Yang Hu (221 – December 27, 278), courtesy name Shuzi, was a native of Nancheng County, Taishan County. An outstanding strategist and literary scholar of the Western Jin Dynasty, the son of Cao Wei's Shangdang Taishou Yangyuan and the nephew of Cai Wenji, a talented woman of the late Han Dynasty. Yang Hu was born in the "Taishan Sheep Clan", erudite and literate, honest and upright. During the Cao Wei period, he accepted the bus requisition, served as Zhongshu Lang, and moved to Shi Huangmen Shilang. The sister married the great general Sima Shi and defected to the Sima family, and her career was smooth. Emperor Cao Of Wei ascended the throne, serving as a secretary and supervisor, Xiangguo (相国), zhonglang (中郎), a leader of the Zhonglang (中郎), commanded the Yulin Army, and was enthroned as juping county magistrate.
After the establishment of the Western Jin Dynasty, he dispersed the Riding Chang Shi and Lang Zhongling and was crowned the Marquis of Juping. In the fifth year of the Tai Dynasty (269), he served as a che cavalry general, Kaifu Yi Tongsan division, the governor of Jingzhou, sitting in Xiangyang, Tuntian Xingxue, with virtue and gentleness, deeply won the hearts of the people and soldiers; trained soldiers, fully prepared to destroy Eastern Wu, and gradually moved to conquer the Southern Generals, and was crowned the Marquis of Nancheng. In the fourth year of Xianning (278), Yang Hu died, and before his death, he recommended Du Pre to take over the post, and was given the title of Shizhong (侍中) and Taifu (太傅), with the courtesy name "Cheng".
Although Yang Hu did not personally participate in the campaign to eliminate Eastern Wu, Yang Hu was called the first hero of wu by posterity. On this basis, during the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty, Yang Hu was entitled to the Wu Temple, which was comparable to Zhuge Liang, Han Xin, Bai Qi and others.
One
Specifically, Yang Hu was born into a family of famous disciples of the Han and Wei dynasties. From him back to the ninth dynasty, all generations of the Yang clan have held official positions of more than 2,000 stones, and they are all known for their incorruptibility and morality. Unfortunately, however, Yang Hu lost his father at the age of twelve. Of course, Yang Hu did not fall short of this, and when he grew up, he was erudite and good at writing. He is known for his polemics. And he is elegant, seven feet and three inches long, and his eyebrows are beautiful.
Therefore, for Yang Hu, it can be described as both talent and appearance. Therefore, Taishan Commandery regarded Xiahou Wei as an unusual person and married the daughter of his brother Xiahou Ba to him, which prompted Yang Hu and Cao Wei to marry. In the third year of the Jing Dynasty (239), after the death of the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui, Cao Fang took the throne. However, because of Cao Fang's young age, this prompted Cao Wei to be in the hands of Cao Shuang and Sima Yi. Of course, the general Cao Shuang initially overshadowed Sima Yi, which made the latter endure for ten years. During Cao Shuang's reign, both Yang Hu and Wang Shen were recruited by the imperial court.
At that time, Wang Shen persuaded Yang Hu to take up his post at the behest of his order, and Yang Hu said, "It is not an easy task to give up one's life to serve others. Wang Shen answered the call alone. Due to the relationship between the mendi, Yang Hu basically wandered away from the struggle between Cao Shuang and Sima Yi. More crucially, Yang Hu's sister married Sima Yi's son Sima Shi. Therefore, after Sima Yi launched the Gaopingling Rebellion, although Yang Hu was Xiahou Ba's son-in-law (Xiahou Ba's betrayal of Cao Wei and surrendered to Shu Han), he was still not too involved, but eventually became a minister of the Western Jin Dynasty.
Two
In 251, after Sima Yi's death, Yang Hu's brother-in-law Sima Shi continued to hold power. In the second year of zhengyuan (255), Sima Shi died of illness, and Sima Zhao marched on Yang Hu, who did not answer the order. As a result, the imperial court bus enlisted Yang Hu as Zhongshu Lang, and soon promoted to Shi Zhong, Huang Men Lang. In 260, Sima Zhao killed Emperor Cao. Emperor Cao Of Wei ascended the throne, and Yang Hu was given the title of Marquis of Guannei (關内侯) with a hundred households. On the eve of the Western Jin Dynasty replacing Cao Wei, Sima Yan transferred Yang Hu as the leader of the Central Army, serving in the imperial palace and commanding the Yulin Army. This reflects Sima Yan's full trust in Yang Hu.
In December of the second year of Xianxi (January 266), Sima Yan was proclaimed emperor by Zen and established the Western Jin Dynasty, known as Emperor Wu of Jin. Sima Yan claimed to be the empress dowager, and the Shu Han Dynasty had long since perished, so he naturally hoped to annex Eastern Wu and thus completely end the era of the Three Kingdoms. In the fifth year of the Tai Dynasty (269), Sima Yan, in addition to appointing the generals Wei Wan (衛瓘) and Sima Ling (司馬伷) to divide the towns of Linzi and Xia Pi (下邳), strengthened the arrangement of soldiers and horses for Eastern Wu, and specially transferred Yang Hu to be the governor of all the armies of Jingzhou.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Jingzhou was undoubtedly a place where soldiers and families had to fight. In 219, Guan Yu, who was guarding Jingzhou, launched the Battle of Xiangfan. However, Sun Quan sent Lü Meng to sneak into Jingzhou and behead Guan Yu. Since 220 AD, the southern part of Jingzhou has been occupied by the Eastern Wu side, while the northern part is in the hands of Cao Wei and the Western Jin Dynasty. On this basis, Sima Yan let Yanghu town defend Jingzhou, and naturally undertook the heavy responsibility of breaking through the defense line of the Yangtze River in Eastern Wu.
Three
After Yang Hu arrived at his post, he found that the situation in Jingzhou was not stable. Not only was the people's life unstable, but even the food and wages of the soldiers were insufficient. Therefore, Yang Hu first focused on the development of Jingzhou. YangHu opened a large number of schools, set up education, and appeased the people. And with the Wu people openly and sincerely, those who surrender, to stay can be decided by themselves. Soon after, because of the new appearance of Jingzhou, Yang Hu was again named a cheqi general.
In the sixth year of the Tai Dynasty (270), the governor of the State of Wu in Jingzhou was replaced by the famous general Lu Kang (Lu Xun's son). After Lu Kang arrived in Jingzhou, he noticed the movements of the Western Jin Dynasty and immediately sent it to Sun Hao, the lord of Wu. Lu Kang expressed concern about the situation in Jingzhou and reminded Sun Hao not to blindly believe in the Yangtze River Graben and to prepare for war conscientiously. From this, it is very obvious that this shows that Yang Hu's various actions in Jingzhou have threatened the security of Eastern Wu. Moreover, for the Eastern Wu emperor Sun Hao, he did not take Lu Kang's suggestion to heart, which laid a good foundation for the Western Jin Dynasty to launch a war against Wu.
In August of the eighth year of the Tai Dynasty (272), the Wu lord Sun Hao dismissed Xiling (西陵; present-day Yichang, Hubei) from his post as governor of Xiling (西陵, in modern Yichang, Hubei). Fearing being killed, Bu Xian refused to return to Jianye, and in September of that year, he surrendered the city to Jin. When Lu Kang heard the news, he immediately sent troops to besiege Xiling. In the Battle of Xiling, the Western Jin side gained the advantage of internal and external cooperation. However, the Western Jin army was still defeated by Lu Kang. After the defeat of the Xiling rescue, Yang Hu summed up the lesson and realized that although the state of Wu had declined, it still had a certain strength, especially jingzhou still had excellent generals such as Lu Kang, which prompted the war against Wu not to be too hasty. Therefore, he adopted a two-sided strategy of gradually encroaching on and advocating Xinyi, so as to accumulate strength, disintegrate the other side, and find the right time to destroy Wu.
Four
Finally, in October of the second year of Xianning (276), Sima Yan renamed Yang Hu as the general of Zhengnan. After seven years of military training and various material preparations, the strength of the Jin army on the border of Jingzhou far exceeded that of the Wu army, and two years ago, the commander of the Wu army, Lu Kang, died of illness, and the territory of the Wu state was increasingly aggravated because of the cruelty and inhumanity of the Wu lord Sun Hao. This shows that the conditions and time are ripe for the Jin Dynasty to destroy Wu. In this regard, in the author's opinion, if Yang Hu can live for a few more years, the commander of the Western Jin Dynasty to destroy the Wu army is naturally none other than Yang Hu. Through the long-term training of soldiers, Yang Hu has accumulated enough prestige. However, it is a great pity that Yang Hu died of illness before this.
In the third year of Xianning (277), Sima Yan made Yang Hu the Marquis of Nancheng and created him an official position, the same level as the Duke of Jungong. Yang Hu resolutely did not accept this sealing, and Sima Yan agreed. In August of the fourth year of Xianning (278), Yang Hu fell ill and asked to join the dynasty. Later, Yang Hu was seriously ill and could not enter the dynasty, and Emperor Wu of Jin specially sent Zhongshu to Zhang Hua to consult on the strategy to eliminate Eastern Wu. In November of the same year, Yang Hu died of illness at the age of fifty-eight, and before his death, he recommended Du Pre to replace him.
The year after Yang Hu's death, Du Qian destroyed Eastern Wu in one fell swoop according to Yang Hu's deployment before his death, and completed the great cause of unifying the world, and when the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu gathered to celebrate, Sima Yan raised his wine glass in his hand and said with tears: "This is the merit of Yang Taifu (Yang Hu)!" ”。 And this is also an important basis for posterity to call Yang Hu the first hero of wu. In addition, during the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang once said: "If Zhuge Kongming, Yang Hu, Du Qian, and Li Jing are both literate and military, it is difficult to generalize." ”