100 Historical Stories That Unlock Teenage Wisdom

Chapter 55 3 Guan Yunchang Defeats Maicheng

Chapter 63 Guan Yunchang Defeats in Maicheng

——If you can be open-minded and open-minded people always think they are right, but the facts often prove them wrong.If you can "have an open mind like a valley", a general like Guan Yunchang will surely strategize, how can he lose Maicheng?

In December of the 16th year of Jian'an (211), after defeating Han Sui and Ma Chao in the northwest, Cao Cao marched towards Hanzhong, which was occupied by Zhang Lu.Liu Bei left Zhuge Liang and Guan Yu to guard Jingzhou, and led thousands of soldiers into Shu.This made his prison friend Sun Quan very dissatisfied and prepared to break with Liu Bei.In the first month of the 18th year of Jian'an (213), Sun Quan repelled Cao Cao's attack of 7 troops with 40 people. This victory reduced Sun Quan's fear and concern about Cao Cao, and he turned his attention to Jingzhou, which was temporarily borrowed from Liu Bei.After Liu Bei acquired Yizhou the following year, his power also developed rapidly.In the spring of the next year, Sun Quan sent Zhuge Liang's brother Zhuge Jin to ask Liu Bei for Jingzhou, but Liu Bei refused on the pretext of "needing Liangzhou (northwest) and Jingzhou".Sun Quan was even more dissatisfied, and immediately sent officials to forcibly take over the three counties of Changjiang, Guiyang, and Lingling, but they were all driven away by Guan Yu.Sun Quan was furious, and sent general Lu Meng to lead an army of [-] to seize three counties, and soon captured Changsha and Guiyang three counties, and marched into Lingling.He also sent Lu Su to lead an army of [-] troops to station in Yiyang to resist Guan Yu.Sun Quan also arrived at Lukou to take command.Liu Bei personally led an army of [-] to Gongan, and sent Guan Yu to lead an army of [-] to compete with Lu Meng for the three counties.A battle for Jingzhou is imminent.At this time, Cao Cao attacked Hanzhong. Liu Bei was afraid that Yizhou would lose, so he sent envoys to ask Sun Quan for peace.Sun Quan also felt that his troops were insufficient and he was not sure of victory, so the two sides reached an agreement to divide Jingzhou equally with the Xiangshui River as the boundary: Jiangxia, Changsha, and Guiyang to the east of the Xiangshui River belonged to Sun Quan; Nanjun, Wuling, and Lingling to the west of the Xiangshui River The county belongs to Liu Bei.After the agreement was reached, the two sides lived in peace for another two years.

In the spring of the 22nd year of Jian'an (217), Cao Cao sent troops to attack Sun Quan on the north bank of the Yangtze River.Sun Quan sent envoys to seek peace with Cao Cao in order to avoid fighting on both sides when seizing Jingzhou, and Cao Cao also sent envoys to express peace.In October, Lu Su died of illness, and Lu Meng commanded more than 24 troops to guard Lukou.Lu Meng believed that Guan Yu's long-term residence in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River was a threat sooner or later, and he would eventually attack Wu from the east. After taking office, he suggested to Sun Quan to attack Guan Yu.So Sun Quan expressed friendship with Guan Yu on the surface, and even sent someone to propose marriage to Guan Yu's daughter for his son. Guan Yu humiliated him a lot, so Sun Quan secretly waited for an opportunity to attack Jingzhou.In May of the 219th year of Jian'an ([-]), Liu Bei captured Hanzhong from Cao Cao, and sent Meng Da and Liu Feng to occupy Fangling and Shangyong in the eastern part of Hanzhong County, intending to connect Hanzhong and Jingzhou.However, after Sun and Liu divided Jingzhou equally, Liu Bei actually only occupied two and a half counties, the area was small, and he was in the gap between Cao and Sun.Moreover, important towns such as Xiangyang and Fancheng in the north of Jingzhou are controlled by Cao Cao. Xiangfan is the gateway to Jiangling.Capturing Xiangfan can rely on the Han River, get rid of the unfavorable situation of being attacked on both sides, and finally complete the strategic deployment of the northern attack on the Central Plains.Therefore, when Sun Quan attacked Hefei in July of this year and Cao Cao transferred part of his troops eastward to fight in Huainan, Guan Yu immediately left Mi Fang to guard Jiangling, Fu Shiren guarded Gong'an, and led the main force to attack Fancheng northward.At that time, the Cao army was guarded by Cao Ren in Fancheng, and Xu Huang was stationed in Nanyang to take care of him.In August, it rained heavily in the Xiangfan area for more than ten consecutive days, and the Han River overflowed the embankment, and Fancheng was surrounded by floods.Yu Jin and other seven army camps stationed outside the city on the north side were all submerged by the flood, and Yu Jin led his soldiers to take refuge in Gaofu.Guan Yu led a fierce attack with warships, Yu Jin was forced to surrender, Pang De was killed, and tens of thousands of Cao's troops were captured.Guan Yu sent troops to surround Xiangyang again, which "megatronically shocked China" for a while.On the one hand, Cao Cao sent Xu Huang to lead the army to support Xiangfan, on the other hand, he adopted Sima Yi's suggestion, and took advantage of the contradiction between Sun Quan and Guan Yu to encourage Sun Quan to attack Guan Yu from behind.Sun Quan was worried that Guan Yu would monopolize Jingzhou after he acquired Xiangfan, so he agreed to send troops to attack Guan Yu.

When Guan Yu attacked Fancheng, general Lu Meng wrote a secret letter to Sun Quan, thinking that it was a good time to seize Jingzhou, and suggested that Sun Quan send him back to Jianye for treatment, so that Guan Yu could relax his vigilance against Soochow, and Wu Jun could seize Nanjun.So Sun Quan publicly issued an order to transfer Lu Meng back to Jianye for treatment, and secretly planned with him a plan to attack Jingzhou.The young general Lu Xun also suggested to Lu Meng to launch a surprise attack when Guan Yu relaxed his vigilance against Jiangling.Sun Quan then appointed Lu Xun, who was good at strategy, as the partial general and the right governor to replace Lu Meng in guarding Lukou.After Lu Xun took office, he wrote a special letter to compliment Guan Yu, and Guan Yu really transferred some troops from the rear to reinforce the front line.At this time, because Guan Yu captured tens of thousands of people in the Ministry of Prohibition, he forcibly took the grain hoarded by Soochow on the east bank of the Xiangshui River to fill the army.Sun Quan took this as an excuse and ordered Lu Meng to lead his army to attack Jiangling.

Lu Meng led the army to Xunyang, and when the generals of Qi Qi continued to march westward, they hid the elite soldiers in the big boats, and the soldiers on the oars all changed into white merchant clothes.Traveling to Xiakou, he ordered Jiang Qin to lead the water army up against the Han River to prevent Guan Yu's water army from going south.After passing through Baqiu and entering the territory of Shu, he unexpectedly wiped out all the guard posts Guan Yu had set up along the river, so that Guan Yu didn't know that the Wu army had already marched westward.Then, taking advantage of the conflict between Mi Fang, Fu Shiren and Guan Yu, he surrendered the two generals, and occupied Gong'an and Jiangling without bloodshed.Then, Lu Meng sent people to comfort the family members of the Shu army in Jiangling City, disintegrating their fighting spirit.Lu Xun went west to capture Yiling and Zigui, cutting off Guan Yu's retreat into Shu and preventing Liu Bei from reinforcing Jingzhou.At this time, Cao Cao's reinforcements rushed to Fancheng and launched a counterattack against Guan Yu, but Guan Yu was defeated.But when Guan Yu learned that Nanjun fell and retreated south, the Cao army did not pursue it, but sat and watched the Wu and Shu armies fighting.In November, Guan Yu knew that his army was weak, so he dared not take back Jiangling, so he had to go west to Maicheng (now southeast of Dangyang, Hubei).In December, Guan Yu fled to Zhangxiang. The Wu army cut off his way out. Guan Yu was captured and executed together with his son Guan Ping.In the autumn of the second year (220), Liu Feng, the general guard of Shangyong in Shu, was at odds with Meng Da. Meng Da surrendered to Cao Wei on the condition of Shangyong. Liu Feng returned to Chengdu and was "given death".So far, Liu Bei's area east of Daba Mountain has been taken away by Sun Quan.

Wisdom Interpretation:

Guan Yu was originally a general who was good at fighting, but he was always arrogant and arrogant.When guarding Jingzhou, Sun Quan proposed to Guan Yu's daughter for his son. Guan Yu actually said: "How can a tiger girl marry a dog?" Guard against the troops of Soochow, but lost the city and land, defeated Maicheng, was captured and killed.

It can be seen that Guan Yunchang lacks a demeanor of "being modest and vulgar". However, when dealing with the ancients, we can also "understand sympathy" and "understand sympathetically".
(End of this chapter)