The so-called "tips and tricks" is to think of a way to deal with the planned changes in advance, which is both precautionary and far-sighted.
When it comes to tips and tricks, many people will think of Zhuge Liang, after all, the most prescient strategist in the Three Kingdoms era was Kong Mingxiang. As everyone knows, Cao Cao also used a similar strategy, and also achieved good results, with 7,000 troops to win more with less, and solved the 100,000 troops of Eastern Wu.
Twenty years after Jian'an, Cao Cao launched a southern expedition against Eastern Wu. In this battle, Cao Cao's main army did not make progress. After the withdrawal, Cao Cao left Li Dian, Le Jin, and Zhang Liao in Hefei, leaving them with 7,000 troops to assist in the defense, in case the Wu army would take advantage of the main force of Cao's army to withdraw and counterattack.
Twenty-one years after Jian'an, a fierce war broke out between Shu and Wu in Jingzhou, and the war situation was extremely stale. On this occasion, Cao Cao led the main force to seize the land of Hanzhong and reap the benefits of the fishermen. At this time, the situation forced Liu Bei to compromise, and at the cost of the three counties, he temporarily truceed with Sun Quan and transferred the main force back to Hanzhong to fight with Cao Cao.
Sun Quan, who had withdrawn, also transferred all of his 100,000 troops to Hefei, intending to eliminate the 7,000 defenders left here by Cao Cao and seize Hefei. As everyone knows, Cao Cao has already taken precautions for Sun Quan's move. Before attacking Zhang Lu, Cao Cao had already written up his tricks and sent people to Hefei to hand them over to the defender Zhang Liao.
Cao Cao instructed that this plan could only be opened when Eastern Wu attacked. Sure enough, the development of the war was similar to Cao Cao's prediction. Seeing that cao Wei's defensive line on the eastern side was empty, Sun Quan immediately dispatched his men to attack Hefei. Hefei was besieged, and the situation was 100,000 urgent. Zhang Liao immediately opened the bag and read the wonderful plan left by the lord.
The content of this plan is not complicated, that is, when the Wu army attacked Hefei, the two generals Li Dian and Zhang Liao went out of the city to engage in battle, and Le Jin and Xue Ti stayed in the city. Seeing that 100,000 Wu Juns had appeared under the city, every General Cao felt the oppression of "black clouds pressing down on the city". As for the arrangement of the lord, the generals were very confused and confused.
Zhang Liao carefully pondered the contents of the bag, and only then did he generally understand the master's plan. Cao Cao expected that the main force of Cao's army during this period was gathered in Hanzhong, and there was no time to return to Hefei. Even if Cao Cao could immediately mobilize troops to support, I am afraid that Hefei would have already fallen when reinforcements arrived. Therefore, Cao Cao would arrange for the defenders in the city to catch them off guard before the Wu army was deployed. If the morale of the Wu army can be greatly reduced in one fell swoop, then the next defensive battle will be relatively easy.
After Zhang Liao analyzed it, he conveyed his ideas to the generals. Originally, Zhang Liao was at odds with Li Dian and Le Jin, but this was not the time for contradictions. The generals deeply agreed with Zhang Liao's analysis and expressed that they would obey Zhang Liao's dispatches to go out of the city to secretly attack the Wu army. Like Zhang Liao, Li Dian was a rare fierce general. That night, they recruited eight hundred elites in the army, ready to inflict heavy damage on the Wu army with this death squad. In order to boost morale, Zhang Liao also ordered people to kill cattle and reward the whole army, so that the soldiers could face the fierce battle of the next day with the fullest morale.
The next day, when the light was shining, Zhang Liao went out of the city with his men and horses and launched a surprise attack. Although the Wei army was small in number, it was all highly mobile cavalry. Although the Wu army was large in number, the vast majority of them were two-legged infantry. Moreover, the warriors selected by Zhang Liao were all veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles, and they were very cunning in the battlefield for many years, relying on their crotch war horses to rush and kill for a while and then leave. Relying on this kind of roundabout guerrilla, eight hundred Wei horses repeatedly charged and killed in the Wu camp, and no matter how the Wu army surrounded and blocked, it was still impossible to surround these death squads.
When Zhang Liao was the first soldier to enter the enemy's large array, only one man and one horse killed dozens of Wu troops, and also took the first rank of two Wu generals. While slashing and killing, Zhang Liao did not forget to shout his own name, making every Wu Jun feel jealous of the fierce name of "Zhang Wenyuan".
After killing several times, Zhang Liao saw Sun Quan's banner in the enemy camp. Just as the so-called thief captures the king first, if he can take the head of Sun Quan, why worry about this war? Zhang Liao immediately took several warriors and rushed over with red eyes as if they had killed their father's enemy, and Sun Quan saw that the two men and horses under his command could not stop these people, and could only retreat temporarily.
Wu Jun had never seen such a fierce demon, and when he saw his own commander retreating, he collapsed. Fortunately, when the Wu army collapsed, Pan Zhang, who was in charge of the overseer, personally killed several deserters, which made the Wu army no longer defeated. With the advantage of the sea of people, Wu Jun finally stopped Zhang Liao from Sun Quan's account. Sun Quan did not dare to entrust the big one, and quickly ran to the nearby highlands with his own soldiers, and deployed the long soldiers who specialized in cavalry here.
Although Zhang Liao and the others were fierce, after all, the number gap was there, and no matter how he rushed to kill, there was no way to break through the defenders and directly attack Sun Quan. Zhang Liao failed to make several rounds of charge, and he was so angry that he stood in the same place and scolded, saying that Sun Quan's children were not at all as good as his brother Sun Ce, and he had a kind of going down the mountain and singled out the clouds with himself.
Sun Quan's psychological quality was not bad, even if Zhang Liao scolded the flowers, his heart did not produce the slightest fluctuation. Under his observation, it was confirmed that the original Cao Army only had a few hundred people. So he immediately ordered the soldiers to disperse and surround the eight hundred people.
Although Zhang Liao is brave, his mind is also very clever. After seeing the movements of the Wu army, Zhang Liao sensed that they planned to adopt the tactic of encirclement. At this time, the Cao army had been charging and killing for a long time, and it had achieved results, and if it did not retreat, I was afraid that these eight hundred people would have to be handed over to the battlefield.
After issuing the order to withdraw, Zhang Liao easily broke through the siege with the advantage of mounts. However, when he came out of the rebel army, the encirclement immediately closed, intercepting all his men. When Cao Jun saw Zhang Liao escape, he thought that the general was going to abandon them and fell into despair.
Unexpectedly, the next moment Zhang Liao killed one person and one horse, rushed into the encirclement circle again, and tore open a large gap in the formation of the Wu army, so that all the Wei army had a chance to escape. Finally, there was no danger, and hundreds of people successfully returned to Hefei City.
After this battle, the morale of the Wu army plummeted. Originally, I thought that with 100,000 troops to suppress Hefei, even if I couldn't fight it, it would be no problem. Unexpectedly, in this battle alone, the Wu army had been frightened by Zhang Liao, and could no longer organize an effective attack. In desperation, Sun Quan could only order the generals to rest and recuperate, and besieged without attacking.
However, once morale is lost, how can it be replenished in a short period of time? In the ensuing siege battle, the Wu army was depressed, and coupled with the fact that the Cao army could not hold on, the Wu army could not even climb the city wall. The roof leaked during the overnight rain, just in time for the spread of plague in hefei at that time, and the Wu army in the wild was recruited, and countless soldiers fell ill and died.
Seeing that this war was about to end in defeat, Sun Quan could only begin to plan the withdrawal of troops. It seems that he was unwilling, and when he withdrew his troops, Sun Quan deliberately took a thousand elite Tiger Warriors to save face.
Seeing that the Wu army was defeated and retreated, Zhang Liao naturally would not let go of a chance. Under his leadership, seven thousand Cao troops poured out and surrounded a thousand tiger soldiers. Fortunately, at this time, Ling Tong and three hundred reinforcements tore through the encirclement, and Lü Meng and others killed the red eye and finally rescued the lord from the encirclement.
In order to delay the time, Ling Tong and Gan Ning, after taking the remnants of the army, reserved an opportunity for Sun Quan to escape. When Sun Quan fled to Xiaoyaojin, this was able to save his life. Ling Tong and Gan Ning were rare generals at that time, and after killing a number of Cao troops, they put on their armor and mixed into the enemy army and successfully escaped.
It can be said that this war is a shame in Sun Quan's life. Ten times the strength of the enemy army to deceive more and less, the result is that they are killed and lose their armor, and even their lives are almost lost. Being able to turn a big advantage into such a disadvantage can be seen in Sun Quan's poor strategic vision.
Speaking of Cao Cao's brilliant plan, why didn't he let Le Jin lead his army to attack Wu Ying?
Friends who are familiar with the Three Kingdoms know that Lejin is an acute child who is on the spot, and is the vanguard of the Cao Army, "every time he fights a meritorious battle, he is often the leader, he is strong and strong, he is indestructible, he is self-supporting and drumming, and his hands are tireless." In contrast, Li Dian was more like a Confucian general. "Good learning, noble and elegant." Do not compete with the generals for merit, respect the magis and doctors, and if they are not enough, the army will call them elders." If you follow the thinking of normal people, you should let Li Dian, who is old and heavy, be responsible for defense, and the heavy responsibility of attack should be entrusted to Lejin, so as to complement each other.
In fact, if you carefully consider the personal relationship between the generals of Cao Jun, you will find that Cao Cao's arrangement is very reasonable. Zhang Liao has always been trustworthy, no matter what the crisis situation, he can abandon his personal interests and do everything for the sake of Cao Jun's collective interests. Li Dian's easy-going nature does not like to compete with others for credit, and it is no problem for him to cooperate with Zhang Liao. However, Lejin's temper is not so easy to get along with. If he and Zhang Liao were to go out of the city to meet the battle, this person would probably be greedy and angry with Zhang Liao.
Personally, I think Cao Cao's strategy may have a deeper meaning.
If, during the deployment phase, Lejin insisted on asking for battle after hearing that he was going to defend the city, then the cooperation of these three people might achieve better results and not affect the personal relationship between the three generals. Perhaps LeJin was the most crucial part of Cao Cao's plan. If he is willing to obediently obey and defend the city, it will naturally make the overall plan follow the order; if Lejin is willing to go out to meet the enemy, it will undoubtedly arouse Lejin's will to fight to the death, increase the chips, and the return of this big gamble is naturally very impressive.
What is more interesting is that the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" records the anecdotes in the post-war Jiangnan region. It is said that this war killed the locals, but whenever there were children crying at night, once zhang Liao's name was called out, the children immediately closed their mouths and did not dare to say a word. From here, we can see that Zhang Liao is worthy of being a fierce general under Cao Jun's account, and it is no wonder that Cao Cao entrusts him with the burden of reversing the situation.
Resources:
【Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"】