Chapter 41 7. Xiaoyaojin

The alliance between Sun and Liu was temporarily maintained, and Liu Bei transferred his main force to the north of Yizhou to concentrate on dealing with Cao Cao.Sun Quan decided to take advantage of this rare opportunity to make a big effort. In August of the 20th year of Jian'an (215), just before and after Cao Cao had just invaded Nanzheng, Zhanglu's stronghold, Sun Quan gathered 100,000 troops to attack Hefei.When Cao Cao left Hefei last time, he left Zhang Liao, Li Dian, and Le Jin behind, but there were not many troops left for them, only 7,000. Cao Cao also considered that Sun Quan would take advantage of his expedition to Hanzhong to launch an attack on Hefei. He had already thought of a countermeasure, but he did not make it public. Instead, he wrote it in a confidential letter and handed it to Xue ti.

When several groups of people who are not affiliated with each other and have similar military positions are jointly responsible for a certain defense, in order to facilitate communication, contact and coordination among the various groups of people, they often set up the post of guards. Their status is generally not particularly high, but they directly Report to Cao Cao himself and directly accept Cao Cao's orders, so his status is very important. After Cao Cao left, Xue Ti obeyed the instructions and did not open the secret letter until Sun Quan led 100,000 troops to kill Hefei. Xue Ti thought it was time, so he opened it in front of Zhang Liao, Le Jin, and Li Dian.Everyone thought that the prime minister had left some secret weapon, and the expectations were high, but they only saw a few words written on it: "If Sun Quan comes, generals Zhang and Li will go out to fight, general Yue will guard, and the guards will not have to fight. "

Everyone is a little disappointed. It is obviously outnumbered at the moment. It is advisable to adopt a defensive position and wait for the arrival of reinforcements. If you take the initiative to attack, it is very doubtful whether you can win.Only Zhang Liao believed that the Prime Minister's instructions were correct. He said: "Mr. Cao is on an expedition. If we sit and wait for reinforcements, the enemy will definitely defeat us. Therefore, Mr. Cao ordered us to attack when the enemy is not fully assembled to dampen their spirit. , to stabilize the morale of the army, and then they can hold on.”

Le Jin, Li Dian and others still hesitated, Zhang Liao was a little angry: "The chance of success or failure is to fight here. If you still have doubts, I, Zhang Liao, am willing to fight alone!" Li Dian and Zhang Liao usually had conflicts, but at this time he said with emotion: "This is a major national event, I can't forget righteousness because of selfishness, please let me follow you forward!" Therefore, Zhang Liao recruited death squads overnight, selected a total of 800 people, killed cattle and fed them, and let them have a full meal.After daybreak, Zhang Liao personally put on armor and held a halberd, and led the eight hundred warriors into the enemy camp.

Zhang Liao shouted his name while killing. They killed dozens of enemies in a row, including two generals.They charged extremely fast, and they reached Sun Quan's headquarters in a blink of an eye (rushing into the base and entering under Quan's command). Sun Quan didn't expect it at all. He was taken aback and didn't know what to do. There was a mound in front of him, which might be a mound of graves (high mounds).Standing under the mound, Zhang Liao shouted for Sun Quan to come down and fight.Sun Quan did not dare to move. At this time, Sun Quan's generals rushed over and surrounded Zhang Liao.

Zhang Liao led dozens of people around him to kill again. Just after breaking out of the siege, he heard someone calling for help from behind. Looking back, he saw that some of the people he had brought were surrounded by Sun Wu soldiers and could not escape. Zhang Liao then went back to kill, invincible. No one dares to stop the enemy.Zhang Liao successfully rescued the besieged soldiers. The battle lasted from morning to noon, and Zhang Liao used these 800 men to rush and kill Sun Quan's camp. Sun Wu's army was helpless, watching them fight in and out, Sun Wu's morale was greatly damaged.

Sun Wu's army attacked for more than ten days, but was blocked by the high-moralized Cao Jun and could not succeed. Sun Quan decided to withdraw his troops. Sun Wu's army was ordered to retreat one after another, while Sun Quan and generals such as Lu Meng, Gan Ning, Ling Tong, Jiang Qin, Chen Wu, and Pan Zhang stayed behind to supervise the formation.There is a Fei River outside the city of Hefei, and there is a ferry called Xiaoyaojin on the Feishui. Sun Quan and others were waiting to cross the river north of Xiaoyaojin, when they were spotted by Zhang Liao, who was overlooking the enemy's situation.Zhang Liao led his troops out suddenly, aiming directly at Sun Quan.

The attack was so sudden that Sun Quan and others were unprepared. Lu Meng and Gan Ning desperately protected Sun Quan. Ling Tong commanded the people around him to carry Sun Quan away (Gan Ning and Lu Meng fought against the enemy with all their strength, and Ling Tong led close friends to help Quan out of the siege. ), and transferred Sun Quan to a safe place.Ling Tong came back to fight Cao Jun again, and everyone around him died in battle, and he was also injured in many places. It was estimated that Sun Quan had escaped danger, so he withdrew from the battlefield. Lu Meng, Gan Ning, Jiang Qin and others fought against Zhang Liao to cover Sun Quan. Gan Ning was extremely brave and kept shooting at the enemy with bows. When asked, history books called him "vigorous and resolute".

Gan Ning used to be Liu Biao's subordinate. Liu Biao sent him to follow Huang Zu to fight against Sun Quan. In one battle, he shot and killed Ling Tong's father Ling Cao, and he forged a hatred from then on.Ling Tong covered Sun Quan's retreat and fought back again. He cooperated tacitly with Gan Ning and resisted Cao's onslaught. According to the "Three Kingdoms Pan Zhang Biography", Sun Wu's general Chen Wuli died in battle, and Song Qian, Xu Sheng, Gan Ning and others were injured. "The Spring and Autumn Annals of Emperor Xiandi" states that Zhang Liao met a Wu general with a purple beard. He had a long upper body and a short lower body. Follow Le Jin to chase after him.

According to "Jiang Biao Zhuan", Sun Quan rode a horse to a bridge over Xiaoyaojin Ferry. The bridge was in disrepair for a long time, and the bridge deck was broken.At this moment, only Gu Li, the head of the guard (closer to the prisoner), was by his side. Gu Li asked Sun Quan to hold the saddle to stabilize his body, and he swung his whip behind to help the horse.Gu Li made great contributions and was later named Dutinghou. Sun Quan was lucky enough to escape Feishui, but he was rescued by his superior general He Qi with 3000 men, and Sun Quan was able to escape.He Qi welcomed Sun Quan into the big boat, and put on a banquet to scare Sun Quan. During the banquet, He Qi shed tears. He said to Sun Quan: "The safety of the lord is a major issue. Today we almost caused a catastrophe. The officials were terrified, as if there was no one." It’s as if the sky is gone, and I will take today’s incident as a lifelong commandment!” Sun Quan also stepped down from his seat, and went to wipe He Qi’s tears away (Quan took his tears away from the front).

Gan Ning and others broke through and returned. Among them, Ling Tong was the most injured. When they reached the edge of Feishui, the bridge had been destroyed by Cao Jun, and Ling Tong dived across the river wearing armor.When Sun Quan arrived on Sun Quan's big boat, Sun Quan was surprised and delighted to see him. He left Ling Tong on his own boat, changed his clothes himself, took out the treasured "Zhuo's good medicine" to heal Ling Tong's wounds, and Ling Tong survived. In the battle of Xiaoyaojin, Cao Jun defeated Sun Wu's attack of 100,000 people with more than 7,000 people, and Sun Quan was in danger twice, causing Sun Quan to lose his troops and generals, creating a battlefield myth. After this battle, Zhang Liao became even more famous, and since then Zhang Liao's name has been associated with Xiaoyaojin. Later generations commented on the victory of this battle. On the one hand, they attributed it to Zhang Liao and others for their bravery in fighting. They dared to take the initiative to attack a strong enemy.On the other hand, he also spoke highly of Cao Cao's knowledge and responsibility. Cao Cao seemed to have predicted what would happen a year later in the letter he left behind, and gave clear instructions on how to use troops. He knew that Zhang Liao, Le Jin, Li Dian and others were not convinced by each other, and they usually did not buy each other's account , so temporarily kept the plan of resisting the enemy secret. He believed that Zhang Liao and others could focus on the overall situation and encourage each other at critical times, and they would surely win by surprise. The reason why Zhang Liao was the main attacker and Li Dian was allowed to defend the city was because Cao Cao understood their characters. Zhang Liao fought bravely and ruthlessly; defend the city. Today's former site of Xiaoyaojin is in Xiaoyaojin Park in the old town of Hefei City, Anhui Province, where there is also the tomb of Zhang Liao.Zhang Liao's ancestral home was Mayi County (now Shuozhou, Shanxi), Yanmen County, Bingzhou Governor's Department. He and Guan Yu were fellow villagers and had a good relationship.Zhang Liao died of illness in Jiangdu in the third year of Huangchu (222). After his death, he was either buried in Jiangdu or in his hometown. It is unlikely that he was buried in Hefei. This tomb of Zhang Liao should be a tomb built by later generations to commemorate him. .