In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu defeated Maicheng, triggering a series of avalanche effects in Shu Han, Zhang Fei intended to take revenge and was killed, Liu Bei led the army to march in person, but was beaten to the ground and ran back to the White Emperor City before his death. After his death, Zhuge Liang launched five Northern Expeditions, but in the Cao Wei camp, there was such a famous general, which caused a great deterrent to Zhuge Liang and even the army of Shu Han, this person was Zhang Guo.
Zhang Gao defected to Yuan Shao during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. This man was not only one of the military generals who fought the most against the "Five Tiger Generals" of the Shu Han Dynasty, but also a military wizard with a very strategic vision. In the Battle of Guandu between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, everyone thought that Yuan Shao would not lose no matter how he fought, and even Yuan Shao himself thought so, only when Cao Cao attacked Wuchao, he ran to Yuan Shao to persuade him to come to support. However, Yuan Shao obviously trusted his adviser Wutu more, and felt that Zhang Gao, a military general, was a worrier, and not only did he not listen to Zhang Gao's advice, but instead organized a large army to attack Cao Cao's camp.
As a result, everyone knows that the Battle of Guandu was a typical and rare military case in history in which less was won over more, and Zhang Gao's strategy was proved correct after the fact. However, after the fact, he was not only not valued by Yuan Shao, but was slandered by Uttu afterwards and could only be forced to surrender to Cao Cao. And Cao Cao not only did not doubt him, but also had a fairly good attitude towards him, directly calling him his own Han Xin. At the Battle of Hanzhong, Liu Bei defeated Cao Cao, and even Xiahou Yuan was beheaded by Huang Zhong at Dingjun Mountain. Cao Cao was so frightened that he returned to the capital and almost moved the capital, while Zhang Gao was elected by the generals as the commander-in-chief of Hanzhong.
The Shu Han army could no longer achieve any victory, and Cao Wei's losses were minimized. After Cao Pi's death, he left four auxiliary ministers to his son, among whom he and Sima Yi were among them, the purpose of which was to restrain Sima Yi, who was growing in power in the imperial court to a certain extent. Militarily, Zhang Gao is best at changing battlefield formations and strategies according to the terrain environment. In 228, Zhuge Liang launched the first Northern Expedition against Cao Wei, and this sudden attack caught the Wei army by surprise, and Shu Han marched forward, taking Tianshui, Nan'an, and Anding along the way, or Zhang Gao stood up and went to meet the battle.
He found that Zhuge Liang had actually handed over the most important military stronghold of Jieting to Ma Mo, and Ma Mo, who was stunned, would only occupy the high ground according to the soldier's book, and he directly sent a large army to defend at the foot of the mountain, cutting off the water source of the Shu army and forcing the Shu army to collapse. The most important achievements of Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition were thus returned, and he could only lead his army to leave in a hurry. With Zhang Gao present, Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition was quite tricky and it was difficult to make progress. Emperor Cao Rui also had great trust in him, which also attracted Sima Yi's attention. Sima Yi, who had already monopolized power in the imperial court, forced Zhuge Liang to pursue the fleeing Zhuge Liang in spite of his opposition during Zhuge Liang's Fourth Northern Expedition, resulting in his direct death. Since then, the four auxiliary ministers of that year have not been able to stop Sima Yi, and the era of Sima Shi's dictatorship has arrived ahead of schedule.