At the end of the Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms, the world was in turmoil, and the heroes rose up together, chasing the Central Plains. The spread of this history far exceeds that of the Spring and Autumn Warring States Period, the Chu and Han Dynasty hegemony and the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the reason for this is Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
I have to say that without the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", I am afraid that few people will know the names of Gongsun Zhan, Yuan Shu, Fu Zhu, and Xu You, and no one even knows Xu Chu and Dian Wei, who are not much in the official history.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lu Bu and Lu Fengxian's martial arts can be said to be unparalleled in the world, so who is the military general whose martial arts are second only to Lu Bu?
Singled out Lu Bu
There are many theories about the generals whose martial arts are second only to Lu Bu, and the more competitive candidates are: Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Dian Wei, etc. But people often overlook one, that is, Zhang Fei and Zhang Yide.
How can you say that Zhang Fei is a military general second only to Lu Bu in martial arts? Because in the entire Romance of the Three Kingdoms, only Zhang Fei dared to provoke Lu Bu many times and could draw with Lu Bu. Zhang Fei and Lu Bu fought twice in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the first time was under the Tiger Prison, Lu Bu killed the princes of the Eighteen Roads alone, Zhang Fei rode out of battle, scolded Lu Bu's three family slaves, and challenged the first person in the Three Kingdoms.
The original text in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is as follows:
Fly and shake your spirits and fight Lu Bu. More than 50 consecutive fights, regardless of victory or defeat. When Yun Chang saw it, he slapped the horse and danced the eighty-two catties of the Qinglong Yanyue Knife to attack Lu Bu.
The record in the original text is that there is no winner or loser in fifty rounds, but it is not like in the New Three Kingdoms TV series, Zhang Fei's snake spear was picked up by Lu Bu and almost killed by Lu Bu.
When he singled out Lu Bu for the first time, Zhang Fei had just entered the battlefield and was not very experienced in combat, but Guan Yu did not have the courage to single out Lu Bu.
Liu Bei, who defected to Xuzhou after Lu Bu's defeat of Cao Cao, Zhang Fei looked at Lu Bu very unpleasantly, and repeatedly threatened to fight Lu Bu for 300 rounds, but Lu Bu did not speak. After Liu Bei let Lu Bu Tun soldiers Xiao Pei, Lu Bu was ambitious, and took advantage of Liu Bei's troops to attack Xuzhou, Zhang Fei was drunk at this time, but "Zhang Fei was still drunk at this time, and he was not capable of fighting." Lu Bu knew how to fly bravely, and he didn't dare to force him. (Original text of Romance of the Three Kingdoms)
There was no way, Liu Bei, who had lost his hometown, could only take Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to Xiaopei to station. When a batch of military horses purchased by Lu Bu passed by Xiaopei, they were robbed by Zhang Fei, and Lu Bu was furious when he learned about it, and led the army to Xiaopei to theorize. Zhang Fei fought with Lu Bu for a hundred rounds in front of Xiaopeicheng, regardless of victory or defeat:
"Bu Ting's halberd came out to fight Zhang Fei, and Fei also came with a gun. The two fought more than 100 battles, but there was no victory. (Original text of Romance of the Three Kingdoms)
Pick up Xu Chu four times
In the entire Romance of the Three Kingdoms, only the third master, Zhang Fei, can beat Lu Bu in his heart, and beat Lu Bu with real swords and guns. When Zhang Fei and Ma Chao fought, they were already old and past their peak, but Ma Chao was at his peak. In addition, Zhang Fei also fought with Huhou Xu Chu and picked Xu Chu four times.
The first confrontation between Zhang Fei and Xu Chu took place under the city of Xuzhou. At that time, Cao Cao intended to pacify Liu Bei on the eve of the Battle of Guandu, so he personally led a large army to suppress Xuzhou. Zhang Fei planned a night attack on Cao Ying, but fell into Cao Cao's ambush.
In the darkness of the night, Zhang Fei was besieged by the eight generals of the Cao army, and Xu Chu was one of them. Zhang Fei, who was in danger, was extremely brave, and he fought his way out of the encirclement and walked away. Xu Chu couldn't stop Zhang Fei at all, Zhang Fei picked eight, and completely regarded Xu Chu as nothing.
The second confrontation between Zhang Fei and Xu Chu was in the fire of Zhuge Liang's new wild. Cao Jun was cornered by the raging fire, fled to the Baihe River, and then broke the embankment of Guan Yu to release water, killing and wounding countless people. Xu Chu fled to the Boling Ferry with the remnants of the defeated army, but met Zhang Fei who was waiting. At this time, Xu Chu was already a tired division, and he had no fighting spirit at all, and not long after the battle with Zhang Fei, Xu Chu was beaten by Zhang Fei in danger, and in desperation, he could only choose to retreat.
In the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao's army was defeated. On the way to escape, he was chased and killed by Zhuge Liang's ambush soldiers. Cao Cao took a short rest at the mouth of the gourd, and was about to boost his morale, but he didn't expect Zhang Fei to lead the army to kill. Xu Chu, as Cao Cao's personal guard, fought with Zhang Fei on horseback, and Zhang Liao and Xu Huang also joined the battle group. After a scuffle, Cao Cao and Xu Chu were able to escape. Xu Chu teamed up with Zhang Liao and Xu Huang to barely resist Zhang Fei's firepower, and Xu Chu was not an opponent at all in front of Zhang Fei.
The fourth meeting was in the Battle of Hanzhong. After the death of Xiahou Yuan, Cao Cao personally conquered Hanzhong to relieve the siege. Liu Bei insisted on not fighting, but constantly harassed Cao's army's grain road. When he learned that Zhang Fei intended to rob the grain, Xu Chu volunteered to escort the grain and grass. However, Xu Chu was greedy for a cup on the road, and was drunk and hazy when he encountered Zhang Fei's surprise attack. After a few rounds, Xu Chu was stabbed in the shoulder by Zhang Fei with a spear and was injured when he fell off the horse. If it weren't for the timely rescue of his subordinates, I am afraid that Xu Chu would have died in Huangquan.
Looking back on these four encounters, except for the first time Xu Chu relied on the strength of the crowd to barely fight a few times, the other three failed to gain the upper hand. Xu Chu's situation became more and more difficult, and each time he failed, he became more and more miserable. The four encounters between Zhang Fei and Xu Chu are undoubtedly exciting combat chapters in that period of history.
"Ten Thousand Enemies" in the Official History
After talking about Zhang Fei in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, let's take a look at the "Ten Thousand Enemies Zhang Yide" in the official history.
Zhang Fei is a very interesting person. I am obviously familiar with him, but I can't find a lot of specific information about him in the official history. Due to the adaptation and circulation of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and later dramas, film and television works, Zhang Fei is a bearded, simple-minded, reckless and impulsive person with a short temperament in everyone's hearts, similar to the image of Cheng Biting Jin and Li Kui, but is this really the case?
There are also some people who believe that Zhang Fei is a Confucian general who is very literate, good at calligraphy and painting, but there is no conclusive evidence for this in the official history.
The "Lima Ming" in the picture above is said to have been made by Zhang Fei after defeating Zhang He, but this "Lima Ming" is available in Chongqing, Langzhong, and Hanzhong, and the versions are different in different places, so it is impossible to identify that it is genuine. And according to the art of calligraphy, this writing method should be the penmanship of Tang calligraphy, which is very different from Chinese calligraphy.
In the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms", before the Battle of Chibi, there is almost no record of Zhang Fei. Zhang Fei In the history of the Three Kingdoms, he once relieved Yan Yan and entered Xichuan, of course, Zhang Fei's greatest military achievement was to defeat Zhang He, one of the five sons of Wei.
Fei rate more than 10,000 people, from his road to invite the army to fight, the mountain road is narrow, the front and back can not be rescued, Fei then broken. He abandoned Mayuan Mountain, retreated from the road with more than ten people under his command, and led the army back to Nanzheng.
Being able to defeat Zhang He, one of the five sons of Wei, shows that Zhang Fei's military talent is still very strong, and it makes sense to be called "ten thousand enemies" with Guan Yu. But Zhang Fei has a really bad temper and often punishes soldiers.
Yu is kind to the soldiers and arrogant to the scholars, and Fei loves and respects the gentleman and does not care for the villain. The ancestor of the precept said: "The punishment and killing of the Qing are not only too bad, but also the day of the whipping of the Laos athletes, and the order is left and right, this way to take trouble is also."
In the official history I have read, the fairest evaluation of Zhang Fei is:
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are both called the enemies of ten thousand people and are the world's tiger ministers. Yu reported to Cao Gong, Feiyi explained Yan Yan, and had the style of a countryman. Ran Yu is rigid and self-conscious, violent and ungraceful, defeating with shortness, and rational numbers are often also.