When watching "Three Kingdoms", whenever people read the misery of Guan Yu (Guan Yunchang) who was defeated in Maicheng and was captured and beheaded, there will always be people who can't help but burst into tears and beat their chests.
On the one hand, Guan Yu is defined as the embodiment of "loyalty" and has considerable prestige in the entire Chinese civilization circle; On the other hand, Guan Yu had just completed the "Flooded Seventh Army", and he was about to advance into the Central Plains and restore the Han Dynasty.
Some people deduce that Guan Yu once passed by Ma Chao's fiefdom - Linfu in the process of retreating to Xichuan.
However, what is puzzling is why Ma Chao, who is also a "Five Tiger General", did not go to rescue him?
"Dayi" 失荆州
As the supreme commander of Liu Bei's Eastern Route Army, Guan Yu guards the nine counties of Jingxiang all the year round and is responsible for guarding the base camp for Liu Bei.
When Liu Bei gained a firm foothold in Xichuan, attacked Hanzhong from the western front, and threatened Chang'an, Guan Yu also advanced into Fancheng from the eastern front, threatening the centers of the Cao Wei group - Xudu and Luoyang.
It can be said that this "Longzhong pair" strategy formulated by Zhuge Liang in Nanyang Caolu was extremely ruthless.
Even if Cao Wei has the strength to surpass the sum of Sun Liu's group, in the virtual and real attack, it will also cause Cao Wei's army to move back and forth, and the troops will be exhausted.
In order to deal with the battle of Hanzhong, which Liu Bei was determined to win, Cao Cao transferred the main force to Chang'an-Hanzhong. In terms of dealing with Guan Yu of the Eastern Route Army, Cao Cao could only send Yu Banhe, who had been in charge of logistics for a long time, to the front-line troops.
In the face of such an opponent, Guan Yu, who prides himself on being familiar with "Spring and Autumn", naturally did not take it to heart, and he has always been proud, and even regarded Liu Bei's ally Sun Quan as "Native Chicken Dog Val".
As a result, when Guan Yu led the main army of Jingzhou to the north to resist Cao, the critical stage of shocking China, Sun Quan's troops quietly attacked Guan Yu from the rear.
They disguised themselves as ordinary merchants and took small boats to ambush in front of beacon towers all over Jingzhou. With a terrible whistle, the soldier with a branch in his mouth quickly took down the beacon tower. Then he changed into a costume about the army and deceived the city gate, and occupied Jingzhou bloodlessly.
This kind of thunderous speed caught Guan Yu off guard, and the old nest was put into a passive situation.
Cao's army, which had already been defeated, took advantage of the situation to counterattack, not only regaining the lost land, but also wounding Guan Yu.
Guan Yu, who was desperate, could only lead the remnants of the army all the way to the west, trying to return to Liu Bei's side to regroup.
However, this road to retreat west was not smooth, and it became Guan Yu's point of no return under the pursuit of Cao Sun's two armies.
Defeated Maicheng and died in Huangquan
Since Guan Yu was carrying out the offensive line, he transferred all his heavy troops to the front line during the decisive battle with Cao's army. As a result, the garrison was empty, and Sun Quan's army took advantage of the weakness to occupy most of the towns in Jingxiang Nine Counties.
Guan Yu, who had never considered the retreat route, was dizzy by a blow to the head, so he could only fight and retreat towards Xichuan. Because most of Guan Yu's troops were natives of Jingzhou, when everyone saw that the supreme general was about to abandon this homeland where they had grown up since childhood, some people deserted and chose to flee.
On the way to escape, Guan Yu no longer had the scenery of "passing five levels and killing six generals", and the soldiers followed him to eat and sleep, and there was no hope of victory at all. By the time he arrived at Maicheng, there were less than 500 troops left.
At this time, Cao Wei's army was in hot pursuit under the leadership of the general Xu Huang, while Sun Quan's troops were ambushed in various passes and key roads ahead.
Guan Yu sent Liao Hua to ride a fast horse to Liu Bei's righteous son Liu Feng to ask for help, and at the same time led the remnants of the army to hold on to Maicheng and wait for help.
However, Guan Yu's era has passed, and Liu Feng, who has never been on good terms with Guan Yu, refused to rescue, which eventually closed the door to Guan Yu's survival. When Guan Yu had no choice but to risk breaking through from the path, Sun Quan's generals Ma Zhong and Pan Zhang, who had long been ambushed here, fought together and captured Guan Yu's father and son.
In order to avoid the consequences of Cao Cao's release of Guan Yu that year, Sun Quan, at the suggestion of the ministers, weighed the pros and cons and executed Guan Yu's father and son.
An ethereal escape
Guan Yu's death intensified the anger that had been accumulated between Sun and Liu for a long time. Liu Bei, who had just won the battle of Hanzhong, suddenly thundered like five thunderbolts, gritting his steel teeth to avenge Guan Yu.
It's a pity that Liu Bei, who was carried away by hatred, fell for Sun Quan's strategy to lure the enemy deep again, and was finally defeated, and died in a hurry.
Later generations lamented the righteousness of the three brothers Liu, Guan and Zhang, and whenever people read about the burning of the company camp, Bai Di Tuogu couldn't help but burst into tears and sighed.
Some readers of good things will even take out a map to carefully deduce Guan Yu's escape route, trying to point out a way out for "Guan Yu".
Shockingly, in the process of Guan Yu's escape, he once arrived at a small place called Linfu.
This place belongs to the fief of Ma Chao, another "Five Tiger Generals", why didn't Ma Chao take the initiative to send troops to save him?
In modern society, people are accustomed to mobile phones and satellite positioning, and fast-running high-speed trains and airplanes have shortened the distance people travel, so much so that many people ignore the key concept of time.
According to historical records, in 197 AD, Liu Bei led Zhang Fei, Ma Chao and other generals to march into Hanzhong from the Western Front, and had a major battle with Cao Cao in Hanzhong.
This battle lasted for nearly two years, and by the time Liu Bei returned to Chengdu in victory, Guan Yu had already fled in defeat.
In Guan Yu's era, the traffic was very inconvenient, not to mention the stirrups and other key weapons of the cavalry had not yet appeared, and even the asphalt roads and cement roads that we were accustomed to did not have, which caused Liu Bei's communication between the east and west groups to be extremely inconvenient.
The two armies were still able to unify the time when they agreed to attack, but if there was a mistake on the rapidly changing battlefield, the coordination between the two armies was greatly reduced.
Because Sun Quan's sneak attack was sudden, even Zhuge Liang, who was like a god, could not get the first-line battle report of Jingzhou in a short time, so when Guan Yu's defeated army passed by, Ma Chao's army might still be on the way back from Hanzhong.
Although this was only an insignificant time difference, it was enough to kill Guan Yu.
Chairman Mao once criticized Zhuge Liang's "Longzhong Pair", the troops were scattered, and he could not concentrate superior forces to destroy the enemy, and he also criticized Guan Yu for "being too contemptuous of scholars and doctors", so that he ended up in a different place.
If Guan Yu has today's wireless communication technology and the means of high-speed transportation, will he be able to get reborn from Ma Chao's rescue?