【The Beginning of the War】

In the second year of Chuping (191), Sun Jian fought a series of battles, first defeated the army of Hu Zhen and Lü Bu in Taigu Yangren, and then fought with the army led by Dong Zhuo himself, broke it, and finally marched to Luoyang to defeat Lü Bu again and forced him to evacuate the old capital and recover Luoyang.

But later, because Yuan Shu did not agree with Yuan Shao's proposal to support the new emperor, Yuan Shao did not want Yuan Shu to become bigger, so Yuan Shao wrote a letter to Zhou Ang as the assassin of Yuzhou, and led his troops to attack Yangcheng, which had been the seat of Sun Jian's Yuzhou assassin history.

In this case, Sun Jian was forced to abandon the attack on Dong Zhuo and instead led his troops back, at this time Yuan Shu also sent Gongsun Zhan's younger brother Gongsun Yue to lead troops to help, and Gongsun Yue was shot and killed by a stray arrow in the battle. But after Sun Jian returned to Yangcheng, Zhou Ang was defeated and fled.

After Sun Jian learned the news of Zhou Ang's sneak attack, he felt very indignant: "We raised volunteers together to save Jiangshan Sheji. Now that the traitors will be swept away, but there is such a war within, with whom shall I fight with one heart and return to heaven and the next day? But in the end, he had to succumb to reality, give up Dong Zhuo, and attack Zhou Ang instead. Perhaps, when Sun Jian said these words, he already knew that he might never have the chance to return to Luoyang to fight against Dong Thief.

【Sun Jian's Death】

After Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu fell out, Gongsun Chan soon fell out with Yuan Shao because of the death of his younger brother Gongsun Yue, which formed a situation in which Gongsun Chan and Yuan Shu attacked Yuan Shao on both sides, which was very unfavorable to Yuan Shao, and later Tao Qian also formed an alliance with Yuan Shu against Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shao's situation looked even worse.

In order to get out of this terrible situation, Yuan Shao united with Liu Biao, the newly appointed assassin of Jingzhou in the south. Liu Biao because Yuan Shu occupied Nanyang County, a large county in the north of Jingzhou, in order to guard against Yuan Shu, he agreed to Yuan Shao, who had a good relationship with him. Yuan Shu couldn't bear it anymore, so he sent Sun Jian to crusade against Liu Biao.

In the third year of the Chuping Dynasty (192) (Note 1), Sun Jian marched into Jingzhou to defeat Liu Biao, and Liu Biao sent Huang Zu to fight between Fancheng and Dengxian. Sun Jian soon defeated Huang Zu for the first time, and he led his troops to pursue the victory, crossed the Han River, and besieged Xiangyang, the seat of Jingzhou, in which Liu Biao was also besieged.

Since he couldn't defeat Sun Jian at all, Liu Biao simply closed his door and secretly sent Huang Zu out of the city at night to mobilize troops from other parts of Jingzhou. After Xiangyang was surrounded for a while, Huang Zu returned with reinforcements and fought Sun Jian again, but he lost again and had to be defeated again.

After Sun Jian defeated Huang Zu for the second time, he was not satisfied, but was ready to solve Huang Zu at once, so he took the opportunity to lead the army to pursue and chased him all the way to Da Xian Mountain. After another big victory, Sun Jian was also a little careless, he took the lead in climbing Da Xian Mountain alone, and the army was behind him, this time he was caught by Huang Zujun The opportunity, the secret arrows in the bamboo forest were fired together (one said to throw stones), Sun Jian did not dodge, he was killed by the arrow, and even the bones were snatched away by Huang Zujun.

Later, Sun Jian's former subordinate Huanjie risked his life to visit Liu Biao and asked for Sun Jian's funeral. Liu Biao was moved by his righteousness, so he asked him to take Sun Jian's body and coffin away.

After Sun Jian's death, Sun Jian's nephew Sun Ben led the soldiers to support the coffin and withdraw it to Yuan Shu, and Yuan Shu went to the table again and recommended Sun Ben as the assassin of Yuzhou.

At this point, a generation of stars and grandsons fell.

[Why did Yuan Shu crusade against Liu Biao first]

After Sun Jian's death, there were actually many people who thought that Yuan Shu was responsible, if it weren't for Yuan Shu's failure to crusade against Liu Biao, Sun Jian would not have had an accident, Yuan Shu's enemies obviously took Yuan Shao first, but Yuan Shu was full and supported to crusade against Liu Biao, who barely got to the side.

But I personally think that there is no problem for Yuan Shu to send Sun Jian to crusade against Liu Biao, and this strategy is very correct for Yuan Shu and Sun Jian.

For Yuan Shu, although his number one enemy is his brother Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao is not easy to fight, this is not just a comparison in terms of strength, but more importantly, Yanzhou was not easy to go at that time.

Yuan Shu's base camp is Nanyang County, and there is Yanzhou between Yuan Shao's territory Jizhou, so if Yuan Shu wants to fight Yuan Shao, he must pass by Yanzhou.

At that time, Liu Dai, the assassin of Yanzhou, supported Yuan Shao, which was actually not a problem, and it was okay to fight Liu Dai together, but the problem was that Yanzhou was too chaotic at that time, and it was a mess.

From the second year of Chuping (191) to the third year of Chuping (192), the Yellow Turban Army rose again, and caused chaos everywhere in Yanzhou and Qingzhou. The rebellion of the Yellow Turban Army has made the transportation in Yanzhou inconvenient and chaotic, and the risk of fighting in the next state will increase, and the Yellow Turban Army will become even more chaotic when it messes up Yanzhou, and the crusade against Yuan Shao, who occupies Jizhou and is powerful, must be cautious and make all preparations. This way has become like this, so it was no longer realistic to crusade against Yuan Shao at that time.

But on the other hand, for Yuan Shu, dealing with Liu Biao is a very realistic and urgent problem.

Because Jingzhou is the rear of Yuan Shu, Nanyang County is the northern county of Jingzhou, which is dependent on Jingzhou, not only that, but Yuan Shu's grain road is also controlled by Liu Biao. When there is a problem in your rear, when your vital point is held in the hands of others, do you say you are in a hurry?

Yuan Shu was in a hurry, and he had to be in a hurry, so he made a move on Liu Biao first.

For Sun Jian, attacking Jingzhou is also a very good choice.

As a general, Sun Jian has traveled east and west in his life, has been to many places, has fought against many enemies, and is familiar with all parts of the country, but only does not include the four northern states (Jizhou, Bingzhou, Youzhou, Qingzhou), Sun Jian, as a southerner, unfortunately he has basically never been to the north. Therefore, if he crusaded against Yuan Shao, Sun Jian might have to fight against a powerful enemy in a strange place, which was not a good choice for a general.

On the contrary, Sun Jian was very familiar with Jingzhou, because he was sent to Jingzhou by the imperial court to quell the rebellion before participating in Dong Zhuo's crusade, and then he went back and forth in Jingzhou, and many of his subordinates were also from Jingzhou. Therefore, Sun Jian is not inferior to Liu Biao in terms of geographical advantages.

Moreover, Liu Biao did not serve as the assassin of Jingzhou for a long time, he was promoted by Dong Zhuo after Sun Jian and Yuan Shu converged, and he served for less than two years when Sun Jian called, and the military appearance of Jingzhou has long been known to Sun Jian, and Liu Biao's advantages in people are not obvious.

Jingzhou has a total of eight counties, including Nanyang County, and the area is very large, but Xiangyang, the seat of Jingzhou, is not far from Nanyang, and Liu Biao is also in Xiangyang.

Finally, in terms of strength, Sun Jian's troops have experienced many major battles and are strong, Sun Jian himself is also a super-first-class general, and the strength of the Jingzhou army can only be described as ordinary. The comparison of combat power is not a problem.

Judging from the various factors that can be controlled, Liu Biao should be a dish for Yuan Shu and Sun Jian, and the process of the war also reflects this, but it's a pity that God didn't see it that way, and Lady Luck didn't think so, Sun Jian knelt down because he was a little careless when it was obviously smooth sailing.

Note 1: It is also believed that Sun Jian fought against Liu Biao in 191 and died in the same year