Doesn't mean Guan Yu has the right to decide. Fake cymbals only exercise power on behalf of the king, not on the battlefield, but on behalf of the monarch to punish soldiers who disobey orders. The decision to wage war is always in the hands of the monarch. Unless the king is a puppet, the powerful minister may have the decision-making power. This is the basic logic.
Looking back at the battle of Xiangfan, Liu Bei must have ordered the war. Although there is no explicit record in the history books, it can be seen from the relevant records that the battle of Xiangfan initiated by Guan Yu began to merge along the Hanshui River as early as the Hanzhong War, and it was not until two months after the end of the Hanzhong War that Guan Yu's army advanced to the front line of Xiangfan.
Liu Bei ordered Guan Yu to launch the battle of Xiangfan for two reasons:
First, coordinate the battle of Hanzhong and reduce the pressure of the battle of Hanzhong.
In 2 17, the battle of Hanzhong launched by Liu Bei lasted for two years, reaching the point where the male dominated and the female dominated. The whole Yizhou was exhausted for the victory of Hanzhong, and Guan Yu was needed to contain Cao Wei in Jingzhou to cooperate with Hanzhong and reduce the pressure of Hanzhong.
As long as Guan Yu goes to war in Xiangfan, Cao Wei will divide his forces and fight. For Cao Wei, Xiangfan is much more important than Hanzhong. If Cao Wei chooses one of the two, he will definitely abandon Hanzhong and choose Xiangfan, and Liu Bei will achieve his political goal.
Second, open up the Hanshui River basin and form a strategic channel for the front line of Shu and Han.
Liu Bei won the battle of Hanzhong and occupied the upper reaches of Hanshui River. Then, Liu Bei ordered Liu Feng and Meng Da to occupy Shang Yong County, which was also a successful occupation. Look at the map, you will find that Shang Yong County is located in the middle reaches of the Hanshui River, and then Guan Yu began to attack Xiangfan. Look at the map and you will find Xiangyang and Fancheng in the middle and lower reaches of Hanshui River Basin.
In other words, as long as Liu Bei wins Xiangfan, the whole Hanshui River Basin belongs to Liu Bei Group. What can Hanshui do? In ancient times, waterway transportation was the most convenient and economical mode of transportation. The political purpose of Liu Bei's winning Xiangfan is to get through the Hanshui River. As long as the Hanshui River is opened, Liu Bei can use the Hanshui River to transport troops and food when he goes on an expedition to the Central Plains in the future, and he can realize the strategic planning of Longzhong and China and unify the world.
Therefore, don't underestimate Liu Bei and his regime. At that time, opening up the Hanshui River was the best auxiliary strategy to cooperate with Longzhong's strategy, and it was also the preparation for Liu Bei to launch the grand strategy of northern expedition to the Central Plains. Although Yizhou experienced two years of war and completely lost its offensive ability, as long as Guan Yu won Xiangfan, it was still a huge strategic victory for Liu Bei Group.
Despite the risks, Liu Bei decided to go to war. Although the decision to wage war was made by Liu Bei, it was Guan Yu's right to fight in the war. Guan Yu launched the Xiangfan War, which made rapid progress at first. In just one month, Guan Yu made great contributions in China.
Guan Yu first defeated the armies of Lu Chang, the prefect of Xiangyang, and Coss, the general of Cheung Nam. Lu Chang, the prefect of Xiangyang, was a local county soldier. Because he was close to the border, he became the target of Guan Yu's attack. Cheung Nam general Coss is equivalent to Cao Wei's border guards, and Coss is equivalent to the commander of Xiangfan Military Region. Defeated by Guan Yu, he had to retreat to Fancheng with Man Chong, the satrap of Runa.
It was precisely because Cao Wei's county soldiers and border guards were defeated by Guan Yu that Cao Cao ordered Guan Yu to lead more than 30 thousand people from seven armies to come to the rescue. Guan Yu captured more than 30,000 people from seven armies, including General Zuo Liangyu Ban and General Pound, while the Han River surged in heavy rain. Yu Jin and Pound are two great generals of Cao Wei.
Yu Jin is the highest rank in the five generals' army, and he also has the same power as Guan Yu. The seven armies led by him, with more than 30,000 people, are the elite central army of Cao Wei and the defenders of the capital region. The defeat of Yu and Jin shook the foundation of Cao Wei in the Central Plains. At this time, the main force of Cao Cao's Central Army is still on the way from Chang 'an to Luoyang, which is tantamount to the opening of Cao Wei's Central Army and the Seventh Army.
The army led by Pound should be an army that cooperates with Coss outside the city, because he does not belong to the Forbidden Seventh Army. Pound is a brave soldier. He personally killed Guoyuan on the battlefield, and shot Guan Yu in the forehead with an arrow in the battle of Xiangfan, but he was defeated by Guan Yu. Guan Yu was killed by Guan Yu because he did not want to surrender.
At this stage of the war, Guan Yu occupied a good situation. Why can't he capture Xiangyang and Fancheng? There are three reasons:
1, geographical reasons.
Xiangyang city is on the south bank of Hanshui River, and Fancheng is on the north bank of Hanshui River. These two cities are Jiao. Guan Yu wants to attack the city, he must first have a water army. This is no problem. In fact, he must have siege weapons. But Xiangyang and Fancheng are close to the Hanshui River, and the moat of the two cities is very wide, especially Xiangyang City, which is surrounded by water on three sides. Siege weapons cannot be transported and besieged by the water army.
Another Xiangyang is very close to Fancheng. When attacking Xiangyang, Fancheng will fight back, attack Fancheng, Xiangyang will fight back, and attack Xiangyang and Fancheng at the same time. Guan Yu will be seriously divided. In fact, the division of Guan Yu in the battle of Xiangfan was very serious. Some of them surrounded Xiangyang, some surrounded Fancheng, and some faced reinforcements from Cao Wei before Fancheng. The troops are scattered and the attack power is not strong.
2. Siege is more difficult.
Siege warfare is the most difficult war. Later, Mongolia attacked the Song Dynasty and fought in Xiangyang for six years. At that time, the fighting capacity of the Mongolian army was at its peak, but it took six years to capture Xiangyang city. Guan Yu attacked Xiangyang and Fancheng for only a few months, so it was not so easy to fight.
During the Three Kingdoms period, few siege wars were successful. For example, it took more than a year for Zhou Yu to attack Jiangling City in the battle of Nanjun, but Coss took the initiative to retreat. For example, during Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, tens of thousands of troops attacked Chencang City, which was guarded by Zhao Haoqian's army, but it was not captured for more than 20 days, which shows the difficulty of siege.
Guan Yu lacks strength and support.
Guan Yu did not capture Xiangyang City or Fancheng until the end of the battle of Xiangfan. Another reason is that Cao Wei's reinforcements poured into the front line, but Guan Yu did not have a single soldier's support. Guan Yu's tens of thousands of Jingzhou troops have been fighting for months without rest or support. There is a saying that a spent force cannot break the road, which is almost the status quo of Guan Yu's army.
It's almost half a year since the battle of Xiangfan. Liu Bei of Yizhou didn't give Guan Yu any support. The fact is that he couldn't. Yizhou is recuperating, playing with people, money and food. Liu Bei's things were consumed in Hanzhong battlefield, so he couldn't get them out, so he had to let Guan Yu fight them.
So can Guan Yu win Fancheng? What will happen if you win Fancheng?
It is a miracle that Guan quickly defeated Yu Jin and Pound, which made Cao Cao have the idea of moving the capital, indicating that Cao Cao felt a real threat. This is by no means just talk. Guan Yu almost opened the door to the Central Plains. As long as Fancheng is captured, Xiangyang will not be able to keep it and will also be captured by Guan Yu.
If Guan Yu wins Xiangyang and Fancheng, it is equivalent to putting a nail in the Central Plains, gaining an excellent strategic attack point in Longzhong and opening up the entire Hanshui River Basin. Once Liu Bei took control of the whole Hanshui River basin, he had the ability and strength to attack the Central Plains.
Then the world changed, and Guan Yu could March into Xudu and Luoyang. Xiangfan is the southern edge of North China Plain, and further north is Ma Pingchuan. After the Shu army occupied Xiangfan, there was no peace in the Central Plains of Cao Wei. As long as Guan Yu gets on the horse and leads a cavalry, it only takes a few days to get to Xudu to plunder Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty, or to Luoyang to occupy the core area of Cao Wei, which will be a great threat to Cao Wei.
For Cao Wei, there must be two things to do:
1) Move the capital to avoid the threat of Xiangfan to Xudu.
Cao Cao wanted to move the capital before Guan Yu occupied Xiangfan. He must want to move the capital to Yecheng. Luoyang is not safe, so it can only be moved to Yecheng, the border of Henan and Hebei, to establish a defense line to prevent Guan Yu from disturbing Xudu.
2) Dump the country and seize Xiangfan.
Cao Cao Can can't tolerate Guan Yu laying a base in front of his own house, and he will definitely attack Guan Yu with all his money. As can be seen from the experience of the battle of Xiangfan, after the failure of Yu Ban and Pound, Huang Xu was sent by Cao Cao to attack Guan Yu. In addition, Zhang Liao was transferred from the front line of Hefei to Xiangfan. At the same time, Cao Cao personally led the elite of Wei Jun Central Army, guarding Mobei between Luoyang and Xudu, silently watching the situation at the front and adjusting the strategy and tactics at any time.
At this point in the war, Guan Yu is doomed to failure. It is a miracle that Guan Yu captured 30,000 people from the Seven Imperial Guards. Cao Wei has never encountered such a serious failure. It is a miracle that Guan Yu fought against the eight northern States of Cao Cao with the strength of three counties in Jingzhou. Guan Yu, who has been fighting for several months in a row, has no strength to seize Fancheng, because Cao Wei keeps sending reinforcements to fight, and Guan Yu can only rely on Jingzhou army, which has been exhausted for several months.
Therefore, according to the current situation, we can neither capture Fancheng nor retreat. At present, Guan Yu's best way is to concentrate his forces on capturing Xiangyang, occupy Xiangyang City on the south bank of Hanshui River, and then give up Fancheng on the north bank and use the water army to stop Wei Jun on the north bank of Hanshui River. The two sides divide and rule with Hanshui River as the boundary, and the north and south divide and rule, so as to keep some achievements of Megatron China and guard against the sneak attack of Sun Quan in the rear.
But Guan Yu was obviously carried away by victory and still wanted to capture Fancheng, which led to the final failure. If Guan Yu gave up Fancheng and occupied Xiangyang, at least Guan Yu would not lose Jingzhou and his own life.