Chapter 18 3. Discuss Jingzhou

After Liu Bei entered Chengdu, Sun Quan came to ask for the return of Jingzhou. Jingzhou was "loaned" to Liu Bei at the suggestion of Lu Su, but unfortunately this statement is very problematic.Liu Bei was originally the shepherd of Jingzhou, so why would he borrow it?Part of Jingzhou is under the rule of Liu Bei, and part of it is in the hands of Cao Cao. How can Sun Quan lend it? What Liu Bei "borrowed" was actually Jiangling. However, for Zhou Yu, this is tantamount to seeking skin from a tiger.It took Zhou Yu a year to conquer Jiangling, how could he give it up to others?Therefore, Zhou Yu not only disagreed, but also conspired to kill Liu Bei.

In December of the fifteenth year of Jian'an (AD 210), two years after the Battle of Chibi and one year after Sun Quan married his sister, Liu Bei came to Jingkou (now Zhenjiang, Jiangsu) from Public Security to see Sun Quan, hoping that Sun Quan would give up Jiangling He was the governor of Jingzhou, and the official saying is "seeking the governor of Jingzhou". So Zhou Yu suggested to Sun Quan: take the opportunity to put Liu Bei under house arrest in Wu County (in today's Suzhou, Jiangsu).Zhou Yu said, Liu Bei has the appearance of a hero, but Guan and Zhang are the generals of bears and tigers. How can they be willing to bow down and be controlled by others for a long time?If he gets Jiangling, it is afraid that Jiaolong will get Yunyu, and he will no longer be a thing in the pool.

Zhou Yu's move was ruthless enough, but unfortunately it was not realistic.It is not difficult to put Liu Bei under house arrest, but Guan Yu and Zhang Fei will most likely kill him.Even if Liu Bei cannot be taken back, he will become a deadly enemy and give Cao Cao an opportunity.So Sun Quan did not agree. However, this incident still made Liu Bei feel scared. Once, Liu Bei chatted with Pang Tong.Liu Bei asked: Didn't your master serve as a meritorious service under Zhou Gongjin?It is said that when Gu arrived at Jingkou, someone asked Zhongmou to detain him. Is this true?It doesn't matter, the king is the king, but it doesn't matter.

Pang Tong said: Yes. Liu Bei sighed and said: Gu was also asking for help at that time, so he had no choice but to take the risk, but he almost fell into Zhou Yu's hands.At that time, Kong Ming repeatedly advised Gu not to go.The resourceful people in the world really see the same thing! Liu Bei escaped, but Zhou Yu did not give up.He personally went to Jingkou to meet Sun Quan, and put forward a strategic suggestion of "capturing Yizhou, annexing Zhang Lu, and uniting Ma Chao".This plan is aimed at both Cao Cao and Liu Bei.If his wish can be fulfilled, the upper and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, as well as Guanzhong and Hanzhong, will all belong to Sun Quan.

Sun Quan approved Zhou Yu's plan.Unfortunately, Zhou Yu died of illness when he reached Baqiu at the age of thirty-six.Before he died, he went to Sun Quan to recommend Lu Su as his successor, and to never forget Cao and Liu.Zhou Yu said: Mr. Cao is in the north, and the battlefield is not quiet; Liu Bei lives there, it is like raising a tiger, so don't be careless! Zhou Yu always regarded Cao Cao and Liu Bei as his greatest enemies. Lu Su thought differently.After he succeeded Zhou Yu, he immediately adjusted his policy and persuaded Sun Quan to give up Jiangling to Liu Bei. In fact, Lu Su had already made this claim.When Liu Bei came to Jingkou, Lu Su suggested to Sun Quan that he should temporarily lend Jiangling to Liu Bei (by borrowing the right).Lu Su's purpose is also very clear, that is to fight against Cao Cao together.So Cao Cao, who was writing, was so shocked when he heard the news that he dropped his pen to the ground.

This is the origin of the saying "borrow Jingzhou". The problem is that if you agree with the saying of "borrowing", then if there is a borrowing, there should be repayment.What's more, Liu Bei has already taken Yizhou, so why not return Jingzhou?So in May of the 20th year of Jian'an (AD 215), Wu envoys arrived in Chengdu.Moreover, the representative sent by Sun Quan was Zhuge Liang's brother Zhuge Jin. Liu Bei didn't like this.He said: I am preparing to fight Liangzhou.When Liangzhou is defeated, I will give you all of Jingzhou. Sun Quan was furious when he heard the news.

Anger is inevitable.Not only because of Jingzhou, but also because of Yizhou. Sun Quan also coveted Yizhou, and once sent General Fenwei Sun Yu to Xiakou as an advance.However, Liu Bei sent a letter to Sun Quan, claiming that if the general refused to let Liu Zhang go, Liu Bei would have to hide in the mountains with his hair disheveled. At the same time, Liu Bei also made corresponding military deployments.He sent Guan Yu to garrison Jiangling, Zhang Fei to garrison Zigui, Zhuge Liang to garrison Nanjun, and he himself was stationed in Chanling (here, it reads like war, in today's Hubei Public Security).

Sun Quan had no choice but to withdraw Sun Yu. But as soon as Sun Yu left, Liu Bei began to think about Yizhou.Those beautiful words that I said before, such as being in the Han Dynasty with Liu Zhang, working together to help the Han Dynasty, and not daring to hear that someone is going to take Yizhou, etc., have all been thrown into the sky. No wonder Sun Quan yelled at Liu Bei for being slippery. If you don't return Jingzhou now, of course it's even more shameless. Therefore, Sun Quan didn't care what Liu Bei's attitude was, so he said to himself and sent officials directly to the three counties of Changsha, Guiyang, and Lingling.Guan Yu, governor of Jingzhou, was also unceremonious and expelled all the local officials sent by Sun Quan.

Sun Quan was furious, and immediately sent Lu Meng to lead an army of 20,000 to take the three counties, and at the same time ordered Lu Su to lead an army of 10,000 to garrison Baqiu to fight against Guan Yu, while he himself was stationed in Lukou (where the land and water enter the river southwest of Jiayu, Hubei) to command and dispatch. Liu Bei heard the news and knew that the situation was serious, so he left Zhuge Liang to garrison Chengdu, led an army of 50,000 to return to Gongan, and ordered Guan Yu to lead an army of 30,000 to Yiyang (now Yiyang, Hunan), preparing to fight Sun Quan to the death.

Before the war, Guan Yu and Lu Su had a meeting. The meeting was requested by Lu Su.Perhaps, Lu Su hopes to solve the problem through diplomatic channels and avoid war as much as possible.Therefore, he suggested that during the talks, the two armies were separated by a hundred steps, and only the generals of the two sides were asked to meet in front of the battle with their sabers.This is the famous "going to the meeting alone" in history. Lu Su spoke first.He condemned Guan Yu and said: Our lord lent the land to you with good intentions because your army was newly defeated and came from a long distance, so there must be a place to stay.Now that you have acquired Yizhou, you should return Jingzhou.However, as long as we only have three counties, we refuse to give them!

There is no reason for this. In fact, when Liu Bei borrowed Jingzhou, he already owned half of the four counties in the south of the Yangtze River and half of the Nan County.The three prefectures of Changsha, Guiyang, and Lingling that Sun Quan asked for did not belong to Soochow, but were brought down by Liu Bei himself.Could it be that I "borrowed" Jiangling from you, and even borrowed other places? What's more, Liu Bei's appointment as the shepherd of Jingzhou was agreed by Sun Quan.If all of Jingzhou is given to Sun Quan, how can Liu Bei be the shepherd of Jingzhou? Therefore, the talks were fruitless and will not be. Lu Su and Guan Yu can only meet on the battlefield. This was obviously painful for Lu Su.As the leader of the alliance faction in Soochow, he is not willing to see this result. Zhuge Liang, who is far away in Chengdu, must also be unwilling. In the end, it was Cao Cao who helped them again.In March of this year, Cao Cao marched west to Zhanglu, and entered Hanzhong in July.When the news came, Liu Bei immediately understood that now was not the time to quarrel with Sun Quan, so he sent someone to ask Sun Quan for peace. Sun Quan didn't want to meet Liu Bei in battle, so he sent Zhuge Jin to negotiate.In the end, the two sides reached an agreement: Except for Nanyang and Xiangyang in Cao Cao's hands, Jingzhou was divided with the Xiangshui River as the boundary.The east of Changsha, Jiangxia, and Guiyang belonged to Sun Quan, and the west of Nanjun, Lingling, and Wuling belonged to Liu Bei.Liu Bei lost the area east of the Xiangshui River, but avoided the two-sided attack of Sun Quan and Cao Cao, which can be described as "exchanging land for peace". Sun Quan, who failed to take back Jiangling, took back his sister in advance.His little sister, who may be named Sun Ren, married Liu Bei in December of the 14th year of Jian'an (209 AD), and was taken back by Sun Quan when Liu Bei entered Shu in December of the 16th year. The relationship between husband and wife with Liu Bei Only two full years. As Sun Quan's younger sister, Mrs. Sun is of course majestic.She left many wonderful stories, even Zhuge Liang was afraid of her.But as a woman, she was actually very unfortunate.Marriage is not what one wishes, and divorce is also involuntary.In fact, after Mrs. Sun went back, she didn't have anything to say.Of course, it is impossible for her and Liu Bei to relive their love dreams. Will there be a new love story with others? no one knows. We only know that Sun Quan will not give up, and Jingzhou is not destined to be peaceful.War is inevitable, but that will be another situation.