In the autumn of the twelfth year of Jian'an, a strong expedition came to Jieshi Mountain. The commander of this army strolled up the Jieshi Mountain, looked at the boundless sea, looked at the looming islands, and in the autumn wind, he was generous and slowly chanted this song "Guancang Sea" that has been passed down through the ages:
To the east, it is bordered by Jieshi to view the sea.
The water is thick and the mountain islands are standing.
Trees are overgrown and grassy.
The autumn wind is cold, and the flood waves are rising.
The journey of the sun and the moon, if out of it.
The stars are brilliant, if out of it.
Luckily, even Ya, the song is sung in Yongzhi.
Cao Cao viewed the sea
Cao Cao, who was full of ambition, had just ended his arduous and sinister journey to conquer Wuhuan. This battle still made Cao Cao's heart palpitate, and he could not let go of it for a long time. It all started with the earlier Battle of Guandu.
The Battle of Guandu defeated Yuan Shao
In the third year of Jian'an, Cao Cao eliminated Lü Bu and unified Henan in one fell swoop. At this time, Yuan Shao, who had been competing with Gongsun Zhan, also unified Hebei. The contest between the two forces is inevitable.
In February of the fifth year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao gathered a large army of 100,000 and 10,000 warhorses and marched south from Yecheng to Guandu to attack Cao Cao. At this time, due to years of war and chaos, Cao Cao's jurisdiction was seriously damaged economically, with tens of thousands of soldiers and less than ten horse armors.
Cao Cao and Yuan Shao divided the forces
Even so, Cao Cao did not flinch, took the initiative to go north, and fought a decisive battle with Yuan Shao in the Guandu area. The result of this decisive battle surprised everyone, and the weak Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao. In the Battle of Guandu, Cao Jun beheaded Yuan Jun's 70,000 ranks, and Yuan Shao only led 800 cavalry to cross the river in the midst of rebellion.
After this war, Cao Yuan's two armies changed hands in attack and defense, and the initiative in the war fell into Cao Cao's hands. However, Cao Cao, who won the Battle of Guandu, did not pacify the north, and Hebei remained in the hands of Yuan Shao. Cao Cao still had a long way to go to unify the north.
Yuan Shao's clique split, and Cao Cao seized the opportunity to capture Hebei
In May of the seventh year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao died of vomiting blood due to excessive anxiety. Yuan Shao's death became the starting point for the split of the Yuan clique and gave Cao Cao the opportunity to take Hebei in one fell swoop.
The power succession dispute of Yuan Shao's son became the fuse for the demise of the Yuan clique. After Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zhan, he had his sons each in a state to cultivate the talent of observing them. The eldest son Yuan Tan was based in Qingzhou, the second son Yuan Xi was in Youzhou, and his nephew Gao Gan was in charge of Youzhou, leaving his favorite youngest son Yuan Shang by his side. At that time, this practice was opposed by Frustrated Grant, who believed that such a disparity of fame was the source of great disaster. However, Yuan Shao insisted on going his own way and refused to accept the opinion. Sure enough, after Yuan Shao's death, the Yuan clique had a problem.
Yuan Shao
Due to the struggle for power between The Trial match, Feng Ji, and Xin Ping and Guo Tu, who were close to Yuan Tan, the two supported Yuan Shang in Yicheng as soon as Yuan Shao died, and Yuan Tan, who hurried back to Yicheng from Qingzhou, could only accept the fait accompli. However, Yuan Tan was unwilling and called himself a che riding general, and wanted to compete with his brother. The estrangement between the two brothers gave Cao Cao the opportunity to break through one by one.
In September of the seventh year of Jian'an, Cao Cao led an army across the Yellow River to attack Liyang. At that time, it was Yuan Tan who was stationed in Liyang, but due to the two brothers' struggle, Yuan Shang was extremely jealous of Yuan Tan and gave Yuan Tan only a small number of soldiers and horses, and sent Feng Ji to monitor it. Yuan Tan requested reinforcements, but Yuan Shang listened to the advice of the trial and did not send reinforcements. Yuan Tan was furious and killed Feng Ji.
In the face of Cao Cao's army, Yuan Shang did not dare to be careless, on the one hand, he was afraid that the soldier Li Yang would strengthen the strength of his brother Yuan Tan, and on the other hand, he was afraid that the loss of Li Yang would cause the overall situation to collapse. After weighing the left and right, Yuan Shang decided to lead his own army to reinforce Liyang and stay in Yecheng. This can ensure the stability of Li Yang without strengthening Yuan Tan's strength, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.
Yuan Shang
Yuan Shang was still wrong in his judgment, and the two brothers of the Yuan clan might not be able to defeat Cao Cao with one heart, not to mention that the two were still jealous of each other. Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang and Cao Cao fought a great battle under the city of Liyang and were defeated. Yuan Shang also asked for help from outside, ordering Hedong Taishou Guo Yuan and Shi Gaogan to join forces with the Xiongnu Nandan Yubu to jointly attack Cao Cao's Hedong Commandery, and on the one hand, he sent people to contact Ma Teng in Guanzhong to rebel against Cao Cao.
Cao Cao did not follow Yuan Shang's line of thought to break the siege, but on the one hand continued to attack Liyang, and on the other hand, he sent people to disintegrate Yuan Shang's allies one by one.
Cao Cao ordered the lieutenant Zhong Xuan to be in charge of the battle in Hedong, and Zhong Xuan did not live up to his trust in breaking Guo Yuan in the Battle of Fenshui. Ma Teng, seeing that Cao Cao had the upper hand, gave up the rebellion and sent troops to assist in the battle. On the battlefield of Liyang, Cao Cao launched another attack, and the Yuan Shang brothers failed again, this time seeing that there was no possibility of victory, and had to flee in a hurry before Hecheng.
Cao Cao
After the fall of Liyang, the Yuan brothers had to unite again to defend against foreign humiliation. The unity of the two brothers eventually defeated the Cao army at Yecheng. After the defeat of Cao's army, Guo Jia suggested to Cao Cao: "Continuing to attack is likely to make the two brothers completely united, and if we retreat the two brothers may continue to fight among themselves." Cao Cao listened to Guo Jia's advice and chose to retreat.
Sure enough, as soon as Cao Cao withdrew from the army, there was an infighting, and in the infighting, Yuan Tan actually asked Cao Cao for help. The opportunity could not be lost and did not come again, and Cao Cao immediately led his army to attack Yecheng again. After half a year of attack, Cao Cao finally defeated Yuan Shang and captured Yecheng. At this time, Cao Cao did not return as Yuan Tan's advisers expected, but continued to attack the hinterland of Hebei. The first target Cao Cao chose was his former ally Yuan Tan.
Under Cao Cao's offensive, the Yuan Tan clique perished, and only the Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang brothers were left in the Yuan clan. The two men rebelled one after another, and when they were cornered, the two brothers had to defect to Wuhuan outside the sai.
The fierce and warlike Three Counties of Wuhuan
Wuhuan (Karasuma) is a branch of the Donghu tribe, named after the late Qin migration to Wuhuan Mountain. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Wuhuan returned to the Han Dynasty, and some of them moved inland to the five counties of Youzhou Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping, Liaodong, and Liaoxi, and each of these five counties had its own leader. Among the five counties, the three counties of Liaoxi, Liaodong and Youbeiping have the most Wuhuan, and are called the three counties of Wuhuan.
Youzhou Counties
At that time, Wuhuan had an extremely important strategic resource, that is, the Biao hun cavalry composed of Wuhuan nomads.
At the turn of the two Han Dynasties, the Youzhou Raid was an important trump card in the hands of The Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu. However, with the passage of time, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the so-called Youzhou Sudden Horse gradually became dominated by Wuhuan in terms of military resources. Cao Cao once said that "the three counties of Karasuma are the famous horses in the world".
At this time, the leader of the three counties of Wuhuan was Tuan Dun, who was compared to the Local Old Man by the local old man because of the Bravery and Good War of the Xiongnu. When the four prefectures of Hebei were unified by Yuan Shao, Tu Dun also submitted to Yuan Shao and provided Yuan Shao with elite cavalry. During the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao granted Shan Yuyin in the name of Tianzi.
When Cao Cao attacked Hebei, Wuhuan moved more than 100,000 households from Youyou and Jizhou, and invaded the interior several times, and politically collapsed against Cao Cao's clique, which supported Yuan Shang in counterattacking Hebei. The existence of Wuhuan became an important hidden danger in Hebei, and Cao Cao could not sit idly by.
Han Chinese army during the Three Kingdoms period
The long-distance attack destroyed Wuhuan and unified the north
But attacking Wuhuan was difficult. Wuhuan was far outside sai, more than 2,000 miles away from Yecheng, and if he wanted to attack, he must solve the problem of grain and grass transportation. Opinions within Cao Cao's camp on the expedition to Wuhuan were also not uniform. Most of the generals believed that the Northern Expedition was unnecessary, but that the hinterland of the Great Army's Northern Expedition might be attacked by Liu Bei.
But Guo Jia disagreed. Guo Jia believed that Cao Cao's current rule over Yuan Shao's territory was only a military occupation, and the people's hearts were not annexed, and once the Yuan brothers received the help of Collapse, they were likely to gain and lose it. Wu Huan would never have thought that we would attack him, so that the battle could calm Wu Huan. Cao Cao agreed with Guo Jia and prepared to attack Wuhuan.
In view of the problem of grain and grass transportation, Cao Cao decided to dig an artificial canal, and Cao Cao built an artificial canal dug from the Hushui River to the Shushui Canal and named it Pingyu Canal, and dug an artificial canal dug from the mouth of the Lu River to the Lu River, named Quanzhou Canal. With these two artificial canals, Cao Jun's grain and grass could be taken from Yecheng along the waterway to Wujie (present-day Jinji County) in Youbeiping County.
After everything was ready, Cao Cao began the Northern Expedition, and in March of the twelfth year of Jian'an, a large army set out from Yecheng. By the time Cao Jun arrived in Yi County, the journey was already halfway through. At this time, Guo Jia also suggested that it was time to be fast and fast, and change the weight of the army to a light march. Cao Cao listened to Guo Jia's advice and ordered the army to leave heavy and lightly armed. In May, Cao Cao's army arrived.
Cao Jun's plan was to advance along the coastal road of the Endless Zone. At this time, due to the heavy rain in the rainy season, the low-lying terrain of the coastal area, the muddy roads, and the interception of the wuhuan in front, the original plan had a major problem.
At this time, the military strategist Tian Yu suggested to Cao Cao: "Leave Lulongsai to attack Liucheng (where the main force of Wuhuan is located), but because this road has been closed for many years, the road is dangerous. But taking this passage around the far and dangerous is definitely unexpected, and they will be even more lax. And our attack from Luronce just caught him off guard. ”
Cao Cao accepted Tian Yu's suggestion, publicly withdrew from the army, and set up a large wooden sign on the side of the road, the big book: Fang this summer and summer, the road is impassable, and wait for autumn and winter, march again. Wu Huan learned that Cao Jun was gone, and he let down his guard. However, Cao Jun, led by Tian Yu, went straight out of Lulongsai. Due to the impassability of the road outside the sai, Cao Jun dug mountains and filled in the valley, and built roads while marching, and built a 500-mile road along the way, passing through Pinggang and pointing directly to Liucheng.
Cao Jun went this way, until he was 200 miles away from Liucheng, and Wu Huan found Cao Jun. Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi, Tuan Dun, Liao Xi Shan Yu Lou Ban and others led tens of thousands of cavalry to meet the attack.
In August, Cao Jun ascended the White Wolf Mountain to meet the Wuhuan Army. At that time, the Cao army was in a state of marching, and there were very few soldiers wearing armor. At this time, Cao Cao ascended to the top and found that although Wu Huan's army was large, the formation of the army was chaotic. Cao Cao decisively ordered Zhang Liao to lead his troops to attack.
Zhang Liao
The Wuhuan army did not expect that the Cao army would take the initiative to attack, and there was a great chaos for a while. Zhang Liao bravely went forward and killed The Collapse, Wu Huan saw the commander die in battle and the whole army collapsed. The Cao army attacked along the trend, beating the corpses of the Wuhuan army all over the field. After Cao's army attacked Liucheng, it captured more than 200,000 people in Wuhuan, and Wuhuan was completely defeated by Cao Cao.
At the time of the defeat, the Yuan brothers also quickly ran to defect to Gongsun Kang, the Taishou of Liaodong Province. After learning the news that the Yuan brothers had escaped, Cao Cao did not order a pursuit, but believed that Gongsun Kang was at odds with the Yuan brothers and would send the head of the Yuan brothers over. Soon after, Gongsun Kang did indeed offer Cao Cao the first rank of the two brothers. At this point, North China was proclaimed unified.
Cao Cao's attack on Wuhuan was extremely arduous, and when the army ran out of grain and water, Cao Jun ordered the army to dig a well with all its might, dug thirty zhang to see the water, and killed thousands of warhorses to make food, so as to solve this crisis. After the class, Cao Cao unexpectedly rewarded those who advised wuhuan before the war. It can be seen that Cao Cao's heart is still palpitating after winning this battle.
But the rewards of this long-distance raid were also staggering, and Cao Cao not only solved the security of the north once and for all, but also obtained a crack army. Cao Cao moved Wuhuan into the interior and set up a lieutenant to protect Wuhuan, and conscripted troops against the Wuhuan tribe. With Wu Huan's strong cavalry, Cao Cao's already strong army was like a tiger.
Cao Cao's most trusted adviser, Guo Jia, died young in this battle, becoming Cao Cao's biggest loss in the expedition. The Northern Expedition to Wuhuan has become a classic battle of long-distance raids, and it is also the best interpretation of the strategy of "surprise".