A general has leadership style. He has the talent of a wise man and also has the strategic ability to see the overall situation. In addition, it is the martial arts and courage to lead troops to kill. During the Three Kingdoms period, there were indeed not many people who could truly do this.
In addition to the recognized fierce generals, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Lu Bu. Were there any other strong generals during the Three Kingdoms period who were both wise and brave? The answer is yes, and this person is definitely qualified to be as famous as Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. Both his character and professionalism are thousands of times better than Lu Bu. So, who is this person?
In fact, the two greatest achievements of this man are his neutralization in the Battle of Bailang Mountain, and his setting a world record in the Battle of Hefei. In fact, when it comes to this, many friends may have already thought of who this fierce general is. Yes, he is Zhang Liao, the famous general of Cao Wei.
The Battle of Bailang Mountain showed his power
Zhang Liao was a fierce general under Lu Bu's account before. However, Zhang Liao did not perform much when he was under Lu Bu. But Zhang Liao's martial arts and character were admired by Cao Cao. Therefore, when Lu Bu and Zhang Liao were captured alive. Cao Cao decided to surrender Zhang Liao and personally loosened Zhang Liao's bonds. This is completely the love between heroes. Zhang Liao needs a platform, and Cao Cao also needs talents to promote the progress of his career.
In 207 AD, Cao Cao had defeated Yuan Shao for several years. However, his remaining power has not yet been wiped out. In order to eliminate the Yuan family, Cao Cao directed his troops at Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi and Wuhuan. The intention is to unify the north, so as to pave the way for unifying the world.
In August 207, Cao Cao led his troops into Bailang Mountain. Unfortunately, he suddenly encountered enemy troops. Moreover, the troops Cao Cao led at that time were just his vanguard troops and were completely incapable of fighting the enemy. Many soldiers were panicked, and even Cao Cao almost failed to control the situation.
What to do? Cao Cao was hesitant for a moment, and at this time Zhang Liao made a suggestion. "At this time, you should take advantage of the fact that the enemy's troops are not in order and have not yet set up their formation, and fight them! Otherwise, by the time they have set up their formation, it will be too late!" The soldiers met the captives, and Liao persuaded Taizu to fight. The Qi was very strong, Taizu was strong, and he conferred the title of Liao with his command. Cao Cao, after listening to Zhang Liao's suggestion, felt that it made sense. So he immediately adopted Zhang Liao's suggestion and asked Zhang Liao to command the war (to hold his command). Cao Cao then raided the formation for Zhang Liao. (From this point, we can see why Cao Cao was able to defeat Yuan Shao! Yuan Shao hesitated, but Cao Cao made a decisive decision!)
After receiving the military order from his lord, Zhang Liao led his soldiers to fight the Wuhuan army. Because, unexpectedly. In addition, Zhang Liao was brave and invincible. Zhang Liao directly killed Tadun in front of the battle. The enemy troops were shocked, and there were about 200,000 Hu and Han people who surrendered to Cao Cao. In this war, Cao Cao basically did not issue any orders, leaving all the power to Zhang Liao. Therefore, Zhang Liao's ability was fully demonstrated in front of Cao Cao. After Zhang Liao showed his prowess in the Battle of Bailang Mountain, he gradually became Cao Cao's ace general.
The Battle of Hefei discouraged Sun Quan
After Zhang Liao became famous in the Battle of Bailang Mountain, Zhang Liao's military career began to get on the right track.
In 214 AD, Cao Cao led his army to fight Sun Quan but returned without success. When he returned to Xudu, only Zhang Liao, Le Jin, and Li Dian were left behind. These three fierce generals guarded Hefei to prevent Sun Quan from counterattacking.
Because Cao Cao did not get any advantage from Sun Quan before. Zhang Liao then concluded that Sun Quan would definitely come to capture Hefei. So Zhang Liao began to build fortifications and asked people to build "Zangzhoupu" (used to hide warships). Zhang Liao knew the power of Sun Quan's navy, so he asked people to prepare Zangzhoupu in advance, with the purpose of preparing for a big fight with Sun Quan. field. Let Sun Quan know that Zhang Liao is definitely not easy to deal with.
In 215 AD, Sun Quan led an army of 100,000 to attack Hefei. At this time, Zhang Liao, Li Dian, and Le Jin opened the letters left by Cao Cao at the same time. It turned out that Cao Cao also expected that Sun Quan would come to capture Hefei soon. Because at this time, Cao Cao wanted to fight in Hanzhong and was unable to lead his troops to the rescue in person, so he only left a letter. In the letter, Cao Cao stated that he wanted Zhang Liao and Li Dian to go out of the city to meet the enemy, while Le Jin only had to be responsible for guarding the city.
Although the boss Cao Cao has an explanation, how to fight? How to keep it? In the letter, it has not been explained. How to do it? The situation is critical. If you are not careful, not only will the city be lost, but even if you add troops and horses, you will not be able to save it.
What to do? As a defender, Zhang Liao proposed. At this time, before Sun Quan's army has arrived and surrounded Hefei, we should quickly send an elite army to fight Sun Quan! And they have to fight well and not lose to the opponent in terms of momentum. In this way, Hefei's troops can feel at ease and everyone can work together to deal with Sun Quan. (Li Dian agreed very much with Zhang Liao's proposal.)
It was night, so Zhang Liao selected strong men and prepared to go to Sun Quan's camp to "steal the camp." After some selection, Zhang Liao finally identified 800 outstanding soldiers. He fed and drank enough for the soldiers. When it was just about dawn, when the soldiers and horses of Dongwu were getting more and more sleepy, Zhang Liao wore armor and held a halberd, and led hundreds of people to quickly break through the Wu soldiers' defense line. While attacking fiercely, he killed the enemy with all his strength, and his operations were as fierce as a tiger's. Soon Zhang Liao was under Sun Quan's command.
Sun Quan was completely frightened at the time. Under the protection of the escort, he ran to the mountain tomb to avoid Zhang Liao's sharp attack. However, standing high and seeing far away, Sun Quan discovered that Zhang Liao had very few troops, so he ordered his troops to surround them. At first, Zhang Liao had already led dozens of people to kill him. However, most of his teammates were still surrounded, so Zhang Liao led everyone into the camp and rescued all the other teammates. This momentum is not inferior to Zhao Yun's seven outs and seven ins.
Zhang Liao took these 800 warriors and fought with the Soochow troops until noon. Because Zhang Liao crushed Soochow in terms of momentum, the entire Wu camp was completely broken by Zhang Liao. Sun Quan's deployment was also disrupted by Zhang Liao! Even Chen Wu, the fierce general of the East Belt, died in this battle. Later, Zhang Liao led his army back to the city and began to set up fortifications, intending to compete with Sun Quan.
Sun Quan knew that Cao Cao was in Hanzhong this time. Hefei must be removed, otherwise it will be even more difficult to get this city in the future! Therefore, although Soochow lost to Zhang Liao in terms of military strength. But Sun Quan still gathered his troops and besieged Hefei for half a month. Due to low morale, although Sun Quan had a numerical advantage, he did not take advantage at all.
Later, when he was almost running out of food, Sun Quan decided to retreat and wait to return to Hefei in the future. Unexpectedly, Zhang Liao, who had very few troops at this time, once again sent elite troops to pursue and attack Sun Quan. Moreover, Zhang Liao had predicted Sun Quan's retreat route in advance. They had already divided their forces and burned down all the bridges that Sun Quan needed to pass through to retreat. They completely copied the tactics of Zhang Fei in Osaka, but they were just a little more fierce and exciting than Zhang Fei.
Sun Quan's men and horses were defeated repeatedly. Fortunately, Sun Quan was guarded by Gan Ning, and with the strength of his horses, he was able to cross the broken bridge. "Shui Jing Zhu" records, "When Sun Quan attacked Hefei, Zhang Liao was defeated in the north of Jin, and the bridge was not withdrawn. Quan and Gan Ning kicked their horses towards Jin, and Gu Li used their whips to help them, and they were able to cross. Liang. "Had it not been for Ling Tong and Gan Ning to protect him, Sun Quan would have been captured by Zhang Liao.
After this battle, Zhang Liao's reputation was widely spread. In the entire Soochow, no one did not know his name. Even children who were struggling could be saved by saying Zhang Liao's name. Let the children stop crying and making noises. Zhang Liao's ability to achieve this kind of lethality is probably even better than that of Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun.
Tang Dynasty historians believe that Zhang Liao can be compared with Wei Qing and Huo Qubing.
Moreover, there is also a poem like this in "Ode to Climbing the Great Wall": "Wei Qing opens the door, Zhang Liao opens up the land"? Throughout his life, Zhang Liao fought hard battles. He is definitely a well-deserved general and strong general of Cao Wei. Compared with the surrender Guan Yu's coward Yu Ban is hundreds of times stronger!