If you want to say that the biggest winner of the Battle of Chibi, there is no doubt that it is Liu Bei. Before the war, he offended Cao Cao and was chased and killed by Cao Cao all the way, with no fixed place to live, and he couldn't live in fear. It wasn't until he took refuge in his clan Liu Biao that he lived a stable life for a few years. But the good times didn't last long, after Cao Cao was in the north of peace, he waved his army to the south, and Liu Bei's good days came to an end......
Liu Biao, who was lying on the hospital bed, was scared to death when he heard the news of Cao Cao's southward trip. His second son, Liu Cong, took over as the pastor of Jingzhou with the support of Cai Mao and others. Faced with the pressure of Cao's army, the cowardly Liu Cong listened to everyone's advice, gave up resistance, and surrendered in Juzhou. Liu Bei, who was in grief, was forced to embark on the road of escape again. What is different from the past is that this time Liu Bei has one more person by his side - Zhuge Liang, the military commander Zhonglang.
Cao Cao's goal in the south was originally only Jingzhou, but after taking Jingzhou without blood, his confidence began to swell, or he felt that it was not enjoyable, and temporarily decided to take advantage of the victory to go east, take Dongwu in one fell swoop, and complete the great cause of dominating the world!
Sun Quan is under a lot of pressure!
His father and brother have been deeply rooted in Jiangdong for three generations, but they still can't compete with the powerful Cao Cao in terms of strength. In order to increase his chances of victory, he agreed to form an alliance with Liu Bei, who had fled to Xiakou and still had the strength to fight, to fight against Cao together.
Then the Battle of Chibi broke out, and the invincible Cao Cao suffered the biggest defeat of his career in Chibi, and lost his troops and had to flee back to the north in embarrassment.
Liu Bei listed Liu Qi as the assassin of Jingzhou, and then conquered the four counties of Lingling, Guiyang, Wuling, and Changsha in the name of Liu Qi. Wuling Taishou Jin Xuan, Changsha Taishou Han Xuan, Guiyang Taishou Zhao Fan, and Lingling Taishou Liu Du were originally Liu Biao's subordinates, but only because Liu Cong surrendered to Cao, he was forced to surrender to Cao, and he was reluctant in his heart. Now seeing that Liu Qi took office as the assassin of Jingzhou and retook over the four counties, they were all overjoyed and surrendered without a fight.
Liu Bei asked Zhuge Liang to supervise the three counties of Lingling, Guiyang, and Changsha, and was responsible for stabilizing the rear and supporting the front line. Later, he sent Guan Yu to the north and successfully dragged down the Cao army sent by Cao Cao to support Nanjun, so that Zhou Yu was able to defeat Cao Ren and capture Nanjun. Soon, Liu Bei "borrowed" Nanjun from Sun Quan on the grounds that there were many soldiers and few places.
After the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei went from a down-and-out warlord who had nothing and was under the fence to a prince who owned the five counties of Jingzhou, and had the strength to compete with Sun Quan. Sun Quan felt the threat, and began to think about a way to break the situation.
Soon, Sun Quan adopted Zhou Yu's suggestion and sent Sun Yu to lead an army into Xiakou, threatening to conquer Liu Zhang westward.
Liu Bei then forcibly prevented Sun Yu from crossing Jingzhou on the grounds that Cao Cao was strong and that allies should unite to resist Cao and should not attack each other. Jingzhou was the only way for Eastern Wu to advance westward, Liu Bei did not let him go, and Sun Yu had to return to Eastern Wu in disgrace.
This is luring the wolf into the house!Sun Quan was very annoyed, but helpless. At this time, he is powerless, because the southern Jiaozhou has not yet been pacified, Cao Cao has opened up a second battlefield in the direction of Misu, and Eastern Wu is already facing the military pressure of two-front combat, if he falls out with Liu Bei at this juncture, wouldn't he have to fight on three fronts!Sun Quan weighed it again and again, and finally chose to swallow this evil breath.
However, he said that Liu Bei stopped the Eastern Wu expedition to the west, which was high-sounding in words, but in essence he secretly harbored selfishness - he himself was eyeing Yizhou, and he was determined to win, and he could not allow others to interfere.
In the sixteenth year of Jian'an (211), Liu Bei was invited by Liu Zhang to enter Shu, and the garrison did not advance after reaching Jiameng Pass in the north, in the name of helping Liu Zhang deal with Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, but in fact, he was kind to collect the hearts of everyone. A year later, Liu Bei officially broke with Liu Zhang, turning his gun and attacking Liu Zhang. In May of the nineteenth year of Jian'an (214), after two years of campaigning, Liu Bei broke through the city and approached the city of Chengdu.
At the same time, Huo Jun, who stayed behind in Jiameng Pass, also defeated Liu Zhang's generals Fu Ban, Xiang Cun and others who came to besiege;Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun, who were reinforced from Jingzhou to the west, also swept through the vast areas of southern and central Sichuan, and rushed to Chengdu in time to join forces with Liu Bei and besiege Chengdu.
The city walls of Chengdu are tall and strong, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there are 30,000 elite soldiers in the city, as well as food stocks that can sustain the lives of soldiers and civilians for a year. Therefore, although the city was besieged by a strong enemy, the officials and people in the city had food in their hands, and they did not panic, but united and determined to resist to the end.
But Liu Zhang didn't want to continue fighting.
After all, he is a prince, and he sees the situation in the world more clearly than ordinary people, and knows that with the strength of Yizhou, it will be annexed sooner or later. Even if Liu Bei doesn't take Yizhou today, Cao Cao will attack Yizhou tomorrow, and it will be difficult to escape. Instead of descending Cao, it is better to cheapen the brothers of the same clan, and the so-called fertilizer water does not flow into the fields of outsiders!He said that "the father and son have been in the state for more than 20 years, and there is no kindness to add to the people." The people have been fighting for three years, and those who have ointment and grass are in the wilderness, so Zhang, how can they be at peace!For this reason, he opened the city gate and surrendered to Liu Bei.
After taking Yizhou with difficulty, Liu Bei finally achieved the strategic goal of "crossing the Jing and benefiting" in "Longzhong Pair", it seems that the ultimate goal of "hegemony can be achieved, and the Han family can be prosperous" is just around the corner!
At this time, Sun Quan, who was far away in Eastern Wu, suddenly attacked and demanded that Liu Bei return the counties of Jingzhou.
It turned out that when Liu Bei took Yizhou, Sun Quan also pacified Jiaozhou, and built a strong defense line in Weixu, effectively preventing Cao Cao from going south along the Weixu River, and began to settle old scores with Liu Bei. On the grounds that Liu Bei had already obtained Yizhou and had a large enough place, he demanded that Liu Bei return the counties of Jingzhou. Liu Bei had already eaten something in his mouth, how could it be so easy to spit it out, he immediately said, "You must get Liangzhou, and you should be with Jingzhou." As an excuse, let Sun Quan continue to wait.
Sun Quan is such a smart person, knowing that once Liu Bei obtains Liangzhou, he will use "You must get the Central Plains, and you should use Jingzhou to make peace." "As an excuse, continue to fool yourself, endlessly. In a fit of rage, he decided to take tough measures and sent Lü Meng to attack the three counties of Changsha, Lingling, and Guiyang.
Liu Bei has just won Yizhou, and he is in the limelight, so he is naturally not to be outdone. After learning that Sun Quan had captured the three counties of Jingnan, he immediately led 50,000 horses to the public security to take command, and ordered Guan Yu to lead 30,000 horses into Yiyang to recapture the three counties.
Just when Liu and Sun were tense and the situation was about to erupt, the news of Zhang Lu's surrender to Cao in Hanzhong came.
If Cao Cao wins Long, he will look forward to Shu, and Yizhou will be in danger!Liu Bei was shocked when he heard the news and decided to abandon Jingzhou and surrender to Yizhou. He took the initiative to make concessions and proposed to cede the three counties of Changsha, Guiyang, and Jiangxia to Eastern Wu and make peace with Sun Quan. The purpose of Sun Quan's army was originally to seize the three counties, and now he can get it without going to war, so he naturally agrees.
Liu Bei's anxious mood is understandable, but strategy is not his forte, and without consulting Zhuge Liang, Fa Zheng and others, he hastily made the decision to cede the three counties. As it turned out, it was a slap in the face!
Xiakou of Jiangxia County is located at the confluence of the Xia and Chu rivers, and is a military hub connecting Jing and Yang, with a concise geographical location. As long as Xiakou was blocked, the Eastern Wu army would not be able to reach Jingzhou. In addition, from Xiangyang along the river downstream, or from Gangneung along the Yangtze River, you can reach Soochow through Xiakou. It can be seen that Xiakou is the throat of Dongwu, and if you control Xiakou, you can control Dongwu.
In that year, after Sun Ce gained a firm foothold in Jiangdong, in order to expand the strategic space, he attacked Jiangxia Shaxian (the defender was Huang Zu) on the grounds of revenge for his father, trying to take Jiangxia County, but returned in vain. After Sun Ce's death, Sun Quan relayed the attack on Jiangxia. After paying a huge price, he finally defeated Huang Zu for the third time and took most of Jiangxia's territory.
A part of Jiangxia's territory belonged to Liu Bei, and he took over it from Liu Qi. Don't look at the small territory, but it played a restraining role in Eastern Wu, so that the Wu army did not dare to go west to Jingzhou. This has also become Sun Quan's heart disease.
Liu Bei ceded Jiangxia County, which came at the right time to relieve Sun Quan's heart disease. However, it exposed Nanjun to the attack range of Soochow, laying the groundwork for Lü Meng's white-clothed crossing of the river to attack Nanjun in the future.
Secondly, Soochow obtained the two counties of Changsha and Guiyang, and could form a chain defense system with Baqiu (Baling) to maintain the deterrence of Nanjun. At the same time, Baqiu echoed Xiakou from afar, and it was even more difficult for Sun Beijun or Cao Cao's army to enter Eastern Wu.
To sum up, after Liu Bei ceded the three counties of Changsha, Guiyang, and Jiangxia to Sun Quan, Sun Quan gained the strategic initiative over Jingzhou. So, it's a real slap in the face!