In the period of cold weapons in ancient China, the number of troops was the key to victory in a war, but it was not absolute, and there were three major battles in the history of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, which were not only a model of the victory of the weak over the strong in the history of ancient Chinese warfare, but also determined the direction of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, especially the Three Kingdoms era.
The first battle, the Battle of Guandu
In 199 AD, Yuan Shao did not listen to the persuasion of the strategists Tian Feng and Frustrated Zhi, and resolutely sent 100,000 troops south in an attempt to defeat Cao Cao and capture Xu Du, facing the menacing Hebei Army, Cao Cao concentrated his superior forces to garrison the south bank of the Yellow River, and the Battle of Guandu broke out.
In the early stages of the war, Yuan Shao wanted to cross the Yellow River to seek a decisive battle for Cao Cao's main forces, but did not listen to discouragement, and took Yan Liang as a general in an attempt to take the white horse and create conditions for Yuan's army to cross the river, but Cao Cao led Guan Yu and others to kill Yan Liang and relieve the siege of Baima, and Cao's army won the initial battle and entered a strategic stalemate with Yuan's army.
In October 200 AD, Yuan's army was strong, many officials and civilians under Cao Cao's account secretly handed over and even surrendered to Yuan Shao, and Cao Cao's army was in a hurry to grain, at this time Yuan Shao's adviser Xu You defected to Cao Cao, Cao Cao led an army to raid Yuan Shao's grain hoarding land of Wuchao, killing Yuan Jun's general Chun Yuqiong, Zhang Guo and Gao Lan of the "Hebei Four Court Pillars" surrendered to Cao Cao, Yuan Shao's army was in disarray, internally split, Yuan Shao only hurriedly led eight hundred cavalry back to Hebei.
The Battle of Guandu ended with Cao Cao's victory and Yuan Shao's defeat, and the victory at the Battle of Guandu made Cao Cao completely firm, laying the foundation for Cao Cao to unify the entire north, and also making Cao Wei the strongest state in the three kingdoms after that.
The second battle, the Battle of Chibi
Soon after the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao successfully unified the entire north, for a while Cao Cao was satisfied, and set his sights on the whole world, in 208 AD, Jingzhou surrendered without a fight, Liu Chun led the jingzhou troops to surrender to Cao Cao, Cao Cao was even more proud of the spring wind, and declared war on Eastern Wu in the same year, in an attempt to unify Jiangnan.
Cao Cao claimed that he had 800,000 troops on land and water, but in fact, with the addition of 700,000 or 80,000 Jingzhou troops, only more than 200,000 troops were exhausted, and the Morale of the Jingzhou army was also low, but Cao Cao did not listen to Jia Xu's advice to rest and recuperate, and insisted on using troops against Eastern Wu.
In the face of the menacing Cao army, Liu Bei cooperated with Sun Quan against Cao Cao, and Eastern Wu gathered 30,000 people with Zhou Yu as his commander, and in December of the same year, Sun Liu's combined army marched to Chibi to meet the Cao army, but at this time the Cao army was prevalent with plague, morale was low, and the initial battle was defeated by the Eastern Wu water army.
Later, in order to adapt to the northern soldiers who were not accustomed to water warfare, Cao Cao ordered the warships to be linked together with iron chains, and as a result, Zhou Yu burned Chibi, Cao's army was defeated, and countless casualties were killed and wounded, and Cao Cao also fled back to the north in a hurry, and the Battle of Chibi ended with the victory of Sun Liu's coalition forces and Cao Cao's defeat. The Battle of Chibi caused Cao Cao to be seriously injured and unable to go south for a short time, consolidating the foundation of Eastern Wu's rule, and also winning a favorable opportunity for Liu Bei to develop, laying the foundation for the division of the world.
The third battle, the Battle of Yiling
In 221, Liu Bei personally led tens of thousands of Shu troops to retake Jingzhou and avenge Guan Yu, and sent Wu Ban, Feng Xi, and Zhang Nan to lead a total of about 40,000 people as the vanguard of the army, captured the gorge, and invaded Wu Territory.
By comparing the strength, morale, and terrain conditions of the two sides, Lu Xun believed that the Shu army was strong, high and dangerous, sharp and strong, and eager to win, and the Wu army should temporarily avoid the Shu army's sharp edge, so he retreated all the way to the yidao and Yiting lines, could not hold out, and turned to defense.
In June 222 AD, Liu Bei broke the camp and could not find the opportunity to fight with the Wu army, at this time it was in the sweltering heat, the morale of the Shu army was low, Liu Bei was helpless, and ordered to camp in the dense forest, but because it was located in the mountains, the Shu army camped for hundreds of miles, not only the military strength was scattered, the supplies were also inconvenient, which made Lu Xun see the fighters who turned defeat into victory.
After receiving Sun Quan's orders, Lu Xun raided the Shu camp at night, set fire to the wind, burned the camp, the Shu army did not react for a while, the military was in turmoil, the Wu army took advantage of the situation to pursue, Liu Bei fled to the White Emperor City, the Battle of Yiling finally ended with the victory of the Wu army and the defeat of the Shu army, which also made Liu Bei fall ill and eventually died of illness in the White Emperor City, and this battle not only Guan Yu lost Jingzhou but also greatly weakened the strength of the Shu state, and then in order to pass on the domestic contradictions, Zhuge Liang continued to carry out the Northern Expedition, further depleting the national strength of the Shu state. It became a turning point in the Three Kingdoms era, and after the Shu Kingdom, it also became the first country in the Three Kingdoms to perish.