A series of battles, such as Battle of Red Cliffs and Yiling, highlighted the great influence of geographical environment on the battles. The strategizing and decision-making of generals with unified armies, as well as the geographical situation of mountains and rivers, are all important factors that they must consider.
In the history of the Three Kingdoms War, Jingxiang area has always been a battleground for the three parties, and Xiangyang, an important town, has staged several rounds of North-South wars. Xiangyang has become a hot spot of fierce competition between the two sides, which is closely related to the geographical position and strategic strategy of Wei, Shu and Wu.
Xiangyang's position in the Three Kingdoms period was important mainly because of its strategic geographical position, which was the crossroads of north-south traffic. The surrounding terrain is special, surrounded by mountains on three sides and water on one side, which is conducive to defending against unfavorable storms, and the natural environment around Xiangyang is extremely suitable for reclamation and rich in products.
At the same time, it can not be separated from the basic strategy of Zhuge Liang of Shu, Zhou Yu of Wu based on Jiangling, Yizhou occupying Xiangyang and northern expedition to Cao Wei. Xiangyang, known as the throat of the world, became the core of outstanding people and brilliant stars in the Three Kingdoms period. It can be said that the Three Kingdoms originated in Xiangyang, which was named after the Three Kingdoms.
1. During the Three Kingdoms period, the Sun Wu regime occupied Jingzhou and Yangzhou and set Jingyang as two major war zones. The places where soldiers get food are mainly concentrated in Jianghan Plain and Su Hu Plain in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.
Jingzhou is the base camp of its northern expedition to the Central Plains, with two offensive routes, land and water. The land route is from Jiangling to the north, passing through Dangyang, Jingmen and Yicheng to Xiangyang. Xiangyang waded into the Hanshui River, passed through Fancheng, and then entered the Nanyang Basin through the Hunan-Deng Corridor, where it can divide its forces to attack the Guanzhong Plain, Luoyang Plain, North China Plain and other parts of the Central Plains.
You can also start from Xiangyang, go east along the rolling river line, pass through Zaoyang today, pass through Gu Dao between Tongbai Mountain and Dahongshan, reach Suizhou, go south through Laishui, enter the eastern Jianghan Plain from Anlu and Yunmeng, and finally reach the Yangtze River estuary.
The waterway is dominated by the Hanshui River, starting from Jingzhou by boat, going up the Hanshui River from Miankou, and passing through Shicheng and Yicheng to Xiangyang. Because Xiangyang is located at the place where several streams such as the Rapids River, the Baihe River and the Tanghe River meet and flow into the Hanshui River, Wu Jun can continue to move westward and attack the Hanzhong Basin.
You can also turn into the Sanhekou from here, then cross the Baihe River to the north and go straight to the south of Anhui.
Xiangyang, located at the intersection of many flood and drought roads, is a transportation hub connecting Jianghan Plain and Nanyang Basin. On the extremely special geographical boundary of Wei Shuwu, Xiangyang has become an important hub connecting north and south and connecting east and west.
This has also produced extremely high military value. Sima Yi once said: "Xiangyang is a land and water rush, and it is very important to prevent bandits. We can't abandon it." Li Dao also believed that the north of Xiangyang was connected with Wancheng and Luoyang, and he sent his troops and defeated the Central Plains Center.
So Xiangyang became the main gateway for the southern army to enter the Central Plains northward. It can be said that the occupation of Xiangyang area can not only use troops in many directions, but also cut off the main road of the enemy's land and water March, thus grasping the initiative of the war.
2. Xiangyang City is located on the south bank of Hanshui River, facing Fancheng across the river, facing Hanshui River and backed by Xianshan Mountain, overlooking Tongbai Mountain in the northeast and viewing Dahongshan in the southeast. The remaining veins of Wudang Mountain exist in the northwest, and Jingshan Mountain traverses the southwest. "The mountains are surrounded by mountains, and the water runs through them", which constitutes a barrier on all sides, which is conducive to defense, but not to the siege action of cars and troops.
Xiangyang city is treated differently by military strategists because its surrounding topography and hydrological conditions are conducive to military defense.
"You can advance to the northwest, but retreat is enough to consolidate the southeast." Xiangyang is just at the north entrance of the Hanshui River Valley Passage, and the terrain is dangerous. Using the Hanshui River in Lincheng and the surrounding mountainous areas, the enemy's route can be tightly blocked.
In history, the defenders of Xiangfan have repeatedly defeated the invading army of powerful enemies by virtue of the impregnable mountains and rivers in the city. For example, in 2 19, Guan Yu marched to Xiangyang, but Coss couldn't get out. Guan Yu returned to Li Wei, and Sun Wu attacked Jingzhou in the rear. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties occupied Xiangyang, Sun Wu and Shu Han both fell into a very passive strategic situation.
Judging from the situation of the separatist regime in the North and South of the Three Kingdoms, Sun Wu, Yang Jing, Yi and Jingzhou were in the middle, which played an important role in connecting the east with the west. However, due to the vast plains, it was difficult to defend.
Xiangyang is located in the north of the plain, surrounded by mountains on three sides and overlooking the Hanshui River. Its topography naturally constitutes a barrier to the north. "If Xiangyang is lost, Jiangling will be in danger." Once it falls, the south is in danger.
If Xiangyang is under the control of the southern forces, the southern forces will be in an easy position to attack and defend. You can advance to Nanyang to spy on the Central Plains and retreat to Xiangyang to defend the enemy. However, if it is controlled by the northern forces, Jianghan Plain will be widely opened, which will seriously threaten the Yangtze River waterway connecting Wu and Shu, which is not conducive to the stability of the southern regime.
In Song Dynasty, Du Fan called Xiangyang the western gate of the country, also known as the throat of the world. "If a thief steals his door and grabs his throat, Wu and Shu will be cut off."
Therefore, during the war at the end of the Han Dynasty, Liu Biao adopted Kuai Yue's suggestion: "There are Jiangling in the south, Xiangyang in the north, and eight counties in Jingzhou can be passed down." Manage Xiangyang's army, observe changes and stabilize local rule.
After Zhou Yu Battle of Red Cliffs, he suggested that Sun Quanbing leave Jiangling, seize Sichuan and Hanzhong, and then go all out to advance to Xiangyang, making it the frontline base of attacking Cao Cao in the north. Unfortunately, Zhou Yu died young and failed to realize this strategic concept.
3. The agricultural development of Tuwo and Shuifeng Xiangyang has superior natural environment, which is conducive to agricultural planting and can provide sufficient food for the garrison. This is an important factor that Xiangyang has long been regarded as a military hub in history.
There are many cultivated lands around Xiangyang city, with fertile soil, mild and humid climate, especially abundant sunshine, which can meet the requirements of double cropping rice.
The surrounding water network is dense, and the Hanshui River and its tributaries, such as blocking river, Guandu River and Gunhe River, are distributed in a dendritic water system, which has effectively promoted the development of irrigation in this area, and many water conservancy projects such as Liumen weir, wooden canal and longqu have been built locally. "Around Xiangyang, there are fertile fields and wild mulberry fields everywhere."
In history, many successful people stationed troops in the local area to open up wasteland. In the Western Jin Dynasty, yang hu left Xiangyang Town. "It took ten years to reclaim wasteland ... until the end of the season. ..... Xiangyang is the basis of destroying Wu ",and the Western Jin Dynasty destroyed Wu from Xiangyang.
4. Xiangyang fought against each other during the war between the late Han Dynasty and the early Jin Dynasty, and Xiangyang was a strategic place for fierce competition between the North and the South. "The court across jing, henan, north and south. Since the Three Kingdoms, this is the most important place in the world. "
Since 2008, when Cao Cao marched south to Jingzhou and Liu Cong surrendered, Cao Caobing occupied Xiangyang without bloodshed, defeated Liu Bei in Nanyang and threatened to "hunt in Wu" with Sun Quan. Sun and Liu formed an alliance with Chibi, defeated Cao Cao and retreated to Xiangfan.
Later, the rulers of Cao Wei designated Xiangyang as an important town in the south and regarded it as a strategic base in the south. Even though it was defeated in Battle of Red Cliffs, it tried its best to keep Xiangyang intact and became the base for Cao Wei to block the north and attack the south. In Wei Mingdi, "defending Xiangyang in the south" completely became the basic national policy of Cao Wei's strategy.
In more than 40 years, Wu and Shu planned and launched eight campaigns to attack Xiangfan. Among them, Guan 2 19 leaves Xiangyang. Although Guan Yu flooded seven armies, he escaped from the ban, beheaded Pound, surrounded Coss in Fancheng, and surrounded Lu Chang in Xiangyang.
However, when Xiangyang could not be captured for a long time, he was ambushed by Sun Quan and Lv Meng, lost Jingzhou, and Guan Yu died in battle, which completely bankrupt Shu Han's strategy of "crossing Jing Yi".
With the joint efforts of Cao Wu, Shu Han defeated Xiangyang. This failure triggered Liu Bei's attack on Wu. The famous battle of Yiling in history ended badly, and Wu Sheng defeated Shu. On the big stage of the three kingdoms wrestling, the defeat of Xiangyang became the starting point and symbol of Shu Han's decline from prosperity to decline.
Since then, the world has officially entered a three-legged situation, and the Shu army has completely withdrawn from Jingzhou. Then there were sporadic counterattacks. For example, in 227, Wei contacted Meng Da and Zhuge Liang to attack Cao Wei, but Sima Yi sent troops to settle in Nanyang, and the Shu army ended in vain.
Later, Sun Wu was trapped in the southeast, and was always in a strategic passive situation because of the threat of Cao Wei's army in Xiangyang. Unwilling to be trapped, Sun Wu sent troops to Xiangyang several times and fought with Cao Wei several times, but all ended in failure.
In the Jing-Xiang dispute, Sun Wu could not attack Xiangyang, and Cao Wei unconditionally sent troops to the south on a large scale, so the two sides confronted each other in Jianghan for a long time. Until Cao Pi replaced the Han Dynasty, Cao Wei gradually became stronger and began to oppress Sun Wu's defense line, and successively moved Jingzhou's military and political center to Xinye and Xiangyang. Since then, Soochow has been weakening day by day.
After Sima destroyed Shu, Wei replaced Jin, Western Jin and Sun Wu launched a new round of military struggle in Xiangfan. In the War of Destroying Wu, the Western Jin Dynasty also advanced southward based on Xiangyang.
In 279, the Western Jin Dynasty sent 200,000 troops to attack Wu, and the viceroy Jia Chong sent troops to Xiangyang to monitor the war situation. The soldiers in the Western Jin Dynasty were divided into six routes, among which Tu Yu sent his troops from Xiangyang, all the way down the river, and captured Jiangling, finally realizing the unified pattern of unifying the north and the south, and the three tribes returning to Jin.
5. Summary Xiangyang is located in the geographical hub of north-south traffic, with mountains and rivers, which is beneficial to defense and excellent conditions for reclamation. Therefore, it has always been valued by military strategists and has become a hot spot of contention and fierce competition between the North and the South. Xiangyang's superior strategic position was further highlighted in the late Han and Three Kingdoms periods.
Liu Biao manages Xiangyang, laying the foundation for one-third of the world; Cao Wei captured Xiangyang, opened the door to Jianghan and went south to Soochow. Guan Yu defeated Xiangyang in order to "cross the Jing and benefit" in the hope that the world would go up in smoke; Sun Wu did not get Xiangyang, was trapped in the southeast, and finally died is a foregone conclusion.
Xiangyang is the strategic support point of the three pillars, which is both the starting point and the end point. The thrilling historical drama shows Xiangyang's strategic position in the history of the Three Kingdoms and opens the most magnificent picture of Xiangyang's history.