In July of the first year of Zhangwu (221 AD), Liu Bei, in order to avenge Guan Yu, recaptured Jingzhou and launched an eastern expedition to attack Eastern Wu. Sun Quan ordered Lu Xun to lead his army to counterattack the Shu army. Lu Xun saw that the morale of the Shu army was high, so he defended the front line of Yiling without fighting. After the Shu army slackened, he set fire to the company camp at night and ultimately defeated the Shu army.
The Shu army suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Yiling. Shu generals Feng Xi, Zhang Nan, Fu Tong, Ma Liang, and others died on the battlefield. Du Lu, Liu Ning, and others had their retreat cut off and had to surrender to the Wu army. However, Huang Quan, who was isolated in the north of the river, refused to surrender to the Wu army and led his troops to surrender to Cao Wei. Even Liu Bei himself was almost captured under the encirclement and blockade of the Wu army, and finally managed to retreat into Baidi City with his remaining troops after crossing mountains and dangers.
After Liu Bei arrived at Baidi City, he stayed here and never returned to Chengdu until his death. Liu Bei was stranded in Baidi City for various reasons.
Firstly, Liu Bei stayed in Baidi City to intercept the Wu army.
In “Romance of the Three Kingdoms,” Lu Xun ordered the withdrawal of troops after seeing Zhao Yun leading troops to support Liu Bei. However, in history, after the Wu army defeated the Shu army in Yiling, Sun Quan dispatched Li Yi, Liu A, and others to continue pursuing the Shu army. After arriving at Baidi City, they stationed their troops outside the city at the foot of the southern mountain.
Sun Quan ordered Li Yi, Liu A, and others to station troops under the White Emperor’s city, apparently hoping to seize the opportunity of the Shu army’s great defeat and seize the territory of Shu Han. At this time, the Shu army had just experienced the defeat of Yiling, with casualties and low morale. Without capable generals guarding Baidi City, it would be difficult to stop the Wu army’s attack.
Although Liu Bei was heavily defeated by Lu Xun in Yiling, he had been fighting on the battlefield for many years and knew the importance of stabilizing the morale of the army. In addition, the Shu army suffered consecutive losses to its generals, and there was no suitable candidate. It is not surprising that he chose to personally stay in Baidi City.
The fact proved that Liu Bei’s move was also quite effective. The Shu army that fled during the Battle of Yiling returned one after another after knowing that Liu Bei was not in trouble, and the momentum of the Shu army was somewhat restored. Wu Jun saw no opportunity to take advantage of it and withdrew to Wu County in August.
Wu dispatched generals Li Yi, Liu A, and others to lead the army and station in Nanshan. In the autumn of August, the troops are withdrawn and the witches are returned.
Secondly, Liu Bei did this to break the passive situation in diplomacy.
After the defeat of Yiling, Liu Bei was quite passive in diplomacy. The Shu Han Group was already a mortal enemy of the Cao Wei Group. Sun Quan’s surprise attack on Jingzhou and the subsequent battle against Wu completely shattered the relationship between Liu Bei and Sun Quan. Therefore, after the Battle of Yiling, Liu Bei still faced the dilemma of being attacked on both sides.
However, Liu Bei was also well aware that before the outbreak of the Battle of Yiling, Sun Quan voluntarily submitted to Cao Pi in order to avoid being attacked from both sides. But Sun Quan did not really lean towards Cao Wei, it was just a temporary measure, so Wei and Wu would soon turn against each other.
In this situation, his deployment of troops in Baidi City can create pressure for Eastern Wu. Sun Quan, in order to avoid being attacked from both sides, will inevitably take the initiative to ease relations with Shu Han before falling out with Cao Wei.
The final result was indeed as expected by Liu Bei, and the relationship between Cao Pi and Sun Quan rapidly deteriorated. And once Wei and Wu went to war, Liu Bei stationed troops in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, which was a great uncertainty factor.
So after careful consideration, Sun Quan decided to send envoys to Baidi City to seek peace from Liu Bei, which helped to ease the relationship between Shu and Wu.
Thirdly, Liu Bei was already of advanced age, and after the Battle of Yiling, he fell seriously ill and dared not travel on the road.
When Liu Bei led his army to attack Wu, he was already over sixty years old, which was considered advanced age during the Three Kingdoms period. And the disastrous defeat in Yiling dealt a heavy blow to Liu Bei’s spirit, so after returning to Baidi City, he soon fell seriously ill.
Ancient medicine was relatively backward, and Liu Bei was old and seriously ill. The journey back to Chengdu from Baidi City was obviously very risky. So after the Wu army retreated and Sun Quan sought peace, Liu Bei chose to stay in Baidi City, obviously because he was worried about any accidents on the way and unwilling to take risks.
So Liu Bei never left Baidi City until his death, and ultimately died here.