Battle of Han River | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Hanzhong Campaign | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Liu Bei | Cao Cao | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Zhao Yun | Cao Cao | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
Unknown | Unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown | Unknown |
Battle of Han River | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Traditional Chinese | 漢水之戰 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 汉水之战 | ||||||
|
The Battle of Han River was fought between the warlords Liu Bei and Cao Cao in April 219 during the prelude to the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. The battle was the last major engagement in the Hanzhong Campaign,in which Liu Bei emerged victorious and subsequently declared himself King of Hanzhong.
Cao Cao's general Xiahou Yuan was defeated and killed by Liu Bei at the Battle of Mount Dingjun in February 219. In retaliation,Cao Cao led a large army along with millions of grains to supply his troops. Cao Cao wanted to attack Liu Bei's camp at the south of the Han River. Therefore,Liu Bei sent his generals Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong to defend it. Later,as Huang Zhong along with his soldiers went to capture the enemy's supplies. Zhao Yun and his subordinate Zhang Zhu (張著) remained in the main camp with Zhang Yi to keep it safe until their return. [2]
Huang Zhong led some troops to capture the supplies of grain Cao Cao stocked at the North Mountain. Zhao Yun along with his unit assisted Huang Zhong during this mission. As Huang Zhong had been gone for long,Zhao Yun became worried that something happened to him and along with some tens light cavalry left his camp to find Huang Zhong's unit. During their search,they encountered Cao Cao's main army and were forced to fight against them,as more and more of Cao Cao's soldiers joined the battle. Yet,Zhao Yun with a handful of soldiers charged among their masses. At the same time,attacking and retreating,Zhao Yun managed to defeat a far larger army. [3] [4]
Cao Cao's soldiers soon regrouped but Zhao Yun again,along with his fellow riders broke the encirclement and lead them back to the main camp. During this battle,the officer Zhang Zhu (張著) was wounded hence he could not retreat. Zhao Yun turned back,rescued the wounded Zhang Zhu and led him back to the camp. However,Cao Cao's army followed them until they reached the camp. When Zhang Yi saw that Cao Cao's army was in pursuit of Zhao Yun,and headed towards the main camp. He thought that they should close the gates and prepare for their assault. However,Zhao Yun ordered to have the gates wide open,lowered the flags and quieted the drums. [5] [6]
Seeing this,Cao Cao's army was fearful of some ambush therefore they withdrew. At this moment,Zhao Yun suddenly ordered to beat the drums with thundering sounds and along with crossbowmen,he led Liu Bei's forces as they pursued the retreated army. Cao Cao's soldiers panicked and while fleeing trampled over each other,with many among them drowning into the Han river. [7] [8]
As Liu Bei later arrived and inspected the battlefield. He exclaimed:"Zilong is full of guts!" He ordered a celebration until late that night honoring Zhao Yun. From then on,Liu Bei's army called Zhao Yun "General of Tiger's Might" (虎威將軍). [9] [10]
The Battle of Xiaoting (猇亭之戰),also known as the Battle of Yiling and the Battle of Yiling and Xiaoting,was fought between the state of Shu and the state of Wu,between the years 221 and 222 in the early Three Kingdoms period of China. The battle is significant because Wu was able to turn the situation from a series of initial losses into a defensive stalemate,before proceeding to win a decisive victory over Shu. The Wu victory halted the Shu invasion and preceded the death of Liu Bei,Shu's founding emperor.
Zhao Yun,courtesy name Zilong (子龍),was a military general who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period of China. Originally a subordinate of the northern warlord Gongsun Zan,Zhao Yun later came to serve another warlord,Liu Bei,and had since accompanied him on most of his military exploits,from the Battle of Changban (208) to the Hanzhong Campaign (217–219). He continued serving in the state of Shu Han –founded by Liu Bei in 221 –in the Three Kingdoms period and participated in the first of the Northern Expeditions until his death in 229. While many facts about Zhao Yun's life remain unclear due to limited information in historical sources,some aspects and activities in his life have been dramatised or exaggerated in folklore and fiction. In the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms,he was lauded as a member of the Five Tiger Generals under Liu Bei.
Xu Huang,courtesy name Gongming,was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He later served in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period under the first two rulers,Cao Pi and Cao Rui,before his death at the start of Cao Rui's reign. Xu Huang is best noted for breaking the siege at the Battle of Fancheng in 219 by routing the enemy commander Guan Yu on the field.
Huang Zhong,courtesy name Hansheng,was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Mount Dingjun in 219,in which his force routed that of an enemy general,Xiahou Yuan,who was killed in action during the raid.
Cao Ren,courtesy name Zixiao,was a military general serving during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China under the warlord Cao Cao,who was also his older second cousin. He continued serving in the state of Cao Wei –founded by Cao Cao's son and successor,Cao Pi –during the Three Kingdoms period. He played a significant part in assisting Cao Cao in the civil wars leading to the end of the Han dynasty. He was appointed as the Grand Marshal (大司馬) when Cao Pi ascended the throne,and was also credited by the latter for the establishment of Wei. However,Cao Ren was also once derided as a mediocre commander by Zhu Huan,a general from Wei's rival state Eastern Wu.
Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions were a series of five military campaigns launched by the state of Shu Han against the rival state of Cao Wei from 228 to 234 during the Three Kingdoms period in China. All five expeditions were led by Zhuge Liang,the Imperial Chancellor and regent of Shu. Although they proved unsuccessful and ended up as a stalemate,the expeditions have become some of the best known conflicts of the Three Kingdoms period and one of the few battles during it where each side fought against each other with hundreds of thousands of troops,as opposed to other battles where one side had a huge numerical advantage.
Cao Zhen,courtesy name Zidan,was a military general of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was an adopted son of Cao Cao,a warlord who rose to power in the late Eastern Han dynasty and laid the foundation for Wei. After Cao Cao's death and the end of the Eastern Han dynasty,Cao Zhen served under Cao Pi and Cao Rui,the first two emperors of Wei. He is best known for leading a successful defence of Wei from the first two of a series of invasions by Wei's rival state,Shu Han,between 228 and 229.
Zhuge Dan,courtesy name Gongxiu,was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. When he held key military appointments throughout his middle to late career,he was involved in all of the three rebellions which broke out in Shouchun between 251 and 258. During the second rebellion,he actively assisted the Wei regent Sima Shi in suppressing the revolt. After the rebellion,the Wei government put him in charge of Shouchun. As the Sima clan became more powerful and established themselves as the de facto rulers of Wei,Zhuge Dan feared that he would end up slain like Wang Ling and Guanqiu Jian –the leaders of the first two rebellions –so he started the third rebellion against Sima Zhao,who succeeded Sima Shi as regent of Wei in 255. Although he received some support from Wei's rival state Eastern Wu,his rebellion was eventually suppressed by Wei imperial forces and he met his end at the hands of Hu Fen,a military officer under Sima Zhao.
Wang Ping,courtesy name Zijun,was a military general of the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period of China. Originally a military officer serving under the warlord Cao Cao. In 219,he defected to Cao Cao's rival Liu Bei during the Hanzhong Campaign. Although he was a talented orator,Wang Ping never learned to read because he joined the army at a young age. However,he did not let this disadvantage stop him and had his clerk help him with his reports. Known for his self discipline,he steadily rose through the ranks to become a senior general. During his career,he defeated Zhang He,quelled Wei Yan's alleged rebellion and was the leading commander of the Shu forces during the Battle of Xingshi. The highest position he reached was Senior General Who Guards the North (鎮北大將軍).
Lady Sun,also known as Sun Ren in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms and Sun Shangxiang in Chinese opera and contemporary culture,was a Chinese noblewoman who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty. She was a daughter of the warlord Sun Jian,and her (known) older brothers were the warlords Sun Ce and Sun Quan,who founded the state of Eastern Wu in the Three Kingdoms period. Sometime in 209,she married the warlord Liu Bei to strengthen an alliance between Liu Bei and Sun Quan. Around 211,she returned to Sun Quan's domain when Liu Bei left Jing Province and settled in Yi Province.
Huang Quan,courtesy name Gongheng,was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He previously served under the warlords Liu Zhang and Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty and in the state of Shu Han during the early Three Kingdoms period before defecting to Cao Wei. Liu Bei relied heavily on Huang Quan for counsel in both domestic and foreign policy. Under the Wei government,however,Huang Quan was restricted to only internal affairs because even though the Wei emperor Cao Pi appreciated him for his talent,he doubted Huang Quan's allegiance and believed he was still secretly loyal to Liu Bei.
Hao Zhao,courtesy name Bodao,was a military general of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He is best known for his victory at the siege of Chencang in 229 when he led a successful defence of Chencang against an invasion by a much larger army from Wei's rival state Shu Han. However,he died of illness not long after that.
The Empty Fort Strategy involves using reverse psychology to deceive the enemy into thinking that an empty location is full of traps and ambushes,and therefore induce the enemy to retreat. It is listed as the 32nd of the Thirty-Six Stratagems. Some examples are listed in the following sections.
Wu Ban,courtesy name Yuanxiong,was a Chinese military general of the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period of China.
The war between Cao Cao and Zhang Xiu was fought between the warlords Cao Cao and Zhang Xiu between 197 and 199 in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. It concluded with Zhang Xiu's surrender to Cao Cao.
Zhang Yi,courtesy name Bogong,was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Born in the late Eastern Han dynasty,Zhang Yi was a 10th-generation descendant of Zhang Liang. He started his career as a scribe under the warlord Liu Bei,who founded Shu later,and gradually rose to the positions of a county prefect and commandery administrator. In the early 230s,he served as an area commander tasked with maintaining the peace in Shu's southern commanderies. In 234,he led the Shu vanguard during the Battle of Wuzhang Plains against Shu's rival state Wei. From 238 to 259,Zhang Yi steadily rose through the ranks to become one of Shu's top generals. During this time,although he strongly opposed the Shu general Jiang Wei's aggressive stance towards Wei,he still accompanied Jiang Wei on his military campaigns against Wei. In 263,he surrendered to Wei forces along with the Shu emperor Liu Shan when Wei launched a large-scale invasion of Shu. In the following year,Zhang Yi was killed by mutineers during a rebellion by the Wei general Zhong Hui. Like Liao Hua and Zong Yu,Zhang was one of few officials who served the Shu-Han state throughout its entire existence.
Liu Bei's takeover of Yi Province was a military campaign by the warlord Liu Bei in taking control of Yi Province from the provincial governor,Liu Zhang. The campaign took place between the years 211 and 214 in the late Eastern Han dynasty;although the conflict between Liu Bei and Liu Zhang started in January or February 213 when the latter discovered the former secret communications and subsequently executed Zhang Song. It concluded with victory for Liu Bei and his successful takeover of the province from Liu Zhang in July 214. Yi Province would serve as the foundation of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period.
Jiang Wei's Northern Expeditions refer to a series of eleven military campaigns launched by the state of Shu Han against its rival state,Cao Wei,between 240 and 262 CE during the Three Kingdoms period in China. The campaigns were led by Jiang Wei,a prominent Shu general. Unlike the previous Northern campaigns led by Zhuge Liang,which added Wudu and Yinping commanderies to Shu Han state territories,Jiang Wei's campaigns ended up being unpopular in both the military and civil circles in Shu. Also unlike Zhuge Liang's campaigns which often featured 60,000 to sometimes even 100,000 Shu Troops,Jiang Wei's were often much smaller rarely exceeding 30,000 even after the death of Fei Yi,where Jiang Wei assumed control of the military. The Zhuge Liang campaigns did suffer from logistical and supply issues for their large army. Zhuge's successor Jiang Wan,believed that it was the Hanzhong's mountainous terrain itself that were to blame for the campaigns failures and attempted to switch the route thru the Han river. Fei Yi,who succeeded Jiang Wan,agreed,and never allowed any large campaigns to be launched by Hanzhong. Jiang Wei however overlooked these concerns and used Hanzhong as his home base as Zhuge Liang did.
The Conquest of Shu by Wei was a military campaign launched by the dynastic state of Cao Wei against its rival Shu Han in late 263 during the Three Kingdoms period of China. The campaign culminated in the fall of Shu Han and the tripartite equilibrium maintained in China for over 40 years since the end of the Eastern Han dynasty in 220. The conquest laid the foundation for an eventual reunified China under the Western Jin dynasty in 280.
The Hanzhong Campaign was a military campaign launched by the warlord Liu Bei to seize control of Hanzhong Commandery from his rival,Cao Cao. The campaign took place between December 217 and August 219 during the prelude to the Three Kingdoms period. Although Cao Cao's forces had settled in Hanzhong Commandery two years prior after the Battle of Yangping,they were worn out by an overall Fabian strategy employed by Liu Bei's forces,who used targeted attacks to capture strategic locations from the enemy. One of these attacks resulted in the death of Xiahou Yuan,one of Cao Cao's top generals,delivering a huge blow to the morale of Cao Cao's forces. Due to logistical and other issues,Cao Cao was eventually forced to abandon Hanzhong Commandery and order a retreat in June 219. Liu Bei emerged victorious in the campaign and occupied Hanzhong Commandery,after which he declared himself "King of Hanzhong" in August of that year.