In antiquity, the capitals of the Central Plains Dynasty were often located in the central zone, far from the borders. However, during the Three Kingdoms period, the Cao Wei regime set its capital in Luoyang, close to the frontier area. Is this a wise move? Let's look back at how Sima Yi won the Battle of Xiangping, and perhaps we can get some inspiration from it.
Difficult preparations for the Wei army's expedition to Liaodong
In 237 AD, Sima Yi, the prime minister of Cao Wei, received an order from the emperor to personally command an expedition to Liaodong and pacify Gongsun Yuan, a separatist force there. For Sima Yi, this can be described as a difficult test.
Liaodong is located far away, and the road is far away. In order to reach Liaodong, it was necessary to cross the Banhai Road, which spanned hundreds of miles of muddy swamps, and the march was difficult. The most troublesome thing is that every year during the rainy season and flood season, the rain in the Companion Sea Road will swell, flooding the entire road, and the soldiers will not even be able to walk the march.
Cao Weijun was naturally aware of all this, so they planned to pass through the Banhai Road before the rainy season in July. However, the march of several months in a row made the preparatory work of the entire army undoubtedly heavy and complicated.
How do you schedule your deployment? Sima Yi pondered and finally made an amazing move - he decided to lead a large army in the middle of winter in February!
There is not much rain in February, and the midwinter is very cold, and there will be no rainy season. Taking advantage of this opportunity, as long as the Wei army hurried to march, it would definitely be able to cross the Banhai Road before the rainy season arrived.
In this way, in February of the second year of the early Jing Dynasty, Sima Yi personally commanded 40,000 horses and horses, set off from the capital Luoyang, and embarked on the difficult road of expedition to Liaodong. Despite the difficulties, Sima Yi was confident in winning the war.
The strong defensive line of Gongsun Yuan's Liaodong Army
Gongsun Yuan is an overly alert and cautious master. After learning that the Wei army would go on an expedition to Liaodong, he ordered the defense of the Liaohe line to be strengthened.
First of all, Gongsun Yuan ordered his cronies to lead tens of thousands of elite infantry cavalry of the main force of the Liaodong Army to lay out a strong Great Wall-style defense line along the Liao River that was tens of miles long.
This line of defense stretches for dozens of miles, criss-crossed, and is built by soldiers temporarily with earth and stones. It meanders like a giant dragon, wrapping around both banks of the Liao River, firmly holding the Liao River, a natural fortress.
At the same time, Gongsun Yuan ordered the construction of strong fortresses and cities at key passes along the river, and stationed heavy troops to defend them. These land and water fortresses are dotted everywhere, especially at the mouth of the Liao Tunnel, where there are many castles, which are the throat of the upper and lower reaches of the Liao River.
What reassures Gongsun Yuan even more is that the natural barrier of the Liao River itself is an impregnable Great Wall on the water. The Liaohe River is turbulent and turbulent, the river is extremely wide, stretching for hundreds of miles, and it cannot be crossed anywhere. Even if the river crossing is successful, there are many obstacles on the other side, there is a defensive line inside, and a fortress outside, which is impregnable.
With such a well-thought-out defensive deployment, Gongsun Yuan's confidence in resisting the Wei army's Japanese invaders became more and more abundant. He secretly thought: "Just because those Cao thieves also want to invade my territory, just shrimp soldiers and soldiers, and they are still tender!" ＂
Sima Yi skillfully crossed the Liao River and attacked Xiangping
In the face of Gongsun Yuan's incomprehensible defensive line, ordinary generals may choose to attack head-on. But Sima Yi is a generation of famous marshals, so naturally he will not do such a move against the current. He intended to "attack the unprepared and take it by surprise" as Sun Tzu said in the Art of War.
After several months of marching, in June, the Wei army finally crossed Liaoze and came to the west bank of the Liao River. After a journey of thousands of miles, the soldiers were exhausted, but the Liaohe defense line in front of them was so majestic and magnificent, and how to cross the river became a big problem.
At this time, Sima Yi was unexpectedly unexpectedly and performed an exquisite strategy. He first made a big show on the south bank of the Liaohe River and put on a posture of forcibly crossing. Then he ordered people to raise a large number of flags on the south bank, and ordered soldiers to build stone battlements and arrange battle formations.
Sure enough, these actions quickly attracted the attention of the enemy troops. Seeing this, Bei Yan, Yang Zuo and others hurriedly mobilized tens of thousands of foot cavalry and assembled on the south bank, preparing to fight back against the attack of the Wei army with all their might.
Just when the enemy army was fully engaged in defending the southern front, Sima Yi suddenly took the north bank by surprise and ordered his soldiers to hurriedly wade through the water and cross the surging Liao River by boat! In order to show his determination, Sima Yi gave an order to burn all the ferries, and since then he has cut off the way to retreat.
Gongsun Yuan realized that something was wrong, and hurriedly mobilized the main force of Liaodong and hurriedly marched north, trying to block the Wei army crossing the river. But it was too late, the Wei army had already taken advantage of the darkness of night and successfully raided Xiangping City, a city not far from the Liao River.
Xiangping is the largest military town and political center in eastern Liaodong, and it is also the largest residence of Gongsun Yuan. It is located in the west of the Liao River, very close to the front line. All this is in Sima Yi's calculations. He knew that as long as he took Xiangping directly, he would definitely be able to force Gongsun Liaodong's army, which was defending the two lines, to retreat one after another.
The Liaodong Army was frightened and collapsed
The strategy of the surprise attack on Xiangping was a complete success. Gongsun Yuan's Liaodong army was terrified and unable to defend against it.
Xiangping City, as an important military town and political center in Liaodong, is also the place where the families and families of Liaodong soldiers and all their families are located. What's more, Gongsun Yuan, the supreme commander of Liaodong, was also stationed here. It can be said that Xiangping is to the Liaodong Army what a king is to the dynasty.
Therefore, when it was learned that the Wei army was directly attacking Xiangping, Bei Yan, Yang Zuo and others stationed on the southern front were naturally tired of running for their lives, and hurriedly transferred troops to the north to pursue the Wei army that crossed the river.
Behind them are wives and children, children and all the family members; In front of him is the powerful Wei army's ironclad hero. The urgency of this situation can be imagined.
When the two led the main force of Liaodong to converge and pursue the Wei army, although the force was huge, after a long journey, the morale of the army had been greatly damaged. In contrast, the Wei army did not fight after wading across the river, and its mental state was undoubtedly far superior to that of the Liaodong army.
At this time, Sima Yi saw the opportunity and ordered him to personally lead the three armies to counterattack the main force of Liaodong of Beiyan and others. The two sides fought a decisive battle at the Shoushan Pass, fifteen miles southwest of Xiangping City.
Sima Yi personally supervised the formation, led the Wei army to kill the enemy bravely, broke three formations in a row, and defeated the Liaodong army in front of the battle. The Liaodong army was defeated like a mountain, and the only remaining remnants of the army had to retreat to Xiangping and defend the city. In this way, the entire territory of Xiangping was surrounded by the Wei army.
In the face of such a great change, even Gongsun Yuan, who had experienced a hundred battles, was terrified and at a loss. At that time, he was as solid as Jin Khan's Liaodong defense line, but at this moment it was broken by the Wei army in one fell swoop, which is embarrassing.
Gongsun Yuan desperately begged for peace, and finally was captured
After Xiangping was heavily surrounded, although Gongsun Yuan had no fear, the morale of the Liaodong army was declining day by day. After all, they were originally in danger of the Liaohe River, but today they were suddenly forced by the Wei army, so they naturally retreated.
Faced with this situation, Gongsun Yuan had to find another way to ask for foreign aid. Unfortunately, the foreign aid he originally relied on—the Rouran people in the north, Korea, and the Fuyu countries—were all far away from the ocean and could not provide timely support. In addition, none of the other surrounding princes answered, waiting to see what happened. In this way, the Liaodong Army was gradually isolated and helpless.
At this time, the Wei army struck while the iron was hot, and while stepping up the siege, it made a modest plan to cut off the last supply route of the Liaodong Army. At one time, there was a severe famine in Xiangping, and the Liaodong army could only eat grass and trees to satisfy hunger.
Seeing that the situation was getting worse day by day, Gongsun Yuan finally despaired. In the autumn of that year, he sent an envoy to sue for peace with the Wei army, willing to surrender to Cao Wei.
Sima Yi originally had no intention of completely annihilating Liaodong, so he was naturally overjoyed when he heard the news. He refused: "As long as Gongsun Yuan is willing to submit to the central government, he can naturally open the net." ＂
In this way, the two sides soon held peace talks under Xiangping City. Gongsun Yuan personally went out of the city, and on the top of the city tower, bowed down in front of Sima Yi in public, and bowed down to Cao Wei's soldiers to ask for forgiveness. In this way, his family and entourage would be completely exempt from military law.
end
This scene made many Liaodong soldiers cry bitterly. It is really sad that an overlord who used to call for wind and rain should fall to such a fate. Even Gongsun Yuan himself had already burst into tears.