Text: Li Early Idle Man (author's original authorization)
From the third year of Chuping (192) to the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Yu Ban repeatedly destroyed Cao Cao's fronts, frequently made great contributions, and became a prominent general in Cao Cao's camp. In the Battle of Xiangfan, when Yu Was forbidden to lead the Seventh Army to rescue Cao Ren, who was besieged by Guan Yu in Fancheng, the rescue failed, but instead he was flooded by Guan Yu, captured without battle, and survived and surrendered, becoming a typical example of late festival insecurity, and was quite reviled by posterity.
During the Battle of Xiangfan, Yu Ban was sent from the north by Cao Cao to Fancheng to rescue Cao Ren, who was besieging Fancheng. Outside Fancheng, the Seventh Army under the command of Yu Ban was completely submerged by a sudden flood, and the commander Yu Ban surrendered to survive, and the general Pound De did not surrender to death. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Shu XVII, And Zhang Leyu Zhang Xu's biography is recorded in this way: Taizu heard it, and lamented it for a long time, saying: "I know that it has been forbidden for thirty years, and I don't mean to be in danger, but it is not as good as Pound's evil!" In the face of life and death, Yu Ban, who followed Cao Cao for thirty years (in fact, twenty-eight years), was not loyal and died, but greedy; and Pound, who surrendered to Cao Cao for four years, did not live for love, but died of loyalty. Looking at the whole process of the defeat and capture of the forbidden soldiers, it contains objective factors such as time and time, geographical advantages, people, and so on that are not subject to human will.
The details are as follows.
First, the time of day.
Tianshi refers to the natural climatic conditions conducive to offensive warfare. When Yu Ban led the Seventh Army to rescue Fancheng, the time of heaven was in Guan Yu, not in Yu Ban. The Xiangfan area is located in the subtropical monsoon climate zone, characterized by "four distinct seasons, abundant rainfall, cold winter and hot summer, rain and hot at the same time." "Therefore, every year in August and September, it will rain in Xiangfan. Guan Yu has been guarding Jingzhou for many years, and most of his subordinates are southerners, and they know the local climate very well. Therefore, Guan Yu was able to make preparations, such as the military camp set up on a high place, and enough ships and bamboo rafts were prepared. Yu Ban was temporarily transferred from the north by Cao Cao, and the main body of the Seventh Army was northerners, unfamiliar with the southern weather and not accustomed to water. What is more, the troops were not fully prepared for the prohibition, such as the barracks were located on flat land and were not equipped with vehicles such as water transport. At that time, there were torrential rains in the Xiangfan area, the Han River flooded, and the water depth of the flat land was several inches, and the Seventh Army under Yu Ban was either drowned or captured.
Second, the location.
Geographical advantage refers to the advantage of geography. When yu ban took the Seventh Army to garrison outside Fancheng, the geographical advantage was favorable to Guan Yu, not to the forbidden. The Han River flows between Fancheng and Xiangyang, which are military strongholds set up on the banks of the Han River to defend against enemies in the north. In the Han Dynasty, it was roughly bounded by the Han River, with Nanyang County to the north, Nan County to the south, Fancheng to Nanyang County, and Xiangyang to Nan County. Fancheng is located in the middle reaches of the Han River, the western part is mountainous, mostly above 400 meters above sea level; the central part is mostly Gangdi Plain, generally between 85 meters and 140 meters above sea level; the eastern part is a low hill, mostly between 90 meters and 250 meters above sea level. Guan Yu was from Nan Commandery, and the water army besieged Fancheng separately on the Han River to isolate the connection between Xiangyang and Fancheng, besieging Fancheng from the south of the Han River and stationed in the western part of the mountainous area outside Fancheng; while Yu Ban rescued Fancheng from the north of the Han River, camping in the east outside Fancheng, on the plain.
Third, people and people.
People and people refer to the harmony of personnel or the harmony of people's hearts. When Yu forbidden to lead soldiers to rescue Fancheng, people and Guan Yu were not allowed to be forbidden. Guan Yu has been leading the army independently. In particular, after Zhuge Liang left Jing into Shu (Jian'an 19th year, 214), all affairs in Jingzhou were under the control of Guan Yu. In addition, Guan Yu's practice of "treating the soldiers well and being proud of the scholars" and "being proud of the superiors without insulting the inferior, bullying the strong and not bullying the weak" won the respect and love of the soldiers, and the cohesion of the whole army was extremely strong. Yu Ban rarely led the troops independently, and always fought with Cao Cao, Cao Ren and others, or cooperated with Xiahou Huan, Le Jin and others. In addition, the seven armies led by Yu Forbidden were all temporarily cobbled together by Cao Cao in the north, and each belonged to different generals. Although the Seventh Army under yu Ban's command had 30,000 men and was a crack soldier, it was a northerner and was not accustomed to water. More importantly, the Han River in the Xiangfan region was controlled by Guan Yu's powerful water army.
It was purely accidental that Yu Was forbidden to surrender after being flooded by Guan Yu's Seventh Army without possession of anyone in the right place. As Pei Songzhi's note "Romance of the Three Kingdoms • Wei Shu XVII • Zhang Leyu Zhang Xu Biography" quotes the Wei Shu as saying: The defeat of Fancheng, the floods were violent, the blame for the non-war, and its reinstatement of officials. In a word, it is equivalent to pardoning all the guilt of being defeated and captured in the forbidden war.
Author's note: Loss of degree refers to the loss of proportions. Yu Ban, as one of Cao Cao's five sons, when cao cao ordered to lead troops to the front line of Xiangfan and to Fancheng to rescue the besieged Cao Ren, he was flooded by Guan Yu's seventh army, but he was captured without a battle, surviving and surrendering, thus losing the level of a good general. As the saying goes: there must be a degree of doing things, and the degree of loss must be wrong.