The motives of the Imperial Expedition, in which the Son of Heaven personally led the army, mainly included boosting morale, promoting force, and dealing with critical situations. However, the Imperial Campaign is like a double-edged sword, although it can boost morale, but if it fails, the negative impact on morale is immeasurable, and may even bring serious consequences. Today, we look back at the nine imperial expeditions during the Three Kingdoms period, at least six of which ended in failure, and the only big victory was forced to be helpless.
Liu Bei's personal expedition to Eastern Wu took place in July 221 AD. After losing Jingzhou and Guan Yu, Liu Bei, after more than a year of preparation, personally led the army to conquer Eastern Wu. However, he was defeated by Lu Xun in the Battle of Yiling, lost his troops, and was almost wiped out. This defeat dealt a heavy blow to Shu Han, and Liu Bei never returned to Chengdu in order to rebuild the eastern defense line. Eventually, he died of illness in the White Emperor City. It can be said that Liu Bei's imperial expedition was the most unsuccessful in the history of the Three Kingdoms.
Cao Pi personally led his army to conquer Eastern Wu three times, in 222 223, 224 and 225 AD. For the first time, although the momentum was huge, Sun Quan responded flexibly, and in the end Cao Pi could only withdraw his troops before the arrival of the flood season in the south. The second time was frightened back by Xu Sheng's suspicious soldiers, and the third time was when Cao Pi knew that his chances of winning were slim and took the initiative to retreat. Three royal expeditions, Cao Pi failed to achieve victory.
Sun Quan twice drove to Hefei in person, because Hefei was very important to Eastern Wu. The first defeat was to Jiang Ji, and the second defeat to Cao Wei's Zhang Liao, Le Jin and Li Dian were almost captured alive. Sun Quan's combat performance was not satisfactory, and in 229 he became emperor and launched two battles of Hefei in 233 and 234, both of which ended in failure.
During his reign, Cao Rong personally drove the expedition twice. One time was in 228 AD, in the face of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, Cao Rong personally supervised the battle, and although he did not win in the end, he did not suffer much loss. The second time occurred in 234 AD, in the face of Sun Quan's fourth Battle of Hefei, Cao Rong led the sailors to conquer in person, but withdrew his troops before waiting for the battle situation, so it was not a victory.
After Sima Yi seized power in Cao Wei, there were three rebellions in Huainan, the third of which occurred in 257 AD. In order to quell the rebellion, Cao Chao was forced to take a personal expedition. This is the only time in the history of the Three Kingdoms that a great victory has been won, but it is ironic that this time it was forced by the ministers.