Chapter 28 8. Capture Hanzhong

Just when Liu Bei and Sun Quan were facing the river, Cao Cao personally led an army of 100,000 to conquer Hanzhong.As we introduced in the second chapter, the process of Cao Cao seizing Hanzhong was very dramatic.Cao Jun lost his way at night and ran into Zhang Wei's barracks under Zhang Lu by mistake. He scattered Zhang Wei's garrison, captured Yangping Pass, and captured Hanzhong. After capturing Hanzhong, Cao Cao faced Liu Bei in Yizhou.Many years have passed since the battle of Changbanpo. Not only did this old opponent not go to the end of the road, but he got better and better. He ran from the central south to the southwest, and had his own territory.When Liu Bei was wandering around, Cao Cao called him a hero. Now that Liu Bei occupies Xingzhou and Yizhou, Cao Cao regards him with admiration.

Should we continue to advance and capture Xishu, or should we just retreat?Cao Cao hesitated.Sima Yi and Liu Ye, Cao Cao's two most important advisers at the time, both persuaded Cao Cao to crusade against Western Shu.Sima Yi told Cao Cao that Liu Bei had obtained Xishu by deceit, and the people of Xishu had not yet surrendered, and he was fighting for Jiangling again. This is a good opportunity to win Xishu.Sima Yi also said a famous saying: "A sage cannot go against the time, nor will he lose the time." However, before this opportunity, Cao Cao finally chose to give up.He pondered for a long while, and then said a famous saying: "Man has no foot in suffering, and once he has obtained Longyou, he wants to obtain Shu again." Perhaps it was a fluke to get Hanzhong, which reminded Cao Cao of the lesson seven years ago and easily captured Xiangfan. However, in the subsequent attack, he encountered the most tragic battle of Chibi in his life.At this time, if Cao Cao continues to take a small step forward, he may achieve a great cause.However, due to worries in his heart and worries in the court, Cao Cao no longer had the energy to rush for three hundred miles a day and a night.

Seven days later, some Shu people who surrendered said that when Shuzhong heard that the gate of Hanzhong had been opened by Cao Cao, they were "dozens of surprises a day."Only then did Cao Cao realize that the middle of Shu was already in chaos. He regretted it and asked Liu Ye unwillingly, "Is it still possible to attack now?" Since Xishu could no longer be attacked, Cao Cao left Xia Houyuan, Zhang Yun, and Xu Huang to guard Hanzhong, and led his troops back to the north. When Liu Bei came with his troops, Cao Cao had already left Hanzhong.Fazheng saw the mystery, and suggested to Liu Bei that Cao Cao surrendered to Zhanglu and Dinghanzhong in one fell swoop, but failed to capture Bashu.Now the guards in Guanzhong, Xia Houyuan and Zhang Yun, are not strong enough. If we lead our troops to attack, we will be able to conquer them.

Hanzhong is the gate of Western Shu, and this gate is guarded by others, and sooner or later, Western Shu will not be at peace. In addition, Fazheng analyzed the situation so thoroughly, Liu Bei made up his mind to attack Hanzhong. In 215 A.D., Zhang He led his troops to attack Brazil and Padong counties, intending to move the local people to Hanzhong, so Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei to fight against Zhang He.The two armies encountered each other in Bameng. Zhang Fei held his position while dispatching more than 10,000 elite soldiers to surprise Zhang He by a small path.Zhang He couldn't look at each other from head to tail, and was beaten to the point of losing his helmet and armor. He escaped from the siege with only a dozen people.

During the Ming Dynasty, people discovered a cliff carving in Liujiang County, Sichuan Province, with a 22-character inscription: "The general of the Han Dynasty flew, and led thousands of soldiers. The first big thief Zhang He was in Bameng, and he was inscribed immediately." The inscription is called "Zhang Fei Li Ma Ming", Zhang Fei is good at calligraphy and painting, this inscription should be written by him. This was a key victory, because not only did Cao Jun retreat to Hanzhong, only seeking self-protection, but it also strengthened Liu Bei's confidence in attacking Hanzhong. In 218, Liu Bei started the greatest war in his life. He left Zhuge Liang to garrison Chengdu, and personally led Fazheng, Huang Zhong, Wei Yan and other generals to Hanzhong.

Liu Bei didn't fight hard as soon as he came up. He first sent Zhang Fei, Wu Lan and others to Wudu to attack Hanzhong's flanks.The flank of Hanzhong was guarded by Cao Hong. Zhang Fei made a trick and divided his troops into two groups, threatening to attack the rear of Cao Hong's army. This is how Zhang He was defeated at the beginning.But Cao Hong was not fooled, he did not divide his forces, and concentrated his forces to face Zhang and Wu.Zhang Fei and Wu Lan were defeated. Wu Lan fled to a minority tribe and was later killed. Zhang Fei was also forced to evacuate Wudu. After the flank attack failed, Liu Bei personally led an army to attack Yangping Pass, the gateway of Hanzhong.At the beginning, Cao Jun picked up a victory for nothing here and entered Hanzhong.But Liu Bei was not as lucky as Cao Cao, and Xiahou Dun and Zhang Yun were not Zhang Wei either. The two of them personally led heavy troops to guard here.Liu Bei selected more than ten thousand elite soldiers to attack in turn, but made no progress.

Cao and Liu faced each other at Yangping Pass like this, and a year passed before they knew it.The wars in the Three Kingdoms era were less urgent, and they were all such long-term confrontational positional warfare, and those without endurance could not sustain it. In 218 AD, Liu Bei resorted to a plan to divide his troops and sent Chen Shi to attack Maming Pavilion Road in the north of Yangping, but was intercepted by Xu Huang and suffered heavy losses. As a result, Liu Bei fell into a great predicament: he was unable to attack for a long time, and he was exhausted, and at the same time, he lost a lot of troops.But Liu Bei had no way to retreat, and he had to stick to the end for the immediate plan, so he wrote to ask Zhuge Liang to recruit the remaining troops to reinforce Hanzhong.At this time, Yizhou's reserve force has been exhausted, so Zhuge Liang still has no soldiers to send.He went to Yang Hong to discuss it. Yang Hong said that Hanzhong is the throat of Xishu. If Hanzhong cannot be taken, Cao Jun will take the opportunity to counterattack Xishu. This is a disaster for the family.Even if all the men were to fight and all the women were to transport supplies, they would still have to fight to the death.

Zhuge Liang temporarily recruited troops to reinforce Hanzhong, and everyone in Shuzhong who could walk was mobilized to join this tragic battle for the door.Liu Bei's eyes were also red, and he braved the rain of arrows to come to the front line in person, and no one could persuade him to go down.Seeing this, Fazheng stopped persuading him, and ran in front of Liu Bei to defend him from arrows.When Liu Bei saw it, he hurriedly asked Fazheng to step back, but Fazheng refused, saying, "Mr. Ming, you block the arrows yourself, let alone a villain like me?"Liu Bei had no choice but to say, okay Xiaozhi, let's retire together.It can be seen that Liu Bei is not only able to cry but only escape, and there is also a hero's blood and fearless spirit in his body.If not such a person, how can he stand out from the crowd?

There is still no progress in the frontal attack, and the strategy must be changed.Fazheng proposes to find a way to lure the enemy out, and then to kill the killer, attacking the enemy must be saved.In 219 A.D., Liu Bei led the main force quietly crossed the tributaries of the Han River, marched towards Dingjun Mountain, the western gateway of Hanzhong, and unexpectedly captured the weakly defended Dingjun Mountain.The gate of Hanzhong was finally pried open by Liu Bei, and the initiative of the war fell into Liu Bei's hands. Cao Jun was in a hurry, and hurriedly built camps on the south bank of the Han River and the east side of Dingjun Mountain to block Liu Bei's northward march.Liu Bei launched a surprise attack at night and set fire to Cao Ying.Xiahou Dun's younger brother Xiahouyuan led Qingqi to the rescue. Liu Bei had expected this step and sent Huang Zhong to ambush Xiahouyuan halfway.Unexpectedly, Xia Houyuan was killed by the rebellious army, and the army was also defeated.Liu Bei took advantage of the victory to pursue and occupied various important places in the western part of Hanzhong.

Cao Jun suffered a big loss, and Cao Cao hurriedly led his troops to Yangping Pass when he heard about it.At this time, Liu Bei had an important place, and he knew that he had the chance to win, so he said with pride: "Although Mr. Cao came, there is nothing he can do. I must have Hanchuan." The world reincarnates, and the country changes hands. Liu Bei actually had only one trick to deal with Cao Cao, that is, like Cao Bing back then, occupying a favorable location and not being able to hold on.This place is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and Cao Jun's hard work can't last long. Liu Bei's confidence is not groundless.

Sure enough, after insisting on it for a month, Cao Cao's lack of military supplies and people's hearts became lax.One night, Cao Cao set the day's sentry code as "chicken ribs".Soon, he gave up this "chicken rib" and led his troops back to the court.So far, Hanzhong belongs to Liu Bei. Jingzhou was borrowed, and Yizhou was fraudulently obtained. Only Hanzhong was fought by Liu Bei under the rain of arrows, so the Battle of Hanzhong was the most glorious battle in Liu Bei's life.After winning Hanzhong, Liu Bei was complacent and called himself the "King of Hanzhong" without hesitation. This was the most glorious moment in his life and the peak of his career.Not long after, his brother Guan Yu also made military exploits in Jingzhou, which shocked China for a while. In war, one side's victory is not only the result of its own efforts, but also the result of the opponent's mistakes and opportunities.If Cao Cao had obtained Longwangshu after occupying Hanzhong, and captured the terrified and restless Xishu, causing Liu Bei to lose his place, the world might not have a three-point situation.However, Cao Cao mistakenly learned the lesson of the Battle of Chibi and lost the opportunity to destroy Shu in one fell swoop.The attitude of learning from experience and lessons is correct, but it is wrong to learn from the way of seeking the sword.Appropriate use of past experience is a benefit, and improper use is a hindrance. The key here is whether you can objectively see the reality at that time.