The Yiling War launched by Liu Bei brought disastrous consequences to Shu Han. In this devastating defeat, the Shu army led by Liu Bei was almost wiped out. However, despite the fact that Liu Bei's attack on Wu Dong was a wrong decision, no one in Shu Han thought that the Shu army would fail when Liu Bei went to war.
This shows that Liu Bei still has a chance to win the battle of Yiling. So, what kind of military action did Liu Canbei take to win the battle of Yiling?
First, the reasons for the failure of Liu Bei's Yiling War
Before the defeat of Liu Bei's Yiling, Cao Pi had predicted his failure. When Cao Pi learned that Liu Bei's Shu Zha Company had a battalion of more than 700 Li troops, he told the ministers that Liu Bei didn't understand military affairs, so how could a company with 700 Li troops repel the enemy! Sun Tzu's Art of War clearly says, "If the enemy catches the enemy, the soldiers will be caught by the enemy." Sun Quan's good news will be delivered soon. Sure enough, seven days later, Sun Quan's letter to Liu Bei was delivered to Cao Pi.
Tactically, Cao Pi's statement makes sense. When Liu Bei attacked Wu Dong, he led an army of only over 40,000 people. The troops sent by Soochow to resist him reached 50 thousand. His own strength did not prevail, and Liu Bei scattered his limited strength 700 miles deep. Liu Bei set up dozens of camps to fight against Wu Jun. This prevented him from concentrating superior forces to attack Dongwu. In the long run, if the enemy catches the fighter plane and launches a counterattack, it will inevitably fail.
However, Liu Bei himself is a lean man. He led the army in southern operations and won many brilliant victories. In Battle of Red Cliffs, in order to rely on Liu Bei's reputation, Sun Quan made an alliance with Liu Bei, who had no strength. Battle of Red Cliffs was defeated, which laid the foundation for the tripartite confrontation among the three countries. In the battle of Hanzhong, the Shu army led by Liu Bei was defeated in panic, and the coach Xia also died in the battlefield. Cao personally can't save the defeat, but he can only admit defeat and retreat.
Liu Bei, who experienced the war, couldn't see the flaw that Cao Pi could see, but there was nothing he could do. Because we can't break through Lu Xun's defense, we can only take this way and try to deal with Lu Xun in the long-term stalemate, so as to win the turning point of the war. When Lu Xun took over Wu Jun who defended Liu Bei, Wu Jun at the front had been defeated. Lu Xun took advantage of the situation, gradually retreated Wu Jun to Yiling area, ceded hundreds of miles of steep mountainous areas to Liu Bei, and then could not persist.
Liu Bei tried every means to lure Lu Xun to attack. First, he surrounded a knife. Sun Huan, commander of the Post Station garrison, is a nobleman in Wu Dong. Wu Dong's generals demanded the immediate rescue of Sun Huan, but were suppressed by Lu Xun. Then Liu Bei sent Wu Ban to lead thousands of people to camp in the flat to challenge Wu Jun, and he led 8,000 chosen men to ambush in the nearby valley in an attempt to sneak attack on Wu Jun. This plan was seen through by Lu Xun and failed.
When Liu Bei defeated Lu Xun, he did not wait passively, but took another attack with Lu Xun's tactics. This kind of attack is a kind of psychological torture for Wu Dong.
This is because Sun Quan's surrender to Cao Pi was not sincere, but an expedient measure to avoid being attacked by Shu Han and Cao Wei and to gain time to defeat Shu Han. As the war continued, the situation in Wu Dong became more and more unstable. In order to please Cao Pi, Sun Quan took various measures, including unconditionally satisfying Cao Pi's demands and paying tribute to Cao Wei.
However, Cao Pi also saw Sun Quan's intention and asked him to send a prince into the DPRK as a hostage in order to completely control Sun Quan. Sun Quan can only fake this and try to delay the time.
Liu Bei adopted a stalemate, that is, when Sun Quan could not stand Cao Pi's threats and turned against him.
In that case, Sun Quan will be in a desperate situation. If Sun Quan does not make peace with Liu Bei and agrees to Liu Bei's request, he will be wiped out by Shu Han and Cao Wei.
Liu Bei's tactics of defeating the enemy without fighting are enough to illustrate his extraordinary tactics.
But to Liu Bei's surprise, he was defeated by Lu Xun with fire before Sun Quan and Cao Pi fell out.
Second, the key for Liu Bei to win the battle of Yiling.
In the final analysis, the reason for Liu Bei's failure is that he still can't break through Lu Xun's defense and fight against Lu Xun on the battlefield and annihilate him. He and Lu Xun took a confrontational attitude, although victory was possible. However, due to the protracted war, it will also consume its own manpower and material resources, leading to the exhaustion of the whole army, which is easy to be taken in by the enemy and unexpectedly defeated.
Then the key for Liu Bei to win the battle of Yiling is to force Lu Xun to take part in the war and break the strategy that Wu Dong could not adhere to.
This is because Lu Xun was very afraid to fight Liu Bei's Shu army on the battlefield. This will easily lead to the failure of Wu Jun, and then decide the fate of Wu Dong. This can be seen from Lu Xun's letter to Sun Quan.
After the two sides entered a stalemate, Sun Quan asked Lu Xun about the front line. Lu Xun replied that at the beginning of the war, Liu Bei was most afraid of going hand in hand with land. Now Liu Bei abandoned the water army, and all the troops went ashore and camped everywhere. This shows that Liu Bei has no other way to use, and the war has entered a stalemate stage. In this way, Liu Bei won't worry.
Lu Xun's fear of fighting with Liu Bei is determined by the characteristics of the two armies. The main force of Wu Dong's army is the water army, while the main force of Liu Bei is the infantry cavalry. Liu Bei's 40,000 troops are mainly preparing for the northern expedition to Qinchuan. This army is well trained, and the backbone of it is cavalry.
This cavalry has been trained by Liu Bei for many years, including 50,000 cavalry in the north, and its fighting capacity is extremely strong. This army led by Liu Bei is far superior to Wu Jun in field combat capability, which is why Liu Bei dared to launch a crusade against Wu.
Another reason why Lu Xun didn't play was that he didn't get everyone's approval and had no morale. After Monroe's death, she recommended Zhu Ran to Sun Quan as her successor.
However, Sun Quan did not accept Lu Meng's suggestion, and handed over the heavy responsibility of resisting Liu Bei to Lu Xun.
Lu Xun himself was a scholar and was parachuted to Wu Jun by Sun Quan as commander in chief. Because of his short experience, he was not recognized by everyone. During his command of the war, he was repeatedly resisted by his subordinates.
If in this case, Lu Xun led Wu Jun and Liu Bei to fight in other places, the result must be run away. It is for this reason that Lu Xun adopted the tactics of sticking to the principle of no war and did not give Liu Bei a chance to fight a decisive battle.
Therefore, how to break Lu Xun's defense and force him to fight a decisive battle with Liu Bei has become the key for Liu Bei to win the battle of Yiling.
Third, Liu Bei's plan to win the battle of Yiling
This often happened in the history of Shu-Han War. Not only did Liu Bei encounter it, but Zhuge Liang also encountered it repeatedly during the Northern Expedition. In the battle between Hanzhong and Yiling, Liu Bei was strongly protected by Cao Jun and Wu Jun. Zhuge Liang's northern expedition was repeatedly defended by Cao Wei, and finally he could only return in vain. However, Shu Han also had the only military action to break the defensive tactics of the other side, which happened in the battle of Hanzhong.
In that battle, Xia led a strategy of defeating the enemy without fighting. Liu Bei not only failed to make progress in the face of Cao Jun's solid barrier, but also suffered many failures. So Liu Bei accepted the suggestion, adopted circuitous tactics and occupied Dingjun Mountain in the rear of summer.
Xiahou Yuan was defeated by Liu Bei, who was anti-guest, and Xiahou Yuan was beheaded by Huang Zhong. This battle laid the foundation for Hanzhong's victory.
Then, in the battle of Yiling, Liu Bei had to force Lu Xun to take part in the war. He could only adopt the tactics used in the battle of Hanzhong and take circuitous tactics to seize Lu Xun's deep position and force Lu Xun to compete. To this end, Liu Bei can adopt two schemes, both of which can achieve this goal.
The first plan is to adopt Lu Xun's most feared plan. Liu Bei should give full play to the advantage of his water army occupying the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and take the initiative to attack Dongwu. Although Wu Dong's water army is powerful, it is located downstream, and the canyon terrain is narrow, so they will be in an extremely unfavorable state when facing Han Shu's water army. If Liu Bei adopts the tactics of going hand in hand with land, it will put great pressure on Lu Xun.
Don't fight with Liu Bei, risk being surrounded by the Shu army and continue to defend until you lose. If Lu Xun is forced by Liu Bei to withdraw from Yiling area, his situation will be even worse. Liu Bei's field army can be deployed, and Jingzhou will soon fall into Liu Bei's hands. Therefore, Wu Dong is likely to fail in the battle of Yiling.
The second plan is to take Jingzhou directly in the south of the Yangtze River through Wuling Mountain area. When Liu Bei was guarding Jingzhou, he was very kind to the minority tribes in Wuling and won the support of these minorities. After Liu Bei sent troops, these ethnic tribes took the initiative to contact Liu Bei. Liu Bei sent Ma Liang with gold and silk to organize their attack on Wu Dong.
If Liu Bei can't make a positive breakthrough, he will adopt the strategy of Dingjun Mountain and decisively lead the army into Wuling.
With the support and cooperation of local people, it will be very beneficial for Liu Bei to attack Jingzhou in the south of the Yangtze River behind Lu Xun.
Thanks to the cooperation of local people, Liu Bei's army supply will be solved smoothly. Coupled with the influence of Liu Bei, who was still in Jingzhou, Liu Bei quickly occupied the south of Jingzhou, forming a front-back attack on Lu Xun. In this case, Lu Xun either gave up the eastward withdrawal from Jingzhou or had to fight Liu Bei in Jingzhou.
If tracing the cause withdraws eastward and the morale of the army is unstable, it is very likely that the soldiers will be bloodless and the defeat will be even worse. If you fight Liu Bei in the field, because of the strength gap between the two sides, it is likely to be a fiasco.
Therefore, as long as Liu Bei adopts either of the above two schemes, it is possible to win the battle of Yiling.
Unfortunately, Fa Zheng, Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong and others were all dead at that time, and Liu Bei, who was alone, dared not take the tactics of going deep into the enemy. Because there are no excellent counselors and excellent generals, Liu Bei is also faced with a situation of losing the game with one careless move.
In the end, the two sides had to turn to the stalemate stage, and Liu Bei was defeated.
Conclusion:
Liu Bei failed in the battle of Yiling because he could not break Lu Xun's insistence and had to cling to it. Lu Xun seized the flaw and failed. Liu Bei wants to win the battle of Yiling, only by forcing Lu Xun to fight with himself. How to force Lu Xun to fight is the key to Liu Bei's victory. The simple method he adopted can only fool ordinary Wu Jun generals, but not Lu Xun's eyes.
To force Lu Xun to fight, Liu Bei can adopt two schemes:
First, land and water go hand in hand, make full use of the power of the water army, take the rear of Wu Jun and outflank Lu Xun. Second, the soldiers left Wuling and, with the support of the local people, launched an attack on the south of Jingzhou. After Liu Bei quickly captured the south of Jingzhou, he attacked Lu Xun from front to back and forced him to fight a decisive battle. If Liu Bei adopts any of these schemes, it is possible to win the battle of Yiling.