Speaking of Zhang Liao, his heroic performance in the Battle of Xiaoyaojin also made him one of Cao Cao's most important foreign generals. In this battle, Zhang Liao, who was guarding Hefei, defeated Sun Quan's 100,000 elites with 7,000 soldiers and horses. As a result, Zhang Liao also had the prestige of being able to stop children from crying at night in Jiangdong.
But what is less known is that the battle led by Zhang Liao was only the second of many battles in Hefei. Looking at the first Battle of Hefei, there was a wenchen who only relied on thousands of reinforcements to scare off the Eastern Wu Iron Horse. This feat, in fact, is not inferior to Zhang Liao. This conspirator who frightened Sun Quan was none other than Jiang Ji, the fourth generation of Cao Wei's old ministers.
Jiang Ji, Zi Tong, Chu Guo Ping'a people. Judging from his initial position as the head of the Chancellor's Mansion, Cao Cao still attached great importance to him. In the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208 AD), the spirited Cao Cao suffered the biggest fiasco of his life at Chibi. After this battle, the Cao Wei clique's power in Jingzhou collapsed completely, leaving only a small piece of territory in the north of Jingzhou.
Under these circumstances, Sun Quan launched the First Battle of Hefei. In the Jianghuai River Valley, Hefei was a choke point to curb Eastern Wu's northward movement, and once it was lost, the Jiangdong army might really be able to complete the dream of advancing into the Central Plains. According to the "Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Jiang Ji", "When the army conquered Jingzhou and encountered an epidemic, the general Zhang Xidan was sent to ride a thousand horses and lead the Runan soldiers to relieve the siege, which was quite sick. Cao Cao was not unaware of the importance of Hefei, but at this time, the Cao Wei Clique was already seriously injured, and the best effort he made was only to let Zhang Xi bring thousands of remnants of soldiers to do the show.
In this regard, Jiang Ji's performance made people shine: "Ji Naimi White Thorn History forged a happy book, Yunbu rode forty thousand to Yan Lou, and sent the master book to welcome the joy." Three envoys were sent to the city of Shuyu, one to enter the city and the other to be obtained by thieves. Quan Xinzhi, burn around, the city is fully used. It can be seen that Jiang Ji deliberately gave Sun Quan false news, so that the latter mistakenly believed that there were still 40,000 elite soldiers guarding hefei, so he retreated to Jiangdong that night. But in fact, the thousand remnants of the soldiers led by Zhang Xi had not even arrived in time.
In addition to frightening Sun Quan, Jiang Ji also contributed to defeatIng Guan Yu and relieving the siege of Fancheng. Judging from the records of the "Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Jiang Ji", Guan Yu at that time was full of vigor and even defeated Yu Ban's reinforcements. After the news came back to Xuchang, Cao Cao even had the intention of moving the capital: "Taizu is the Emperor of Han in Xu, close to the thief, and wants to migrate to the capital." At this time, the only people who stood up to persuade Cao Cao were Jiang Ji and Sima Yi. Jiang Ji believed that Guan Yu's excessive sharpness would only cause Sun Quan to be jealous. He suggested to Cao Cao that it would be better to make a heavy profit from Jiangdong and cede the area around Jiangnan to Sun Quan, in exchange for the latter's offer.
''Taizu did as he said. Quan Wenzhi, that is, led troops to attack The Public Security and Jiangling in the west. Feathers saw birds. As Jiang Ji said, Guan Yu was attacked by the enemy in his belly and back, and eventually died at the hands of Sun Quan. In this way, the siege of Fancheng was not only solved, but also greatly weakened the living forces of Liu Bei's clique, and at the same time caused Sun Liu's alliance to be completely broken. It can be seen that Jiang Ji's move can be described as killing three birds with one stone.
Unlike Sima Yi, although Jiang Ji was resourceful, he was deeply trusted by Cao Cao and was one of his few confidants. According to the "Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Jiang Ji", "The people falsely accused Ji of being a rebel, and Taizu heard of it, pointing out the former order and the zuo general Yu Ban and Pei Xiang Fengren: 'Jiang Jining has this matter!' There is such a thing, I don't know who also. This will fool the people and make chaos, and the ears of the fools will be drawn. 'Promote it.' ”
Jiang Ji experienced four generations of emperors of the Cao Wei clique and enjoyed a very high reputation in the court. Regrettably, Jiang Ji was eventually seduced by Sima Yi and did something that he regretted for the rest of his life. This move also indirectly buried the entire Cao Wei Group, what is going on?
In fact, after the establishment of the State of Wei, the situation of Cao Clan's relatives controlling the imperial government had already appeared. When Cao Fang succeeded to the throne, the general Cao Shuang was also in power. However, the latter was a bit stubborn and did not know how to maintain relations with the hundred officials. Under these circumstances, the ambitious Sima Yi contacted a group of elders and used Cao Shuang's chaotic government as a pretext to plan an operation of "Qing Jun's side". Among them, Jiang Ji is one of the most determined planners. Not only that, Jiang Ji also wrote to Emperor Wei many times, impeaching Cao Shuang for having too much authority, but they were all ignored by Cao Fang. In this way, Sima Yi stood on the "great righteousness" of considering the country, and successfully won over Jiang Ji, a rather important old minister.
In the first decade (249 AD), Sima Yi, with the support of Jiang Ji and others, launched the famous Gaopingling Rebellion. Because Cao Shuang went out with the Wei emperor Cao Fang to worship his ancestors, cao shuang was caught off guard, and Cao Shuang was defeated by Sima Yi and put under house arrest. "With the Taifu Sima Xuan Wang TunLuoshui Pontoon Bridge, Cao Shuang, etc., into the capital of the township marquis, Yi seven hundred households." Not only that, Jiang Ji also persuaded Cao Shuang to hand over his military power and promised that Sima Yi would not harm his life. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Jiang Ji quotes the Shiyu as saying: "Ji Shu and Cao Shuang proclaimed the king's will 'only exempt officials', and Shuang was destroyed." The disease is untrustworthy, and the disease is dead. ”
What Jiang Ji did not expect was that Sima Yi finally exposed his ambitions after he grasped the power of the government. Not only did he not spare Cao Shuang, who had already surrendered his military power, but he also ordered the annihilation of cao Shuang's three clans. At the same time, Sima Yi also became more authoritarian than Cao Shuang in the past. In order to hide his eyes and ears, Sima Yi also ordered a reward for Jiang Ji and a number of other old courtiers. In this regard, Jiang Ji was very angry and refused Sima Yi's reward, and soon after, Jiang Ji died of depression. In this regard, historian Sun Sheng also commented that Jiang Ji "does not return for profit, not for righteousness."
If cao Cao was allowed to learn that his trusted confidant Jiang Ji was deceived by Sima Yi and indirectly buried his life's work. I wonder how this tyrant will feel?
Reference book: Romance of the Three Kingdoms