Battle of Yijing | |||||||
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Part of the wars at the end of the Han dynasty | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Yuan Shao Liu Yu's remnants Wuhuan Xiongnu [1] Xianbei | Gongsun Zan Heishan bandits | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Yuan Shao Tadun Qian Zhao | Gongsun Zan † Zhang Yan Gongsun Xu † Tian Kai † Guan Jing † Tian Yu | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
100,000 (Xianyu Fu's and Wuhuan forces) [2] 7,000 Xianbei cavalry | 100,000+ (Zhang Yan's forces) |
Battle of Yijing | |||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 易京之戰 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 易京之战 | ||||||
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The Battle of Yijing was a military conflict which took place in northern China from 198 to 199 in the late Eastern Han dynasty. It was fought between Gongsun Zan,a warlord known as the "White Horse General",and Yuan Shao,a scion of the esteemed Yuan clan and former leader of the coalition against Dong Zhuo.
The two warlords had been fighting for dominion over northern China for some time,but eventually Yuan Shao gained the upper hand. However,Gongsun Zan still had a large army which could cause trouble if not finished off.
Gongsun Zan,after recent military defeats in addition to a famine in his lands,decided to secure his supplies. He built a fortress,Yijing (易京;northwest of present-day Xiong County,Hebei),where he built many large towers on top of mounds where he and his generals lived. There were ten moats around the fortress and the towers had iron doors with huge grain supplies for Gongsun Zan to use to live out the civil wars in northern China. In doing so,Gongsun Zan let his armies away from his fortress fight for themselves thinking they would see the only option they had was to fight hard. Instead,the soldiers killed their commanders and surrendered or died easily while fighting.
In time Yuan Shao's army reached the gates of Yijing,but the fortress withstood several attacks from Yuan Shao's army for years until 199. Gongsun Zan sent his son Gongsun Xu to request help from the Heishan bandits in the Taihang Mountains. Gongsun Zan's idea was to break through the siege with his cavalry and link up with the Heishan bandits,then attack Ji Province and cut off Yuan Shao's line of retreat,forcing him to abandon the siege. However,Guan Jing advised against the plan,saying that the defenders were only willing to fight to protect their families in Yijing and could not be relied on to defend Yijing if Gongsun Zan left. Gongsun Zan then took Guan Jing's suggestion to withstand the siege until the time when Yuan Shao would be forced to retreat.
After Gongsun Xu left,Gongsun Zan had sent a message to his son,instructing him to lay an ambush of 5,000 elite cavalry on low ground north of Yijing. They would then signal to Gongsun Zan to charge out of Yijing with his troops and surround Yuan Shao's troops. However,Yuan Shao's troops caught the messenger and laid their own troops in ambush. Yuan Shao's forces then signalled Gongsun Zan and lured him into the ambush,where they routed his troops and forced him to return to Yijing. Yuan Shao's troops followed up their success by digging tunnels under Yijing and then supporting them with beams,which they later torched. The tunnel went into the centre of Yijing and its collapse caused Gongsun Zan's towers to crumble as well. Realising his doom,Gongsun Zan killed his sisters and wives and committed suicide by self-immolation. Yuan Shao's men climbed into the citadel and cut off Gongsun Zan's head,which was sent to Xuchang to report Yuan Shao's victory to the imperial court.
Feeling that his advice had doomed his lord,Guan Jing charged his horse into Yuan Shao's army to his death,with the intention to follow his lord. By the time Gongsun Xu and Zhang Yan returned to Yijing with 100,000 troops,it was too late as Gongsun Zan had already lost the battle and committed suicide.
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.
Yuan Shao,courtesy name Benchu (本初),was a Chinese military general,politician,and warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty. He occupied the northern territories of China during the civil wars that occurred towards the end of the Han dynasty. He was also an elder half-brother of Yuan Shu,a warlord who controlled the Huai River region,though the two were not on good terms with each other.
Yuan Shu,courtesy name Gonglu,was a Chinese military general,politician,and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty. He rose to prominence following the collapse of the Han central government in 189. He declared himself Emperor of China in 197 under the short-lived Zhong dynasty,two years before his death in 199.
The Battle of Jieqiao,also known as the Battle of Jie Bridge,was fought between the warlords Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan in late 191 or early 192 in the late Eastern Han dynasty. It was the first significant clash of arms between the rival warlords in the contest for dominion of Ji and Qing provinces in northern China. The site of the battle is generally considered to be a site east of Guangzong County,Julu Commandery.
The military history of the Three Kingdoms period encompasses roughly a century's worth of prolonged warfare and disorder in Chinese history. After the assassination of General-in-chief He Jin in September 189,the administrative structures of the Han government became increasingly irrelevant. By the time of death of Cao Cao,the most successful warlord of North China,in 220,the Han empire was divided between the three rival states of Cao Wei,Shu Han and Eastern Wu. Due to the ensuing turmoil,the competing powers of the Three Kingdoms era found no shortage of willing recruits for their armies,although press-ganging as well as forcible enlistment of prisoners from defeated armies still occurred. Following four centuries of rule under the Han dynasty,the Three Kingdoms brought about a new era of conflict in China that shifted institutions in favor of a more permanent and selective system of military recruitment. This ultimately included the creation of a hereditary military class as well as increasing reliance on non-Chinese cavalry forces and the end of universal conscription.
Gongsun Zan,courtesy name Bogui,was a Chinese military general,politician,and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty.
Tian Feng,courtesy name Yuanhao,was a Chinese politician serving under the warlord Yuan Shao during the late Eastern Han dynasty.
Han Fu,courtesy name Wenjie,was a Chinese military general,politician,and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty. He was the governor of Ji Province when the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in 184.
The end of the Han dynasty was the period of Chinese history from 189 to 220 CE,roughly coinciding with the tumultuous reign of the Han dynasty's last ruler,Emperor Xian. It was followed by the Three Kingdoms era. During the end of the Han dynasty,the country was thrown into turmoil by the Yellow Turban Rebellion (184–205). Meanwhile,the Han Empire's institutions were destroyed by the warlord Dong Zhuo and fractured into regional regimes ruled by various warlords,some of whom were nobles and officials of the Han imperial court. The warlord Cao Cao took control of Emperor Xian and his court in 196 and began gradually reunifying the empire. Cao Cao ostensibly operated under Emperor Xian's rule,though in reality the emperor was a hostage.
Zhang Yan,born Chu Yan,also known as Zhang Feiyan,was the leader of the Heishan bandits during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He rose from a local rebel to master of a confederation that could hold off the Han,becoming a regional power,and was able to maintain authority in Changshan until he chose to surrender to Cao Cao,getting enfeoffment that remained with his family.
Yuan Shang,courtesy name Xianfu,was a Chinese military general,politician,and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was the third son and successor of the warlord Yuan Shao. In the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms,Yuan Shang was described as "strong but arrogant",and he was his father's favourite son.
Xun Chen,courtesy name Youruo,was an official who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Born in the influential Xun family of Yingchuan Commandery,he was the fourth brother of Xun Yu and a second cousins once removed of Xun You. He initially served as an adviser to the warlord Han Fu and later to another warlord,Yuan Shao.
Tian Kai was an official serving under the warlord Gongsun Zan during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China.
Guan Jing,courtesy name Shiqi,was an official serving under the warlord Gongsun Zan during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. In 198,during Yuan Shao's invasion in the Battle of Yijing,Gongsun Zan wished to ride out and cut off Yuan Shao's rear,but Guan Jing recommended against this action,and for Gongsun Zan to stay within the city of Yijing. In 199,Yuan Shao tricked and ambushed Gongsun Zan as the latter rode out,expecting to meet reinforcements from Gongsun Zan's son Gongsun Xu and Zhang Yan. After this defeat,Gongsun Zan committed suicide by self-immolation. Guan Jing expressed regret that he could not convince Gongsun Zan to stay in the end,and rode into the army of Yuan Shao and died.
Zhang Miao,courtesy name Mengzhuo,was a Chinese politician and warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China.
Qu Yi was a military general serving under the warlord Yuan Shao during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China.
Zou Jing was a military officer who lived during the Eastern Han dynasty of China.
The Campaign against Dong Zhuo was a punitive expedition initiated by a coalition of regional officials and warlords against the warlord Dong Zhuo in 190 in the late Eastern Han dynasty. The members of the coalition claimed that Dong had the intention of usurping the throne by holding Emperor Xian hostage and by establishing a strong influence in the imperial court. They justified their campaign as to remove Dong from power. The campaign led to the evacuation of the capital Luoyang and the shifting of the imperial court to Chang'an. It was a prelude to the end of the Han dynasty and,subsequently,the Three Kingdoms period.
The Heishan bandits or Black Mountain bandits was a bandit confederacy in the Taihang Mountain range during the later years of the Eastern Han dynasty in China. They played a part in the internecine feuds that followed the Eastern Han dynasty's descent into chaos preceding the Three Kingdoms period,during which they eventually surrendered to the warlord Cao Cao.
The campaign against Yuan Shu was a punitive expedition that took place between 197 and 199 in the late Eastern Han dynasty. The campaign was initiated by the Han government against warlord Yuan Shu after Yuan declared himself emperor of the new Zhong dynasty,an act perceived as treason against Emperor Xian,the nominal Han ruler. The campaign concluded with the defeat of Yuan Shu and collapse of his self-established Zhong dynasty.