Liu Bei was able to become a warlord of the separatist regime from a distant relative of the Han Dynasty who sold straw sandals, and finally became the first emperor of Shu Han, which was inseparable from his employment strategy. In the history of China, the talents in the Three Kingdoms period are incomparable in any historical period. Liu Bei has neither the statesmanship of Cao Cao's generation nor the confidence of Sun Quan's separatist regime in Jiangdong, but he can divide the world from humble cloth by employing proper people.
Start a business at the beginning of the war
Liu Bei has some connections with the royal families of the Eastern and Western Han Dynasties. He is a descendant of Liu Sheng, the son of Emperor Jing of Han Dynasty. Later, due to the implementation of the "favor order" of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and the flourishing of the Liu royal family, Liu Bei was already from a poor family and had to make a living by selling shoes and weaving mats on weekdays. However, Liu Bei had great ambitions since he was a child. He once played under the big mulberry trees in his hometown and said, "I must take the car of the son of heaven with a real canopy in the future."
If it weren't for the Yellow Scarf Uprising that broke out at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, perhaps Liu Bei could only weave straw sandals all his life. The uprising gave Liu Bei a chance. At that time, the Eastern Han Dynasty imperial court sent troops to suppress the rebel army, and warlords from all over the world also pulled up the army in the name of suppressing the rebel army, seized the territory and expanded their strength. Liu Bei also took the opportunity to pull up a rural brave and join the ranks of suppressing the rebels. It was this time that Liu Bei was lucky enough to get to know Guan Yu and Zhang Fei and become brothers, leaving a story of "Three Marriages in Taoyuan".
Later, Liu Bei was appointed as Anxi county commandant by the court because of his "meritorious service" in suppressing the uprising army. But later, because Liu Bei whipped Du You, the county governor who came to inspect, and took bribes, he left. In desperation, he defected to Gongsun Zan, an old friend and warlord of Youzhou, and was appointed as the county magistrate of Pingyuan. Here, Liu Bei actively developed his own power, won the hearts of the people all over the world, and made people from all walks of life nearby take refuge in him.
At this time, thousands of troops and horses competed for the Central Plains, and warlords everywhere scuffled. Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou to graze Tao Qian, and Tao Qian sent people to Gongsun Zan for emergency treatment. Liu Bei was sent to Xuzhou (now northern Jiangsu and southeastern Shandong) for rescue. Later, when Tao Qian saw that Liu Bei had few troops, he gave him 4,000 troops, made him the secretariat of Yuzhou, and let him stay in Xiaopei. After Tao Qian died, Liu Bei took over Xuzhou and began to rank among the great warlords. But then it was attacked by Shouchun Yuan Shu, and Yuan Shu colluded with Lu Bu to attack Liu Bei's rear area. Liu Bei was attacked between Scylla and Charybdis. I had to go to Cao Cao. Cao Cao recommended Liu Bei to be a shepherd in Yuzhou, and then sent troops to deal with Lu Bu with Liu Bei and captured Lu Bu. Lu Bu pleaded with Cao Cao and said, "It is only Lu Bu that Cao Gong is afraid of. Now that I have surrendered, there is no need for the world to worry. You command the infantry, and I will command the cavalry for you. Why worry that the world is not calm? " Cao Cao also has some black magic. Liu Bei said, "Did Cao Gong forget Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo?" Cao Cao nodded and agreed, so he killed Lu Bu. At this time, Liu Bei was elected as the left general by Cao Cao.
Boiling wine on heroes
At this time, Liu Bei, although attached to Cao Cao, never gave up his dream. Cao Cao seems to be very kind to Liu Bei, and Liu Bei wants to accompany him in and out. Liu Bei felt uneasy when he saw that Cao Cao respected him so much, because he had his own ambitions and was afraid of being suspected by Cao Cao. Sometimes, Liu Bei is still digging holes in the yard to grow vegetables and watering them to catch insects. He looks carefree and has no ambition. In fact, he used it to cover himself up.
On the surface, Cao Cao attached great importance to Liu Bei, and secretly guarded against him.
At this time, something happened in the court. Because Cao Cao was in power, Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty thought he was too bossy, so he asked his concubine Dong Cheng to try to get rid of Cao Cao. So he wrote a secret imperial edict and sewed it in his belt and gave it to Dong Cheng.
Dong Cheng received a secret edict from his belt and made an appointment with several cronies to discuss how to get rid of Cao Cao. They felt that they were not strong enough, that Liu Bei was a descendant of the royal family and would definitely help them, so they secretly discussed with Liu Bei and asked Liu Bei to cooperate with them. Liu Bei agreed.
Not long after, Cao Cao invited Liu Bei to drink. Drinking and drinking, the two talked and laughed and chatted very harmoniously. They talked and talked, and naturally talked about world events. Cao Cao picked up his glass and said, "You see so many people are fighting for the world now, how many are heroes?" Liu Bei said: "Yuan Shao has been operating in Jizhou for a long time, claiming to have millions of soldiers and dozens of good generals. He once killed eunuchs and pacified them. He can be called a hero. " Cao Caoxiao said: "Yuan Shao is headstrong, ambitious but not enterprising, not a hero." Liu Bei added: "Gongsun Zan sticks to Liaodong; Liu Biao, sitting in Jingzhou, is a hero. " Cao Cao added: "Although these two men have a base area, they are not ambitious, let alone heroes." Liu Bei added: "Sun Ce and Sun Quan are partial to Wu Dong land, and they have the imperial seal handed down. Can they be called heroes? " Cao Cao shook his head and said, "Being partial to Wu Dong, not in the Central Plains, can only be called a hero, not a hero."
Liu Bei said modestly, "Then I can't say."
Cao Cao smiled and said quietly to Liu Bei, "In my opinion, the only heroes in the world today are the general and Cao Cao. What is a person like Yuan Shao? "
Liu Bei had butterflies in his stomach, for fear of plotting with Dong Cheng. He was surprised at Cao Cao's words. He shivered and even dropped his chopsticks.
At this point, a flash of lightning appeared on the horizon, followed by a loud noise. Liu Bei bent down to get chopsticks and said, "This thunder is really powerful, scaring people like this."
In this way, he managed to hide his panic in the past and didn't let Cao Cao see the flaw.
After drinking, Liu Bei pondered over Cao Cao's words, feeling that Cao Cao regarded him as his only opponent and would not let him go easily in the future. After that, he contacted Dong Cheng and them and wanted to get rid of Cao Cao together. While looking for opportunities to leave Xudu.
It happened that Yuan Shu was defeated by Jun and wanted to go north to his younger brother Yuan Shao via Xuzhou. Cao Cao didn't want them to unite and prepared to send troops to intercept. Liu Bei took the opportunity to ask to go. Cao Cao agreed without thinking, and Liu Bei immediately divided his forces with Cao Cao. When Guo Jia and others heard about this, they quickly came to see Cao Cao and said loudly, "Master, Liu Bei must not be allowed out! When Liu Bei comes out, he will inevitably rebel and make trouble! " Hearing this, Cao Cao regretted it and immediately sent someone to chase Liu Bei, but Liu Bei had disappeared without a trace.
The following spring, someone reported to Cao Cao that Dong Cheng and Liu Bei were plotting against Cao Cao in Xudu. Cao Cao killed Dong Cheng and his three confidants and decided to send his troops to conquer Liu Bei himself. At that time, Yuan Shao had annexed Youzhou (now the northern part of Hebei Province and most of Liaoning Province) with hundreds of thousands of troops, and threatened to attack Xudu. Cao Cao decided to stick to some elite soldiers in Guandu (northeast of Zhongmou, Henan) to guard against Yuan Shao's attack. He personally led an army to attack Xuzhou. Liu Bei sent someone to Yuan Shao for help. Tian Feng, Yuan Shao's counselor, advised Yuan Shao to sneak attack on Cao Cao when many troops were empty, but Yuan Shao disagreed. Cao Cao's army attacked Xuzhou. Liu Bei-bing was too few to resist Cao Cao's attack, so he had to give up Xuzhou and go to Jizhou to meet Yuan Shao.
Yuan Shao was very happy to hear that Liu Bei was defeated by Cao Cao and defected to himself. He thought he had another helper to fight against Cao Cao and immediately sent troops to meet the enemy. After more than a month, Liu Bei's defeated army gradually gathered and his strength gradually recovered.
make three calls at the thatched cottage/repeatedly request sb to take up a post
At this time, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were at war in Guandu. As a result, the whole army was wiped out. When Liu Bei knew about it, he went south to Jingzhou and defected to the prefect of Liu Biao. Liu Biao told Liu Beitun to stay in Xinye (now Xinye, Henan Province) in case Cao Jun went south.
For a long time, although Liu Bei himself was generous and won the hearts of the people, he could not make good decisions in military and political aspects, and of course it was not easy to occupy the base areas and keep them. The main reason is that Liu Bei is not strong enough to compete with the powerful warlord Cao Cao and others. Moreover, Liu Bei knew that although he had several brave generals such as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, he lacked a talented strategist to seek the Lord. Therefore, Liu Bei longed for talented people to help him.
So Liu Bei searched in Xinye. First, he found "Mr. Water Mirror" Si Mahui, but he didn't want to step into the place where warlords fought for hegemony, but provided Liu Bei with clues to find "Wolong and Feng Chu". Sure enough, just when he was eager for talent, talent came. This is Xu Shu, a famous scholar in Xiangyang, who turned the list into a blessing. He is a brilliant decision-maker, with lofty prestige and profound thoughts. As soon as he came, he defeated Cao Cao for Liu Bei three times and seized Fancheng by taking advantage of his weakness. Of course, it was a timely help to Liu Bei. But it didn't last long. Cao Cao forged a "personal letter" from Xu Shu's mother and cheated Xu Shu. When Liu Bei saw Xu Shu off, he said with tears, "If Sir goes, Liu Bei will also go up the mountain." Xu Shu was moved by it and broke up. He rode back and recommended Zhuge Liang to Liu Bei. Originally, Xu Shu won Liu Bei's full trust with his outstanding talents, but when he compared Zhuge Liang with himself, he said, "Compared with him, he is like a husband and a unicorn, a crow and a phoenix. He can be compared with Guan Zhong and Le Yi, but in my opinion, he is not as good as this man in management and music. This man has the talent of heaven and earth and covers the world! " After introducing Mr. Wolong's surname, family background and living conditions at that time, he added: "Mr. Wolong is a prosperous Jiang Ziya in 800 miles and a prosperous Zhang Zifang in 400 miles." His introduction made Liu Bei see hope again in despair, and even said enthusiastically, "Only today do we understand the languages of Wolong and Feng Chu. I didn't know daxian was just around the corner! If it weren't for Mr. Wang. Liu Bei is like a blind man with eyes! " So he made up his mind to invite Zhuge Liang out.
After learning about Zhuge Liang's residence, Liu Bei led Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and other entourage to visit. They came to a cabin with pleasant scenery, and a little boy came out. Liu Bei said that his official name and name were entirely for the audience. Unexpectedly, the child said, "I can't remember such a long name." Liu Bei had to say,' You said Liu Bei asked for an audience. "The child replied," Mr. Wang went out early in the morning. "Liu Bei asked," when can I come back? Extremely said, "That's impossible, maybe three or five days, maybe ten days, maybe." Liu Bei's invitation to Zhuge Liang failed.
The second time, in Zhuge Liang's thatched cottage, Liu Bei dismounted and struck Chai Men piously. The bookish man came out and said, "Mr. Zhuge is studying in class."
Liu Bei was very happy to go in and visit. He saw that the young man was handsome and young, but only in his twenties. Liu Bei bowed respectfully and said, "I've heard a lot about you, and I'm so lucky to finally meet you this time." The young man hurriedly replied, "The general is Liu Yuzhou. I heard from extremely well-read that you once came to see my second brother. " Liu Bei was very surprised and asked, "Aren't you Mr. Wolong?" The boy said, "I am Zhuge Jun, my brother Zhu Gejin is an official in Wu Dong, and my second brother Kong Ming and I are here to farm."
Liu Bei and others made a special trip to visit Zhuge Liang, but they never saw him again. Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others were quite dissatisfied. Liu Bei said to them, "I didn't see it this time. Come again next time. " Guan and Zhang were even more unhappy and murmured. Liu Bei had to leave a letter to Mr Zhuge, expressing his admiration and saying that he would visit again another day. A few days later, Liu Bei found that Zhuge Liang was really at home, so Liu Bei asked Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to accompany him to Longzhong. This time, Liu Bei finally met Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang was moved by Liu Bei's sincerity and immediately agreed to play. Liu Bei finally invited Kong Ming to come out of the mountain. This is the story of "three visits to the thatched cottage" in history.
Zhuge Liang was moved by Liu Bei's sincere visit. They hit it off immediately and haven't seen each other for a long time. Liu Bei asked the world humbly, and Zhuge Liang told Liu Bei his incisive views on the current situation without reservation. Zhuge Liang analyzed Cao, Sun and Liu's respective factors at that time, such as time, location and human harmony, and put forward the strategy of occupying Jingxiang and seizing Yizhou, which is the famous "Longzhong Dui" in history.
At that time, Longzhong outlined a fairyland for Liu Bei, who was struggling for help and hitting a wall everywhere. In the plight of repeated setbacks and dependence on others, he seemed to get a panacea, which made Liu Bei realize and could not help but applaud again and again. So Liu Bei asked Zhuge Liang to come out with him and help him achieve great things. Zhuge Liang first heard about Liu Bei's fame for a long time and knew that Liu Bei was a great man. Secondly, he was moved by Liu Bei's sincerity and agreed to go out of the mountain.
After Longzhong's confrontation, Liu Bei was attacked by Cao Cao's army again, so he left Xinye and fled south, and was surrounded by Cao Cao on the long slope of Dangyang. Liu Bei abandoned his wife and his subordinates and only led Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others to break through and leave. Zhao Yun embraced Liu Bei's weak sons Liu Chan, deus ex and Zhang Fei alone to repel Cao Cao's army at Dangyang Bridge, all of which are legendary stories in the Three Kingdoms. Later, Liu Bei and Sun Quan joined hands to burn Cao Cao's water army in Chibi and defeat Cao Jun ... This is the famous Battle of Red Cliffs in history.
To outsmart Yizhou and build Han Shu.
After Battle of Red Cliffs, Liu Bei finally breathed a sigh of relief, then recovered Wuling (now Changde, Hunan Province), Changsha (now Changsha), Guiyang (now Chenxian, Hunan Province), Lingling (now Lingling, Hunan Province) and other four counties, and began to have the prototype of a three-point world. But compared with Cao and Sun, it is still difficult to compete. Therefore, how to further strengthen the strength and expand the territory has become a top priority.
At the beginning, Zhuge Liang put forward the idea of occupying Jingzhou and Yizhou as emperors in Longzhong Dui. After Liu Bei occupied Jingzhou, he set out to forge ahead to Yizhou.
At that time, Yizhou was the territory of Liu Zhang, the imperial clan of the Han Dynasty. He is weak and incompetent, so the internal crisis is everywhere, and the whole country hopes that people with virtue will enter Yizhou. When Cao Cao laid Jingzhou, Liu Cong defected. Liu Zhang was also afraid, and wanted to unite with Cao Cao and send Zhang Song to Jingzhou to see Cao Cao. But Cao Cao was cold to Zhang Song, and Zhang Song was angry. He said goodbye to Cao Cao and went to see Liu Bei. Zhang Song was very moved by Liu Bei's sincere enthusiasm for Zhang Song, so he dedicated the map of Yizhou to Liu Bei and plotted with Fazheng and others to dedicate Yizhou to Liu Bei.
At this time, Zhang Lu, who occupied Hanzhong, attacked Yizhou, and Liu Zhang sent Fazheng to see Liu Bei, asking Liu Bei to send troops to attack Zhang Lu. I didn't expect Fa Zheng to meet Liu Bei, so I made Liu Bei the master of Yizhou directly. Liu Bei didn't agree immediately, and Fa Zheng said, "With the general's talent, we can take advantage of Liu's cowardice and take Zhang Song as the inside man to seize Yizhou. Then, relying on Yizhou's rich resources and relying on the geographical location of Shudao Natural Danger, the emperor's inheritance was established. " Liu Bei was very moved, but he still said in his mouth, "Liu Zhang and I are relatives of the Han family. It would be a big mistake to hit him!" Pang Tong heard that Fazheng of Yizhou was coming again, and Liu Bei was still hesitant about entering Sichuan, so he tried to persuade Liu Bei to seize Yizhou. After some pretentious refusal, Liu Bei finally agreed.
Liu Bei asked Fa Zheng to report back to Chengdu, Zhuge Liang took Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun to stay in Jingzhou, and Pang Tong personally assisted him, taking Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, Liu Feng and Guan Pingxi to Shu. Then, with the support of Zhang Song, Fazheng and others, they fought against Liu Zhang, occupied Fucheng and Mianzhu, surrounded Luocheng (now Guanghan, Sichuan) and attacked Luocheng for a whole year. Luocheng was captured, and strategist Pang Tong was shot dead by an arrow in the besieged city. After capturing Los Angeles, Liu Bei led an army to surround Chengdu. Ten days later, Liu Zhang finally surrendered. After Liu Bei captured Chengdu, he called himself Yizhou Pastoral.
When Cao Cao saw that Liu Bei had won Yizhou, he led the troops to attack. Liu Bei's general Huang Zhong killed Xia in Dingjun Mountain, and then forced Cao Cao to retreat without food. Liu Bei took advantage of the victory to occupy Hanzhong, and sent Liu Feng and Meng Da to capture Fangling (now Fangxian County, Hubei Province) and Shang Yong (now southwest of Zhushan Mountain, Hubei Province) in the east of Hanzhong County to expand their territory. Since then, with the support of his subordinates, Liu Bei claimed to be the king of Hanzhong.
Shortly after Liu Bei became the queen of Hanzhong, he got the news that Cao Pi, the son of Cao Cao, became the emperor of Wei State. Liu Bei wept bitterly, ordered the civil and military officials to put on mourning clothes, set sacrifices in the north, and added posthumous title, who offered Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty as the "filial emperor", but what he thought was that it was almost time for him to reign.
In order to achieve his goal, Liu Bei incited his cronies to create the so-called auspicious atmosphere of the emperor in the southwest. Soon, the phoenix, colorful clouds and Feng Dan were reported everywhere, and it was said that the imperial seal of Emperor Gaozu was found in the Hanshui River. Liu Bei's civil and military ministers all hoped that Liu Bei would be proclaimed emperor as soon as possible, and they all wrote to Liu Bei to persuade him to advance. Liu Bei also hypocritically refused, but the minister of civil and military affairs headed by Zhuge Liang once again asked Liu Bei to be emperor. But Liu Bei still dare not agree easily at this time.
Zhuge Liang pretended to be ill when he saw that Liu Bei could not make up his mind. After learning the news, Liu Bei went home to meet him personally and asked him what was wrong with him. Zhuge Liang said, "I am worried that my life will soon end!" " When Liu Bei asked what was bothering him, Zhuge Liang didn't answer Liu Bei's question. Liu Bei repeatedly asked, Zhuge Liang said weakly, "I have been asked out of the cottage by you, and you have been following your advice." Now your time is ripe, and civil and military officials want you to be emperor. On the one hand, it is to obey the will of God and destroy Wei with you. Secondly, you have to understand that now the world is falling apart, heroes come forth in large numbers, and talented people in every corner of the world are willing to climb the dragon and attach the phoenix to establish fame! I didn't expect you to refuse so far The minister of civil and military affairs is resentful and will definitely leave his hometown soon. If everyone leaves you and Wu and Wei attack, your country will be lost. As your courtier, can I not worry? " Liu Bei said, "I didn't refuse. I am afraid that people all over the world will not accept it! " "Zhuge Liang went on to say," the sage said,' the name is not correct, and the words are not smooth'. Now that you are justified, what else can others say? Haven't you ever heard of' if you don't take what God gives, it's a disaster'? "
When Liu Bei saw Zhuge Liang say this, he replied smoothly, "It's not too late to give a big gift when the strategist is well." When Zhuge Liang saw Liu Bei's promise, he jumped up, slapped the screen with his hand, and all the ministers hiding behind the screen squeezed out, bowed down to the ground and said, "Since your master has promised, choose an auspicious day for the throne." Seeing that Zhuge Liang had set a trap with his ministers, Liu Bei urged him to express his position as soon as possible, pretending to be indifferent and saying, "Your ministers trapped me in injustice." Not long after, a ceremony was held at the southern foot of Wudang Mountain in Chengdu. After reading the eulogy, the civil and military officials shouted "Long live" together. After the song and dance ceremony, Liu Bei named the country Han.
At this time, news came from Jingzhou that Guan Yu was killed by Dongwu. It turned out that Guan Yu fought Cao Cao in Jingzhou, and sent troops from Jingzhou to attack Xiangyang and Fancheng. He used the water potential to drown the seventh army, arrested Yu Ban, killed Pound and defeated Coss, which was unstoppable. At that time, Guan encouraged China. But then, Cao Cao and Sun Quan formed an alliance and jointly attacked and killed Guan Yu. Gal, Jingzhou will all fall into the hands of Sun Quan, and the alliance between Sun and Liu will be completely broken.
Jingzhou is very important to Liu Bei. According to the established strategic policy, Liu Bei attacked the Central Plains in two ways in the name of crusade against Cao Wei and revival of the Han Dynasty. All the way out of Hanzhong, all the way out of Jingzhou, echo each other. After Jingzhou fell, only Hanzhong was left in the Northern Expedition of Cao Wei. Moreover, the mountain road is dangerous, food and grass are difficult to continue, and there is little hope of winning. If Jingzhou is not recaptured, Liu Bei will be surrounded by the Three Gorges, which is extremely difficult to develop. Therefore, Liu Bei decided to attack Wu Dong, retake Jingzhou and avenge Guan Yu.
Liu Bei has been very sad about Soochow's occupation of Jingzhou and Guan Yu's murder. The first thing he did after he acceded to the throne was to attack Dongwu and avenge himself.
General Zhao Yun said that it was Cao Pi who usurped the throne, not Sun Quan. If Cao Wei can be destroyed, Soochow will naturally yield, and Cao Wei should not be allowed to fight Soochow.
Other ministers also advised many times, but Liu Bei refused to listen to anything. He left Zhuge Liang in Chengdu to help Liu Yuxin, and personally led a great army to conquer Wu Dong. While preparing to send troops, Liu Bei informed Zhang Fei to join forces in Jiangzhou (now Chongqing, Sichuan). Before Liu Bei sent troops, Zhang Fei would mutiny, kill Zhang Fei and go to Wu Dong. Liu Bei lost two fierce generals in a row, and his strength was greatly reduced, but he was eager for revenge, so there was no room for calm consideration.
When the alarm reached Wu Dong, Sun Quan was a little scared when he heard that Liu Bei had sent troops this time. He sent someone to make peace with Liu Bei, but Liu Bei refused.
A few days later, the Shu-Han army occupied Wuxian and fought all the way to Zigui. Knowing that peace was hopeless, Sun Quan appointed Lu Xun as the viceroy and led 50,000 troops to resist.
Only a few months after Liu Bei sent troops, he captured the land of five or six hundred miles in Soochow. He set out from Zigui, eager to continue eastward. Officer Huang Quan stopped him and said, "Wu Dongren has always been brave. Do not underestimate them. It is easy for our water army to advance downstream, but difficult to retreat. Let me be the pioneer, lead the way in front, and your majesty will meet you in the back. This is safer. "
Liu Bei was too anxious to listen to Huang Quan. He wanted Huang Quan to defend Jiangbei and guard against Wei Bing, so he led his main force along the south bank of the Yangtze River to Xiaoting.
When Soochow soldiers saw that the Shu army was pushing their luck, they were all gearing up and wanted to have a big fight with the Shu army. But Lu Xun, the viceroy, disagreed.
Lu Xun said: "This time Liu Bei led a great army to the East, with strong morale and strong fighting capacity. Besides, they are upstream, occupying a dangerous place, and it is not easy for us to break through him. If you fight hard with them, lose and lose your men, that's a serious matter. Save your energy and think about strategy. After a long time, they are tired, and we will find another opportunity to attack. "
The generals under Lu Xun, some veterans under Sun Ce and some nobles in Sun Shi all don't believe Lu Xun, a young scholar of Sun Quan. Now I hear that Lu Xun doesn't agree with them to go to war. He thinks that Lu Xun is timid, even more dissatisfied and resentful behind his back.
On the way from Wuxian to Yiling (now east of Yichang, Hubei Province), the Shu army set up dozens of camps, and connected them with trees as fences for 700 miles. Liu Bei thinks that this is like setting a tight encirclement. Only when Wu Dong people attack can they be destroyed.
But Lu Xun has been on hold. This year (AD 222) 1 month to June, the two sides were deadlocked for half a year. Liu Bei was in a hurry. He sent general Wu Ban down the mountain with thousands of people and camped on the flat ground to challenge Wu Bing. General Dongwu was impatient and demanded an immediate attack.
Lu Xun said with a smile: "I have observed the terrain. Although there are few soldiers camping on the ground, there must be an ambush in the surrounding valley. They shouted to lure us to war, and we can't be fooled by them. " The soldiers still don't believe it. A few days later, Liu Bei saw that the soldiers refused to go to war. Knowing that Lu Xun had seen through his plan, he withdrew 8,000 Shu soldiers lying in ambush in the valley.
One day, Lu Xun suddenly called his men and announced that he would attack the Shu army. The soldiers said, "If you want to beat Liu Bei, you should have beaten him a long time ago. Now let him come in five or six hundred miles, he has occupied the main road. If we play now, it will be bad. "
Lu Xun explained to them: "When Liu Beigang came, morale was high and we could not win easily. Now, they have been here for so many days, and they can't use it. The soldiers are already very tired. It's time for us to win the battle. "
He first sent a small number of troops to attack a battalion of the Shu army. Just near the wooden fence in Shuying, Shu soldiers rushed out from the left and right sides to fight; Then, several soldiers from the nearby company came out to reinforce. Wu Dong soldiers couldn't resist, so they quickly retreated. They had lost many troops.
When the generals complained about Lu Xun, Lu Xun said, "This is for me to test their reality. Today, I have a way to break the Shu camp. " That night, Lu Xun ordered every soldier to bring a pile of thatch and fire and ambush in the dense forest on the south bank in advance. After midnight, he went straight to the river and set fire to the camp.
In the middle of the night, four generals of Wu Dong led tens of thousands of soldiers, rushed to the vicinity of Shu camp, lit torches with thatch, and set fire to the wooden fence of Shu camp. That night, the wind blew so hard that the camps of the Shu army were connected. When a camp is lit, the nearby camps also burn together. Liu Bei's more than forty camps were breached at once. By the time Liu Bei found the fire, it was unstoppable. Under the protection of Shu soldiers, Liu Bei finally fled to Maanshan. Lu Xun ordered various Wu Jun to storm Ma 'anshan and fight until late at night. Liu Beicai broke through and fled with defeated troops. Wu Jun found out and ran after him. Fortunately, there was a post station along the way, blocking the abandoned trench and armor on the main road of the mountain pass, blocking the pursuers of Soochow, and Liu Bei fled to Baidicheng.
In this war, the Shu army was almost completely annihilated, and ships, equipment and munitions were seized by Wu Jun. Historically, this war was called "the Battle of Xiaoting" or "the Battle of Yiling".
After the burning camp, it was a heavy blow to Liu Bei, who had entered his twilight years. The failure depressed him and eventually made him ill. Later, his illness worsened. He urgently called Zhuge Liang to Baidicheng and entrusted him with handling affairs.
In this scene where the White Emperor entrusted orphans, Liu Bei staged a final cry to defeat the strong with the weak, which made Zhuge Liang afraid to usurp the throne and stand on his own feet after Liu Bei's death. This is Liu Bei's last contribution to Shu Han before his death.
In 223 AD, Liu Bei died in Baidicheng at the age of 63.