Guan Yu's crusade against Xiangfan is actually not a big problem, his biggest problem is that he is too arrogant, he does not do what he can, and he also completely offends his ally Sun Quan. In the end, Guan Yu was defeated and killed, and it had little to do with Cao Wei, mainly because Jiangdong was drawn from the bottom of the kettle, which gave Guan Yu a fatal blow.

[Guan Yu, Cao Wei and Jiangdong]

Although Guan Yu mainly fought against Cao Wei after the start of the war, and was eventually repelled by Xu Huang, Cao Wei's troops failed to give Guan Yu a mortal threat from beginning to end.

Not to mention Guan Yu's flooding of the Seventh Army in the early stage, after Xu Huang came to help, at the beginning, because of the lack of troops, most of the recruits, the threat to Guan Yu was limited, and he was even unable to break Guan Yu's encirclement, after the reinforcements were enough, Xu Huang only lifted Guan Yu's encirclement in Fancheng, Guan Yu still surrounded Xiangyang with the help of the power of the navy, Guan Yu finally retreated because the nest was copied by Lu Meng.

It can be said that Guan Yu took advantage of the water army, and the threat to Cao Wei's troops was quite limited, and Guan Yu couldn't beat it, at least he could run away. But after Jiangdong, which was also a powerful naval army, also sent troops, Guan Yu was out of play.

[Comparison of disparities in strength]

In the early stage of the Battle of Xiangfan, the two sides of this war were Guan Yu against Cao Ren, at most Cao Cao sent a Yu Ban to support Cao Ren, and Cao Ren's military strength was at least twice that of Guan Yu in terms of strength, and he was on the defensive, but Guan Yu had an absolute advantage in the naval army.

And after Guan Yu flooded the Seventh Army and shocked China, Cao Cao was completely alarmed by it, and supported Cao Ren at all costs, and even mobilized the troops that were originally stationed in Huainan to defend Sun Quan.

In addition to Cao Cao, Sun Quan did not want Liu Bei and Guan Yu to become bigger, and at the same time decided to take the opportunity to seize Jingzhou, so he sent the strongest commander Lu Meng and Lu Xun, the later star, to fool Guan Yu to secretly crusade against Nanjun.

At this time, this war has become Guan Yu with his own strength to fight against Cao Wei and Jiangdong at the same time, at this time Guan Yu's fate has been doomed, because the strength of the two sides is too different, and the disparity has exceeded the battle of Chibi that year, after all, Guan Yu only had the three counties of Nanjun, Lingling and Wuling in Jingzhou at that time, less than half of Jingzhou, and Cao Cao and Sun Quan together controlled at least ten states.

And compared with the Battle of Chibi, Zhou Yu and others were able to defeat Cao Cao at that time, mainly because of Cao Cao's contempt and inaction, and at this time, whether Cao Cao or Sun Quan, they all attached great importance to Guan Yu, and they all went all out, leaving no room for Guan Yu at all.

If there is only one opponent, Cao Cao, although Guan Yu may not be able to capture Fancheng with a steady stream of Cao troops, at least it is not a big problem to return to Jiangling, but after Sun Quan also makes a move, Guan Yu really has no chance at all.

【Reasons for Failure】

There are many reasons for Guan Yu's final defeat in the Battle of Xiangfan in history, the most important of which is Guan Yu's own lack of strength and offending his ally Sun Quan.

(1) Guan Yu's own strength is insufficient, and the opponent is strong. In history, one of the main reasons why Cao Cao sent Cao Ren to attack Guan Yu in the Battle of Hanzhong was that Guan Yu's strength in Jingzhou was weak at that time, and he could fight it completely, and this weakness was reflected in all aspects. In terms of military affairs, Guan Yu's military strength is limited, which can be seen from Guan Yu's attack on Xiangfan, after the flooding of Xiangfan, there are not many troops in Xiangyang and Fancheng, and the city defense has also suffered considerable damage, but Guan Yu just can't beat it, and one of the important reasons is that Guan Yu's troops are insufficient. Later, Guan Yu not only lacked troops, but also lacked food and grass, so he had to seize the military rations that originally belonged to Sun Quan to supplement himself.

Contrary to Guan Yu, Cao Ren was constantly rearing reinforcements at that time, while Sun Quan was accumulating troops and waiting for the opportunity.

(2) Offended his ally Sun Quan. Sun Quan was an important ally that Liu Bei had to win over with all his might in the "Longzhong Pair", and he had a very crucial influence on whether Liu Bei could revive the Han dynasty against Cao Cao, and was indispensable for Liu Bei to defeat Cao Wei.

But in this case, Guan Yu completely offended his main ally Sun Quan, and many things were not even given to Sun Quan, Sun Quan was hesitating to seize Jingzhou or continue to maintain the alliance, Sun Quan saw Guan Yu's attitude, yes, don't think about it, Guan Yu finally buried his life.

(3) Guan Yu lacks helpers. After Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and others entered Shu one after another, Guan Yu has always maintained Jingzhou alone, lacking sufficient helpers. This matter was extremely obvious in the Battle of Xiangfan, when Cao Ren had full favor by his side, Pang De by Yu Ban's side, Zhao Yan by Xu Huang's side, and Lu Meng also took Lu Xun and Yu Zhu when he fought Nanjun, but what about Guan Yu's side? Everyone thinks about it, and it is estimated that there is only his son Guan Ping.

Take a closer look at the list of generals and officials under Guan Yu's command in Jingzhou, among them, Zhao Lei, Fan You, Sun Wolf, Zhan Yan, etc. are basically some of the previous unknown people, and there are actually not even half of them who can help Guan Yu.

(4) Guan Yu lacked support. In the Battle of Xiangfan, Cao Cao successively sent Yu Ban, Xu Huang, Zhang Liao and other generals to support Cao Ren, and after Lü Meng occupied Nanjun, Sun Quan also arrived, and what about Guan Yu? From beginning to end, Guan Yu was able to control the only subordinates in the three counties of Jingzhou in this battle, Liu Bei did not send a single soldier to Guan Yu in Yizhou, even if he had been assigned to Shangyong and other places in Jingzhou, he also rejected Guan Yu's request for help.

In the end, Guan Yu had to fight against the Cao and Sun families on his own, and it can be said that until Guan Yu died, he didn't see a single reinforcement of his own.

(5) Guan Yu did not do what he could. said that if you don't die, you won't die, which Guan Yu also conforms, not only did he offend his ally Sun Quan to death, but he also overestimated himself and had no self-knowledge.

In the Battle of Xiangfan, Guan Yu actually had three times when he should have withdrawn. The first time was after Guan Yu flooded the Seventh Army, Guan Yu got a large number of prisoners, but with the land of the three counties, Guan Yu couldn't afford to raise so many people, and the general generals accepted it when they saw it, but Guan Yu was unwilling, he directly robbed Sun Quan's grain and grass to solve the problem; The second time was after Xu Huang came to help, Guan Yu should have understood that Cao Ren's reinforcements would continue to come, and Fancheng was already difficult to fight, so he should take advantage of Xu Huang's few troops to retreat to Xiangfan, but Guan Yu just didn't retreat; The third time was after Cao Cao revealed that Sun Quan was preparing to send troops to seize Jingzhou and Guan Yu's rear, and this was Guan Yu's last chance, in this case, Guan Yu should retreat no matter what, but the arrogant Guan Yu just didn't cherish the opportunity.

(6) Deduction of subordinates. Historically, after Guan Yu was unable to conquer Xiangfan for a long time, he was dissatisfied with Mi Fang and Fu Shiren, who were responsible for the supply in the rear, and blamed the two, causing the two to hold a grudge, and then Guan Yu transferred troops, resulting in the emptiness of the rear, and Hou Mi Fang and Fu Shiren saw Lu Meng coming, so they surrendered.