The curtain call performance of the veteran Cao Wei: Cao Pi three-way war Wu.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Lu Xun, a famous general of Wu, defeated Liu Bei in the Battle of Yiling, and then pursued to Yong'an. He gave up the siege and chose to retreat, only Zhu Ran and Luo Tong understood his intentions.
His aim was not to capture Yong'an, but to reveal the real crisis facing Sun Wu. In September, Cao Pi announced a southern expedition to Sun Wu because Sun Quan refused to hand over the proton. The scale of this southern expedition was huge, and there were many generals, including Cao Xiu, Zhang Liao, Zang Ba, Wang Ling, Xiahou Shang, Zhang He, Xu Huang, Jiang Ji, Cao Tai, Chang Diao and others.
They were divided into three roads, the east road out of the hole, the west road around Jiangling, and the middle road to attack the wet beard. In addition, Jiangxia Taishou Wenpin also led the division to occupy the mouth and cut off the connection between Nanjun and Jiangxia.
Cao Pi sat in Wancheng and commanded remotely. The front of this war was thousands of miles along the Yangtze River, and the scale was unprecedented, showing Cao Wei's great national strength.
Cao Pi's decision on the southern expedition has been controversial. It has been suggested that he missed the perfect opportunity for the Battle of Yiling, and that if he had been able to join forces with Liu Bei to attack Sun Wu at that time, he might have won a decisive victory.
There are also people who believe that the time is not yet ripe for the southern expedition, and that Sun Wu has just won the battle of Yiling, and his morale is high, so it is not suitable to launch an attack. However, these criticisms ignore Liu Bei's political wisdom and Cao Pi's military judgment.
For the first view, on the surface, it is to criticize Cao Pi's lack of greed, but in fact, it ignores Liu Bei's political sensitivity. Liu Bei launched the Eastern Crusade mainly to recover the lost territory in Jingzhou and redraw the border with Eastern Wu, rather than really wanting to eliminate Sun Wu.
If Cao Pi had launched a southern expedition during the Battle of Yiling, it might have prompted the two sides to reach peace talks. Although there is some truth to the second point of view, Soochow has experienced many military operations, when is the best time to go south?
Cao Pi launched a southern expedition at this time, although he could not inflict a devastating blow on Sun Wu, but he had the opportunity to gain an advantage on some fronts. Therefore, it was not inappropriate for Cao Pi to launch a southern expedition at this time.
On the Sun and Wu side, as early as after the end of the Battle of Yiling, Sun Quan had already made arrangements for a potential crisis of Cao Wei's southern expedition. After Cao Pi launched a three-way offensive, Sun Quan immediately dispatched generals to resist and sued for peace with Cao Pi.
However, Cao Pi refused Sun Quan's request, and Sun Quan changed his name to Huangwu and began to use his own era name. In general, Cao Pi's decision-making on the southern expedition needs to take into account a variety of factors, and cannot be simply criticized.
Original text: Emperor Wu Sun Quan Sun Quan's great cause of founding the country, almost all the generals of the eastern and southern fronts of the Wei State participated in the battle, and the Wu State gathered almost everyone except Jiaozhou.
The Wei army consisted of: Cao Pi, 36 years old, Emperor of Wei, commanded Wancheng. Cao Ren, 55 years old, Da Sima, False Festival, supervised the military of Jing, Yang, and Yizhou, and led the army to attack Weisu.
Cao Xiu, age unknown, general of the expedition to the east, led the history of Yangzhou Thorn, fake Jieyue, supervised the military, and led more than 20 troops of soldiers and horses from five states out of the hole. Cao Zhen, age unknown, general of the army, fake Jieyue, supervised the Chinese and foreign military, and led the army to besiege Jiangling.
Xiahou Shang, age unknown, general of the southern expedition, led the history of Jingzhou Thorn, false festival, supervised the southern military, and led the army to besiege Jiangling. Zang Ba, age unknown, general of Zhendong, leading the history of Xuzhou Thorns, false festivals, supervising the military of Qingzhou, and following Cao Xiu out of the cave.
Zhang Liao, 54 years old, a former general, took a break and followed Cao Xiu out of the cave. Zhang He, age unknown, General Zuo, fake festival, with Cao Zhen around Jiangling. Xu Huang, age unknown, right general, fake festival, with Cao Zhen besieged Jiangling.
Wen Hire, age unknown, rebel against the general, lead Jiang Xia Taishou, fake festival, by Xiahou Shang Bei. Dong Zhao, 67 years old, served in Wancheng with Cao Pi. Jiang Ji, age unknown, Dongzhong Lang general, followed Cao Ren to attack the beard.
Zhao Yan, 52 years old, is a lieutenant of the horse, leading the Taishou of Hedong, a general of Diannong Zhonglang, and serving as Cao Xiu's military division. Jia Kui, 49 years old, Yuzhou Thorn History, followed Cao Xiu out of the cave. Wang Ling, 51 years old, Yanzhou Thorn History, followed Cao Xiu out of the cave.
Xin Bi, age unknown, served as Cao Zhen's military advisor. Yin Li, age and official position unknown, Dongguan Taishou, followed Cao Xiu out of the cave. Cao Tai, age and official position unknown, the son of Cao Ren, followed Cao Ren to attack the beard.
Chang Diao, age and official position unknown, with Cao Ren attacking the beard. Wang Shuang, whose age and official position are unknown, followed Cao Ren to attack the beard. Zhuge Qian, age and official position unknown, followed Cao Ren to attack the beard.
Shi Jian, age and official position unknown, with Xiahou Shangwei Jiangling. Gao Qian, age and official position unknown, with Xiahou Shangwei Jiangling. Among the other people who did not clearly record the accompanying expedition, Liu Ye, Su Ze, Huang Quan, and Xu Chu were most likely by Cao Pi's side, and Du Xi was in charge of military food dispatch.
Sun Quan faced this war of unprecedented scale and lasted nearly half a year, and he went all out. When he was just canonized as the king of Wu, Cao Pi planned this majestic cause of founding the country for him, which shows the importance that Cao Pi attached to him.
Cao Pi's strategic layout In November, Cao Pi arrived in Wancheng and stationed there. It is the closest to the Jiangling battlefield in Jingzhou, which shows that Jiangling is the battlefield that Cao Pi is most concerned about. The geographical location of Jiangling is extremely important, connecting Xiangyang Wancheng in the north, Jingnan Jiaoguang in the south, Jiangxia in the east, and Yizhou Three Gorges in the west, which can be described as a strategic node extending in all directions.
Back then, Zhou Yu, Lü Meng, and Liu Bei fought for this place, and Cao Pi's greatest expectation for this southern expedition was naturally to occupy Jiangling.
Sun Quan didn't dare to be careless, and Zhu Ran, the Jiangling guard, was Sun Quan's old classmate and Zhu Zhi's adopted son. Zhu Ran once garrisoned the three passes of the Wuxu Dawu to prevent Cao Cao's personal attack, and also made military exploits in the Battle of Jingzhou and the Battle of Yiling, and was praised by Lu Meng for his courage and impeccable loyalty and ability.
Sun Quan sent Sun Sheng to lead 10,000 people to guard Zhongzhou in the west of Jiangling City, echoing Jiangling City, and ordered Han Dang and others to lead troops to fight each other with Jiangling, plus Zhuge Jin, Pan Zhang, and Yang Cang, who were rushing to support, everything seemed to be stable.
The young Cao Xiu's attack plan was ready, but unexpectedly, Cao Pi was most worried about Cao Xiu. Dongpu, where Cao Xiu is located, Sun Wu called Dongkou, and both sides used the abbreviation, and the official name of this place should be Dongpukou.
Although the specific location is not clearly recorded in the historical books, it is inferred according to relevant historical materials that it should be located on the opposite bank of the Zhenjiang River in Jiangsu, which is one of the important ferries along the Yangtze River.
This road is the farthest from Wancheng, where Cao Pi is located, close to Jianye, the later capital of Wu, and it is the only battle in the Yangtze River that is directly fought in the Yangtze River in the three routes.
To sum up, Cao Pi had the lowest expectations for the results along the way, and Cao Xiu's task was only to contain the Wu army in this area, so that it could not support the nearby battlefield. In order to achieve this goal, Cao Pi also specially arranged Sun Quan's nemesis, the Hefei berserker Zhang Liao.
Although Zhang Liao had been seriously ill before, Sun Quan was still frightened after hearing that he was on this road, so he ordered: Although Zhang Liao was seriously ill, he should not be taken lightly and should be dealt with carefully.
It can be said that this journey has succeeded in producing a great deterrent effect. However, a letter sent by Cao Xiu shocked Cao Pi.
Cao Xiu wrote in his letter: I hope to lead the elite troops to cross the river, capture Jiangnan, and seize resources from the enemy, and I will definitely succeed when the time comes. If I die in battle, please don't worry.
Looking at this suicide note-like letter, Cao Pi was very angry: I sent you to contain it, but you want to be a death squad. But Cao Pi was afraid that Cao Xiu would really do this, so he hurriedly sent a messenger to stop it.
Regarding Cao Xiu, it is necessary to introduce it, otherwise everyone may think that Cao Xiu is just talking. Cao Xiu is Cao Hong's nephew and Cao Pi's contemporary, who followed Cao Cao to fight when he was young and accumulated a lot of experience.
Cao Xiu's military style was bold and decisive, and he took the initiative to attack in the battle of Xia Xuan, killing the Shu general Wu Lan, so that Zhang Fei and Ma Chao had to retreat. Later, Cao Pi sent him to guard Yangzhou, and as soon as he arrived, he led his troops to attack Sun Quan's troops stationed in Liyang and won a victory, and even sent people to cross the Yangtze River to attack Sun Quan's military camp on the south bank.
Cao Xiu was probably the only one of Cao Wei's generals to achieve results on the south bank of the Yangtze River. Therefore, this time he intends to cross the river again to attack Sun Wu, that is, his letter to Cao Pi may not be a joke.
However, as has been analyzed earlier, the purpose of Cao Pi's Eastern Route Army was not to cross the river. Not to mention that there are veterans such as Lu Fan, He Qi, Quan Cong, and Xu Sheng stationed here, it is difficult to fight with Cao Wei's small warships, even if it really crosses, the opposite bank is Danyang and Wu County, which Sun Quan has operated for many years, and the Sun family is deeply rooted here, and it is impossible to occupy it without a large army to respond.
So Cao Xiu can be regarded as dying of Cao Pi in a hurry. However, the development of things is often unexpected, and Cao Xiu's opportunity really came. One day in November, a strong wind suddenly blew on the river, blowing the cable of Sun Wu's warship, and the ship was blown into the river, Cao Xiu immediately led the generals to attack, and the Wu army was defeated, and thousands of people fell into the water and drowned.
The Wu army then urgently withdrew to the south bank, Cao Xiu saw that the situation was good, and ordered Zang Ba to lead 10,000 people to cross the river and fight with the Wu army on the south bank.
At this time, Sun Quan's half-brother Sun Lang accidentally burned his own equipment, which made the Wu army's battle situation even more unfavorable, and finally paid the price of thousands of deaths, and the Wu army finally drove Zang Ba back to Jiangbei.
Although Quan Cong and Xu Sheng killed the Wei general Yin Lu in the process of pursuing Zang Ba and killed hundreds of enemies, they were insignificant compared to the loss of personnel and materials. Cao Pi never expected that Cao Xiu would actually win a big victory at the entrance of the cave, and Cao Pi was naturally overjoyed when he opened the house, but at this time there was bad news: Zhang Liao's illness worsened after the war and unfortunately passed away at the age of fifty-four.
What Cao Pi didn't expect was that this victory actually became the biggest result of the three-way expedition to Wuzhong.
Sun Quan was furious that Lü Fan had sent Sun Lang to his place, resulting in Sun Lang being placed under house arrest until his death. At this time, Wu General He Qi received news that the Wu army was defeated at the entrance of the cave, so he led his army to respond.
Heqi was known for his prowess and skillful use of troops, and his fleet was uniform and unscathed. He Qi also decorated the fleet with great grandeur because of his penchant for prestige.
Cao Xiu saw this scene on the north bank and thought that the Wu army was not easy to deal with, so he temporarily dismissed the idea of crossing the river. On the other hand, Cao Ren led his army to capture Xianxi from the west, and sent Jiang Ji to lead his men and horses down the river to Xianxi in the northeast of Xixu, creating a situation of a large army attacking Xianxi.
After Zhu Huan learned the news, he sent troops to rescue Xianxi. However, Zhu Huan soon realized that this was Cao Ren's plan to lure the enemy, so he hurriedly sent an envoy to recover the rescuers. Although the rescuers had not yet recovered, Zhu Huan received news that Cao Ren's army was only seventy miles away from Misu.
At this time, Zhu Huan only had 5,000 men under his command, and the whole army panicked. However, Zhu Huan knew that the time had come to show the responsibility of the general.
Zhu Huan confidently summoned everyone and said to them: "When the two armies are fighting, the key to determining the outcome lies in the generals, not the numbers. Do you think Cao Ren's ability to use troops can be compared to my Zhu Huan?
In the art of war, the defending side only needs half the men and horses to resist the attacking side's double army, and this is when there are no cities on the plains, and both armies are equally brave and in unison.
Now Cao Ren is neither as smart nor as brave as me, and his soldiers are timid, and they have come all the way to come, and it is the time when people are sleepy and tired. We occupy a strong city, with a big river in front and a high mountain in the back, and we control the guest with the main force, which is a situation of winning all battles.
Even if Cao Pi came in person, what was he afraid of, how could he be afraid of him just Cao Ren!Although Zhu Huan's statement is arrogant, it is also reasonable. More importantly, the morale of the troops was boosted, and Zhu Huan usually treated the soldiers well, and everyone had confidence in winning the defensive battle.
Zhu Huan deliberately silenced the drum and lured Cao Ren to attack, Cao Ren sent Cao Tai to lead the army to attack the city, Zhu Huan personally defended, and Cao Tai could not capture it. And the rescuers sent before also came back at this time, and the middle lane fell into a standoff, and the Wei army's containment plan was actually declared bankrupt.
As for why Cao Ren did not personally lead his troops to attack Misu, the author believes that there are three reasons: first, Cao Ren, as the commander of the army and the first person in the military circles of Wei, has no need to personally take risks, and his son Cao Tai will also be an important figure in Cao Wei in the future, this is an opportunity to train him.
Second, although it is not explicitly stated in the history books, Cao Ren should have been seriously ill at this time, because in March next year, Cao Ren died of illness only 11 days after Cao Pi announced the withdrawal of the army.
Third, with the difficulty of attacking the terrain of the beard, and Zhu Huan's good fighting, even if Cao Ren personally commanded the siege, there is a high probability that it will not be able to take it.
Cao Wei's Western Route Army can be called luxurious, and generals such as Cao Zhen and Xiahou Shang, plus veteran generals such as Xu Huang and Zhang He, all show Cao Pi's determination. After Cao Zhen led his troops to besiege Jiangling, he immediately ordered Zhang He to attack Sun Sheng on Zhongzhou in the west of the city, and at the same time cut off Zhu Ran's connection with other Wu generals.
Cao Cao's father and son's southern expedition was mostly in winter, because the northern soldiers were not good at water warfare, and the river water level in winter was lowered and the water flow slowed down, which had a greater impact on the Wu army's naval superiority, and the Wei army could force the Wu army to fight on foot.
The most difficult period for Sun and Wu was the first few months, but it was the Wei army that prevailed at the moment. Zhang He took advantage of the drop in the water level in winter and directly led his troops across the river to attack Sun Sheng, although Sun Sheng set up a dock for defense, but the situation was still critical.
In December, Sun Quan sent Zheng Quan, a physician from Taizhong, to Liu Bei, hoping to restore relations with Shu Han. The battle in Gangneung Middle-earth continued until the first month of the following year, when Sun Sheng was defeated by Zhang He, who successfully occupied Middle-earth and formed a siege of Gangneung.
Seeing that the situation was critical, Zhuge Jin sent troops to Zhongzhou to rescue Zhu Ran. However, Zhuge Jin's army was defeated by Xiahou Shang's night attack, and Xiahou Shang attacked by land and water, and set fire to Zhuge Jin's warship.
Zhuge Jin had no choice but to withdraw from Zhongzhou, while Xiahou Shang continued to increase his troops, and finally increased his troops to 30,000 and firmly occupied Zhongzhou. Zhuge Jin, Pan Zhang, and Yang Cang were powerless in the face of this situation, except for Zhu Ran himself, no one could save him.
Cao Zhen began to storm Jiangling, Zhu Ran had been defending the city for four months, the people were sleepy and the horses were tired, and to make matters worse, there was also a plague in the city, many of Zhu Ran's army were suffering from swelling, and only 5,000 people were left to fight.
Cao Zhen piled up a mountain of earth, shot arrows into the city, and dug a tunnel to prepare to dig into the city, Zhu Ran was not timid, while fighting while motivating the soldiers, and even took advantage of Cao Zhen's unpreparedness to lead troops out of the city to break through the two battalions of Cao's army.
At Zhu Ran's insistence, although Jiangling was in danger, it had not yet fallen. On the Jiangxia side, which received the least attention, Sun Quan ordered the defense line to be retracted because of the urgency of the battle.
The Wu army withdrew from several counties north of the river, such as Anlu, Xinshi, Yundu, and Jingling, which were occupied by the Wei state and never returned. During this period, Jiang Yi, the son of Jiang Qin, who rescued Jiangling, was also killed in battle, and the Wu army was facing the most difficult moment at this time.
However, the turnaround has arrived.
In March, when the spring snow melted, Zhu Huan found Cao Ren's army in the middle of the river and was ready to face it. Cao Ren ordered Cao Tai to intensify his attack on the city, and at the same time sent Chang Diao, Zhuge Qian, and Wang Shuang to lead 5,000 men and horses to attack the middle continent of Weixu, and he himself led 10,000 men to command in the rear.
Zhongzhou is the residence of the families of Zhu Huanjun's soldiers, and Cao Ren believes that this will deal a huge blow to the morale of Zhu Huanjun. However, Jiang Ji was adamantly opposed, believing that Zhongzhou was located on the east bank of the lower reaches of the Wu army, and that if the Wu army attacked Chang Eagle and others from the upstream, the Wei army would bring about its own destruction.
But Cao Ren still stood by his decision. After Zhu Huan discovered Cao Ren's actions, he immediately noticed his flaws. He personally led his army to take Changdiao's warship and cut off his back route.
Cao Tai saw Zhu Huan leaving the city, so he led his army to attack Misu. Zhu Huan sent Luo Tong and Yan Gui to attack Chang Diao, and personally fought Cao Tai. In the end, the Wu army won a complete victory, Chang Diao was beheaded, Wang Shuang was captured, Cao Tai's military camp was burned down, and he fled in embarrassment, the Wei army lost more than 1,000 people, and the morale of the middle route army was greatly reduced.
The defeat in this battle meant that the Central Route Army had lost the possibility of capturing Misu, which was a heavy blow to the plan of the Third Route Expedition to Wu. In Jiangling, Zhu Ran has been defending the city for half a year, and the damage and shortage of grain and grass in the city have reached the limit.
Jiangling County ordered Yao Tai to lose confidence in defending the city, and he colluded with Cao Zhen, and was discovered by Zhu Ran and sentenced to military justice. The people in the city were panicked, and it stands to reason that the city would only be destroyed overnight, but some people did not think so.
The first is Pan Zhang. Although Pan Zhang and others had been unable to assist Zhu Ran during the occupation of Central Continent by Xiahou Shang and Zhang He, the situation had changed at this time.
With the arrival of spring, the topography of Middle-earth began to change. In the dry season of winter, the river around Zhongzhou is shallow and narrow, and it is easy for soldiers and horses to pass, but now it has become deep and wide, and it needs to be passed through the pontoon bridge.
There are 30,000 horses on Zhongzhou, and there is only one pontoon bridge to communicate, if you can launch a fire attack on Zhongzhou, then the Wei army on the continent will have nowhere to escape. So, Pan Zhang had a bold idea, he led the army to fifty miles upstream of Zhongzhou, cut down millions of bundles of reeds, tied them into a big raft, and wanted to rely on the reeds to carry out fire attacks down the river.
If this plan is realized, it will deal a devastating blow to the Wei army on Middle-earth.
However, another person also noticed the loophole in the Wei army. This person is Dong Zhao, Cao Wei's old minister, who is now serving as a servant and giving advice to Cao Pi. He saw that the Wei army on Zhongzhou was now in danger because it was alone in the depths, and once the pontoon bridge was cut and Zhongzhou was attacked, they would have nowhere to escape.
Coupled with the continuous flow of rivers, if Zhongzhou is flooded, there is no need to wait for the Wu army to attack, and the Wei army will be flooded, so the sooner the army is withdrawn, the better. After hearing this, Cao Pi woke up like a dream and ordered Xiahou Shang to retreat immediately.
When the news of the Wei army's retreat came, Pan Zhang was naturally very disappointed, but Zhuge Jin next to Zhongzhou didn't have time to be disappointed, so he immediately led the army to pursue, and he could chase one by one before the people had withdrawn.
Because the Wei army was narrow and the pontoon bridge was not smooth, it was unable to form an army in the face of the pursuit of the Wu army, and the generals Shi Jian and Gao Qian were only spared. Only ten days after the withdrawal of the Wei army, sure enough, the water level skyrocketed.
Because of Xiahou Shang's withdrawal, there was a gap in the encirclement of the Wei army, and Zhuge Jin and others were able to meet Zhu Ran, and Jiangling City could not be captured. In this way, Cao Xiu on the eastern route could not do anything, so Cao Pi ordered the withdrawal of the army, and the three-way attack on Wu was declared a failure.
Sun Quan was also unable to fight again, borrowed the slope to get off the donkey, and once again sent envoys to call the ministers, this time unlike the previous few times just verbally subdued, but under the blood, the tribute is as follows: one hundred baskets of pearls, one thousand taels **, two elephants, one male and one female, and all kinds of rare birds and beasts, filled the boat.
At the end of the song, Sun Wu fell into bitter battles in three places, and Jiangling and Dongkou were even more miserable, but in the end they succeeded in repelling the Wei army and keeping the two strategic fortresses of Jiangling and Misu.
Zhu Ran shocked Cao Wei with his exploits in defending the city, and Zhu Huan in the middle and Quan Cong in the west also stood out because of this battle, and became the pillars of Sun Wu's army together with Lu Xun. The month after Cao Pi withdrew, Lu Xun and Prime Minister Sun Shao led hundreds of officials to persuade Sun Quan to become emperor, but Sun Quan refused.
Sun Quan knew that although he could barely repel the Wei army this time, he might not be able to do it next time, and the safe way was still to join Liu to resist Cao, and once he became emperor, the possibility of Shu Han agreeing to rebuild the alliance would be reduced.
In the same month, Liu Bei died in the White Emperor City, and Sun Quan sent Feng Xi, the commander of Lixin, to mourn. In June, Sun Quan sent He Qi to lead Mi Fang and Liu Shao to capture Qichun in Wei, which made up for his loss of the four counties in northern China to a certain extent.
In November, Zhuge Liang sent Deng Zhi to envoy Wu and Sun Liu to make an alliance again. On the Cao Wei side, after Zhang Liao died of illness in the army, Cao Ren also died of illness in the month of withdrawal, and the two famous generals of Cao Wei died together.
Three years later, Xiahou Shang died young because he was entangled in personal problems, and he died in the same year as his iron buddy Cao Pi, who almost turned his face. In the next few years, Xu Huang, Cao Xiu, Zang Ba, Wen Ping, and Cao Zhen died steadily at a rate of one per year, and the dream-chasing boy Cao Xiu failed to complete the feat of crossing the river again after the battle of Dongkou.
And Zhang He was old and strong, and became the main force of the Wei army after his peers died almost completely, just when no one knew how alive this old man was, he died reluctantly because of an arrow in the knee in the same year that Cao Zhen died.
Wang Shuang, who was captured by Zhu Huan, was later released back to Wei by Sun Quan, and was shot by Zhuge Liang during the Battle of Chencang, while another old man, Dong Zhao, lived more and more, and died at the age of eighty-one five years after Zhang He's death.
The last two remaining were Jiang Ji and Wang Ling, who later became officials to the third duke and were extremely popular ministers, and then both died because of Sima Yi. The three-way war Wu became the last performance for these people to get together.