Author: Hanging Bi (public name of the same name), authorized to read the history of the release. Cao Cao usurped Han serial 11
Just when Cao Cao was busy preparing for the title of king and the establishment of the crown prince, Liu Bei was not idle, and while recuperating, he was also planning the next military operation.
Previously, Zhang Fei had destroyed Zhang Guo in Bashi County, which was equivalent to driving Cao Cao's forces out of the Sichuan Basin completely, and since then, the offensive and defensive forces have changed with each other, and it is Liu Bei's turn to take the initiative to attack.
In this context, at the end of 217, Fa Zheng, the chief strategist under Liu Bei's account, felt that the time was ripe and put forward his own insights at the right time, that is, the famous Hanzhong Three Strategies, which also became the basic policy of foreign strategy in the decades after the Shu Han Dynasty.
The so-called Hanzhong Three Strategies are basically three goals: long-term, medium-term and short-term. The long-term goal is to eliminate Cao Cao and Kuang Fu Han Room, the medium-term goal is to encroach on Yongliang and expand strength, while the short-term goal is to hold Hanzhong firmly and wait for the opportunity.
The upper can overthrow the enemy and honor the royal family, the middle can encroach on the Yong and Liang, and expand the territory, and the lower can stick to the key points, as a lasting solution. (Three Kingdoms ZhiShu Book Pang Tong Fa Zheng Zhuan Vii)
From this, we can see that there is no conflict between the upper and lower three strategies, but the order of implementation is different, but there is one point, the big premise is to take Down Hanzhong, otherwise everything is empty talk.
For taking hanzhong, Fa Zhengji is very sure, and his reasons are mainly twofold. The first was that there were problems within Cao Cao's clique, so Cao Cao had to go back and was unable to continue the invasion. The second is that the Hanzhong defenders Xiahou Yuan and Zhang Guo are not stronger than our generals, and we have the strength to fight a war.
According to Fazheng's plan, it was to seize the window period when Cao Cao himself had no time to take care of Hanzhong and the local defense force was not strong, and before Cao Cao could react, Hanzhong had already arrived. Even if Cao Cao personally came to negotiate in the future, at that time, the situation between the host and the guest was mutually beneficial, and the advantage was no longer on the other side.
As for taking Hanzhong, it is to hoard money, grain, soldiers and horses, and wait for the opportunity to achieve the above three goals.
Judging from the subsequent developments, Fa zheng is not bad at all, which also proves the foresight of the three strategies of Hanzhong.
Such a good strategy, Liu Bei naturally gladly adopted, and the Hanzhong War began.
Liu Bei took the lead in the move, and his strategic plan was to let Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, and Wu Lan set out as the vanguard troops and march into Xiaquan, Wudu Commandery (武都郡下 debate) (around present-day Chengxian County, Gansu). The main force attacking Hanzhong was personally led by him.
The purpose of this arrangement was to take the lead in occupying a favorable position, that is, the "land struggle" mentioned in the art of war, to contain the reinforcements in the direction of Cao Cao Guanzhong, while the main army tried to enter the Hanzhong Basin during this time.
Since the Chu Chuan Trail was probably not repaired, Cao Cao's only way to march into Hanzhong was still Chen Cang Dao, and Chen Cang Dao happened to pass through Wudu County, and it was difficult for Cao Cao to support Han. Therefore, Cao Cao had to come to fight for the capital of Wu.
As the ruler of Wudu County, the lower defense also has a very important significance, it is held on the Qishan Road, and it can also block the reinforcements from the south of long's right direction.
Some people may feel that this arrangement is somewhat inappropriate, because occupying the lower defense cannot block Chen Cangdao, so Zhang Fei and others are not as good as stationing the intersection of Chencang Road and Qishan Road, that is, Hechi (in present-day Huixian County, Gansu Province). This allowed to fend off reinforcements from both Guanzhong and Long's right.
This line of thinking is naturally fine, but it may not be the most preferred in the circumstances at the time. The main reason is that the river pool is not conducive to defense.
Previously, when Cao Cao was fighting Zhang Lu, he encountered fierce resistance from the local Qi people in Wudu, and after reaching Hechi, Dou Mao, the King of Qi, led more than 10,000 people to defend him, and after being defeated, he was slaughtered by Cao's army.
The battle was extremely destructive, and while killing the rebels, the Cao army was likely to also wreak havoc on the city defense system of Hechi, so as not to have people in the future.
Therefore, I speculate that when Liu Bei's vanguard was moving north, there were no well-conditioned cities in the Hechi area to garrison.
In 216, Xiahou Yuan launched a blow against the Qiang Dynasty in Wudu, capturing more than 100,000 grain and grass in the lower defense.
He also attacked wudu Qiang and collected more than ten thousand hue in the valley. (Three Kingdoms Chronicles of the Book of Wei, Marquis Cao of the Ninth)
The whereabouts of these grains and grasses cannot be explored, but it is likely that all of them were not transported back to Nanzheng. That is to say, at present, there is a high probability that there is grain and grass in the lower debate, which is also an advantage that is conducive to garrisoning.
Looking at the lineup of generals who sent troops this time, they were Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, and Wu Lan.
Wu Lan is only a small character, the deeds are unknown, and there is no conclusive evidence to prove that he has any relationship with Liu Bei's brother-in-law Wu Yi, so it will not be discussed here. And Zhang Fei, as Liu Bei's most trusted general, needless to say.
Let's mainly look at Ma Chao. The main general of Liu Bei's vanguard force was definitely Zhang Fei, and Ma Chao's role was mainly to use his prestige among ethnic minorities to win over the other side.
Previously, the Hechi people were massacred by the Cao army, so the influence of the Hechi people was already very weak, and it did not make much sense for Ma Chao to go.
However, Xiahou Yuan had not killed in the previous debate, so the power of the ethnic minorities here was definitely significantly stronger than that of Hechi.
That is to say, Ma Chao can only exert his own value in the next debate.
Facts have also proved this, the effectiveness of this strategic deployment is obvious, as Liu Beijun vanguard marched to the lower defense, the local King Lei Ding immediately launched more than 10,000 people to respond.
The above three points should be the main reason why Liu Beijun's vanguard chose to argue instead of Hechi as a stronghold.
Moreover, it is not that the lower defense is not unable to prevent the Reinforcements of the Cao Army from the direction of Guanzhong, because the reinforcements of the Cao Army cannot let the enemy troops of the Lower Defense go straight to Hanzhong, so that the rear road will be cut off.
Therefore, the Tun soldiers' defense can also achieve the purpose of deterring Chen Cangdao's reinforcements.
However, the number of this vanguard unit should not be too large, and when they go north, they are bound to pass through Yangping Pass, the gateway west of the Hanzhong Basin, and the Cao army must have a heavy garrison here, so they are not afraid of being attacked by the Cao army?
In fact, Zhang Feima Chao and others did not take the big road, but took the small road through Depression County, which is located on the bank of depression, as a tributary of the Han River, along the depression water north, you can directly turn from Jinniu Road to Chen Cang Road without going through Yangping Pass, to achieve the purpose of "secretly crossing Chen Cang".
Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, and others to argue from depression, and Qi Lei Ding and other seven parts of the ten thousand fell to react. (Three Kingdoms Chronicles Wei Shu Xin Bi Yang Fu Gao Tang Long Biography 25)
And this time the troops are also of great significance to Ma Chao, because he can meet his old opponents for a while.
At that time, Wudu Taishou was Yang Fu, who had been killed inextricably with Ma Chao in Longyou, and the two people could be said to have a deep blood feud. However, Yang Fu alone is certainly difficult to resist, and waiting for reinforcements is inevitable.
After receiving this news, Cao Cao also understood the seriousness of the situation and urgently ordered Cao Hong to lead his troops to support, accompanied by Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen.
This record comes from Emperor Wu's Benji, and Cao Hong's biography does not mention anything, which is very unusual considering that the battle of xiadi was a victory.
In fact, since Cao Cao's southern conquest of Jingzhou, Cao Hong has disappeared from the history books, and when he appears again in the history books, there is a gap of ten years in the middle.
In the early years, Cao Hong followed Cao Cao on his eastern expedition to the west and was Cao Cao's savior, and later during the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao personally led an army to attack Yuan Shao' weight, and Cao Hong perfectly defended the base camp without being attacked by Yuan Shao, and also made a great contribution. It can be seen that Cao Hong is not a mediocre talent.
However, among the generals of the Cao Wei dynasty, Xiahou Huan, Xiahou Yuan, and Cao Ren all ranked ahead of him, and the above three were on their own. Among them, Xiahou Huan was responsible for Hefei on the eastern front, Cao Ren was in charge of the central line of Jingzhou, and Xiahou Yuan was responsible for the western line of Hanzhong.
Only Cao Hong was abandoned by Cao Cao, and it was almost hidden for ten years, why is this?
I think it is probably because Cao Hong gradually exposed his true nature after he became famous and quickly became corrupt and degenerate, so he was disliked by Cao Cao.
In fact, this kind of sign has long appeared, more than ten years ago, when Cao Cao was not yet a chancellor, there was an asset appraisal, and the assessment result made by the county order of Yuxian County was comparable to that of Cao Hong's family. After hearing this, Cao Cao said, "My assets are no better than his." ”
Of course, this is not a compliment, but a satire of Cao Cao's behavior of Cao Hong's wealth collection.
Cao Hong is not only greedy for money, but also has a debauched personality and cannot be seen. After the battle of the lower debate, at the celebration banquet, he actually let a group of scantily dressed singers perform.
Although he had come to the rescue of Wudu, this was too much, how could there be such a scene in the army? Yang Fu stood up and scolded loudly, and Cao Hong woke up.
This person was afraid of comparison between people, Xiahou Huan was honest and honest, and Cao Ren strictly abided by the law, which was much stronger than Cao Hong.
In addition, Cao Cao was originally a person who advocated frugality, so he disliked it more and more and abandoned it. I think if Cao Chun is still alive, this time Cao Hong may not have a chance.
But now Cao Cao really wanted to reactivate him? Of course not, Cao Cao said clearly, Cao Hong and Han Gaozu Liu Bang are just as greedy and lustful, and no one around him can take care of it. Cao Cao had already seen him through.
In fact, what Cao Cao really wanted to use was Cao Xiu, and the Cao family's thousand-mile colt made a shining appearance.
Cao Xiu had been mentioned before when talking about the Battle of Shiting, but at that time he became the background board for Lu Xun's great military achievements.
But this did not mean that Cao Xiu was incompetent, after all, Lu Xun was too strong. In fact, Cao Xiu was the best of the second generation of the Cao Wei Sect.
Cao Cao was very attached to him, praising him as my family's Maxima, and often took him with him when he went out on expeditions. Over the years, Cao Xiu had accumulated enough military literacy, and now he was waiting for the opportunity to fight.
This time to rescue Wudu, Cao Xiu's position was to ride the capital and join the army. However, he was nominally a vice admiral, but in fact Cao Cao made him the commander. It can be seen that his ability has been recognized.
Taizu said to Xiu Yue: "Although Ru joined the army, he was actually handsome." (Three Kingdoms Chronicles of the Book of Wei, Marquis Cao of the Ninth)
However, Cao Xiu's qualifications are too shallow after all, and it is not appropriate to directly appoint the main general, so he uses Cao Hong, who has old seniority, as a mascot, and the actual command is still handed over to Cao Xiu.
Cao Hong was also very interested, and immediately entrusted all the affairs of the army to Cao Xiu.
Regarding the number of troops on both sides, I think Liu Bei's side will definitely not have the upper hand, because the main force is to capture Hanzhong, and Zhang Feimachao's partial division role is to contain.
Hearing that the Cao army was supporting the south, Zhang Fei chose to divide the troops, he led a part of the troops to march into Gushan, making the illusion of cutting off the rear road of the Cao army, Wu Lan was responsible for defending the defense, Ma Chao's movement history books did not mention, perhaps to recruit Qiang.
The specific location of this Gushan mountain is difficult to verify, and the Song Dynasty work "Shu Jian" also says that the location of Gushan is unknown.
Gushan Unknown (Shu Jian Vol. 2)
At present, it seems that it is generally believed that Gushan is in the northwest of the lower debate, which is also the conclusion given in Tan Qihua's map, but I think there are some problems with this view.
First of all, if you go northwest from the lower defense, that is the direction of Long Right, and there is no longer a road to the east, so how can Zhang Fei still cut off the back road of Cao Jun from the Chen Cang Road in the east? Is it difficult to detour west back to Qishan and Shangyi, and then cross the Longshan Mountains to attack Chen Cang?
This scheme would travel thousands of miles, and the possibility would be too low and somewhat whimsical.
On the other hand, after this battle, Zhang Fei and Ma Chao went to Hanzhong with the defeated soldiers to join Liu Bei, but after the lower defense was occupied by the Cao army, they did not have the way to Hanzhong at all, which was another contradiction and did not match the subsequent development of the war.
Therefore, if Gushan, where Zhang Fei garrison was stationed, defended the northwest, the generals of the Cao Army should not have made a judgment that he intended to cut off the back road of his own side, but would think that he would invade Long Right.
Therefore, I think Gushan is more likely to go down to the south of the debate.
The left stream flows through the area around Xiadi, today known as the Qingni River, which flows southeast into the Jialing River, and this mouth is just near Chencang Road.
The Jialing River originates from the southwest of Dashanguan, the starting point of Chencang Road, and the first half of the Chencang Ancient Road is basically built along the upper valley of the Jialing River, so the upper reaches of the Jialing River are also called Gudao Shui, and Chencang Road is also called Gudao or Jialing Road.
In this way, if Zhang Fei led a force to march southeast along Zuo Xishui and garrisoned in place after reaching Gushan, once he found that Cao Jun was marching west through Hechi, he could immediately enter the confluence of Zuo Xishui and Jialing River, and then turn into Chen CangDao to go north to seize Hechi, and he would also be able to achieve the goal of cutting off the back road of Cao Jun.
This is the reason why I judge Gushan to be south of the lower debate, and it is likely to be a certain mountain in the Zuoxi WaterShed.
In March 218, Cao's army advanced to Wudu. After hearing the other party's movements, the generals talked a lot and did not dare to act rashly.
At this time, Cao Xiu perfectly fulfilled the responsibility of the manager, he stood up and made an accurate judgment. He said: "If Zhang Fei really wants to cut off our back road, he must be acting in secret, lest he be discovered by us." Now that he's making a big splash, that's sure to confuse us. We should seize this opportunity to first break wu lan who is arguing, and Zhang Fei is not worried. ”
Cao Xiu's judgment should be based on the fact that he knew that Zhang Fei was insufficient in strength and did not have the ability to hold the lower defense while cutting off his own rear road, so he could only bluff. And the result is that the defense is empty, which is a perfect opportunity.
Cao Hong obeyed him and immediately sent troops to fight straight down, Wu Lan was insufficient in strength, and fled in a big defeat, and Lei Tong and Ren Fu were killed in battle. The Cao army took the lead and won the opening of the Battle of Hanzhong.
Since the Cao army was coming from the east and the road to Hanzhong to the east had been blocked, Wu Lan could only retreat west to Yinping, and was later killed by the local leader Qiangduan.
According to the Description of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhang Fei's deployment of dividing the army into Gushan was in accordance with Liu Bei's instructions, and he should have instructed Zhang Fei to bluff to confuse the Cao army and buy time for himself to attack Hanzhong.
Prepare to dispatch Zhang Feitun to consolidate the mountain, after wanting to break off the army. (Three Kingdoms Chronicles of the Book of Wei, Marquis Cao of the Ninth)
In fact, if Zhang Fei and Wu Lan were to stick to the debate together, they could also achieve the purpose of containment, and the risk of defeat was much lower. However, in the end, they rushed to divide the troops without an advantage, but they were self-defeating.
This mistake made Cao Xiu, and from then on he became famous in one battle, and gradually became the pillar of the second generation of Cao Wei's family.
However, the current situation of Liu Bei was not too bad, because Cao Hong's men and horses did not go to Hanzhong to support Xiahou Yuan, and he was stationed in Wudu throughout the Battle of Hanzhong, the purpose of which should be to keep Chen Cangdao open. He only returned to Guanzhong after Cao Cao withdrew his troops.
That is to say, although the battle of the lower debate was lost, it did not have much impact on the overall situation, and the tendency to win or lose the great battle in Hanzhong still depended on Liu Bei's main force.
At the turn of the summer and autumn of 218, Liu Bei's army gathered west of Yangping Pass, accompanied by Fa Zheng, Huang Quan, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun and other civilian and military generals, which was almost a top configuration.
And Cao Jun was also not to mention more concessions, xiahou Yuan's subordinates Zhang Gao, Xu Huang, Guo Huai, etc. were also full of talents.
The two sides will gather, and a peak duel is about to begin.