At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, relying on his super military ability, based on Yanzhou, successively eliminated all the princes, unified the area north of the Yangtze River, and expeditioned against the Wuhuan barbarians, establishing the most powerful Cao Wei among the Three Kingdoms.
However, Cao Cao did not complete the great cause of reunification in his lifetime, and Cao Pi, who succeeded to the throne, lacked the ability to seize the opportunity, and Cao Wei permanently lost the opportunity for reunification.
In fact, no one can blame this, only Cao Cao himself has lost too many battles.
It is undeniable that Cao Cao was one of the best military strategists of that era, he had a tenacious will and outstanding military level. However, in the process of sweeping away the northern heroes, Cao Cao also suffered many fiascos, wandering on the verge of life and death many times, almost losing his life, losing his best successor, the most loyal bodyguard, and the best nephew.
Although the historians of later generations were denied by the Venerable and covered up in various ways, some people counted the history books, and Cao Cao's historical defeats were as many as 17 times, and the following is the largest 6 defeats.
Cao Cao stills
The first time: the defeat of the Bianshui army occurred during the so-called "Eighteenth Route Princes Seeking Dong Zhuo".
In 190 AD, the princes of all walks of life jointly elected Yuan Shao, the Taishou of Bohai, as the leader of the alliance to defeat Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao served as the acting general of Fenwu at that time, and also participated in this battle.
However, the coalition forces had their own ghosts, the same bed and different dreams, and they were unwilling to touch Dong Zhuo's Liangzhou army, so they could preserve their strength and wait and see with the Tun soldiers in the area of Suozao (now north of Yanjin County). At this time, Cao Cao was enthusiastic, loyal to the country, and led his team to march alone. The fledgling Cao Cao met Dong Zhuo's general Xu Rong, the two sides clashed, Cao Cao's soldiers were killed and wounded, Cao Cao himself was also injured by a stray arrow, and almost died on the spot, but fortunately, his cousin Cao Hong rescued in time, and Cao Cao escaped with his life.
After this battle, Cao Cao's army was crippled. Soon, the coalition forces were infighting, annexed each other, and failed to fight against Dong.
The princes of the Eighteenth Road discuss Dong Zhuo stills
The second time: was attacked by Lu Bu, lost his old nest Yanzhou, and almost became a vassal of Yuan Shao
In 192 AD, after the death of Liu Dai, the assassin of Yanzhou, Bao Xin and others welcomed Cao Cao as the pastor of Yanzhou. By the way, Bao Xin should be Cao Cao's only good friend who went to the end in the troubled times, and after Bao Xin was killed, Cao Cao treated his descendants well.
Two years later, the Xuzhou incident occurred, that is, Cao Cao's father took the treasure to his son, passed through Xuzhou, and was killed by Xuzhou Mu Taoqian's subordinates who coveted the treasure. In order to give his father, Cao Cao personally led troops to recruit Xuzhou. Then, his old friends Chen Gong and Zhang Miao conspired to rebel and greet Lu Bu. Cao Cao's nest was raided, and only two counties were left under his command, and the food was exhausted. Yuan Shao made a condition at this time, send all your wife, children and mother to me here as hostages, and I will help you. Cao Cao almost agreed and became Yuan Shao's vassal, and at the critical moment, Cheng Yu's most criticized practice appeared, letting Cao Cao take it to the local people to eat, and this place is Cheng Yu's hometown. Cheng Yu used the lives of his hometown fathers to help Cao Cao survive this time, and after two years of difficult battles, Cao Cao repelled Lu Bu and barely gained a foothold in Yanzhou.
Lu Bu stills
The third time: The defeat of Wancheng was also ridiculed on the Internet for "killing the three sages with one shot", and he lost his heir, nephew and bodyguard
In the first month of 197 AD, Cao Cao attacked Zhang Xiu, and Zhang Xiu surrendered. It was rumored on the Internet that Cao Cao had occupied Zhang Xiu's aunt, and Zhang Xiu was humiliated and immediately rebelled. However, I looked at the history books carefully and found that the biggest reason was not this. It was caused by Cao Cao's arrogant personality. He thought that Zhang Xiu held the most elite Xiliang Corps, and he actually surrendered without a fight, and looked down on him. When summoning Zhang Xiu's subordinates, Cao Cao rewarded Zhang Xiu's subordinate Hu Che'er, and Zhang Xiu saw that Cao Cao was so eager to divide his troops, and he rebelled. After all, lace news is more likely to arouse people's interest, and it is said that Zhang Xiu can't bear to be humiliated by her aunt and rebels against Cao Cao.
In the cruel battle of Wancheng, Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Ang, nephew Cao Anmin, and bodyguard Dian Wei were all killed.
Zhang Xiu stills
Fourth: The Battle of Chibi, the most famous battle in ancient Chinese history, there is no one
In 208 AD, Zhou Yu's general Huang Gai surrendered and defeated Cao Cao's powerful land and water army with fireboats.
Because Cao Wei's successor, the Sima family, got the world, the Jin Dynasty tried their best to cover it up in the history books. According to the official history, Cao Cao's army had a plague, and in order to avoid spreading, Cao Cao himself burned the fleet and then retreated to the Central Plains. Zhou Yu and Liu Bei also rushed over and burned the remaining boats.
However, no matter how he avoided it, it was the defeat in this battle that made Cao Cao miss the best opportunity to dominate the world. At that time, in addition to the Sun-Liu coalition army, Liu Zhang of Yizhou was already ready to send troops to help the war to show his loyalty, the Ma and Han families in Xiliang also expressed their obedience, and Zhang Lu in Hanzhong had always been very deferential to Cao Cao; if Cao Cao won the Battle of Chibi, it would basically be unified.
The Battle of Red Cliffs
The fifth: In the early days of the Battle of Tongguan, it was the "cutting beard and abandoning the robe" that everyone talked about
The battle took place in 211 AD, when Cao Cao went west to conquer Ma Chao and was defeated by Ma Chao at Tongguan and almost died. The details of the story are basically the same as in the romance, Ma Chao relied on Xiliang's fast horse and spear, and Cao Cao was powerless to fight back.
In addition, give Cao Cao a defense. It wasn't Cao Cao who killed Ma Chao's father, and Ma Chao rebelled. The fact is that Ma Chao's father, Ma Teng, was ready to lead troops to help conquer Eastern Wu, and then under the nose of his father Cao Cao, Ma Chao rebelled. Cao Cao knew that Ma Chao had rebelled, so he killed Ma Teng and crusaded against Ma Chao. Ma Chao betrayed his family for his own ambitions. Such a thing, in Zhang Lu's place, Ma Chao did it again, and it was his wife and children who lost it. No matter how much everyone likes Ma Chao, this matter can't be whitewashed.
Everyone knows the follow-up, Cao Cao stubbornly resisted Ma Chao's attack, under Jia Xu's suggestion, Cao Cao used a discord strategy, successfully divided Ma Chao and Han Sui, who had different dreams in the same bed, and defeated the Kansai coalition army, Ma Chao was defeated and took refuge in Zhang Lu, and Han Sui surrendered to Cao Cao.
Cut off the beard and abandon the robe
Sixth: In the Battle of Hanzhong, Liu Bei defeated his old enemy head-on for the first time
The Battle of Hanzhong was the ultimate decisive battle between Liu Bei and Cao Cao, two fateful heroes, and the goal of the battle was to fight for Hanzhong. This battle lasted for nearly two years, and it was the decisive battle of the famous generals and strategists in the early stage of the Three Kingdoms. Liu Bei's side mainly participated in the war Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, Fa Zheng, Huang Quan, etc., in addition to Zhuge Liang, who stayed behind, and Guan Yu in Jingzhou, they were elite. Cao Cao's side included Xiahou Yuan, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, Cao Hong, Zhang He, Xu Huang, Guo Huai and other generals, as well as all the think tanks.
The battle of Hanzhong ended with Liu Bei's victory and Cao Cao's defeat and retreat. In this battle, Cao Cao lost Xiahou Yuan, the chief general of the Western Defense Zone, and the Western Army was completely lost, losing the Hanzhong region.
With the end of the Battle of Hanzhong, both Cao Cao and Liu Bei entered the late stages of their lives, and both lost the opportunity to annex each other. The victorious Liu Bei ascended to the throne of Hanzhong, consolidating the pattern of dividing the world into three parts, while the defeated Cao Cao accelerated the pace of changing the dynasty and cultivating successors.
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