In the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Zhang Fei is undefeated, that is, he is one-on-one with Lü Bu, who is known as the first fierce general of the Three Kingdoms, and can also maintain a hundred rounds of undefeated, and finally Lü Bu hides when he sees Zhang Fei. Zhang Fei, who is recorded in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, the Chronicle of the State of Huayang, and the Hero of the Late Han Dynasty, is also a "ten thousand enemies" who are "majestic and mighty, inferior to Guan Yu", and this title of "ten thousand enemies" was given by Cao Wei and Sun Wu, not boasting.
But looking at the history of the Three Kingdoms, we also found a problem: Zhang Fei can beat Zhang Gao, why can't he join hands with Ma Chao but can't beat Cao Hong?
Before discussing this issue, let's look at two historical documents.
Historical data 1: "(Jian'an twenty-two years) Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Wu Lan and others to argue, but Cao Hong refused. In the spring of the twenty-third year, Cao Hong broke Wu Lan and beheaded his general Ren Fu and so on. In March, Zhang Fei and Ma Chao walked to Hanzhong, and Yin Pingqiang beheaded Wu Lan and passed on his head. Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Shuyi, And The Chronicle of Emperor Wu
Historical data 2: "The armies of The Governor of Gaobei went down to Brazil, intending to migrate their people to Hanzhong, marched into The Canal, the Head, and the Rocks, and refused to fly for more than fifty days. Fei Led more than 10,000 people, from his Dao invited the Gao army to engage, the mountain road was narrow, and they could not save each other before and after, and the fly broke through. Gao abandoned Mayuan Mountain and retreated from the middle road with more than ten of his men. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms, ShuShu VI, Guan Zhang Ma Huang Zhao Biography"
From these two historical materials, we can see that Zhang Fei not only had courage, but also had strategy, using ambush tactics to almost beat Zhang Gao into a light rod commander, and when he fled, even the warhorses were lost, and it was really difficult for Zhang Gao: As one of the four pillars of hebei, he was also a well-known figure in Yuan Shao's camp, fought for more than thirty years, and finally was thrown to the mountain.
At the same time, we also found that with Zhang Fei's majesty and might, and Ma Chao's "concurrently resourceful and literary martial arts, heroic and heroic, and a master of a lifetime", the two men and soldiers would fight a family together, facing Cao Cao's brother Cao Hong, but they were beaten with a full head, and the deputy general Wu Lan even lost his life.
Readers who are familiar with the history of the Three Kingdoms know that the Cao Wei camp is mighty and strong, it is the Dianwei Xu Chu, the wisdom and courage of the two complete, the five sons of the good generals, can attack and defend, the first to promote Cao Ren Xiahou Huan, Cao Hong is a rich man who likes money more, how can he resist the two top generals of Liu Bei's camp? It should be known that Liu Bei ascended to the throne of Hanzhong, Zhang Fei was the right general of the false festival, and Ma Chao was the left general of the false festival; Liu Bei was called emperor, Zhang Fei was the lieutenant of the Che Riding General and the Marquis of Xixiang, and Ma Chao was the general of the Hui Riding General Liangzhou Mu and the Marquis of Xiangxiang.
When Cao Hong was alive with Cao Cao, his greatest military position was General Li Feng and General Du Hu, and his title was similar to that of guan Yu when he first surrendered to Cao Cao, and he was the Marquis of Guomingting. As for Cao Hong's later becoming a general on the Hussars, that was after Cao Pi became emperor, and it didn't take long for cao Pi to be a general, and he was thrown into prison by Cao Pi, if it weren't for Empress Bian taking a turban and smoking Cao Pi, Cao Hong would have landed on the ground.
Unlike Cao Hong's thin ice, Zhang Gao had been mixed up in Cao Wei and became the last famous general left by Cao Cao to his descendants, Zhuge Liang was attacked by Zhang Gao in the street pavilion for the first time, and then beat Zhuge Liang back to Chengdu.
In this way, Zhang Gao's ability is far above Cao Hong's, and Zhang Fei alone can beat Zhang Gao, why join forces with Ma Chao, but can't beat Cao Hong, who is inferior to Zhang Gao? Let's look at the reasons from three aspects.
We need to know that the two armies against the general single-handedly decide the winner or loser, which only exists in the novel. The real ancient war is about the time, place, and people, to see who has more soldiers and who has sufficient grain and grain to command properly and well, but also to see the ability of the general to dig pits and make stumbling blocks.
Zhang Feimachao could not join forces to defeat Cao Hong's first reason: war, fighting logistics
Readers know that Liu Bei has always been very poor, and the Jingzhou he took has been plundered by Cao Cao, so he went to Sichuan to "help" Liu Zhang, and he needed people to provide him with grain and grass. If Liu Zhang obeyed
The subordinates suggested that Liu Bei would starve. The same thing happened in the Battle of Xiangfan, commanded by Guan Yu, Guan Yu took 30,000 prisoners, and as a result, he ate all the military food, and Guan Yu had no choice but to force Sun Quan's grain, which also gave Sun Quan an excuse to attack Jingzhou.
Liu Bei sent Zhang Feima to the lower division, which belonged to the Laoshi expedition to fight away. The treasury of Xichuan Province had already been divided among the generals from Jingzhou, and the remaining corners and corners were not enough for Liu Bei to reward his loyal generals: "Yizhou is flat, and Zhuge Liang, Fazheng, Fei and Guan Yu are given five hundred catties each, silver thousands of pounds, fifty million gold, and thousands of gold horses, and the rest of the awards are different." ”
Money, grain, cloth and cloth were all in private pockets, and Liu Bei wanted to provide logistical supplies to Zhang Feimachao, but he was also stretched.
When Cao Hong resisted Zhang Feima Chao, he was still a "legitimate Han general", backed by the entire Han court, and Cao Hong was more good at management, he used mushroom tactics, and he dragged Zhang Feima Chao down: this battle was fought into a New Year's Eve war, Zhang Feima Was not victorious for a long time, and when his morale was low, he was suddenly attacked by Cao Hong, and naturally he would be defeated.
Zhang Feimachao could not join forces to defeat Cao Hong's second reason: Liu Bei's improper personnel arrangements
The art of war has clouds: "Those who know that they can fight and those who cannot fight win; those who know the multitude and use the widow win; those who desire the same thing from top to bottom win; those who treat those who are not afraid to win; those who can but are not king will win." Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei to join Ma Chao in the army, so it was better to send Zhang Fei alone.
In the main history, Ma Chao is not a good person, the pit father pit brother pit friends, Ma Teng Ma Xiu Ma Tie Peng's death, are all related to Ma Chao, although he had close cooperation with Ma Teng's enemy Han Sui, but Cao Cao gently wrote a letter, he broke up the Han Ma alliance, let the two guys fight on their own.
Liu Bei may not be at ease with Zhang Fei alone, and it is even more impossible to let Ma Chao lead the troops alone - what if Ma Chao pulls up the banner and does it alone? Liu Bei could borrow Cao Cao's soldiers to fight Cao Cao, and Ma Chao could not take Liu Bei's soldiers to fight Liu Bei?
Therefore, on the front line, two supreme commanders appeared in Liu Bei's clique, Ma Chao," a "generational prince," who may not have looked up to Zhang Fei, and Zhang Fei, as a concubine of Liu Bei's lineage, may not listen to Ma Chao. More importantly, Zhang Fei also stared at Ma Chao with one eye to prevent him from regurgitating the water.
So Cao Hong made up his mind to soak mushrooms, Ma Chao Zhang Fei could not command anyone, and launched the whole army to attack Cao Hong, and Liu Bei and even Zhuge Liang, the last thing they liked was to fight a protracted battle on the road: Yuan Shao fought away at Guandu and lost; Cao Cao fought in Chibi and also lost. Therefore, Zhang Pegasus Chao fought in the next defense, as long as it was a stalemate, the final result was also a loss.
Zhang Pegasus Chao could not join forces to defeat Cao Hong's third reason: the division was unknown and could not get widespread support
Reviewing the Three Kingdoms War, it is impossible to look at Liu's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" that honors Cao Cao, and the actual situation at that time was that Cao Cao "conquered the heavens on behalf of the heavens", and Liu Bei belonged to the rebellion of the warlords who divided the territory. The Cao army led by Cao Hong should actually be called the Han army, and the one led by Zhang Feima Chao can only be called the Sichuan army or the Shu army and the Jingzhou army. In terms of momentum, Zhang Feima is slightly inferior to Cao Hong, if there is no crushing advantage in the strength of the troops, and there is no world of difference in the wisdom and talent of the generals, Zhang Feimachao, who is fighting on the road, wants to win, and it is more difficult than ascending to the sky.
Zhang Feimachao could not get the support of the people in the war zone and even in the rear, but the simple words in the historical materials contained rich information: "Yin Ping And Qiang Duan beheaded Wu Lan." ”
The five characters of "Yinping Qiangduan" contain three nouns: Yinping was a county in the Han Dynasty, just in present-day Wen County, Gansu Province; Yinping was a tribal name, and Later Li Te, the first person in Wuhu Chaohua to raise a butcher's knife, was the leader of the Qiang clan; Qiangduan was a personal name, a tribal leader at that time, also known as the King of Qi.
From this point, we can see that the local people are very disgusted by Liu Bei's provoking war, and they regard themselves as big Hanzi people, and they will never support the "rebel" Zhang Feimachao.
Combining the above three points, we know that the reason why Zhang Pegasus Chao was defeated was not that these two could not fight, nor was it that his command ability was insufficient. What determines the outcome of a war is the favorable time, place, and personal bravery, which has a very limited impact on the war situation. If we want to defeat Cao Hong by single-handedly, we can only say: This kind of dream, Zhang Pegasus Chao does not dare to do...