During the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, warlords from all walks of life fought constantly, and everyone aimed to destroy their opponents.
Sometimes, however, warlords cooperate for various reasons or under special circumstances, such as forming alliances to fight a particularly powerful enemy.
Today, I would like to introduce you to four famous coalition incidents that occurred during this period, two of which failed miserably, and the other two achieved their respective goals.
The first thing to talk about is the Kwantung Coalition Army, this name sounds familiar, right? It is to crusade against Dong Zhuo's army.
The Kwantung Coalition Army crusaded against Dong Zhuo
It is the "Eighteen Road Princes" that we often hear, in the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", they are described as consisting of a total of 18 bosses, but in fact there are far more than that, weaker forces like Liu Bei, as well as the not-so-glorious team of the "Black Mountain Army", have also joined.
In fact, they all gathered at least 20 troops.
In the Kwantung coalition army, everyone was a bit busy, not only to defend their own territory, but also to go to the front to participate in battles, mainly in Jingzhou Nanyang (Luyang), Sili Hanoi, Yuzhou Yingchuan, and Yanzhou Chenliu (sour dates) to attack Luoyang, which was occupied by Dong Zhuo.
These places clamped Luoyang like dumplings, and because the location is east of Hangu Pass, it is called the Kwantung Alliance.
This is really a gathering of heroes, including Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Sun Jian, Liu Bei, Liu Biao and other important figures, their goal is to take Luoyang, Chang'an, and rescue Emperor Han Xian.
However, the actual actions of the Kwantung coalition were not very powerful.
Although they really fought a few big battles with Dong Zhuo later - "The Battle of Heyangjin", "The Battle of Bianshui", and "The Battle of Liangdong", they lost in the end.
Especially in the "Battle of Bianshui", this defeat made the Kwantung coalition army completely lose confidence, and only Yuan Shu and Sun Jian were left to continue fighting.
In the second year of Chuping (i.e., 191 AD), Sun Jian successfully entered Luoyang, but at this time, the Kwantung coalition had begun internal chaos, and this seemingly huge joint organization finally came to an end.
Yuan Shao, Xianbei, Liu Yu's old army, and Wuhuan allied forces overthrew Gongsun Zhan
Gongsun Chan was a formidable character in the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, in addition to his military achievements, his geographical location was also quite superior, he could easily recruit a large number of cavalry, and had a clear advantage over infantry.
Almost every battle with Yuan Shao was evenly matched, with mutual victories and defeats. From the second year of Chuping to the fourth year of Chuping (i.e., from 191 to 193 AD), Gongsun Zhan and Yuan Shao were basically the two strongest warlords in Hebei.
However, unlike Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zhan is not a magistrate, and he has to obey the orders of Youzhou Mu Liu Yu. The two of them had an awkward quarrel, Liu Yu was unwilling to give Gongsun Zhan money and food for the war, and the contradiction became bigger and bigger, and finally he started directly.
But Liu Yu was too weak to help Gongsun Chan turn the tables. Gongsun Zhan occupied Liu Yu's land, slaughtered him, and firmly controlled Youzhou (although Liaodong was under the control of Gongsun Du).
Liu Yu eats quite well in Youzhou, and has a good relationship with the border ethnic groups such as Wuhuan and Xianbei.
After his death, Gongsun Chan annoyed many people and caused revenge.
His old troops, Wu Huan, Xianbei Army, Yuan Shao's general Lu Yi, and Liu Yu's son Liu He, who was detained by Yuan Shao, formed a coalition army, which brought a lot of trouble to Gongsun Zhan. Although this failed to destroy Gongsun Zhan, it gave Yuan Shao an advantage.
Sun and Liu joined forces to fight against Boss Cao
There are actually three different views on the starting point of the Three Kingdoms period, some people say that it should be regarded as the thirteenth year of Jian'an, that is, the time when the Sun-Liu coalition defeated Cao Cao.
Therefore, the influence of the two of them on the history of the Three Kingdoms is self-evident.
At this time, Cao Cao almost unified Hebei (only the Gongsun clan of Liaodong), and all the princes of Guanxi were willing to bend their knees to him. Then, Cao Cao began a rapid attack on Jingzhou.
At this life-and-death time, Liu Biao, the boss of Jingzhou, fell ill and died.
Xiao Liu Cong couldn't wait to join Cao Cao, Liu Huang's uncle Liu Bei couldn't beat him by himself, and he was angry when he saw Xiao Liu Cong, so he had to run south with his men and horses.
Liu Bei originally wanted to go to Jiangling to find reinforcements, but he dragged the people to flee for his life along the way, but was beaten by Cao Chun in Dangyang Changsaka. At the critical moment, Lu Su squeezed over to talk to Liu Bei about cooperation.
In front of Cao Cao, the predator, the two had no choice but to be allies.
In the "Battle of Red Cliffs", the Sun-Liu coalition army flattened Cao Cao's army head-on, and Cao Cao's original plan to "get Sun Quan" failed in his strategy, and he had to spit out Jingzhou, which had already been occupied;
Then, in the "Battle of Nanjun", the coalition army went to the next city and captured the strategic town of Jiangling, which opened the gate to Shu and the exit to attack Xiang and Fan. Liu Bei took the opportunity to take the four counties of Lingling, Wuling, Guiyang, and Changsha, and the Sun and Liu coalition forces divided most of Jingzhou.
After an exchange of interests, Liu Bei successfully got to Nanjun, killed Liu Zhang and mastered Xichuan, and Sun Quan also set out from Lingling and took Jiaozhou.
The Guanzhong coalition became Cao Cao's foil
Let's talk about the best battle that Cao Cao fought, I think it was the battle called "Battle of Tongguan" or "Battle of Weinan" in the sixteenth year of Jian'an (that is, 211).
At that time, Cao Cao was opposed to the Kansai warlords who ostensibly submitted to him, but in fact obeyed his orders.
The main ones are Han Sui and Ma Chao (Ma Teng), the two eldest sons, plus Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Yang Qiu, Li Kan, Zhang Heng, Liang Xing, Cheng Yi, Ma Wan and other guys. This group of people is the so-called "Guanzhong Ten Generals".
Just after the defeat in the "Battle of Red Cliffs", Cao Cao decided not to attack Liu Biao and Sun Quan in the south, but to Hanzhong in the northwest to deal with Zhang Lu. On the surface, he said that he wanted to beat Zhang Lu and pass through Guanzhong, but in fact, he wanted to clean up all these Kansai warlords. Of course, these warlords didn't let it, so they made a fuss.
Although these Guanzhong coalition forces are numerous and powerful, and the soldiers are also fierce, they are full of internal contradictions, and the two allies Ma Chao and Han Sui have a grudge against their mother!
What's even funnier is that Ma Chao was almost killed by Han Sui's subordinate Yan Xing. In the end, Cao Cao used a trick to provoke the relationship between Han and Ma, and then let everyone see his army of iron cavalry, and the battle was over.
References: "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Historical Records"