In the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, due to the decline in the overall strength of the Han Dynasty, Liu Xie, the Emperor of han Xian, also became a nominal emperor, and was polished like a leather ball by the princes. After a period of war and strife, the final three winners were also competed - Wei, Shu and Wu. And the rulers of the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu and Wu naturally became the hegemons of each other and checks and balances. Since they can become the hegemons of one side, they must all be ambitious.
If there is ambition, it is bound to think of fighting for territory, which inevitably leads to war. Twenty years after Jian'an, Sun Quan launched the Battle of Hefei as one of them. In this battle, Zhang Liao became famous in the first battle, and Wei Zhen xiaoyaojin. Since Zhang Liao had such strength, why had he never defeated Liu Bei's Shu Han? The following are my personal views.
First of all, looking at Zhang Liao's life, it is not related to the development trajectory of Shu Han, and naturally there is no opportunity to attack Shu Han.
As we all know, Zhang Liao was taken in by Cao Cao in 198 AD when Cao Cao attacked Xia Pi and submitted to Cao Cao's camp. At this time, Zhang Liao already had some prominence of strength when he followed Lü Bu's command. Otherwise, Cao Cao would not have taken him under his command.
After that, Cao Cao reused Zhang Liao and participated in the Battle of Chibi, the Battle of Changsaka, the Battle of Hefei and other battles, so that his strength could be fully exerted. And Zhang Liao's most prominent performance was the Battle of Hefei, which made it awe-inspiring. In this battle, Zhang Liao chased Sun Quan with 800 troops and 100,000 horses, and finally almost captured Sun Quan.
Sun Quan was therefore jealous of Zhang Liao, and still warned his subordinates when Zhang Liao was ill. Bluntly: 'Although Zhang Liao is ill, he should not be treated as well, and he should be cautious. But even though Zhang Liao had such strength, he still had never faced the enemy of Shu Han head-on. This was not because Zhang Liao was cowardly, but because Zhang Liao had no chance to be hostile to Shu Han. When Zhang Liao threw himself into Cao Cao's command and first showed his strength, Liu Bei was still hiding on the left and hiding on the right, preserving his strength.
Later, Liu Bei successively defected to Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, and only reluctantly settled down when he was attached to Liu Biao. After that, he developed his own strength step by step, and it was not until around 220 that he officially established his political rule. However, Zhang Liaoke died in 222 AD. Naturally, there was no chance to fight Liu Bei's Shu Han.
Second, both Liu Bei and Guan Yu had been kind to Zhang Liao, and if Zhang Liao was hostile to Shu Han, he might have compassion.
As mentioned above, Zhang Liao followed Lü Bu before he defected to Cao Cao. And when lü bu's clique was overthrown by Cao Cao, Lü Bu humbled and begged Cao Cao for forgiveness, but Zhang Liao said awe-inspiringly, "If the eldest husband dies, he will die, so why should he ask for forgiveness." ''
After that, he even scolded Cao Cao as a thief of the country, and hated that the fire in Puyang City did not burn Cao Cao. Although Cao Cao was a man who was very bent over talents, in the face of Zhang Liao's humiliation, he would naturally be angry, so Cao Cao 'drew his sword and went straight to Zhang Liao to kill him'. Fortunately, he was persuaded by Liu Bei to stay.
At this time, Liu Bei grabbed Cao Cao's arm. Painstakingly persuading Cao Cao, he said, "Such a person with a pure heart should be retained." He pleaded with Cao Cao not to kill Zhang Liao. Even Guan Yu, who had always been lonely and arrogant, knelt down and begged Cao Cao to spare Zhang Liao's life, saying: "Guan Mousu knows that Wen Yuan's loyal and righteous people are willing to guarantee with their lives. In this way, Cao Cao could no longer kill Zhang Liao, so he had to abandon his sword to the ground and explain that he was just joking with Wen Yuan (Zhang Liao).
It was also for this reason that Zhang Liao followed Cao Cao with all his heart and died for him. Listening to Guan Yu's evaluation of Zhang Liao, we knew that he must be a loyal and upright person, and he would certainly remember Liu Bei and Guan Yu's life-saving grace, and it was inevitable that he would feel compassion when fighting.
Third, Zhang Liao was born of cavalry, while the Shu Han Dynasty was mostly mountainous, and Zhang Liao's strength was difficult to exert, so naturally he would not rush into battle.
Liu Bei's Shu Han, whose natural location is mostly located in the Sichuan area, just listen to the name to know how rugged and difficult its terrain is. Such terrain, only afraid of Cao Cao's large number of cavalry is difficult to play a role. And Zhang Liao, who was born as a cavalryman, is even more useless as a hero.
Subjective factors can be overcome with all their might, but the objective factors that exist are really a mountain that is difficult to climb. And now such a big mountain was pressed on Zhang Liao's body, and he really had no way, the only thing he could do was not to confront Shu Han as much as possible.
As for Zhang Liao's performance in the Battle of Hefei, Wei Zhen Xiaoyaojin, I personally feel that there are also some objective advantages. After all, the main battlefield of the war at that time was in Hefei, such a flat area, for Sun Quan's infantry had an advantage, but for the cavalry led by Zhang Liao had more advantages.
Cavalry versus infantry itself has a natural advantage in the ranks, and it is no coincidence that it can break the infantry of the Wu army with eight hundred cavalry. Moreover, Cao Cao also absolutely placed Zhang Liao, a general, on the battlefield of Shu Han. Because he believed that most of the area occupied by the Shu Han was basically a land of chicken ribs, he could not obviously help himself to dominate the industry. Naturally, Zhang Liao would not waste time in Shu Han.
It can be seen from this that Zhang Liao's advantages were difficult to play in Shu Han, and the development trajectory was not related to Shu Han, coupled with the fact that Liu Bei and Guan Yu had both been kind to Zhang Liao, and Zhang Liao was inconvenient to take a big shot at him, and all these factors added up to the real reason why Zhang Liao had never beaten Liu Bei's Shu Han.
What do you think of Zhang Liao?
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