Read history ‖ Battle of Guandu, Battle of Red Cliffs.

battle of guandu

introduction: the battle of guandu was one of the "three major battles" at the end of the eastern Han dynasty, and it was also one of the famous battles in the history of China. In the fifth year of Jian 'an (AD 2), Cao Caojun and Yuan Shaojun were at loggerheads in Guandu (now northeast of Zhongmou, Henan), where they launched a strategic decisive battle. Cao Cao raided Yuan Jun's granary in Wuchao (now Fengqiu West, Henan), and then defeated Yuan Jun's main force. This battle laid the foundation for Cao Cao's unification of northern China.

background: at the end of the eastern Han dynasty, although the vigorous yellow turban insurrectionary uprising was suppressed, it dealt a heavy blow to the rule of the landlord class in the Han dynasty, and made the decadent eastern Han regime fall apart in name only. In the process of suppressing the Yellow turban insurrectionary, the officials in various counties monopolized the military and political power and occupied the territory. At that time, the separatist forces mainly included Yuan Shao in Hebei, JASON ZHANG in Hanoi, Cao Cao in Yanyu, Lu Bu in Xuzhou, Yuan Shu in Yangzhou, Sun Ce in Jiangdong, Liu Biao in Jingzhou, Gongsun Zan in Youzhou and Zhang Xiu in Nanyang.

process: in January of the fifth year of Jian' an, Yuan Shao led 1, elite soldiers to the south. Prior to this, Cao Cao had defeated Liu Bei, who was allied with Yuan Shao, and moved to Guandu, which was easy to defend but difficult to attack. In April, Cao Cao attacked Yan Liang, the general of Yuan, and defeated Yuan Jun in Baima (now the slippery county of Henan Province). Yuan Shao lost in the first battle, his spirit was frustrated, and he changed his adventurous attack into a camp. The two armies fought against each other in Guandu for several months. In the meantime, Cao Cao once wanted to defend Xuchang (now Xu Changdong, Henan Province) because of the shortage of soldiers and food. Xun Yu, the counselor, believes that Cao Jun is weak and strong, so withdrawing troops will take advantage of it at this time; On the other hand, Yuan Jun underestimates his enemy, is divided internally, and the stalemate will change after a long time, which is a surprise victory. Cao Cao took his word and sent troops to attack and burn Yuan Jun's grain truck. He also led an elite 5 troops to attack the grain depot in Yuan Junwu's nest (now in Henan), wiped out Yuan Jun and burned all the stored grain. The news came that Yuan Shao and his men were shaken and surrendered in succession. Cao Cao took the opportunity to attack on all fronts, wiping out more than 7, enemies, and Yuan Shao and his son fled north with only 8. The battle of Guandu laid the foundation for Cao Cao to unify the north, and Yuan Shao never recovered.

Evaluation: After more than a year of confrontation, the battle of Guandu ended with Cao Cao's overall victory. Cao Cao took a surprise attack with about 2, troops and defeated 1, Yuan Jun.. This war example has become a typical war example in the history of China.

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Battle of Red Cliffs

The "Battle of Red Cliffs" in 28 AD was a strategic battle between Cao Cao, Sun Quan and Liu Bei along the Yangtze River between Jiangling and Hankou in Hubei Province, which was of decisive significance to the establishment of the tripartite confrontation between the three countries. In this war, Sun and Liu, who were in a disadvantageous position, faced Cao Jun with a total strength of 234,, correctly analyzed the situation, found out its weaknesses and unfavorable factors, and adopted the operational policy of close coordination, attacking with fire, and pursuing victory. Cao Jun lost his helmet and fled to the north in a panic, which made Cao Cao's ambition of "writing poems horizontally" and annexing the whole world go to waste.

after Cao Cao pacified the north, he led a great army south to attack Liu Biao in 28 AD. Before his troops arrived in Jingzhou, Liu Biao had died of illness. His son, Liu Cong, was terrified when he heard that Cao Jun was huge, and sent for surrender first. At this time, Liu Bei was stationed in Fancheng (now Xiangfan City, Hubei Province). He heard that Cao Cao's army was going south and decided to retreat to Jiangling (now Jiangling, Hubei). When people in Jingzhou heard that Liu Bei was kind to others, they would rather retreat with him.

Cao Cao rushed to Xiangyang, heard that Liu Bei was retreating to Jiangling, and learned that Liu Biao had accumulated a large amount of rations in Jiangling, fearing that Liu Bei would seize it, and personally led 5, light cavalry to pursue Liu Bei. Liu Bei's men brought weapons and equipment, and hundreds of thousands of people followed him, and they could only March for more than ten miles every day. Cao Cao's cavalry drove more than 3 miles a day and night, and soon caught up with Liu Bei in Changbanpo, Dangyang (now northeast of Dangyang County, Hubei Province). Liu Bei's men were killed by Cao Cao's cavalry, but Zhang Fei resisted for a while in Changbanpo. Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang took a few troops to get rid of the pursuers. However, the road to Jiangling has been cut off by Cao Jun, so we have to divert to Xiakou (now Wuhan, Hubei).

Cao Cao occupied Jiangling, continued to March eastward along the river, and soon arrived at Xiakou. Zhuge Liang said to Liu Bei, "The situation is urgent, so we have to ask Sun Quan for help." Just as Sun Quan was afraid that Jingzhou would be occupied by Cao Cao, he sent Lu Su to find Liu Bei and persuaded him and Sun Quan to jointly resist Cao Jun. Zhuge Liang went with Lu Su to Chai Sang (now southwest of Jiujiang, Jiangxi) to see Sun Quan. Zhuge Liang met Sun Quan and said, "Now that Cao Cao has captured Jingzhou, he will soon attack Soochow. If the general is determined to resist, he will break off relations with Cao Cao as soon as possible and resist with us; Otherwise, simply surrender to them. If you hesitate again, it will be too late for disaster. " Sun Quan asked, "Then why didn't General Liu surrender to Cao Cao?" Zhuge Liang said seriously: "General Liu is a descendant of the royal family, so he can conquer the world. How can he surrender to Cao Cao?" After hearing what Zhuge Liang said, Sun Quan also said excitedly, "I can't give people away for nothing like Jiangdong land and 1 thousand troops." However, General Liu has just lost the battle. How can he resist Cao Jun? "

Zhuge Liang said, "Don't worry. Although General Liu was defeated for a while, there are still 2, water troops. Although Cao Cao had many soldiers and horses, the soldiers were exhausted after coming from a long distance. Besides, northerners are not used to water wars, and people in Jingzhou are not satisfied with them. As long as we work together, we will be able to defeat Cao Jun. " After listening to Zhuge Liang's analysis, Sun Quan was very happy, so he immediately called his generals to discuss ways to resist Cao Cao.

just then, Cao Cao sent soldiers to take the gauntlet. The letter said, "I was ordered by Emperor Han to lead the troops to the south. Now I have prepared 8, water troops and I am willing to compete with the general. " Sun Quan handed the letter to his men, and everyone turned pale and speechless. Zhang Zhao is the oldest official in Dongwu. He said: "Cao Cao used the name of the son of heaven to make a conquest. We have to resist him, and we have lost in reason. Besides, we wanted to rely on the Yangtze River natural barrier, but now we can't rely on it. Cao Jun occupied Jingzhou, and there were thousands of warships. They came down by land and water together, and we couldn't resist it. I think we had to surrender. " Zhang Zhao said this, and many people immediately echoed it. Only Lu Su looked on coldly and said nothing. Sun Quan listened and felt that it was not a taste, so he walked out of the house, and Lu Su followed. Sun Quan took Lu Su by the hand and said, "What do you say?"

Lu Su said, "I can't listen to what Zhang Zhao and others said just now. When it comes to surrender, I, Lu Su, can surrender, but the general can't. Because I surrendered, I can't go back to my hometown, still associate with celebrities, and I can be a county official if I have the opportunity. If the general surrenders, all the six counties in Jiangdong will fall into the hands of Cao Cao. Where are you going? " Sun Quan sighed and said, "What everyone just said really disappointed me. Only what you say is to my liking. " After the meeting, Lu Su advised Sun Quan to recall Zhou Yu, the general who was in Poyang, to discuss.

as soon as Zhou Yu arrived in chaisang, sun quan called civil and military officials to discuss. Zhou Yu said passionately at the meeting: "Cao Cao was called the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, but he was actually a traitor in the Han Dynasty. This time he came to die himself, so there is no reason to surrender to him. " He analyzed many disadvantages of Cao Cao, and thought that the northern soldiers would not have a water war, and if they arrived at this strange place far away, they would definitely get sick. No matter how many soldiers and horses there are, it's useless.

Sun Quan was emboldened by Zhou Yu's words. He stood up and pulled out his sword, and with a "gap", he cut off a corner of the case. He said sternly, "Whoever wants to surrender to Cao Cao again is just like this desk."

that evening, Zhou Yu went to Sun Quan alone and said, "I've made a clear inquiry. Cao Cao's military forces claim to be 8,, which is a bluff. In fact, it is only 2,, and many of them are Jingzhou soldiers, so they may not really fight for him. All you have to do is give me 5 thousand soldiers, and I'll keep them and beat them. "

The next day, Sun Quan appointed Zhou Yu as the commander-in-chief, and allocated him 3, water troops to fight against Cao Cao with Liu Bei. Zhou Yu led his troops into the army and met Cao Jun's outpost at Chibi (now Xiji Mountain in Wuchang County, Hubei Province). Sure enough, as Zhou Yu had expected, many soldiers of Cao Jun were acclimatized and had already got epidemic diseases. As soon as the two sides confronted each other, Cao Jun lost the battle and was forced to retreat to the north bank of the Yangtze River. Zhou Yu led the water army to the south bank, facing Cao Jun across the river.

As Zhou Yu expected, soldiers from Cao Cao's north can't fight with water. They can't stand the turbulence when they are on a warship. Later, they tied the warships together with iron ropes, and the ships were quite stable.

Huang Gai, Zhou Yu's Ministry, saw this situation and offered a plan to Zhou Yu, saying, "The enemy has many soldiers, so it is not good for us to drag on in Serenade. Now that Cao Jun has connected all the warships together, I think we can defeat them by fire attack. " Zhou Yu thought Huang Gai's idea was good, and the two men also discussed it, so that Huang Gai sent a letter to Cao Cao, saying that he would leave Soochow and surrender to Cao Cao. Cao Cao thought that the Dongwu generals were afraid of him and had no doubt about Huang Gai's fake surrender.

Huang Gai told the soldiers to secretly prepare ten big ships, each of which was loaded with dead branches, fully oiled, covered with cloth curtains and flags, and prepared a number of light boats tied to the stern of the big ships to be moved when the big ships caught fire. In the dead of winter in November, the weather suddenly warmed up and a southeast wind blew. That evening, Huang Gai led a group of soldiers in ten big ships, sailing in front and followed by a group of ships. The fleet arrived in the middle of the river, full of sails, and headed for Jiangbei like an arrow.

The soldiers of Cao Jun's Shuizhai heard that Dongwu would surrender in the future, and they were rushing to the bow to watch the excitement. Unexpectedly, the Dongwu fleet left the north shore for about two miles, and the ten big ships in front suddenly caught fire at the same time. Fire borrows the wind, and the wind helps the fire. Ten fireboats, like ten fire dragons, broke into Cao Jun's water village. The ships there, all crowded together, could not hide, and soon they all burned. In the blink of an eye, it has burned into a sea of fire. The water village burned, and the camp on the shore caught fire, and a large number of soldiers of Cao Jun were burned to death. Many people were squeezed into the river, unable to swim, and drowned immediately.

as soon as Zhou Yu saw the fire on the north shore, he immediately led the elite soldiers across the river to attack. They beat the drums to the sky. Jun on the north shore didn't know how many men and horses were attacking behind him, and all of them collapsed with fear. Cao Cao dragged the beaten army to the path of Huarong (southwest of Qianjiang County, Hubei Province). The path is full of puddles and mud pits, and the cavalry can't pass through it. Cao Cao quickly ordered the old and weak soldiers to find some straw to pave the way. He managed to get through with the cavalry, but many soldiers who filled the straw were trampled to death by men. Together with Zhou Yu, Liu Bei and Zhou Yu pursued closely by land and water until they reached Nanjun (where Jiangling, Hubei Province is now ruled). Cao Cao's hundreds of thousands of troops died in battle and suffered from epidemic diseases, and lost more than half. Cao Cao had to send Coss, Xu Huang and Lejin to stay in Jiangling and Xiangyang respectively, and he led his troops back to the north.

after the red cliff war, the separation of the three countries has basically taken shape.