Liu Bei gave Sun Quan two counties from Jingzhou. Why did he do it?

Xiang-Shui demarcation, also known as Xiang-Shui Alliance, was an agreement reached by Liu Bei and Sun Quan in the 20th year of Jian 'an in the late Eastern Han Dynasty (2 15) to solve the territorial ownership of Jingzhou. As for the demarcation of Xiangjiang River, the main contents are: Liu Bei and Sun Quan divide Jingzhou equally, that is, taking Xiangjiang River as the boundary, Jiangxia County, Changsha County and Guiyang County of Jingzhou belong to Sun Quan, and Nanjun County, Lingling County and Wuling County of Jingzhou belong to Liu Bei. After Battle of Red Cliffs, the seven counties of Jingzhou contested by military strategists were divided among Liu Bei, Cao Cao and Sun Quan. Cao Cao occupied Nanyang County, the largest county in the north of Jingzhou, Sun Quan got Jiangxia County and Nanjun County, and Liu Bei got four counties in the south of Jingzhou (Changsha County, Lingling County, Guiyang County and Wuling County).

After Zhou Yu's death, Liu Bei asked Sun Quan for the south county of Jingzhou twice, and Lu Su of Soochow persuaded Sun Quan to take the south county? Borrow? Gave it to Liu Bei, so Liu Bei had five counties in Jingzhou (Nanjun, Changsha, Lingling, Guiyang and Wuling), while Sun Quan had only one county in Jingzhou. Therefore, after Liu Bei captured Yizhou, Sun Quan naturally needed to beg Liu Bei for Jingzhou. On this basis, when the Xiangjiang River was demarcated, Liu Bei assigned Changsha County and Guiyang County from Jingzhou to Sun Quan. So, here's the problem. When the Xiangjiang River was delineated, Liu Bei's strength was not lost to Sun Quan. Why did he divide the land for peace?

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First of all, in the 20th year of Jian 'an (2 15), Liu Bei obtained the land of Bashu from Liu Zhang. Sun Quan knew that Liu Bei had taken Yizhou and wanted to take back the south county of Jingzhou, but Liu Bei said: When he got Liangzhou, he would return Jingzhou. ? Sun Quan was furious and sent Lu Su to beg for Jingzhou. As a result, the leaders of Sun Quan and Liu Bei gave gifts, while Guan Yu, who was guarding Jingzhou, was naturally unwilling to give up the counties of Jingzhou. So after the two sides broke up in discord, Sun Quan ordered Monroe to prepare to attack the south of Jingzhou, Lu Su sent more than 10,000 troops to Yiyang to contain Guan Yu, and Liu Bei led the troops from Yizhou to bring back resources. At that time, Guan Yu claimed to have 30 thousand troops, and he chose 5 thousand elite to cross the river from the upper reaches. Wujiang Ganning led 1000 people to enter. Guan Yu learned that he did not cross the river and camped on the other side. This place was later called. Guan Yu? .

However, for Liu Bei, he did not confront Sun Quan for a long time, but chose to regress, that is, to cede the two counties of Jingzhou to Soochow to avoid further intensification of the conflict between the two sides. However, perhaps many people don't quite understand. In 2 15 ad, Liu Bei had already captured Yizhou, and his overall strength was not lost at that time. In that case, why did Liu Bei cede territory for peace instead of competing with Sun Quan?

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Therefore, in 2 15 AD, Cao Cao had captured the land of Hanzhong. As we all know, Hanzhong is the gateway and throat of Yizhou. Once Hanzhong is occupied by Cao Cao for a long time, Liu Bei's Yizhou will face great defensive pressure. It is worth noting that although Cao Cao did not attack Yizhou further after pacifying Zhang Lu. However, once Liu Bei met Sun Quan in Jingzhou, Cao Cao obviously wouldn't give up this opportunity. In other words, Liu Bei gave in to the demarcation of Xiangjiang River and gave Sun Quan the two counties of Jingzhou in order to concentrate on dealing with Cao Cao. Because compared with Sun Quan, Cao Cao is Liu Bei's main enemy, which is undoubtedly the relationship between the main contradiction and the secondary contradiction. For Liu Bei, we can't ignore the main contradiction for the sake of the secondary contradiction.

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On the other hand, not only Cao Cao in Hanzhong is eyeing up, but Liu Bei himself has just seized Yizhou from Liu Zhang, so he is faced with the problem that the people's hearts have not yet fully joined. In the 19th year of Jian 'an (2 14), Los Angeles was besieged for nearly a year before it was conquered. Liu Bei is surrounded by Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun. When Liu Bei sent Du You to Jianning, Li Hui said that he would drop Ma Chao. Ma Chao came to Chengdu, and Liu Bei ordered him to lead an army to the north of the city. At that time, the whole city was shocked. Liu Bei sent Jian Yong to surrender to Liu Zhang, and then led Yizhou to shepherd, enabling many talents in Shu. In 2 15 ad, Liu Bei just captured Yizhou, which means that Liu Bei's foundation in Yizhou is not very deep.

Correspondingly, Ada and Liu Zhang have been separated in Yizhou for decades. Although Liu Zhang has defected, there are still many civil servants and military commanders loyal to Liu Zhang in Yizhou, that is, they defected to Liu Bei because of the situation. Therefore, if Liu Bei puts the elite of Yizhou in Jingzhou for a long time to fight against Sun Quan, then the Liu Zhang forces in Yizhou are likely to stir up and even take the opportunity to make trouble for Liu Bei.

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Finally, after years of hard work, Yizhou was captured by Liu Bei. Therefore, Liu Bei even paid the price of Pang Tong's death. Liu Bei naturally cherishes the hard-won Yizhou. Moreover, compared with several counties in Jingzhou, Yizhou, as a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack, is undoubtedly a more suitable place for Liu Bei to establish a foundation. In other words, if you have to choose between Jingzhou and Yizhou, Liu Bei will probably choose Yizhou instead of Jingzhou. To sum up, in the demarcation of Xiangjiang River, Liu Bei still chose to regress under the background that his overall strength was lost to Sun Quan. As for the demarcation of Xiangshui, the content is that Jiangxia County, Changsha County and Guiyang County in Jingzhou belong to Sun Quan, and Nanjun County, Lingling County and Wuling County in Jingzhou belong to Liu Bei. After the demarcation of Xiangshui, Guan Yu actually guarded three counties in Jingzhou (Nanjun, Lingling and Wuling). Before the demarcation of Xiangjiang River, Guan Yu owned the land of five counties in Jingzhou.