Brief introduction to the battle of Yiling

The battle of Yiling in history took place from the first year to the second year of Zhangwu in Shu Han Dynasty (221–222). Prior to this, Sun Quan attacked Jingzhou and captured Guan Yu, which seriously damaged the interests of Liu Bei Group. In July of the first year of Zhangwu, despite the opposition of his ministers, Liu Bei led an army to attack Wu in an attempt to retake Jingzhou and avenge Guan Yu. Sun Quan took Lu Xun as the commander-in-chief and led the troops to resist. The two armies were at loggerheads in Yiling for nearly a year. In June of the second year of Zhangwu, Lu Xun took advantage of the weakness of the Shu army and launched a fire attack, which defeated the Shu army. This battle consolidated Wu Dong's control over the whole area south of the Yangtze River, but the strength of Shu Han was greatly weakened, and Zhuge Liang's plan of northern expedition from Jingzhou and Yizhou in Longzhong could no longer be realized. When Luo Guanzhong was writing Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he took the battle of Yiling as an important unit in the second half, painstakingly managed it, and made this huge battle tortuous and thrilling, which left a deep impression on people. The plot development of The Battle of Yiling can be divided into three stages: in the first stage, the Shu army advanced step by step and Wu Jun retreated step by step. At the beginning of his reign, Liu Bei wrote a letter to Wu to avenge Guan Yu. Zhao Yun, Zhuge Liang, and Fu Qin successively remonstrated, but Liu Bei did not listen. Zhang Fei was stabbed for whipping Fan Jiang and Zhang Da, and Liu Bei became more vengeful. Wu Dong's ministers were very scared when they heard about Liu Bei's personal expedition and sent Zhu Gejin to make peace. They are willing to give it back to Mrs. Sun and tie up the surrender book and return it to Jingzhou, but Liu Bei refuses. In order to avoid being attacked on both sides, Sun Quan sent an envoy to Wei. The Shu army first defeated Sun Huan and Zhu Ran, governors of Wu County, and trapped Sun Huan in Yiling City. After defeating Wu Dong veterans Han Dang and Zhou Tai, Guan Xing killed his enemy Pan Zhang; Elk Fang and Stone Man killed Ma Zhong and confessed to Liu Bei, and were executed. The Shu army was very strong, and Sun Quan made peace again, but Liu Bei still refused and vowed to destroy Wu Dong. In the second stage, the Shu and Wu armies confronted each other in Yiling and Xiaoting. On the recommendation of Kan Ze, Sun Quan appointed Lu Xun as the commander-in-chief to command the war. Lu Xun had a well-thought-out plan, regardless of the suspicion and sarcasm of the generals, and ordered him to stick to the pass and not be allowed to play. Liu Bei's repeated challenges failed and he was anxious. Seeing the hot weather, he ordered the whole army to move to a densely forested place and camp for hundreds of miles. He wants to wait until summer comes and autumn comes, and then join the army while it is cool. In the third stage, Wu Jun launched a fire attack, and the Shu army was defeated. Lu Xun saw that the soldiers of the Shu army were exhausted and guard against slack, and ordered the Shu camp to be set on fire. The Shu army was in chaos and suffered heavy casualties. Liu Bei panicked into Baidi City, and Fu Tong, Feng died. Huang Quan led the Shu army in Jiangbei to surrender to Wei. Thanks to Zhuge Liang's father-in-law, Huang, Lu Xun's pursuit of victory enabled him to enter the Eight Arrays of Yufu Shop. In order to prevent Wei Jun from taking advantage of it, Lu Xun ordered the transfer of troops.