Why did Liu Bei not dare to return to Chengdu after his defeat at Yiling and only stayed in Baidi City until his death?

In 221 AD, three months after he proclaimed himself emperor, Liu Bei personally led an army to attack Wu. The two purposes of this trip were to avenge Guan Yu and to recapture Jingzhou. Liu Bei went very smoothly in the early stage, defeating Wu general Li Yi and occupying Zigui City.

So Sun Quan worshiped Lu Xun as the Grand Governor and led his army to resist Liu Bei. Lu Xun burned hundreds of Liu Bei's camps in Yiling, defeating Liu Bei and defeating him. Liu Bei was almost captured by Sun Huan, and later the supplies were blocked. After living on the mountain road, I was able to escape to Yong'an City.

But what is strange is that after Liu Bei arrived in Yongan, he never returned to Chengdu. Is there not enough time? Liu Bei's defeat at Yiling occurred in June 222 AD when the weather was extremely hot. It was precisely because of the heat that Liu Bei set up his military camp in the deep mountains and dense forests, which gave Lu Xun the opportunity to attack with fire. It was April 223 AD when Liu Bei fell seriously ill, which meant that Liu Bei had about nine months to return to Chengdu, which was definitely enough time.

Then why doesn’t he go back?

Are you ashamed to meet the ministers of the DPRK? This must be true. After all, Liu Bei was ashamed of the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Yiling to a certain extent. He was heartbroken, fell ill, and eventually died.

But this can only be said to have an impact. After all, Liu Bei is not an emotional person, he is very rational. If he was easily dominated by emotional things, Liu Bei would not be able to reach this point.

The most important reason why Liu Bei did not leave was to deal with Sun Quan, his great enemy at the time. The Shu army was newly defeated. Soochow wanted to take the opportunity to capture more Shu Han lands. Yong'an was the frontline area between Shu Han and Soochow at that time. Liu Bei's move was quite like the emperor's defense of the country. It would definitely boost the morale of the soldiers who defeated the Shu army. Lu Xun did not dare to attack again.

Liu Bei, the boss, played a very important role. He quickly gathered the remaining soldiers here. Later, the Yongan garrison numbered 20,000, and fortifications were quickly built. Lu Xun no longer dared to have Yongan’s idea.

Although Liu Bei was defeated at that time, Sun Quan was still very afraid of Liu Bei. When he learned that Liu Bei was still in Yong'an and had not returned to the west, he was very anxious, fearing that Liu Bei would regroup and attack Wu again. At that time, Cao Pi planned to make small moves against Soochow, so Sun Quan took the initiative to send envoys to avoid a two-front war. Liu Bei negotiated peace.

This is actually explained in the official history "Three Kingdoms": Sun Quan was very frightened when he heard that his ancestor lived in Baidi, and sent an envoy to ask for peace. Therefore, the biggest reason why Liu Bei did not leave in Yong'an at that time was to frighten Soochow and make Soochow fear him, so that he would not dare to pay attention to him again.