What if Sun Quan didn't kill Guan Gong at that time, but gave it back to Liu Bei?

If Sun Quan doesn't kill Guan Yu and talks with Liu Bei with Guan Yu as a bargaining chip, there is hope for a peaceful settlement of the Jingzhou dispute. But in reality, Sun Quan can't do this.

In the twenty-fourth year of Jian 'an, Guan Yu led Jingzhou soldiers to attack Xiangfan. In this campaign, Guan Yu gave full play to his military talents and achieved the record of driving the Seventh Army. At that time, Guan Yu destroyed more than 30,000 reinforcements of the other side with almost zero damage, which was a classic example in military history. In the face of Guan Yu's aggressive offensive, Cao Cao also had the idea of moving the capital to avoid Guan Yu's sharpness.

But at this time, Sun Quan demanded a crusade against Guan Yu, and the secret letter of loyalty to Cao Cao was sent to Cao Cao. Cao Cao certainly agreed to Sun Quan's request. But on the one hand, Cao Cao wanted Sun Quan to send troops to clear the gap, and on the other hand, he wanted to sit quietly and watch the tigers fight, taking advantage of the fishermen. So he sent Sun Quan's secret letter in duplicate, one shot with an arrow into the besieged Fancheng and the other into Guan Yu's camp. However, Guan Yu was insatiable and hesitant about the possible results, and was finally captured by Lu Meng.

Everyone still thinks that Sun Quan sent Monroe to attack Jingzhou. After all, in Battle of Red Cliffs, the greatest contributor is Wu Dong. Moreover, Liu Bei borrowed Jingzhou, which also meant to return it all. After the dispute between Xiang and Shui, the two sides negotiated peacefully and divided Jingzhou with Xiang as the boundary. In this way, the focus of the struggle between the two sides, Nanjun, has changed from the past to Liu Bei's territory, which is justified.

This is intolerable for Sun Quan, who is bent on achieving the strategic goal of completely seizing the Yangtze River and establishing an emperor. Therefore, seeing that Sun Quan could not return to Jingzhou in a peaceful way, he decided to retake Jingzhou by force. In Sun Quan's view, only by occupying Jingzhou in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River can we ensure our strategic security. If there is no Jingzhou, it is like a huge gap in your wall, and you can't feel at ease all the time. Therefore, retaking Jingzhou is the only way for Sun Quan.

So Sun Quan made a series of preparations to retake Jingzhou by force. He first consulted with Lv Meng and decided the strategy of retaking Jingzhou by force. Secondly, he asked Lv Meng to make a plan to attack Jingzhou. Finally, he secretly surrendered to Cao Cao and won his support. At this point, Sun Quan's action to seize Jingzhou was all ready except borrowing from the east wind.

When Guan Yu sent troops to attack Xiangfan, Sun Quan was very afraid of Guan Yu's victory. He is afraid of Guan Yu's territory in Jingzhou. If he succeeds in capturing Xiangfan, he will have strategic depth. Coupled with the communication between Xiangfan and Hanzhong through Hanshui, Guan Yu is basically invincible. In this way, it is even more difficult for Soochow to recapture Jingzhou. So after Guan Yu won the victory of the flooded seventh army, Sun Quan immediately appealed to Cao Cao and attacked Jingzhou.

Due to Guan Yu's improper handling, Sun Quan sent Lu Meng to cross the river in white, and the process of attacking Jingzhou was very smooth. Due to the emptiness of troops, Fu Shiren, who was guarding the public security, and Elk Fang, who was guarding Jiangling, surrendered without fighting, and Lv Meng occupied Jingzhou without bloodshed. When Guan Yu learned that Jingzhou had fallen, he quickly withdrew from the front line of Xiangfan. Cao Cao specially ordered Cao Jun at the front not to pursue Guan Yu, which enabled Guan Yu to retreat.

However, because Guan Yu's dependents were all in Jiangling, which was given to Lv Meng by Elk Fang, these dependents all fell into the hands of Lv Meng. Lv Meng adopted a policy of appeasement to these families. After learning that their family life was good, Guan Yu's people lost their fighting spirit and left one after another. Guan Yu's army was scattered, so he had to go to Baomaicheng, and then he was surrounded by Wu Dong's army. On the way to escape from Xichuan, Guan Yu was caught by an ambush in Wu Dong and was immediately killed.

As can be seen from this history, when Sun Quan seized Jingzhou, he also made up his mind to kill Guan Yu, and then quickly. On the eve of Guan Yu's breakthrough, he specially discussed Guan Yu's future with his subordinate Yu Fan. To find Sun Quan face to face divination, said guan yu will be beheaded soon. Soon the news came that Guan Yu had been beheaded, and Sun Quan also praised Yu Fan happily.

Later, some people commented on this history and thought that Sun Quan could seize Jingzhou, but killing Guan Yu was too much. This is because the relationship between Guan Yu and Liu Bei is unusual. According to historical records, the two men are named monarch and minister, both of whom are father and son. Liu Bei's most loyal general was killed. If you don't avenge him, you can't face the doubts of the world and your own camp officials. So as soon as Sun Quan killed Guan Yu, he and Liu Bei were completely torn apart, and the two sides could only meet each other.

Sure enough, in the face of Cao Pi's usurpation, Soochow seized Jingzhou, and Liu Bei chose to avenge Guan Yu and recapture Jingzhou. Even his exhortation, Zhu Gejin wrote to dissuade him from accepting it, mainly because Guan Yu was killed. Then, what if after Sun Quan captured Guan Yu alive, instead of killing him, he was imprisoned as a bargaining chip with Liu Bei?

If Sun Quan did this, he could really avoid a conflict with Liu Bei. Guan Yu, as the most loyal general under Liu Bei, has a high prestige in Liu Bei's camp. He and Zhang Fei represent the oldest brothers who fought side by side with Liu Bei. If Liu Bei forcibly attacks Sun Quan regardless of his life and death, it will arouse the dissatisfaction of his old brother, which is not desirable for Liu Bei.

If Sun Quan exchanged Jingzhou for the return of Guan Yu, Liu Bei would probably go downhill and admit the established fact that Sun Quan occupied Jingzhou. Then the conflict between the two sides will be avoided, and Liu Bei will turn to the direction of sending troops to Guanzhong. In this way, in the next war, the two sides will come together again and fight side by side.

However, this is just a beautiful imagination. From Sun Quan's point of view, the possibility of doing so is basically zero. This is because Guan Yu is too important. Keep him, and there will be endless trouble. This kind of trouble is unbearable for Sun Quan, so Sun Quan must kill Guan Yu.

First of all, Guan Yu's military ability is too strong. At that time, Guan Yu's military ability was recognized by everyone. He can not only strategize, but also charge in the battle. In addition, Guan Yu is proficient in all kinds of tactics, and he is also a rare water army general in Shu and Han dynasties. If Guan Yu is put back to Liu Bei, it will be like setting the tiger back to the mountain.

Besides, Lv Meng was ill at that time. If Lv Meng dies, there will be no general in Wu Dong who can fight Guan Yu. If Liu Bei changes his mind and attacks Wu Dong again, Wu Dong is likely to fall into disaster. At this time, Guan Yu will exert his influence in front of Liu Bei, and he must quickly destroy Wu Dong.

Secondly, it is to unite Cao against Liu. Since Dongwu destroyed the alliance between Sun and Liu, it was necessary to unite Cao and Wei. Because if Liu Bei attacks Wu Dong and Cao Wei joins forces, Wu Dong will be caught between Scylla and Charybdis. In that case, the demise of Wu Dong is imminent.

We can see that in the battle of Jingzhou, Cao Cao intervened in the front line of Xiangfan twice in succession. One is a secret letter exposing Sun Quan, and the other is to order Guan Yu not to be hunted down. This fully shows that Cao Cao distrusts Sun Quan and wants him and Guan Yu to kill each other. If Sun Quan doesn't kill Guan Yu, it will arouse Cao Cao's suspicion. Then Sun Quan, who was hostile to Liu Bei and Cao Cao at the same time, was untenable.

The third is to kill Guan Yu as a warlord and blame Cao Cao. Sun Quan killed Guan Yu and gave Guan Yu's head to Cao Cao as his agent to take refuge in Cao Cao, which reassured Cao Cao. At the same time, Sun Quan also wants to blame Cao Cao. He showed the world that he had been instructed by Cao Cao to attack and kill Guan Yu and wanted Liu Bei's revenge to turn to Cao Cao.

However, Sun Quan's trick was immediately seen through by Cao Cao. He buried Guan Yu as a vassal, which made Liu Bei hate Sun Quan even more and strengthened his determination to crusade against Wu Dong.

The last reason is that if Sun Quan doesn't kill Guan Yu, he can't keep Guan Yu. This is because, due to the situation at that time, Sun Quan could only form an alliance with Cao Cao against Liu Bei. At this time, if Cao Cao asked Sun Quan for Guan Yu, Sun Quan was powerless to resist.

However, once Guan Yu arrives at Cao Cao's place, Cao Cao will not kill Guan Yu, but will regard Guan Yu as a guest of honor based on his past friendship with Cao Cao. Cao Caoyong and Guan Yu will definitely not be used against Liu Bei, with only one purpose, that is, to deal with Wu Dong.

Therefore, if Sun Quan doesn't kill Guan Yu, whether he goes to Liu Bei or Cao Cao, he will become his terrible enemy. In this way, how could Sun Quan leave Guan Yu's life? Therefore, it is just a happy idea for Sun Quan to keep Guan Yu's life as a bargaining chip with Liu Bei, which is impossible to realize in reality.