In 196, Cao Cao welcomed Emperor Xian of Han and moved the capital from Luoyang to Xuchang. From then on, Cao Cao gained the advantage of holding tianzi hostage to order the princes. For Cao Cao, he could not only use the name of the Eastern Han Dynasty to recruit heroes from all over the country, but also under the banner of the imperial court, so as to recruit many princes who divided one side. From this point of view, obtaining the signboard of Liu Xie, the Emperor of Han Xian, can be called an important turning point in Cao Cao's career. So, the question is, after Cao Cao blackmailed tianzi to order the princes, how many separatist forces were eliminated?
1. Zhang Yang and Lü Bu
First of all, as far as Zhang Yang and Lü Bu are concerned. In 194 AD, Cao Cao, who had divided Yanzhou, led a large army to attack Xuzhou in order to avenge his father Cao Song. Unable to resist, Xuzhou Mutaoqian requested Shi Tiankai from Qingzhou. At that time, Liu Bei under Tian Kai led an army to rescue Xuzhou. Because Chen Gong, Zhang Mi, and others betrayed themselves and welcomed Lü Bu into Yanzhou, this led to Cao Cao being forced to withdraw his army from Xuzhou. In the same year, Tao Qian died of illness and ceded Xuzhou to Liu Bei, who was helping him.
In 195, Cao Cao defeated Lü Bu and consolidated his control over Yanzhou. After suffering the defeat, Lü Bu came to Xuzhou and surrendered to Liu Bei. However, in 196 AD, taking advantage of the opportunity of Liu Bei and Yuan Shu to fight, Lü Bu rebelled against the guests and successfully attacked Xuzhou. After this, in order to compete for Xuzhou, Liu Bei and Lü Bu fought for two years. In 198, after being defeated by Lü Bu, Liu Bei chose to join forces with Cao Cao. As a result, Cao Cao led a large army to surround Xuzhou. In the face of Cao Cao's army, Lü Bu could be said to be struggling to support, so he asked Zhang Yang, who was dividing Hanoi County.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhang Yang and Lü Bu were both subordinates of Shi Dingyuan of Hezhou. Of course, in 189 AD, Lü Bu betrayed Ding Yuan and defected to Dong Zhuo, while Zhang Yang gradually gained a foothold in Hanoi County. Now, the growth of Cao Cao's power has aroused Zhang Yang's vigilance, coupled with the fact that he and Lü Bu already have a deep friendship, which prompted him to decide to send troops to support Lü Bu. However, Zhang Yang was eventually killed by his subordinates, and his territory was annexed by a large army sent by Cao Cao.
Soon after, Cao Cao captured Lü Bu in Xuzhou. Under the persuasion of Liu Bei and others, Cao Cao beheaded Lü Bu. In this regard, in the author's opinion, in the process of Cao Cao's elimination of Zhang Yang and Lü Bu, these two princes had betrayed their subordinates. And this, obviously, has a certain relationship with Cao Cao's endorsement of the Eastern Han Dynasty after he welcomed the Han Emperor Xian.
2. Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao
Second, as far as Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao are concerned. Because of the Ru'nan Yuan clan from the fourth and third dukes, the starting point of Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao was obviously higher than that of Cao Cao. For example, in 189 AD, after Dong Zhuo usurped the power of the imperial court, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu organized soldiers and horses to fight against Dong Zhuo. After the joint army against Dong Zhuo was resolved, Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao quickly became princes on the divided side.
In 197 AD, Yuan Shu encroached on the title of emperor in Huainan, which naturally made Cao Cao very angry. If Yuan Shu could not be eliminated, there would undoubtedly be more princes to follow suit. And this, obviously, will lead to the loss of value of the Han Xiandi in Cao Cao's hands. Therefore, since 197 AD, Cao Cao has repeatedly sent large armies to attack Yuan Shu. By 199 AD, Yuan Shu died of illness, and his territory north of the Yangtze River was basically annexed by Cao Cao. After eliminating Yuan Shu, the duke, the Battle of Guandu broke out between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao.
In 200 AD, Yuan Shao led an army of 100,000 to attack Cao Cao. Although Cao Cao only had 30,000 troops in his hands, cao cao defeated the powerful Yuan Shao by attacking Wuchao and burning the grain and grass of Yuan Shao's army. It is true that Yuan Shao still had the opportunity to make a comeback after the Battle of Guandu. However, in 202 AD, Yuan Shao died of illness. In the years that followed, several of Yuan Shao's sons fought each other, which was broken by Cao Cao. In this regard, in the author's opinion, the elimination of Yuan Shu and Yuan Shao's brothers directly laid cao Cao's leading position among the princes of the Three Kingdoms.
3. Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao
Moreover, as far as Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao are concerned. Zhang Xiu's uncle, Zhang Ji, was originally a subordinate of Dong Zhuo. In 192 AD, Lü Bu got rid of Dong Zhuo. However, Li Dai, Guo Feng, and others counterattacked Chang'an and immediately drove Lü Bu away. In this context, Zhang Ji first followed Li Dai and Guo Feng, and later chose to escort Emperor Xian of Han back to the east. In 196, Zhang Ji led an army to attack Jingzhou, only to be killed by Liu Biao's men.
After his uncle Zhang Ji was killed, Zhang Xiu divided Nanyang and attached himself to Liu Biao, the mu of Jingzhou. In 197 AD, Zhang Xiu and Cao Cao broke out the Battle of Wancheng. In this battle, Zhang Xiu killed Yu Ban, Cao Ang and others. Admittedly, Cao Cao hated Zhang Xiu bitterly. However, in 199 AD, Cao Cao still accepted Zhang Xiu, who took the initiative to surrender. In the fifth year of Jian'an (200), Zhang Xiu participated in the Battle of Guandu, and was promoted to the rank of General of the Broken Qiang.
In the tenth year of Jian'an (205), Zhang Xiu followed Cao Cao to defeat Yuan Tan in Nanpi and increased the number of food yi again, a total of 2,000 households, at that time, the number of households in the world was drastically reduced, and only one household was left in ten households, and the number of fengyi among the generals did not reach 1,000, except for Zhang Xiu. In the twelfth year of Jian'an (207), Zhang Xiu followed Cao Cao to Liucheng to conquer Wuhuan, but before he arrived, he died and was posthumously made the Marquis of Dinghou and succeeded by his son Zhang Quan.
Beginning in 199 AD, with The surrender of Zhang Xiu, this prompted Cao Cao to take the land of Nanyang. On this basis, there was naturally no buffer zone between Cao Cao and Liu Biao. Of course, because of the need to pacify Hebei, Cao Cao did not use troops against Liu Biao for the time being. In 208 AD, Cao Cao led a large army to attack Jingzhou, and Liu Biao also died of illness in this year. After Liu Biao's death, his son Liu Chun gave up resistance, which led to Jingzhou falling into Cao Cao's hands for a time.
4. Ma Teng, Ma Chao, Han Sui
Finally, Ma Teng (?) -212), zi shou cheng. A native of Fufeng Maoling (present-day Xingping, Shaanxi Province), he was a prince of liangzhou at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and a descendant of the Fubo general Ma Yuan. In the tenth year of Jian'an (205), Ma Teng assisted Cao Cao in breaking Zhang Sheng and killing Zhang Yan, Wei Gu and others. Later, they disagreed with Han Sui and attacked each other until Jian'an reconciled in the thirteenth year (208) and was given the title of Marquis of Huaili by the Han court. He immediately entered the DPRK as a guard lieutenant. After Ma Teng came to the imperial court, Ma Chao took over his soldiers and horses.
In 211 AD, Ma Chao and Han Sui, who had divided Liangzhou and Guanzhong, formally rebelled against Cao Cao. In response, Cao Cao personally led a large army to attack Guanzhong. Although Ma Chao was brave and fierce, Cao Cao adopted a divisive strategy and successfully divided the relationship between Ma Chao and Han Sui. Therefore, after Ma Chao's defeat, he first defected to Zhang Lu, who was in charge of Hanzhong, and then surrendered to Liu Bei in 214 AD. As far as Han Sui was concerned, although he retreated to Liangzhou. However, in 215 AD, under pressure from Cao Cao's side, Han Sui eventually died of illness, which prompted Cao Cao to basically pacify the Liangzhou region. It is worth noting that in the second year of Ma Chao's rebellion, Cao Cao killed Ma Teng.
5. Zhang Lu
In addition, in 214 AD, Liu Bei defeated Liu Zhang and seized the land of Yizhou. As we all know, Hanzhong is the gateway to Yizhou, and after capturing Yizhou, Liu Bei's next goal is naturally to divide Zhang Lu in Hanzhong. Therefore, Cao Cao personally conquered Hanzhong in 215 AD and subdued Zhang Lu before Liu Bei. Of course, as with Zhang Xiu, Cao Cao only seized Zhang Lu's territory and did not exterminate him. In general, for the above ten princes, either they were killed by Cao Cao or their territory was occupied by Cao Cao, which can be said to be the separatist forces eliminated by Cao Cao.