the decisive battle between Cao Jun and Sun Liu, the three protagonists of this big war had different mentalities towards this big war.
Eastern han dynasty
From the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184 AD to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty in 220 AD, when Cao Cao's son Cao Pi deposed the Han Dynasty as emperor, the Eastern Han court gradually became a "decoration", and the local masses rose up and attacked each other. In the beginning, Cao Cao's strength was not too strong, and there were not many troops. In 191 AD, the Montenegrin army attacked Dong Commandery (東郡, which belonged to Yanzhou), and Cao Cao, who was suffering from the lack of fixed territory at that time, just led an army into Yanzhou Dong Commandery and defeated the Black Mountain Army's Bai Huanbu, after which Cao Cao's friend Yuan Shaoshang of Jizhou recommended Cao Cao as the Taishou of Dong Commandery.
Yellow Turban Uprising
In the summer of 192 AD, a million Yellow Turban Army invaded Yanzhou in Qingzhou, how big was the size of this million Yellow Turban Army? There were more than 300,000 soldiers and a million women, children, old and young, which could be described as vast, and this scale alone could scare individuals to death, and Liu Dai, the Yanzhou assassin who came out to fight, was killed. After that, the whole of Yanzhou panicked, at which time the governor of Yanzhou ran to the Eastern County of Yanzhou to find Cao Cao and elected Cao Cao as the pastor of Yanzhou. I have to admire Cao Cao's courage and courage, Cao Cao immediately led his little soldiers and horses to engage the Yellow Turban Army, forcing the Yellow Turban Army to retreat, this is not the end, after forcing the retreat of the Yellow Turban Army, Cao Cao has been leading the army to pursue it relentlessly, directly chasing after the "Million Yellow Turban Army" and surrendering, and was absorbed by Cao Cao, it is estimated that these Yellow Turban Troops who dragged their families with their mouths were really chased by Cao Cao.
Later, among the more than 300,000 Yellow Turban troops, after careful selection, Cao Cao formed the famous "Qingzhou Soldier", which later became one of the most elite troops from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, not only that, this "Qingzhou Soldier" was extremely loyal to Cao Cao. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms says: "Follow the Yellow Turban to Jibei." In the winter, 300,000 soldiers, more than a million men and women, received their elites, and called them Qingzhou soldiers. ”
Thirteen States of the Eastern Han Dynasty
After 188 AD (the fifth year of the Eastern Han Dynasty), the state pastor and the assassin were granted the actual military and political power to control a state, becoming a formal first-level administrative region, with counties and kingdoms below the prefectures, and counties and counties below the kingdoms. In addition to the prefectures, in the Western Regions, there are also the Western Regions Protectorate, which governs the Western Regions. Located in the northeast of present-day Henan Province and the southwest of Shandong Province, Yanzhou held Dong Commandery (東郡), Chenliu Commandery (陈留郡), Taishan Commandery (泰山郡), Jiyin Commandery (陳陽郡), Shanyang Commandery (山阳郡), Dongping (東平国), Rencheng (任城国), and Jibei (陳北国). With the territory and the people and horses, Cao Cao did not sit back and relax. In 194 AD, Cao Cao was almost defeated by Lü Bu's army as commander of the Guang pole, and most of the counties and counties of Yanzhou became Lü Bu's territory, at this time Cao Cao wanted to go north to join Yuan Shao, but was dissuaded by the strategists, and then Cao Cao borrowed 5,000 soldiers and horses from Yuan Shao. In 195, the two sides continued to fight, with Cao Cao defeating Lü Bu and regaining control of Yanzhou, while Lü Bu fled to Xuzhou.
In 196 AD, Cao Cao went to Luoyang, welcomed Emperor Xian of Han to move to Xu County, Yingchuan County (which belonged to Yuzhou) south of the Yellow River, and moved the capital here, Cao Cao was made the Marquis of Wuping, still leading Yanzhou Mu, achieving the status of "Holding the Son of Heaven to Order the Princes", occupying the rich Central Plains south of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and becoming a powerful prince in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
The warlords of the late Han Dynasty divided the map
Liu Bei is a descendant of Liu Sheng, the King of Zhongshan Jing, the son of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty of the Western Han Dynasty, and compared with the "territory-type" warlords of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Bei belongs to the typical "wandering" warlords, and throughout his life, for a considerable part of his life, he was "wandering" everywhere in the great rivers and mountains of the motherland. After the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184 AD, Liu Bei, as a "relative of the Han Dynasty", naturally organized a group of people to participate in the crusade against the Yellow Turban Army, and later he was named a county lieutenant of Anxi County, and later served as a county lieutenant of Xiami County, Gao TangWei, and Gao Tang Ling. After Gaotang County was attacked by rogue thieves, Liu Bei attached himself to his former friend Gongsun Zan. Later, Liu Bei defected and attached himself to Mu Taoqian of Xuzhou, and in 194 AD, when Tao Qian was seriously ill, he instructed his subordinates that "non-Liu Bei cannot settle this prefecture." After Tao Qian's death, with the support of Xuzhou prefecture officials, Liu Bei took Xuzhou.
Liu Bei's main route in life
In 195, Lü Bu, who had been defeated by Cao Cao, came to Xuzhou to join Liu Bei, who stationed him at Xiaopei. In 196 AD, Yuan Shu attacked Xuzhou, but Lü Bu, the "white-eyed wolf", took the opportunity to attack Liu Bei's Army Zhang Feibu and take control of Xuzhou. In 197 AD, Liu Bei, who was defeated by Lü Bu, defected to Cao Cao, and Cao Cao showed great enthusiasm for Liu Bei's defection, and Liu Bei was given the title of Yuzhou Mu. After that, Liu Bei led an army to conquer Lü Bu, and later Cao Cao personally went out on horseback, and Cao Jun and Liu Beijun jointly defeated Lü Bu's army, and Lü Bu was captured alive and later hanged. In 199, Liu Bei returned with Cao Cao to Xudu, which Cao Cao controlled.
Situation in 199 AD
In 200 AD, the Yidaizhao Incident (the Cheqi general Dong Cheng, Together with Liu Bei, Wu Zilan, Zhong Ji, Wang Zifu, and others claiming to have received the Edict from Emperor Xian of Han and plotted to kill Cao Cao) was exposed, and Liu Bei, who was leading troops outside, heard about it and occupied Xuzhou, which was later captured by Cao Jun. Liu Bei went north to Jizhou to defect to Yuan Shao, and was warmly received by Yuan Shao, Liu Bei felt that Yuan Shao could not defeat Cao Cao, and then took the opportunity to go south to Mu Liu Biao in Jingzhou, and Liu Biao asked Liu Bei to garrison Xinye in order to resist Cao Cao.
Compared with Cao Cao and Liu Bei, Sun Quan was obviously much happier. By 200 AD, after years of hard work by his father Sun Jian and his brother Sun Ce, the "Jiangdong Foundation" at this time had already taken shape, and in that year, Sun Ce was assassinated and died, and Sun Ce entrusted the "Jiangdong Foundation" to the young Sun Quan before his death.
Look at the situation from 199 to 207 AD. In 199 AD, Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zhan, and held the four places of Jizhou, Qingzhou, Hezhou, and Youzhou, and the core area of Yuan Shao's clique, Jizhou, was here at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, where it was "the most hukou, more land reclamation, and the sparing of mulberry jujubes". At this time, the two most powerful military groups in the north were The Yuan Shao Group and the Cao Cao Group, the Yuan Shao Group was even stronger, compared with the Yuan Shao Group, the strength of the Cao Cao Group was obviously inferior, not only that, the strategic environment around Cao Cao was not friendly, the various separatist forces in the Western Border Pass were on the sidelines, Liu Biao in the south and Liu Bei who was attached to Liu Biao were hostile to it, and Sun Ce in the southeast was eager to move.
Battle of Guandu
In June 199, Yuan Shao selected 100,000 elite soldiers to prepare to cross the river to annihilate Cao Cao, and the people within Cao Cao's clique panicked. In 200 AD, after several months of fighting, Cao Cao's 20,000 elite troops and Yuan Shao's 100,000 troops were at Guandu, and in the end, Cao Cao won the Battle of Guandu with few victories and more weak victories. After this battle, Yuan Shao only led 800 troops to flee back to Hebei, Yuan Shao's main force was destroyed, after this battle, Yuan Shao was no longer able to fight against Cao Cao, in 202 AD, Yuan Shao fell ill and died. The Battle of Guandu was a famous battle from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, which laid the foundation for Cao Cao's unification of the north, and it was on a par with the Battle of Chibi and the Battle of Yiling (a major battle between Shu Han and Eastern Wu from 221 to 222 AD).
In 204, Cao Cao occupied The capital of Jizhou (邺城, in Wei County, Jizhou), the capital of Southern Jizhou, which was the center of Yuan Shao's rule, and moved the shogunate to Yicheng, using this as a base, and from then on, only a few people were left in Xudu to monitor Emperor Xian of Han. Yicheng belonged to the State of Wei during the Warring States period, so Cao Cao was later made the Duke of Wei by Emperor Xian of Han and later promoted to The King of Wei. After that, Cao Cao gradually and roughly unified the north. In 207 AD, Cao Cao led an expedition to Wuhuan, and in the Battle of White Wolf Mountain, Cao Cao's army won a great victory with few victories. In 207 AD, although there were ma teng who occupied Liangzhou, Gongsun Kang who divided Liaodong, Zhang Lu who occupied the land of Hanzhong, Liu Zhang who occupied Yizhou, Liu Biao who occupied Jingzhou, Sun Quan who controlled yangzhou, Shi Xie who divided the area around Jiaozhou, and Liu Bei who was dependent on Liu Biao.
Cao Cao
However, these warlords were not a matter of one thing, and in terms of strength, at this time Cao Cao already had the capital to despise the masses and unify China. Why? Because the competition is not only the area of the territory, but also the strength. From ancient times to the Western Jin Dynasty, the ancient economic center of gravity was always in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River swaying left and right and moving east-west, and at this time Cao Cao controlled the area from Chang'an to the east of the Yellow River in the middle and lower reaches of the north and south, in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, compared with the north, the vast southern region has not been effectively developed, the population is small, the economic strength is weak.
Zhuge Liang came out of the mountain
What was Liu Bei doing when Cao Cao unified the north? In the past few years, there have been basically no major changes, basically in Jingzhou, the only major event may be to ask Zhuge Liang out of the mountain in 207 AD. During this period, Sun Quan actively developed the "Jiangdong Foundation" based on Yangzhou. In 207 AD, among the remaining heroes, I think the most powerful opponent of Cao Cao was the Sun Quan clique that occupied Jiangdong, especially Sun Quan's water army.
Battle of Chibi
Bring the time closer and look at the year 208 AD. In July of that year, Cao Cao gathered more than 100,000 troops at Xudu in an attempt to first destroy Liu Biao in Jingzhou, then move east to destroy Sun Quan in Yangzhou, and then collect other inconspicuous warlords and unify Huaxia. In August of that year, Liu Biao died of illness, and Liu Biao's second son Liu Chun took over as Jingzhou Mu. In September, Cao's army reached Xinye, and Liu Chun surrendered directly under the persuasion of his subordinates. After knowing that Cao Jun went south and Liu Chun surrendered, Liu Bei, who was stationed in Fancheng at this time, hurriedly withdrew south, and Jingzhou officials and people joined one after another, and later the number reached more than 100,000. Cao Cao led his army in a hurry to pursue Liu Bei, and later Cao Cao personally led 5,000 elite cavalry to rush day and night. At Changbanpo in Dangyang, Cao Cao finally caught up with Liu Bei, Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang, Zhao Yun and dozens of others fled to Jiangxia, and after Zhang Feidian, Liu Bei's hundreds of thousands of people instantly disintegrated.
After Liu Bei escaped, Cao Cao did not pursue him, but came to Jiangling to appease Jingzhou and reuse Jingzhou's celebrities. Liu Zhang, who was in Yizhou, saw this situation and immediately sent three hundred soldiers to send gifts, indicating that he would obey the dispatch. Cao Cao's adviser Jia Xu persuaded Cao Cao to first stabilize the newly occupied Jingzhou, and Sun Quan surrendered, but Cao Cao did not accept it. After receiving the Jingzhou water army, Cao Cao decided to lead his army down the river east, taking Liu Bei and Sun Quan in one fell swoop, and wrote a letter of persuasion to Sun Quan. Two months later, Cao Cao led a large army down the river to the east.
Faced with Cao Cao's army moving south and Cao Cao's "intimidation" of Eastern Wu, The Sun Quan clique in Jiangdong panicked and instantly divided into the main descending faction and the main war faction, while Sun Quan planned to fight Cao Cao to the death, and Sun Liu's alliance was about to come out. At Xiakou, seeing that the situation was urgent, with Liu Bei's consent, Zhuge Liang went to Chaisang to meet Sun Quan, and the two soon formed an alliance. At this time, in the face of the upcoming war with Sun Liu's alliance, what was Cao Cao's mentality (155-220 years) ? I think it is the mentality of pride and ambition to win, and politically Cao Cao is "holding the son of heaven to order the princes", representing the Eastern Han Court. After occupying Jingzhou, Cao Cao had another 70,000 or 80,000 Jingzhou troops, and these Jingzhou armies that Cao Cao took over were basically Jingzhou water troops, the total number of Cao's army had reached more than 200,000, and Cao Cao's army at this time could be said to have both a huge army and a huge water army, at this time Cao Cao should not take Liu Bei, who was "wandering everywhere", seriously, nor did he take Sun Quan, the "hairy boy" at that time, seriously.
Not only in the strength of Cao Cao's clique, but also in the fact that when Cao Jun attacked Jingzhou, it was almost like no man's land, and Cao Cao's light enemies were for a reason. I think that At this time, Cao Cao may feel that he has crushed the other side in terms of strength and momentum, but the war is definitely not just the so-called "momentum". And the momentum and morale are obviously not the same concept, Cao Jun is not only not good at water warfare, came to the south and was not satisfied with the water and soil, and the jingzhou water army that was attached also lacked running-in, and then the plague epidemic, Cao Jun's morale was obviously low.
In addition, I think Cao Cao also has problems in strategy and tactics. After Cao's army broke Jingzhou, it was supposed to take advantage of the situation to annihilate Liu Bei and other remaining forces in Jingzhou, appease Sun Quan, maintain a peaceful posture with Sun Quan, and then take care of Sun Quan after jingzhou was completely pacified, however, after Liu Bei surrendered to Cao Cao, Liu Bei, who felt that Jingzhou was already his "pocket", wrote a letter to Sun Quan (persuasion letter), which read: "Those who are close to him are resigned to the crime, and Liu Chun is bound." Imabari's water army of 800,000 people, Fang and the general will hunt wu. What goes to Eastern Wu to hunt with Sun Quan, this clearly means to tell Sun Quan: "Liu Chun of Jingzhou has already surrendered with his hands tied, you must surrender quickly, otherwise, I will lead 800,000 sailors to Eastern Wu to hunt with you." "To say that the 80,000 water army is 800,000 is obviously a brag, and the other is to intimidate Sun Quan." Sun Quan then showed the letter to his subordinates, and Eastern Wu sent his ministers to immediately persuade Sun Quan to surrender to Cao Cao. Cao Cao, who was careless and hasty, probably wanted to persuade Sun Quan to surrender, but he did not expect that the "young man" Sun Quan would not eat this set, and immediately joined forces with Liu Bei and other remnants of anti-Cao forces in Jingzhou.
Even if Cao Cao planned to take liu bei and Sun Quan together, he should also advance from land and water to give full play to his land superiority. However, Cao Cao chose to go down the river east from Jingzhou and fight a decisive battle with the well-trained Eastern Wu water army, in an attempt to eliminate the elite main force of Eastern Wu in one fell swoop and make a quick decision, which was obviously to fight for other people's strengths with his own weaknesses. Although at this time, Cao Jun also had a large-scale water army, but the 70,000 or 80,000 water divisions in Jingzhou had just been attached to Cao Cao, and at this time there was no loyalty to Cao Cao, and its combat effectiveness was also a problem. I think that, to a large extent, the above is caused by Cao Cao's carelessness and haste. Because of Cao Cao's strength, Liu Chun's surrender and Liu Bei's desire to flee, it is estimated that Cao Cao developed a serious idea of light enemy, and was too eager to make a quick decision, eager to destroy Liu Bei and Sun Quan's clique in one fell swoop.
The Battle of Jin against Wu
Looking at the Battle of the Western Jin Dynasty against Wu from 279 AD to 280 AD, Sima Yan, the Emperor of Jinwu, adopted the strategy of advancing from multiple points of land and water, and in 279 AD, after building the water army strength of the Jin Dynasty, sima Yan, the emperor of Jinwu, divided his troops into six roads, sent more than 200,000 troops, and directly attacked Eastern Wu, and Eastern Wu "fell in response". It seems that Cao Cao did not take the water army seriously at all, and the terrain and climate in the south were very different from the "One Horse Pingchuan" in the north.
Liu Bei
What is the mentality of Liu Bei (161-223) at this time? For the upcoming war between Sun Liu's combined forces and Cao Jun's army, Liu Bei can be described as fully committed. Because of the previous festival with Cao Cao, Cao Cao had already hated Liu Bei to the bone, and wanted to kill him quickly, and Liu Bei was very clear about this. If Cao Cao defeated Sun Liu's allied forces and then destroyed Eastern Wu, Liu Bei might face the fate of being captured, killed, and escaped, even if Liu Bei was not captured or killed, where could Liu Bei run? The remaining warlords probably did not dare to take in such a "rogue warlord" who was hated by Cao Cao to the bone, and probably could only run to the frontier areas.
In addition to running to the frontier areas, there is also a possibility that if Cao Jun defeats Sun Liu's combined forces, but Sun Quan still has the ability to confront Cao Cao, then Liu Bei may run to Sun Quan, but this is still under the fence. So how many troops did Liu Bei have at this time? Guan Yu's water army plus the soldiers who had been scattered and returned before had about 10,000 elite soldiers, as well as the 10,000 Jiangxia army of Liu Qi, the eldest son of Liu Biao, "Zizhi Tongjian": "Although the Yuzhou army was defeated at Changsaka, the current warriors and Guan Yu's water army were 10,000 elite soldiers, and Liu Qi's Jiangxia warriors were not less than 10,000. "Anyway, no matter how many people there are, Liu Beijun is all invested." Liu Bei was not only fully devoted, but also "obeyed the arrangement and listened to the command", leading Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and other two thousand soldiers to follow Sun Quanjun's Zhou Yubu, you must know that at that time, although Liu Bei had been "wandering" for a long time, his "popularity and appeal" were very strong.
Sun quan
Look at Sun Quan's (182-252) mentality at this time? That is "leaving a hand". Sun Quan appointed Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu as the left and right governors to lead 30,000 elite troops to attack Cao Cao with Liu Bei's army. Obviously, these 30,000 elite soldiers were definitely not the entire strength of Sun Quan's group, and at this time, Sun Quan personally led tens of thousands of troops to garrison Chaisang (present-day Jiujiang City, Jiangxi) at the mouth of Poyang Lake, guarding the throat from Jingzhou to Eastern Wu. If Sun Liu's coalition forces and Cao Jun's army continued to fight for a long time, Sun Quan would send troops from all over Eastern Wu to support Zhou Yu, and if Sun Liu's coalition army was defeated by Cao Jun, Sun Quan could continue to negotiate with Cao Jun, and the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records that before Zhou Yu left, Sun Quan instructed Zhou Yu as follows: "Fifty thousand soldiers are difficult to join, thirty thousand people have been selected, ships and food and war equipment are all available, Qing and Zijing and Cheng Gong will be in the front, lonely and renewed, carry more grain, and provide support for Qing." Those who can do it are sincere, and when they encounter unsatisfactory, they will still be lonely, and they should be lonely and decide with Meng De. That is to say, fifty thousand troops are difficult to assemble for a while, and after gathering thirty thousand troops, he will send reinforcements from all over Eastern Wu one after another, and if he engages with Cao Jun, he will have to fight to the death, and if he is defeated, he will immediately retreat to him, and he will definitely fight with Cao Cao to the death."
At this time, Sun Quan was only a young man in his twenties, and Cao Cao and Liu Bei were more than twenty years older than him, however, age was not a matter, Sun Quan had his own set of "calculations", this Battle of Chibi took place in Jingzhou, and he obviously did not put all his bets here. Sun Quan obviously had his reasons for doing so, even if Cao Cao defeated Sun Liu's combined forces and relied on his tens of thousands of troops in Chaisang, Cao Cao could not easily take Jiangdong. Moreover, if Sun Quan threw all his troops into the Battle of Chibi, if Sun Liu's coalition army failed, wouldn't he be very passive? Wu Di's Hao clan and the main descending faction were estimated to abandon him immediately. Besides, if Sun Quan is fully committed, then won't Liu Bei become a hilarious person? Didn't Liu Bei "make a lot of money"?
In addition, Sun Quan did not bet all his "bets" on the Battle of Chibi, I think it may also lie in the fact that after Zhuge Liang, Zhou Yu and others "judged" the reality and situation of the Cao army, Sun Quan may feel that he did not need to invest all his troops to defeat the Cao army in the water battle. Zhou Yu thought that 50,000 elite soldiers could take Cao's army, and 30,000 elite soldiers were not a big problem, because there were still 20,000 soldiers and horses of Liu Bei, was this an insult to Cao Cao's intelligence?
Three kingdoms
In December of that year, the combined forces of Cao Andi and Sun Liu encountered each other in Chibi, and the Cao army was unfavorable in the initial battle, so it leaned the warship to the side of Wulin on the north bank and trained the water army to wait for the opportunity, while Sun Liu's coalition army leaned the warship to the side of Chibi, and the two armies faced each other across the river. The outcome of the Battle of Chibi must have surprised and disappointed Cao Cao, and after that, Cao Cao never easily went south on a large scale, originally wanting to "unify the rivers and lakes", but did not expect to encounter "Waterloo". In 220 CE, Cao Cao's son Cao Pi forced Emperor Chan of Han to establish Cao Wei (220–266).
The happiest was probably Liu Bei, who captured part of Jingzhou and later occupied Yizhou and established the Shu Han (221–263). It was Sun Quan who stole the music, and with only a part of his troops, he won this decisive victory, capturing part of Jingzhou, and later occupying Jiaozhou, establishing Eastern Wu (229-280). In the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan had different mentalities and ideas due to their different strengths and positions: for Cao Cao, he only brought a part of the troops to the south this time, and even if he failed, he would not reach the point of "breaking his bones". For Liu Bei, this is related to the "life and death" of Liu Bei Group, and he will definitely fight back. For Sun Quan, this is almost also related to the "life and death" of Eastern Wu, but after all, the battlefield is in Jingzhou, so he "left a hand". The above is just a personal opinion.
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The main reference materials in this article are: "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Zizhi Tongjian", etc.