The "Battle of white wolf mountain" and the "battle of white horse" are the most classic battles in Cao Cao's life, the protagonists of these two battles are Zhang Liao and Guan Yu, in the Battle of White Horse, Guan Yu beheaded Yan Liang in the army of Wanjun, and Zhang Liao killed Wu Huan At White Wolf Mountain. So compared to these two battles alone, who is more powerful?
Let's first look at the Battle of the White Horse, in 200 AD, Jizhou Mu Yuan Shao led 100,000 elite soldiers, fine horses, stationed in Liyang, sent the general Yan Liang and Guo Tu, Chun Yuqiong led tens of thousands of fine horsemen to cross the Yellow River first, besieged the white horse guarded by Liu Yan of Dong County. According to relevant information, at that time, Liu Yan led three thousand horses to garrison baima, and in Yanjin, he led two thousand infantry guards, and Yan Liang's "tens of thousands of fine infantry horses" was not accurately recorded. As far as Yuan Shao's forces were concerned at that time, the small white horse he did not pay attention to at all, so the soldiers and horses sent to Yan Liang would not exceed 30,000, which was 30% of Yuan Shao's troops, and the cavalry would not exceed 5,000, or mainly infantry.
After the battle began, Yan Lianglian beheaded several generals of Cao Liang's army, and with the strength of Yuan's army, no one in Cao's camp was Yan Liang's opponent, and Cao Cao had no choice but to do anything. At this time, Cao Cao adopted Xun You's tactic of "attacking the west with sound from the east" and induced yuan troops to move in the direction of Yanjin, and Cao Cao resolutely led 5,000 light horses, with Zhang Liao and Guan Yu as the vanguard, personally leading Xu Huang and others as backups, and marched to rescue Baima. When Zhang Liao and Guan Yu's vanguard troops approached baima for more than ten miles, Yan Liang received the news, and in a hurry, Yan Liang put on the lid and commanded the battle. At this time, Yuan Jun panicked and lost all morale. Under the cover of Zhang Liao, Guan Yu rushed straight to Yan Liang's cover, stabbed Yan Liang to death, and beheaded his head in a ten thousand people,000 people, Yuan Jun saw that the commander was killed in chaos, and the Yuan army had no one to stop Guan Yu, so Cao Cao led his army to defeat Yuan Liang and relieve the siege of Baima.
Looking at the Battle of White Wolf Mountain, in May 207, Cao Cao personally led a large army to Wuji and prepared to attack Liucheng, the political center of the three counties of Karasuma. However, due to continuous torrential rains, the army could not pass. So Cao Cao adopted Guo Jia's strategy of "soldiers and nobles and speeding up", discarded the weight, and advanced lightly from the mountain road. At the same time, the intention of withdrawing the troops was to confuse the enemy. In August, Cao Cao led Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Zhang Gao, Han Hao, Shi Zhuo, Xian Yufu, Yan Rou, Cao Chun, as well as Zhao Zhao, Guo Jia, and Tian Yu to the vicinity of white wolf mountain less than 200 miles from Liucheng.
At that time, Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi, and Jian Dun Shan Yu, Liao Xi Dan Yu Lou Ban, and Right Beiping Shan Yu Nengchen arrived at the emperor in a hurry to gather tens of thousands of cavalry to meet the enemy to the west, although Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi, and others were a group of rabble-rousers, their own collective combat ability was weak, and they assembled in a hurry, and their combat effectiveness was greatly weakened, but their individual combat ability was still very strong. Cao Cao's men were all fierce generals of the three armies of the Brave Crown and elite cavalry and tiger and leopard cavalry for the rest of the battle, but these warriors were greatly reduced after more than ten days of mountain roads and rapid marches, not to mention that their heavily armored main infantry was far behind. Faced with a Uhuan army with obviously more troops than their own, many generals were terrified and wanted to wait for the arrival of the follow-up troops before launching an attack.
At this time, Zhang Liao urged Cao Cao to fight. Cao Cao saw Zhang Liao's morale and brave and fearless fighting spirit, so he gave Zhang Liao the sword he was holding and let him command. As a result, Zhang Liao commanded the vanguard troops to rush straight into the enemy position, and tens of thousands of cavalry on both sides launched a bloody battle, and the fierceness of the battle can be imagined. The morale of the Generals of the Cao Army was like a rainbow, and they fought bravely, and the Wuhuan coalition army began to rout. In the melee, Jian Dun was beheaded by Zhang Liao, the Wuhuan group was leaderless and completely collapsed, and Cao Cao won a complete victory, killing more than ten people under Jian Dun and the famous king, and capturing more than 200,000 people. Cao Cao collected the elite of Wu Huan, and then led him to conquer the four sides, known as the "famous horse of the world". The Battle of White Wolf Mountain completely quelled the rebel forces of the nomadic peoples in the north, and the border people were able to live in peace.
In this battle, Zhang Liao's performance was unmatched in the Cao camp, especially reflecting his first-class bravery and on-the-spot command ability, in a short period of time, seeing the flaws of the enemy army, and a single blow to attack in order to defeat in adversity, so this battle is also a classic case of winning more with less.
In summary, the author personally believes that the Battle of White Wolf Mountain is relatively more classic, why do you say so? Judging from the situation of the two battles, no matter the scale, the degree of tragedy, the results of the battle and the significance of the battle, the Battle of the White Horse cannot be compared with the Battle of White Wolf Mountain. The Battle of Baima was only an appetizer for the Battle of Guandu, and although Guan Yu's killing of Yan Liang was a very rewarding, it also struck yuan Shao's arrogance, but it did not shake Yuan Shao's roots, this battle was only a crushing battle, and did not eliminate Yuan Shao's living forces. Cao Cao only relieved the siege of Baima and safely removed Liu Yan, the defenders and the people.
Moreover, in the Battle of the White Horse, Cao Cao's five thousand elite horses, against Yan Liang's thousands of cavalry and tens of thousands of infantry, cavalry against infantry, is equivalent to cutting leeks with a fast knife. What is more interesting is that Yan Liang is sitting on the cover, that is, on the command car, and did not ride a horse to fight, to put it bluntly, Yan Liang was not on the horse at all, but under the horse, that is to say, Guan Yu killed Yan Liang on the cover, if there is no cavalry protection, Yan Liang is like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered. At that time, Yan Liang's army was already in chaos, and he fled for his own life, where he could still take care of the commander.
However, the Battle of White Wolf Mountain was very different, when Liu Bei persuaded Liu Biao to take the opportunity to attack Xu Du, Cao Cao faced worries, and in the face of the combined forces of Guan Dun, if Cao Cao could not win, it was likely that the entire army would be destroyed, there was almost no way to retreat, plus Cao's army had been running thousands of miles, it was already exhausted, and its outcome was probably much more tragic than the defeat at the Battle of Chibi. At this time, the state of the Cao army can be said to be "feared left and right, without any fighting spirit", the military's heart is extremely unstable, and the soldiers' hearts are all about retreating quickly.
Secondly, in the Battle of the White Wolf Mountain, the tribes such as Tudun immediately organized tens of thousands of iron horses, and Cao Cao's light army raided, the strength of the troops could not exceed 10,000, they had to face an enemy several times larger than themselves, and hundreds of thousands of karasuma troops, reinforcements would continue to come, if there was no quick decision, the consequences would be unimaginable. In this case, Zhang Liao broke the karasuma departments, even beheaded more than ten tribal leaders such as Jiandun, and captured more than 200,000 prisoners. The difficulty is certainly much greater than the Battle of the White Horse. Therefore, whether it was Zhang Liao's own doing or not, Zhang Liao's bravery was no less than Guan Yu's beheading of Yan Liang.
Moreover, in the Battle of Baima, although Zhang Liao and Guan Yu were the same vanguard, Guan Yu was earnest in his dedication, and Zhang Liao and Guan Yu were fellow villagers and friends, which had the meaning of courtesy to Guan Yu. As far as Zhang Liao's performance was concerned in the Battle of White Wolf Mountain, if there was no Guan Yu in the Battle of White Horse, Zhang Liao could also kill Yan Liang.
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