Was the "Xiangfan Campaign" commanded by Guan Yu launched without authorization or was it authorized by Liu Bei?

Discussion on several issues 1? Did Guan Yu attack Xiangfan without authorization? According to historical records, Guan Yu's attack was not arranged by Liu Bei, but he acted without authorization. The basis is: in Guan Yu's previous combat actions recorded in history, except this time, Liu Bei's verb "send, stay and make an envoy" was used. For example, "Zi Tong Zhi Jian" Volume 63: "I am going to kill Che Zhou, the secretariat of Xuzhou, and leave Guan Yu to be the prefect. I am still young." Book 65 of Jian: "Don't send Guan Yu to take hundreds of ships to Jiangling." "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" Volume 65: "Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, etc. Only Zhao Yun was left in Jingzhou, but Sima Yi was left in the camp. " Capital and Construction Volume 67: "Make Guan Yu Tun Jiangling and Zhang Fei Tun Zigui ..." Zi Tong Zhi Jian Volume 67: "Liu Bei heard of it and sent Guan Yu to fight against the three counties." Biography of the Three Kingdoms: "Master sent Guan Yu to guard the next Pi." "Leave Guan Yu to guard Xiapi, he is still young." "Don't send Guan Yu to Jiangling with a hundred ships." "The ancestors left Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu. To Jingzhou, lead tens of thousands of people into Yizhou. " The biography of the Three Kingdoms Guan Yu said: "Give way to guarding Pi City and do your duty." "My master will cross the river from Fan, and don't send more than a hundred ships to Jiangling." "Take Yu as the prefect and general of Xiangyang and stay in Jiangbei." "The first Lord decided Yizhou in the west and worshipped Dong Yu as governor of Jingzhou." And this attack, there is no record of Liu Bei's dispatch. For example, "Zi Jian" Volume 68: "Guan Yu ordered the prefect of Nanjun to guard Jiangling, and the general to guard public security, so he personally led the crowd to attack Cao Ren and Fan." The Biography of the Three Kingdoms said: "When Guan Yu attacked Cao Gong and Cao Ren, birds were forbidden." Biography of Three Kingdoms Guan Yu: "At the age of, I led many people to attack Cao Ren and Fan." My analysis is not that historical materials omit verbs, but that Guan Yu attacked Xiangyang and Fancheng without instructions from Liu Bei. Why did Guan Yu suddenly attack Xiangyang and Fancheng of Wei without authorization at this time? Because it is not recorded in historical materials, it is impossible to know the real reason at that time. But we can analyze Guan Yu's consistent character, disposition, position and strength, and thus roughly infer the reason why he attacked Xiangfan without authorization. First, Guan Yu has always been conceited. Because Liu Bei led a great army and just defeated Cao Cao and occupied Hanzhong, many generals made great contributions in this campaign. For example, Huang Zhong killed the general Xia, and Zhang Fei defeated the general Zhang He of Wei in Bazhong. Ma Chao and Zhao Yun also made many contributions to Liu Bei in different degrees. Guan Yu, as the first general of Liu Bei, has made no outstanding achievements in recent years. Although Liu Bei still ranked Guan Yu as the first general when he appointed Guan Yu as an official, Guan Yu's temperament is bound to surpass Huang Zhong and others to prove that he is a veritable first general of Liu Bei. Second, Guan Yu may have reported the attack plan to Liu Bei, but Liu Bei is busy preparing to convene the king and women of Hanzhong to rectify the internal affairs and stabilize Yizhou (because Yizhou and Hanzhong have just been occupied, and the people are unstable). In addition, after fighting in Hanzhong for a year and a half, the troops were very tired and did not want to carry out large-scale military operations immediately, so Guan Yu's action plan was not approved. This is one of the reasons why Liu Bei never reinforced Guan Yu. On the one hand, Liu Bei was angry that Guan Yu didn't listen to his command when he became king, and believed that Guan Yu could win this local battle soon. Therefore, during the six-month campaign, Liu Bei neither sent a single soldier from Sichuan to reinforce Guan Yu, nor ordered Liu Feng, Meng Da and others closest to Guan Yu to go south along the Hanshui River to help Guan Yu, which indirectly led to Guan Yu's downfall. Third, Guan Yu thought that with his ability, even without Liu Bei's approval and assistance, he could win a medium-sized Jingzhou war. And his attack target can only be Xiangyang and Fancheng in the north. Although Sun Quan and Guan Yu in the East looked down on them, they were still allies. The west and south are their own territory. If Xiangyang and Fancheng are occupied, the Hanshui River Basin will be completely controlled, and it will be integrated with Shang Yong and Liu Fengjun in Fangling, occupying an excellent starting base for the future March into the Central Plains, which is very favorable in strategic pattern. We don't know whether Guan Yu was ready to seize Xiangyang and Fancheng at the beginning, or whether he just planned to go north and destroy some strongmen in Wei Jun. In fact, it is very likely that Guan Yu decided to take advantage of the situation to capture Xiangfan after the imperial army was flooded, and the result became deeper and deeper. Fourth, Cao Jun in Xiangfan is not very strong. Coss, Lu Chang and others led no more than 10000 troops (thousands each, totaling about 7000-8000), while Guan Yu was able to use 30000 offensive troops and water army. He thinks that he has great prestige in Cao Jun, and Cao Cao has just failed in Hanzhong, so he must be more afraid of Guan Yu's army. Perhaps Cao Cao will adopt the same method as Hanzhong, that is, give up Xiangfan. In this way, Guan has made great contributions to the acquisition of Xiangyang and Fancheng. Later, Cao Cao was almost forced to move the capital to the north by Guan Yu's offensive, and Coss almost gave up Fancheng and withdrew his troops to the north. Guan Yu's strategy almost succeeded. 2. How many men and horses did the troops take part in the Xiangfan Campaign? As we already know, the monarch who took part in the war is mainly composed of three parts-the first part, Cao Ren and Lu Chang's Xiangfan defenders, each with thousands of people, totaling less than 10 thousand people, estimated at around 8 thousand people; The second part, Yu Jin, Pound's reinforcements, more than 30 thousand people; The third part, Huang Xu's second batch of reinforcements, the strength is unknown. We mainly analyze the strength of this part: Huang Xu's direct troops are estimated to be around 5,000 people, most of whom are recruits. In addition, two generals, Xu Shang and Lu Jian, are not well-known and have few troops, each of which is about 2500. Because these troops were too few, Cao Cao ordered the follow-up troops to wait until they arrived. How many men and horses are there in the 12 camp that rushed to Yin Shu and Zhu Gai? According to records, Yin Department was instructed by Cao Cao to select 5,000 soldiers from Han Sui and Ma Chao for training. Therefore, it can be considered that there are five thousand Yin soldiers, and Zhu Gai is tied with them, and their strength should be similar. Therefore, it is inferred that this 12 battalion has 12 troops. In this way, it is concluded that the total strength of Huang Xujun is about 20,000. Cao Jun who took part in the Xiangfan campaign was all less than 60,000, much more than Guan Yu's 35,000. It's just a bulk investment. Guan Yu's strength is estimated as follows: before the start of the campaign, the number of Guan Yu's offensive corps was 30 thousand (he led 30 thousand troops to confront Lu Su when he competed with Sun Quan for Jingzhou, so Guan Yu's mobile strength was judged to be 30 thousand); There are 3,000 to 4,000 troops left behind in public security and Jiangling, and it is estimated that there are still thousands in other areas (because they are not at the front line, it is estimated that there are not many troops), with a total number of 45,000. In the middle of the campaign, Guan Yu not only wanted to attack the city, but also blocked and escorted the prisoners. Therefore, he felt that his troops were insufficient. Sun Quan showed weakness to Guan Yu, so he sent some troops from the two cities to Xiangyang for reinforcements. There is no record of the number of people in the history books, and it is estimated that there are more than a few thousand people. In this way, Guan Yu's troops in Xiangyang remained at around 30,000 (minus the troops escorting prisoners), while the police and Jiangling each had only 2-3,000 people to defend. Sun Quanjun sent by Sun Quan to sneak attack roughly includes three parts: thousands of people from Lu Xun and 20,000 people from Monroe (the main force of sneak attack). Sun Quan later brought some troops, the number of which is unknown. It is estimated that there are more than 654.38+00,000 people, totaling about 35,000 people. Because Sun Quanjun's strength is not recorded, the above figures are inferred from the general's situation. 3. Does Guan Yu's attack on Xiangfan at this time conform to Zhuge Liang's strategic concept of Longzhong? First of all, let's take a look at how Zhuge Liang's Longzhong Pair was conceived-"If the world changes, a general will lead Jingzhou's army to Wan and Luo, and a general will lead Yizhou's people to Qinchuan ..." There are three conditions: A, the key is to wait for "the world changes"-this is the premise; B, the basic condition is to occupy Jingzhou and prepare to March into Wanluo; C, the basic condition is to occupy Yizhou and prepare to March into Guanzhong; After Liu Bei occupied Hanzhong, one basic condition has been completed, and the other basic condition is not to occupy Xiangyang. Because Zhuge Liang conceived Longzhong's right time, Liu Biao's Jingzhou territory was the first basic condition. At this time, only Xiangyang and Fancheng are still in the hands of the enemy. So Liu Bei's next move should really be to capture Xiangfan and prepare two basic conditions. But it is inappropriate for Guan Yu to attack at this time. First of all, although Liu Bei's main force occupied Hanzhong, he was exhausted in the battle with Cao Jun for a year and a half. At this time, Liu Bei urgently needed a period of time to restore and train soldiers; Secondly, Cao Cao has voluntarily retreated from Hanzhong, and the basic main force has not suffered too much loss (except Xia Houyuan's army). Because Cao Cao only invested a part of his troops in Hanzhong (Liu Bei is basically the main force in Sichuan), there are still many troops who have no fatigue or casualties in combat and can quickly invest in Jingzhou War Zone (Huang Xujun is a typical example); Third, Guan Yu's rear is not stable, and there are still many hidden dangers. It is necessary to have a new high-level guard over the future to help him; Fourth, the relationship with Sun Quan has not been done well, so we should do some work or prepare to further ease the relationship. Therefore, the timing of Guan Yu's attack, or before, can at least attract Cao Cao's attention and reduce the pressure in Hanzhong; Or at some later time-unified deployment and arrangement by Liu Bei. Although Liu Bei gave Guan Yu a holiday, launching such a major military action should have been approved by him or planned by Liu Bei as a whole. If the enemy attacks, Guan Yu certainly has the right to fight back or decide other tactical military actions, but he has no right to decide such strategic issues. When Cao Zhen attacked Hanzhong, he not only asked Di Wei for instructions, but also had a full discussion. So I think Guan Yu's actions are in line with Longzhong's strategic concept, but the timing of implementation is wrong. 4. Why didn't Liu Beijun support Guan Yu in Sichuan? Guan Yu began to attack Xiangyang and Fancheng in July 2 16, and finally died in February 16, which lasted nearly half a year. Moreover, Liu Bei's main force won the battle of Hanzhong in May this year, and then Liu Bei became king in July. If from the occupation of Hanzhong, Liu Bei's troops have six months to reinforce Guan Yu in Xiangfan, even after Liu Bei became king, there will be nearly four months. Then why didn't Liu Bei reinforce Guan Yu and send some generals to help Guan Yu? There is no clear record and explanation on this issue in history. We can analyze it according to the relevant situation: first, as analyzed in the first question, Guan Yu's attack was an unauthorized action without Liu Bei's consent, and Liu Bei was very angry about it, so he did not take the initiative to reinforce Guan Yu later. Liu Bei is in Hanzhong and Chengdu, and he can't help but know that Guan Yu has begun to attack. Xiangfan is far away from Hanzhong and Chengdu, but the express delivery will take at most ten days and a half months. In addition, Shang Yong County where Liu Feng and Mengda are located is not far from Xiangyang. Therefore, Liu Bei was not prepared to reinforce Guan at all, nor did he order Liu Feng and others to reinforce Guan. Second, Guan Yu was too confident in his own strength and did not ask Liu Bei to send him more reinforcements. At the beginning of the campaign, Guan Yu's progress was really smooth: not only did the flood wipe out all the troops of the elite reinforcements sent by Cao Cao-the 7 th Army (more than 30,000 people) in Yujin and Pound, but also besieged Cao Jun in Xiangyang and Fancheng. Because at that time, Guan Yu's attacking troops were only 30,000, and more than 30,000 people in Wei Jun were wiped out at once, surrounded by nearly 65,438+10,000 people, which really shocked the ruling and opposition parties, and even many places south of Xuchang followed suit. Third, Liu Bei and Guan Yu did not consider that their ally Sun Quan would attack from behind, and immediately occupied all Guan Yu's main strongholds in Jingzhou: public security, Jiangling, Yiling and other places, and cut off the connection with Yizhou through the Yangtze River. It can be said that Guan Yu has fallen into a dilemma, losing ground, and collapsed overnight. In this way, Liu Bei had no time to send troops from Chengdu after receiving the news that Guan Yu was dying. Fourth, even if Liu Bei later wanted to send troops to reinforce, it was basically impossible. First, Guan Yu retreated in the wrong direction, which made it difficult for reinforcements to reach Guan Yu's place: going south by bypassing Shang Yong would be attacked by Wei Jun in Xiangyang, while going east along the Yangtze River would require passing through Yiling and Jiangling just occupied by Sun Quanjun. Second, Guan Yu failed too quickly, and all the main strongholds were lost at once, which made Guan Yu lose the possibility of using the strong city defense to reinforce. 5. Why did Sun Quan suddenly break his covenant with Liu Bei and attack Guan Yu? In Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 AD, the relationship between Sun and Liu was so close that it could be said that they were as close as lips and teeth. After only eleven years, the two families turned against each other and really verified a famous saying: there are no eternal friends in the world, only eternal interests. It is related to the vital interests of the future survival and development of both sides that led to this sneak attack. What are the interests of the two sides in Jingzhou area that can make the two families not hesitate to fight? The analysis is as follows: First, the special and extremely important military geographical location in Jingzhou area is the most fundamental reason for this action. If you know military geography, you will understand that Jingzhou area is very important to both sides and even the three parties geographically: for Sun Quan, the ownership of Jingzhou is related to the safety of Jiangdong base area and is the key to life and death. According to military geography and historical experience, Jingzhou must be defended to defend Jiangdong. Jingzhou is located in the upper reaches of Jiangdong. It is reported that Jingzhou and Jiangdong enjoy the natural barrier of the Yangtze River, and the natural barrier that Jiangdong relies on no longer exists. And from the lower reaches of Jingzhou, it has geographical advantages and is the best base to attack Jiangdong. Many successful cases of attacking Jiangdong in history were mostly initiated by Jingzhou. So Jingzhou is a battleground for Sun Quan Group. For Liu Bei, Jingzhou is the east gate of Yizhou, and it is also the basic guarantee for Zhuge Liang to occupy Jingzhou and Yizhou and attack Wei in two ways. Losing Jingzhou, although it will not cause too much threat to Yizhou, after all, makes Yizhou directly connected with the enemy in the east, and the most important thing is. Without Jingzhou, there is only one route to attack Wei from Hanzhong, and the strategic initiative is basically lost. Zhuge Liang's plan of "northern expedition to the central plains and restoration of the Han dynasty" has no possibility of realization. For Cao Cao, Jingzhou is not only the south gate to defend the Central Plains, but also an important base to attack Jiangdong. In the defensive stage, as long as we can keep Jingzhou, even a part of it, we can also ensure the security south of the Central Plains. In the offensive stage, according to Jingzhou, it is convenient to go downstream and destroy the enemy in Jiangdong. Therefore, Cao Cao established three strategic points against Sun Liu's allied forces on the whole long front: Hefei on the east, Xiangyang on the south and Qishan on the west. But among the three schools, Jingzhou is the most important to Sun Quan, because it is related to the issue of life and death. This is the key reason why Sun Quan attacked Guan Yu. The above problems are discussed in detail in Mr. Juve's book Layout the World. Second, the continuous development of Liu Bei Group made Sun Quan feel a serious threat, which was the second most important reason for this action. Sun Quan was very kind to Liu Bei when Sun Liu just started to unite. He not only stepped forward at the most critical moment to stop Cao Cao's fierce pursuit of Liu Bei, but also lent Jingzhou (the most important county in the south) to Liu Bei when he was in trouble, so that he gradually developed westward and married his sister to Liu Bei. It should be said that it is very interesting. But why did you attack Jingzhou and turn against Liu Bei? Most importantly, when Liu Bei was weak, he did not pose a threat to Sun Quan. By the time Liu Bei occupied Yizhou, it should be said that his strength was close to Sun Quan. At this time, Sun Quan felt the threat of Jingzhou, and the commander in chief of Jingzhou was Guan Yu, who had a reputation and was unfriendly to Sun Quan. So when Liu Beigang occupied Yizhou, Sun Quan immediately asked Liu Bei for Jingzhou. During Guan Yu's attack on Xiangfan, it was the most powerful stage of the Shu army. Liu Bei has105,000 people in Sichuan, Liu Feng has100,000 people in Shang Yong and Guan Yu has 45,000 people in Jingzhou, making a total of160,000 people. After the failure to recapture Jingzhou, Sun Quan has been waiting for the opportunity to recapture Jingzhou. Guan Yu's attack just gave Sun Quan such an opportunity. Sun Quan's sneak attack on Jingzhou is inevitable. Third, after years of struggle with Wei, Sun Quan found that he could protect Jiangdong by himself (in fact, Wu was basically fighting alone during this period). But if you want to fight the Central Plains, there is still a considerable gap between your own army and Cao Cao's elite troops. So Sun Quan made peace with Cao Cao to reduce the conflict with Cao Cao. At the same time, it also reduces the importance of the Sun-Liu alliance. So when Lv Meng suggested a sneak attack on Jingzhou, Sun Quan immediately approved the plan without hesitation. 6. Why did Guan Yu's troops break up and surrender so easily? After Guan Yu was attacked by Sun Quan and lost his base area, he still had more than 30,000 troops (including some reinforcements transferred from Jiangling and Gongan after the water army). Why did you basically have no fighting capacity when you withdrew south, and finally you dispersed to the situation that Guan Yu had only a dozen cavalry? Moreover, Guan Yu arranged for the generals who stayed in Jiangling, public security and other important towns to surrender to Sun Quan soon, and even had no chance to send him back to the army for reinforcements. I'm afraid this needs to be discussed from Guan Yu's character, the level of the army, the appointment of the Ministry and the environment. First, Guan Yu's character, according to historical records, is arrogant and harsh to upper-level personnel (including literati and generals), but he is very concerned about soldiers. He often reprimands and punishes his generals and looks down on them, thinking that he is the only one with the highest level in the world. As a result, many ministries and commissions will be dissatisfied with him and usually will not express their inner feelings to Guan Yu. At the critical moment, the consequences will appear. Second, Guan Yu was very kind to the soldiers, but most of them were Jingzhou natives (the real elite was brought to Sichuan by Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang). As soon as they heard that the rear was occupied by the enemy, they only cared about whether their families were well. Sun Quan and Lv Meng just took advantage of this, were very friendly to the families of Guan Yu soldiers, and used the messenger's mouth to convey these information to these soldiers. As a result, the soldiers had no intention of fighting and fled home. Third, Guan Yu's soldiers have average combat ability and have no belief in fighting for them. Middle-level commanders are also poor and can't control the troops at all. In this battle, Guan Yu's troops did not win any fierce battles. In addition to the first stage, the troops in the Forbidden City were packed (there was no fierce fighting, because more than 30,000 people in the Forbidden City almost surrendered), the second stage of siege made no progress, the third stage was defeated by reinforcements Wei Jun, and fourth, the training level of soldiers was not high. The training level of soldiers is mainly reflected in the time when troops are in adversity. In this adversity, if the troops can maintain stability and combat effectiveness, it will prove that their training level is high. However, if the combat effectiveness is strong only when it is successful, and there is confusion and escape when encountering setbacks or emergencies, it means that the training level of the troops is average. I hope it helps you.