The story about Cao Cao in the Three Kingdoms, the best original text

1. Empty City

In the spring of the second year of Xingping (195), Cao Cao, who had recovered his breath, once again led his army to attack Lu Bu, forcing Lu Bu to retreat. In the summer, Lu Bu counterattacked and encountered Cao Cao's ambush on the way. He was defeated and fled. Cao Cao achieved his first major victory against Lu Bu. Lu Bu, who was retreating, met up with Chen Gong's troops, gathered more than 10,000 troops, and turned around to fight Cao Cao again. Cao Cao boldly adopted the "empty city strategy" to bluff, but Lu Bu did not dare to attack rashly. Cao Cao mobilized a large number of troops overnight. Lu Bu knew that Cao Cao's actions yesterday were just a bluff, so he took the initiative to attack early the next morning. As a result, Cao's army came out in ambush and defeated Lu Bu. Lu Bu fled overnight, abandoned Yanzhou and defected to Liu Bei. In this war, Cao Cao performed very well. He was not discouraged in the face of consecutive defeats. He fought repeatedly and inspired the fighting spirit of the entire army with the same crazy enthusiasm as a prairie fire. Although he was in adversity, he was completely full of momentum. Overwhelmed Lu Bu and finally won.

(After research, this is indeed Cao Cao's. At that time, a man named Guo Chong admired Kong Ming very much, so he made up Zhuge Liang's empty city plan. There are also doubts about this, but it did happen to Cao Cao. This happened.)

2. Battle of Guandu

In the fifth year of Jian'an in the Eastern Han Dynasty (200), Cao Cao's army defeated an attack by Yuan Shao's army in the Guandu (now Zhongmujing, Henan) area. decisive battle. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the powerful and powerful armies fought to seize control of the Central Plains. At that time, Yuan Shao owned the four prefectures of Ji, Qing, You, and Bing. He relied on his large number of troops and sufficient food supplies, and planned to eliminate Cao Cao, who only controlled Yan and Henan prefectures. In January of the fifth year of Jian'an, Shao Shao led 100,000 elite troops to the south. Prior to this, in order to avoid being attacked from both sides, Cao Cao had defeated Liu Bei, who had allied with Shao Shao, and stationed in Guandu, which was easy to defend and difficult to attack. In April, Cao Cao used the strategy of attacking the east and attacking the west. He defeated the declining general Yan Liang in Baima (now Huaxian County, Henan Province) and defeated the declining army. Shao Shao was defeated in the first battle and his vigor was frustrated. He divided his troops to attack and formed a camp to press forward. The two armies faced each other in Guandu and held a stalemate for several months. During this period, Cao Cao wanted to return to defend Xuchang (today's east of Xuchang, Henan) because of his exhausted troops and lack of food. Counselor Xun Yu believed that if Cao's army is weak and the enemy is strong, it will take advantage of Cao's retreat. On the contrary, if the army is weak and underestimates the enemy, there will be internal discord. After a long stalemate, there will be changes, and a surprise victory can be achieved. Cao Cao accepted his words and sent troops to attack and burn down the army's grain carts. He also personally led 5,000 elite troops to attack the grain station of the army's Wuchao (now in Henan), annihilated the army and burned all the grain stores. When the news came, the morale of Shao Shao's troops was shaken, and they dispersed and surrendered one after another. Cao Cao took the opportunity to attack across the board and wiped out more than 70,000 enemies. Shao Shao and his son only led more than 800 cavalry to flee north. The Battle of Guandu laid the foundation for Cao Cao to unify the north, and Shao Shao never recovered from the fall. The Battle of Guandu is a famous example in the history of ancient Chinese wars where a small number of people defeated a large number.

3. The Battle of Chibi (this one is very long, so compress it yourself~~)

The Battle of Chibi is one of the famous battles in Chinese history in which the weak defeated the strong. In 208 AD (the 13th year of Emperor Xian's reign of the Han Dynasty), Cao Cao led a land and sea army, known as one million, to launch the Battle of Jingzhou and then crusade against Sun Quan. Sun Quan and Liu Bei formed an alliance, commanded by Zhou Yu, and defeated Cao's army in the Chibi area of ????the Yangtze River (now northwest of Chibi City, Hubei Province, some say northeast of today's Jiayu), and the Three Kingdoms were established. The Battle of Chibi was the first large-scale river battle fought in the Yangtze River Basin, and it was also the only battle in which Sun, Cao, and Liu all sent their main forces to participate.

Enterprising Jingzhou: After the Battle of Guandu in 200 and the northern expedition to Wuhuan in 207, Cao Cao completed the war to unify the north. After returning to Yecheng (now southwest of Linzhang, Hebei) in the first month of the thirteenth year of Jian'an, he immediately began military and political preparations for sending troops south. First, he dug the Xuanwu Pond in Ye to train his naval forces; second, he sent Zhang Liao, Yu Jin, and Le Jin to garrison troops near Xudu in case of an unexpected incident; third, he ordered Ma Teng and his family to move to Ye and did a practical job. hostages to reduce the threat from the northwest; fourth, he dismissed three public officials and installed prime ministers and imperial censors to further consolidate his dominance; fifth, he eliminated Kong Rong, who had insulted and opposed him several times, to protect himself authority.

In the autumn of July, Cao Cao personally led an army of more than 100,000 men and marched south to Jingzhou. In Wang Fuzhi's words in "Du Tongjian Lun", he "took advantage of Yuan Shao's momentum to attack Jing and Wu." He attempted to eliminate Liu Biao and Sun Quan of Jiangdong in one fell swoop and unify the world. Just when Cao Cao was on his way to Wan and Ye, Liu Biao died of illness in August. In September, his second son Liu Cong surrendered to Cao's army without fighting in Xinye (now part of Henan Province). Thousands of mengchong and fighting ships in the Jingzhou navy were all owned by Cao Cao. At this point, Cao Cao's naval warfare strength was greatly increased.

Liu Bei, who attached himself to Liu Biao and stationed troops in Fancheng (today's Xiangfan, Hubei Province), led his troops to retreat south after hearing the news.

At that time, Jiangling (today's Jiangling, Hubei) stored a large amount of grain, grass, weapons, etc. for Liu Biao. Therefore, Liu Bei on the one hand retreated from Fancheng to Jiangling, and on the other hand ordered Guan Yu to lead the navy to Jiangling via the Han River to meet up. In September, Cao Jun personally led five thousand elite cavalry, including tiger and leopard cavalry, to pursue Liu Bei, defeated Liu Bei's army at Changbanpo in Dangyang (now northeast of Dangyang, Hubei Province) and occupied Jiangling.

After Cao Cao arrived in Jiangling, he immediately took measures to settle the officials and people of the state and ordered "the officials and people of Jingzhou should be reformed with them."

Jia Xu persuaded Cao Cao to first use Jingzhou's resources to recuperate the army and civilians and stabilize the new territory, but Cao Cao ignored his suggestion. Cao Jun's combat deployment is generally as follows: with Zhao Yan as the prefect and guardian of Zhangling (the county is located southeast of present-day Zaoyang, Hubei Province), Yu Jin, Zhang He, Zhu Ling, Li Dian, Zhang Liao, Feng Kai and other seven armies will be unified to command them in between the Han River and the Huai River. On the Jingzhou side, Cao Cao sent Cao Ren and Xia Houyuan to garrison Jiangling, Cao Hong to garrison Xiangyang, and another naval force to move south from Xiangyang along the Han River to Xiakou. Cao Cao personally led a force along with the newly attached Jingzhou people down the river to attack Soochow.

When Cao Cao went south, Sun Quan sent Lu Su as an envoy to Jingzhou to mourn Liu and also said that Liu Bei was united in guarding Cao. Lu Su and Liu Bei met in Dangyang. Later, Liu Bei used his plan to retreat to the southeast direction of the Han River. He joined Guan Yu's navy from the east of the Han River and retreated to the allied force of more than 10,000 men from Liu Biao's eldest son, Liu Qi, the prefect of Jiangxia. Xiakou (now Hankou, Wuhan, Hubei), attempted to unite with Sun Quan to fight against Cao Cao. Liu Bei sent Zhuge Liang to follow Su to the Eastern Wu Dynasty to plot against Cao Cao.

When Zhuge Liang arrived at Chaisang (now southwest of Jiujiang, Jiangxi), Sun Quan had received a threatening letter from Cao Cao. The letter said: "The army of 800,000 people who are in charge of the water now will join the general to hunt Wu." Sun Quan They were unwilling to be controlled by Cao Cao with the "entire land of Wu and a hundred thousand people", and they were worried that the coalition forces of Sun and Liu could not match Cao Cao. Sun Quan's main war faction represented by Lu Su and the peace faction headed by Zhang Zhao also launched a fierce debate. Zhuge Liang analyzed the pros and cons of both the enemy and ourselves for Sun Quan: "Although the Yuzhou (Liu Bei) army was defeated by Changban, the number of warriors returned today is as good as Guan Yu's naval army of 10,000 people, and Liu Qi and Jiangxia's warriors are no less than 10,000." He pointed out that (1) Cao Cao After a long expedition, the soldiers were exhausted; (2) the northerners were "not used to water warfare"; (3) the people of Jingzhou had not yet convinced Cao Cao. Zhuge Liang concluded that if Sun and Liu united, they would definitely win.

Lu Su persuaded Sun Quan by stimulating the general's advice, and at the same time advised Sun Quan to immediately recall Zhou Yu from Poyang (now northeast of Boyang, Jiangxi). Zhou Yu supported the opinions of Zhuge Liang and Lu Su, and analyzed the weaknesses of Cao's army successively, pointing out: first, Cao's army was exhausted; second, "it is extremely cold now, and the horses have no grass." Third, in addition, Ma Chao and Han Sui were still in Guanxi. Cao Cao's future troubles. Later, he analyzed the actual strength of Cao's army and pointed out that Cao's army from the Central Plains only numbered 150,000 to 60,000 people, and the 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers who had been surrendered by Liu Biao were not loyal to Cao Cao.

Sun Quan strengthened his confidence in joining forces with Liu to defeat Cao, and appointed Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu as the left and right commanders, and Lu Su as the captain of the Zan Army. Zhou Yu led an elite force of 30,000 people and went up the river to Xiakou. He joined Liu Bei's army of more than 20,000 people and joined forces to fight against Cao Cao.

Defeat in Wulin: The army led by Zhou Yu met Liu Bei at Fankou. Then he went upstream to Red Cliff and met Cao Jun. Cao Jun's newly-organized and newly attached Jingzhou navy had weak combat effectiveness and suffered from an epidemic of plague, which made the initial battle unfavorable. Cao Cao had to "lead the army to the north of the Yangtze River" and move the warship to the Wulin side of the north bank. Zhou Yu docked the warship on the Red Cliff side of the south bank and faced each other.

The Northern soldiers were not used to life on the ship, so Cao Cao ordered the warships to be chained together with iron ropes to reduce the bumps of the wind and waves. Zhou Yu's general Huang Gai suggested using fire attack tactics to defeat Cao's army: "Today the invaders are outnumbered and it is difficult to sustain them. However, if Guan Cao's warships are connected end to end, they can be burned and driven away." Zhou Yu adopted Huang Gai's suggestion. He immediately decided to let Huang Gai fake a surrender to approach Cao Cao's warship. Huang prepared ten Mengchong battleships, loaded with firewood and ointment, camouflaged with curtains and carrying the flags agreed with Cao Cao.

It is the middle of winter, and winds mostly blow from the north. However, according to meteorological rules, after a few days of severe cold days, it is common to have less warm days, and the wind direction may change to easterly or southerly. It is said that on November 12, Jiazi Day (December 7, 208 AD), the sky was clear and the wind was warm. The south wind picked up in the evening, and the wind became strong at midnight. Huang Gai set off with the prepared ships and sailed to Cao Cao with the wind. Boat. When they arrived at the center of the river, Huang Gai sawed the torch with his hand, causing all the soldiers to shout in unison: "Surrender!" Cao's officers and soldiers were unprepared and "all stretched their necks to watch, pointing to Gai to surrender."

About two miles away from Cao's army, Huang Gai then ordered the firewood to be lit, and the fire started at the same time. The fire was fierce and the wind was fierce. The ship was like an arrow, burning the northern ship and extending to all the camps on the shore. In a short time, "smoke spread across the sky, and many people were burned and drowned."

Sun Jun's main fleet on the south bank took the opportunity to beat drums and advance; at the same time, Liu Bei also marched from Shushan to Wulin. The Allied forces crossed the Yangtze River and defeated Cao's army. Seeing that the defeat was irreversible, Cao Cao immediately burned the remaining ships and led his troops to retreat. Zhou Yu and Liu Bei's armies advanced by land and water, and Cao Cao retreated toward Jiangling along the Huarong Trail (today's Jianli North, Hubei Province). Due to plague and starvation, Cao Cao's army lost most of its troops. Fortunately, Zhang Liao, Xu Zhu and others were able to escape the danger. When they arrived at Jiangling City, Cao Cao feared that his rear would be unstable, so he returned to the north, leaving Cao Ren and Xu Huang to guard Jiangling, and Man Chong stationed in Dangyang.

Consequences: Before the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao's advantage was very great: first, Cao Cao "held the emperor to order the princes", and the princes naturally found it difficult to compete morally; second, Cao Cao went south with his newly victorious army, His Qi grew stronger, and thirdly, Cao Cao's military strength was several times that of Sun and Liu. Since Cao Cao has such an advantage, the performance of the Sun-Liu coalition is even more brilliant. In this battle, Sun and Liu Jun made use of their skills in water warfare and cleverly used fire attacks. It can be regarded as a famous example in Chinese history of being decisive and defeating more with less. After the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao retreated to the north and never had the opportunity to march south to Jingzhou on such a large scale. Cao Cao's group also lost the possibility of unifying the country in a short period of time.

Zhou Yu and others confronted Cao Ren across the river and sent Gan Ning to attack Yiling (today's Yichang, Hubei). Cao Ren led his troops to encircle Gan Ning. Zhou Yu led his army to rescue and defeated Cao Ren's army. Liu Bei returned to Xiakou, intending to trace the Han River to Cao Ren's rear. The following year, Cao Ren was forced to retreat. Sun Quan continued his alliance with Liu Bei to resist Cao Cao. Liu Bei took advantage of the situation and captured most of Jingzhou, including Wuling (the county seat is in today's Changde, Hunan Province), Changsha, Guiyang (the county seat is in today's Chenxian County, Hunan Province), and Lingling (all in today's Hunan Province). Later, Liu Zhang's Yizhou was captured. Sun Quan occupied Jiangdong, forming a separatist situation among the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu.