Of course, Liu Bei doesn't want to rely on others. On the one hand, he develops his own strength, on the other hand, he looks for talents and expands his camp. Here, he visited the villa and invited Zhuge Liang to help him. As soon as they hit it off, they set up the famous "Longzhong Dui" as their strategic goal. In Longzhong Dui, crossing Jing Yi is the first step to realize the revival of the Han Dynasty.
However, the actual situation is not as smooth as Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang expected. First of all, Soochow, next to Jingzhou, is eyeing up and wants to annex Jingzhou. They sent troops to defeat Jingzhou Army and killed Huang Zu. After pacifying the remnants of Yuan, Cao Cao in the north also marched south, and accepted Liu Cong's surrender while Liu Biao died of illness.
Liu Bei was caught off guard, and the soldiers were defeated and arrived at Xiakou. Although he allied with Sun Quan under the mediation of Zhuge Liang and Lu Su, he defeated Cao Cao in Battle of Red Cliffs. However, Longzhong's strategic policy got off to a bad start and lost the opportunity.
What did Zhou Yu try to achieve after Battle of Red Cliffs? All based on the Yangtze River? Our strategic goal, regardless of other goals, only focuses on Jiangling's upstream strategic goal. After a year-long struggle, Zhou Yu and Coss who defended Jiangling finally won this vital place.
Liu Bei turned around and attacked four counties in the south of the Yangtze River in Jingzhou. Liu Bei, who was short of troops, exchanged Zhang Fei, Qianjun and Zhou Yu for two thousand elite soldiers of Wu Dong, and personally led the troops to attack Jiangnan. Finally, Liu Bei captured Jingzhou in Wuling, Lingling, Changsha and Guiyang in the south of the Yangtze River. These four counties were managed by Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun respectively, and the taxes were adjusted to exile the army. At this point, Liu Bei finally had a place to live.
However, this is not the heyday of Liu Bei's strength in Jingzhou. Liu Bei discussed with Zhou Yu and asked Zhou Yu for the part of Nanjun in Jiangnan. However, compared with the northern part of Jingzhou, the development of this area is still very backward. Wuling and Lingling are still in a semi-wild state. Although Liu Bei's strength has increased, he is still weak.
After Zhou Yu's death, Liu Bei finally borrowed from Sun Quan to go to Nanjun on the grounds that the land was not enough for many people. At this time, Liu Bei's strength in Jingzhou reached its peak. Then we know that Liu Bei and Sun Quan have always had contradictions on the ownership of Jingzhou. If the contradiction between Sun Quan and Liu Bei intensifies at this time and the two sides use force, who will win or lose?
If it is fair, it should be that Liu Bei is slightly inferior. If both sides use force, Liu Bei is more likely to fail. First, let's take a look at the territory we occupy. Before Battle of Red Cliffs, Sun Quan occupied a solid base. In Zhuge Liang's words? According to Sun Quan, he lived in Jiangdong for three generations, and the country was in danger of the people. Can you use it? . After Battle of Red Cliffs, Sun Quan occupied Jiangxia County.
Although Liu Bei occupied five counties in Jingzhou, the land area of these five counties could not be compared with Wu Dong of Sun Quan.
Second, look at the economic strength of both sides. Under the rule of Sun Quan, there was no major war in Wu Dong, and the economy was not greatly affected. During the war, hundreds of thousands of Jiangbei people crossed the river to Wu Dong because of Cao Cao's policy of trying to relocate people, which further increased Sun Quan's strength.
Although Liu Bei's four counties in the south of the Yangtze River were not greatly damaged by the war, most of these areas were not developed. Many places are inhabited by ethnic minorities and their economies are very backward. At that time, Liu Bei was outnumbered and said that his army could not be accommodated in Jiangnan. It is conceivable that the development of Jiangnan.
Although Sun Quan lent Liu Bei the southern counties including Jiangling, he only gave Liu Bei a strategic stronghold. After a year of fighting between Zhou Yu and Cao Ren, Jiangling itself suffered great damage. And neither Coss nor Soochow will give each other a prosperous Jiangling. In this respect, as far as the economic strength of the site is concerned, Liu Bei can't compare with Wu Dong at all.
Third, in terms of military strength. Battle of Red Cliffs Sun Quan has been able to dispatch 30,000 chosen men, but judging from the dialogue between Sun Quan and Zhou Yu, Soochow has at least the strength to mobilize more than 50,000 troops. Sun Quan ceded Jiangling to Liu Bei. After shortening the defense line, he dispatched 100,000 soldiers to Hefei.
In the conversation between Sun Quan and Lv Meng to discuss the strategic direction, we can see that Lu Meng said that Xuzhou could be captured, but it needed 70,000 to 80,000 people to defend. From these conversations, we can infer that Sun Quan's maximum force should be around100000, but the maximum mobile force that can be mobilized should be around 80000.
Liu Bei's influence is much smaller. When Liu Bei attacked four counties in the south of the Yangtze River, he had to borrow two thousand troops from Zhou Yu because he had no troops. When Lu Su and Guan Yu met one-on-one, they said that after the defeat of Changbanpo, Liu Bei's troops could not arrive. A school? , is telling the truth.
After Liu Bei captured four counties in the south of Jingzhou, he greatly expanded his army. However, due to the constraints of objective conditions, there is a maximum expansion. As for Liu Bei's greatest strength in Jingzhou, we can infer it from the later dispute between Hunan and Water.
Liu Bei accepted Liu Zhang's invitation and led some troops into Sichuan. In the subsequent battle, a part of Jingzhou's main force was transferred, and Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and others led the troops into Sichuan. In this way, Jingzhou only has a part of Guan Yu's troops.
Later, in the dispute between Xiang and Shui, Liu Bei sent Guan Yu to lead the main force of Jingzhou with 30,000 people to compete, while he led 50,000 people to the public security support. Judging from this, some of the troops led by Liu Bei must be incorporated into Yizhou Army. In this way, when Liu Bei is not in Sichuan, the total strength will not exceed 60 thousand.
As far as arms are concerned, only Guan Yu's water army under Liu Bei can compete with Wu Dong, and it is difficult for other forces to play a role in Jiangnan, where the water network is densely covered. Therefore, in terms of military strength, Dongwu, who is also Sun Quan, is dominant.
Conclusion:
As can be seen from the previous analysis, if Liu Bei is in Jingzhou, his strength is not comparable to Sun Quan at all, let alone Cao Cao who wants to fish in troubled waters in the north. If Liu Bei dares to betray Wu Dong, he is likely to be defeated by Sun Quan. So Liu Bei's situation will be as embarrassing as Zhuge Liang described:
My Lord is in public security, fearing that Cao Gong has the power in the north, Sun Quan has the power in the east, and Mrs. Sun has recently become elbow and underarm; At that time, advance and retreat.
So Liu Bei will take Pang Tong's advice and decide to take Yizhou as the base. In this way, after obtaining Yizhou and Hanzhong, Liu Bei has a truly safe foothold and is no longer afraid of enemy invasion. Even later, Liu Bei suffered successive fiasco in Jingzhou and Yiling, which ensured the continuation of his Shu-Han regime.