Tong Yuan and his students According to historical records, there was an unofficial spearman named Tong Yuan in the late Han Dynasty. He was proficient in marksmanship and founded the highly acclaimed "Hundred Birds and Phoenix Marksmanship" and "Falling Horse Money Marksmanship", which became famous. At that time, the society was in turmoil, and there was an endless stream of people who wanted to study from Tong Yuan, but Tong Yuan only accepted three students. When he was middle-aged, he accepted two young people with the ambition to serve the country, they were Zhang Xiu and Zhang Ren, and the other student was Zhao Yun, a victorious general.
Zhang Xiu, known as the "Gun King of the North", repelled Cao Cao's attacks twice, especially in the Battle of Wancheng, killing Cao Cao's right-hand man Dian Wei, defeating Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Ang and nephew Cao Anmin, causing Cao's army to suffer heavy losses. Zhang Xiu became famous all over the world. Although Zhang Ren could not be compared with Zhang Xiu, as a person from Shuzhong, he failed to achieve outstanding results in the war in the early days due to the geographical conditions of Shu that were easy to defend and difficult to attack. However, with Liu Bei's entry into Shudi, Zhang Ren got the opportunity to display his talents. Liu Zhang appointed him commander-in-chief and led the army to resist Liu Bei's attack.
Zhang Ren was brave and strategic, ambushed and killed Liu Bei's military advisor Pang Tong at Luofengpo, and repelled the attacks of Huang Zhong and Wei Yan at Luocheng. Liu Bei had no choice but to transfer Zhuge Liang, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun from Jingzhou to support. Therefore, Zhang Ren is revered as the "Xichuan Gun King". Zhao Yun's talent is obviously higher than that of the two senior brothers, and he has learned two marksmanship techniques and is already in the world. Zhao Yun even fused the two marksmanship to create a third marksmanship - the Seven Snake Disc Gun, a kind of virtual and elusive marksmanship. Zhao Yun's strength is widely praised.
After learning from Tong Yuan, eighteen-year-old Zhao Yun first took refuge in Yuan Shao, but because Yuan Shao was not a virtuous lord, Zhao Yun turned to Gongsun Zhan. At that time, Hebei was in the midst of war, and Gongsun Chan could not resist Yuan Shao's attack and was chased and killed by Wen Chou. Just when the tip of Wen Chou's spear was about to stab Gongsun Zhan, Zhao Yun suddenly appeared and started a fierce battle with Wen Chou, saving Gongsun Zhan's life. At that time, Wen Chou was already a famous general in Hebei, and someone once said when he was stopped by Hua Xiong at Bishui Pass: "If one of Yanliang and Wen Chou is here, how can he be afraid of Hua Xiong?"It can be seen that Wen Chou is already a peak person.
An elite general with a hundred battles faced a fledgling teenager, and the two fought for dozens of rounds without a win, which not only demonstrated Zhao Yun's superb martial arts, but also proved the strength of the marksmanship taught by Tong Yuan. Zhao Yun and Ma Chao, two famous warriors in ancient times, their fighting skills have been praised in the history books. In the battle of Changbanpo, Zhao Yun killed more than 50 generals of the Cao army with seven in and seven out, and became famous. He even stabbed Zhang Xiu under the horse with the "Seven Snake Coiling Spears", and made the Cao soldiers frightened with the power of one person.
Even at the age of seventy, facing the Wei army at Fengming Mountain, Zhao Yun still single-handedly killed Han De's father and son, showing his extraordinary combat ability. Tong Yuan's ** Zhao Yun can be said to be the most outstanding "outstanding graduate". At the same time, Ma Chao is also a brave general known for his marksmanship, and was praised by Cao Cao as "the courage of Lu Bu". In the battle of Weishui with Cao Cao, Ma Chao almost killed Cao Cao, and the fight with Xu Chu was even more inseparable, and even launched a thrilling scene of "Xu Chu's naked war with Ma Chao".
In Ma Chao's army, riding is its significant advantage, and Xiliang is famous for its cavalry, which further highlights Ma Chao's strength. When comparing the strength of Zhao Yun and Ma Chao, the reason why Zhao Yun was able to injure Xu Chu just shows that his fighting skills are better than Xu Chu, so he is also slightly better than Ma Chao. However, Ma Chao showed his unique military superiority as a warrior of riding and Xiliang. In the battle with Zhang Fei, although Ma Chao was not yet forty years old, he was able to win or lose with Zhang Fei, who was nearly fifty years old, which also fully demonstrated his extraordinary physical strength and combat ability.
Ancient generals Ma Chao and Zhao Yun were both elites on the battlefield, but their combat styles and tactics were significantly different. Zhao Yun is good at protracted battles and preemptive play, and obviously overwhelms Ma Chao in terms of long-term combat experience, but he is slightly lacking in battle spirit. In contrast, Ma Chao and Zhang Fei are more inclined to dare to fight, and will take the initiative to fight once they encounter enemy generals. Therefore, although Zhao Yun's martial arts are slightly higher than Ma Chao's, his courage is slightly inferior. Guan Yu's attitude can be used as an example to prove that Zhao Yun is stronger.
When Ma Chao and Zhang Fei fought to a draw and finally took refuge in Liu Bei, Guan Yuyuan learned of this in Jingzhou and immediately wrote to Liu Bei, requesting to go to Shuzhong to compete with Ma Chao. This shows that Guan Yu has doubts about Ma Chao's strength, because Guan Yu has always been unwilling to live under others, and he is eager to challenge the world's masters to prove his strength. In the entire Shuhan Group, Guan Yu had fought with Zhang Fei and Huang Zhong, but he had never fought with Zhao Yun, and Zhao Yun had never asked for a competition. Judging from this situation, Guan Yu obviously recognized Zhao Yun's strength more.
Therefore, whether it is from the perspective of record or the attitude of colleagues, Zhao Yun is obviously better than Ma Chao.