On the famous generals of the Shu Han Dynasty, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are undoubtedly a pair of twin stars that cannot be ignored. The two worked together to help Liu Bei emerge from Zhuo County, and finally laid the foundation for the founding of Shu Han. Although Guan Yu was revered as a martial saint by later generations for his martial arts, and his reputation rose to the point of eclipse even to Liu Bei, Zhang Fei was also a general to be reckoned with during the Three Kingdoms period.
Guan Yu shook China, made great achievements, beheaded Yan Liang, Juebei Dao, and flooded the Seventh Army, and his exploits were recited through the ages. His bravery and loyalty are admirable, but unlike his arrogant personality, relatively little attention is paid to Zhang Fei. In "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Guan Yu was humble to Lu Bu, but he couldn't compare to Zhang Fei, showing Zhang Fei's unique position in his heart.
Zhang Fei's reputation started late, and he was considered "brave and unscrupulous", especially because he lost Xuzhou due to drunkenness, forming a negative evaluation of him. However, in fact, Zhang Fei is also a brave and resourceful famous general, especially as evidenced by his record of breaking Zhang He. This battle took place after Cao Cao captured Hanzhong, and Zhang Fei and Zhang He confronted each other for more than 50 days, and finally defeated Zhang He with a clever surprise attack, showing his military talent.
However, three years later, Liu Bei launched the Battle of Hanzhong, but was defeated by Cao Hong when Zhang Fei and Ma Chao joined forces, lost Wudu, and even lost two masters, Wu Lan and Lei Tong. The fiasco raises the question, what happened?
There are three possibilities for this. First of all, although Cao Hong's reputation is not as good as Zhang He, he leads the rising stars of the Cao family's class, such as Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu, to form a joint force against Zhang Fei and Ma Chao. Secondly, although the master team is powerful, Zhang Fei and Ma Chao's personality and ability to lead troops have conflicted, resulting in a greatly reduced effect. In the end, Liu Bei's strategic mistake allowed Cao Hong and others to take advantage of the situation and ultimately achieve victory.
To sum up, although Zhang Fei once shined in Dangyang Bridge, his real battle to become a god was in 215 AD, defeating Zhang He. This battle completely subverted people's perception of his "courage but no strategy", showing that he had both wisdom and courage, and was a famous general who could not be ignored during the Three Kingdoms period.