Chapter 24 3. Distress on the river

The Guanzhong coalition forces confronted Cao Cao's army relying on the natural danger of Tongguan, occupying a geographical advantage.Cao Jun's strong attack was difficult to succeed. Cao Cao's generals believed that they should avoid their edge and go up along the Yellow River to attack Fengyi County occupied by the enemy from Hedong County, where they opened up a second battlefield. But Prime Minister Cao is still not in a hurry, and still looks confident.In this way, the two sides confronted each other for a while. Under the current circumstances, the stalemate will undoubtedly have many disadvantages for Cao Jun. On the one hand, the enemy can take the opportunity to complete the assembly. On the other hand, if the stalemate is too long, the pressure on one's own logistics support will increase. Mistakes can happen at any time.

In fact, various enemy troops arrive every day, and information in this regard will be reported to Cao Cao at any time.Hearing such a report, Cao Cao not only didn't worry, but beamed with joy (every time a thief arrives, the public is always happy). After the battle, the generals asked Cao Cao why he was so happy when he heard that the enemy soldiers were coming.Cao Cao replied: "The territory of Guanzhong is vast. If the enemy soldiers from all walks of life are defending against danger, we will not be able to complete the conquest in a year or two. Now they gather themselves (now they are all here). Although there are many people, they lack a unified command. It would be much easier to take advantage of the opportunity to annihilate them in one fell swoop, so I am happy (because it is not easy, I am happy)."

The generals suddenly realized that Prime Minister Ganqing was not only thinking about winning the immediate battle, but also thinking about the long term.The above passage of Cao Cao is recorded in "Three Kingdoms" and should be credible.If you look at the Battle of Tongguan from this angle, it seems that you can see the deeper meaning behind the appearance of the war. On the surface, Cao Cao sent Zhong Yao to attack Zhang Lu, and Cao Ren moved to Hedong County to reinforce Zhong Yao, which unexpectedly led to the rebellion of Ma Chao and others.But another possibility is also very obvious, that is, when Cao Cao sent Zhong Yao to attack Zhang Lu, it was simply a feint, the purpose was to force the generals in Guanzhong to rebel, so as to completely solve the historical problems left over in the Guanzhong area.

Therefore, when the generals proposed to open up a second battlefield in Hedong County, Cao Cao didn't seem too anxious.The generals considered the outcome of the battle, while Cao Cao considered strategic issues. But from the perspective of the outcome of the battle, opening up a second battlefield is undoubtedly the only way to resolve the current passive situation.Although Cao Cao did not deploy with great fanfare, he quietly sent a team of 4,000 people to Pubanjin, a ferry on the Yellow River. The team was led by Xu Huang and Zhu Ling, natives of Hedong County. The location of Tongguan is roughly on the south bank of the bend of the Yellow River. To maneuver to Pubanjin, one must first cross from the south bank of the Yellow River to the north bank of the Yellow River, and then go northward along the east bank of the Yellow River, traveling about thirty or forty miles to Puban County (now Shanxi Yongji).

Perhaps Xu Huang and Zhu Ling's troops were stationed in Hedong County, so their actions were more sudden.The Guanzhong coalition forces did not set up defenses here. Xu Huang and Zhu Ling led their troops across the Yellow River and set up camp on the west bank of the Yellow River to support the actions of the large troops. Didn't Ma Chao anticipate this move?Nor is it.According to the "Shanyang Gongzai Ji", Ma Chao had seen Cao Jun's attempt to divide his troops across the river, and he discussed with Han Sui to divide his troops to resist the enemy and block the enemy on the north bank of the Weihe River.Ma Chao believes that as long as the confrontation with Cao Jun is achieved, within 20 days, Cao Jun’s logistics supply will inevitably encounter difficulties, and he will retreat without a fight (it is suitable for Weibei to refuse, but within 20 days, the river east valley is exhausted, and he must leave) .

This strategy is correct, because for the expeditionary force, logistical support is always a weak link. Although Cao Jun will not be unable to supply rations for 20 days, if the confrontation lasts for several months or even longer, Cao Jun will indeed not fight back.Later, when Cao Cao heard about Ma Chao's idea, he was quite surprised, and he couldn't help but sighed: "If Ma Chao doesn't die, I will die without a place to be buried (if the horse doesn't die, I won't have a place to be buried)!" However, Han Sui disagreed with Ma Chao's opinion. He believed that the battle should be resolved quickly, let Cao Jun cross the river, wait until Cao Jun crossed halfway, and then launch a counterattack, so that the enemy can't look at each other from head to tail. yeah).

In the military book "Wu Zi" written by Wu Qi, a military strategist in the Warring States Period, there is a saying that "the army can be attacked halfway across the river", which means that the best time to attack is when the enemy is halfway across the river. The reason seems to be understood by everyone.However, things on the battlefield are often unpredictable, and we must not treat problems dogmatically. After Han Sui became a military general, he must have written a lot of military books, but he still has a lot of time to integrate the contents of the textbooks into practice. Not enough.

Han Sui made up his mind to wait for Cao Jun's "half crossing" here at Tongguan, but Xu Huang and Zhu Ling took advantage of the loophole. When they stood on the west bank of the Yellow River, Cao Cao suddenly led the main force to move northward from Tongguan, and also wanted to cross north. Yellow River.After receiving the report, Ma Chao was really in a hurry this time, he stopped discussing with Han Sui, and led his troops to chase after him. At this time, most of Cao's troops had already crossed the Yellow River, and Ma Chao's troops came to kill them. Ma Chao's direct descendant is the most effective one in the Guanzhong Allied Forces. "Three Kingdoms Xu Chu Biography" says that they have more than 10,000 people.As mentioned earlier, they are good at using spears, not only using spears as hand-held weapons, but also throwing spears like javelins when necessary, which has great lethality.

This is a bit like the tactics of the ancient Roman army.The ancient Roman legions were good at long marks and fish-scale arrays, using heavy and enlarged shields as guards.The predecessor of Ma Chao's troops was the Liangzhou Army, and they were active in the Western Regions.According to research, around 53 BC, that is, during the Western Han Dynasty in my country, a melee occurred in the Parthian grasslands in Europe. The ancient Roman general Crassus expedition to Persia and died in the battle.His second army and the remnants of the third army were defeated and returned to Rome, while the first army was cut off by the Persian army, and could only retreat to the east under the leadership of Crassus' son Pukeliu.

This Roman army finally wandered to the Western Regions of the Han Dynasty and became a mercenary army of the Huns, with a total strength of about 6,000.Later, the Huns were defeated by the army of the Han Dynasty, and this Roman army surrendered to the Han Dynasty and lived in a place called Lixuan on the Hexi Corridor.In the 1980s, many cultural relics related to the Roman garrison were unearthed at the site of the old city of Lixuan, thus unveiling the veil of this mysterious army. Lixuan was abandoned later, but it was not too long since the ancient Romans settled in Lixuan at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the old city of Lixuan was also the core activity area of ​​Ma Chao's army.Therefore, in recent years, some researchers believe that Ma Chao is an "ancient Romanized general", which does not mean that he has European blood, but that his troops are deeply influenced by ancient Roman warfare.

This method of warfare is characterized by speed and strength, using heavyweight weapons and heavy armor, and has great lethality on the battlefield. Now, Ma Chao led his troops to kill suddenly.Cao Cao was sitting by the Yellow River, sitting on a marching horse (hu bed) to watch the troops cross the river. There were only a few generals such as Zhang and Xu Chu and a small number of troops beside him. Ma Chao's men and horses were extremely fast, and they were in front of them in an instant. Cao Cao was still sitting on the horses, and the situation was very critical.According to the "Cao Man Biography", Zhang and Xu Chu were by Cao Cao's side. When they saw that the situation was not good, Zhang and Xu Chu quickly asked someone to put Cao Cao on board and left, trying to board the ship (Zhang and others were in a hurry and led the public into the ship together) . "Three Kingdoms Xu Chu Biography" records: "Chu Bai's Taizu, there are many thieves, and now the military crossing is over, it is better to go, but to help Taizu to board the boat." What happened, how could Xu Chu have time to report to Cao Cao, and he was afraid that it would be too late to run away with Cao Cao. Cao Cao had a division commander (a school lieutenant) named Ding Pei, who was probably in charge of logistics. Some of the cattle and horses under his care had not yet crossed the river. Seeing that the situation was critical, he hurriedly drove the cattle and horses out to create chaos and cover the prime minister’s escape. .Ma Chao's men ran to catch cattle and horses one after another (thieves randomly took cattle and horses), and Cao Cao and others were able to board the ship. Among Cao Cao's subordinates, Ding Pei is a very special figure, so let me say a few words. Ding Pei, styled Wenhou, was also born in Qiao County, Peiguo (now Bozhou, Anhui), and he was probably born in the Ding family in Qiao County.Both Cao Cao's mother and first wife came from this family. Ding Gong, Ding Chong, Ding Yi, Ding and others have come out of this family successively, but it is unknown what relationship Ding Pei has with them. Probably because of the relationship with fellow villagers and relatives, Cao Cao has always taken good care of Ding Pei (Taizu said that he was in Pei's hometown, and he loved him very much. Every report, he often followed him).But this Ding Pei is more greedy for money, and Cao Cao saved him for several crimes (he is a good sex, he breaks the law as many as he asks, and he is always forgiven).When Cao Cao later conscripted Sun Quan, Ding Pei followed the conquest, and he was probably engaged in logistics work. He secretly replaced the good cattle from the public with his own poor cattle. Cao Cao, who has always been strict with his subordinates, seems to be an exception to Ding Pei. He is really good to Ding Pei.Once, Cao Cao saw Ding Pei who had been dismissed, and joked with him, "Wenhou, where is your seal?" Ding Fei knew that Cao Cao was joking with him, and replied, "Take it for a big cake (Yi Yi pie ears).” Cao Cao laughed, turned around and said to the left and right: "Relevant departments have reported him many times and asked me to punish him for serious crimes. It's not that I don't know his faults, but he also has special skills. I have Ding Pei, just like most people who raise at home can steal. Although there is a small loss to eat dogs (stealing dogs), stealing dogs are good at catching mice and can guarantee the safety of my granary." Later, Ding Pei returned to his post as expected. Cao Cao has a good way of employing people, one of which is to enforce the law fairly. Such a situation with Ding Pei rarely happens. One possibility is that Ding Pei has a deep relationship with the Cao family, and he is a close relative of Cao Cao's mother or ex-wife. One possibility is that he really knows Ding Pei very well, knows his shortcomings, and also knows his strengths, and according to the principle of meritocracy, let him use his strengths as much as possible. Ding Pei probably died before Cao Cao. He had a son named Ding Mi, who was a man of the day when Cao Shuang, the grandson of Cao Cao's clan, was in power. Now, Cao Jun soldiers who have not crossed the Yellow River are all rushing towards the boat. In a critical moment, escape is a human instinct. Everyone doesn't care whether the prime minister is on the boat or not. The army is fighting for money, and the ship is too heavy to lose).The embarrassing scene of Emperor Xian's great escape was repeated again, and they were all on the Yellow River. Xu Chu swung his knife and chopped it off. At this time, Ma Chao's troops on the south bank began to shoot arrows at the boat. Lift the saddle to cover the Taizu). The Yellow River in the Tongguan area was turbulent, and the boats rowed hard to the north bank, but they were rushed eastward by the water, and they traveled four or five miles.Seeing this, Ma Chao's army chased along the river bank, shooting arrows while chasing.Seeing this situation, the generals and soldiers of Cao Jun who had already crossed the Yellow River were frightened. At this moment, the boatman was shot to death by random arrows, and the boat drifted down the river vigorously.Holding the saddle in one hand, Xu Chu rowed the boat with the other, and after exhausting all his efforts, he finally reached the opposite bank. Cao Jun on the north bank saw the prime minister's boat going down the river, the enemy kept shooting arrows, and people on the boat kept falling down, they were all terrified.Later, seeing Cao Cao returning safely, everyone was full of sorrow and joy, and many people couldn't help shedding tears (to see, it was sorrow and joy, or runny nose).Although Cao Cao was frightened, he still didn't care. He laughed and said, "Ma Chao was almost tricked by this boy today (it was almost trapped by a thief today)!" After experiencing the danger of life and death and gaining peace, most people will feel undecided. Thinking about those terrible things, they will still be immersed in fear.But every time Cao Cao came to this time, he always showed a relaxed look, and sometimes he didn't forget to make a few jokes.This may seem casual, but it has good intentions, because it can soothe the tension and anxiety in the hearts of the subordinates and let everyone regain confidence. Now, the main force of Cao's army who had crossed the Yellow River temporarily got rid of the enemy's pursuit, and could calmly come to Pubanjin, where they crossed the Yellow River westward and surrounded Tongguan from the side.