How much was Liu Bei’s loss in the Battle of Yiling?
In 221 AD, three months after the Emperor of Shu Han ascended the throne, under the banner of revenge for Guan Yu, he mobilized the army of the whole country to attack Soochow. This time, Liu Bei led an army of 50,000 to attack Wu, but was burned by Lu Xun of Soochow and returned with a disastrous defeat. The entire war process is as follows.
In the early days of the Battle of Yiling, Wu Ban, the vanguard of the Shu Han Dynasty, defeated Li Yi, Liu A and others of the Eastern Wu Dynasty, occupied Zigui, and had high morale. At this time, Lu Xun became the commander-in-chief of the three armies of Soochow. He decisively implemented a strategic retreat and led the Shu Han army into the Wuxia, Jianping, and Yiling valleys, and camped for hundreds of miles. Shu Han Liu Bei had always wanted to fight Lu Xun, but Lu Xun refused to fight and always stood firm. Liu Bei was helpless and the two sides entered a stalemate.
After the two sides had been in a stalemate for more than half a year, the Shu army was demoralized and lost its fighting spirit. However, the Soochow army was recharging its strength. Everyone was holding back a strong desire to defeat the invaders. Drive away, eliminate. In the blink of an eye, it was the summer of 222 AD. The weather was hot. The Shu Han army set up camp in the mountains. The camps were made of wooden fences and were surrounded by woods and thatch, which were very easy to catch fire. Lu Xun then used fire attack, preparing to burn Liu Bei's army. The Shu army set up camp in the mountains, with dozens of camps stretching for hundreds of miles, but Lu Xun set them on fire.
At this time, the Shu army went up to Liu Bei and Wu Ban, down to the small soldiers, crying for their fathers and mothers, and went their separate ways, just like the scene in the Battle of Chibi, when Cao Cao's warship was burned, it was just a scene in The forest is just one in the water. Lu Xun took the opportunity to counterattack and soon broke through more than 40 Shu army camps. The Shu army was defeated, all military supplies were lost, and the losses were heavy. Finally, under the cover of rear guard general Fu Xu, Liu Bei used the cover of night to burn the equipment abandoned by the defeated troops and block the mountain road before he successfully broke through and escaped into Yong'an City (Baidi City).
It is recorded in "Three Kingdoms": The First Lord returned to Zigui from Xiaoting, gathered the scattered soldiers, then abandoned the boat and returned to Yufu from the footpath, and changed the name of Yufu County to Yong'an.
In this battle, statistics show that Liu Bei's Shu army suffered heavy casualties. 4 generals were killed, 3 civilian officials were killed, and 5 generals surrendered to the enemy. The specific analysis is as follows.
Four generals were killed
These four people are Feng Xi, Zhang Nan, Fu Tong, and Shamoke. A brief introduction is as follows. Feng Xi, named Xiuyuan, was from Nanjun, Jingzhou, and was killed by Wu general Pan Zhang's men; Zhang Nan attacked Sun Huan who was stationed in Yidao, but was later defeated and killed due to the fiasco at Yiling; Fu Tong, cursed the Wu army For "Wu Gou", in order to cover Liu Bei's retreat, he fought against the Wu army and died of exhaustion and vomited blood; Samoko was surrendered by the servant Ma Liang and died in the rebel army. He was named by Mao Zonggang as "a general who will die for the Han". Festival, die as a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty?
Three civilian officials (strategists) were killed
These three people are Cheng Ji, Ma Liang, and Wang Fu. A brief introduction is as follows. Cheng Ji, personally held a halberd and fought against the pursuing troops of the Eastern Wu Dynasty, and finally died in the battle without giving in; Ma Liang, Ma Su's elder brother, served as a minister, and died when he was intercepted by a stallion while retreating from the south to the northwest; Wang Fu, a native of Yizhou , Jingzhou engaged Cao, assisted Guan Yu in managing Jingzhou, and died in Yiling.
Five generals surrendered to the enemy
These five people are Huang Quan, Shi He, Pang Lin, Du Lu, and Liu Ning. Among them, Shi He and Pang Lin, as Huang Quan's generals, followed Huang Quan and surrendered to Cao Wei. At that time, Liu Bei was defeated by Lu Xun in Yiling. The return route of Huang Quan's army was cut off by the Soochow army. He was unable to return to Shuhan and had no choice but to surrender to Cao Wei. This is understandable. At that time, the Shu Han's first enemy was Soochow, and it was fighting Soochow. Huang Quan could not surrender to Soochow who had just killed his comrades, so he could only surrender to Cao Wei.
It is recorded in "Three Kingdoms": However, the road was cut off and the power could not be returned, so he led his troops to surrender to Wei. If there is a division to enforce the law, the wife will be taken away for free. The First Lord said: "If you fail Huang Quan, you will not fail Huang Quan." ?Treat it as before.
When Liu Bei heard that Huang Quan surrendered to Cao Wei, he didn't blame him at all. He kept blaming himself and said: "If you fail Huang Quan, you will not fail Huang Quan." ?He ordered a ban on arresting Huang Quan's family members, and treated Huang Quan's family members as before. Later, in the Battle of Mianzhu, Huang Quan's son Huang Chong was killed in the battle between Deng Ai's army.
The two unknown generals Du Lu and Liu Ning shamelessly surrendered to Soochow after the defeat of the Shu army. They have no military integrity and are greedy for life and afraid of death, which is simply unforgivable. Historically, generals regarded wrapping their bodies in horse leather as the highest level. They rarely surrendered to the enemy if they could not defeat them. Such people do not deserve to be called generals or soldiers. They are the most spineless.
Summary: Liu Bei mobilized his country's strength and launched a large-scale attack on Wu. However, his success failed and he suffered heavy losses. Among them, 4 generals were killed, 3 civilian officials were killed, and 5 generals surrendered to the enemy. As for ordinary soldiers, at least a few With more than 10,000 soldiers, Liu Bei's army was almost completely wiped out. Liu Bei had just lost Nanjun and General Guan Yu in 219 AD. After two years of accumulation, he had the strength to launch a war. He originally wanted to regain Jingzhou, avenge Guan Yu and strengthen his own strength, but he did not expect to be defeated. On the contrary, it increased the losses.