In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Guan Yu attacked Xiang and Fan. Cao Ren was defeated, and according to the defense of Fancheng, Cao Cao urgently ordered Yu Ban and Pound De to lead 30,000 elite troops to come to the aid (see Huayang Guozhi). In the autumn of the same year, Guan Yu flooded the Seventh Army, beheaded Pound, and captured him, "Wei Zhen Huaxia".
1. Guan Yu attacked Xiangfan, and Cao Cao was so frightened that he wanted to move the capital?
In order to publicize the courage of Guan Gong, Chen Shou specifically mentioned in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Guan Yu Biography": "Yu Wei shook Huaxia. Cao Gong agreed to move xu to avoid Qirui, sima Xuanwang and Jiang Ji thought that Guan Yu had won the zhi, and Sun Quan would not be willing to do so. ”
It was this sentence that made many people mistakenly think that Cao Cao's plan to move the capital at this time was frightened by the power caused by Guan Yu's attack on Fancheng, so he had to temporarily avoid his attack.
This is clearly nonsense. Although the two events of "Guan Yu attacking Fan" and "Cao Cao wanting to move the capital" occurred one after the other, there was no direct causal relationship between them.
Above_ Schematic diagram of the Battle of Fancheng
Guan Yu was in Jingzhou, and if he wanted to go north to the Central Plains, the most time-saving way was to go straight from Nanyang Wancheng to Yuzhou, and then to Tuxudu.
From Fan to Wan, and then from Wan to Xu, the middle road is far away, even if Guan Yu successfully defeats Fan Cheng, he still has Wancheng to fight; even if Wancheng is also lost, Guan Yu cannot threaten Xu Du, who is in the hinterland of the Central Plains for a while.
What's even more interesting is that Cao Cao is no longer in Xudu.
Cao Cao's stronghold had been in Yicheng, Wei County, Jizhou. Moreover, even if Cao Cao went out to fight, he would hardly go to Xu Du.
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Chronicle of Emperor Wu, Cao Cao traveled to Chang'an in July of the 23rd year of Jian'an (218) and then went to Hanzhong to engage Liu Bei. After the defeat at the Battle of Hanzhong, Cao Cao returned to Chang'an in May of the following year, and then came to Luoyang in October.
It can be seen that Guan Yu's attack on Fancheng not only threatened Xu Du, but also did not threaten Cao Cao. If this was the case, why did Cao Cao have plans to move the capital?
Above_ Guan Yu (160-220), the original character Changsheng, later changed to the word Yunchang
2. Twenty-four years after Jian'an, Cao Cao faced the "six great hatreds"
Lu Ji said in the "Hanging Wei Wu Emperor Wen": "When Jian'an is the third eight, it is really a difficult fate. ”
Thirty-eight, that is, twenty-four. This means that Cao Cao had a very difficult time in the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219). Among them, not only about yu's battle of Xiangfan in Jingzhou, but also about other places, it also made Cao Cao feel extremely headache.
1. After the defeat in the Battle of Hanzhong and the death of Xiahou Yuan, Cao Cao saw that the situation was inviolable, withdrew his troops in advance, and ordered Zhang Gao to migrate the people of Hanzhong;
2. Sun Quan's foolishness in Hefei was not until Cao And Sun cooperated, and Cao Cao "removed the siege of Hefei and wrote a letter from the north and south", and ordered the Tun soldiers to help Jingzhou with Xiahou Huan and Zhang Liaochi here;
3. The rebellion in Northern Xinjiang, "Dai Gun, Shanggu Karasuma, etc., rebelled", "Yellow Beard" Cao Zhang led the army out of the town, and has not yet returned;
4. Rebellion within the Cao Wei regime, preceded by local guards who openly united with local officials to rebel, and then there were loyal ministers of the Han Dynasty who secretly conspired with bandits, with the intention of echoing Guan Yu and subverting Cao's rule;
5. The Lu Hun bandits who were wandering around Liang and Wu, although this bandit was not systematic, they were gradually approaching the west side of Xu Du, which should not be underestimated.
6, coupled with Guan Yu, Cao Cao's challenges in this year, there are enough six, which shows the pressure.
And this "six great hatreds" brought different influences to Cao Cao.
Cao Cao (155–220)
Hanzhong, Northern Xinjiang, Hefei, and Fancheng effectively pinned down important generals under Cao Cao.
Xiahou Yuan was killed in battle, and Zhang Gao led the people of Hanzhong back; Cao Zhang's departure from the northern frontier of the town; Xiahou Huan, Zhang Liaotun Hefei, juchao; Cao Ren first calmed the rebellion of Wancheng, and then defended Fancheng; Yu Ban was captured, and Pound was killed in battle...
These important generals each had heavy responsibilities, so that Cao Cao could not spare time to clean up the other "two great hatreds"—the traitors within Cao Wei and the bandits who had wandered to the gates of Xu Du. From this, Cao Cao had the intention of moving the capital.
So, what does this have to do with Guan Yu's attack on Fancheng?
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, one of the Twenty-Four Histories, was written by the Western Jin Dynasty historian Chen Shou
3. Han Chen and the group of thieves, Guan Yu's containment of Cao Cao
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Jiang Ji's biography: "Guan Yu encircled Fan and Xiangyang. Taizu thought that emperor of Han was in Xu, close to the thief, and wanted to migrate to the capital. ”
It can be seen that Cao Cao planned to move the capital because the Xu capital, where Tianzi was located, was too close to the "thief". The "thief" mentioned here is the aforementioned Lu Hun group of thieves, whose leader is Sun Wolf.
And this bandit, playing the banner of Guan Yu's partial army, is also found in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms And Guan Yu Biography": "Liang, Wu, Lu Hun group thieves or remotely received the Feather Seal, for which to support the party." ”
If it was just an irregular army, even if they were playing under the banner of Guan Yu, Cao Cao would not worry. But the key problem is that the "Loyal Subjects of the Han Dynasty" within the Cao Wei regime are really a bit much.
Therefore, when Lu Hun's bandits approached the west side of Xu Du, it was not excluded that there were loyal han courtiers who associated with it, robbed Emperor Xian of Han, and sent him out of Cao Cao's rule. On this issue, Guan Yu had actually been prepared for this problem.
Liu Bei (161–223)
In the twenty-third year of Jian'an (218), Liu Bei marched into Hanzhong, and in order to share his pressure, Guan Yu joined forces with Hou Yin of Wancheng and others (see Cao Qichuan) and launched a rebellion; not long ago, Ji Ben and Geng Ji also rebelled in Xudu (see Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and Emperor Wu); at the same time, Lu Hun's bandits also contacted Guan Yu and were "given the seal to the soldiers, and also as thieves" (see The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Hu Zhao).
In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), the pressure on the Battle of Hanzhong increased sharply, "men were in battle, women were in luck" (see "Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Yang Hong's Biography"), Guan Yu personally sent troops, directly to Xiangfan, Cao Weibian sent Jingzhou assassin Shi Huxiu and Nanxiang Taishou Fu Fang to the wind (see "Jinshu Xuandi Ji"),Sun Wolf, in the name of "Guan Yu's Partial Army", took Lu Hun's group of thieves to the Liang and Yu areas, directly approaching Xu Du (see "Zizhi Tongjian"),At the same time, there was a wei irony rebellion in Yicheng, and most of the people involved in it were old people in Jingzhou.
Above_ Territory of Jingzhou in the Three Kingdoms
In summary, it can be seen that during Guan Yuzhen's defense of Jingzhou, he secretly plotted against the "loyal subjects of the Han Dynasty". The two sides echoed each other, and when Guan Yu united with Cao Wei's local generals, Cao Wei's internal courtiers also cooperated with them, and successively launched rebellions in Xu, Yi, and other places.
Guan Yu was far away in Jingzhou and could not provide Military Force for Han Chen in time, so he accepted Lu Hun's group of thieves and caused them to be partial to the army, in order to make them cooperate with Han Chen and help the latter complete the rebellion in the hinterland of Cao Wei.
Among these Han courtiers who participated in the rebellion were Liu Wei, the younger brother of Liu Hui (Jingzhou), the son of Song Zhong (a famous scholar of Jingzhou), the second son of Wang Cang (who lived in Jingzhou), and Zhang Quan, the son of Zhang Xiu (a defender of Wancheng).
According to the "Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Lu Xun's Biography", "Guan Yu has been based in Jingzhou, and Enxin is in a big way. ”
Liu Bei's governance in Jingzhou was quite successful, and the Jingzhou officials were also very convinced and close to Liu Bei, Guan Yu and others. With this layer of relationship, it is not too difficult for Guan Yu to reach a cooperative relationship with Liu Wei and others.
Liu Xie (181–234), also known as Emperor Xian of Han
It can be seen from this that when Guan Yu was exposed, Cao Cao was most worried that Lu Hunqun would use his momentum to collude with the loyal subjects of the Han Dynasty and kidnap Emperor Xian of Han. And his intention to move the capital was also to avoid the "hostage" of Emperor Xian of Han from falling into the hands of Guan Yu or others.
Cao Cao "obeyed the Son of Heaven to order not to be subordinate", and occupied a high position in politics, and his key figure was Emperor Xian of Han. How clever is this conspiracy? Look at Liu Bei, Yuan Shao, Sun Ce and others who have conspired to attack Xu, and you will know.
In this case, if the emperor is lost, the process of Cao's generation of Han (referring to Wang Mang) will add a lot of trouble. And this is the problem that Cao Cao is most worried about.
Author: Yingzhou Haike Correction/Editor: Lilith
References: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Anthology of Literature, Book of Jin, Later Han Dynasty, Huayang Guozhi, Zizhi Tongjian
The text was created by the History University Hall team, and the picture originated from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author