In July 219 (the twenty-fourth year of Emperor Jian'an of the Eastern Han Dynasty), Liu Bei was called the king of Hanzhong in Hanzhong, worshiped Guan Yu as the former general, supervised Jingzhou, and faked Jieyue.
At this time, the order of the first few generals of Shu Han is: former general (second rank of military rank) Guan Yu (false jieyue), general left (second rank of military rank) Ma Chao (false festival), right general (second rank of military rank) Zhang Fei (false festival), later general (second rank of military rank) Huang Zhong, General An Han (second rank of military rank) Mi Zhu, general of military division (second grade of military rank) Zhuge Liang.
Guan Yu did not participate in Liu Bei's battle to take Hanzhong, but in recent years, he has managed a good business in Jingzhou, not only ranking first in the military, but also fake festivals. The fake festival represents the arrival of the king of Hanzhong, and he can be cut first and then played, and those who violate the military order can be killed. Fake festival Yue can kill people who fake festival, and Liu Bei's account only has a fake festival of feathers. In other words, Ma Chao and Zhang Fei can kill those who violate military orders, and theoretically Guan Yu can kill Ma Chao and Zhang Fei.
In the same month, Cao Cao sat in Chang'an, with his wife Bian as the queen, and sent General Zuo to supervise the Seventh Army of 30,000 people from Xu Du to Fancheng to aid Cao Ren and fight against Guan Yu.
Why didn't Cao Cao personally come to the aid of Fancheng, or sit in Xudu to strategize? More than 400 years ago, Liu Bang went north from Hanzhong, repaired the plank road in the Ming Dynasty, darkened Chencang, destroyed the Three Qins, and took Guanzhong. Xiahou Yuan's death made Cao Wei's morale low, and Cao Cao also realized that only by sitting in Chang'an himself could he keep Guanzhong.
Cao Cao originally sent a fast horse to Yecheng, awarded Cao Zhi as the general of Nanzhonglang, marched to capture the general, and led the army south to rescue Xiangfan. But Cao Zhi really couldn't hold up the wall, he was so drunk that he didn't know what the envoy read out, so Cao Cao heard it and immediately mobilized Xu Du's forbidden army.
Every time Cao Cao personally marched, he took Yu Ban as the vanguard, and when he withdrew his troops, he ordered his palace to be behind. During the battle of Guandu, Yu Ban, Lejin and other generals rode 5,000 on foot, from the southwest edge of Yanjin to Ji and Huojia counties, burned more than 30 tun baggage, beheaded and captured thousands, and captured more than 20 people such as He Mao and Wang Mo.
In the forbidden worship of General Zuo, fake Jieyue, Feng Yishou Pavilion Marquis, 1,200 households.
At this time, the order of the first few military positions of Cao Wei's generals was: General Zhengdong (second rank of military rank) Zhang Liao (false festival), General Zhengnan (second rank of military rank) Cao Ren (false festival), General Zhennan (second rank of military rank) Zhang Lu, former general (second rank of military rank) Xiahou Dun, General Zuo (second rank of military rank) Yu Ban (false festival Yue).
Zhang Lu had no military power; Zhang Liao and Xiahoudun were in the Yangzhou Theater to confront Sun Quan's all-conquering army; Cao Ren and Yu Ban were in the Jingzhou Theater to confront Guan Yu, who was "brave enough to add one country and have 10,000 enemies."
After Yu Ban arrived at the Xiangfan battlefield, he was stationed on the north bank of the Han River west of Fancheng, a small city that had been deserted, inside and outside Pinglu City.
Liu Bei guarded Xinye for many years, and Guan Yu trained the navy for Liu Bei, and knew the terrain of the Hanshui River basin near Xiangyang well. The time and place are favorable, Guan Yu occupies the location and people, just waiting for the time to come, that is, waiting for a heavy rain.
In August, Liu Bei, the king of Hanzhong, returned to Chengdu and stayed in Hanzhong to supervise Hanzhong by General Zhenyuan (military rank 3 pin) Hanzhong Taishou (official post 3 pin) Wei Yan.
Cao Cao saw that Liu Bei was gone, and knew that Wei Yan did not have enough troops for the Northern Expedition, so he left the general Zhang He to guard Chencang and moved to Luoyang by himself.
Cao Cao was still not worried about the Xiangfan battlefield, so he sent General Pingkou (military rank three) Xu Huang to lead tens of thousands of recruits from Luoyang to Wancheng in Nanyang as a backup for Cao Ren and Yu Ban. Xu Huang is one of the five good generals, the general of the fake festival, and his rank is higher than Pang De.
Cao Wei's Jingzhou Theater was star-studded, including General Zhengnan (military rank 2 grade) Cao Ren (fake festival), General Zuo (military rank 2 grade) Yu Ban (fake festival Yue), General Pingkou (military rank 3 grade) Xu Huang (fake festival), General Liyi (military rank 3 grade) Pang De, General Fen Wei (military rank 3 grade) Man Chong, General Ping Di (military rank 3 grade) Lu Chang, etc. On the Shu Han side in the Jingzhou Theater, there is only the former general (military rank second) Guan Yu (fake Jieyue), and there are no more heavy generals and miscellaneous generals, not even partial generals.
Figure - Guan Yu and Cao Wei's Jingzhou Corps
Cao Wei's troops in the Nanyang-Xiangyang area were about 90,000, and if reinforcements in the next two or three months were counted, the number of troops could reach 1230,000. Shu Han only had 30,000 horses on the battlefield of Xiangfan, and Guan Yu challenged half of Cao Wei's main force with his own strength.
At this moment, in the Yangzhou Theater in the east, Sun Quan heard that Cao Cao had transferred the main force of Xu Du to Nanyang, and immediately personally led the army to attack the Hefei area where Xiahoudun, Zhang Liao, and Zang Ba were stationed. Cao Cao was in Hefei and Xiangfan, facing two fronts of fighting.
It was still August, and the autumn rain continued for several days, and flash floods broke out in the upper reaches of the Han River, and the river water swelled. Cao Ren, Man Chong, and Lu Chang have been guarding the Xiangfan area for many years, but their thinking is still northerners, and they are not good at water warfare, and they don't even have water masters. Yu Ban and Xu Huang are also not good at water warfare, let alone Pang De from Liangzhou.
In the mountains hundreds of miles west of Xiangyang, the people blocked the stream as a dam and built a small reservoir. During the rainy season, water is stored, and when the weather is dry, it begins to release water to moisten the land, mainly for irrigation. The scale of these reservoirs alone is not large, but if hundreds or thousands of reservoirs release water at the same time, the quantitative change is enough to cause a qualitative change.
Guan Yu had trained the navy in the Xiangfan area, and every day he pondered how to use the Han River to fight, and he was waiting for this opportunity.
Guan Yu asked people to find dozens of large reservoirs, and while they were more than majestic, they opened dams and released water overnight, causing the Han water to be more than three zhang higher than usual.
It was a storm at night, and the water on the flat ground was deep, and half of the Pinglu City, where the ban was located, was already under the flood. Yu Ban led the generals to climb the city tower, and in all directions, the flood suddenly came; the seven armies rushed around, each looking for a high place on the dirt slope, huddled together, and lost its combat effectiveness.
Guan Yu led the navy, waved flags and drums, and came by big boat. Seeing that there was no way out, Yu Ban led his army to surrender. Yu Ban is a heavy general, equivalent to Ma Chao or Huang Zhong of Shu Han, Yu Ban and Ma Chao are both fake, but Huang Zhong does not have this treatment. As for Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, Zhang He, and Xu Huang, they are all miscellaneous generals, and their military positions are one level lower than those above.
Most of the people in the forbidden army did not die, because the water was only more than a zhang (two or three meters) above the ground at the highest, and the water receded quickly, as long as a tree or any building could be found, they could save their lives. It's just that the situation is critical, no one knows how high the water can rise, as long as you unload your armor and hand over your weapons, you can board the ship to save your life, and most of the people in the forbidden army still choose to solve their urgent needs.
Guan Yu moved to Pang De's camp again, at this time Pang De's thousands of men and horses were scattered everywhere, and five or six hundred Chinese troops were crowded on an abandoned river embankment, wearing armor and holding bows to meet the battle. Guan Gong surrounded the boat on all sides, and the arrows rained down on the riverbank. The Liangzhou soldiers were really not afraid of death, and everyone worked hard to resist the enemy, from the Pingming War to the middle of the day, most of them were killed in battle.
Generals Dong Heng and Dong Chao saw that the situation was in danger and persuaded Pang De to surrender. These two people are also from Liangzhou, but Pang De insisted on going his own way and beheaded the two, which was simply red-eyed.
Pang De's Chinese army was almost completely annihilated, and he fled to Fancheng with three men in a small boat, where they were overturned by Guan Yu's large ship and captured alive.
Guan Yu wanted to persuade Pang De to surrender, but Pang De said firmly: "I heard that the brave will not be cowardly to death, and the strong man will not destroy the festival and survive." So Guan Yu beheaded him.
Yu led 30,000 horses of the Seventh Army and thousands of men and horses of Pang De, most of whom were trapped in the water and captured, the so-called flooded Seventh Army.
When Cao Cao heard the news, he said desolately: "I have known Yu Ban for thirty years, how can I expect that I am not as good as Pang De in the face of danger?"
The foundations of Xiangyang and Fancheng were high, and the water did not reach the knee, but Cao Jun was clearly gone. There was an ocean outside Fancheng, and some people persuaded Cao Ren that it was better to take a light boat to go at night, although he lost the city, he could still be full.
Full Pet stopped: "The water comes quickly, and it retreats quickly." The reason why Guan Yu didn't dare to drive north for a long time was only because we could cut off his way. Now Liang, Jia, and Lu Hun are thieves or have received the seal of Guan Yu, and they are the henchmen, if we escape, Nanyang will be lost. ”
Liang, Jia, and Lu Hun are all in Yin, Henan, and the bandits in these places raise troops to echo Guan Yu, if Cao Ren withdraws his troops, Guan Yu will go north and connect with these forces, not only Nanyang will be lost, I am afraid that Luoyang and Xuchang are very dangerous.
Guan Yu escorted 30,000 prisoners to Jiangling in batches by boat, although Jiangling City was large, but the defenders only had more than 10,000 troops, and the grain and grass were not enough, so they had to divide thousands of prisoners to Gong'an City.
After this battle, most of the guards or officials in the small cities around Fancheng in Xiangyang rebelled against the city. And Hu Xiu, the assassin of Jingzhou, and Fu Fang, the Taishou of Nanxiang, who were recruiting troops in Nanxiang County, even carried the banner and went south to knock on the door and surrender.
In the battle of Xiangfan, Guan Yu captured General Zuo (military rank 2) Yu Ban, beheaded General Liyi (military rank 3) Pang De, captured 30,000 Wei army elites, and forced Hu Xiu Jingzhou Assassin Shi (official rank 3 grade) Hu Xiu, Nanxiang Taishou (official post 3 grade) Fu Fang, megatron Huaxia!
Within a few months, Cao Jun's five major generals, Xiahou Yuan, Zhang Liao, Cao Ren, Xiahou Yuan, and Yu Ban, lost two (Xiahou Yuan and Yu Ban). Cao Cao had never been so discouraged and discouraged, and he felt emaciated and planned to move Emperor Xian of Han from Xudu north to Yecheng.