Many people like the story of the Three Kingdoms period, especially when reading the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", because the literary style is soaring, everyone seems to be able to enter that era and feel the shock brought by that period of history, especially many people like the characters who are both wise and courageous, and can write and fight.
However, after reading the entire work, many readers found that although the first part of the Three Kingdoms was in war, the storyline that occurred was very exciting, but in the late Three Kingdoms period, it seems that there are not as many powerful characters as before, and both literati and military generals have some feelings of withering away, so many readers prefer the early Three Kingdoms.
Image: Stills of characters from the early Three Kingdoms period
We will temporarily call the stage after the three divisions of the world as the late Three Kingdoms period, although the early events of the Three Kingdoms can make everyone feel more excited, but in the late Three Kingdoms period, there are still many powerful figures, and their abilities and achievements are also good, among which Wei Yan, Jiang Wei, Zhang Bao, Guan Xing and Zhang Gao, who are very powerful representative figures at that time.
They have also played a very important role in the development of their respective camps, and since they are all generals, it is inevitable that everyone will make a comparison, so among these people, although they are not loyal to the same monarch, if their abilities are compared, who is the most powerful one?
Image: Wei Yan stills
First, let's talk about Wei Yan.
Wei Yan can be said to be a very famous general in the late Three Kingdoms period, at first he followed Liu Bei all the way to conquer and pacify Shu, because of his deep merits, he was appointed as the general of Yamen, and Wei Yan gained Liu Bei's great trust.
At the beginning, after Liu Bei took Hanzhong, he wanted Wei Yanzhen to guard this place, but many people did not agree at that time, but Liu Bei excluded public opinion, did not listen to the opinions of others, or let Wei Yanzhen guard, which shows how important Wei Yan was in Liu Bei's mind.
Later, Wei Yan even put forward the Meridian Valley Conspiracy, which is now quite controversial, and this strategy he proposed was to directly capture Chang'an, although zhuge Liang immediately denied it at that time, but from the perspective of the whole plan, it had to be admitted that Wei Yan's military strategy was still very powerful.
Not only that, Wei Yan's combat effectiveness was also very strong, when he first followed Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, he led the army to break Guo Huai, so the majesty in the army was very high, and finally Wei Yan died under Ma Dai's sword, and the general completed his glorious life.
Picture: Stills of Wei Yan dying under Ma Dai's knife
Second, let's look at Jiang Wei.
After Zhuge Liang's death, the State of Shu began a policy of recuperation, during which the power of Shu Han slowly transitioned into the hands of Jiang Wei, a figure designated by Zhuge Liang. Speaking of Jiang Wei, he was not originally a Shu national, but a Wei national, who only submitted to the Shu state when he was fighting with Zhuge Liang, and later according to the Northern Expedition decision proposed by Zhuge Liang before his death, Jiang Wei has been struggling on this road.
Although it did not achieve very good results in the end, in the process of the Northern Expedition, it also achieved many achievements, defeated the Wei army many times, and was also a well-known figure at that time.
When the Wei army drove straight in, although Jiang Wei made a plan, after all, the military strength was limited, and finally Liu Chan surrendered to the Wei state, and the lord of a country surrendered, let alone Jiang Wei.
However, Jiang Wei was very reluctant to surrender, and later relied on his own wisdom to rebel against Zhong Hui, which caused the two generals of the Wei state at that time, Zhong Hui and Deng Ai, to fall, so that the Wei state lost two generals, which also weakened Cao Wei's strength, but the Shu state could never return to its former glory.
Image: Stills of Jiang Wei
Let's look at Guan Yu's son Guan Xing
。
Although Guan Xing was very famous when he was young, Zhuge Liang also attached great importance to him, but Guan Xing did not escape the fate of early death, and it was also a very regrettable thing to die at a young age, so many of the excellent achievements of the two of them were fictional, to put it bluntly, or their father's reputation was outside, so everyone naturally felt in their hearts that their sons would not be worse.
Then look at Zhang Bao.
Zhang Bao, as the son of Zhang Fei, said that the father of the tiger had no dog, and it is said that Zhang Bao also made a lot of contributions to the Shu kingdom, but some historical records show that although Zhang Bao was Zhang Fei's eldest son, he died early in reality, how could he assist Zhuge Liang before he became an adult?
Image: Stills of Zhang Bao
Finally, let's take a look at Zhang Gao
。 Strictly speaking, the character of Zhang Gao is not completely a person in the late Three Kingdoms period, because in the early Three Kingdoms period, he has already exerted his super military talent, as early as when Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were fighting, he was already talented, but he lived a long life and participated in many battles, so he belonged to one who crossed the front and late stages of the Three Kingdoms. Zhang Gao was born in the last year of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when the world was in chaos, after the Yellow Turban Army uprising led to wars in his hometown, he had great ambitions and could not bear to see his hometown father and elder suffering, and resolutely decided to join the army to defend the country.
At first, he served under Han Fu's subordinates, but Han Fu was a very cowardly person, without any foresight or boldness, and later The Jizhou that Han Fu insisted on submitted to Yuan Shao, and Zhang Guo naturally became Yuan Shao's subordinate.
Image: Stills of Han Fu
After serving Yuan Shao, he first defeated Gongsun Zan, a major force in the Hebei region, and because of this, Zhang Guo was made a general of the Ningguo Zhonglang. Although following Yuan Shao was better than Han Fu before him, in Zhang Gao's heart, Yuan Shao was not the most perfect follower. After the Battle of Guandu began, Cao Cao led a large army to sneak into Yuan Shao's grain and grass, and zhang Gao proposed to Yuan Shao that Cao Cao's troops were strong and that Yuan Shao should move his troops as soon as possible, but Yuan Shao adopted the advice of his dynasty counselor Guo Tu and implemented the strategy of encircling Wei and saving Zhao.
Such an end was that Yuan Shao neither captured Cao Cao's base camp nor saved his grain and grass, and ended up being burned by Cao Cao, which was more than worth the loss, and in the face of such a result, Guo Tu pushed the responsibility to Zhang Guo, so that Zhang Guo was very angry, and finally came to Cao Cao's command.
Image: Stills of Zhang Gao
Cao Cao had great trust and respect for Zhang Gao, and Zhang Gao did not disappoint him, and made many military achievements when following him, whether it was the attack on Yecheng or the later Battle of Zhang Lu, Zhang Gao exerted great ability, and later he and Xiahou Yuan guarded Hanzhong, and Zhang Gao's reputation was greatly enhanced.
According to the records of Wei Luo at that time, Liu Bei was very jealous of Zhang Gao, which showed the strength of Zhang Gao, and after Xiahou Yuan's death, Zhang Gao was elected as the new commander, and from then on Zhang Gao became the main cadre of the Wei army on the western front. As a fierce general of Cao Wei, Zhang Gao won many battles with Zhuge Liang, so that a military talent like Zhuge Liang was also a headache in the face of such a general, Zhang Gao was a person with both wisdom and courage, and a manager with a good leader.
Therefore, compared with Zhang Gao, the other four are inferior, so if you want to compare these five people, Xiaobian feels that Zhang Gao's ability in all aspects is stronger.
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!