In the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, although many generals participated in some important battles, their images were relatively thin. Perhaps it is the lack of historical materials, or perhaps the contribution of this character to history is not strong. This situation was already common in the Shu Han regime, which did not put a historian, and also happened in Cao Wei and Eastern Wu. For example, Cao Wei's rear general Niu Jin. Niu Jin participated in the "Battle of Nan County" and resisted Zhuge Liang's Fourth Northern Expedition, and had experience fighting against famous generals such as Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang; in addition, he defeated Ma Dai's Northern Expedition and followed Sima Yi to pacify Gongsun Yuan. Although Niu Jin has no personal biography, according to these scattered historical materials, he can still be called a famous general. And there is a very interesting thing, in the Three Kingdoms period, there was such a saying as "the cow follows the horse", Sima Yi was jealous of Niu Jin, and poisoned him with poisonous wine. It also adds some legendary color to the character of Niu Jin. The following small editor will talk about the character of Niu Jin.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the title of "Cao Tianren" in the "Battle of South County"</h1>
Niu Jin's first historical record should be in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Shu Cao Ren Biography". The background at that time was the "Battle of South County" after the "Battle of Chibi". After thwarting Cao Cao's offensive southward, Sun Quan and Liu Bei began to launch a counterattack against Cao Cao, the most important of which was Nan Commandery. Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu, Gan Ning, Lü Meng, Ling Tong, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu and others besieged Jiangling and the counties of Nan County, while Cao Ren, Xu Huang and others guarded Jiangling, with the support of Man Yu, Li Tong and others. The "Battle of South County" involved many generals and lasted a long time, and there were also some local battles in the middle, which was also a large-scale and deeply influential battle. Niu Jin performed in the "Battle of South County", but in fact served as a background board for Cao Ren.
Zhou Yu led tens of thousands of troops to attack Jiangling, and a forward force of about a few thousand people arrived. In the defensive battle of the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, the defending generals often attacked instead of defending, and took the initiative to attack first to hit the morale of the enemy, which could be conducive to the next defense. The most famous is zhang liao's second "battle of Hefei" when he led eight hundred dead soldiers to attack Sun Quan. It is likely that Cao Ren also used this tactic in the "Battle of South County". Zhou Yu's thousands of forwards arrived at Jiangling City, just when Sun Liu's coalition army was unstable. Cao Ren recruited three hundred dead soldiers, and Niu Jin led them to challenge Zhou Yu's forwards. As a result, Niu Jin failed, but was trapped in Zhou Yu's forward and could not escape.
If Niu Jin killed Zhou Yu's army, it could certainly improve morale and help defend the city; once the entire army was destroyed and the soldiers were defeated and killed, it was also a blow to the morale of the Defenders of Jiangling. In order to reverse this situation, Cao Ren personally led dozens of cavalry to attack Zhou Yu's forward, despite the persuasion of Changshi ChenJiao, not only to rescue Niu Jin, but also to re-enter the enemy army and save the Niu Jin soldiers trapped inside. Because of this performance, Cao Ren was evaluated as a "heavenly person". Niu Jin fought against thousands of enemy troops with three hundred soldiers, and the defeat could not be overly harsh. However, compared with Cao Ren's performance, the gap is still very obvious.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > Zhuge Liang fought zhuge liang when he was in the fourth cut</h1>
Niu Jin reappears in the historical records in the Book of Jin and the Chronicle of Emperor Xuan, set against the backdrop of Zhuge Liang's Fourth Northern Expedition. Zhuge Liang's Fourth Northern Expedition has always been controversial, with the Han Jin Spring and Autumn Chronicles recording that Zhuge Liang achieved a great victory of "three thousand heads of the first", and the Book of Jin and the Chronicle of Emperor Xuan recording that Sima Yi brushed Zhuge Liang's head with the record of "killing ten thousand prisoners". The record in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms is actually relatively plain, because of the continuous rain, the grain in the rear could not be delivered, Zhuge Liang withdrew his army, and shot and killed the famous Cao Wei general Zhang Guo during the retreat. Some people believed in the "Spring and Autumn of the Han Dynasty" alone; some people took the "Book of Jin" alone; and some people did not believe in either, only the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". This is largely influenced by attitudes toward historical figures. Since the editor wants to talk about the character of Niu Jin, he temporarily believes in the "Book of Jin".
Zhuge Liang's Fourth Northern Expedition was in the fifth year of Cao Wei Taihe and the ninth year of Shu Han Jianxing (that is, 231 AD), and the purpose of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition was basically to focus on the Longyou region, and the fourth time was also the same. Zhuge Liang led an army to besiege Qishan, and Sima Caozhen, who was in charge of military affairs on the western front at the time, died, so Sima Yi moved from Wanxian county to Chang'an, where he oversaw the Yong and Liang armies and resisted Zhuge Liang's attack. According to the Book of Jin and the Chronicle of Emperor Xuan, Sima Yi led a large army to the west to support, and When Zhuge Liang heard the news, he preemptively cut the wheat from Shangyi County. Sima Yi believed that Zhuge Liang was cautious by nature and must first build a camp and then cut wheat, so he rushed to Shangyi day and night and forced Zhuge Liang to retreat.
Sima Yi continued to pursue Zhuge Liang and engaged the Shu Han army in Hanyang. Sima Yi laid out a good formation, and Niu Jin led a small light cavalry as bait to attract Zhuge Liang to attack. Zhuge Liang and Niu Jin (possibly Sima Yi) retreated as soon as they made contact. Sima Yi continued to pursue near Mount Qi, and Zhuge Liang's troops were at Halo City. Sima Yi attacked the city of Halo, and Zhuge Liang retreated through the night. Sima Yi continued to pursue, achieving the goal of "killing ten thousand prisoners". According to the records in the Book of Jin, Niu Jin and Zhuge Liang at least did not lose in the battle, and their performance in Zhuge Liang's four cuts was OK. However, the record of Zhuge Liang's four expeditions in the Book of Jin has always been controversial, and it still needs to be combined with various historical materials such as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Spring and Autumn of the Han And Jin Dynasties.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > proverb for "cow after horse"</h1>
In ancient history, proverbs appeared frequently, often with unexpected effects. At least that's what is recorded in the historical records. In the third year of Cao Wei Qinglong (that is, in 235 AD), the mouth of Liugu in Zhangye County, Liangzhou, rose, and a strangely shaped so-called Ruishi stone appeared, known as the Xuanshi Tu. There are images of stone horses, phoenixes, unicorns, white tigers, bulls and so on. According to the Jiankang Shilu, the ox is behind the stone horse, so some fortune tellers interpret the proverb "the cow follows the horse".
Sima Yi believed that the "horse" in it referred to his family's surname, Sima Shi, and according to the saying that "Niu followed the horse", there was a figure with the surname Niu who would replace Sima Shi. Therefore, Sima Yi paid special attention to the general surnamed Niu. Niu Jin, the general, was very jealous of Sima Yi, niu Jin joined the Cao Cao clique at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and his seniority was relatively old; he fought against Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang without losing a big defeat; in the third year of Qinglong, he thwarted the invasion of the Shu Han general Ma Dai and won thousands; in the second year of the Jing Dynasty (that is, in 238 AD), he followed Sima Yi to pacify the Yan state of Liaodong Gongsun Yuan, which can be regarded as a high-level and high-ranking official; when Sima Yi wanted to get rid of Niu Jin, Sima Shi interceded for Niu Jin and recognized his military ability; Niu Jin was a general after Cao Wei's official. Although the status is not the top of the pyramid, it is also a heavy general. The proverb "the cow follows the horse", Niu Jin can be said to bear the brunt of it.
Sima Yi suspected Niu Jin's head, so he killed Niu Jin with poisoned wine. Interestingly, according to some historical sources, Sima Rui, the founding emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, was actually born from his mother and a small official with the surname of Niu, and it is recorded in the Book of Wei that Sima Rui was niu Jin's son. Of course, there has always been a great controversy between the proverb "after the cow follows the horse" and Sima Rui's origin, and the historical records may not be true, but it is up to the reader to judge for himself.
References: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Jin, Chronology of Wei Generals and Ministers, Records of Jiankang, Book of Wei