When it comes to the outstanding military generals in ancient China, perhaps people will give many different answers, such as Bai Qi, a famous general of the Qin State who is known as "killing gods", Junjie Huo, a young junjie huo who sealed the wolf juxu, and Yue Fei, a national hero who is loyal to the country, and so on. However, if you want to talk about the most well-known and beloved martial arts group, I believe that most people will give the same answer - the Five Tiger Generals. Although the so-called Five Tiger Generals are nothing more than Luo Guanzhong's original concept in his work Romance of the Three Kingdoms, this concept has become widely accepted common sense as the novel has become a classic.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, and Huang Zhong, who make up the Five Tiger Generals, although they all have extraordinary martial arts, they also have their own distinct personalities, characteristics and strengths. Because of this, it is quite difficult and controversial to divide these five people. So, if we only consider the merits and contributions of the five tiger generals to the Shu Han in history, how should the five of them be ranked?
First, let's look at the recognized first of the Five Tiger Generals, Guan Yu. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu is portrayed as a perfect character, on martial arts, he beheaded Huaxiong, Yan Liang, Xue Wen ugly, and slashed six generals through five levels, and his strength is beyond doubt; on virtue, he was bold and loyal, righteous and thin, and respected; on status, he was appointed by Liu Bei to guard Jingzhou; on battle merit, he besieged Cao Ren in Fancheng in the Northern Expedition, and then flooded the Seventh Army to surrender to ban, kill Pound, and threaten Huaxia.
From a historical point of view, although Guan Yu has not killed HuaXiong, Wen Ugly, or the experience of cutting six generals in five levels, he has indeed "planned the spurs to be good among the people and behead them", which shows that his strength is indeed extraordinary. As for his contribution to shu han, Guan Yu followed Liu Bei's southern expedition to the north for decades, and it is needless to say that after Liu Bei captured Yizhou, Zhuge Liang, Fazheng, Zhang Fei, who participated in the war, and Guan Yu, who was guarding Jingzhou, all received the highest reward, after all, with him in Jingzhou, Liu Bei and others could safely attack Shudi.
In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Liu Bei proclaimed himself the King of Hanzhong, and Guan Yu was made a former general. Not long after, Guan Yu sent troops to the Northern Expedition, and his status, prestige and merit reached their peak after successive great victories. Although he had no choice but to withdraw his troops after being blocked by Xu Huang, and was attacked by Eastern Wu in the rear, resulting in the capture of Jingzhou and his own death, Guan Yu's contribution to Shu Han was far beyond the other four generals of the Five Tigers, which was not controversial.
Next, let's look at Zhang Fei, who is also a senior figure with Guan Yu. In the history books, Zhang Fei's exploits have been recorded a lot, including leading twenty cavalry at the Battle of Changshanpo to "break the bridge according to the water, and look at the spear", which frightened the Cao army from coming forward. In addition, Zhang Fei also conquered many cities along the road when he entered Shu, and met Liu Bei in Chengdu, thus receiving the highest reward mentioned above.
After the pacification of Yizhou, Zhang Fei was sent to the hanzhong front, where he once led more than 10,000 elite soldiers to use the terrain advantage to break the famous Cao Wei general Zhang Guo, who was known for his wisdom and courage, forcing the latter to "abandon Mayuan Mountain and retreat from the middle road with more than a dozen of his subordinates." Chen Shou believes in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" that "Fei is majestic and powerful, inferior to Guan Yu", in fact, from the perspective of merit, Zhang Fei should also be second only to Guan Yu.
After capturing Hanzhong and declaring himself the queen of Hanzhong, Liu Bei named Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, and Huang Zhong as former generals, right generals, left generals, and rear generals, while Zhao Yun, who was popular in later generations, was not rewarded. Despite this, Zhao Yun's exploits are actually not to be underestimated. Zhao Yun was originally a general under Gongsun Zhan, but later attached himself to Liu Bei and accompanied him on his southern expedition to the north. During the Battle of Changshanpo, Liu Bei left Lady Gan and the newly born Liu Chan on his way away. In the midst of the rebellion, Zhao Yun protected Lady Gan and the young lord to escape, so he was named a tooth gatekeeper. During the attack on Yizhou, Zhao Yun attacked Jiangyang from the waterway and joined forces with Zhuge Liang and others in Chengdu and made certain military achievements. Finally, when the other four tigers died one after another, Zhao Yun, the only remaining fruit, also followed Zhuge Liang to participate in the Northern Expedition.
After Zhao Yun, huang zhong and Ma Chao were in order. Huang Zhong was surrendered after Liu Bei took Changsha, and later performed well in the process of attacking Yizhou, gradually standing out. During the Battle of Hanzhong, Huang Zhong seized the opportunity to kill the Cao Wei general Xiahou Yuan in one fell swoop, thus becoming famous in the battle and becoming an important contributor to Liu Bei's capture of Hanzhong. Because of the merits of Xiahou Yuan, Liu Beili dismissed Huang Zhong as a general, but Huang Zhong died in August of the following year, and he failed to make more meritorious contributions.
Finally, speaking of Ma Chao, since he surrendered to Liu Bei, Ma Chao's contributions are countless. First, it was he who came to Chengdu to intimidate Liu Zhang in the city, speeding up the latter's surrender out of the city; second, he followed Zhang Fei north to engage Cao Wei's soldiers and horses; third, Ma Chao used his prestige among the Qiang, Hu and other ethnic groups to help Shu Han gain their support. Of course, on the other hand, Liu Bei really did not give Ma Chao any opportunity to make meritorious achievements.
To sum up, although the Five Tiger Generals are indeed all heroes among the people, from the perspective of merit, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who have followed Liu Bei the longest and have the most outstanding ability, are no accidents and ranked first and second respectively. Zhao Yun was also highly qualified, had made many contributions, and had been contributing to the Shu Han Dynasty until Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, and should rank third. Huang Zhong beheaded Xiahou Yuan and helped Liu Bei capture Hanzhong, and Ma Chao also made certain contributions, ranking fourth and fifth respectively.