Liu Bei Cao Cao's Battle of Hanzhong, Ming Cao's army had more advantages, why did Liu Bei win instead?
In this article, I will talk to you about this topic.
The Battle of Hanzhong was a war between Cao Cao and Liu Bei for the Hanzhong region, and for Liu Bei, the Battle of Hanzhong was related to whether he could revive the great cause of han, which was really a battle of life and death for him. Therefore, in this battle, Liu Bei's clique almost poured out, except for Guan Yuzhen shoujingzhou, all the civilian and military generals, such as Zhuge Liang, Fazheng, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, etc., all appeared.
It can be said that this was the peak moment of Liu Bei, and the former mat weavers could command thousands of troops and horses to oppose Cao Cao, which had to make people admire. And Cao Cao did not fall behind, Xiahou Yuan, Zhang Gao, Cao Hong, Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu also all fought, and finally Liu Bei defeated Cao Cao and captured the Hanzhong region, and the situation of the Three Kingdoms was completed.
Looking at it now, Cao Cao's defeat in this big war was too sudden, after all, in terms of strength and the situation at that time, Liu Bei was far inferior to Cao Cao. Although there is no detailed record of the troops invested by the two sides at that time, the current general view is that Liu Bei is about 100,000, while Cao Cao is about 200,000, and the strength of the two sides is almost one to two.
As a result, many people have a hard time understanding why Cao Cao was defeated, after all, the military strength was absolutely superior, and Hanzhong had been occupied by Cao Cao long before Liu Bei sent troops, and the major passes leading from Shuzhong to Hanzhong were also strictly controlled by Cao Jun. In this situation, it was very difficult for Liu Bei to capture Hanzhong, but the outcome of the matter was often so unexpected.
So, where did Cao Cao lose? Let me try to analyze it.
The first is Cao Cao's war avoidance psychology based on the geographical location of Hanzhong
Before the Battle of Hanzhong, the Hanzhong region was originally Zhang Lu's territory, but later Cao Cao conquered Zhang Lu, Zhang Lu surrendered, and Hanzhong fell into Cao Cao's hands. However, the geographical location of Hanzhong is very special, how special is it, now Hanzhong and Guanzhong belong to Shaanxi Province from the administrative division, but there is a Qinling barrier between Guanzhong and Hanzhong, although it belongs to the same province, but the connection is not close.
In today's developed transportation, the two places can still travel daily, but in the Three Kingdoms period, Guanzhong and Hanzhong are completely two worlds, cao Cao can so smoothly take Hanzhong, Zhang Lu is weak, and Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang are at odds. When Cao Cao conquered Zhang Lu, Liu Bei was attacking Liu Zhang to capture Xichuan, and he had no time to take care of Hanzhong, so Zhang Lu had no way to go, and the land of Hanzhong could only fall into Cao Cao's hands.
However, Hanzhong was a very difficult place for Cao Cao to deal with, because this place was blocked by the Qinling Mountains, and it was difficult for Cao Cao to form an effective control over the Hanzhong region, so the Hanzhong region was still a dispensable area for the Cao Cao clique for the time being.
Remember why Yang Xiu died in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"?
"If you eat chicken ribs, you will have no income, and if you abandon it, if you abandon it, you will be determined."
Although it is only a deduction, but"
Chicken ribs, food tasteless, discarded pity
Wasn't this sentence exactly where Cao Cao's contradictions and entanglements in the Hanzhong region lay at that time? It is useless to ask for it, and it is not willing to lose it.
Therefore, as the war continued to lengthen, Cao Cao felt that there was no need to entangle with Liu Bei in Hanzhong and consume his own strength in vain, so he eventually withdrew and ceded Hanzhong to Liu Bei. Regarding this battle, how badly did Cao Cao lose? In addition to the loss of Xiahou Yuan, a major general, in fact, not many soldiers and horses were lost, and the Records of the End of the Battle in the Book of Wei and the Book of Shu were also very simple.
The Book of Wei says:
In The summer of May, the army was returned to Chang'an
The Book of Shu says:
Xia, Cao Gongguo led the army back, and the first lord had Hanzhong
。 ”
Both countries' history books have used it invariably."
Lead the army also
Three words, which is enough to show that Cao Cao was actually undefeated and retreated, which was also in line with Cao Cao's dispensable psychology of the Hanzhong region at that time.
Since Cao Cao felt psychologically that Hanzhong could actually give up, what kind of excuse or opportunity should he find to retreat? This involved the second reason for Cao Cao's retreat, namely the death of the general Xiahou Yuan.
Death of Xiahou Yuan
Xiahou Yuan was a general of Cao Wei, and the shock brought by his death to Cao Wei was large enough, at that time Xiahou Yuan was the main general in the Zhenshou Han, the main general was killed in battle, and morale was naturally low. If before the Battle of Dingjun Mountain, Cao Cao still had the idea of protecting Hanzhong, then after the Battle of Dingjun Mountain, Cao Cao felt that Hanzhong was a chicken rib. After all, in the Battle of Dingjun Mountain, Cao Cao saw Liu Bei's determination to take Hanzhong.
If Cao Cao tried to protect Hanzhong, then Liu Bei would definitely fight to the death, at this time Liu Bei's soldiers were strong and strong, and their morale was high, although their strength was not as good as his own. But if he really fought, even if Liu Bei was defeated, he would be greatly damaged. Prior to this, Eastern Wu was already in Hefei, and there was a guan yu in Jingzhou, and if both Liu Bei and Liu Bei were defeated at this time, the consequences would be unimaginable, so after Xiahou Yuan's death, Cao Cao was even more determined to retreat.
Regarding Xiahou Yuan's death, there is still a point that needs to be emphasized here, some people attribute Xiahou Yuan's death to the fact that he personally went out to repair the antlers, which is actually wrong. At that time, Liu Bei sent troops from Jinniu Dao to first capture Yangping Pass, and then marched east to take Hanzhong, while Zhang Gao and Xiahou Yuan were guarding Yangping Pass.
Yangping Pass is north of the Qin Mountains, south of hanshui, easy to defend and difficult to attack, Liu Bei could not attack and could only venture south to cross the Han River to Dingjun Mountain, intending to break through Yangping Pass from here, Xiahou Yuan also rushed to The Dingjun Mountain to camp and camp, in an attempt to retake Dingjun Mountain. But Liu Bei adopted the Fazheng"
Give the dummy
At that time, Zhang Hao was guarding the eastern siege and Xiahou Yuan was defending the southern encirclement, Zhang Gao was the first to resist, Xiahou Yuan divided his troops to support Zhang Guo, and at the same time Huang Zhong secretly attacked Xiahou Yuan, which led to Xiahou Yuan's death.
Therefore, Xiahou Yuan was killed in battle in the face of the sudden attack of Liu Bei's army. At that time, the situation was critical, Xiahou Yuan's troops were seriously insufficient, and he could only personally go into battle to kill the enemy, and he was because he divided his troops to support Zhang Guo, which led to Huang Zhong's opportunity to take advantage, if Xiahou Yuan did not divide his troops, then it must be Zhang Gao who died.
In short, the Battle of Dingjun Mountain was a battle of Liu Bei's backwaters, and Liu Bei's surprise troops went around Dingjun Mountain, which was unexpected by Xiahou Yuan and others, coupled with the unfavorable support of the Wei army, Xiahou Yuan's defeat was reasonable, not his own improper command.
Therefore, from a comprehensive point of view, Liu Bei came out of the nest this time and was bound to take Hanzhong, and Cao Cao did not want to fight Liu Bei here and consume too many troops, so after Xiahou Yuan's death, Cao Cao's retreat was a foregone conclusion.