The water network in the south of the Yangtze River is dense, the swamps are dense, the road is difficult, and the transportation is difficult. From any angle, it is not suitable for the mobile combat of the large cavalry corps.
These places are suitable for small groups of cavalry to move vertically and horizontally to perform some battlefield auxiliary tasks, and the main force is definitely the infantry and navy.
Most of Liu Bei's generals grew up in the north of the Yangtze River, growing up in grasslands and desert areas. They are better at fighting on plains and grasslands, and are good at using infantry and cavalry. They are not very familiar with naval warfare.
Therefore, in their opinion, Liu Bei should try his best to select generals who are from the south or from the seaside, preferably from Shuzhong or Qingxu. Even if he does not, he should try to choose those with relevant experience. Why choose Guan Yu instead?
Guan Yu didn't have any experience in fighting in the south.
Apart from reasons such as trust and confidants, no one can think of anything else.
Although Liu Bei's choice of Guan Yu was appropriate from all angles, out of a sense of responsibility, young Guo Jia and Yang Xiu still raised objections to Liu Bei.
"Your Majesty, although General Guan is good at fighting, he is not familiar with the climate of the south of the Yangtze River, nor is he familiar with the mountains, swamps, hills, and water networks. I think it would be more suitable to choose someone from Shuzhong or Qingxu.
"Your Majesty, General Guan is brave and good at fighting, but he is really not suitable to be appointed as the head of the Jiangnan Military Region. I hope your Majesty will think again.
Others were intimidated by Liu Bei's power and dared not speak out, but young Yang Xiu and Guo Jia lacked some fear and had more sense of responsibility and enterprising spirit, and wanted to show themselves to Liu Bei.
Of course Liu Bei would not be unhappy about this.
In his opinion, everyone's objections were justified, because no one would have thought at this time that Guan Yu, a northern man who was good at cavalry fighting, could actually maximize his military capabilities in Jiangnan.
No one knows how Guan Yu, who grew up in the north, learned to use multiple arms in joint operations on the terrain of Jiangnan, but Liu Bei has always believed that this is an important reason why Guan Yu became a world-famous general.
What Liu Bei can be sure of is that the historical data of the entire Shuhan Entrepreneurship Group should have been deleted in a premeditated and organized manner.
The wars and achievements of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei must have been deleted in an organized way. As for when they started to be deleted, it is unknown.
The image they show in what is recorded in historical materials cannot be connected with the evaluation of them by their contemporaries.
People at the same time had a very high opinion of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, as did some people with high status. The most intuitive point is that after Guan Zhang, the world talked about generals, fierce generals, and bear and tiger generals. It must be called Guan Zhang.
Any great generals in future generations will think that they are related to Zhang Zhiyong.
However, there are very few records of Guan and Zhang's own achievements, making it unclear why they received such high praise.
This feeling of dissonance was especially evident in the period after Liu Bei entered Shu and before Guan Yu's Northern Expedition.
For nearly ten years, Guan Yu's biography did not contain any war-related experiences. However, the generals of Cao Wei and Wei took turns stationed in Jingzhou during this stage, and there were repeated records of promotion, demotion, transfer, and battles with Guan Yu. .
However, these records do not clearly describe the origin, course and final results of the war. They only include transfers and changes in positions. The related records are so frequent that it is difficult not to imagine.
In those more than ten years, how many big and tough battles had Guan Yu fought with them?
The only thing that is certain is that in those more than ten years, the Cao Wei regime definitely did not just sit back and do nothing. They launched many military attacks in Jingzhou. Soochow was not completely inactive. There were not many big moves and small ones. .
At that time, Guan Yu was the only one guarding Jingzhou, and the other forces under Liu Bei had basically entered Yizhou. It was equivalent to Guan Yu alone guarding the four battles in Jingzhou, while facing the all-star lineups of Cao Wei and Soochow.
In the end, he was even able to launch a strategic offensive with 30,000 Jingzhou soldiers, which shocked Xu Du. Cao Cao even wanted to move north to avoid the edge.
The dangers involved cannot be written down in just a few strokes.
Finally, it’s time for Guan Yu’s powerful battle over China and the final battle. There’s really no way to delete it, there’s really no way to avoid it, and it’s directly related to Guan Yu’s subsequent defeat, so this final glory and fleeting moment has been left behind. Come down.
And how many battles did Guan Yu fight in the previous ten years? How many famous Cao Wei generals have you faced? What was the result? How was your combat experience?
Liu Bei didn't know.
However, he believed that [Megatron China] came from the enemy's evaluation of him and could not be obtained simply by sitting in a difficult situation.
During those more than ten years, Guan Yu stood firm in Jingzhou alone. Not only was he able to maintain a solid defense line, but he was also able to maintain an attack on Cao's army and a deterrent against Sun Wu despite the ups and downs. Despite the severe strategic disadvantages, It is really not easy to maintain one's presence in Jingzhou.
His final overturn was more or less accidental, more or less a fateful one. It didn't feel like he was defeated on the battlefield, but more like he was defeated in the hearts of the people. As a military general, he had done everything he could. And quite competent.
It is precisely because of this that Liu Bei decided to hand over the Jiangnan Military Region to Guan Yu.
Because under his rule, there will be no problems with people's hearts.
Compared with the Xishu Military Region, the Jiangnan Military Region is where Liu Bei believes that war will inevitably occur in the next two to three years. This is the area where Liu Bei has the weakest foundation, and it is also the area where the local forces are the most stubborn, conservative and xenophobic.
Liu Bei still has tens of thousands of troops in Yizhou, people who are willing to cooperate, and a group of Yizhou locals who support him. The situation in Yizhou is far from as bad as the imperial court analyzed.
However, in Jingzhou and Yangzhou, there were only three newly established battalions, and in Jiaozhi, they had no foundation.
Even the establishment of the Jiangnan Military Region and the stationing of the army are hard to say what kind of views and alerts the locals will have. Whether the army can be stationed smoothly is a serious question.
For such a situation, Liu Bei needs a general with strong resistance to pressure and sufficient military capabilities to hold up the entire situation, to frighten and manage the Jiangnan area, and even face a full-scale rebellion when he is in the field. It can also attack in an all-out manner and suppress it in an all-out manner.
To be able to do this in an unfamiliar terrain and climate environment, without the support of friends and with possible enemies on all sides, apart from Liu Bei himself, he could only trust Guan Yunchang, who was so powerful in China.
"My choice of Yunchang is not just based on the thoughts of my close confidants. Dezu and Fengxiao, I understand your worries, but you can trust me and you can expect it. I believe that Yunchang will not let me down.
Liu Bei made the final decision and decided to hand over the final responsibility of the head of the Jiangnan Military Region to Guan Yu. Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Qian Zhao, Xu Huang, Liu Sheng. These five people were determined to be the top leaders of the other five military regions except the Central Military Region. They will each command their own armies and the armies commanded by other Zhonglang generals. They will command 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers and horses to guard one side. , to ensure peace for one party.
In order to highlight the status of these five people and establish their status as superiors and subordinates to the other generals, in September of the fourth year of Jian'an, Liu Bei went to the emperor and asked for the appointment of a general.
He hoped that Guan Yu would be the general to hold down the south, Zhang Fei would be the general to hold down the west, Qianzhao would be the general to hold down the north, Xu Huang would be the general to hold down the east, and Liu Sheng would be the general to hold down the barbarians.
These five generals are positioned above the other miscellaneous generals and the Zhonglang generals. They are at the same level as the four generals at the front, back, left, and right. They have the rank of Zhong Erqianshi generals and are designated as permanent generals.
The little emperor Liu Xie was accurate in all of Liu Bei's requests, and the word "accuracy" ran throughout, so the status of the five generals second only to Liu Bei in Liu Bei's army was confirmed.
According to the previous deliberations, Guan Yu guarded the south of the Yangtze River and commanded three armies, Zhang Fei guarded the northwest and commanded three armies, led Zhao to guard the northeast and commanded three armies, Liu Sheng guarded Xishu and also commanded three armies, and only Xu Huang The guarding Zhongyuan commanded four armies.
Five external military districts were established.
