Author: Hanging Bi (public name of the same name), authorized to read the history of the release. Click here to view the previous article
Xiahou Yuan's sudden death in battle surprised Cao Cao, originally the situation in Hanzhong was very good, Liu Bei was defeated in successive battles, why did the situation take a sharp turn?
It turned out that at the same time that Cao Ren was quelling the wancheng rebellion, Liu Bei suddenly changed his tactics and caught Xiahou Yuan off guard, which was the turning point of the whole war.
In the spring of 219, Liu Bei led the main force south, crossed the water, crossed the Micang Mountain through a small road, and unexpectedly inserted into the Hanzhong Basin, appearing on the left flank of Xiahou Yuan's army.
At the same time, Gao Qiu led a small number of troops to stay at Yangping Pass, the purpose of which should be to maintain the smooth flow of his own grain routes.
This move surprised Xiahou Yuan, who had never expected this to happen.
In the mountainous area west of Yangping Pass, the southern bank of the Chushui River Valley is very steep, and to this day there is no major road to walk, so the Golden Bull Road was built on the slightly gentler north bank, and today's 108 National Highway Beijing-Kunming Line is also located on the north bank.
This was the main reason why Xiahou Yuan had not strengthened his defense of the southern front before, and under normal circumstances, it was unlikely that the large army would break into the Hanzhong Basin in this way.
However, one thing he did not expect was that Liu Bei's army had many Bashu natives, who were more adept at mountain warfare than the Central Plains.
In addition, Zhang Fei is also very experienced in this area, and he used a similar method in the battle of Wakou that defeated Zhang Gao.
Therefore, this made the impossibility in Xiahou Yuan's eyes possible.
Liu Bei's army was eventually stationed at Dingjun Mountain in the southwest corner of the Hanzhong Basin after killing the Micang Mountains.
Dingjun Mountain is a branch of Mt. Micang, composed of twelve peaks, the peaks are lined up in a row, stretching for more than 20 miles, so it is also called "Twelve Lianzhu", of which the highest third peak is Dingjun Mountain.
Due to the unique geological structure, the northern part of Dingjun Mountain is completely hilly, and it is a vast plain that reaches the south bank of the Chushui River, which is also the battlefield that Liu Bei preset for Xiahou Yuan.
Xiahou Yuan was brave in battle and never timid. According to his character, once he learned that Liu Bei had already occupied Dingjun Mountain, he would definitely lead an army to fight.
Dingjun Mountain is the commanding heights of this area, easy to defend and difficult to attack, according to Sun Tzu's Art of War, this is called dangerous.
On the other hand, Liu Bei's army crossed the path of Micang Mountain, and it was easy to enter and retreat, so this can also be regarded as a hanging shape.
Can go, difficult to return, hang. He who hangs on the form, the enemy is unprepared, and he will win. (Sun Tzu's Art of War Topography 10)
That is to say, Dingjun Mountain is a place that is both dangerous and hanging.
For dangerous shapes, it is necessary to occupy the commanding heights to wait for work; for hanging shapes, it is necessary to win by surprise.
Liu Bei's action of seizing Dingjun Mountain this time can be described as a deep point in the art of war, and reversed the previous unfavorable situation in one fell swoop.
So who exactly planned this operation? The records in this historical material are slightly confusing, so let's roughly comb through it.
According to Cao Cao's point of view, it seems that Fazheng is the mainstay, and he believes that Liu Bei does not have this ability.
According to Pei Songzhi's annotations, he also felt that Cao Cao had lost the battle so he deliberately hardened his mouth, and Liu Bei, as a generation of male lords, was certainly not a vegetarian, but Fa Zheng first proposed it.
In addition, according to Huang Quan's biography, he also made suggestions and suggestions in it, and played a big role.
History has always been full of all kinds of Rashomons, and now let's try to find out the truth.
First of all, Cao Cao said that Liu Bei must have a high-ranking person behind him, which is generally correct, and his own military command ability is indeed mediocre. For example, during the Later Battle of Yiling, ordering Huang Quan to divide his troops into Jiangbei was a faint move, and in the previous Battle of Xiadi, zhang Fei's division of troops and Gushan was also a major defeat, and both times it could be determined that Liu Bei was under the command.
However, this is not to say that Pei Songzhi's view is unreasonable, because when he says that Liu Bei has this ability, he refers to the level of grand strategy, not to the specific tactical level.
That is to say, Pei Songzhi believed that the three strategies of Hanzhong proposed by Fa Zheng were something that Liu Bei could definitely think of, and did not refer to the seizure of Dingjun Mountain.
Cao Cao should be referring specifically to the performance of Fa Zheng in the Battle of Dingjun Mountain, and the two sides may not be referring to the same, so this is not contradictory.
As for Huang Quan, he also had a fairly high military level, and he had a similar understanding of the importance of Hanzhong and Fazheng, and the recapture of Brazil was also his plan.
But this does not mean that Huang Quan alone planned the overall situation for Liu Bei. At that time, Huang Quan's official position was to protect the army, and the protector had the power to command the army. At the same time, Cao Zhen led the army in battle as a defender of Shu, and liu zhang also ordered Li Yan to lead troops to resist Liu Bei at Mianzhu as a protector.
It can be seen that in addition to Huang Quan's advice, he also had a certain degree of military power under Liu Bei, and the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms said that "all power was the original plot", perhaps referring to his deep participation in the whole process of the Battle of Hanzhong, but it was not said that it was his own merit.
Liu Bei should have a staff team under him, of which Fa Zheng and Huang Quan were the main members. Perhaps in the on-the-spot command of the Battle of Dingjunshan, Fa Zheng played a leading role, but the formulation of the entire battle plan should be the crystallization of the collective wisdom of the staff committee, not from a single person.
However, at the same time that Liu Bei's army was stationed at The Mountain, there was a strange record in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, saying that Liu Bei was also stationed in Xingshi, and this is not an isolated evidence, and the same records are recorded in the biographies of Liu Bei and Fazheng.
Twenty-four years later, the first lord crossed the water from Yangping south, and a little before the edge of the mountain, he set up an army and set up a camp. (Three Kingdoms ZhiShu Book Pang Tong Fa Zheng Zhuan Vii)
In the spring of the twenty-fourth year, he crossed the water from Yangping south, and a little before the edge of the mountain, Yu Dingjun was set up as a camp. (Three Kingdoms Chronicles of Shu Shu
Could this Xingshi refer to Xingshi Mountain? Let's explore this possibility.
Xingshi Mountain is not actually near Dingjun Mountain, but more than 200 miles away in the northeast of the Hanzhong Basin (present-day northern YangXian County, Shaanxi), and Dingjun Mountain is almost diagonal. It guarded the southern exit of the Luo Road and meridian road, and it was here that Wang Ping later repelled Cao Shuang's army.
So why did Liu Bei divide his troops to occupy Xingshi Mountain, was he planning to prevent Cao's army from coming to reinforcements from Luo Dao or Meridian Road?
I think this possibility is too low, because at that time, the Chu Di Zhan Dao was almost repaired, and only two or three months later Cao Cao's army could take the Chu Chu Road south, blocking the Luo Dao and meridian road to the east could not stop the cao army from reinforcing, but would also be cut off by Xiahou Yuan because it was out of touch with the main force. Such an arrangement would be meaningless and would be a waste of troops.
In fact, this problem had been initially solved in the Song Dynasty, and Sima Guang directly removed the word Xingshi in the Zizhi Tongjian, saying that Liu Bei was only stationed at Dingjun Mountain. This shows that Sima Guang also did not agree with Liu Bei's statement that he had divided his troops at Xingshi Mountain.
Prepared from Yangping south to cross the water, the edge of the mountain is a little forward, camp in Dingjun Mountain. (Zizhi Tongjian Han Dynasty 60)
In addition, according to the records of the "Zizhi Tongjian Hu San Provincial Notes", the original biography of Liu Bei was written about the Dingjun Mountain Trend, and the Fazheng tradition became the Dingjun Xingshi later, which is actually likely to be a mistake in the ancient books in the circulation of the copy.
On the other hand, the Xingshi in the Fazheng Biography may not refer to the Xingshi Mountain, but to the intention of building a camp in dingjun mountain with great fanfare, which is also consistent with the purpose of attracting Xiahou Yuan to fight.
In short, this battle had nothing to do with Mount Xingshi from beginning to end.
At this time, Xiahou Yuan's heart was also very anxious, the deployment he had made before was aimed at Liu Beitun's soldiers Yang Pingguan, but now that Liu Bei had changed his tactics, he must also make corresponding changes.
First of all, Xiahou Yuan's main force stationed in the plain area east of Huanshui was no longer of much significance, and there was even a certain danger, because Liu Bei's main force had reached his flank and could cut off the supply line between him and his base camp Nanzheng at any time.
On the other hand, Zhang Guo of Tun Bing Guangshi also lost his original role, because he had originally wanted to protect the right wing of the army, but now Liu Bei would certainly not attack from that direction.
This was a severe test that Xiahou Yuan had never encountered since he began to act alone. Whether it was Ma Chao, Han Sui, or Song Jian, his previous opponents were all unpopular characters, and the huge pressure he was facing now was the first time for him.
Previously, Xiahou Yuan's lianzhan lianjie was a double-edged sword, which not only gave him strong self-confidence, but also made him lose his awe, and blind self-confidence was fatal in the face of powerful opponents.
In fact, the situation at this time was not something that Xiahou Yuan could face alone, and the most correct thing for him to do was to let go of his so-called self-esteem, immediately return to Southern Zheng, and protect the safety of Chugukou and wait for Cao Cao's support.
After all, Liu Bei was pouring out of his pockets, and if he chose to temporarily avoid the front, Cao Cao would also understand him, and then the two sides would be exhausted, which was much more secure.
However, the proud Xiahou Yuan would certainly not adopt such a conservative strategy.
Of course, a little radical is not completely impossible, because Liu Bei's main force has shifted to Dingjun Mountain, then Yangping Pass is naturally empty, at this time Xiahou Yuan can try to raid Yangping Pass, once successful, it can threaten Liu Bei's grain route, which is also a good choice.
Yangping Pass cannot be lost, and now that Liu Bei is on the south bank of the Shuishui River, it is not easy to return to the rescue, so it is Liu Bei who is embarrassed.
In fact, the probability of success of this strategy was still very high, because later Cao Zhen defeated Gao Xiang of Yangpingguan with only one partial division, and Xiahou Yuan was fully capable of achieving this goal.
If it was Xiahou Yuan, who had the courage and strategy before, this plan to encircle Wei and save Zhao must have been handy, as it was when he defeated Han Sui in the Luoyang area a few years ago.
Unfortunately, not everyone can calm down in the face of a strong enemy, but will use a faint move under heavy pressure, Xiahou Yuan is like this, he has gradually lost his mind. In his opinion, since Cao Cao handed over Hanzhong to himself, there was absolutely no room for error.
At this time, there was no other possibility in his eyes, only a single-minded battle, and it was a head-on duel.
Invincible? There is nothing impossible here in xiahou yuan, when have I ever been afraid!
Alas, Cao Cao's admonitions were all forgotten. "For when there is weakness", Jin Yu said well! If you can fight too much, you will fight, and if you can't fight, you will withdraw first, which is not shameful at all. Cao Cao was afraid that he would put himself in it on impulse, and sure enough, he would say a word.
Xiahou Yuan soon made a new deployment, and he led the main force to cross the water south to compete with Liu Bei for Dingjun Mountain, stationed on the plain north of Dingjun Mountain.
The mountains and rivers in the north and the water in the south were yin, and the terrain where Xiahou Yuan was located at this time was also extremely unfavorable.
There is a saying in the art of war: jun guiyang and lowly yin. The sunlight on the north side of the mountain will be blocked by the mountain, and at this time, looking up at the enemy camp on the top of the mountain, a feeling of Tarzan pressing the top will immediately come to the face, which has already lost in momentum.
Liu Beiju was in a strict position in Gaoyang, but Xiahou Yuan was in the shadow of the other side all the time, so why should he be undefeated? Step by step, he has gone to the brink of extinction.
When you find that you are always led by the nose of your opponent, you must be extremely vigilant, otherwise you will soon plant a big heel.
Although Xiahou Yuan's reckless decision made him on the verge of defeat, as the commander of the army, even if he lost the battle, his personal life safety was still highly likely to be guaranteed. However, after he entered the battlefield, the deployment was even worse.
The two sides faced each other at the northern foot of Dingjun Mountain, so the southern defensive line of Xiahou Yuan's position was the main point of engagement, and he was personally responsible for the defense of the southern side, while Zhang Hao had withdrawn from Guangshi, and Xiahou Yuan ordered him to be responsible for the defense of the eastern side, and the role was to protect the grain road.
Unfortunately, there is often a big difference between ideals and reality, and this seemingly stable arrangement finally laid the groundwork for Xiahou Yuan's death.
In the first month of 219, the two sides confronted each other at Dingjun Mountain.
Xiahou Yuantun's intention in setting up an army in Shanbei should have been to make a gesture of not giving way to any land, but he knew in his heart that the possibility of driving Liu Bei out of Hanzhong was very small.
The two sides had equal strength, but the other side occupied a geographical advantage, and it was certainly difficult to force an attack, so his purpose should be to block Liu Bei at Dingjun Mountain while waiting for reinforcements.
Xiahou Yuan built fortifications such as antlers to the south of the base camp, and he was responsible for the defense, while the defense to the east was responsible for Zhang Gao.
This seemed to be a reasonable arrangement, Xiahou Yuan was responsible for resisting Liu Bei's attack, and Zhang Gao was responsible for protecting the flank supply line.
However, there is a big problem in the middle, that is, the dispersion of troops.
When two sides are at war, they are originally equal in strength, but one side has many ways to divide its troops, and the other side is united in one place.
This principle is not complicated, according to Chairman Mao's words: It is better to break ten fingers than to break one finger.
According to Nurhaci's words, it is called: I only go all the way.
In the war, we must master the initiative, if the rhythm has been controlled by the opponent, no matter how to deal with it is passive, then it should be immediately retreated, otherwise there will be disaster.
Because after the opponent masters the rhythm of the battlefield, you can only be led by the nose by the opponent, and you can only be tired of running or fortifying everywhere.
If they are mobilized and exhausted, the morale and physical strength of the army will soon be exhausted.
If you are not willing to be mobilized and fortified everywhere, you will inevitably be forced to disperse your forces and thus be broken by the superior enemy. Left and right are dead.
Xiahou Yuan was now facing this dilemma, the frontal defense line had to be defended, and the supply line also had to be defended. Because he did not know Liu Bei's battle plan at all, he could only fortify everywhere, and as a result, there were insufficient troops everywhere.
Therefore, if you are prepared, you will be widowed, if you are prepared, you will be widowed, if you are left, you will be widowed, and if you are prepared, you will be widowed. (Sun Tzu's Art of War Virtual Reality Sixth)
The reason for this result is that Xiahou Yuan fell into passivity in the overall situation, and the second is that Liu Bei occupied the commanding heights and could clearly see Xiahou Yuan's deployment, so as to formulate corresponding tactics, while Xiahou Yuan was black with two eyes.
Soon Liu Bei was in trouble, his strategy was a serial plan, and Xiahou Yuan was in big trouble.
One night, Liu Bei suddenly sent troops down the mountain and set fire to the outskirts of Xiahou Yuan's defense line, igniting antlers on both the east and south sides.
Since it was a surprise attack at night, Xiahou Yuan did not know how many people had come from the other side, nor did he know whether the other side was launching a general attack or harassment, so he could only respond to changes with no change, and let Zhang Hao defend the eastern front according to the original plan, and he was responsible for the southern front.
Up to this point, it was a normal response, and there was no problem, but then Xiahou Yuan made a strange move, and he brought only a small force to the southern defensive line.
How small is it? According to Cao Cao's "Military Policy Order", this unit had only a mere four hundred men.
In addition, Xiahou Yuan's southern outer defense line was fifteen miles away from the base camp.
The antlers went to the base camp for fifteen miles, and the four hundred soldiers of the yuan marched on the antlers. (Military Policy Order)
Of course, the fifteen-mile statement is exaggerated, because the distance from the northern foothills of Dingjun Mountain to the south bank of the Shuishui River is not so far at all, even if the Xiahou Yuan camp is located on the bank of the Shuishui River, the distance is at most seven or eight miles.
However, this distance was not very close, Xiahou Yuan only brought such a small army, and instead of going to the front for reinforcements, he ran out of the way for nearly ten miles, and he was already out of touch with the base camp.
What the hell is he trying to do? Knowing that the southern defensive line was frontal to Liu Bei's army, would he not be afraid of being attacked?
From God's point of view, this is definitely a suicidal act, but Xiahou Yuan, who is a fan of the authorities, does not know this, and he should have his own considerations.
At first, although Liu Bei sent people to set fires around the perimeter of the defensive line to create chaos, this was not just harassment, and soon he sent elite troops to attack the eastern defensive line guarded by Zhang Gao at zouma valley.
This time, Liu Bei's attack was very intense, because Zhang Gao would soon be unable to resist.
Prepared to provoke a battle, the Gao army is unfavorable. ( Three Kingdoms Chronicles of the Book of Wei, Marquis Cao of the Ninth)
Previously, in Guangshi, Zhang Gao successfully withstood the repeated onslaughts of Liu Beiwan's elite troops, which showed that Zhang Gao's troops were very strong in combat.
However, this time Zhang Hao fell into the inferior position, and in Xiahou Yuan's view, it must be Liu Bei who invested the main force on the eastern front, and it was bound to cut off his supply line in one fell swoop. Since the crisis was just around the corner, Xiahou Yuan could not have predicted that this was actually a feint.
Therefore, Xiahou Yuan made a decision, that is, to divide half of his troops to support Zhang Gao. However, although this eased Zhang Gao's pressure, it led to the further dispersion of troops.
On the other hand, after Xiahou Yuan had already made the judgment that Liu Bei's main offensive direction was the eastern front, then it should be natural to determine that the other side was a feint attack on the southern front, after all, the strength of the two sides was similar, and Liu Bei could not focus on the entire line, which was the reason why he dared to rush to the southern defensive line with a small number of troops.
There may be readers who will have this doubt, because Xiahou Yuan sent only half of them to reinforce Zhang Gao, and he could completely take the other half to the south to defend.
This kind of thinking seems to be deserved, but in fact it is also a plan given from the perspective of God, first of all, Xiahou Yuan's camp is far from the antlers on the outskirts of the southern defensive line, which is nearly ten miles away, how can it take one and a half to two hours, and it is impossible for the troops to travel back and forth between the two places in a short period of time to support each other.
Now that the evil consequences of Xiahou Yuan's deployment everywhere had been fully revealed, his troops had begun to be disconnected from each other.
If the nest came out just to repair the antlers in the south, the base camp would fall into emptiness, and Xiahou Yuan could not afford to take this risk.
The eastern defensive line, the southern defensive line, and the base camp must be defended in all three places, although according to the current situation, Liu Bei's main offensive direction should be the eastern front, but other places cannot be completely ignored.
At present, the mobile force has been seriously insufficient, leaving him stretched. Thinking about it, Xiahou Yuan felt that the value of the defensive line on the southern side was the lowest, and he could only throw the least number of troops there, after all, the base camp and the supply line were more important.
Since this was the case, in Xiahou Yuan's view, he could only personally go to the southern front, and with himself, he might be able to make up for the lack of troops a little.
In the end, Xiahou Yuan set out with four hundred people and embarked on a road of no return.
In fact, although Xiahou Yuan's judgment was wrong, the problem was not too big, because even if the southern defensive line was breached, the loss would not be very large, and it would be a big deal to retreat to the base camp. But he was wrong to personally bring the troops there.
First of all, the big premise of Xiahou Yuan's arrangement was that he judged that Liu Bei was pretending to attack on the southern front, and since this was the case, it would not hurt to burn the antlers, and the other party would not invest the main force in this direction anyway, so why rush to repair it.
Even if it must be repaired, it is enough to send a hundred inspectors to carry out such an insignificant task, and at most one tooth keeper can do it.
Xiahou Yuan, as the supreme commander of the 50,000-strong army, went to carry out the tasks of low-level military attaches, which was a big mistake.
In Cao Cao's view, the commander of the army should not even personally charge into the battlefield without saying to repair the antlers.
For the overseer is not yet suitable for personal battle, the situation is to make up for the antlers! (Military Policy Order)
Of course, it is not absolute that the manager does not personally fight, if he is at a disadvantage, the manager can take the lead, it can indeed stimulate morale and create miracles.
When Cao Cao reached the most critical juncture in the Battle of Guandu, he also personally led 5,000 people to fight immediately. However, repairing antlers was obviously not in this case, not to mention that Xiahou Yuan's troops were not even one-tenth of Cao Cao's at the beginning.
Xiahou Yuan's defeat was already doomed, after all, the situation on the battlefield was already extremely bad, but he was to blame for dying in battle, if it were not for his impulsiveness, there would have been no danger to his life. The manager has the protection of a large army, and unless he is fought by the opponent into a siege battle, it is rare for the commander to die.
All in all, Xiahou Yuan had two layers of errors, the first layer was in terms of tactical deployment, and the second layer was in terms of decision-making, and the error in tactical deployment was fundamental, which directly led to his dilemma when making decisions on the spot, and finally made a big mistake.
At this point, the situation was at this point, in the final analysis, because Xiahou Yuan did not want to let any land be allowed, otherwise the situation would definitely be different.
Xiahou Yuan actually had the opportunity to save himself, and in order to avoid dispersing his forces, he had to shrink the defensive line.
At this time, the southern defensive line and the base camp could be abandoned, and the eastern defensive line could be concentrated, that is, the narrow gap between the remnants of the Dingjun Mountain and the shuishui, so that it was foolproof, but he was not willing to give up these territories.
All the responses that Xiahou Yuan made were based on the existing unfavorable situation to see the tricks, but he did not jump out of the inertial thinking to try to change the situation, and finally fell into a dead end.
Wei Jun's every move could not be hidden from the opponent on the mountain, although it was at night, but the antlers were burning, the surrounding area was not dark, and it was at the foot of the mountain, as long as Xiahou Yuan appeared, the mountain must know that he was coming, and only brought a few hundred people.
The opportunity to wait for has come, the first step of the east and west has been successfully completed, and it is time to carry out the second step of the decapitation operation.
The soaring flames illuminated the positions below the mountain, and Fa Zheng looked up, and the scene on the battlefield was unobstructed, the scattered Wei soldiers were busy fighting the fire, and the banner of Xiahou Yuan in the middle was looming in the flames.
At the top of the Dingjun Mountain, the Fa is like the same chess player who looks at the overall situation, and now it is time to fall.
Strong self-confidence had already made him sentence Xiahou Yuan to death in his heart, so he turned to Liu Bei and signaled, "Lord, you can attack." ”
Liu Bei bowed his head slightly, and he ordered the flag to wav, and the whole army went straight to Xiahou Yuan like a furious wave to kill.
Looking at the enemy army like a fierce tiger, Xiahou Yuan suddenly realized that he was deceived!
It turned out that the Eastern Front was a feint attack, and the purpose was to lead itself over, but at this time it was too late to withdraw, and now there was no way out except to stand up for a battle.
In this assault, it was the veteran Huang Zhong who led the team. At this time, the gongs and drums shook the sky, and the shouts thundered and resounded through the clouds.
Seeing that Huang Zhong was taking the lead, he took advantage of the momentum of the downward charge to kill Xiahou Yuan in an instant, and did not give him a chance to get out of the battle at all.
Originally, the four hundred men and horses led by Xiahou Yuan were all his guards, the elite of the elite, but in the darkness, they had no idea how many people the enemy had come, and coupled with the momentum of the other side, they were already completely frightened.
It was an asymmetrical battle, and the Wei army soon broke up, and a generation of famous generals Xiahou Yuan died in the rebellion, and his fellow Yizhou assassin Shi Zhao Was also killed.
The sky has fallen.
Xiahou Yuan's death was an absolute fatal blow to the Wei army, tens of thousands of troops were in a small plain, behind them was the water, and now the dragons were leaderless and demoralized, how could they possibly resist the onslaught of the enemy army? If it is delayed any longer, the whole army will be destroyed.
But at this time, there was a person who stood up, and he was Guo Huai, a famous general who would be wei ZhenYongliang for nearly thirty years.
Of course, at this time, Guo Huai was still a fledgling newcomer. He was originally an official of Cao Pi's conquest, but later Cao Cao's discernment and talent, he was transferred to the Chu Xiang Mansion, this time as Sima to accompany the army, and it was this decision that saved the fate of tens of thousands of people, so that the situation did not completely decay.
During this time, Guo Huai had been ill and could not handle military affairs, but now the commander was killed, and Zhang Gao had already retreated to Yangpingguan with his headquarters after hearing the news, so he had to stand up for the pain of illness.
The first problem now is that there is no backbone in the army, and the soldiers are scattered and fleeing, so the top priority is to stabilize order.
Xiahou Yuan was lost by Liu Bei, the military marshal was lost, and the generals were discolored. (Three Kingdoms Chronicle of Wei shu and Changyang Du Zhao Pei biography xxxiii)
So Guo Huai took on the heavy responsibility of gathering the defeated soldiers at the first time, and under his efforts, the Wei army that had been chaotic before was quickly regrouped, and a catastrophe of the total annihilation of the army was thus eliminated into invisibility.
At this time, Liu Bei could not understand the reality of the Wei army, although he killed the opposing commander, but the enemy army did not seem to be flustered, and he did not dare to rush to attack in the dark. As a result, Guo Huai seized this opportunity and quickly led his army to cross the river in the north, which completely got out of the dangerous situation.
After meeting zhang guo, Guo Huai proposed that Zhang Gao temporarily take over the position of commander, and at the same time, he also found Du Yan as the military governor of Hanzhong, so that he also voted in favor.
In fact, Xiahou Yuan's highest status was not Zhang Gao, but Xu Huang, although they were all miscellaneous generals, but Xu Huang was awarded a false festival by Cao Cao because of his previous great victory in the Battle of Mamingge Road, and his status was higher than that of Zhang Hao.
However, Xu Huang is definitely not near the battlefield at present, and it is likely that he is still defending the communication line of Chen CangDao on Mamingge Road, otherwise the history books will not fail to account for his movements in the Battle of Dingjun Mountain.
On the other hand, Guo Huai himself was still shallow in seniority, inexperienced, and suffering from illness, he was not suitable for commanding the army.
Therefore, Zhang Gao is currently the most qualified and the most suitable manager successor in practice.
Guo Huai's words were reasonable and well-founded, and Zhang Gao also agreed happily, and as soon as he got out of the horse, the military's heart immediately settled.
After dawn the next day, Liu Bei found that the Wei army had withdrawn to the north bank of the river, and he was not willing to miss the opportunity to give the other side a bigger blow, so he planned to cross the river and attack strongly.
The generals all thought they should defend the shore, but Guo Huai objected. He believes that at present, his side has lost its new manager and has fallen behind in terms of morale, and at this time, the engagement will not only not be cheap, but will show weakness to the enemy. Therefore, it is better to continue to retreat some distance to the north and make the illusion of allowing Liu Bei to cross the river, as long as Liu Bei dares to cross the river, then hit him halfway.
After seeing Guo Huai's deployment, Liu Bei suspected deception and gave up his plan to cross the river north.
Cao Cao also felt bitter after hearing this bad news, and he reprimanded Xiahou Yuan, really hating iron not steel, and those words were all said in vain. On the other hand, this is also to stabilize the hearts of the army, and the previous failure will be pushed on Xiahou Yuan, and the general is not wrong.
The only good news now was that Guo Huai and Zhang Hao had temporarily stabilized the situation and would not completely collapse, and Cao Cao praised them greatly and granted Zhang Guo a false festival.
Although Cao Cao mainly rewarded Zhang Guo, the survival of this army was due to Guo Huai's composure.
It should be known that Zhang Gao himself did not take the initiative to take responsibility for the consciousness, but led the team back alone.
Of course, this is not all to blame him, after all, he is not in the base camp, do not understand the specific situation, I heard that Xiahou Yuan is likely to naturally think that the base camp has been captured after the battle, who can think that Xiahou Yuan is going out to die by himself? Guo Huai, who is suffering from a major nutritional disease, understands the actual situation.
But no matter what, if Guo Huai hadn't stepped forward, at least half of the troops left behind in the base camp would have been annihilated, and this would not have been able to run.
On the other hand, if Guo Huai's next arrangements were not heeded, it was difficult to say whether the demoralized Wei army the next day could block Liu Bei's onslaught on the banks of the shuishui river.
In this way, the Wei army returned to its previous position during the Yangping Pass Battle, but now it has become a confrontation between the two armies across the water.
Before Cao Cao was still in Chang'an, he was still hesitating whether to support Hanzhong or Jingzhou, but xiahou Yuan was killed in battle, and he did not have to hesitate.
By this time, the Chu Chu Dao had been restored to smooth, and in March 219, Cao Cao personally led a large army from Chang'an to the south to reinforce the front, and the Great Battle of Hanzhong entered the final stage.