The expansion of Shu and Han in the history of the Three Kingdoms; Not just the Northern Expedition of Cao Wei?

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Battle of Red Cliffs became the key battle to establish the tripartite confrontation among Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan. After Battle of Red Cliffs, Liu Bei took most of Jingzhou as a springboard, taking Bashu in the west and Hanzhong in the north. In 22 1 year, under the persuasion of Zhuge Liang and others, Liu Bei officially proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu, marking the establishment of the Shu-Han regime. However, for the kingdom of Shu and Han, which only occupies Yizhou, it is urgent to expand its territory, which is also the land and population basis for reviving the Han family. So, how did Liu Bei's Shu-Han regime expand its territory?

After Liu Bei ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, the first direction of expanding territory was directed at Jingzhou in the east. Strictly speaking, this is not expansion, but recovering lost ground. In 22 1 year, Liu Bei came to Wu Dong with 50,000 troops. Although the banner of Shu Han is to avenge Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others, it is undoubtedly the most urgent need to recapture Jingzhou, a strategic place, otherwise Zhuge Liang's Longzhong pair will only become a blank sheet of paper. But under the leadership of Soochow, Liu Bei was beaten to Baidicheng. The failure of the battle of Yiling not only indirectly led to the end of Liu Bei's life, but also marked that Shu Han completely lost the important position of Jingzhou and had no strength to launch another crusade.

After the failure of the eastward expedition to Jingzhou, Liu Bei entrusted an orphan to Baidicheng, and Zhuge Liang gradually mastered the military and political power of Shu Han. Whether to maintain the internal unity of Shu and Han, or to inherit the legacy of the first emperor, Zhuge Liang must expand his territory and weaken the strength of Wei through the northern expedition of Cao Cao Group. For the Shu-Han regime in the middle and late period, the foreign wars it launched were mainly Cao Wei in the north. During Zhuge Liang's ten years in power, the Guanlong area in the northwest of Zhuge Liang fought against Wei for many times and occupied Wei's territory. On the one hand, it prevented Sima Yi from concentrating his forces on attacking Shu, on the other hand, it expanded its territory.

After Zhuge Liang died in Wuzhangyuan, the great cause of the Northern Expedition in Shu and Han Dynasties was basically presided over by Jiang Wei. Jiang Wei and Zhuge Liang have different ideas of expanding northward, mainly competing with Wei for Lintao, Longxi and Weiyuan. That is, Zhuge Liang went out of Qishan along Qinling Mountains, Xixian County and Woods Valley, while Jiang Wei pushed it to Jincheng in the north of Xixian County and Mangshui in the south bank of Weishui River. Generally speaking, through the efforts of Zhuge Liang and Jiang Wei, the northern part of Shu Han extended from Hanzhong to the southern part of Liangzhou, and the influence of Shu Han reached the southern part of Ningxia today.

In addition to the Eastern Expedition and the Northern Expedition, Shu Han also expanded its territory to the south and west. In these two directions, the expansion of Shu Han was mainly accompanied by the pacification of the rebellion of ethnic minorities. When Shu Han was just founded, Liu Bei appointed officials to exercise jurisdiction in southwest minority areas. But these Shu and Han officials basically never came back and were killed by local people. To this end, Zhuge Liang, after handling the internal affairs of Shu and Han, led an army to conquer four southern counties in 225 AD and subdued the southwest ethnic minorities such as Meng Huo. Therefore, Shu Han really extended its ruling territory to the depths of the southwest. It is worth noting that the elite troops of Shu and Han, Wudang Flying Army, were established on the basis of the military households of southwest ethnic minorities.

Finally, from the formal establishment of Shu-Han Kingdom to Liu Chan's surrender to Wargo, Shu-Han never gave up its territorial expansion. By expanding the territory, the territory and population of Shu Han were increased to a certain extent, the soldiers' state of war was maintained, the continuous operation of Shu Han's war machine was promoted, and the purpose of maintaining war by fighting was achieved. In short, it is the active pioneering actions of Zhuge Liang and others that have made Shu Han, the weakest of the three countries, live for decades.