Among the ancient Chinese warriors, there was one group that was very eye-catching, and that was the "Confucian generals". In the general impression, the military generals should be rough and bold, and they only know how to dance with knives and guns to fight and kill. However, the "Confucian generals" are different, the martial arts can go to the ma'an world, the wen can put pen to the country, not only the military ability is outstanding, but also the elegant literary ink, like to associate with the literati Confucianism.
In the Three Kingdoms period, there were also several famous Confucian generals, such as the Wei State Taiwei Zhong Xuan and his son Zhong Hui, who were not only slightly extraordinary, but also proficient in the words and chapters, and the calligraphy works left behind were regarded as "divine products" by later generations. Lu Xun, the governor of the Wu Dynasty, "learned the six arts and was able to combine literature and martial arts", although he achieved brilliant achievements such as the Battle of Yiling and the Battle of Shiting, he still did not change his Confucian and elegant bookish nature.
However, in addition to these two people, there was also a Confucian general during the Three Kingdoms period: Zhang Guo. Many people will be surprised, why did Zhang Gao also become a Confucian general? Zhang Guo in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is clearly an image of a fierce general who charges into the battlefield and is brave and good at war, where does the Confucian general say that he started?
Looking at the relevant records of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, we know that Zhang Guo is indeed a Confucian general. Although he held a long-term military position, "although he was a military general and loved Confucians", he liked to make friends with Confucian scribes, "living in the army, throwing pots with zhusheng Ya songs", in addition to his military career, he often talked about poetry with a group of Fengya Confucians, made a play of throwing pots, and often recommended Confucian talents to Emperor Wei Ming, and Emperor Cao Rui of Wei Ming also specially praised him for this purpose.
But when Zhang Gao went to the battlefield, he was a strong opponent that no opponent dared to ignore. Zhang Gao joined the army in 191 AD and started with the suppression of the Yellow Turban Uprising, until he was killed in battle in 231 AD, galloping on the battlefield for 40 years, experiencing hundreds of battles, repeatedly performing miraculous feats, and gradually developing a combat style of "fierce as a tiger and cunning like a fox".
In 209 AD, Chen Lanmeicheng and others set off the Huainan Rebellion, rebelled, and occupied the dangerous Tianzhu Mountain, "more than twenty miles high, narrow roads, and narrow steps", Zhang Gaofen rushed and fought fiercely regardless of his body, conquered tianzhu mountain, and made a great contribution to quelling the chaos in Huainan.
In 214 AD, the Western Liang warlord Ma Chao rebelled in the Longyou stronghold and successively conquered jicheng, Tianshui and other important towns. Xiahou Yuan led his troops to conquer Ma Chao, and Zhang Gao led 5,000 men to serve as the vanguard, "To the Weishui River, chao will rebel against the Weishui River", and the two sides will fight a fierce battle at the edge of the Weishui River. Ma Chao, such a mighty tiger general of the Three Kingdoms, was actually not Zhang Gao's opponent, and was killed by Zhang Gao and fled in a big defeat. Zhang Gao's bravery is like a tiger, which can be seen from this.
Zhang Gao is not only brave and fierce, but also wise and skimpy, good at using scheming, cunning like a fox. In 228 AD, at the Battle of Qishan, Zhang Gao led his troops to attack the street pavilion held by Ma Mo. Ma Mo installed the camp on the top of the hill and occupied the geographical advantage from a commanding height, but Zhang Gao did not mechanically attack head-on, but first cut off the water supply of the Shu army, and the Shu army cut off the water without fighting and chaos, Zhang Hao saw the opportunity to give a fatal blow, and successfully captured the street pavilion, resulting in Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition ending in failure.
Zhang Guo was both brave and brave, and became a fierce enemy of the Shu state, "knowing variables, being good at camping Chen, anticipating the terrain of the battle, everything was better than planning, and Zhuge Liang was afraid of it", and also became a major problem for Zhuge Liang's confidants. Zhuge Liang's hatred of Zhang Hao was understandable, but unfortunately, Zhang Gao inadvertently became a thorn in Sima Yi's eye.
During the reign of the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui, cao cao left few generals left, and only Zhang Guoshuo remained. The ambitious Sima Yi thus saw Zhang Gao as a major obstacle on his way to seizing power. Moreover, Zhang Gao was a long-time general of the State of Wei, and he did not look at Sima Yi very much, and when the two fought together, Zhang Gao often spoke bluntly and raised objections or criticisms to Sima Yi's battle plan, which made Sima Yi dissatisfied with him.
In 231, Zhuge Liang was on a northern expedition against Cao Wei, and Cao Wei sent Zhang Hao to fight Sima Yi. The two sides confronted each other for a period of time, winning and losing each other. Zhuge Liang's side ran out of military food and took the initiative to withdraw. The Wei Luo records that as soon as Sima Yi saw the Shu army retreating, he immediately let Zhang Gao catch up.
Zhang Gao and Zhuge Liang were old rivals, well aware of Zhuge Liang's powerful means, worried that the Shu army would set up an ambush, and suggested that Sima Yi should not blindly pursue, so as not to be caught up. Sima Yi, however, had ulterior motives and repeatedly insisted that Zhang Gao send troops. Zhang Gao had no choice but to lead his troops to pursue the Shu army, and sure enough, he was ambushed in the wooden doorway and died of an arrow. It was equivalent to Zhuge Liang digging a pit, Sima Yi forced Zhang Gao to jump in, and the two strategists joined forces to kill Zhang Gao.
Zhang Gao inadvertently became the common target of Zhuge Liang's Sima Yi, and it was only a matter of time before he could escape.