In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Liu Bei proclaimed himself the King of Hanzhong and established his seat in Chengdu, so when he stayed in General Zhen Hanzhong, most people at that time thought that Zhang Fei should serve as the Taishou of Hanzhong, and Zhang Fei also felt that this position was not his own, but Liu Bei unexpectedly promoted Wei Yan to the governor of Hanzhong and the Taishou of Hanzhong, and promoted Wei Yan from general of Yamen to general of Zhenyuan, and the whole army was shocked to hear about this.
Statue of Zhang Fei in Langzhong Image source. Lang Chinese Brigade Bureau
As a famous general of the Shu Han regime during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Fei's status can not be underestimated; after Liu Bei occupied Jingzhou, he appointed Zhang Fei as the Taishou of Yidu, the general of Zhengyu, the Marquis of Xinting, and then transferred to Nan Commandery; after pacifying Yizhou, he also appointed Zhang Fei as the Taishou of Brazil; Liu Bei called the King of Hanzhong, and worshiped Zhang Fei as the Right General, false festival; after Liu Bei became emperor, Zhang Fei was promoted to the rank of general of the Che Riding, the lieutenant of the consul, and the Marquis of Xixiang, which can be described as a prominent moment.
However, in the strategic layout of the Shu Han regime, Guan Yu, who was in love with his brothers, was responsible for garrisoning Jingzhou and duzhen; after occupying Hanzhong, the obscure Wei Yan also came to the fore and was responsible for staying in Hanzhong, but Zhang Fei, who was also closest to Liu Bei, seemed to be forgotten, and the town guarded a small Langzhong for seven years, until he was killed by his generals Zhang Da and Fan Qiang (mistakenly written as Fan Jiang in the interpretation) when he finally went out to Conquer Eastern Wu.
The historical Zhang Fei is not just a fierce general in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", he broke the bridge according to the water, frightened the Cao army in Dangyang; righteously interpreted Yan Yan, had the wind of a national soldier; made good use of the terrain and broke Zhang Gao in the mountain road. Zhang Fei, who was good at commanding troops, could also be regarded as an excellent general with wisdom and courage during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty.
So why did Zhang Fei, who has courage and strategy, only guard a Langzhong?
Early entry into Sichuan: Stabilizing the basic strategic plate of the Shu Han Dynasty
Zhang Fei, as one of the earliest participants and founders of Liu Bei's group, and Liu Bei's brotherhood, there was no suspicion, liu Bei sent Zhang Fei to guard Langzhong, which was an important strategic position in the Langzhong region.
Langzhong is located in the northern edge of the Sichuan Basin, in the middle and upper reaches of the Jialing River, at the southern foot of the Qinba Mountains. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the State of Pakistan built a capital here. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yizhou Mu Liu Zhang divided the eight counties, changed the original Ba County to Brazil County, and the newly named Basi County was moved to Langzhong. Since then, Langzhong has successively been a county, prefecture, prefecture, and provincial government, and has become the political and economic center and military center of northern Sichuan.
Langzhong Ancient City, which has a history of more than 2300 years of founding. Lang Chinese Brigade Bureau
Since ancient times, there have been two main roads from Hanzhong to Shu, namely the Golden Bull Road and the Rice Cang Road. The key to defending the Golden Bull Road is the Sword Pavilion, "the Sword Pavilion is magnificent and Cui Wei, one husband is the pass, ten thousand fu is not open", easy to defend and difficult to attack, and later Deng Ai vashu also bypassed the Sword Pavilion defended by Jiang Wei with a strange soldier, wrapped down from the Yin Ping Dao where it was almost impossible to march, successfully smuggled, and then won in one fell swoop. The key to guarding the Mikura Road is Langzhong, that is to say, from a defensive point of view, the meaning of Shoulang is not inferior to that of Shoujian Pavilion.
Mikura Road Image Source. Lang Chinese Brigade Bureau
The Langzhong region connects Hanzhong and the Sichuan Basin and is the key to Bashu. In terms of terrain, Langzhong City is surrounded by water on three sides and backed by mountains on one side, which can be described as a place where soldiers who are easy to defend and difficult to attack must fight. If the two armies confront each other here, the side occupying langzhong city can easily resist the enemy's attack, and between this lofty mountain and mountain, the enemy cannot fully unfold even if it has several times the superiority of troops, and the langzhong river is full of good fields, but the enemy's grain and grass from over the mountains are difficult to supply, and the side occupying the langzhong city pool can wait for work, so that the enemy will not return.
When Zhuge Liang was in his infancy, he described a strategic vision for Liu Bei in the form of "Longzhong Pair", analyzed the situation under the world, and proposed a strategic concept of taking Jingzhou as his home first, and then taking The State of Yizhou into a full foot, and then trying to take the Central Plains. After successively acquiring Jingzhou, which is "hanyuan in the north, the south china sea in the south, wuhui in the east, and tumbashu in the west", and Yizhou, which is "fertile and thousands of miles, the land of tianfu", it is inevitable to integrate the land of these two states, and the Langzhong region is the key point connecting these two places.
"The Land of Heaven" Chengdu Plain Source. Lang Chinese Brigade Bureau
In the early days of Entering Sichuan, Liu Bei had just defeated Liu Zhang and entered Yizhou, which was precisely when his foothold was unstable. However, Cao Cao's army from the north had already rapidly moved south and annexed Zhang Lu's Hanzhong region, and Cao Cao's Xiahou Yuan army, which remained in Hanzhong, was the biggest threat to Liu Bei. If the Cao Wei regime went further south and occupied Langzhong, it would have an unparalleled advantage in attacking Yizhou and could threaten the hinterland of Sichuan at any time, and Liu Bei's army stationed in Chengdu and Jiangzhou (Chongqing) would inevitably be in danger.
Liu Zhang listened to the words of his subordinates Zhang Song and Fazheng and welcomed Liu Bei into Yizhou, but this move was to lure the wolf into the house, and Liu Bei attacked Liu Zhang with his backhand
For the sake of running Sichuan in the future, Langzhong must send a confidant to the town to guard, and Zhang Fei, who has courage and strategy, resolutely shoulders this heavy responsibility. And Langzhong can also serve as a springboard to Hanzhong and Guanzhong, once Zhang Fei leads the army to gain a foothold here, it will reverse the long-standing situation that Liu Bei's clique can only be passively beaten when facing Cao Wei's army, and it will also facilitate the realization of Zhuge Liang's strategic goal of "out of Qinchuan" as stated in the "Longzhong Pair".
Not only that, the Langzhong area, surrounded by mountains on all sides, surrounded by water in three directions, could go north through the Micang Road to Hanzhong, thus threatening the Guanzhong region of the Cao Wei regime, and to the south could go down the Jialing River to Jiangzhou (Chongqing), and Liu Bei stationed in Jiangzhou could take care of each other, and could also rush to the aid of Jingzhou, which was guarded by Guan Yu on the eastern front, connecting the land of Jingxiang with Shuzhong. Therefore, the task of guarding Langzhong can be said to be crucial, and Liu Bei sent Zhang Feizhen to guard Langzhong, precisely out of trust in Zhang Fei and recognition of his ability.
The mountain is surrounded on all sides, and the water is surrounded by three sides Of all fours. Lang Chinese Brigade Bureau
After taking Hanzhong: the best place to take care of the four parties
In 214 (the nineteenth year of Jian'an), Liu Bei pacified Yizhou and appointed Zhang Fei as the Taishou of Bashi Commandery (郡治阆中). And this is also the beginning of Zhang Fei's relationship with Langzhong.
A year later, Cao Cao occupied Hanzhong, but was forced to return to his division due to a rebellion in the rear, and on the one hand he left Xiahou Yuan to guard Hanzhong, and on the other hand, he ordered Zhang Gao to invade Bashi County. Zhang Gao repeatedly attacked and forcibly relocated the people, intending to weaken the strength of Shuzhong. After Liu Bei learned the news, on the one hand, he personally garrisoned Jiangzhou (Chongqing), on the other hand, he ordered Zhang Fei to garrison Langzhong and attack Zhang Gao.
After Zhang Fei led his army to defend Langzhong, he did not live up to Liu Bei's trust in him, and after more than fifty days of rejection with Zhang Gao, Zhang Fei led more than 10,000 elite troops to take the initiative to attack Zhang Gao from other mountain passes, Zhang Gao led his troops to attack, the mountain road was narrow, Zhang Gao's front and rear troops could not be saved, and zhang Fei was defeated, Zhang Gao had to abandon his warhorse to climb the mountain and flee in order to escape, leading more than ten of his men to flee to Nanzheng, and Zhang Fei broke Zhang Gao at Wakou, and after this battle, Brazil County gained peace.
Zhang Fei relied on his familiarity with the Langzhong region to defeat Zhang Gao by virtue of the terrain of the mountain road, and also played his pride, making the Cao army powerless to go south. Liu Bei also saw the weakness of Cao Jun's strength in Hanzhong, so he decided to cultivate obscurity and accumulate strength, and a few years later launched the Battle of Hanzhong, rejecting Xiahou Yuan and Zhang Gao at Yangping Pass.
In the spring of 219 (the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an), Liu Bei crossed the water from Yangping Pass south, slowly advanced along the mountain, set up a position at Dingjun Mountain, set up camp, and Old Huang Zhong became famous in battle, defeated the Yuan army, and killed Xiahou Yuan. Cao Cao led an army from Chang'an on a southern expedition. Liu Bei thought: "Cao Cao came here, there is nothing he can do, I will have Han Chuanyi." When Cao Cao arrived, Liu Bei "resisted the danger of the crowd and did not fight in the end", Cao Cao failed to attack Liu Bei, and had to lead his army to retreat, so Liu Bei occupied Hanzhong.
Later, Liu Bei proclaimed himself the King of Hanzhong at Qiuyang and established his seat in Chengdu, so when he stayed in General Zhen Hanzhong, most people at that time thought that Zhang Fei should serve as the Taishou of Hanzhong, and Zhang Fei also felt that this position was none other than his own, but Liu Bei unexpectedly promoted Wei Yan to the governor of Hanzhong and the Taishou of Hanzhong, and promoted Wei Yan from general of Yamen to general of Zhenyuan, and the whole army was shocked to hear about this.
Although there is "anti-bone", it has been reused
After capturing Hanzhong, why didn't Liu Bei let Zhang Fei stay in Hanzhong, but still let him garrison Langzhong? This was also due to the needs of the strategic situation at that time.
Although Liu Bei won a great victory in the Battle of Hanzhong and took Hanzhong in one fell swoop, the pressure on Shuzhong in this battle was also quite large, and at one point it reached the point of "men fighting in battle, women in transportation" (young and strong men fighting in the army, women in logistics and transportation), the troops were exhausted, and when Cao Cao retreated, a large number of Hanzhong people were relocated, which led to a sharp decline in the population of Hanzhong, the agricultural economy was severely damaged, and it was changed from an important logistics base to a vast and sparsely populated place, leaving only military value and no economic value. In addition, although Cao Cao's army retreated, it still occupied Guanzhong, and the tiger looked at Hanzhong, and the pressure in Hanzhong remained unabated.
Under such circumstances, wouldn't it be too unwise to let Zhang Fei, who is both wise and courageous, guard a withered and tired Hanzhong? On the other hand, Langzhong was the best position to take care of all parties, not only to go north to Hanzhong to support Wei Yan, who had a thin army, after Guan Yu was defeated and Jingzhou was lost, Liu Bei sought to start a war with Eastern Wu, and Langzhong could trace the Jialing River south into Jiangzhou (Chongqing) to threaten the hinterland of Jingzhou, and the importance of the Langzhong region to the Shu Han regime was evident.
After Zhang Fei was stationed in Langzhong, he not only used it as a military base, but also vigorously promoted the local economic and cultural development, and managed Langzhong in an orderly manner, with rapid development of agriculture and handicrafts, and a very prosperous life for the people.
A glimpse of this can be seen from the "Zhang Fei plot" of today's Langzhong people. Lang Chinese Brigade Bureau
Those who are difficult to reconcile, things also. Just when the Shu Han regime ushered in the highest moment of light, but did not expect that Eastern Wu violated the alliance, Guan Yu was destroyed, and the land of Jingzhou was destroyed overnight, Zhang Fei was rubbing his fists in Langzhong, intending to fight with Eastern Wu to the death.
In June 221 (the first year of Zhang Wu), Liu Bei avenged Guan Yu, sent an army to attack Wu, and asked Zhang Fei to send troops from Langzhong to Jiangzhou, and Zhang Fei, who had been preparing for a long time, actively deployed his army after receiving the order, planning to go on a campaign, but he did not expect that only because of violence and lack of grace, he was defeated in a short time, and Zhang Fei, who was famous for a long time, actually died at the hands of his generals Zhang Da and Fan Qiang. Now that a thousand years have passed, things are not human, and only endless sighs are left to echo in the ancient city of Langzhong, singing the life of his hero.
Zhang Feizhen guarded Langzhong for seven years, and after his death, he was made the Marquis of Han Huan, buried here, and built a temple to enjoy the sacrifice Ofuyuan. Lang Chinese Brigade Bureau
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Reference: Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Chen Shou; Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Luo Guanzhong; Historical Atlas of China. Tan Qijun
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