In 212 A.D., the land of China had formed a three-legged situation of Cao, Sun and Liu. This year, Liu Bei and his brother Liu Zhang turned against each other, and the two sides fought fiercely in Yizhou.
At the same time, Cao Cao proclaimed himself Duke of Wei of the Han Dynasty at the instigation of his staff, but his henchman Xun Yu objected to this. After careful consideration, Cao Cao committed suicide by giving Xun Yu an empty box, clearing the last obstacle on his way to promotion.
In Soochow, Sun Quan chose to recuperate and observe the situation in the world. After Cao Cao was promoted to Duke of Wei, he immediately led his army to attack Jiangdong and engaged in a fierce battle with Sun Quan at the mouth of the Wetsu Pass.
Due to tactical mistakes, Cao Cao's army soon fell into disarray. At this moment, Sun Quan personally led the army to disperse Cao's army, and if it weren't for Xu Chu's desperate cover, Cao Cao would probably have fallen in this melee.
Cao Cao returned to the camp after escaping from the tiger's mouth, and looking at the army with heavy losses, he sighed sadly and angrily: "Giving birth to a son should be like Sun Zhongmou." This was also the last time he went south to attack Wu in his life.
So, why did Sun Quan, who performed well in the Battle of Chibi, the Battle of Misukou, and the Battle of Yiling, fail to dominate the world in the end?
It all started from 200 years, when Sun Ce led his advisors Zhou Yu and Zhang Zhao, and military generals Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang and Tai Shici to seize the six counties of Jiangdong, laying a solid foundation for the foundation of Eastern Wu.
However, the good times did not last long, and in 200 AD, Sun Ce was stabbed by an assassin in the hunting grounds, and before his death, he handed over the Jiangdong foundation to his younger brother Sun Quan, and the hero died in this way.
The 18-year-old Sun Quan officially stepped onto the stage of history and became the leader of the new generation of Soochow. His background is very special, he was born in a family of military generals, his ancestor was Sun Wu, a famous scholar during the Warring States Period, and his father and brother were both generals of the Han Dynasty.
In the early days of his succession, Sun Quan showed deep respect for his father and brother's ministers, showing his humble attitude. After the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao succeeded in unifying the north and became the most powerful prince of the Han Dynasty.
The army of tigers and wolves under his command began to pose a threat to Liu Biao and Sun Quan in the south, which forced Sun Quan to begin to prepare for Cao Cao's challenge.
The lord of Sun Wu was still young, the land in his territory was barren, sparsely populated, and his troops were weak, and he was almost unable to organize effective resistance in the face of Cao's attack. At this time, there were two factions within Soochow: the main battle and the surrender.
The surrender faction was headed by the old minister Zhang Zhao, and the main battle faction was headed by Zhou Yu. At such a critical moment, Sun Quan's position became the decisive factor. At the moment of life and death, Sun Quan showed the decisive decision-making ability of a good leader.
In the battle of Chibi, Cao Cao's naval division was annihilated, and the Cao army on the Yangtze River was burned to pieces, and Cao Cao himself fled back to the north in embarrassment.
And in this transformation, Sun Quan, who is not yet 30 years old, has shown amazing leadership and has become a real young hero. After the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan did not choose to go north, but devoted all his energy to the construction and development of Soochow.
Four years later, in the face of Cao Cao's comeback at the mouth of the water, Sun Quan personally led his army to charge into battle, killing Cao's army and unable to move south. At this time, Sun Quan was surrounded by ministers in the near distance, and famous generals were guarding in the distance, and the entire Dongwu showed a situation of not making a sound, and it was a blockbuster.
However, it was during this period that his contradictions with his ally Liu Bei gradually deepened and eventually erupted, leading to a tragedy ......
In 213, Liu Bei successfully captured Yizhou in Shudi, and the situation of the Three Kingdoms was formally formed. In order to win Yizhou, Liu Bei cooperated with Sun Quan, but in the end Liu Bei decided to return all Jingzhou to Eastern Wu.
Sun Quan had always dreamed of expanding the territory of Eastern Wu and coveted the land of Jingxiang. Since Liu Bei occupied Shu, Sun Quan relied on the Yangtze River moat to defend the north, and regarded Liu Bei as his greatest enemy.
Zhou Yu, Lu Su, and Lü Meng, the three successive governors of Eastern Wu, all regarded Jingxiang as the first priority of their political path. However, in 215 AD, Liu Bei returned the three counties of Jingzhou to Eastern Wu, but Sun Quan was not satisfied.
After the Battle of Chibi, Eastern Wu occupied the time, place, and people, but Sun Quan did not maintain an alliance with Liu Bei, but secretly allied with Cao Wei and sent Lü Meng to capture Jingxiang.
This decision led to Guan Yu's death in battle, and the opportunity to expand the territory for Eastern Wu was also missed.
Although Sun Quan was successful for a while, because of the rupture of the Sun-Liu alliance, Cao Wei was given the opportunity to recover and strengthen his armaments, which made Shu Han's hope of recovering the Great Han slim.
In 220 AD, Cao Cao died, and Cao Pi usurped the throne of the Han Dynasty and established the Wei state. The following year, Liu Bei also proclaimed himself emperor and established the Shu Han dynasty. However, Sun Quan surrendered to Cao Pi shortly after he became emperor and proclaimed himself the "King of Wu of Great Wei", which was the second mistake he made.
These actions of Sun Quan triggered the discontent of Liu Bei's army and a declaration of war. At first, the Eastern Wu army was defeated and retreated, but under the leadership of Lu Xun, in the Battle of Yiling, a fire burned hundreds of thousands of Shu troops, which reversed the situation in Eastern Wu.
Sun Quan's multiple strategic mistakes led to the Battle of Yiling, and the Wushu alliance was greatly damaged and unable to launch an attack on Cao Wei alone. During this period, the regime of Cao Wei changed, and Zhuge Liang was keenly aware of the contradiction between the bureaucracy and the gate lords, so he decided to lead the army on the northern expedition again.
At the same time, Jiangdong's military strength and grain and grass reserves also reached their heyday.
Sun Quan sent Lu Xun as the governor of the capital, and Zhu Heng, Quan Cong and others attacked Cao Xiu. In terms of tactics, Zhu Heng and Quan Cong decided to adopt a two-way flank strategy, planning to encircle and annihilate the Wei army, and go north to capture Shouchun and approach Xuchang.
However, Sun Quan thought that it would be enough to repel Cao's army, and he considered it too risky to completely annihilate the Wei army and go north, so he refused. History seems to be playing out again, once Guan Yu surrounded Fancheng and approached Luoyang, but was defeated and killed by Sun Quan's sneak attack.
Now, the same opportunity is in front of Sun Quan, and the enemies he faces are no longer Cao Cao and Cao Ren, who have been battle-hardened in the past, but he still chooses to give up.
Sun Quan's thinking soon affected the entire state of Wu, forming a conservative idea of "going north without saying anything from top to bottom" and "sticking to dangerous places". Soon after, Sun Quan was proclaimed emperor in Jiankang, and the country name was "Wu".
This incident is also considered to be the beginning of his loneliness.
After Sun Quan became emperor, he felt the peace of the country and the well-being of the people, and gradually changed from the enterprising spirit of his youth to conservative and complacent, advocating self-protection by limiting the river. In his later years, the crown prince Sun Deng died of an unfortunate illness, which sparked a battle for the throne of the Eastern Wu imperial family.
Sun Xi, Sun He, Sun Ba, Sun Fen, Sun Xiu, Sun Liang and others did not make any achievements in politics, but they were keen to cling to the powerful and cultivate party henchmen all day long. In this regard, Sun Quan not only stood by and watched, but also talked about it with relish.
This led to the rapid formation of the Eastern Wu Dynasty into two factions, Sun He and Sun Ba, and they quarreled with each other. In order to stabilize the situation, Sun Quan directly gave Sun Ba to death, and purged the ministers of the court, including Lu Xun, so that the Eastern Wu court collapsed in an instant, and there were few capable ministers left.
After Sun Quan's death, Eastern Wu fell into infighting and the regime was in turmoil. His son Sun Liang was killed, his nephew Sun Qi took sole power, and his grandson Sun Hao executed **, pushing Soochow into the abyss of no return.
As the third-generation ruler of Eastern Wu, Sun Quan showed wisdom and decisiveness beyond his years in the early period of his reign, and stabilized the land of Jiangdong. After the Battle of Chibi, the general trend of the world formed a three-legged situation of Cao, Sun and Liu, in which Sun Quan did not have an advantage, but he still showed extraordinary talent.
Sun Quan: From qualified to mediocre In his later years, Sun Quan fell into self-isolation, and the Soochow Group consumed a lot of national strength in the internal struggle, losing Zhou Yu, Lu Su, Lu Meng, Lu Xun and other civil and military generals, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Zhou Tai, Gan Ning and other fierce generals have also passed away.
In the game of the Three Kingdoms, Sun Quan is a qualified player, but not a good player. "Romantic characters through the ages, the west of the old base", when we recall that period of history, they are all influential figures of that era.
History is complete because of imperfections", their words and deeds are the imprint of history, and thousands of years later, their merits and deeds will be left for future generations to evaluate.