At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the history of the assassination of each state or the state pastor was undoubtedly the prominent figure of the time, such as Yanzhou Mu Cao Cao, Jizhou Mu Yuan Shao, Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao, Yizhou Mu Liu Zhang, and so on. In the context of the decline of the Han Dynasty, these assassins or state pastors gradually became princes who divided one side, and even some people arrogantly claimed the title of emperor, such as Yuan Shu. Correspondingly, for Ding Yuan, who I want to talk about today, he once held the official position of the history of the state assassin.
Ding Yuan was from the land of Yanzhou, and in 188 AD, after zhang Yi was killed, Ding Yuan took over the former's official position. In 189, after the death of Emperor Ling of Han, Ding Yuan stationed near Luoyang to help the general He Jin deal with eunuchs. However, He Jin was killed by the eunuchs, which led to civil unrest in the capital Luoyang. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Dong Zhuo led a large army to Luoyang. Moreover, Dong Zhuo co-opted Ding Yuan's subordinate Lü Bu and prompted Lü Bu to kill Ding Yuan. Therefore, after annexing Ding Yuan's soldiers and horses, Dong Zhuo's strength was enhanced, thus usurping the power of the imperial court. In this context, the three fierce generals under Ding Yuan also left their own deeds in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
First, Lü Bu
First of all, Lü Bu was from the hezhou region, and after Ding Yuan served as the assassin of hezhou, he appointed Lü Bu as the chief bookkeeper and was very close to him. However, what Ding Yuan did not expect was that Lü Bu betrayed himself. After Ding Yuan was killed, Ding Yuan began to follow Dong Zhuo. In 190 AD, due to the abolition of the emperor and other reasons, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Yuan Shu and other princes formed a coalition to attack Dong Zhuo. As a result, Dong Zhuo moved the capital to Chang'an, which to a certain extent defused the offensive of the Kwantung Coalition Army.
In 192, under the persuasion of Wang Yun, Lü Bu got rid of Dong Zhuo again. Of course, because he was defeated by Dong Zhuo's subordinates, Lü Bu could not gain a foothold in Chang'an and could only wander to the Central Plains. In 194 AD, because his father Cao Song was killed by Tao Qian, Cao Cao, who had divided Yanzhou, chose to lead a large army to attack Xuzhou. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Chen Gong, Zhang Mi, and others betrayed Cao Cao and welcomed Lü Bu into Yanzhou.
Therefore, around the land of Yanzhou, Cao Cao and Lü Bu launched a fierce contest. In 195, after being defeated by Cao Cao, Lü Bu came to Xuzhou and defected to Liu Bei. Although Lü Bu had capricious problems, Liu Bei still took in the other party. Of course, Liu Bei's benevolence did not make Lü Bu grateful to Dade. In 196 AD, Liu Bei led an army to fight Against Yuan Shu, and Lü Bu rebelled against the guests and captured Xuzhou, which made Liu Bei very angry. After two years of fighting, Liu Bei was defeated by Lü Bu. However, Liu Bei chose to join forces with Cao Cao to deal with the ungrateful Lü Bu.
In 198 AD, Cao Cao personally led an army to attack Lü Bu, and the army arrived at Xia Pi City. Cao Cao besieged the city for three months, besieging the city with broken water, and Lü Bu's army was divided up and down. Lü Bubu lost Hou Cheng's famous horse, and soon found it again, and the generals congratulated Hou Cheng. Hou Ingredient Wine meat was offered to everyone, first to Lü Bu. Lü Bu was furious: "I Lü Bu forbade alcohol and Qing Qing waited, in order to conspire with me Lü Bu because of wine?" Hou Cheng was angry and frightened, so in December (February 7, 199), Hou Cheng rebelled with Song Xian and Wei Xu, tied up Chen Gong and surrendered, Lü Bu saw cao's army attacking at the White Gate Tower, the general situation was gone, so he ordered the left and right to hand over his head to Cao Cao, left and right could not bear it, and surrendered to the city.
After Cao Cao captured Lü Bu, the latter asked to be loosened, and Cao Cao laughed and said, "The tiger has to be tied tightly." Lü Bu also said, "Cao Gong got me, and I led the cavalry, and Cao Gong led the infantry, so that he could unify the world." Cao Cao was quite impressed, but Liu Bei said from the side: "Ming Gong, have you seen how Lü Bu served Ding Jianyang (Ding Yuan) and Dong Taishi?" Before Lü Bu died, he said, "Liu Bei can't believe it the most!" In the end, Lü Bu was ordered to be killed by Cao Cao.
2. Zhang Yang
Secondly, as far as Zhang Yang is concerned, he can be described as a good brother of Lü Bu. Like Lü Bu, Zhang Yang also came from the land of Xiangzhou, that is, the two were related to the same village. After Ding Yuan was killed, Zhang Yang did not follow Dong Zhuo like Lü Bu, but instead divided Hanoi. In 192, after Lü Bu was defeated by Li Dai and Guo Feng, Zhang Yang took the former in several times. At that time, Li Dai and Guo Feng even rewarded Lü Bu's first rank, but Zhang Yang still did not betray Lü Bu.
In 195, a conflict broke out between Li Dai and Guo Feng, and Emperor Xian of Han took the opportunity to leave Chang'an. In this regard, Zhang Yang sent someone to send food, which can be said to be a charcoal in the snow. However, because of his limited strength, Zhang Yang did not welcome Emperor Xian of Han to his own territory. In 196 AD, Cao Cao welcomed Emperor Xian of Han and moved the capital to Xuchang. For Cao Cao, who had obtained the title of Emperor of Heaven to order the princes, there was a tendency to become the most powerful prince at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
In 198, although Lü Bu occupied Xuzhou, he was besieged by Cao Cao. Therefore, Lü Bu asked Zhang Yang for support. Although Cao Cao's strength was very strong, because of the close relationship with Lü Bu, Zhang Yang still led a large army to deal with Cao Cao. As a result, Zhang Yang was killed by his subordinates, and his territory and soldiers and horses were also annexed by Cao Cao. As for Lü Bu, whom Zhang Yang wanted to rescue, he was beheaded by Order Cao Cao in 199 AD. Therefore, Cao Cao eliminated the two princes Zhang Yang and Lü Bu at once, and the overall realization was significantly enhanced.
3. Zhang Liao
In the end, compared to Lü Bu and Zhang Yang, Zhang Liao, as a subordinate of Ding Yuan, finally achieved a good ending. Zhang Liao was from the hezhou region, and in 188 AD, after Ding Yuan served as the assassin of hezhou, because Zhang Liao was superior in force, he was recruited to his command. In 189, after Ding Yuan was killed, Zhang Liao began to follow Dong Zhuo. In 192, Zhang Liao left Chang'an with Lü Bu and fought with Cao Cao, Liu Bei and other princes many times. In 199, after Lü Bu was destroyed, Zhang Liao surrendered to Cao Cao. Since then, Zhang Liao participated in battles such as the Battle of Guandu and made great achievements for Cao Wei.
Especially in the Battle of Hefei in 215 AD, or the Battle of Xiaoyaojin, Zhang Liao left Sun Quan with a lingering shadow. At that time, Cao Cao led a large army to conquer Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, and there were no troops to support Hefei. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Sun Quan led an army of 100,000 to attack Hefei. After Hefei was occupied by Cao Cao's side, it was not only able to destroy the Yangtze River defense line in Eastern Wu, but also threatened important towns such as Jianye. Therefore, Sun Quan has always wanted to seize this city.
In this battle, although Zhang Liao, Li Dian, Le Jin and others only had 7,000 soldiers and horses. However, Zhang Liao selected 800 brave soldiers from it, and preemptively attacked when the Eastern Wu army first arrived in Hefei, which caught Sun Quan off guard, so he suffered heavy losses, and even Sun Quan himself was almost captured by Zhang Liao.
In the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an (220), Cao Cao died, Cao Pi became the King of Wei, and Zhang Liao was transferred from a general of Zhengdong to a former general, and his brother Zhang Xun (or "Zhang Fan") and a son of Marquis Liehou. At the same time, Zhang Liao was given as many as a thousand horses and as many as ten thousand valleys. In the same year, Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor, and again created Zhang Liao the Marquis of Jinyang, adding a thousand households to the first 2,600 households.
In 222, Sun Quan betrayed Cao Wei again, and Cao Pi sent Zhang Liao by boat to garrison The River with Cao Xiu at Hailing. At this time, although Zhang Liao was under the supervision of Cao Xiu (Cao Pi's brother), Sun Quan was very jealous when he learned that Zhang Liao had reached this point, and ordered the generals to say: "Although Zhang Liao is ill, he is still brave, so be cautious!" ”
In the same year, Zhang Liao, Wang Ling, and others marched to Guangling. One night, Lü Fan and the others' Eastern Wu water army drifted to the north shore. Zhang Liao, Wang Ling and others went into battle, destroyed the Wu general Lü Fan and others, and captured a large number of boats and ships. However, Zhang Liao's condition also became more and more serious, and finally died in Jiangdu, and a generation of famous generals fell. Cao Pi wept for it, and he was known as the Marquis of Gang. His son Zhang Husi (張虎嗣) was appointed as his knight. Thus, for Zhang Liao, he was Sun Quan's nemesis, and because he resisted the attack of the Eastern Wu army, Zhang Liao, Together with Yu Ban, Xu Huang, Le Jin, and Xu Huang, was known as the Five Sons of Cao Wei.