Analysis of the Battle of Yiling: Why did Liu Bei win first and then lose?

The battle of Yiling, also known as the battle of Yiling and the battle of Xiaoting. It broke out in A.D. 222, which was a war between Wu (Sun Quan) and Liu Bei (Liu Bei) in the Three Kingdoms period for the eight counties in Jingzhou, a strategic place. It is also a famous successful example of active defense in China's ancient war history.

After Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu, he assembled 50,000 troops to attack Wu in just a few months, including about 10,000 ethnic minorities. In the early stage of the invasion of Wu, the Shu army fought smoothly, but after Lu Xun commanded Wu, the Shu army could not March. As a result, the Shu army was defeated by Wu Jun and almost completely annihilated. Why did Liu Bei win first and then lose? Why did Lu Xun lose first and then win?

Summary of Liu Beifang's failure reasons:

1 greedy, eager to compete for the five counties of Jingzhou regained by Wu, too impulsive. After Guan Yu was defeated in the battle of Xiangfan, Wu recovered the south of Jingzhou, and Guan Yu himself was captured and executed in Linzhou. The brotherhood between Liu Bei and Guan Yu is more important than the friendship between the monarch and the minister. This is a private matter. Jingzhou is very important to Shu.

There are plans to use Jingzhou and Yizhou to expand the east, west, north and south lines. Jingzhou fell to Shu, leaving only Yizhou. However, Jingzhou was not owned by Liu Bei, and Battle of Red Cliffs Sun Liu won. Liu Bei proposed to borrow Nanjun from Sun Quan because of his weak strength. Since it is a loan, there must be a repayment period, which is the basic common sense of the loan relationship. However, Liu Bei did not intend to return Jingzhou to Dongwu, because his strength increased after the occupation of Hanzhong. It is understandable that Wu took it by force, and it is understandable that Wu also wants to live and defeat the alliance. When Liu Bei attacked Hanzhong, he returned Hanzhong to the three counties of Wu, leaving only Nanjun and Gongan under the name of Shu. Although the other geographical locations are important, it is necessary to consider which is heavier and which is lighter, and whether Wu should be satisfied.

Liu Bei violated the original loan agreement because of his own strength and gave Wu the opportunity to attack Shu. This is normal. Guan Yu lost Jingzhou, and Liu Bei should consider resuming the alliance with Wu, because Jingzhou is the west gate of Wu and must be closed. Hanzhong is the north gate of Shu, and it must be controlled by itself. This is the most normal thing, Liu Bei should understand. However, he did the opposite, did not listen to domestic dissuasion, ignored the threat of Wei, and openly invaded the mainland of Wu.

If there is no justifiable reason, we should not send more troops. Even if revenge for Guan Yu is a slogan, it doesn't make sense. Who is Guan Yu? He is an official of Shu, not an outsider of Wu and Shu. Liu Bei failed because Guan Yu had a bad relationship with his allies. He also went to the army to vigorously attack Wu, which shows that Shu can only beat people. It makes no sense for others not to provoke Shu. This is the main reason for failure, and it can also be said that it is the beginning of failure. Without a beginning, there is no process and no result.

Soldiers are tired, their combat effectiveness is seriously reduced, and the combat effect is not ideal. Don't understand the feelings of soldiers. Most of the Shu soldiers were taken to Yizhou by Liu Bei of Jingzhou. After several years of wars in Yizhou and Hanzhong, these soldiers were obviously tired. The soldiers of the Shu army are tired of the war, let alone to avenge Guan Yu. These people have no intention to retaliate against anyone, so they have no choice but to follow Liu Bei. In this psychological situation, soldiers are basically worse than Wu Jun in the battle.

3 centrifugal separation from Germany, internal members failed to unite the front. Send troops unilaterally, alone. Liu Bei planned to attack Wu when Guan Yu was killed, but was dissuaded by Zhao Yun, Zhuge Liang and other civil servants and military commanders and did not send troops. The main interior ministers and themselves stood on the opposite side. Liu Bei should think twice and consider the consequences of sending troops to attack Wu. Liu Bei completely rejected the wishes of internal members. There is some meaning of power control here. In the end, Liu Bei could only act alone. Time was short, and Liu Beilian didn't even have time to set up the staff committee. He brought a few generals, but the advisers hardly brought them. With Huang Quan, we must guard against Wei's sneak attack. The battle itself is very difficult, not to mention the front-line battlefield is blocked everywhere.

4 despise opponents, be overconfident, fail to analyze the strength of enemy generals, be ill-prepared for the enemy, and be used. Liu Bei broke into the border of Wu and successfully occupied several fortresses, but he showed a arrogant attitude and became more and more out of control. When Lu Xun went to the battlefield, Liu Bei should have thought of Lu Xun's participation in the sneak attack on Jingzhou, but he also ignored Lu Xun and was unprepared. Liu Bei and Guan Yu have the same psychology, thinking that there is no one in Wu except Zhou Yu, and no one in Wu is his opponent. According to this mentality, there is no possibility of being unbeaten, and Lu Xun's troops are about 50 thousand, just like the Shu army. Under such circumstances, there is no difference in strength between the two sides, which depends on their respective abilities. Obviously, Lu Xun is much better than Liu Bei.

5. Stubbornness, the deterioration of the war situation is not good for our own side, and we have failed to change the mode of operation and adjust the deployment of troops in time. On the eve of the Shu army's attack on Yiling, the counselor saw that Lu Xun did not retreat, but instead lured the Shu army into the hinterland of Wu. Liu Bei totally denied this. Liu Bei still thinks that Lu Xun was beaten and didn't have the strength to fight back, so he will retreat. After Lu Xun retired to Yiling, he never retired. Liu Bei thought that Lu Xun dared not retreat. After Yiling is the Yangtze River defense line. A few months after the war, Liu Bei suffered, and the Shu army could not move on without Wu Jun. At this time, he didn't want to change his tactics. This bought time for Wu Jun to prepare for the counterattack. Lu Xun is a human being, not a god. Only by restraining the enemy's formation can he win.

6. The scattered forces, the wrong deployment of the camp and the lack of preparation for retreat have led us to enter an invincible situation. Liu Bei failed to advance in Yiling area for several months, and at this time, the Shu army did not have the momentum when it began to attack Wu. When the weather was hot, at least when it was above 35 degrees, Liu Bei assigned his troops to the mountainous areas in various regions, besieged Wu Jun, and led the main force into the mountains for the summer, intending to fight with Wu Jun for a long time, but did not think about the consequences of entering the mountains. Once Wu Jun launched a general attack, Liu Bei didn't have time to rally his troops to fight back. What fire should Wu use to attack?

These Liu Bei are not worried. If they are worried, they will take corresponding preventive measures. Obviously they didn't, but Lu Xun's army came prepared. When Lu Xun found that the Shu army had entered the forest and was ready to win by fire, everything was ready in Wu Jun. Lu Xun used fire to attack and burn down the main camp of the Shu army and set fire to the enemy, which was actually the lowest level, but the effect was the best. Who can say that he won't avoid flood and fire, but the effect of Shu army's fire avoidance is chaos, not orderly fire avoidance. Cao Pi heard that Liu Bei was fighting like this and spoke of its disadvantages. There is no reason to fight for hundreds of miles.

Reasons for Lu Xun's victory:

1 internal and external unification, with one heart and one mind, and full cooperation, with only one purpose, to repel the Shu army. The Shu army invaded the border of Wu in the early stage, and Wu tried to negotiate, but failed. It is an internal opinion to send Lu Xun to war. Lu Xun has no worries, and the generals obey the leadership completely. Qi Xin cooperated with Liu Bei, which is incomparable.

2. Military capability. The two commanders have different combat methods, and the commander Wu Jun is better deployed. The Shu army has always exercised restraint. When Lu Xun went to the battlefield, he observed the operational deployment of the Shu army, and the defense deployment was proper, which lured the enemy deeper and contained the Shu army earlier and earlier. The commander-in-chief of the Shu army made a mistake in tactical analysis, and Lu Xun just used this to kill the enemy's morale. His defense was correct.

In three days, the advantages and disadvantages of the two sides are unparalleled, namely, the right time, the right place and the right people, Wu Jun's local fighting and the Shu army's foreign enemies. The advantages of Wu's natural time, geographical location and human harmony were ignored by the Shu army, while Wu had Wei as a United ally. At home, the monarch and the minister fought all the way to Shu. Before going to the mainland, there were differences of opinion, so we were lost for some time. Although Shu occupied the dangerous terrain in the border area of Wu, with the retreat of Lu Xun, the advantages of Shu army were gone.

The Shu army followed Wu Jun to Yiling and entered the territory of Wu Jun. The previous deployment has been disrupted and the redeployment is unconditional. The favorable terrain was seized by Wu Jun, leaving only mountains and forests for Liu Bei. The Shu army caught up with the heat and exposed to the sun. Although the weather in Yizhou is hotter than that in Jingzhou, Yizhou is a place with at least more water sources than Yiling area, and the Shu army lacks water sources. Without water, it is difficult to win such a war. Lu Xun dared to take Liu Bei to the hinterland of Yiling, and he was confident. Summing up the final outcome of Liu Bei's Yiling War, Wu won, with less than 10,000 troops lost and no land lost in the city.

Although it consumes too many resources, there is nothing to do in the war. Compared with the losses of the Shu army, Wu is equal to a complete victory. Various reasons in Shu changed from winners to losers. Shu completely lost Jingzhou, and most of the main generals who participated in the war were killed. The army lost more than thirty thousand people. Huang Quan, who defended Wei, was forced to surrender to Wei. Shu suffered heavy losses in resources, surpassing Wu. Shu turned from prosperity to decline, and it took many years to recover, but it could not be compared with the strength of Shu when it occupied Hanzhong.