In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei, as an ambitious figure, has always pursued the goal of unifying the Three Kingdoms. However, despite Liu Bei's command of the Five Tiger Generals and the support of Jingzhou, Yizhou, and Hanzhong, he failed to seize the right moment to achieve unification. This is mainly because of Liu Bei's personal reasons. Longzhong's strategy provided him with a clear path and was only one step away from unifying the Three Kingdoms. However, Liu Bei mistakenly buried this opportunity in later developments.
The most crucial event in which Liu Bei missed the opportunity for unification was the Battle of Yiling, which completely led to the decline of Shu Han. So, why did Liu Bei come to such a desperate situation?
The reason why Liu Bei finally came to the desperate situation on the road to reunification was, on the one hand, because of the consequences caused by Guan Yu's carelessness in Jingzhou. If Zhuge Liang had not been transferred to Yizhou, but had stayed in Jingzhou to provide support, then even if Guan Yu failed, he would not have lost Jingzhou. However, because the capture of Yizhou required Zhuge Liang to support, Guan Yu was alone, which led to the tragedy that followed.
On the other hand, it is the changes related to Pang Tong and Yizhou. According to Liu Bei's situation at that time, he was fully capable of directly annexing Yizhou, but because of the love of his clan, he couldn't bear to take away the foundation of his brother Liu Zhang. At the same time, he was eager to get Yizhou, so Pang Tong took the initiative to choose to become a benevolent person and give Liu Bei the title of attacking Yizhou. However, in fact, there is no need for Pang Tong to sacrifice himself at all, and the above changes can be completely avoided.
The changes between Pang Tong and Yizhou caused Liu Bei to not make the right decisions at some critical moments, resulting in the gradual loss of the opportunity to unify the Three Kingdoms.
Looking back at Liu Bei's image in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, we can see that he is a person who values benevolence and righteousness. In the troubled times, Liu Bei always hoped to stand in the world with benevolence and righteousness, and this became an obstacle to his unification of the Three Kingdoms.
In troubled times, the principles of benevolence and righteousness cannot be easily unified. Liu Bei was faced with many forces and a complex political situation, and it was difficult for him to maintain the benevolence and righteousness in his heart and smoothly achieve the goal of unifying the Three Kingdoms. This requires not only his military strength and intelligence, but also his ability to make the right decisions to understand and respond to changes in the situation.
All in all, the reason why Liu Bei failed to unify the Three Kingdoms was mainly due to his personal mistakes and insistence on pursuing benevolence and righteousness. He missed many hard-won opportunities for unification, which caused Shu Han to gradually fall into decline. Guan Yu's loss of Jingzhou and Pang Tong's sacrifice had a huge impact on Liu Bei's unification plan. And Liu Bei's personality of pursuing benevolence and righteousness, although admirable, made it difficult for him to make the right decisions in troubled times. As a result, Liu Bei failed to realize his dream of unifying the Three Kingdoms. In history, there are many factors that need to be considered to unify a country or region, and Liu Bei's personal reasons play a crucial role in this.
In today's society, we can also draw inspiration from Liu Bei's experience. Achieving an individual or group's goals also requires informed decisions and timely actions in a complex environment. Adherence to the principle of benevolence and righteousness is certainly worthy of respect, but in certain circumstances, necessary compromises and trade-offs need to be made. Only by constantly learning and Xi and growing, can we better cope with various challenges and achieve our ideals and goals.