Causes of war
In 189 AD, the Han Ling Emperor died. When Emperor Hanling died, he had only two sons, the eldest was called Liu Jie, fourteen years old, born to empress, and the younger one was called Liu Xie, nine years old, born to Wang Meiren. When Emperor Hanling was close to his death, because he had not yet created a crown prince and thought that Liu Xie had a frivolous personality, he planned to make the young Liu Xie emperor, so he entrusted Liu Xie to Jian Shuo, who was then a lieutenant in the military academy. After the death of Emperor Hanling, in order to help Liu Xie ascend the throne, Jian Shuo planned to get rid of He Jin first, and then support Liu Xie to ascend the throne. On the pretext of discussing important matters, Jian Shuo sent someone to pick up He and enter the palace. One of the people who received He Jin was named Pan Yin, and because he had a friendship with He Jin, he hinted at He Jin with his eyes when he greeted him, and He Jin was horrified, and directly ran back to the military camp under his control, claiming that he was ill and would no longer enter the palace. Therefore, with the military support of He Jin and the principle of standing up for the long side pursued by most officials, Liu Wei successfully succeeded to the throne.
Fearing he jin's revenge, Jian Shuo wrote to Zhao Zhong, Song Dian, and others, wanting to design the killing of He Jin. Zhongchang's attendant Guo Sheng and He Jin were from the same county, and they were more close to the He family, so they gave Jian Shuo's letter to He Jin, so He Jin plotted to put Jian Shuo to death, and then all the forbidden troops under Jian Shuo's jurisdiction were under his own command.
After killing Shu Shuo, Yuan Shao suggested that He Jin take the rest of the eunuchs along with them, but Empress He's mother, Wu Yangjun, and He Jin's younger brother He Miao were bribed by eunuchs many times, often advising Empress He to save the eunuchs, and the eunuchs had been in power for decades, and He Jin was not a decisive person, resulting in He Jin's delay in taking action.
Yuan Shao and others also suggested that He Jin summon the troops of the four sides to the capital in order to coerce Empress He to agree, chen Lin, Lu Zhi, and Zheng Tai dissuaded He Jin, but He Jin did not listen. Therefore, He Jin summoned and the governor Dong Zhuo into the capital, and then sent the cavalry lieutenant Bao Xin and the fufu Wang Kuang to recruit troops at Mount Tai, and sent Taishou Qiao of Dong Commandery to garrison Chenggao, and let Wu Mengdu Wei Dingyuan burn Mengjin, and the fire shone brightly in the city, and they all said that they wanted to kill the eunuchs. He Jin did not adopt Yuan Shao's plan to kill the eunuchs immediately, and was killed by Zhang Rang and others when he entered the Changle Palace in August. After that, He Jinbu Qu Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao and others attacked the palace, and the eunuchs were exhausted, Zhang Rang, Duan Jue, and others fled to Xiaopingjin with Liu Jie and Liu Xie when they were chased by Lu Zhi, Zhang Rang and others committed suicide by diving into the water, and Dong Zhuo took the opportunity to lead an army to welcome the emperor under the Northern Mangsaka.
When Dong Zhuo first entered Luoyang, there were only three thousand soldiers and horses, and he took advantage of the chaos to annex the forces of He Jin, He Miao, and others, and secretly made Lü Bu kill Ding Yuan, so he controlled the city of Luoyang. After Dong Zhuo took control of the imperial court, he deposed Liu Zhuo and established Liu Xie, so Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and others fled the capital and called on the prefecture to attack Dong Zhuo.
Combat strategy
Dong Zhuo
Dong Zhuo blackmailed the Princes of Tianzi. Abolish eunuchs, honor the Three Dukes, appoint famous people and great Confucians in the middle of the dynasty, and use celebrities from various states in order to achieve the role of buying people's hearts and isolating Yuan Shao.
Prepare to retreat to Chang'an, and if they retreat, they will burn Luoyang, making it politically incomparable with Chang'an.
Emissaries were sent to negotiate peace with Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.
State and county aspects
Taking Dong As a call, he plotted to establish a new monarch against Dong Zhuo.
Unite the Kwantung prefectures to isolate Dong Zhuo.
Operational deployment
In the first month of 190 AD, Yuan Shao officially raised an army in the Bohai Sea, and the Kwantung prefectures and counties followed, and pushed Yuan Shao as the leader of the alliance. Yuan Shao called himself a cavalry general, together with Wang Kuangtun (王匡屯兵) in Hanoi, Jizhou Mu Hanfu (冀州) Shi Kong (劉伷) stationed at Yingchuan , Yanzhou Assassin Shi Liu Dai ( 兖州刺史 ) , Chen Liu Taishou (陈留太守 ) Zhang Miao ( 張邈 ) , Guangling Taishou Zhang Chao ( 廣陵太守张超 ) , Dong Commandery Taishou Qiao Mao ( 東郡太守桥瑁 ) , Shanyang Taishou Yuan Wei ( 安陽太守袁瑁 ) , Jibei Xiang Bao Xin ( Jibei Xiang Bao Xin , Xiao Riding Colonel Cao Cao Tun Bing Acid Jujube , and the rear general Yuan Shutun (袁術屯) luyang ( Luyang ) , with a total of 200,000 troops.
In order to deal with the coalition forces, Dong Zhuo placed the main force around Luoyang as a mobile force. He then sent Zhonglang to guard The First Line of Xingyang, Chenggao, Taigu, and Yuanyuan from Xu Rongzhen; Dongjun Taishou Hu To guard Guangcheng and Yique and other mountain passes; and the faction to guard Mengjin and Xiaopingjin. The strength of the army is about 100,000.
Later, on February 22, 190, Dong Zhuo forced the imperial court to move the capital to Chang'an, while he remained in Luoyang to command the military.
PS: Readers should note that the real Dong Dong only has thirteen roads (if Sun Jian is counted alone, but Sun Jian was Yuan Shu's subordinate at the time, it should be the twelfth road), Gongsun Zhan, Kong Rong, Ma Teng, Tao Qian and Zhang Yang were added by Mr. Luo Guanzhong for the plot of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
Battle history
In March 190, Dong Zhuo had already burned Luoyang, but none of the Kwantung coalition forces dared to lead the army forward because they were afraid of the strength of Dong Zhuo's army. Cao Cao said to the crowd, "We gathered here with our troops in order to put an end to the riots." Now that the army has been assembled, everyone should not hesitate. If Dong Zhuo only holds the Son of Heaven hostage and does not move the capital, then we do have to think a little about morality. Now Dong Zhuo burned Luoyang and forced him to move the capital, the world knows that this is the heavens that will let him perish, and we only need one battle to win. ”
However, Cao Cao's generous statement was not answered, and Cao Cao marched west alone with his headquarters of 5,000 men and horses, and when he marched to Chenggao, Zhang Mi sent his subordinate Wei Zi to bring soldiers and horses to help Cao Cao. When Cao Cao arrived in the area of Beishui in the southwest of Xingyang, he met Xu Rongjun of Dong Zhuo's department, and the two sides fought fiercely for a day, and finally Cao Cao was defeated by the crowd, and Cao Cao himself was wounded by an arrow, leading the remnants to return to the sour jujube overnight. Xu Rong, seeing that Cao Cao could fight him fiercely with only 5,000 soldiers and horses for a day, thought that the 100,000 troops of Sour Jujube were even more difficult to defeat, so he gave up the idea of attacking Yuan Shao and led his army back to Xingyang.
After Cao Cao returned to the sour jujube, he saw that the people only knew how to drink and have fun every day, and had no intention of marching westward, so he said to them again: "Listen to me, Yuan Shao led the Hanoi army to Mengjin, and the troops in the sour jujube area marched to Chenggao, and then occupied Ao Cang and controlled the dangerous area; and then Yuan Shu led the Nanyang army into Wuguan to threaten Sanfu. After that, all localities only need to raise troops and deep ditches and high fortifications, not necessarily to confront Dong Zhuo, just set up suspicious soldiers to show that the situation in the world has been controlled by us. We fight against the thieves with the teacher of justice, and we can do our best. But now we hesitate, and we will only lose the hearts and minds of the world. I am ashamed of you. But the crowd still couldn't listen to Cao Cao's advice, so Cao Cao had to take Xiahou Huan to the Yangzhou area to recruit troops, but only a thousand men and horses were recruited, and then went to Hanoi, where Yuan Shao was. The coalition forces in the sour jujube area, soon after, ran out of grain and grass, and all the people and horses returned to the same way.
Dong Zhuo saw that the Kwantung coalition army had its own thoughts, and saw that the coalition army in the sour jujube area was retreating, so he divided his troops to attack Sun Jian and Wang Kuang, in order to attack Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.
In the winter of the same year, Dong Zhuo sent Hu Yun to lead thousands of cavalry to attack Luyang. At that time, Sun Jiangang led his army from Nanyang to Luyang, and was resting and preparing to attack Dong Zhuo, when Sun Jian and the generals were drinking outside the East Gate, they suddenly saw Dong Zhuo's army and led the generals into the city. Hu Yun saw that Sun Jian's defense was tight and there was no opportunity to take advantage of it, so he led his army to retreat.
At the same time that Dong Zhuo attacked Sun Jian, he also sent a group of men and horses to pingyinjin pretending to cross the river to attract attention, and then sent elites to cross from Xiaopingjin to the north, go around the back of the Taishan soldiers and suddenly attack, and the Taishan soldiers were basically annihilated.
In the first month of 191 AD, Sun Jian led about 100,000 soldiers and horses from the counties of Yuzhou to march to Liangdong, trying to attack Luoyang from Taigu, but on the way he was surrounded by Xu Rongjun, Sun Jian was defeated, and only led dozens of horses to break through successfully. Although Sun Jian was defeated, he did not retreat, and he gathered the remnants of his army and marched separately to Taigu and Yangren. After Dong Zhuo learned of this, he made Hu Yi the governor of Dadu and Lü Bu the governor of the horse, and led tens of thousands of horses to attack from Guangcheng. Guangcheng was tens of miles away from yangren, and when Hu Yi arrived, it was already dusk, and the generals and horses were very tired, so Hu Yun ordered him to camp and prepare to enter Yangren tomorrow. At this time, Sun Jian just arrived at Yangren and settled in the city. Lü Bu and Hu Yun were at odds, and in the middle of the night they shouted that Sun Jian was coming to attack and wanted Hu Yun to fail, so Hu Yun's army was in chaos, and it just so happened that Sun Jian really came to sneak attack, so he killed Hua Xiong, and Hu Yun fled overnight.
After Sun Jian's unexpected victory, he took advantage of the victory to march to Luoyang. Dong Zhuo, fearful of Sun Jian's might, sent someone to make peace with Sun Jian, but Sun Jian refused. Dong Zhuo saw that he was unable to succeed, and led a large army to fight a decisive battle with Sun Jian on the outskirts of Luoyang, dong Zhuo was defeated, led his army to retreat to Shengchi and Xin'an, and sent Lü Bu to cover the retreat in Luoyang. Sun Jian led his army straight into the city, and defeated Lü Bu at Xuanyang Gate, so Lü Bu retreated in the direction of Chang'an, and Luoyang was occupied by Sun Jian. After Sun Jian defeated Lü Bu, he sent a group of men and horses out of Hangu Pass to march to Xin'an and Theochi area. Yuan Shu learned of Sun Jian's great victory on the front line, fearing that he would gain power, so he directly cut off Sun Jian's supply of grain and grass, and also sent his general Zhou Ang to attack Yangcheng, wanting to cut off Sun Jian's rear supply, resulting in Sun Jian's inability to continue to the west, so he led his army to repulse Zhou Ang and enter Luyang.
Although Sun Jian retreated, the war was not over. After Dong Zhuo was defeated and retreated by Sun Jian in Luoyang, in order to prevent Sun Jian and the Kwantung alliance from continuing to advance westward, Dong Yue was sent to garrison Shengchi, Duan Sheng to garrison Huayin, and Niu Fu to garrison Anyi. After Sun Jian withdrew to Luyang, he sent Zhu Jun to Luoyang. Zhu Jun, who was in charge of garrisoning Luoyang, because he hated Dong Zhuo's cruelty, secretly contacted the various forces in Kwantung Prefecture, and at the same time, he was worried that Dong Zhuo would send a strike attack after learning about it, so he led his troops to retreat in the direction of Jingzhou, Dong Zhuo heard the news and then sent Yang Yi to garrison Luoyang, Zhu Jun learned of it and returned to Luoyang, Yang Yi saw that he did not attack and chose to retreat. Because Luoyang was already in tatters and could not hold on, Zhu Jun led his army east to Zhongmu and sent letters to the states requesting that troops be sent to beg Dong, but only Tao Qian sent three thousand men and horses, and the rest of the prefectures and counties only gave a little soldier and horse meaning. When Dong Zhuo learned of this, he sent Li Dai and Guo Feng to lead an army to attack Zhongmu, and Zhu Junbingwei was defeated in the first month of 193. Since then, the states and counties have no longer silently begged Dong Zhuo.
epilogue
In the war between the princes and Dong, the key point of defeat was not in strength, but in politics. First of all, although Yuan Shao was an ally, he only had the fame of the Three Doors, but his strength at that time was not strong enough to command the various forces. The coalition army is essentially a warlord complex, called Dong Dong, who actually has a ghost fetus in mind and thinks about how to expand its strength. Therefore, in this temporary gathering of forces, no strong leader unites the various factions as one, which is the key to its failure.
From the history books, there is no righteous side between the two sides, the essence is only for their own power, those slogans against Dong Zhuo are only for political needs, in the treatment of the people, the Kwantung princes are not better than Dong Zhuo to go there, for example, Yuan Shu in Nanyang, often raided the people, resulting in popular resentment, and the Kwantung Coalition army only has no abuse of the people, in most of these cases has no impact.