Guan Yu was a famous general of the Shu Han Dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period, as one of the Five Tiger Generals under Liu Bei, although he and Zhang Fei and others were brave generals in the world, Guan Yu was familiar with military books and still had some insights on leading troops in battle. However, with Zhuge Liang's appearance, Guan Yu's talent was gradually covered up, although at the beginning, Zhuge Liang was not liked by Guan Yu, but Zhuge Liang had to admire Guan Yu with his brilliant achievements. However, although Guan Yu did not have Zhuge Liang's divine ingenuity, he had a clever plan that made Zhuge Liang willing to bow down.
In 219, Liu Bei, with the support of many people, established himself as the King of Hanzhong, and Guan Yu was made a former general by Liu Bei, who guarded Jingzhou. One day, Guan Yu received liu Bei's orders to send two subordinate generals to stay in Jiangling and Gong'an, and then drove the army of Jingzhou to Fancheng in a big way, intending to have a confrontation with Cao Cao. The Fancheng defender Cao Ren knew that he was invincible, so he immediately sent envoys to Cao Cao for help, so Cao Cao sent two generals, Yu Ban and Pound De, to lead seven men and horses to reinforce, Guan Yu was difficult to defeat for a while, and the two sides were so deadlocked.
When the two sides confronted each other, it was heavy rain, and the rainstorm for several consecutive days had caused the water level of the Xiangjiang River near Fancheng to continue to rise, and Guan Yu ascended to the far side and saw that Yu Ban's troops were stationed in the valley located in the lower reaches of the river. Guan Yu pondered for half a moment, and suddenly he thought about it, he ordered his men to prepare rafts, collect water tools, and send people to block the water inlets everywhere, and when the river water reached a certain height, he would open the gates and release the water. As Guan Yu had thought, he overwhelmed the seven troops of Yu Ban and the others in one fell swoop, killed Pound, and captured Yu Ban, winning an unprecedented victory.
Guan Yu's great victory was great, not only did Cao Cao suffer a serious blow, but even the military Zhuge Liang was willing to bow to the wind, and even called Guan Yu a military god. Guan Yu's strategy of flooding the Seventh Army made full use of the advantages of time and place, pioneering the tactics of water storage, and was used by Li Shimin 400 years later. In 622, Liu Heimin declared himself the King of Handong in Xiangzhou, and fought against the Tang army, and Li Shimin personally led a large army to conquer Liu Heimin. Under the leadership of Li Shimin, Liu Heimin's several attacks were defeated, and he had no choice but to hold Huan Prefecture and make the last stubborn resistance.
Relying on the danger of the water, Li Shimin on the one hand lured Liu Heimin out of the city to fight, and on the other hand, he cut off his grain transportation channels, leaving Liu Heimin in a dilemma. When Li Shimin saw Liu Heimin's situation, he expected that he would inevitably come out to fight to the death, so he imitated Guan Yu's strategy of flooding the Seventh Army, and sent people to block the upstream of the flooding water, and when Liu Heimin stepped into the downstream range of the water, he broke the embankment and released the water. Later, as Li Shimin expected, Liu Heimin poured out all the troops of the city to come to the decisive battle, And Li Shimin ordered the levee to be broken, and Liu Heimin's troops suffered countless casualties under the impact of the flood.
Guan Yu and Li Shimin both used the power of nature to strike at the enemy, which not only reflected the flexibility and multi-purpose of the art of war, but also proved their good leading background from the side. Unfortunately, Guan Yu was ultimately in a different place, while Li Shimin was honored with the Great Treasure, which may be related to personal creation, what do you think?