宕渠 pronounced dàngqú, this is an ancient place name, which can no longer be found in this place, which is located in the northeast of Qu County, Sichuan. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it belonged to Ba County, and later Ba County was divided into Ba County, Badong County and Pasir County, and this ditch belonged to Ba County, and it was also the seat of governance of Ba County.
The strategic position of the ditch is not particularly prominent, but its importance is highlighted by a battle that took place here, which is known as the Battle of the ditch.
The deeds of this battle of the ditch took place between Zhang Fei and Zhang He, one was a famous general of Shu Han, and the other was a famous general of Cao Wei. The battle ended with Zhang Fei's victory and Zhang He's defeat, reflecting Zhang Fei's outstanding military qualities, who had gathered 30 years of military experience.
After this battle, Liu Bei drove Cao Cao's forces out of the Sanba region, thus laying the foundation for the later victory in the Battle of Hanzhong. It can be said that without the victory of the Battle of Tangqu, there would have been no victory in the later Battle of Hanzhong, so it is not an exaggeration to say that it is the prelude to the Battle of Hanzhong.
In November of the twentieth year of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, that is, in November 215 AD, Zhang Lu of Hanzhong surrendered, and Bazhong Yishuai Pu Hu, Du Hao, and Ren Yue also surrendered respectively, so Cao Cao appointed Pu Hu, Du Hao, and Ren Yue as the guards of Sanba County, so that they could block the front line in Hanzhong and isolate Shu County.
After Cao Cao finished these things, he was ready to go back, and he had a more important thing to do, that is, to enter the king of Wei, take Zhang Lu, and pacify Hanzhong, the biggest benefit is to be able to justifiably enter the king of Wei.
After Cao Cao planned to withdraw the main force from Hanzhong, in order to ensure that the Sanba area near Hanzhong was not controlled by Liu Bei, he adopted the method of clearing the wilderness to withdraw all the people in the Sanba area to Hanzhong.
If Cao Cao's plan succeeds, then even if Liu Bei occupies Sanba, all he gets is a blank land, and he cannot replenish grain, grass and soldiers on the spot, so it will be extremely difficult for him to recover Hanzhong.
The task of relocating the people was entrusted to the general Zhang He, the Sanba area is relatively large, and the people live scattered, so it is not easy to gather them and move out, so it took Zhang He a lot of time. On the other side, Liu Bei was also anxious.
Zhang He is a famous fierce general under Cao Cao, and there are not many generals under Liu Bei who can fight with him, except for Ma Chao, Zhang Fei, and Ma Chao is new, and the soldiers who can be mobilized under his command are insufficient, so the heavy responsibility of the enemy Zhang He was handed over to Zhang Fei, and Zhang Fei at this time was also in the position of the Brazilian County Taishou, and it was his duty to deal with Zhang He.
According to the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" Zhang Fei's biography, it is recorded
Fei rate more than 10,000 people, from his road to invite the army to fight, the mountain road is narrow, the front and back can not be rescued, Fei then broke the union. He abandoned Mayuan Mountain, retreated from Jian Dao with more than ten people under his command, led the army back to Nanzheng, and Batu was secured.Zhang Fei attached great importance to this battle, selected soldiers, and led about 10,000 elite soldiers to fight against Zhang He. After confronting Zhang Hejun for more than a month, Zhang Fei finally discovered Zhang Hejun's flaws.
Zhang Fei designed to lead Zhang He into a relatively narrow passage, so that Zhang Hejun could not echo from the beginning to the end, and at this time Zhang Feijun suddenly attacked, thus defeating Zhang He.
Zhang He was defeated very miserably this time, but he led more than ten people to go back, almost left his life here, and had to flee back to Hanzhong. In this way, the Sanba area turned from danger to safety, and since then, Cao Cao's department has never come to harass Sanba, let alone migrate the common people to Hanzhong.
After the Battle of Danqu, the Sanba area became relatively safe, so Liu Bei returned to Chengdu and continued to digest the other counties he had just gained, and the impact of the Battle of Danqu was also very far-reaching.
First of all, Chengdu was stabilized.
Cao Cao's soldiers went out of Hanzhong to invade the Sanba area, and the soldiers went straight to the canal where Ba County was located, and this place was Shu County in front of it, near Chengdu, and after hearing that Cao's army entered Ba County, Chengdu was shaken, so in order to stabilize the situation that had just settled down, for Liu Bei, it was necessary to drive the invading Zhang Hejun out of the Sanba area.
The victory in the Battle of Tangqu not only drove Zhang He's army out of the Sanba region, but also greatly weakened Cao Cao's strength in Hanzhong, which greatly encouraged Liu Beijun, eliminated the fear before the war, and won confidence.
Secondly, it dispelled Cao Cao's idea of coveting Bashu.
For Cao Cao, the failure of this battle of the ditch led to two problems, on the one hand, Liu Bei's strength was not what it used to be, and he already had the ability to fight with himself, and on the other hand, the strength to stay in Hanzhong was insufficient, which led to the inability to complete further operations against the Bashu region.
It was this failed battle that strengthened Cao Cao's decision to abandon Hanzhong and carry out strategic contraction.
Finally, the basic conditions were prepared for the battle of Hanzhong.
For Liu Bei, the victory in the Battle of the Ditch was like manna after a long drought, and the shadow that had been hanging over Liu Beijun's heart was dissipated. On the one hand, this also made Liu Beijun feel that Cao Cao was not invincible, and thus strengthened his determination to seize Hanzhong.
On the other hand, the capture of Sanba is equivalent to opening the door to the capture of Hanzhong, which can be attacked and defended, and there is a base to be stationed regardless of victory or defeat, so as to win a respite for Liu Beijun.
For Hanzhong, the Sanba area is close at hand, which can provide effective support for Liu Beijun on the front line and can ensure safe transportation; For Cao Cao, to transport grain and grass from Guanzhong to Hanzhong, it was necessary to go through a rugged mountain road of thousands of miles, which was seriously consumed and extremely inconvenient, which laid a hidden danger for the war of attrition between the two sides, which was also one of the most important factors for Cao Cao to finally abandon Hanzhong.
It can be seen from thisThe Battle of the Ditch seemed insignificant, but it profoundly affected the smooth progress of the later Battle of Hanzhong. Two years later, in March 218 AD, Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Wu Lan and others had a great battle in this place, but the defeat led to the death of several generals.
Zhang Fei, as the commander of this battle, needs to bear the main responsibility, it is his carelessness that led to the defeat of this battle, and the root cause is that the battle of the ditch was won too easily, which led to ideological paralysis and carelessness, and did not take the opponent in his eyes, so as to fail.
After the Battle of the Ditch, Zhang Fei has never had a more brilliant or even brilliant record in his life since then, so it should not be an exaggeration to call the Battle of the Ditch the last peak of Zhang Fei's life, who called his opponent another famous general Zhang He?
It seems that if you want to be famous, your opponent must also be a famous general, otherwise even if you win, it will not be very glorious.