Chapter 35 Chapter 6 Three points in the world

Let's look back at the situation in Jingzhou after Cao Ren withdrew north. About the fourteenth year of Jian'an (209), Liu Qi, the Jingzhou shepherd represented by Liu Bei, died of illness. Liu Bei took the opportunity to concurrently serve as Jingzhou shepherd (the leader of Jingzhou shepherd), but Jingzhou was not completely in Liu Bei's own hands. Liu Bei could ignore Cao Cao, and he still Sun Quan cannot be ignored. In exchange for Sun Quan's support, Liu Bei represented Sun Quan as the chariot general, equivalent to the deputy commander-in-chief of the national armed forces, and the commander-in-chief was the late general Yuan Shao.Cao Cao did not serve as a general after Yuan Shao's death. In theory, general chariots and cavalry is currently the highest military position, but this is only in theory.

But this is not meaningless, Liu Bei can get a favor without paying any price, he simply made this favor bigger, and at the same time represented Sun Quan as Xuzhou Mu. Xuzhou is Cao Cao's territory. In addition to giving short favors, Liu Bei is also suspected of sowing discord.The purpose of Liu Bei's doing this is to express to Sun Quan his gratitude for saving his life and his goodwill for not being an enemy. Liu Bei, who has not gained a stable foothold in Jingzhou, needs Sun Quan's support too much.After Cao Ren retreated, Nanjun was jointly occupied by Liu Bei and Sun Quan. According to the tacit agreement reached by the two parties, Liu Bei developed in Jiangnan and set up his headquarters at Youjiangkou in Jiangnan. Liu Bei changed its name to Public Security (now Hubei Public Security), while Zhou Yu occupied Nanjun. Jiangbei area.

What Liu Bei desires most now is for Sun Quan to let go of the Jiangbei part of Nanjun, so that he can have a real foothold.For this reason, Liu Bei made a special trip to Jingkou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province) to meet Sun Quan and asked him face to face. Zhuge Liang expressed concern about Liu Bei's trip and advised him not to go to avoid danger, but Liu Bei insisted on going. Zhou Yu had a better understanding of Liu Bei. He was still in charge of military affairs in Nanjun at that time, so he wrote to Sun Quan, saying: "Liu Bei is a hero, and such generals as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei will not stay under others for long. I suggest Leave Liu Bei in Wu, build a palace for him, let him eat, drink and have fun all day long, and separate him from Guan and Zhang. , most of the beauties play well to entertain their eyes and ears, divide these two people, and put them on one side, so that someone like Yu can coerce and attack, and the big event can be settled)."

Zhou Yu believed that if the land was ceded to Liu Bei, the three of Liu, Guan and Zhang would definitely be like "the dragon gets the cloud and rain", and they must not be things in the pool. According to the "Three Kingdoms Lu Fan Biography", Lu Fan, who was the prefect of Pengze County at the time, also suggested that Sun Quan take the opportunity to detain Liu Bei and not let him go (please keep Fan Mi). Why can't Sun Quan not see what kind of character Liu Bei is? How can he underestimate someone who can't play well with Lu Bu, Yuan Shao, and Cao Cao?But Sun Quan couldn't be tough on Liu Bei, because his life was not easy at this time.

In the fourteenth year of Jian'an (209), Cao Cao was reorganizing his troops to break the siege of Hefei and launched an offensive on the eastern front based on Qiaoxian, Shouchun, and Hefei. Sun Quan had to go all out to protect the eastern front. At this time, he had no strength Increase troops in Jingzhou, but can't fall out with Liu Bei. Regardless of Liu Bei's real strength, his fame is a trump card. As long as the Sun-Liu alliance is in place, Cao Cao has to be cautious. He must maintain enough troops on the front line of Jingzhou, so that the pressure on the eastern front can be reduced.

Lu Su also saw this. According to "Han Jin Chunqiu", Lu Su suggested to give up the Jiangbei part of Nanjun to Liu Bei. The reason was to create an opponent for Cao Cao and add an ally to himself. Enemy, and self-cultivation party, let the above also). Sun Quan agreed with Lu Su's suggestion and withdrew from the Jiangbei area in Nanjun. This is the origin of "borrowing Jingzhou".In fact, what Sun Quan gave up was not the entire seven counties of Jingzhou, but only half of South County. From a strategic point of view, this is indeed a clever move, and the Sun-Liu alliance has been consolidated.From Sun Quan's point of view, due to the constraints of the war on the Eastern Front, the time to occupy the entire Jingzhou and Xutu Yizhou is not yet ripe. Instead of letting Cao Cao gradually erode Jingzhou, it is better to create a strong opponent for Cao Cao by supporting Liu Bei, and carry out a war against Cao Cao. checks and balances.

According to the "Three Kingdoms Lu Su Biography", Cao Cao was writing a letter when he heard the news that Sun Quan had withdrawn from Nanjun. pen on the ground). Liu Bei owned Nanjun, although it was only one-seventh of Jingzhou, but he finally had his own territory. He moved quickly and quickly expanded his power to the four Jiangnan counties in Jingzhou with Nanjun as the fulcrum. Han Xuan, the prefect of the county, Zhao Fan, the prefect of Guiyang County, and Liu Du, the prefect of Lingling County, all surrendered to Liu Bei.Liu Bei appointed Zhao Yun as the prefect of Guiyang County, and appointed Zhuge Liang to supervise the taxation of the three counties of Lingling, Changsha, and Guiyang as a general of the army.

In the past, Liu Biao had a general named Huang Zhong, whose style name was Hansheng, who was from Nanyang County. Liu Biao appointed him as a Brigadier General (Zhonglang General) and stationed in Changsha County with his nephew Liu Pan. When Cao Cao went south to Jingzhou, Huang Zhong surrendered. Cao Cao, Cao Cao promoted Huang Zhong to be the deputy commander (General Pi), and put him under the command of Han Xuan, the prefect of Changsha County.Han Xuan surrendered to Liu Bei at this time, and Huang Zhong also joined Liu Bei's camp. If Huang Zhong continues to develop in Cao Ying, I don't know if he will be famous in the future, but it seems a bit mysterious, because there are too many first-class generals in Cao Jun, and Huang Zhong's qualifications and background are less likely to survive .Huang Zhong made rapid progress under Liu Bei. He later left Han Xuan and directly returned to Liu Bei's command. Liu Bei entered Yizhou with Huang Zhong as his companion. Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun are equally famous fighters.

By the fifteenth year of Jian'an (210), the general pattern of Jingzhou's seven counties had been determined. Among these seven counties, Cao Cao occupied Nanyang County, Sun Quan occupied Jiangxia County, and Liu Bei occupied Nan County, Lingling County, Changsha County, and Guiyang County. And Wuling County, the three of them divided up Jingzhou, and this pattern will last for a long time. Around this time, one person from the Sun Quan and Liu Bei camps each died, and their deaths promoted the consolidation of the Sun Quan alliance. One is Zhou Yu.In the fifteenth year of Jian'an (210), Zhou Yu died at the age of thirty-six. It is generally believed that his untimely death was related to the arrow that was shot outside Jiangling City.

Zhou Yu was a good friend of Sun Ce. After Sun Ce died, Sun Quan's mother, Mrs. Wu, asked Sun Quan to treat Zhou Yu as his elder brother. Zhou Yu also respected Sun Quan very much. "Three Kingdoms" records that Sun Quan was only a general in name at that time, and everyone's etiquette with him was very simple. Only Zhou Yu respected Sun Quan every time he saw him, and acted like a courtier. Shangjian, but Yu alone first pays respect, and then holds the minister's day). However, Zhou Yu was not as active as Lu Su in dealing with the Sun-Liu alliance. He was devoted to guarding against Liu Bei. Until his death, he suggested to Sun Quan that Sun Quan's cousin, General Fenwei Sun Yu, lead the army to capture Yizhou, and lead the army to attack himself. Xiangyang, together with Zhang Lu and Ma Chao, rejected Cao Cao.

However, Zhou Yu died young at this time.For Sun Quan, this was a huge loss, but for Cao Cao, it was a loss of a strong enemy, but for Liu Bei, it was a boon. Zhou Yu's death made Sun Quan very sad (Quan Sufu expressed his condolences and moved the left and right). When the coffin was returned to Wu, Sun Quan went from Jingkou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) to Wuhu (now Wuhu, Anhui) to greet him in person, which shows the depth of friendship. When Zhou Yu was seriously ill, he wrote to Sun Quan: "The world today is not peaceful, so I worry about it day and night. Now there is an enemy Cao Cao in the north, Liu Bei is near the police, and the border areas are not stable. You should choose Liang to appease him in the future (now he is with Cao Cao) The enemy, Liu Bei is close to the public security, the border is close, the people are not attached, Yideliang will appease him). Lu Su's wisdom and strategy are sufficient, please let him replace me, so that I have nothing to worry about even if I die .” "Jiang Biao Zhuan" also contains a letter written by Zhou Yu to Sun Quan before his death. The main idea is the same, but the words are completely different. The matter has not yet been decided (now Mr. Cao is in the north, the frontier is not quiet, and Liu Bei is living in it, it is like raising a tiger, the affairs of the world, the end is unknown)" Zhou Yu believes that Lu Su is a loyal man, and he can act immediately when things happen. Therefore, I recommend him to replace me (Lu Su is loyal and meticulous, so he can replace Yu). In this way, Sun Quan appointed Lu Su as the captain of Fenwu to replace Zhou Yu.Zhou Yu's position before his death was General Pian, which was regarded as deputy commander of the army. At this time, Lu Su's position as a school lieutenant was lower than that of General Pian, and he was regarded as division commander. Zhou Yu and Lu Su were not high in terms of their positions.As I said before, this is related to their seniority in the army, but in terms of actual authority, they have a very important status, being responsible for all military and political affairs of Sun Wu in the frontier area of ​​Jingzhou. After the surrender of Nanjun, Lu Su moved his headquarters to Lukou in the lower reaches of Jiangling (now northwest of Puqi, Hubei), where he governed the local area and developed military affairs. It has grown to more than 10,000 people.Later, Sun Quan established a new Hanchang County in Changsha County and some surrounding areas occupied by his side, and appointed Lu Su as the prefect and partial general of Hanchang County. Lu Su is the most able to recognize the importance of the Sun-Liu alliance. Unlike Zhou Yu's hawkish views, he is a dove.During the period when Lu Su was in power, the relationship between Sun and Liu was generally good, which created a good external environment for Liu Bei to continue to expand his power. Before Zhou Yu's death, about the fourteenth year of Jian'an (209), Liu Bei's wife Gan also passed away. Sun Quan took the opportunity to marry his sister to Liu Bei, and the two parties reached a political marriage. History books record this incident very simply, only mentioning it a few times in "Han Jin Chunqiu", "Huayang Guozhi" and "Three Kingdoms", "The Biography of the Second Master and Concubine", "Zhao Yun Biography" and "Fazheng Biography".The name of Sun Quan's younger sister is unknown. "Han Jin Chunqiu" says that her name is Sun Renxian, which doesn't seem like a woman's name. There are also people who call her Sun Ren and Sun Shangxiang, which are all attached by later generations. Sun Jian's daughter is really not a lady, but a sassy girlfriend.According to the "Three Kingdoms" records, she is very talented, but also very masculine (talented and fierce, with the style of brothers), there are more than one hundred guards and maids around her, all of them wielding knives and guns, Liu Bei Every time I saw it, I was terrified (every time Liu Bei entered, he often felt terrified). But at the time, this political marriage made the Sun-Liu alliance stronger.After marriage, Liu Bei bid farewell to Sun Quan, and brought his new wife back to Public Security (now Hubei Public Security) from Jingkou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu). For Liu Bei, this trip overfulfilled the set tasks, not only borrowing land, but also unexpected gains. According to "Jiang Biao Zhuan", before Liu Bei's departure, Sun Quan bid farewell to Liu Bei with more than ten people including Zhang Zhao, Qin Song and Lu Su on the "Feiyun Big Ship", and held a farewell banquet on board.After Zhang Zhao, Lu Su and others left, Sun Quan had a long talk with his new brother-in-law Liu Bei. During the conversation, they also mentioned Zhou Yu and lamented his untimely death. But Liu Bei was not at ease. He knew that this trip was a great risk. If Cao Cao's military actions had not put pressure on Sun Quan and helped him inadvertently, it would be hard to say whether he could go back smoothly.According to the "Jiang Biao Biography", when Pang Tong came to Liu Bei, Liu Bei knew that he had served in Sun Wu, so he asked him if someone planned to detain him when he was a guest in Sun Wu.When he learned that this happened, Liu Bei couldn't help being very scared, thinking that going to Sun Wu was a dangerous move, not a surefire solution. According to the "Shanyang Gongzai Ji", as soon as Liu Bei left Jingkou, he said to the left and right: "Sun Quan has a long body and a short body. It’s hard to get down, I can’t see him again).” So they traveled day and night, wishing they could return to the police immediately. In any case, this period is the honeymoon period for Sun and Liu. In order to deal with the common enemy Cao Cao, the two sides tried their best to put aside their differences and make concessions to each other, so that the alliance will continue to be strengthened. They know that only in this way can they truly compete with Cao Cao.