The three countries coexisted for about 34 years (AD 229-263), but the dispute lasted for 90 years (AD 190-280). Although there were still wars in the Three Kingdoms period, it was a historical progress, which was different from the warlord scuffle in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. This is a unified war that conforms to the will of the people. The military strength of the three countries is the strongest in Wei, followed by Wu and the weakest in Shu. So the great cause of reunification was finally completed in Wei and Jin Dynasties. Among the three countries, Wu reigned for the longest time, ***52 years; Wei, * * * forty-five years; Once again for Shu, * * * forty-three years. In the first year of Jin Taikang (280), Wu was destroyed by Jin. At this point, the Three Kingdoms era came to an end.
The territory of the three countries is roughly divided into northern Wei, southwestern Shu and southeastern Wu. Wei is divided into four states: Si, Yu, Yan, Qing, Xu, Liang, Yong, Ji, You, He, Jing and Yang. Among them, Liangzhou led a black-bone chicken captain to protect the western regions; The land of Youzhou reaches Liaodong; The southern countries are connected with Shu and Wu by the Qinling Mountains and Huaihe River respectively. Shu is located in Yizhou, from Qinling Mountains to the south (now south of Dadu River in Sichuan and Yunnan-Guizhou area, hence the name). Wu Youyang, Jing, Jiao Zhou. Three-country hukou, with more than 660,000 households and a population of more than 4.4 million; Shu has 280,000 households, 940,000 people, 40,000 officials and more than 100,000 soldiers. Wu has more than 520,000 households with a population of 2.3 million, more than 30,000 officials and 230,000 soldiers.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the constant change and shake of the rulers' regime, political corruption reached the extreme, refugees were everywhere in society, and riots appeared constantly. With the emergence of a series of internal and external troubles such as Dong Zhuo's rebellion with Li Jue and Guo Si, the local powerful forces took the opportunity to grow rapidly and fight with each other, and the rule of the Eastern Han Dynasty existed in name only. For a time, the whole country was plunged into civil war chaos. Yuan Shao became the biggest warlord in the north according to his four states of Hebei, Qinghai, Youhou and Hehe. Cao Cao occupied Yanzhou and Henan, Han Sui and Marten occupied Liangzhou, Gongsun Zan occupied Youzhou, Gongsun Du occupied Liaodong, Tao Qian, Liu Bei and Lu Bu successively occupied Xuzhou, Yuan Shu occupied part of Huainan Yangzhou, Liu Biao occupied Jingzhou, Liu Zhang occupied Yizhou, Sun Ce occupied part of Jiangdong Yangzhou, and Shi Xie occupied Jiaozhou. In addition, Zhang Lu also protected Hanzhong area in the form of Taoist organizations, and offered sacrifices to treat the people. Among these separatists, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao are the most powerful and active.
At the beginning of Cao Cao, according to Yanzhou, 300,000 Qingzhou Yellow Scarf Army was incorporated, and its power gradually increased. He also welcomed Xian Di from Luoyang to Xuchang, holding the emperor as a vassal, and gained an advantage in politics. In the fifth year of Jian 'an (200), Yuan Shao and Cao Cao fought a decisive battle in Guandu, and Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao and became the strongest military group in the north. Liu Bei and Sun Quan are divided into southwest area and southeast area.
In order to continue to realize his ambition of dominating the world, Cao Cao led his army south in 2008, occupied Jingzhou and confronted Sun Quan in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. At this time, Liu Bei, an exiled descendant of the Han royal family, also started to promote the Han family, so he led the remnants of Jingzhou to unite with Sun Quan in Jiangdong, forming a situation in which Sun Liu joined forces to resist Cao. Liu Bei sent Zhuge Liang, a strategist, to Sun Quan's office to say that Sun had sent troops, and Sun and Cao Dajun fought in Chibi (after Battle of Red Cliffs, the ancient battlefield of Chibi in the Three Kingdoms was also built on the site of Battle of Red Cliffs). Cao Cao was defeated and retreated to the north. Liu Bei was able to occupy Jingzhou and then enter Chengdu. In the twenty-fifth year of Jian 'an (220), Cao Pi, the son, presented the emperor to the Han Dynasty and sealed Wei. The following year, Liu Bei also proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu, with the title of Han (commonly known as Shu or Shu). In 229 AD, Sun Quan, the prince of Wu, proclaimed himself emperor in Jianye, with the title of Wu. The era of tripartite confrontation has officially begun. From then on, Cao, Sun and Liu reached their peak. History books always regard Dong Zhuo's rebellion in A.D. 190 as the beginning of the struggle between the Three Kingdoms at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. )
In the early days of the Three Kingdoms, countries mainly devoted themselves to rectifying official administration, restoring social order and developing economy. Among them, Cao Wei's achievements are particularly outstanding. Since Cao Cao unified the north and reclaimed land, production has gradually resumed. Cao Cao also reformed many disadvantages since the Eastern Han Dynasty, suppressed the powerful forces of big landlords, swept away the autocratic power of eunuchs and consorts, and absorbed middle and lower landlords to participate in political power. Wei Wendi and France are practicing "Nine Grades of Righteousness", recognizing the official rights of the common gentry, and giving preferential treatment in economy. Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu, strictly enforced the rule of law, with strict discipline and clear rewards and punishments, which gradually restored and developed the agriculture and handicrafts of Shu and enhanced its national strength. In particular, Zhuge Liang appealed to the southwest Yi people, which made the minority areas develop and strengthened national unity. In 2 1 1 year, after Sun Quan moved to Wu Jianye, the southeast region developed rapidly, with 43 counties and 3 13 counties, which was greatly enhanced compared with the Eastern Han Dynasty. Wu has developed land development, agricultural development, political stability and navigation industry. After Battle of Red Cliffs, Cao Cao returned to the north. In the first month of the first year of Han Yankang (220), Cao Cao died; In October, his son Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor (that is, Wei Wendi Cao Pi), with the title of Wei, the capital of Luoyang and Jianyuan. In 22 1 year, Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu (namely Liu Bei, Emperor Zhaolie of Han Dynasty). His country name is Han, and the world is Shu, also known as Jianyuan Zhangwu. Sun Quan accepted the title of Wei on 22 1 and was called the King of Wu in Wuchang. In 222, the Shu army went out of the gorge and held a stalemate with Wu Jun in Yiling (now Yidu, Hubei). After the Battle of Xiaoting, Wu defeated Lu Xun and returned to Shu. In 229, Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor in Wuchang (that is, Sun Quan, Emperor Wu), and later moved to Jianye, the capital, to establish the State of Wu. Shortly after the Battle of Xiaoting, Shu and Wu Fumeng joined forces to fight against Cao Wei. Although there are still frequent wars between the North and the South, and sometimes the scale is relatively large, on the whole, the strength is generally balanced and has been maintained for more than 40 years.
Shortly after the establishment of Wei, the regime began to corrupt. During the period of Wang Fang in the State of Qi, there was a power struggle between Cao Shuang, the imperial clan of Fuzheng, and Sima Yi, the imperial commander of Taiwei. Cao Shuang changed the dynasty and rejected Sima Yi. Sima Jia is an aristocratic family since the Eastern Han Dynasty. Sima Yi himself is resourceful and has made many achievements in the military. In the second year of Jingchu (238), he led an army to pacify Gongsun Yuan and brought Liaodong into the territory of Wei. Ten years ago (that is, the first year of Jiaping in 249), Cao Shuang took the opportunity of Wang Fang to pay homage to Gao Pingling in Luoyang City to launch a coup, forcing Cao Shuang to yield, executing Cao Shuang and his henchmen, and monopolizing state affairs, which is known as the Gao Ping Ling incident. Later, Sima Yi, his son Sima Shi, successively put down the military rebellions of the Tombs (25i in Jiaping's third year), 255 in the second year and 257 in the second year) and Zhuge Dan (257 in Ganlu's second year) and the resistance of other courtiers from Huainan, thus consolidating Sima Shi's rule. A group of metaphysical celebrities, represented by the Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest, held a negative attitude towards Sima's family, among which Ji Kang was killed by Sima's family on charges of slandering famous religions and trying to help others. Most of them surrendered to the Sima family in the early Wei and Western Jin Dynasties.
When all the resistance forces were eliminated, Sima Yi made great contributions and sent troops to destroy Shu in the fourth year of Wei Jingyuan (263). Two years later, he replaced Wei as Jin in the name of accepting abdication. Wei experienced five emperors and forty-six years. After Liu Bei occupied Yizhou in 2 14 AD, he moved to Hanzhong, calling himself King of Hanzhong, which was the heyday of Shu. But in 2 19, the change of Jingzhou was the beginning of the weakness of Shu. Guan Yu, who stayed in Jingzhou, was attacked and killed by Sun Quanjun. In 22 1 year, after Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor, he went out of the gorge for Jingzhou the following year and fought with Wu Jun for Yiling. Defeated into Shu, died of illness. His son Liu Chan succeeded him. Zhuge Liang assisted Liu Chan. But the country is small and the people are weak, and the situation is difficult. Some southwest ethnic minorities have rebelled one after another. In the third year of Jianxing (225), Zhuge Liang led the army south, and captured Meng Huo, the leader of the rebel army, alive according to the strategy of "attacking first", and finally made Meng Huo change his mind and pacify South China. After the South China War, the alliance between Shu and Wu also achieved satisfactory results. Zhuge Liang led an army to Hanzhong in the fifth year of Jianxing, and fought fiercely with Wei for Guanlong. When Yizhou was tired, Zhuge Liang was in a hurry to fight. On the one hand, he tried to consolidate himself by the Northern Expedition to revive the Han Dynasty and restore the orthodox status of the old capital. On the one hand, attack is defense, so as to survive. Zhuge Liang sent troops many times, but most of them ended in failure. Zhuge Liang also died in the Northern Expedition, and the Northern Expedition stopped.
After Zhuge Liang's death, Shu successively took Jiang Wan, Fei Yi, Dong Yun and others as phase, and they just followed in his footsteps. After the first year of Jing Yao (258), eunuchs were in power and politically corrupt. General Jiang Wei's northern expedition was futile. In the sixth year of Jing Yao, Wei Jun attacked Shu in three ways, Jiang Wei resisted Wei Zhonghui's army in Jiange, and Deng Weiai left Yinping (now Wenxian West, Gansu Province) to the south and destroyed Shu in the winter of this year. Shu lived for two emperors for forty-three years. After Battle of Red Cliffs, Sun Quan's influence gradually expanded, and he gained half of the southeast. In the sixteenth year of Jian 'an (2 1 1), Sun Quantu ruled Moling, and Moling was changed to Jianye the following year. In the 24th year of Jian 'an (2 19), Sun Quan defeated Guan Yu and occupied Jingzhou. Three years later (222), the victory in the battle of Yiling limited the possibility of Shu developing the gorge. After Zhuge Liang's death and the Wei-Shu War stopped, Wei stepped up his attack on Wu in Huainan. In addition to stationing troops along the Yangtze River and setting up beacon towers, Wu Jun also built the ruxu Wharf at the south entrance of Chaohu Lake, which is heavily guarded. Wei Jun's navy was limited, and it was difficult to attack, so Wei Wuxiang held on for years. After the death of Sun Quan (252), wuyue became weaker and weaker, while Wei became stronger and stronger after Sima's three military rebellions in Huainan. Because Sima's policy was to destroy Shu first and then take Wu, to destroy Shu (263) and replace Wei (265) and then to be busy with the customization of the new dynasty, the Wu regime was temporarily extended. In the fifth year of Jintai (269), Yang Hucheng ordered to build a navy division in Yizhou, ready to attack Wu. In the winter of the fifth year of Xianning (279), Jin Jun sent troops to attack Wu from Jiangbei and Jiangling to Jianye, and Yizhou Navy stayed in the lower reaches of the gorge as a surprise soldier. In March of the first year of Taikang (280), Jianye was captured, Sun Hao, Emperor Wu, surrendered and Wu died. There were four emperors in Wu for fifty-two years. After the first year of Chuping in the Eastern Han Dynasty (190), the situation of national division has been unified by the whole country through local unification and stalemate in Wei, Shu and Wu regions.
Related Bibliography: History of the Three Kingdoms and Romance of the Three Kingdoms.