After waiting for fifteen years, Liu Bei finally had a chance to fight with whom?

In the new version of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", there is a scene that I remember deeply, that is the dialogue between Liu Bei and Cao Cao before the decisive battle in Hanzhong.

Cao Cao: Xuande, there are 400,000 troops behind me. If you don’t surrender, today will be your memorial day next year. ?

Liu Bei: ?Cao Mengde, I have been thinking about today's battle for eighteen years. Today next year, I will go to your grave to worship. ?

This passage is really sad. A pair of old enemies in life only become real opponents when they are approaching their twilight years. Here I would like to send a greeting to Liu Bei for his persistence in the past 18 years. My Majesty. Thank you for your hard work, uncle.

How many eighteen years can there be in life? From this day on, Liu Bei will have the relative strength to compete with Cao Cao, and he will live up to it? The only heroes in the world are Zhijun and Cao Er. ?evaluate.

(A pair of heroes finally have the opportunity to discuss the truth in their twilight years)

What happened in the Battle of Hanzhong? This must be discussed from the beginning in order to understand the whole picture, know the gains and losses, and make judgments.

One: The prelude starts with Zhang Lu

It is more appropriate to talk about the Battle of Hanzhong first by talking about Cao Cao's campaign against Zhang Lu.

Cao Cao's victory in the expedition against Zhang Lu was actually an accidental joke. According to the normal process, it would be difficult for Cao Cao to win Hanzhong. The main problems Cao Cao faced in his expedition against Zhang Lu were similar to those in Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition. Hanzhong The terrain is rugged, making logistical supplies very difficult, not to mention time delays and frequent food shortages. Once the army runs out of food, people's hearts will be scattered. Once people's hearts are scattered, it will be difficult to lead the army.

In ancient wars, late supply can be said to be fatal. Therefore, after a stalemate for a period of time, Cao Cao was ready to retreat when he saw that he could not attack for a long time.

Unexpectedly, an accident occurred on the night of the retreat, allowing Cao Cao to capture Yangping Pass, the gateway to Hanzhong.

Two: Milu is outstanding, Cao Cao captures Hanzhong

At that time, the guard of Yangping Pass was Zhang Lu’s younger brother Zhang Wei. When Cao’s army retreated, the troops accidentally broke into the enemy’s camp. At this time, Zhang Wei panicked. Coincidentally, a group of elk suddenly rushed down from the mountain and gave Cao Jun a wave of assists. The group of elk rushed into Zhang Wei's camp like a fire array, and by the way, Zhang Wei's main tent was kicked down. After the chaos, Zhang Wei was frightened and forced Cao Cao to break through the pass, and then Zhang Wei surrendered obediently.

As soon as Zhang Wei surrendered, Zhang Lu was in trouble. The geographical advantage was not there. He thought that he seemed to be unable to defeat Cao Cao. So he surrendered. Hanzhong was captured by Cao Cao due to mistakes during the retreat and Milu's assist.

Cao Cao's acquisition of Hanzhong was actually an unexpected surprise. This was also the reason why he later said to Sima Yi: "I want to win from Long to Shu, but I am greedy and not enough." Getting Hanzhong was an unexpected surprise, so don't be too greedy.

(Cao Cao was lucky to capture Hanzhong)

Three: How to defend Hanzhong after capturing it

Hanzhong was obtained, but there was a lot of trouble, because defending Hanzhong It's hard.

The reason is very simple. Although Cao has many troops, he cannot send a large army here because transportation is too difficult, but he cannot give up. What should I do?

Cao Cao came up with a way, which was to send a small number of troops to guard Hanzhong, and then move all the population of Hanzhong to Nanzheng. The purpose was of course to shrink the defense and ease the logistical pressure.

It can be seen that before the Hanzhong War, Liu Beifang and Cao Cao's attitudes towards Hanzhong were actually very different.

For Liu Bei, it was a strategic location and a must-win area. Without Hanzhong, Liu Bei would always be threatened by Cao Cao's forces, so he was determined to win.

For Cao Cao, Hanzhong, as he said in his command, is worthless, and it is a pity to throw it away if it is tasteless. And this is Cao Cao's attitude towards Hanzhong. It's okay to have it without it. What's more, the population of Hanzhong had been relocated by Cao Cao long before the war, so he didn't feel distressed even more.

Four: The real progress of the Battle of Hanzhong.

This battle was triggered by Liu Bei's active attack. At that time, the main forces of the two sides faced off in the Yangping Pass area. Liu Bei first sent Zhang Fei and Chen Shi to attack the Wei army's rear in an attempt to cut off the Wei army's return route, but they were defeated. Wei generals Xu Huang, Cao Hong and others defeated them. Afterwards, Liu Bei's army changed tactics again. Liu Bei personally led the army across the Mian River, bypassed Yangping Pass, and finally stationed the army at Dingjun Mountain.

After completing the strategic shift, Liu Bei led the army and confronted Xiahou Yuan and Zhang He at Dingjun Mountain. During the confrontation, Liu Bei used wheel warfare to continuously attack Zhang He. Zhang He had no choice but to ask Xiahou Yuan for help.

As a result, Xiahou Yuan was attacked by the Shu army on the way to rescue, and Xiahou Yuan was beheaded by Huang Zhong.

Five: Cao Cao was forced to go on an expedition

After Xia Houyuan's death, the morale of Cao Cao's army in Hanzhong was low. At the same time, Cao Cao finally led his army in person six months after receiving the news of Hanzhong's request for help. Support Hanzhong. In order to ensure victory this time, Cao Cao prepared a large amount of food to Hanzhong to prepare for a protracted war.

When a general battle reaches a protracted battle, the most important thing is logistics. The situation of Liu Bei's army at that time was actually very bad, almost reaching the point of exhaustion. Cao Cao's lack of food was due to transportation difficulties, while Liu Bei's lack of food The supply of food was due to the lack of national strength. Faced with this situation, Liu Bei could only tell Zhuge Liang, who was in charge of logistics in Chengdu, that the current situation was critical and the whole country must fight. After receiving the news, Zhuge Liang also began to do his best to support the front line in Chengdu, and all the people in Shu were in arms. , all personnel participated in the war, and the economy was greatly affected.

(Situation map of the Battle of Hanzhong)

The battle of attrition is determination. Liu Bei must win Hanzhong, but Cao Cao is different, so the final winner is Liu Bei. What a useless sentence After the slogan, Cao Cao had no choice but to retreat.

Five: The hidden story behind Cao Cao’s retreat

So is there any hidden reason behind Cao Cao’s retreat besides the issue of food and grass?

In fact, there are still some. At that time, Soochow also launched an attack on the border. Sun Shiwan led an army of 100,000 to attack Hefei, which made Cao Cao worried, fearing that the situation would be more dangerous under a two-pronged siege, and Liu Bei and himself After such a long stalemate, there were countless losses. After retreating, we would definitely not pursue them. It would be better to go back for rescue. There was also a hidden danger of turmoil within the court at that time, and we had to go back to deal with it. Otherwise, Xiao Qiang would be in trouble, and the final situation would be even worse.

Based on the above dual considerations, as well as the helplessness of the long-term stalemate, Cao Cao finally withdrew his troops and handed over Hanzhong to Liu Bei.

Six: Conclusion of the Battle of Hanzhong

In fact, both sides suffered heavy losses in the Battle of Hanzhong. Liu Beijun lost generals such as Wu Lan, Lei Tong, and Ren Kui, as well as countless troops. , all the people in Shu were soldiers, and the economic losses were immeasurable. Cao Cao also suffered a lot. His right-hand man Xia Houyuan was killed, Yizhou prefect Zhao Yong was killed, and Cao's army stationed in Hanzhong was almost wiped out. No one was easy.

(Cao Cao and Liu Bei are not easy)

But Cao Cao and Liu Bei are different. Facing this battle, Cao Cao used part of his strength to deal with Liu Bei, but faced Cao Cao. Liu Bei used almost all his strength. One side went all out, and the other side was half-hearted. It is not surprising that the half-hearted side lost, but this half-heartedness was not what Cao Cao thought. Soochow was attacking, there was an internal rebellion, there were foreigners in the north, and Cao Cao did not way.

As for who is stronger between Cao Cao and Liu Bei after the Battle of Hanzhong, this is actually a question that does not need to be discussed. Of course, Cao Cao was stronger. The Battle of Hanzhong was nothing more than a strategic retreat for Cao Cao and could not be considered a failure.

Perhaps the biggest gain from this battle for Liu Bei is that he can finally have a fair fight with his lifelong enemy and win!

Cao Cao was 54 years old and Liu Bei was 50 years old that year. This was also the last time they met!