When it comes to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, most of us think of characters such as Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Sun Quan, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, Zhuge Liang, etc., because the personality characteristics of these characters are particularly distinct and easy to remember.
Coupled with a few idioms about them, it's really hard not to remember. However, there was a famous general who once hunted down Cao Cao at the age of 26, Pursued Liu Bei at the age of 29, and once again pursued Sun Quan when he was 46 years old.
In the past twenty years, he has hunted down and killed the bosses of three different regimes in Wei Shu and Wu, which is not an admirable thing. Later, he submitted to Cao Cao and became the only general under Cao Cao to be elected to the Wu Temple.
Although Zhang Liao did not have the martial arts of Lü Bu, nor did he have Zhuge Liang's clever calculations, it was only compared to these two, in fact, Zhang Liao could also rank high in martial arts and strategy. Courageous and resourceful people can always achieve a good advantage on the battlefield.
Hunt down and kill Cao Cao
Zhang Liao did not follow a monarch from the beginning, as Zhuge Liang did, he initially served as a Yanmen county official. Later, he began to follow Ding Yuan and followed Ding Yuan into the Beijing Division.
At that time, There was also Lü Bu who followed Ding Yuan. With lü Bu as such a fierce general, Zhang Liao's brilliance was naturally covered up, and his talent could not be fully exerted, so Zhang Liao's name at this time was not known, and everyone did not know how much ability Zhang Liao had.
After Ding Yuan's death, Zhang Liao followed Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu successively, of which Lü Bu followed Lü Bu for a longer time. At this time, Zhang Liao was still in an obscure state, and after Lü Bu was defeated by the Liangzhou soldiers led by Li Dai, Guo Feng, and Fan Chou, he began to flee eastward. Zhang Liao also followed Lü Bu and fled eastward.
In Yanzhou, the Lü Bu clique absorbed Chen Gong and others, and began a war with Cao Cao in this place. The war was fierce and protracted, but Lü Bu's side was much stronger than Cao Cao's, not only defeating Cao Cao many times, but eventually beating Cao Cao to more than 10,000 soldiers.
Zhang Liao also almost captured Cao Cao alive in the process, but in the end he was escaped by Cao Cao, and Zhang Liao chased after him for a while, and gave up after seeing that he could not catch up. At this time, Zhang Liao was only 26 years old.
After that, because of the fierceness of the locust plague, many people on the Lü Bu group side of the army have boycotted, no way, there is really no food to eat and how to fight with you. Therefore, Lü Bu was defeated by Cao Cao after the rest. Zhang Liao followed Lü Bu to Xuzhou.
Hunt down and kill Liu Bei
In 196, Lü Bu captured Xuzhou and proclaimed himself Xuzhou Mu. Zhang Liao was appointed Minister of State of Lu. Two years later, Lü Bu's men were ordered to buy military horses from gold. As a result, on the way there, all the gold was taken away by Liu Bei's army.
Lü Buben is a greedy, arrogant character, which is what I want, and I want what I don't want. The money he used to buy horses was all robbed, can this be endured?
Therefore, Lü Bu directly sent Zhang Liao and ordered him to lead his subordinates to attack Liu Bei's army, not only to snatch back the gold, but also to teach Liu Bei a profound lesson.
Although Zhang Liao and Guan Yu had a good friendship in private, he was a soldier and could not disobey because of this, otherwise he would simply join Liu Bei's camp. Zhang Liao led his men to attack Liu Bei's army together with The Zhonglang general Gao Shun.
Liu Bei is definitely unable to fight, can he really fight it and run away after grabbing other people's things? There was no way, Liu Bei could only ask Cao Cao for help, hoping that Cao Cao could send someone to help him.
Cao Cao knew that if Liu Bei was defeated by Lü Bu, Lü Bu's strength would be further expanded, and just as the so-called "enemy of the enemy is our friend", Cao Cao naturally could not sit back and watch Lü Bu's strength become stronger.
He then sent Xiahou Huan to rescue Liu Bei, and as a result Xiahou Huan was defeated by Gao Shun and Zhang Liao. Soon after, Liu Bei was also defeated by the two. Not only that, Liu Bei was also hunted down and killed by Zhang Liao for a while, and Zhang Liao was only 29 years old at this time.
Follow Cao Cao
Previously, Cao Cao was personally leading an army to attack Zhang Xiu, and he sent Xiahou Huan to support Liu Bei, but he did not expect that Xiahou Huan did not resist. He had to go on it himself. Subsequently, Cao Cao led an army to conquer Xuzhou.
Originally, it was just a small matter of grabbing gold, but with the increasing strength of the troops, it finally turned into a big war between the two armies. Lü Bu personally held the city of Xia Pi and was surrounded by Cao Cao. On February 7, 199, Lü Bu's generals Hou Cheng, Song Xian, and Wei Xu tied up Chen Gong and surrendered to Cao Cao, and opened the city gates so that Cao Cao's army could directly rush into Xia Pi City.
At the beginning of the battle, Chen Gong suggested that Lü Bu adopt a two-sided strategy of complementarity, but Lü Bu did not listen, and finally lost to Cao Cao. Chen Gong was originally a subordinate of Cao Cao, but later when he was in Yanzhou, he rebelled against Cao Yinglu and belonged to Lü Bu, becoming the chief strategist under Lü Bu's account, and his wisdom need not be said. After the defeat of xuzhou, he did not want to submit to Cao Cao and decided to die.
After Lü Bu's complete defeat, Zhang Liao saw that there was no hope of resistance, and finally could only lead his army to surrender to Cao Cao. Cao Cao cherished cai, and attached great importance to Zhang Liao, worshipped him as a general of Zhonglang, and gave him the title of Marquis of Guannei. Facts have proved that Cao Cao's vision of people is poisonous, and in later history, Zhang Liao has made great achievements under Cao Cao's subordinates.
Stick to Hefei
In July 214, Cao Cao conquered Sun Quan, but returned three months later. When he left Hefei, Cao Cao took away all the large troops and prepared for the western conquest, leaving only more than 7,000 people for Zhang Liao and other generals stationed in Hefei.
Zhang Liao knew that once Cao Cao marched west, these people would definitely fall into a situation of isolation and helplessness, and Sun Quan could not miss such a good opportunity. So he dug the Tibetan Boat Pool to prevent problems before they happened.
In 215, when Cao Cao led his troops on a western expedition, he sent a letter to Zhang Liao, asking Zhang Liao and others to open it again when there was an enemy attack. In August, Sun Quan led an army of 100,000 to besiege Hefei. Zhang Liao and other generals opened the letter, which read: "If Sun Quanjun comes, General Zhang and Li will fight; General Le will defend, and the escort army shall not fight." ”
However, the more specific number and timing of the more specific numbers are not described in detail, and can only be judged by Zhang Liao and others. Therefore, Zhang Liao, judging by the situation, decided to take the initiative to attack before Sun Quan's army completely surrounded Hefei. The momentum of Sun Quan's army was destroyed, so that he could hold Hefei. The generals agreed.
That night, Zhang Liao gathered eight hundred death squads, gave them good food and drink, and prepared for the next day's big battle. The sky was slightly bright, and Zhang Liao, as a pioneer, fell straight into the enemy position, tearing the defense line of Sun Quan's army.
Zhang Liao led his army into Sun Quan's camp and attacked all the way to Sun Quan's commander.. Sun Quan and his men were so frightened and panicked that they didn't know what to do, so they had to flee to a higher mountain mound first.
Zhang Liao, seeing this, began to provoke Sun Quan and ask sun Quan to come down and fight him. Sun Quan was not stupid, he observed the situation and found that Zhang Liao's people were actually not many, so he let his army surround Zhang Liao. But I didn't expect that Zhang Liao's people were extremely fierce, going in and out several times, and repeatedly protruding from the siege.
Sun Quan's army was overwhelmed and demoralized. In the end, Hefei was also defended. At this time, Zhang Liao was also 46 years old again, brave and strategic, a pioneer, and he was caught in the enemy's line and came and went freely.
brief summary:
Zhang Liao was a very loyal general and had never betrayed anyone he had followed. When his own monarch dies, he will follow another person. During the time of Xia Pi Cheng, Zhang Liao also chose to surrender after the destruction of Xia Pi City. After following Cao Cao, he was still loyal to Cao Cao and won many battles for him.