Let’s imagine a scenario: You own a snack bar
and after many years of operation
your business finally stands out from your competitors
You have some very capable and trustworthy brothers under you
and you sent the best one of them to open a branch
in the downtown area 3 blocks away
He didn’t disappoint you
The new store quickly became a great success and
attracted constant customer flow into it
However, when you woke up one morning
your staff told you that your new store was raided
by a competitor in the middle of the night
Your most trusted brother and his staff were all killed
and the new store was trashed
You know the local police are too weak to fight this competitor
What would you do?
Hello everyone, welcome to historically accurate
The situation I just mentioned was basically what
Liu Bei was facing at the age of 60
In 219 AD, Guan Yu, Liu Bei’s most loyal and capable general
led the Jing Province army and achieved
great success in the Northern Expedition
wiping out the seven Cao armies led by Yu Jin
and besieging Xiang Yang and Fan Cheng
However, Guan Yu’s base, Jing Province
was attacked by Sun Quan
In the end, Guan Yu and his son, Guan Ping
were defeated and killed
and Jing Province was completely occupied by Sun Quan
(See my videos “Battle of Fan Cheng” for more details)
Liu Bei lost one of his most important partners
and nearly half of his territory and a large number of troops
To add insult to injury, Liu Bei lost another three
very important talents in a row after Guan Yu’s death
In 220 AD, Fa Zheng and Huang Zhong, the brilliant partners
who performed exceptionally well in the
Battle of Ding Jun Mountain, died of illness
In 221 AD, Zhang Fei missed Guan Yu so much that
he whipped his men to vent his emotions
As a result, he was killed in his sleep by his men
Although Liu Bei still had a lot of talents under him at that time
his forces were not stable internally
His forces were basically divided into 4 factions:
Founding Member Faction, Jing Province Faction
Yi Province Faction and Dong Zhou Faction
The Founding Member Faction consisted of earliest followers of Liu Bei
including Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun
But with the death of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei
the influence of this faction was greatly reduced
The Jing Province Faction, including Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Ma Liang
Huang Zhong, Wei Yan and Zhuo Ying
were all talents recruited by Liu Bei during his 9 years in Jing Province
This faction had the most talents and was quite powerful
The Dong Zhou Faction was once under Liu Zhang
but many of its members were not natives of Yi Province
This faction surrendered to Liu Bei after Liu Zhang
was defeated and was also loyal to Liu Bei
It was represented by Fa Zheng, Li Yan and Wu Ban
Finally, there is the Yi Province Faction
represented by Huang Quan, Yang Hong, Fei Shi and Qiao Zhou
They were local clans in Yi Province and
represented the interests of the local people
The Founding Member Faction was like
a Golden Retriever, smart and loyal
the Jing Province Faction was like a German Shepherd
loyal and good at fighting
These two factions were the most trusted by Liu Bei
The Dong Zhou Faction was more like a clingy cat
and Liu Bei had relatively trusted them
But since the death of Fa Zheng
the “cat” was not as clingy as before
while the Yi Province Faction was like…a goat
disloyal and temperamental
often in disagreement with the master
The conflicts among these four factions were also deepening
threatening the stability within Liu Bei’s forces
In addition to the internal factors
the awful external environment also put Liu Bei’s
newly established regime in danger of collapse
Liu Bei had been facing two powerful enemies
Cao Cao and Sun Quan, after Jing Province was seized by Sun Quan
Cao Cao occupied nine of the thirteen provinces in ancient China
Sun Quan occupied three, and Liu Bei only had Yi Province
Liu Bei’s situation would be fine if Sun Quan and Cao Cao
continued to antagonize each other
However, Sun Quan had already shown good will to Cao Cao
after his sneak attack on Jing Province
and Cao Cao made Sun Quan the
“Marquis of Nan Chang” in the name of the emperor
In early 220 AD, Cao Cao died and his son Cao Pi
succeeded to the throne as the King of Wei
A few months later, Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian of Han
to abdicate and became emperor himself
In order to avoid fighting Liu Bei and Cao Pi at the same time
Sun Quan offered to become a vassal state of Cao Pi
And Cao Pi happily granted Sun Quan the title “King of Wu”
From then on, Cao Pi and Sun Quan formed a political alliance
You may ask, if Sun Quan could make peace with Cao Pi
why not Liu Bei？
Actually, Liu Bei had already sent an emissary to
pay his respects when Cao Cao died
which was a very rare gesture of good will to Wei by Liu Bei
By doing this, Liu Bei was hoping that Wei would not attack him
if he ever had a war with Sun Quan in the future
However, Cao Pi ordered the local officials to
kill the emissary soon after he entered Wei
It is like after a fight with your wife
you are going to knock the bedroom door and make up with her
after all, you don’t want to sleep on the couch all the time
But she threw a cup at you when the door was
just opened halfway and the cup hit you right in the forehead
To make matters worse, after Cao Pi became emperor
the legitimacy of Liu Bei’s political group was greatly shaken
Since Liu Bei had been fighting under the banner of
“Supporting the Han Imperial Family”
but now the “Han Imperial Family” had given up the
position of emperor to Cao Pi
so naturally there was no longer a need for Liu Bei’s “support”
In addition, Sun Quan granted Liu Zhang the title
“Governor of Yi Province” after seizing Jing Province
which also showed that he disagreed with the legitimacy
of Liu Bei’s occupation of Yi Province
At the same time, he made Liu Zhang live in Zi Gui
a place very close to Yi Province, to attract the “goats”
who hated Liu Bei, from Yi Province to join Liu Zhang,
in order to shake Liu Bei’s rule in Yi Province
Liu Bei was on the verge of life and death
If Cao Pi and Sun Quan joined forces to attack him
he would surely be defeated and there would be no escape
Looking back on Liu Bei’s life
we can tell that he had never suffered such a major blow
He had often lost all his territories
but his most important brothers had always followed him
and he was able to recruit new talents under the
glorious banner of “Supporting the Han Imperial Family”
But now he was faltering in terms of
territory, talents, military strength and even
his proudest political legitimacy
So how did Liu Bei resolve these crises?
The first to address is the legitimacy of the regime
Legitimacy is like your license to open a snack bar
Without this license, your potential customers will suspect that
your snack bar is not clean and that you will run away
from legal punishments if your food makes the customers sick
So how did Liu Bei get his “stolen” license back?
In ancient China, there were several ways to legitimately
obtain the emperor’s throne: the first way was by inheritance
the second way was by abdication
and the third way was by declaring oneself emperor
but only if the previous emperor was widely believed to be an asshole
Emperor Xian of Han “voluntarily” abdicated the throne
and was made “Duke of Shan Yang” after Cao Pi became emperor
Cao Pi also married his two daughters
thus ensuring his dignity and a comfortable life
Although Emperor Xian of Han had lost
his real power long ago during Cao Cao’s time
this abdication process was completely legitimate
Liu Bei could only break the situation by
making Cao Pi’s rule illegitimate
At that time, a rumor spread to Yi Province that
Cao Pi had killed Emperor Xian of Han and
declared himself emperor
Liu Bei immediately took advantage
of this rumor and propagandized it
and the civil and military officials began to
condole on the death of Emperor Xian of Han
Meanwhile, officials from all over Yi Province started to
report “Xiang Rui” (auspicious signs) to Liu Bei
such as the discovery of a yellow dragon in Chi River of Wu Yang
someone encountering all green lights
on the way in the morning, and so on
Discovering Xiang Rui was an
essential process before becoming an emperor
It meant that the God was satisfied with your rule
Then the civil and military officials could
persuade Liu Bei to become emperor
This persuasion process was also very particular
the officials needed to persuade Liu Bei twice
and Liu Bei pretended to refuse twice
It was not until the officials persuaded him for the third time
that Liu Bei could agree to become emperor
When you invite your Chinese friends to dinner in the future
and ask them if they want some more
if they say no, you can try asking twice more(^_^)
Based on the circumstances
I believe Liu Bei hated this process very much
It was not because he had been wanting to become emperor
for many years and couldn’t wait
but because his regime was in danger of falling apart
if he didn’t become emperor right away
In April 221 AD, after finishing this annoying process
Liu Bei successfully became emperor
and his kingdom was named Han
which historians call Shu Han
And his civil and military officials were finally given
various formal positions and titles
which helped Liu Bei reassure his people
After cleaning up the mess “at home”
Liu Bei could finally free his hands to
deal with external threats
In the novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”
Liu Bei’s war against Sun Quan was entirely to avenge Guan Yu
but was it really just that?
After losing Jing Province, Liu Bei only had Yi Province left
while his enemies had a total of twelve provinces
Liu Bei was already over 60 at that time
If he didn’t do anything
his son would only inherit one province after he died
His son wouldn’t be able to compete against Cao Pi and Sun Quan
and would eventually be eliminated by them
Therefore, Liu Bei had to expand to break the situation
Politically speaking, it clearly made more sense
to attack Cao Pi, who had declared himself emperor
Cao Pi took the Han throne from the Liu family
but unlike his father, Cao Cao, he didn’t have the capabilities
to keep the overall situation under control
so it seemed like a good choice to attack him
But attacking Wei required climbing over many huge mountains
and transporting provisions over a much longer distance than
when attacking Han Zhong, which was quite difficult
And if Sun Quan attacked from the east of Yi Province
Liu Bei would be in danger of being destroyed
But if Liu Bei attacked Sun Quan
he wouldn’t have to worry too much about Cao Pi
attacking from the north of Yi Province
Because Yi Province was a place that was easy
to defend and hard to attack
There were many barriers and passes in the north
that could easily block any incoming enemy
He could also take the waterway down the Yangtze River
and rush all the way to the lower reaches
so it was relatively easier to march and transport provisions
In addition, besides avenging Guan Yu
Liu Bei must at least retake Jing Province
in order to match Cao Pi and Sun Quan in strength
Liu Bei had many talents from Jing Province
which was occupied by Sun Quan
This greatly damaged the morale of Liu Bei’s forces
Also, Liu Bei guessed that if he started a war against Sun Quan
and Cao Pi could attack Sun Quan from the north at the same time
he could even destroy Sun Quan with Cao Pi
and divide up Sun Quan’s territory
Due to these reasons
Liu Bei decided to start a war against Sun Quan
take back his “branch snack bar” and
avenge the “branch manager” Guan Yu
Although Liu Bei had made his final decision
new difficulties arose
First of all, the strength of Liu Bei’s navy had dropped significantly
due to the death of Guan Yu while
navy was essential to attack Sun Quan down the river
Secondly, Liu Bei no longer had any highly
competent tactician and military general to use after
the successive deaths of Pang Tong
Fa Zheng, Huang Zhong and Zhang Fei
so who else could Liu Bei use?
If young generals were used
would they perform as well as Chen Shi and Gao Xiang
did in Han Zhong Campaign?
Due to time limit
I will have to leave these questions for my next video
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See you next time!