We've all heard of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms - not as many can say they've read it. I haven't; it sounds impressive, though it isn't considered history. For now, this is my attempt to understand what really happened in the pivotal years from the collapse of the Han Empire to the formation of the Three Kingdoms, 189-223 AD, from the perspective of two leading protagonists: Cao-Cao and Liu Bei. There should really be a third to represent the Sun-Wu kingdom; but no single warlord, important as they were, occupied center stage as long as these two. Being unfamiliar territory to many in the west; place names and the myriad personages don't immediately register recognition. I just flow with the narrative of history, weaving in the sub plots that seemed relevant. It is essentially a synopsis of what I can glean from wikipedia, lacking the depth to understand their motivations or the general backdrop of this era. Even at that it was daunting, there could be misplaced emphasis, or important omissions altogether. Behind the Romance and the ambition of these men, was a tumultuous time for China. Starvation and warfare dominated the lives of most people for forty-some years, resulting in the fragmentation of the state in to three short lived regional dynasties. I wrote this up a few weeks back, and I hope I have the basic story right.
Cao Cao and Liu Bei: not a Romance
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Cao Cao
Son of an adopted son of a high ranking eunuch, possibly apocryphal stories reveal a precocious youth with outsized ambitions. Supposedly he pressed a seer for an assessment of his qualities, who replied "You would be a capable minister in peaceful times and an unscrupulous hero in chaotic times." At the age of 20 he became a district captain in Luoyang, where he prosecuted the law regardless of political station; once flogging a nobleman for being out after curfew. This got him ‘promoted’ to a county governorship away from the capital. In 184 the Yellow Turban Revolt broke out, disaffected peasants under heavy taxation, as the Eastern Han Empire began to weaken. Cao was recalled to Luoyang and made Captain of the Cavalry, then sent to Yingchuan to suppress the rebels. He was successful in his military exploits and was further promoted to Governor of Dong Commandery. Later during the civil war, Cao Cao was able to gain the submission of a peasant army that marched into Yan province.
The death of Emperor Ling in 189 left power in the hands of the dowager empress Hé. Powerful aristocrats like Yuan Shao and Hé Jin, plotted to eliminate the influential eunuch clans and called in Dong Zhuo, the ruthless governor of Liang, to pressure the dowager. He Jin was assassinated but Dong easily secured the palace, while Yuan Shao’s supporters battled the eunuchs. Dong Zhuo deposed the minor emperor and installed another puppet, Xian. Cao Cao rejected his appointment under Dong, and with his followers moved to his homeland in Kaifeng, training a new army. The next year regional warlords formed a military alliance under Yuan Shao and Cao Cao joined them. Another rebellion broke out in Liaoyang province, under a group of leaders including his friend Han Sui. In Dong Zhuo’s brief reign of terror, he forced all the citizens with the emperor, to evacuate Luoyang, which he looted and razed to the ground; leading them on a death march to Chang’an (Xi’an). The general he left to guard Sishui Pass was slain in a duel with a horse archer, who was rewarded by Cao Cao. According to Romance of the Three Kingdoms; another of Dong’s generals, Lu Bu fought a running duel at Hulao Pass with three famous oath brothers, including Liu Bei. After reoccupying the ruins of Luoyang, Cao Cao against orders led his men westward encountering Dong’s forces at Xingyang. He attacked Lu Bu but two other generals surrounded him and he fought his way out with only 3,000 men. Then his camp was attacked by Xu Rong, who scattered them, wounding Cao Cao who lost his horse. Cao Hong, from the same clan of uncles, offered his steed to Cao Cao, and both escaped. Xu Rong later withdrew and Cao Cao returned to the rebel base at Suanzao, trying to encourage the coalition to pursue Dong Zhuo. "Our men have come to us because the cause is just, but if we hesitate and delay we shall lose the hopes of the empire, and I would be ashamed for you." He joined Yuan Shao and another warlord in Henei (Henan), while the coalition forces that remained in Suanzao gradually dispersed from lack of supplies.
A few more grudges were settled by the aristocrats. Dong sent a succession of five reputable men to treat with Yuan Shao, who executed all of them except one. But it was the rebel southern warlord Sun Jian who took the field, winning a succession of victories and escapes against Dong’s generals including Lu Bu, and Dong himself, who made tempting offers to gain the initiative of this commander. Although the coalition had withheld support from him; Sun Jian flatly rejected Dong Zhuo. Sun Jian rededicated the disturbed tombs of emperors in Luoyang, and accidentally came upon one of the Imperial Seals, an item of symbolic importance. Yuan Shao demanded this from Sun Jian who denied he had it, then slipped away with his men. Yuan tried to find a legitimate emperor of his own, but his candidate Liu Yu rejected it. The Coalition was beginning to fall out over control of supplies. Then Yuan Shao sent a regional warlord to attack Sun Jian, but after initial success he was heavily defeated in a counterattack at Yangcheng (Dengfeng). This brought Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shu against Yuan Shao as well. Yuan Shao’s army of 40,000 met the 10,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry of Gongsun Zan at Jieqiao (Weixian?). His front line of 800 crack troops and 1,000 crossbowmen narrowly repulsed Gongsun’s cavalry, killing Yan Gang and 1,000 of his men. Yuan Shao with his bodyguard faced down another force of 2,000 horsemen. Although inconclusive, this victory for the Qingzhou forces probably saved Cao Cao’s cause as well. Soon after Sun Jian was killed in battle with Liu Biao the governor of Jing, and was succeded by Sun Ce who took the seal to Yuan Shu. The alliance fragmented; Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan forming a separate camp. With the rebels taking no action against him, Dong Zhuo solidified his position as tyrant and became even more intolerant and paranoid, attempting to kill Lu Bu; who joined the assassins in getting rid of him. Lu Bu defeated Dong’s relatives, but they managed to distract him and regain control of Chang’an, and the emperor. China descended in to a multi-faceted civil war, as if it wasn’t already confusing.
The remnants of the Yellow Turban rebels from Qing province invaded Yan, defeating and killing the inspector general. Cao Cao’s advisor Chen Gong convinced the leaderless imperial troops to join Cao Cao who invaded Yan province. Initially he failed to defeat the rebels at Shouzhang, but reformed his army with strict enforcement and generous incentives. He launched surprise attacks against the peasants who had taken to supporting themselves by pillaging. Given no opportunity and lacking supplies, they retreated to the north and Cao Cao defeated them at Jibei. There some 300,000 rebels including 100,000 civilians surrendered to Cao Cao, who reorganized them in the Qingzhou Corps. He implemented the Tuntian system of civilian work gangs, a corvee that repaired irrigation works and harvested the crop under military protection. He thus solved two economic problems that would challenge his administration: moving large numbers of unemployed refugees to great tracts of land abandoned in the chaos. Soon after his father Cao Song was killed while under the care of Tao Qian in Xu province. In 193, Cao Cao swept through Tao’s lands and this time the reprisals were severe; with the massacre of thousands of civilians to avenge his father's death at the hands of Yellow Turban bandits. Cao Cao was unable to capture Tao Qian’s capital and withdrew.
In other developments Yuan Shu, a strong contender at this point, sent Sun Ce to gather supplies and secure his position in the south. Sun Ce would exceed these expectations, embarking on a 5 year campaign of conquest, but in the meantime Yuan Shu’s situation became precarious. Liu Biao cut off the grain supply to Yuan Shu, who retreated with 10,000 men to Fengqiu in Chenliu. There he was joined by Heishan bandits and the Xiongnu warlord Yufulo. Yuan Shu reinforced his general in Kuangting, but they were badly defeated by Cao Cao with 30,000 men and withdrew towards Fengqiu (Qi). Cao Cao surrounded Fengqiu before they could reach it, and besieged Yuan Shu in Xiangyi; diverting the canal that supplied the city’s drinking water. Cao Cao pursued Yuan Shu’s forces to Ningling then Jiujiang before withdrawing. He then attacked Tao Qian again, conquering many commanderies in Xu Province, but his subordinate Chen Gong turned on him and aided Lü Bu in taking over his home base of Yan Province.
Withdrawing to deal with this threat, Cao Cao had the advantage over Lü Bu who was suffering supply problems, but it turned in to a 100 day debacle in Yan province. While besieging Lu Bu at Puyang Castle in Juye, other rebels attacked his bases in his rear. Cao Cao took 10,000 men to deal with it, and Lu Bu followed with his 5,500, meeting up with his rebel allies near Shanyang. In the first clash with Lu Bu’s cavalry the Qingzhou Corps was routed. Cao Cao riding ahead encountered a brush fire in his rear, and was flung by his horse, burning his hand. His generals had lost him and feared him dead, but he showed up before their camp rallying them to bring their siege train against Lu Bu. Cao Cao took Yongqiu after several months, killing one of Lu Bu’s generals, who received no help from Yuan Shu. Famine and a plague of locusts led to starvation and cannibalism among the peasants, and supplies were not reaching Lu Bu or Cao Cao, who returned to surround Puyang. A fifith column in the city opened the gates, and Cao Cao entered with his army, the gate burning behind him. But it appears to have been a trap, for he came under heavy attack from Lu Bu’s men, was captured, and narrowly escaped by identifying another rider as himself. He ran back through the burning gate under the protection of Dian Wei and Xiahou Yuan. The Romance gives a much more picturesque description, with a bomb at the gate signaling the ambush. Cao Cao was repulsed at every point, before his dwindling troops and his captain Dian Wei managed to fight their way to eachother and the north gate. Lu Bu stood there calling Cao Cao on, but was fooled into chasing the wrong rider. Thinking Cao Cao had died in the fire, Lu Bu gathered his forces to attack the enemy camp; and now it was his turn to be surprised by war drums. He was defeated and withdrew to Puyang but the city would not have him, and he escaped to Dingtao. Later he tried to burn Cao Cao out of his camp in a forest but ran into an ambush, complete with incendiaries, and suffered a huge defeat, losing many officers and two thirds of his army. Within two years Cao Cao recaptured many cities in Yan province from Lu Bu’s forces, driving their commanders to death, suicide, or alignment with Yuan Shu. Lu Bu himself tried to seek asylum with Yuan Shao, who set upon him with his own army. Unable to resist such a force, Lu Bu ended up in the camp of Liu Bei at Xuzhou (Pengcheng), who was pleased to have him. For the time being at least, the alignment of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao continued despite their mutual differences.
In 196, Cao made contact with emperor Xian who had returned to Luoyang, and convinced him to come to Xuchang, a safer capital, with Cao as chancellor. Unlike Dong Zhuo, he assuaged the emperor’s officials, treating them with respect. Since they didn’t have this leverage, other rebel leaders disparaged Xian as a puppet; though Cao refrained from actually usurping the throne. Later when advisors urged him to replace the Han Dynasty, he said "If heaven bestows such a fate upon me, let me be King Wen of Zhou." In order to maintain his relationship with Yuan Shao, who controlled the relatively stable four northern provinces, Cao lobbied to have Yuan Shao appointed Minister of Public Works. This had the opposite effect on Yuan Shao however, who saw it as a mockery. In a remarkable twist, Cao Cao offered his former warlord master his own role, as Imperial commander in chief, and took Public Works instead. This temporarily restored the peace between the men, but Yuan Shao’s opportunistic grasping contrasted with the principled Cao Cao, who took most of the risks. For now, Cao invaded Wancheng ruled by Zhang Xiu, who feigned surrender, and kept his kingdom. Cao met one of Zhang’s widowed aunts, and took her as a concubine, which infuriated Zhang. Knowing of the plots behind his back, Cao planned to do away with him but his camp was attacked at night by Zhang with 5,000 men. He must have been without the army he used to intimidate Zhang before, or else caught in an extreme state of unpreparedness. He fled on a light horse while a few hundred retainers under the heroic Dian Wei fought with long crescent halberds, ‘like ten men each’, blocking the gate to their camp. On hearing of Dian Wei’s sacrifice Cao was saddened, but urged on he fled Wu Yin, defended by his eldest son and nephew who also died, lending his steed to assist Cao’s escape. He was back in action the following winter when he received the news Lu Bu revolted from his ally Liu Bei, whose family he seized in Xiapi. He also received an arrogant letter from Yuan Shao as would be written to an incompetent subordinate, and for a time considered turning on his nominal ally; but the defection of Lu Bu to Yuan Shu was a more immediate problem, who could just as easily reach a rapproachment with Yuan Shao and become a bigger threat.
Before this came to pass, Sun Ce had defeated the warlords of Wu and the Shanyue barbarians, securing Yuan Shu’s control in the south. This prompted Yuan Shu to proclaim himself emperor, against the advice of Sun Ce who turned against him. Cao Cao’s puppet court endorsed a ‘holy war’ against Yuan Shu, whose city and family was captured by Liu Xun. Sun Ce pretended to befriend this warlord, but defeated him and took Liu Xun’s own family prisoner, along with Yuan Shu’s. Liu Xun made a stand with support from Liu Biao and a fleet, but Sun Ce captured many of his ships and Liu Xun abandoned the struggle. Yuan Shu meanwhile sent his official Han Yin to Lu Bu with an inter-family marriage proposal, but Lu Bu was uneasy after their conflict 5 years ago. After consenting he changed his mind and pursued the convoy, retrieving his daughter, and captured Han Yin who was sent to Xuchang to be executed by Cao Cao. Cao Cao reassured Lu Bu, making him Worthy General of the Left, but secretly concluded that Lu Bu was impulsive and not trustworthy. He made Lu Bu’s representative Chen Deng a mole in Lu Bu’s organization. Yuan Shu was angered by Lu Bu’s betrayal and sent his generals to attack Xiapi from seven directions in collaboration with the White Wave Bandits under Han Xian. Lu Bu had only 3,000 men and 400 warhorses at the time, but he persuaded Han Xian to defect and defeated Yuan Shu’s forces, pursuing them to the Huai River. Then in a complete turnaround in 198, Lu Bu made peace with Yuan Shu (whom he could control easier) and turned on his ally, and former rebel enemy Liu Bei, who was besieged in Xiaopei.
Cao Cao sent a force to support Liu Bei under his general Xiahou Dun who engaged one of Lu Bu’s champions on horseback. He was shot by an onlooker in the eye with an arrow, nonetheless mortally wounding his assailant, and eating his own eyeball like a kabob, to the amazement of onlookers. After nine months the city surrendered; Liu Bei escaped but without his family. Cao took command himself, receiving the wounded Xiahou Dun in his camp. Cao Ren was sent to blockade Xiapi (Pizhou) with 3,000 soldiers, while himself with 25,000 men would attack Lu Bu’s 10,000. By an amazing coincidence of miscommunication, Lu Bu attacked his own soldiers at night withdrawing from the pass, before regrouping. At daybreak they retreated to Xuzhou, but finding the gates closed, went back to Xiapi. Cao Cao fought his way past the Tai Shan Mountain bandits and surrounded the city in snowfall, relying on their morale to erode. It worked, and Lu Bu was ready to surrender to Cao Cao if he would withdraw, but his associate Chen Gong had more at stake, striking Cao Cao’s helmet with an arrow. Lu Bu appealed for aid from his unworthy ally Yuan Shu, who countered with demands, including for Lu Bu’s famous war horse Red Hare. Reduced to impotence himself, all Yuan Shu sent was a thousand horsemen. For days, Lu Bu remained drunken with his women, while a supply convoy was on the way to Cao Cao. He made one sortie with a thousand cavalry of his own, but the siege dragged on for three months. One of his outside supporters was assassinated, and was avenged by another who raised a relief force. Cao Cao’s own situation was deteriorating and he decided to flood the city out by gating two canals nearby. Morale plummeted, and Lu Bu’s erratic behaviour finally turned his soldiers against him. Red Hare was surrendered to Cao Cao, and the gates were opened. Lu Bu was handed over and Cao Cao was prepared to reinstate him as an ally, but was warned against doing so by Liu Bei. Instead he asked his old friend the esteemed Chen Gong to rejoin him, who refused. Betraying his emotion, Cao Cao reluctantly had him executed, along with Lu Bu and Gao Shun who tried to escape; but he honored his promise to look after their families. Two prominent generals, Guan Yu and Zhang Liao, threw their lot in with Cao Cao.
Sun Ce finished off Yuan Shu’s clan supporters and took Shouchun, after Yuan Shu burned his palace, much as Dong Zhou had abandoned Luoyang. With nowhere friendly to go, Yuan Shu surrendered to the still powerful Yuan Shao, promising the royal seal taken from Sun Jian as war booty. On his way to Qingzhou he was intercepted by Liu Bei, in command of some of Cao Cao’s men, and died in captivity. The Romance differs in many aspects from this account, with Cao ruthlessly besieging Yuan Shu’s capital, but the outcome is essentially the same. Cao Cao’s power grew with the absorption and demise of his rivals, such that even Sun Ce was compelled to gather a vast supply convoy and send it on to him. Zhang Xiu was the minor warlord who had once nearly ended Cao Cao’s ambitions at Wangcheng, taking the lives of three of his close family. For three years Zhang Xiu had successfully turned back every attempt by Cao to crush him; however he agreed to a surrender facilitated by his advisor. Cao put bygones behind them, and threw a feast, marrying one of his sons to Zhang’s daughter, and Zhang Xiu afterwards served him well at the decisive battle of Guandong. Around this time some of Emperor Xian’s officers entered into a secret plot with Liu Bei, and Cao Cao put Dong Cheng to death along with his pregnant daughter, despite the intercession of Xian. Cao then began to issue imperial edicts in Emperor Xian's name, including a harsh condemnation of Yuan Shao for taking over nearby provinces.
Yuan Shao meanwhile had won his own great victory over the remaining competing warlord, Gongsun Zan, who was killed at Yijing. This raised his prestige, and the friction level with Cao Cao whom he wanted out of the way. The decisive battle took place in 200. Cao fortified the fords on the Yellow River approaching his capital Xuchang, and sent Zang Ba to harass Yuan Shao’s son Yuan Tan in Qing province to the east, while also diverting forces to the west. The defection of Liu Bei gave Yuan a foothold in Xu province, and Cao Cao left his front line exposed to drive him off. Yuan Shao sent a probing attack with 4,000 men at the Dushi Ford, but 2,000 men under Yu Jin held their ground, and launched a counterattack across the river. Reinforced to 5,000 horse and foot, Yu Jin burned many of Yuan Shao’s encampments, and cut off his detachment at the ford. Cao returned from dealing with Liu Bei, and Yuan Shao’s best opportunity was gone.
Yuan sent one of his famous generals with 10,000 men to attack Boma, while he maintained a presence opposite Cao. Boma proved to be stubborn in a 32 day siege, and Cao Cao decided to distract Yuan with a feint on his main force, while leading the cavalry and light troops to the relief of Boma. His officer Guan Yu (re-enlisted from Liu Bei), surprised and killed Yuan’s general and raised the siege. Cao Cao decided to evacuate Boma as too exposed, taking the combined force to Yan Ford. Yuan now committed himself to a pursuit, attacking Cao’s baggage train on the march with 5,000 cavalry. But it was well defended bait, and Cao mounted up 600 cavalry in an ambush, killing another leading general. At this point Guan Yu felt he had repaid Cao Cao’s honor, and leaving behind the gifts he had been bestowed, went to Liu Bei where his true loyalties were. Impressed by his integrity, Cao Cao did not pursue him. The morale of Yuan Shao’s army was damaged, but he still had 100,000 men and 10,000 cavalry against 40,000, and the supplies to win a war of attrition. Rejecting sound advice, he sought a decisive victory crossing the Yellow River, while Cao Cao withdrew to Guandu.
Yuan Shao sent Liu Bei again to stir up revolt, then solidified his position around Guandu, not bothering to guard a path of retreat to the river. Cao was again diverted by sending Cao Ren to intercept Liu Bei, routing him and killing a rebel leader, then Cao defeated an attempt on his own flank. Aware that Cao’s grain was running short, Yuan Shao’s forces began to squeeze Guandu with approach trenches, ramps, archer platforms, and siege engines. Under missile fire, the 20,000 men in Guandu destroyed some of these archer towers, and constructed a deep trench around his position to expose and defeat tunneling attempts. Cao considered abandoning his position to lure Yuan Shao southward, but was advised thus: “You, Duke, with one-tenth of the enemy's force you have held the ground you marked, and gripping him by the throat, have not let him advance for already half a year. In this situation his strength will be exhuasted and there must arise some crisis.” Cao held fast and sent his cavalry on raids against foraging and supply parties. Yuan was being reinforced by 10,000 soldiers with a large supply train, and rejected advice to support it with a screening force. By this time some of his distraught advisors claimed illness, and snuck off to join Cao, whose generals were suspicious; but armed with this intelligence, Cao took 5,000 foot and horse, disguised as Yuan’s troops and attacked the depot at Wuchou, overrunning their camp. Yuan Shao had to choose between defending Wuchou, or launching an all out attack on Guandu while Cao Cao was absent. He chose the latter, sending only a small cavalry force to harass the besiegers of Wuchou. Cao Cao ignored these and took the depot, killing 1,000 men, sending Yuan a present of their noses. Unable to remain or carry the supplies, he set them on fire, causing consternation in Yuan’s army. They had no stomach for attrition attacking the lines at Guandu, and when another of their generals defected, the army abandoned the fight. Cao’s forces went on full attack, and the army began streaming backwards, Yuan Shao already ahead of them with 800 horsemen. He organized the straggling remnants of his army at Jiang, but Cao claimed 70,000 were left behind dead or trapped on the wrong side of the river. Consistent with historical precedent, prisoners feigning surrender he could not feed or guard, he had buried alive. Cao held the ascendancy for now, but the biggest rivalry was still in the future. Liu Bei jumped provinces, to link up with the aforementioned Liu Biao. Cao sent the one eyed Xiahou Dun to attack Liu Bei, who abandoned his camp at Bowang. Against the advice of Li Dian, Xiahou pursued over wooded mountain trails before he was ambushed from three sides, and only saved by the arrival of Li Dian. Liu Bei continued his withdrawal, and Xiahou was prepared to accept punishment for his unauthorized action, but when Cao Cao arrived he released him.
Yuan Shao died within two years of Guandong and his younger son quarreled with Yuan Tan. Cao Cao followed up with an invasion of Hebei, taking the surrender of Yuan Tan, who escaped, then was besieged and killed. His younger brother suffered a succession of defeats while being driven northward. Cao pursued and met the army of Yuan and the nomadic Wuhuan confederacy at White Wolf Mountain. These were more than equals, and their chieftain Tadun was made chanyu, emulating the Xiong-nu warlord Modu Chanyu. In their raids in support of Yuan Shao they kidnapped over 100,000 Chinese families. With every crossing or approach anticipated and guarded, Cao Cao appeared to give up. Leaving his heavy troops and supply train behind, he took his fast light forces on an oblique approach through disused trails, gambling that Tadun didn’t get wind of it. The Wuhuan-Yuan troops were withdrawing from their forward positions to meet this threat, when Cao Cao appeared. His lightly armoured men hesitated against the numbers before them, but taking advantage of the speed and compactness of his force, Cao Cao led them down to destroy Tadun’s disorganized forces piecemeal, capturing Tadun. The surviving sons of Yuan Shao and Tadun fled to eastern Liaodong, ruled by an autonomous warlord, whom Cao Cao induced to have the few thousand renegades killed. By 207 Cao’s reputation was at his apogee, having brought lands beyond the Great Wall under his control, even parts of Korea.
Son of an adopted son of a high ranking eunuch, possibly apocryphal stories reveal a precocious youth with outsized ambitions. Supposedly he pressed a seer for an assessment of his qualities, who replied "You would be a capable minister in peaceful times and an unscrupulous hero in chaotic times." At the age of 20 he became a district captain in Luoyang, where he prosecuted the law regardless of political station; once flogging a nobleman for being out after curfew. This got him ‘promoted’ to a county governorship away from the capital. In 184 the Yellow Turban Revolt broke out, disaffected peasants under heavy taxation, as the Eastern Han Empire began to weaken. Cao was recalled to Luoyang and made Captain of the Cavalry, then sent to Yingchuan to suppress the rebels. He was successful in his military exploits and was further promoted to Governor of Dong Commandery. Later during the civil war, Cao Cao was able to gain the submission of a peasant army that marched into Yan province.
The death of Emperor Ling in 189 left power in the hands of the dowager empress Hé. Powerful aristocrats like Yuan Shao and Hé Jin, plotted to eliminate the influential eunuch clans and called in Dong Zhuo, the ruthless governor of Liang, to pressure the dowager. He Jin was assassinated but Dong easily secured the palace, while Yuan Shao’s supporters battled the eunuchs. Dong Zhuo deposed the minor emperor and installed another puppet, Xian. Cao Cao rejected his appointment under Dong, and with his followers moved to his homeland in Kaifeng, training a new army. The next year regional warlords formed a military alliance under Yuan Shao and Cao Cao joined them. Another rebellion broke out in Liaoyang province, under a group of leaders including his friend Han Sui. In Dong Zhuo’s brief reign of terror, he forced all the citizens with the emperor, to evacuate Luoyang, which he looted and razed to the ground; leading them on a death march to Chang’an (Xi’an). The general he left to guard Sishui Pass was slain in a duel with a horse archer, who was rewarded by Cao Cao. According to Romance of the Three Kingdoms; another of Dong’s generals, Lu Bu fought a running duel at Hulao Pass with three famous oath brothers, including Liu Bei. After reoccupying the ruins of Luoyang, Cao Cao against orders led his men westward encountering Dong’s forces at Xingyang. He attacked Lu Bu but two other generals surrounded him and he fought his way out with only 3,000 men. Then his camp was attacked by Xu Rong, who scattered them, wounding Cao Cao who lost his horse. Cao Hong, from the same clan of uncles, offered his steed to Cao Cao, and both escaped. Xu Rong later withdrew and Cao Cao returned to the rebel base at Suanzao, trying to encourage the coalition to pursue Dong Zhuo. "Our men have come to us because the cause is just, but if we hesitate and delay we shall lose the hopes of the empire, and I would be ashamed for you." He joined Yuan Shao and another warlord in Henei (Henan), while the coalition forces that remained in Suanzao gradually dispersed from lack of supplies.
A few more grudges were settled by the aristocrats. Dong sent a succession of five reputable men to treat with Yuan Shao, who executed all of them except one. But it was the rebel southern warlord Sun Jian who took the field, winning a succession of victories and escapes against Dong’s generals including Lu Bu, and Dong himself, who made tempting offers to gain the initiative of this commander. Although the coalition had withheld support from him; Sun Jian flatly rejected Dong Zhuo. Sun Jian rededicated the disturbed tombs of emperors in Luoyang, and accidentally came upon one of the Imperial Seals, an item of symbolic importance. Yuan Shao demanded this from Sun Jian who denied he had it, then slipped away with his men. Yuan tried to find a legitimate emperor of his own, but his candidate Liu Yu rejected it. The Coalition was beginning to fall out over control of supplies. Then Yuan Shao sent a regional warlord to attack Sun Jian, but after initial success he was heavily defeated in a counterattack at Yangcheng (Dengfeng). This brought Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shu against Yuan Shao as well. Yuan Shao’s army of 40,000 met the 10,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry of Gongsun Zan at Jieqiao (Weixian?). His front line of 800 crack troops and 1,000 crossbowmen narrowly repulsed Gongsun’s cavalry, killing Yan Gang and 1,000 of his men. Yuan Shao with his bodyguard faced down another force of 2,000 horsemen. Although inconclusive, this victory for the Qingzhou forces probably saved Cao Cao’s cause as well. Soon after Sun Jian was killed in battle with Liu Biao the governor of Jing, and was succeded by Sun Ce who took the seal to Yuan Shu. The alliance fragmented; Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan forming a separate camp. With the rebels taking no action against him, Dong Zhuo solidified his position as tyrant and became even more intolerant and paranoid, attempting to kill Lu Bu; who joined the assassins in getting rid of him. Lu Bu defeated Dong’s relatives, but they managed to distract him and regain control of Chang’an, and the emperor. China descended in to a multi-faceted civil war, as if it wasn’t already confusing.
The remnants of the Yellow Turban rebels from Qing province invaded Yan, defeating and killing the inspector general. Cao Cao’s advisor Chen Gong convinced the leaderless imperial troops to join Cao Cao who invaded Yan province. Initially he failed to defeat the rebels at Shouzhang, but reformed his army with strict enforcement and generous incentives. He launched surprise attacks against the peasants who had taken to supporting themselves by pillaging. Given no opportunity and lacking supplies, they retreated to the north and Cao Cao defeated them at Jibei. There some 300,000 rebels including 100,000 civilians surrendered to Cao Cao, who reorganized them in the Qingzhou Corps. He implemented the Tuntian system of civilian work gangs, a corvee that repaired irrigation works and harvested the crop under military protection. He thus solved two economic problems that would challenge his administration: moving large numbers of unemployed refugees to great tracts of land abandoned in the chaos. Soon after his father Cao Song was killed while under the care of Tao Qian in Xu province. In 193, Cao Cao swept through Tao’s lands and this time the reprisals were severe; with the massacre of thousands of civilians to avenge his father's death at the hands of Yellow Turban bandits. Cao Cao was unable to capture Tao Qian’s capital and withdrew.
In other developments Yuan Shu, a strong contender at this point, sent Sun Ce to gather supplies and secure his position in the south. Sun Ce would exceed these expectations, embarking on a 5 year campaign of conquest, but in the meantime Yuan Shu’s situation became precarious. Liu Biao cut off the grain supply to Yuan Shu, who retreated with 10,000 men to Fengqiu in Chenliu. There he was joined by Heishan bandits and the Xiongnu warlord Yufulo. Yuan Shu reinforced his general in Kuangting, but they were badly defeated by Cao Cao with 30,000 men and withdrew towards Fengqiu (Qi). Cao Cao surrounded Fengqiu before they could reach it, and besieged Yuan Shu in Xiangyi; diverting the canal that supplied the city’s drinking water. Cao Cao pursued Yuan Shu’s forces to Ningling then Jiujiang before withdrawing. He then attacked Tao Qian again, conquering many commanderies in Xu Province, but his subordinate Chen Gong turned on him and aided Lü Bu in taking over his home base of Yan Province.
Withdrawing to deal with this threat, Cao Cao had the advantage over Lü Bu who was suffering supply problems, but it turned in to a 100 day debacle in Yan province. While besieging Lu Bu at Puyang Castle in Juye, other rebels attacked his bases in his rear. Cao Cao took 10,000 men to deal with it, and Lu Bu followed with his 5,500, meeting up with his rebel allies near Shanyang. In the first clash with Lu Bu’s cavalry the Qingzhou Corps was routed. Cao Cao riding ahead encountered a brush fire in his rear, and was flung by his horse, burning his hand. His generals had lost him and feared him dead, but he showed up before their camp rallying them to bring their siege train against Lu Bu. Cao Cao took Yongqiu after several months, killing one of Lu Bu’s generals, who received no help from Yuan Shu. Famine and a plague of locusts led to starvation and cannibalism among the peasants, and supplies were not reaching Lu Bu or Cao Cao, who returned to surround Puyang. A fifith column in the city opened the gates, and Cao Cao entered with his army, the gate burning behind him. But it appears to have been a trap, for he came under heavy attack from Lu Bu’s men, was captured, and narrowly escaped by identifying another rider as himself. He ran back through the burning gate under the protection of Dian Wei and Xiahou Yuan. The Romance gives a much more picturesque description, with a bomb at the gate signaling the ambush. Cao Cao was repulsed at every point, before his dwindling troops and his captain Dian Wei managed to fight their way to eachother and the north gate. Lu Bu stood there calling Cao Cao on, but was fooled into chasing the wrong rider. Thinking Cao Cao had died in the fire, Lu Bu gathered his forces to attack the enemy camp; and now it was his turn to be surprised by war drums. He was defeated and withdrew to Puyang but the city would not have him, and he escaped to Dingtao. Later he tried to burn Cao Cao out of his camp in a forest but ran into an ambush, complete with incendiaries, and suffered a huge defeat, losing many officers and two thirds of his army. Within two years Cao Cao recaptured many cities in Yan province from Lu Bu’s forces, driving their commanders to death, suicide, or alignment with Yuan Shu. Lu Bu himself tried to seek asylum with Yuan Shao, who set upon him with his own army. Unable to resist such a force, Lu Bu ended up in the camp of Liu Bei at Xuzhou (Pengcheng), who was pleased to have him. For the time being at least, the alignment of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao continued despite their mutual differences.
In 196, Cao made contact with emperor Xian who had returned to Luoyang, and convinced him to come to Xuchang, a safer capital, with Cao as chancellor. Unlike Dong Zhuo, he assuaged the emperor’s officials, treating them with respect. Since they didn’t have this leverage, other rebel leaders disparaged Xian as a puppet; though Cao refrained from actually usurping the throne. Later when advisors urged him to replace the Han Dynasty, he said "If heaven bestows such a fate upon me, let me be King Wen of Zhou." In order to maintain his relationship with Yuan Shao, who controlled the relatively stable four northern provinces, Cao lobbied to have Yuan Shao appointed Minister of Public Works. This had the opposite effect on Yuan Shao however, who saw it as a mockery. In a remarkable twist, Cao Cao offered his former warlord master his own role, as Imperial commander in chief, and took Public Works instead. This temporarily restored the peace between the men, but Yuan Shao’s opportunistic grasping contrasted with the principled Cao Cao, who took most of the risks. For now, Cao invaded Wancheng ruled by Zhang Xiu, who feigned surrender, and kept his kingdom. Cao met one of Zhang’s widowed aunts, and took her as a concubine, which infuriated Zhang. Knowing of the plots behind his back, Cao planned to do away with him but his camp was attacked at night by Zhang with 5,000 men. He must have been without the army he used to intimidate Zhang before, or else caught in an extreme state of unpreparedness. He fled on a light horse while a few hundred retainers under the heroic Dian Wei fought with long crescent halberds, ‘like ten men each’, blocking the gate to their camp. On hearing of Dian Wei’s sacrifice Cao was saddened, but urged on he fled Wu Yin, defended by his eldest son and nephew who also died, lending his steed to assist Cao’s escape. He was back in action the following winter when he received the news Lu Bu revolted from his ally Liu Bei, whose family he seized in Xiapi. He also received an arrogant letter from Yuan Shao as would be written to an incompetent subordinate, and for a time considered turning on his nominal ally; but the defection of Lu Bu to Yuan Shu was a more immediate problem, who could just as easily reach a rapproachment with Yuan Shao and become a bigger threat.
Before this came to pass, Sun Ce had defeated the warlords of Wu and the Shanyue barbarians, securing Yuan Shu’s control in the south. This prompted Yuan Shu to proclaim himself emperor, against the advice of Sun Ce who turned against him. Cao Cao’s puppet court endorsed a ‘holy war’ against Yuan Shu, whose city and family was captured by Liu Xun. Sun Ce pretended to befriend this warlord, but defeated him and took Liu Xun’s own family prisoner, along with Yuan Shu’s. Liu Xun made a stand with support from Liu Biao and a fleet, but Sun Ce captured many of his ships and Liu Xun abandoned the struggle. Yuan Shu meanwhile sent his official Han Yin to Lu Bu with an inter-family marriage proposal, but Lu Bu was uneasy after their conflict 5 years ago. After consenting he changed his mind and pursued the convoy, retrieving his daughter, and captured Han Yin who was sent to Xuchang to be executed by Cao Cao. Cao Cao reassured Lu Bu, making him Worthy General of the Left, but secretly concluded that Lu Bu was impulsive and not trustworthy. He made Lu Bu’s representative Chen Deng a mole in Lu Bu’s organization. Yuan Shu was angered by Lu Bu’s betrayal and sent his generals to attack Xiapi from seven directions in collaboration with the White Wave Bandits under Han Xian. Lu Bu had only 3,000 men and 400 warhorses at the time, but he persuaded Han Xian to defect and defeated Yuan Shu’s forces, pursuing them to the Huai River. Then in a complete turnaround in 198, Lu Bu made peace with Yuan Shu (whom he could control easier) and turned on his ally, and former rebel enemy Liu Bei, who was besieged in Xiaopei.
Cao Cao sent a force to support Liu Bei under his general Xiahou Dun who engaged one of Lu Bu’s champions on horseback. He was shot by an onlooker in the eye with an arrow, nonetheless mortally wounding his assailant, and eating his own eyeball like a kabob, to the amazement of onlookers. After nine months the city surrendered; Liu Bei escaped but without his family. Cao took command himself, receiving the wounded Xiahou Dun in his camp. Cao Ren was sent to blockade Xiapi (Pizhou) with 3,000 soldiers, while himself with 25,000 men would attack Lu Bu’s 10,000. By an amazing coincidence of miscommunication, Lu Bu attacked his own soldiers at night withdrawing from the pass, before regrouping. At daybreak they retreated to Xuzhou, but finding the gates closed, went back to Xiapi. Cao Cao fought his way past the Tai Shan Mountain bandits and surrounded the city in snowfall, relying on their morale to erode. It worked, and Lu Bu was ready to surrender to Cao Cao if he would withdraw, but his associate Chen Gong had more at stake, striking Cao Cao’s helmet with an arrow. Lu Bu appealed for aid from his unworthy ally Yuan Shu, who countered with demands, including for Lu Bu’s famous war horse Red Hare. Reduced to impotence himself, all Yuan Shu sent was a thousand horsemen. For days, Lu Bu remained drunken with his women, while a supply convoy was on the way to Cao Cao. He made one sortie with a thousand cavalry of his own, but the siege dragged on for three months. One of his outside supporters was assassinated, and was avenged by another who raised a relief force. Cao Cao’s own situation was deteriorating and he decided to flood the city out by gating two canals nearby. Morale plummeted, and Lu Bu’s erratic behaviour finally turned his soldiers against him. Red Hare was surrendered to Cao Cao, and the gates were opened. Lu Bu was handed over and Cao Cao was prepared to reinstate him as an ally, but was warned against doing so by Liu Bei. Instead he asked his old friend the esteemed Chen Gong to rejoin him, who refused. Betraying his emotion, Cao Cao reluctantly had him executed, along with Lu Bu and Gao Shun who tried to escape; but he honored his promise to look after their families. Two prominent generals, Guan Yu and Zhang Liao, threw their lot in with Cao Cao.
Sun Ce finished off Yuan Shu’s clan supporters and took Shouchun, after Yuan Shu burned his palace, much as Dong Zhou had abandoned Luoyang. With nowhere friendly to go, Yuan Shu surrendered to the still powerful Yuan Shao, promising the royal seal taken from Sun Jian as war booty. On his way to Qingzhou he was intercepted by Liu Bei, in command of some of Cao Cao’s men, and died in captivity. The Romance differs in many aspects from this account, with Cao ruthlessly besieging Yuan Shu’s capital, but the outcome is essentially the same. Cao Cao’s power grew with the absorption and demise of his rivals, such that even Sun Ce was compelled to gather a vast supply convoy and send it on to him. Zhang Xiu was the minor warlord who had once nearly ended Cao Cao’s ambitions at Wangcheng, taking the lives of three of his close family. For three years Zhang Xiu had successfully turned back every attempt by Cao to crush him; however he agreed to a surrender facilitated by his advisor. Cao put bygones behind them, and threw a feast, marrying one of his sons to Zhang’s daughter, and Zhang Xiu afterwards served him well at the decisive battle of Guandong. Around this time some of Emperor Xian’s officers entered into a secret plot with Liu Bei, and Cao Cao put Dong Cheng to death along with his pregnant daughter, despite the intercession of Xian. Cao then began to issue imperial edicts in Emperor Xian's name, including a harsh condemnation of Yuan Shao for taking over nearby provinces.
Yuan Shao meanwhile had won his own great victory over the remaining competing warlord, Gongsun Zan, who was killed at Yijing. This raised his prestige, and the friction level with Cao Cao whom he wanted out of the way. The decisive battle took place in 200. Cao fortified the fords on the Yellow River approaching his capital Xuchang, and sent Zang Ba to harass Yuan Shao’s son Yuan Tan in Qing province to the east, while also diverting forces to the west. The defection of Liu Bei gave Yuan a foothold in Xu province, and Cao Cao left his front line exposed to drive him off. Yuan Shao sent a probing attack with 4,000 men at the Dushi Ford, but 2,000 men under Yu Jin held their ground, and launched a counterattack across the river. Reinforced to 5,000 horse and foot, Yu Jin burned many of Yuan Shao’s encampments, and cut off his detachment at the ford. Cao returned from dealing with Liu Bei, and Yuan Shao’s best opportunity was gone.
Yuan sent one of his famous generals with 10,000 men to attack Boma, while he maintained a presence opposite Cao. Boma proved to be stubborn in a 32 day siege, and Cao Cao decided to distract Yuan with a feint on his main force, while leading the cavalry and light troops to the relief of Boma. His officer Guan Yu (re-enlisted from Liu Bei), surprised and killed Yuan’s general and raised the siege. Cao Cao decided to evacuate Boma as too exposed, taking the combined force to Yan Ford. Yuan now committed himself to a pursuit, attacking Cao’s baggage train on the march with 5,000 cavalry. But it was well defended bait, and Cao mounted up 600 cavalry in an ambush, killing another leading general. At this point Guan Yu felt he had repaid Cao Cao’s honor, and leaving behind the gifts he had been bestowed, went to Liu Bei where his true loyalties were. Impressed by his integrity, Cao Cao did not pursue him. The morale of Yuan Shao’s army was damaged, but he still had 100,000 men and 10,000 cavalry against 40,000, and the supplies to win a war of attrition. Rejecting sound advice, he sought a decisive victory crossing the Yellow River, while Cao Cao withdrew to Guandu.
Spoiler :
Yuan Shao sent Liu Bei again to stir up revolt, then solidified his position around Guandu, not bothering to guard a path of retreat to the river. Cao was again diverted by sending Cao Ren to intercept Liu Bei, routing him and killing a rebel leader, then Cao defeated an attempt on his own flank. Aware that Cao’s grain was running short, Yuan Shao’s forces began to squeeze Guandu with approach trenches, ramps, archer platforms, and siege engines. Under missile fire, the 20,000 men in Guandu destroyed some of these archer towers, and constructed a deep trench around his position to expose and defeat tunneling attempts. Cao considered abandoning his position to lure Yuan Shao southward, but was advised thus: “You, Duke, with one-tenth of the enemy's force you have held the ground you marked, and gripping him by the throat, have not let him advance for already half a year. In this situation his strength will be exhuasted and there must arise some crisis.” Cao held fast and sent his cavalry on raids against foraging and supply parties. Yuan was being reinforced by 10,000 soldiers with a large supply train, and rejected advice to support it with a screening force. By this time some of his distraught advisors claimed illness, and snuck off to join Cao, whose generals were suspicious; but armed with this intelligence, Cao took 5,000 foot and horse, disguised as Yuan’s troops and attacked the depot at Wuchou, overrunning their camp. Yuan Shao had to choose between defending Wuchou, or launching an all out attack on Guandu while Cao Cao was absent. He chose the latter, sending only a small cavalry force to harass the besiegers of Wuchou. Cao Cao ignored these and took the depot, killing 1,000 men, sending Yuan a present of their noses. Unable to remain or carry the supplies, he set them on fire, causing consternation in Yuan’s army. They had no stomach for attrition attacking the lines at Guandu, and when another of their generals defected, the army abandoned the fight. Cao’s forces went on full attack, and the army began streaming backwards, Yuan Shao already ahead of them with 800 horsemen. He organized the straggling remnants of his army at Jiang, but Cao claimed 70,000 were left behind dead or trapped on the wrong side of the river. Consistent with historical precedent, prisoners feigning surrender he could not feed or guard, he had buried alive. Cao held the ascendancy for now, but the biggest rivalry was still in the future. Liu Bei jumped provinces, to link up with the aforementioned Liu Biao. Cao sent the one eyed Xiahou Dun to attack Liu Bei, who abandoned his camp at Bowang. Against the advice of Li Dian, Xiahou pursued over wooded mountain trails before he was ambushed from three sides, and only saved by the arrival of Li Dian. Liu Bei continued his withdrawal, and Xiahou was prepared to accept punishment for his unauthorized action, but when Cao Cao arrived he released him.
Yuan Shao died within two years of Guandong and his younger son quarreled with Yuan Tan. Cao Cao followed up with an invasion of Hebei, taking the surrender of Yuan Tan, who escaped, then was besieged and killed. His younger brother suffered a succession of defeats while being driven northward. Cao pursued and met the army of Yuan and the nomadic Wuhuan confederacy at White Wolf Mountain. These were more than equals, and their chieftain Tadun was made chanyu, emulating the Xiong-nu warlord Modu Chanyu. In their raids in support of Yuan Shao they kidnapped over 100,000 Chinese families. With every crossing or approach anticipated and guarded, Cao Cao appeared to give up. Leaving his heavy troops and supply train behind, he took his fast light forces on an oblique approach through disused trails, gambling that Tadun didn’t get wind of it. The Wuhuan-Yuan troops were withdrawing from their forward positions to meet this threat, when Cao Cao appeared. His lightly armoured men hesitated against the numbers before them, but taking advantage of the speed and compactness of his force, Cao Cao led them down to destroy Tadun’s disorganized forces piecemeal, capturing Tadun. The surviving sons of Yuan Shao and Tadun fled to eastern Liaodong, ruled by an autonomous warlord, whom Cao Cao induced to have the few thousand renegades killed. By 207 Cao’s reputation was at his apogee, having brought lands beyond the Great Wall under his control, even parts of Korea.
In other battles: Sun Quan had inherited the Jiangdong commandery from Sun Ce, and sent Ling Cao with the vanguard of an attack in the south. Undaunted by a strong river fleet, Ling Cao attacked Huang Zu’s anchorage at Xiakou (Hankou), who did not expect such a bold move. He boarded a small vessel to escape, and his leaderless navy was in confusion. Ling Cao hotly pursued in captured ships, but was killed by a stray arrow. Huang Zu retreated to his man base at Jiangxia, and did not resume the offensive against Sun Quan’s main force. By the time Cao Cao defeated the Wuhuan tribes, Sun Quan took a joint naval-land expedition against Jiangxia, capturing the city after a deadlocked boarding battle with the flagships of Huang Zu’s river fleet, while boulders rained down from the clifftops. Huang Zu was killed, then Sun Quan withdrew. At this point Liu Biao died, and his son Liu Cong also surrendered to Cao Cao, who could not believe his good fortune. He was ready to cross the Yangtze into southern China, in a bid to unite the whole country again under his ‘emperor’.
Cao Cao led his 5,000 elite cavalry south to pursue Liu Bei in retreat with a long column of refugees, capturing almost the entire congregation at Changban (Jingmen), but for Liu Bei and his rear guard, who destroyed the bridges, and linked up with other forces on the Han River. Liu and his generals lost some of their families, inducing more to defect. Cao Cao captured a large fleet and the naval base of Jiangling, settling the peasant refugees there. His euphoria was dampened when he learned that Sun Quan decided it was time to throw his lot in with Liu Bei. Cao Cao boasted that he had 800,000 men at his disposal, and some of Sun Quan’s advisors fell for it, but Sun Quan joined Liu Bei, making a stand with 50,000 marines at Red Cliffs on the Yangtze River.
Giving them no rest, Cao’s exhausted vanguard could make no impression on this prepared fleet. In fact he had at least 220,000 men besides the crews of hundreds of ships, and he formed up his anchorage on the opposite shore. He had only a few days of drill to turn his land based infantry-cavalry army into marines. His northerners were not used to being shipborne, and suffered from seasickness. Then, according to the Romance, the wind abruptly changed.
One of the Liu-Sun commanders approached with a squadron aiming to defect, then suddenly set these ships alight and sent them careening into Cao Cao’s moored fleet, rowing back in boats. This was one situation where Cao Cao’s superiority was negated and susceptible to attack. A thick cloud of smoke soon stretched across the horizon, as the crowded mengchong (leather coweled assault barges) were ablaze, and many men and horses burned who were unable to escape. Taking advantage of their shock and inability to maneuver, the allies under Zhou Yu followed up with an attack by their own fleet, having the advantage where they struck. Cao Cao ordered his men to abandon their still large fleet and gather on shore, destroying his remaining ships after extracting what provisions he could, under attack from two sides. He was not destroyed, but had to abandon his camp.
His retreat down a muddy track became a marsh in downpours, with the allied forces pursuing by land and river. A staunch rear guard action by Cao Ren prevented further disaster, and he was left behind to guard Jiangling. The failure of the allies to organize enough ferries to concentrate at one point, may have saved Cao from capture. The Battle of Red Cliffs is considered one of the most culturally pivotal events in Chinese history. Pushing his men at the end of their endurance and leaving them vulnerable on the water, cost Cao Cao the flower of his army and the south. Cao Cao himself said: "Had [advisor] Guo Jia been with us, I would never have got into such trouble....it was only because of the sickness that I burnt my ships and retreated. It is out of all reason for Zhou Yu to take the credit for himself."
The Sun-Liu allies did lose one of their own elite naval forces attacking Xiangyang in the rear, but it was a distraction. The Sun General Zhou Yu with 40,000 men ordered an attack on the still occupied Jing province against Cao Ren’s 120,000 garrison troops. He infiltrated their rear, attempting to cut his supply lines, and the Cao forces resolutely cleared blockades. However, Cao Ren was losing communication with his outposts, and lost 3,000 cavalry in one day trying to recapture Yiling (Yichang). He was also unable to take the main allied camp, and exposed himself to counterattack. With morale dropping in Jiangling, Cao Ren sent 300 volunteers out to score a minor victory against the enemy vanguard. When these 300 were surrounded, he led his own assault force to rescue the first, and both made it back to the city walls with minimal losses. This exploit earned the praise of his enemies and his own army. Cao Cao made Cao Ren a marquis for that, who in another raid managed to severely wound Zhou Yu. After a year of intense fighting Cao Ren was ordered to withdraw and assist Cao Cao in Liang province. The siege continued and Jiangling eventually fell to Sun Quan, but it gave Cao Cao time to regroup, as his control contracted 160 km northward to Xiangyang on the Han River. Liu Bei emerged with his power greatly enhanced by the captue of the strategic Jing province, and prepared for an invasion of Yi province. Cao Cao uncovered another secret plot involving the Emperor’s wife Fu Shou, who was likewise killed with her family, Xian powerless to prevent it. These events effectively ended the pretense of the Han dynasty; ushering in the Three Kingdoms, of which one was Cao-Wei, another was Eastern Wu under Sun Quan, and the third Shu-Han under Liu Bei.
Defeated in the south, Cao Cao continued his westward expansion, and the forces of Guanzhong (Qin) prepared to resist, assisted by Qiang and other counties in rebellion. A force of 100,000 under his old rebel associate Han Sui, Ma Chao, and others took up a position in Tong Pass, but Cao saw it as an opportunity. “The road to Guanzhong is long, and if the barbarians defended themselves along the treacherous terrain, we cannot conquer them in one or two years. But now that they all assembled here in this uneasy alliance, it will be much easier to extinguish them.” He made as if to prepare an assault, but sent 4,000 men on a circuitous route to cross the Yellow River. Then he sent his main force to follow while taking the position of rear guard himself. Ma Chao was aware of this maneuver and attacked Cao Cao’s division with 10,000 troops. He came under heavy arrow fire, being one of the last to board a boat for the crossing, shielded by a horse saddle at one point. He was pursued for some miles by Ma Chao’s troops, until one of his commanders released some livestock accompanying their marching army, distracting the Guanxi long enough for Cao to join his forces on the other side. He detached decoys to confuse Ma Chao who was withdrawing his defense perimeter to the river, and repulsed an attack on his main camp. Ma Chao, Han Sui and their retainers met Cao Cao and his bodyguard in negotiation; offering a cease fire but retaining claim to lands west of the Wei River. In reality they intended to overpower his guards and take him prisoner, but were dissuaded by the glowering presence of Xu Chu, the ‘Tiger Marquis’. Eventually Han Sui, a boyhood friend of Cao Cao was sent with hostages to honor the armistice, and to observers the two appeared to be reliving old Luoyang memories, slapping eachother’s back and laughing merrily. A few days later Cao Cao sent an innocuous letter with some words intentionally smudged out, arousing Ma Chao’s suspicions further when he saw it. At a time of his choosing, Cao Cao attacked the allied army with his light troops, then charged their flanks with heavy cavalry, breaking the coalition. Han Sui was further defeated and rendered harmless, but Ma Chao returned to conquer Liangzhou and Jicheng with about 10,000 soldiers. He left Jicheng to quell a revolt, and unsuccessful, returned to find Jicheng closed to him. He was defeated at Licheng and forced to seek refuge in Hanzhong while Cao Cao exterminated his household.
Liu Bei meanwhile had been successful in a three year campaign to take Yi province, but Chengdu continued to resist. The appearance of Ma Chao with his army finally induced the defending warlord to surrender, who was spared by Liu Bei. Sun Quan, seeing that Liu Bei had achieved his objective, forcefully took control over southern Jing province. The two reached a border agreement when they heard Cao Cao was moving to take Hanzhong. Cao Cao renewed his campaign in the west with a powerful army of 90,000 against 25,000 defenders under Zhang Lu who used the terrain to his advantage. However, Zhang’s fortified bases were besieged and conquered by Cao Cao, who was given the head of his old friend Han Sui. At Yangping Pass Zhang Lu constructed a ten mile rampart that resisted siege. Cao Cao’s forces withdrew, but when he knew the defenders were unprepared he sent his light forces back by night to take the wall by assault. Zhang Lu broke out and fled while Cao captured Nanzheng along with Zhang’s treasury. Eventually the Hanzhong warlord surrendered and was allowed to live in comfort until his death. Whatever prestige Cao had lost on the river at Red Cliffs had been restored on land. Cao suffered a setback when he left Zheng He with several battalions to evacuate and relocate the citizens of Baxi to Hanzhong. Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei to attack him, but was resisted for fifty days. Zhang Fei then took 10,000 men to ambush him along treacherous mountain paths. Zheng He lost his mount and escaped with only a few hundred men, returning to Nanzheng.
Sun Quan made a second attempt to take Hefei in the east, where Cao had a garrison of 7,000 men. Yue Jin was left to guard the city while Zhang Liao took 800 men on a surprise sortie against a group of officers and their bodyguard in the advancing army. He killed the Eastern Wu general Chen Wu among others, challenged Sun Quan to a duel (he would not accept), and managed to extricate himself and his surrounded force. Hefei resisted heroically against the Eastern Wu troops, with narrow escapes by both commanders. Eventually Sun Quan gave up, extricating his forces with difficulty. In 217 Cao Cao personally led his navy to Ruxukou where he had earlier defeated the forces of Sun Quan. He had numerical superiority, and Sun Quan’s admiral was killed early in the battle. While disembarked, Cao Cao’s camp was raided one night by a small force that succeeded in destroying many supplies, demoralizing his army. Cao Cao withdrew, facing a more dangerous threat from Liu Bei’s invasion of Hanzhong. Liu Bei’s progress had been opposed for a year at Yangping Pass, held by Xiahou Yuan, when the palisade around Mount Dingjun was set on fire. The same Zhang He defeated at Baxi was hardpressed defending this sector, and Xiahou had to come to his rescue. Liu Bei shifted his attack against Xiahou’s dwindling force, routing them and killing Xiahou. Mourning the death of his commander, Cao Cao led his army against Liu Bei’s encampment south of the Han River. Marching by night, Liu Bei’s forces spied his supply depot and were on the verge of burning his grain when they were surrounded. Two more of Liu Bei’s commanders attempted to rescue the first and were in turn surrounded and brutalized. Wounded, Zhao Yun broke free and managed to prepare his camp for Cao Cao’s pursuit. With Zhao Yun standing in the open gate Cao suspected a trap and he was right, for archers and crossbowmen at the tree line rained missiles on his troops. The retreat to the Han River became disorderly and many drowned, while Cao’s supplies were burned by other forces under Liu Bei. This turn around gave the Shu-Han warlord Hanzhong, while Cao Cao was on the defensive after his setbacks.
Cao Ren defended Fancheng against Liu’s longtime general Guan Yu (who had briefly been in Cao’s service at Guandu), forcing him to retreat with an arrow in his helm. After heavy rains flooded the Han River, Guan Yu’s navy inflicted a disaster, capturing thousands of troops including Yu Jin and the renowned Pang De who was executed. Cao Ren holed up in Fangcheng alone while Guan Yu forced Cao’s remaining officials in Jing province to defect. Cao Cao considered relocating his capital, but skillfully exploited the growing division between Sun Quan and Liu Bei’s commander Guan Yu. Guan Yu had rejected a marriage from Sun Quan, and seized supply depots to feed his army, enlarged by defections. It became a stalemate, with Cao Ren barely holding on to Fancheng and Xianyang still in Cao Cao’s hands. Guan Yu overconfidently divided his forces to attack both. A fresh Cao-Wei army under Xu Huang was now at large dogging Guan Yu’s moves. Cao Cao’s emissary returned to Luoyang with the news that Sun Quan accepted his offer of the commanderies in Jing, once they drove Liu Bei’s forces out. The news was relayed in to Fancheng by an archer, as the city was on the verge of collapse, forestalling possible revolt or abandonment by Cao Ren. Guan Yu received the same news, when his base at Sizhong was attacked by Xu Huang. He rushed back 5,000 reinforcements but these were ambushed. Xu Huang followed the retreat and charged right in to Guan Yu’s camp, killing some of the Jing defectors. However Cao Cao and Cao Ren both refrained from further action against Guan Yu, reasoning that if he was too weak to engage Sun Quan, their enemies would turn their attention back on them. The last battle of Liu Bei’s campaign was a pyrrhic victory for Cao Cao, who lost an estimated 40,000 men in the siege and flood, besides defections. But it was also a strategic success that secured his empire. Guan Yu was killed by Sun Quan’s general in Jing province, and his head sent to Cao Cao, who buried it like a hero’s. Liu Bei would be hard pressed in the war with Eastern Wu. Cao Cao died the following year aged 65, insisting he be buried without ceremony while "the country is still unstable". ‘Emperor’ Xian finally ‘abdicated’ and Cao Cao was posthumously granted the title "Emperor Wu of Wei". He left 27 sons and several known daughters.
The Shu-Han state eventually surrendered to Cao-Wei in 263, where a new clan established the brief Jin Dynasty, reuniting most of the country after defeating Wu in 280. Cao Cao’s legacy left a division between the politics of north and south China that would last for centuries. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a far more dramatic retelling filled with epic duels and dark betrayals, consolidating the events around a smaller, less confusing cast of unforgettable characters. Although he is portrayed in popular culture as a deceitful, merciless tyrant who lost the most important battle of his career, that seems to be overblown propaganda. He recovered from that defeat to hold the most powerful leg in the war triangle. It is unclear to the present-day reader whether his captive Emperor contributed much to his legitimacy and success. Cao Cao was a brilliant general and able ruler who didn’t alienate his subordinates. He survived bloody purges and the aggression of every rival warlord to found the premier successor state, in a civil war that exceeds in scope, plot twists and sheer skullduggery; the 45 years of Alexander’s diadochi. It is estimated that China’s population at the peak of the eastern Han dynasty dropped by more than half, from displacement, poor crops. This was a war of logistics, and in hard times the peasants suffered. Cao Cao undertook agricultural programs that meant the difference between life and death for hundreds of thousands of refugees (and hungry armies). He was skilled in diplomacy and martial arts, and authored many war journals. He also provided continuity of education, and himself composed profoundly moving poems, including this fragment of one before the Battle of Red Cliffs:
Man's life is but the morning dew, past days many, future ones few.
The melancholy my heart begets, comes from cares I cannot forget.
What can unravel these woes of mine? I know but one – the God of Wine.
.... Thoughts of you from deep inside, cannot settle, cannot subside.
Friends drop by via a country road, the respect they pay really show.
A long due reunion we fest, sharing past stories we possessed.
Stars around the moons are few, southward the crows flew.
Flying with no rest, where shall they nest?
No mountain too steep, no ocean too deep.
Sage pauses from meals when guests call, so at his feet the empire does fall!
Although efforts have been made to revise his depiction in popular culture, to this day the Chinese equivalent of the idiom ‘speak of the Devil’, is ‘Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives.’ Cao Cao’s is the longest most convoluted account, but if the reader can bear up with the choppy narration, his career serves to highlight several noteworthy warlords who can’t be covered in detail without unbalancing the scope of this work; among them Cao’s loyal subordinates: Yu Jin, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Zhang Liao, and Xu Huang; and those of his rivals: Lu Bu, Sun Jian, Zhang Xiu, Sun Ce, Guan Yu, Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, Ma Chao, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, and Zhuge Liang; besides Liu Bei who merits his own entry.
Victory Count: 5 Ingenuity: 4 Scale and consequence: 4 Beating the odds: 3 Personal involvement and risk: 4 Legacy: 3
Cao Cao led his 5,000 elite cavalry south to pursue Liu Bei in retreat with a long column of refugees, capturing almost the entire congregation at Changban (Jingmen), but for Liu Bei and his rear guard, who destroyed the bridges, and linked up with other forces on the Han River. Liu and his generals lost some of their families, inducing more to defect. Cao Cao captured a large fleet and the naval base of Jiangling, settling the peasant refugees there. His euphoria was dampened when he learned that Sun Quan decided it was time to throw his lot in with Liu Bei. Cao Cao boasted that he had 800,000 men at his disposal, and some of Sun Quan’s advisors fell for it, but Sun Quan joined Liu Bei, making a stand with 50,000 marines at Red Cliffs on the Yangtze River.
Spoiler :
Giving them no rest, Cao’s exhausted vanguard could make no impression on this prepared fleet. In fact he had at least 220,000 men besides the crews of hundreds of ships, and he formed up his anchorage on the opposite shore. He had only a few days of drill to turn his land based infantry-cavalry army into marines. His northerners were not used to being shipborne, and suffered from seasickness. Then, according to the Romance, the wind abruptly changed.
Spoiler :
One of the Liu-Sun commanders approached with a squadron aiming to defect, then suddenly set these ships alight and sent them careening into Cao Cao’s moored fleet, rowing back in boats. This was one situation where Cao Cao’s superiority was negated and susceptible to attack. A thick cloud of smoke soon stretched across the horizon, as the crowded mengchong (leather coweled assault barges) were ablaze, and many men and horses burned who were unable to escape. Taking advantage of their shock and inability to maneuver, the allies under Zhou Yu followed up with an attack by their own fleet, having the advantage where they struck. Cao Cao ordered his men to abandon their still large fleet and gather on shore, destroying his remaining ships after extracting what provisions he could, under attack from two sides. He was not destroyed, but had to abandon his camp.
His retreat down a muddy track became a marsh in downpours, with the allied forces pursuing by land and river. A staunch rear guard action by Cao Ren prevented further disaster, and he was left behind to guard Jiangling. The failure of the allies to organize enough ferries to concentrate at one point, may have saved Cao from capture. The Battle of Red Cliffs is considered one of the most culturally pivotal events in Chinese history. Pushing his men at the end of their endurance and leaving them vulnerable on the water, cost Cao Cao the flower of his army and the south. Cao Cao himself said: "Had [advisor] Guo Jia been with us, I would never have got into such trouble....it was only because of the sickness that I burnt my ships and retreated. It is out of all reason for Zhou Yu to take the credit for himself."
The Sun-Liu allies did lose one of their own elite naval forces attacking Xiangyang in the rear, but it was a distraction. The Sun General Zhou Yu with 40,000 men ordered an attack on the still occupied Jing province against Cao Ren’s 120,000 garrison troops. He infiltrated their rear, attempting to cut his supply lines, and the Cao forces resolutely cleared blockades. However, Cao Ren was losing communication with his outposts, and lost 3,000 cavalry in one day trying to recapture Yiling (Yichang). He was also unable to take the main allied camp, and exposed himself to counterattack. With morale dropping in Jiangling, Cao Ren sent 300 volunteers out to score a minor victory against the enemy vanguard. When these 300 were surrounded, he led his own assault force to rescue the first, and both made it back to the city walls with minimal losses. This exploit earned the praise of his enemies and his own army. Cao Cao made Cao Ren a marquis for that, who in another raid managed to severely wound Zhou Yu. After a year of intense fighting Cao Ren was ordered to withdraw and assist Cao Cao in Liang province. The siege continued and Jiangling eventually fell to Sun Quan, but it gave Cao Cao time to regroup, as his control contracted 160 km northward to Xiangyang on the Han River. Liu Bei emerged with his power greatly enhanced by the captue of the strategic Jing province, and prepared for an invasion of Yi province. Cao Cao uncovered another secret plot involving the Emperor’s wife Fu Shou, who was likewise killed with her family, Xian powerless to prevent it. These events effectively ended the pretense of the Han dynasty; ushering in the Three Kingdoms, of which one was Cao-Wei, another was Eastern Wu under Sun Quan, and the third Shu-Han under Liu Bei.
Defeated in the south, Cao Cao continued his westward expansion, and the forces of Guanzhong (Qin) prepared to resist, assisted by Qiang and other counties in rebellion. A force of 100,000 under his old rebel associate Han Sui, Ma Chao, and others took up a position in Tong Pass, but Cao saw it as an opportunity. “The road to Guanzhong is long, and if the barbarians defended themselves along the treacherous terrain, we cannot conquer them in one or two years. But now that they all assembled here in this uneasy alliance, it will be much easier to extinguish them.” He made as if to prepare an assault, but sent 4,000 men on a circuitous route to cross the Yellow River. Then he sent his main force to follow while taking the position of rear guard himself. Ma Chao was aware of this maneuver and attacked Cao Cao’s division with 10,000 troops. He came under heavy arrow fire, being one of the last to board a boat for the crossing, shielded by a horse saddle at one point. He was pursued for some miles by Ma Chao’s troops, until one of his commanders released some livestock accompanying their marching army, distracting the Guanxi long enough for Cao to join his forces on the other side. He detached decoys to confuse Ma Chao who was withdrawing his defense perimeter to the river, and repulsed an attack on his main camp. Ma Chao, Han Sui and their retainers met Cao Cao and his bodyguard in negotiation; offering a cease fire but retaining claim to lands west of the Wei River. In reality they intended to overpower his guards and take him prisoner, but were dissuaded by the glowering presence of Xu Chu, the ‘Tiger Marquis’. Eventually Han Sui, a boyhood friend of Cao Cao was sent with hostages to honor the armistice, and to observers the two appeared to be reliving old Luoyang memories, slapping eachother’s back and laughing merrily. A few days later Cao Cao sent an innocuous letter with some words intentionally smudged out, arousing Ma Chao’s suspicions further when he saw it. At a time of his choosing, Cao Cao attacked the allied army with his light troops, then charged their flanks with heavy cavalry, breaking the coalition. Han Sui was further defeated and rendered harmless, but Ma Chao returned to conquer Liangzhou and Jicheng with about 10,000 soldiers. He left Jicheng to quell a revolt, and unsuccessful, returned to find Jicheng closed to him. He was defeated at Licheng and forced to seek refuge in Hanzhong while Cao Cao exterminated his household.
Liu Bei meanwhile had been successful in a three year campaign to take Yi province, but Chengdu continued to resist. The appearance of Ma Chao with his army finally induced the defending warlord to surrender, who was spared by Liu Bei. Sun Quan, seeing that Liu Bei had achieved his objective, forcefully took control over southern Jing province. The two reached a border agreement when they heard Cao Cao was moving to take Hanzhong. Cao Cao renewed his campaign in the west with a powerful army of 90,000 against 25,000 defenders under Zhang Lu who used the terrain to his advantage. However, Zhang’s fortified bases were besieged and conquered by Cao Cao, who was given the head of his old friend Han Sui. At Yangping Pass Zhang Lu constructed a ten mile rampart that resisted siege. Cao Cao’s forces withdrew, but when he knew the defenders were unprepared he sent his light forces back by night to take the wall by assault. Zhang Lu broke out and fled while Cao captured Nanzheng along with Zhang’s treasury. Eventually the Hanzhong warlord surrendered and was allowed to live in comfort until his death. Whatever prestige Cao had lost on the river at Red Cliffs had been restored on land. Cao suffered a setback when he left Zheng He with several battalions to evacuate and relocate the citizens of Baxi to Hanzhong. Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei to attack him, but was resisted for fifty days. Zhang Fei then took 10,000 men to ambush him along treacherous mountain paths. Zheng He lost his mount and escaped with only a few hundred men, returning to Nanzheng.
Sun Quan made a second attempt to take Hefei in the east, where Cao had a garrison of 7,000 men. Yue Jin was left to guard the city while Zhang Liao took 800 men on a surprise sortie against a group of officers and their bodyguard in the advancing army. He killed the Eastern Wu general Chen Wu among others, challenged Sun Quan to a duel (he would not accept), and managed to extricate himself and his surrounded force. Hefei resisted heroically against the Eastern Wu troops, with narrow escapes by both commanders. Eventually Sun Quan gave up, extricating his forces with difficulty. In 217 Cao Cao personally led his navy to Ruxukou where he had earlier defeated the forces of Sun Quan. He had numerical superiority, and Sun Quan’s admiral was killed early in the battle. While disembarked, Cao Cao’s camp was raided one night by a small force that succeeded in destroying many supplies, demoralizing his army. Cao Cao withdrew, facing a more dangerous threat from Liu Bei’s invasion of Hanzhong. Liu Bei’s progress had been opposed for a year at Yangping Pass, held by Xiahou Yuan, when the palisade around Mount Dingjun was set on fire. The same Zhang He defeated at Baxi was hardpressed defending this sector, and Xiahou had to come to his rescue. Liu Bei shifted his attack against Xiahou’s dwindling force, routing them and killing Xiahou. Mourning the death of his commander, Cao Cao led his army against Liu Bei’s encampment south of the Han River. Marching by night, Liu Bei’s forces spied his supply depot and were on the verge of burning his grain when they were surrounded. Two more of Liu Bei’s commanders attempted to rescue the first and were in turn surrounded and brutalized. Wounded, Zhao Yun broke free and managed to prepare his camp for Cao Cao’s pursuit. With Zhao Yun standing in the open gate Cao suspected a trap and he was right, for archers and crossbowmen at the tree line rained missiles on his troops. The retreat to the Han River became disorderly and many drowned, while Cao’s supplies were burned by other forces under Liu Bei. This turn around gave the Shu-Han warlord Hanzhong, while Cao Cao was on the defensive after his setbacks.
Cao Ren defended Fancheng against Liu’s longtime general Guan Yu (who had briefly been in Cao’s service at Guandu), forcing him to retreat with an arrow in his helm. After heavy rains flooded the Han River, Guan Yu’s navy inflicted a disaster, capturing thousands of troops including Yu Jin and the renowned Pang De who was executed. Cao Ren holed up in Fangcheng alone while Guan Yu forced Cao’s remaining officials in Jing province to defect. Cao Cao considered relocating his capital, but skillfully exploited the growing division between Sun Quan and Liu Bei’s commander Guan Yu. Guan Yu had rejected a marriage from Sun Quan, and seized supply depots to feed his army, enlarged by defections. It became a stalemate, with Cao Ren barely holding on to Fancheng and Xianyang still in Cao Cao’s hands. Guan Yu overconfidently divided his forces to attack both. A fresh Cao-Wei army under Xu Huang was now at large dogging Guan Yu’s moves. Cao Cao’s emissary returned to Luoyang with the news that Sun Quan accepted his offer of the commanderies in Jing, once they drove Liu Bei’s forces out. The news was relayed in to Fancheng by an archer, as the city was on the verge of collapse, forestalling possible revolt or abandonment by Cao Ren. Guan Yu received the same news, when his base at Sizhong was attacked by Xu Huang. He rushed back 5,000 reinforcements but these were ambushed. Xu Huang followed the retreat and charged right in to Guan Yu’s camp, killing some of the Jing defectors. However Cao Cao and Cao Ren both refrained from further action against Guan Yu, reasoning that if he was too weak to engage Sun Quan, their enemies would turn their attention back on them. The last battle of Liu Bei’s campaign was a pyrrhic victory for Cao Cao, who lost an estimated 40,000 men in the siege and flood, besides defections. But it was also a strategic success that secured his empire. Guan Yu was killed by Sun Quan’s general in Jing province, and his head sent to Cao Cao, who buried it like a hero’s. Liu Bei would be hard pressed in the war with Eastern Wu. Cao Cao died the following year aged 65, insisting he be buried without ceremony while "the country is still unstable". ‘Emperor’ Xian finally ‘abdicated’ and Cao Cao was posthumously granted the title "Emperor Wu of Wei". He left 27 sons and several known daughters.
The Shu-Han state eventually surrendered to Cao-Wei in 263, where a new clan established the brief Jin Dynasty, reuniting most of the country after defeating Wu in 280. Cao Cao’s legacy left a division between the politics of north and south China that would last for centuries. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a far more dramatic retelling filled with epic duels and dark betrayals, consolidating the events around a smaller, less confusing cast of unforgettable characters. Although he is portrayed in popular culture as a deceitful, merciless tyrant who lost the most important battle of his career, that seems to be overblown propaganda. He recovered from that defeat to hold the most powerful leg in the war triangle. It is unclear to the present-day reader whether his captive Emperor contributed much to his legitimacy and success. Cao Cao was a brilliant general and able ruler who didn’t alienate his subordinates. He survived bloody purges and the aggression of every rival warlord to found the premier successor state, in a civil war that exceeds in scope, plot twists and sheer skullduggery; the 45 years of Alexander’s diadochi. It is estimated that China’s population at the peak of the eastern Han dynasty dropped by more than half, from displacement, poor crops. This was a war of logistics, and in hard times the peasants suffered. Cao Cao undertook agricultural programs that meant the difference between life and death for hundreds of thousands of refugees (and hungry armies). He was skilled in diplomacy and martial arts, and authored many war journals. He also provided continuity of education, and himself composed profoundly moving poems, including this fragment of one before the Battle of Red Cliffs:
Man's life is but the morning dew, past days many, future ones few.
The melancholy my heart begets, comes from cares I cannot forget.
What can unravel these woes of mine? I know but one – the God of Wine.
.... Thoughts of you from deep inside, cannot settle, cannot subside.
Friends drop by via a country road, the respect they pay really show.
A long due reunion we fest, sharing past stories we possessed.
Stars around the moons are few, southward the crows flew.
Flying with no rest, where shall they nest?
No mountain too steep, no ocean too deep.
Sage pauses from meals when guests call, so at his feet the empire does fall!
Although efforts have been made to revise his depiction in popular culture, to this day the Chinese equivalent of the idiom ‘speak of the Devil’, is ‘Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives.’ Cao Cao’s is the longest most convoluted account, but if the reader can bear up with the choppy narration, his career serves to highlight several noteworthy warlords who can’t be covered in detail without unbalancing the scope of this work; among them Cao’s loyal subordinates: Yu Jin, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Zhang Liao, and Xu Huang; and those of his rivals: Lu Bu, Sun Jian, Zhang Xiu, Sun Ce, Guan Yu, Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, Ma Chao, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, and Zhuge Liang; besides Liu Bei who merits his own entry.
Victory Count: 5 Ingenuity: 4 Scale and consequence: 4 Beating the odds: 3 Personal involvement and risk: 4 Legacy: 3
Liu Bei
cultural icon of China towards the end of the Han Dynasty, who epitomized the Confucian virtues of justice and good government; at least according to the Romance of Three Kingdoms. Historical narrative alone does not elevate him quite so loftily above the rest; it is unclear what his motivations were other than he served his own ambitions, rather than those in power. He was forced to shelter and seek alignments with former ideological enemies as a matter of survival, and took advantage of true allies only to further his opposition to Cao Cao. It may be hard to see him as a liberator more than any other regional warlord, but there had to be reasons his contemporaries and colleagues held him in high regard. As a minimum he demonstrated a high degree of perseverance, self-motivation, and strategic perception; with Eastern Legalism as his political philosophy.
Although he was a descendant of a past emperor, he grew up in a poor family, selling shoes and straw mats after the death of his father. But he had higher aspirations and an affluent relative sent him to study under prominent scholars, where he met Gongsun Zan, the first of many great warlords he associated with. He found other pursuits more to his liking than his studies, but was considered calm, respectful and well-liked. In 184 at the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Liu Bei raised a volunteer force with contributions from wealthy horse merchants, and attracted two more future warlords, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei; who remained loyal throughout his long, eventful life. Joining the provincial army Liu Bei won military successes and was made Prefect of Anxi. He resigned under pressure from a corrupt government inspector, and took his volunteer army to Xu province, suppressing the remnants of the rebels, and was appointed prefect of Gaotang. When the government of Luoyang collapsed, Liu Bei appears in the Romance as opposing Dong Zhuo’s general Lu Bu at Hulao Pass. Gongsun Zan, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei all challenged Lu Bu in succession and were individually defeated in several bouts, until Liu Bei drawing his twin swords, joined the fray. Lu Bu feinted at Liu Bei and made his escape on Red Hare, the three oath brothers unable to keep up with his steed. When the coalition against Dong Zhuo fell apart due to internal conflict, Liu joined Gongsun Zan who was at war with Yuan Shao, and sent to fight in Shandong where he was fended off by Yuan Shao’s eldest son Yuan Tan. The invasion of Xu province by Cao Cao drew Liu Bei’s army in support of Tao Qian. After initial success Cao Cao withdrew when Lu Bu attacked his base in Yan province. Liu Bei remained in Xiapi, his following of 1,000 loyal troops plus some Wuhuan cavalry augmented by 4,000 troops from Tao Qian. Liu raised more troops on his own and made connections with the influential Mi and Cheng clans in Xu, marrying the younger sister of Mi Zhu. Upon Tao Qian’s death he was accepted as governor of Xu, reconciled with Yuan Shao.
After Lu Bu’s first defeat to Cao Cao he took refuge with Liu Bei. When Yuan Shu invaded Xu, Liu led his army to Xuyi where the two confronted eachother without decisive action. Zhang Fei had been left in charge of Xiapi, and killed Cao Bao in a dispute. In the unrest Lu Bu seized the city and Liu Bei’s family in a surprise attack. Liu marched to Xiapi but his army melted away and his small following was attacked by Yuan Shu. He retreated to Haixi in Donghai commandery (still supported by Mi Zhu), but attacked by both warlords his troops were reduced to cannibalism before he surrendered to Lu Bu. Lu’s increasing isolation made him apprehensive of Yuan Shu and he accepted Liu Bei’s pledge of allegiance, returning his family as an article of good faith. Liu Bei gathered an army of 10,000 men in Xiaopei, and this alarmed Lu Bu who attacked him again. Liu defended the city with his brothers, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei accepting challenges from Lu Bu and others. After the fourth watch his army withdrew from the north gate, and Lu Bu occupied the city. Liu reached Cao Cao in Xuchang who received him well, appointing him governor of Yu province. Lu Bu sent two generals including Zhang Liao to curb Cao’s influence by attacking Liu, who defended Xiapi. He was joined by Cao’s general Xiahou Dun, on the occasion where he won a challenge and killed the archer who shot his eye. In the cavalry skirmishes and duels Liu Bei could not recross the drawbridge fast enough without Lu Bu’s cavalry entering the city. Liu was forced to leave by another gate without his family, and fled to Cao Cao who launched his own campaign, taking Xiapi and eliminating Lu Bu in 198.
With emperor Xian under Cao Cao’s thumb, Liu Bei joined the conspiracy of Dong Cheng to oust him. When he learned that Yuan Shu had given up the struggle and was en route to submit to Yuan Shao, Liu Bei got permission from Cao to take an army and intercept him, before his role in the plot was discovered. By this he was entrusted with the Royal Seal, which stayed out of Yuan Shao’s hands. Yuan Shu was forced to return to Shouchan dying there. Liu stayed behind with the army, killing the Cao appointed governor of Xu, occupying Xuzhou and Xiaopei while his ally Guan Yu was in Xiapi. Yuan Shao had defeated Gongsun Zan and now moved on Cao Cao, receiving a delegate from Liu Bei with the offer of alliance. While confronting Yuan Shao at Guandu, Cao Cao sent his subordinates to deal with Liu Bei but they were defeated. Again taking charge personally, Cao Cao suppressed Liu’s rebels and drove them out, capturing Guan Yu who, thinking Liu Bei was dead, surrendered to Cao. Liu Bei reached Yuan Shao on the Yellow River, who lost two of his best generals to the actions of Guan Yu. Liu was with the charge of 6,000 of Yuan Shao’s light cavalry at Yan Ford, when they were surprised by Cao Cao himself defending his baggage train. Reunited on opposing sides of a battle, Guan Yu rejoined Liu. Yuan sent Liu to assist a rebellion in Runan by Liu Pi. Together the two attacked Xuchang but were defeated by Cao Ren. Liu returned to the north urging an alliance with yet another powerful rival, Liu Biao in Jing province (Hubei and Hunan). Then he returned to Runan to defeat and kill Cao’s general Cai Yang. When Yuan Shao met his final defeat at Guando, Liu fled to Liu Biao.
He remained in Jing for some years as the guest of Liu Biao, revealing his unhappiness; "In earlier times, I've never left the saddle. My thighs were thin. Now I do not ride anymore, they are fat and flabby. The days and months pass like a stream, and old age will come, but I have achieved nothing.” Liu Bei had his opportunity for action in 202 when Cao Cao sent Yu Jin and Xiahou Dun to attack him. After a sharp engagement Liu burned his camp and retreated. When Xiahou pursued into the mountain passes, he appeared to defeat Liu Bei’s forces in skirmishes against a dwindling force, but was led into a clever ambush and defeated with the help of Zhao Yun in the Battle of Bowang. By the time Xiahou returned to his camp, supplies were burning. Cao was planning his conquest of the Wuhuan confederacy but was concerned about this threat in his rear, and had to suspend his campaign against the sons of Yuan Shao. Cao secured a promise of non-interference from Liu Biao, who refused to attack Xuchang when urged to by Liu Bei. At peace for now, Jing province became prosperous and a haven for literati fleeing the wars. Liu made the acquaintance of revered scholars including Zhuge Liang, who eventually revealed his Longzhong Plan, a long term strategy for the overthrow of Cao Cao.
When Liu Biao died he was succeeded by Liu Cong, who without telling Liu Bei, surrendered to Cao Cao. By the time he realized Cao’s army had already reached Wancheng (Nanyang). In council with his advisors, Zhuge Liang suggested that Liu Bei should attack Liu Cong to secure Jing Province and defend against Cao Cao there, but Liu Bei rejected this; "as Liu Biao was dying, he entrusted his orphans to me. I cannot turn from this obligation and seek my own advantage. How am I to face him after I die?" Abandoning Fancheng, Liu’s retreating column of adherents became a mob of 100,000 refugees, marching only 10-20 li a day. He sent Guan Yu ahead to occupy the arsenal of Jiangling with its fleet. Cao led his cavalry in pursuit and in a day and a night caught up with Liu Bei at Changban, capturing his baggage, family and most of Liu’s army. When resistance collapsed, Zhang Fei commanded 20 horsemen in a rearguard as the bridges were thrown down; striking an intimidating pose as he shouted, "Come and battle me to the death!", and bought time for Liu Bei to escape. They abandoned the civilians and escaped with a few hundred followers to Guan Yu’s fleet, taking Liu downriver and across the Yangtze to Xiakou, where he linked up with his eldest son Liu Qi and 10,000 men. Liu Bei was in a familiar spot, with little power and no real allies, but his fortunes were about to change.
He had already received an envoy from Sun Quan, the third point in the current power triangle. Zhuge Liang met Sun Quan to formalize the alliance, and they resolved to check Cao’s southern expansion at an uncertain site known as the Red Cliffs, with 50,000 men against an estimated 230 - 270,000. Half of Cao’s army were surrendered troops of short tenure, and the northerners were exhausted from their long march. After a brief skirmish Cao withdrew the vanguard of his fleet to Wulin. Cao’s men were unused to southern climates and naval warfare, and the outbreak of plague weakened them further. Zhuge Liang observed: "Even a powerful arrow at the end of its flight cannot penetrate a silk cloth." In the Romance, Zhuge Liang took a squadron of ships close to the Cao fleet, draped with damp straw and wicker to attract massed archery fire, gathering the spent arrows to be used against the enemy. This led Cao to execute two of his experienced admirals, sinking their morale. They also tricked Cao Cao into thinking Liu Bei had deserted Sun Quan’s cause. To thicken the plot, Cao Cao’s infatuation with the wife of Zhou Yu distracted him. Cao Cao moored his ships together with chains during a squall (which left his men seasick), and the Sun generals Zhou Yu and Huang Gai masterminded a brilliant attack, sending fire ships against his fleet. They took full advantage of the resulting destruction and confusion, forcing Cao to abandon his fleet and begin a disastrous retreat on the Huarong road, harassed by skirmishers. With this surprising turnaround, Liu Bei was in the forefront of the pursuit by land and sea, taking the Nan Commandery. Cao left behind Cao Ren and other generals to defend the Jing strongpoints of Jiangling and Xiangyang, which would be the next targets of Sun-Liu aggression.
It was Sun Quan’s generals that stopped Cao Cao’s momentum, and now under Zhou Yu mounted an energetic counteroffensive. His army was smaller than Cao Ren’s levies consuming supplies in Jing cities, but they were in a better condition and had naval mobility. They dueled for months with Cao Ren’s forces, severing communications with Jiangling which was finally abandoned. Liu Bei installed Liu Qi as Inspector General and led his men in the occupation of four commanderies south of the Yangtze. He made Gong’an his base and strengthened his army before Liu Qi died, taking his son’s place. He went to Jiangye to marry Sun Quan’s younger sister, and the Nan commandery was granted to him. Sun Quan’s generosity was supposed to be temporary so Liu could reestablish himself and raise new levies, but he found excuses to postpone relinquishing Jing.
By 211, Liu Zhang the governor of Yi province knew that Cao Cao intended to attack Hanzhong province which was strategic to both of them, and invited Liu Bei to assist him in conquering it first. Liu Bei led an expeditionary force into Sichuan after leaving behind Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun to guard Jing Province. Liu Zhang contributed more troops to Liu Bei, who went to Jiameng Pass and built up his presence there. After considering various proposals Liu Bei chose to doublecross Liu Zhang, requesting more troops to defend Jing. Liu Bei got 4,000, only half of what he asked for, when Liu Zhang realized one of his advisors had been in secret communication with Liu Bei, and had him executed. He tried to get his generals to keep this knowledge secret from Liu Bei, but betrayed himself by his actions. Liu Bei summoned Liu Zhang’s generals at Boshui Pass and had them executed for ‘disrespect’, whereupon their troops, used to this by now, simply joined Liu Bei’s ranks, and moved on Fucheng. Next spring Liu Zhang sent a host under his generals to hold Mianzhu Pass. When one of these defected to Liu Bei, two more were sent to replace him, who also surrendered. Liu Zhang’s son Liu Xun took the remainder back to Luo which came under siege. There Liu Bei’s advisor was killed by a stray arrow, and the resistance was stubborn. He had to call for reinforcements from his army in Jing under Zhang Fei who captured Jiangzhou, with a Yi general who was spared. Zhang Fei broke through a screening force to join Liu. The Yi general Zhang Ren made a desparate sortie on the Wild Goose Bridge against Liu, but was defeated and captured. Liu wanted to spare him for his courage and loyalty, and made his soldiers plead with him to submit, so the story goes. But "A loyal subject will never serve two masters!" and he was executed. Seems equally plausible that Liu used Zhang Ren to make his city submit, then executed him. Luo finally fell, but Liu Zhang still resisted from Chengdu. Ma Chao, the defeated warlord of Liang, was persuaded to kill his comrade and join Liu Bei. The sight of this army to the north of Chengdu caused consternation but the city was determined to resist. After seeing the bodies of commoners dying for him after three years, Liu Zhang was unwilling to see his people destroyed and surrendered to Liu Bei, who gave him an honorary title and shipped him off to Gong’an. Liu assumed the title Governor of Yi and Chengdu became his future capital. Liu married Wu Yi's sister to solidify his control on the newly conquered domain. He gave all his followers, new and old, higher ranks and responsibilities; and a new strict law code, replacing the softer one set by Liu Zhang.
Even Liu Bei began to overstretch the hospitality and patience of his chief ally Sun Quan, who now that Liu had a province of his own, demanded for the last time the province of Jing. Liu replied that he would relinquish Jing, when he liberated Liang province. Sun Quan sent 20,000 men to take the capture of Changsha, Guiyang, and Liling commanderies in the southern part of the province, and also 10,000 men to capture Lukou, blocking Guan Yu. Liu went back to Gong’an sending Guan Yu with 30,000 men to Yiyang. Before war could break out, Cao Cao’s invasion of Hanzhong brought the two allies to their senses, sort of. Liu agreed to give up two commanderies to Sun Quan, settling the border along the Xiang River, if he would launch a diversionary attack on Cao forces in Hefei. Cao Cao had defeated Zhang Lu at Yanphing and won control of the province, leaving three of his best generals there. Cao passed up an opportunity to attack Yi (Qin), still unstable under the recent rule of absentee Liu Bei. Cao’s general Zhang He was evacuating the citizens of Baxi intending to occupy a more defensible corridor when he was attacked by Liu’s general Zhang Fei. After 50 days of stalemate, Zhang He was ambushed in the rear, and gave up his following, reaching Nanzheng with a few hundred survivors. Liu Bei sent Ma Chao to support Zhang Fei while he took his main force to Yangping Pass. However Zhang Fei was forced to retreat after his aides were defeated and killed. Liu Bei sent a flanking force anyway to cut supplies to Xiahou Yuan in the pass, but was routed by Xiahou’s cavalry subordinate Xu Huang. Liu Bei pressed on against Zhang He instead and though he was stalemated there as well, he secured himself in the region and grew his strength. They faced eachother for a year when Cao Cao was gathering an army in Chang’an. Liu set up camps on Mount Dingjun overlooking Xiahou Yuan in the valley, then sent 10,000 men to attack Zhang He while setting fire to Xiahou’s palisades. The veteran Xiahou put out the fires with a small party while sending a strong force to reinforce Zhang He. Signaled by his scouts, Liu sent his own force against the weakened defenders below, killing Xiahou and another general. Zhang He retreated to the north bank of the Han River to await Cao Cao’s army. Liu fortified all the entries between Chang’an and Hanzhong, and contained Cao Cao for some months, who could not sustain the supply depletion and desertion rate. Liu occupied Nanzheng, and sent his generals to take other commanderies.
Liu now confidently declared himself King of Hanzhong, making Liu Shan heir apparent and appointing titles to his famous generals; Guan Yu as ‘General of the Vanguard’, Zhang Fei as ‘General of the Right’, Ma Chao as ‘General of the Left’ and Huang Zhong as ‘General of the Rear’. Along with Zhao Yun these were the five ‘Tiger Generals’ of the Romance. Guan Yu’s campaign in Jing was successful, nearly capturing Fancheng and with it Cao Ren, before suffering a defeat to Xu Huang. His supply situation was in jeopardy with the defection of 30,000 troops to his banner under Yu Jin, when Sun Quan had turned on Liu Bei. Wu troops launched a brilliant surprise attack on Guan Yu’s outposts, and after successive defeats Guan Yu was captured and killed while he was withdrawing to regroup. Furious, Liu Bei prepared for war with Eastern Wu while Cao Cao died; his ambitions incomplete but his enemies fallen out with eachother. Some of Liu’s generals, scared, ran to either Wu or Cao-Wei. Zhao Yun urged Liu Bei to pursue the war with Cao-Wei while they were still weak, and restore faith with his former ally Sun Quan, despite his seizure of Jing. Liu intended to avenge Guan Yu, and left the initiative in the north to the Cao-Wei forces. Cao Pi who had officially succeeded emperor Xian, found the Shu-Han warlord’s outposts poorly defended. Liu Feng made a desparate defense but received no help from Chengdu and his subordinates abandoned him. Liu Bei was angry at his loss and failure to support Guan Yu, and executed his adopted son. In spite of his precarious situation Liu Bei declared himself emperor of Shu-Han, claiming the legacy of the Han Dynasty.
In the autumn of 222 Liu Bei personally attacked Sun Quan with 100,000 men and seized Jing, leaving Zhuge Liang in charge at Chengdu. One of his best remaining generals, Zhang Fei was murdered by a mutinous subordinate, but Liu Bei was still able to win victories against Lu Xun’s 50,000 who retreated to Yiling. Outside of their fortifications they were no match for Liu Bei’s army accustomed to mountain warfare, and suffered heavy losses. Liu Bei’s naval forces captured Yiling and Lu Xun retreated to Xiaoting, while Liu Bei’s army marched in to the Eastern Wu heartland, defeating another of Sun Quan’s generals outside Yidao. Further progress was halted by the defense of these two cities. He was now in the plains of SE China, without the advantage of terrain, his lines of communication strung out in 50 armed camps along a 350 km stretch of the Yangtze, and his vanguard 150 km away at Yidao. In order to break the stalemate he led 8,000 of his best troops to set up an ambush, but Lu Xun would not take the bait. By summer, Liu’s army was suffering in the heat, and he moved his camps into the forest, summoning his fleet around to rendezvous. Zhuge Liang back in Chengdu remarked on the folly of this deployment. Anticipating Liu Bei's defeat, Zhuge according to the Romance, ‘conjured’ up the Stone Sentinel Maze to cover Liu’s retreat and foil his pursuers.
Lu Xun ordered saboteurs to travel upriver on boats and slip into position around Liu Bei’s camps at Yiling and westward. In a sudden strike they set fire to the dessicated forest in the summer heat, which caught on the wooden palisades of Liu Bei’s camps. As his men rushed to fetch water from the river they ran into ambushes by Lu Xun’s archers. Liu attempted a counterattack but this was also anticipated, and Liu Bei abandoned his forward positions on the Yangtze. His navy managed a successful withdrawal, covered by a valiant and successful rear guard action by Cheng Ji, who sacrificed himself. Fire had once again proved to be the trump card in Sun Quan’s hand. Liu destroyed his remaining camps, clambering over rock falls to an isolated position on the Ma’an Hills. He attempted to regroup but some of his forces were unable to rendezvous, cut off by an advance group of 5,000 Wu troops. Lu Xun attacked Liu Bei’s position personally, preventing him from preparing a final stand. To avoid a hopeless defeat, Liu had his men build a fire barricade of their own, and burned all their heavy equipment and armour to speed their flight. Liu escaped to Zigui with Wu troops hot in pursuit. Again his demoralized troops were unable to hold their ground, and he managed to escape again with the sacrifice of Wang Fu. Liu’s army was effectively destroyed, but his commander in Jing succeeded in withdrawing the survivors to Yufu (Fengjie) where he finally brought the advance of Wu to a halt. Liu accepted a Wu defector into his ranks and planned more operations in Baidicheng where he died from dysentery, aged 65 (the same as Cao Cao). He was succeeded by his son Liu Shan and his advisor Zhuge Liang, who renewed the alliance with Sun Quan. In 50 years both states would fall to Cao-Wei-Jin, but they left a strong legacy which would resurface in future independent dynasties.
Liu had a remarkable gift for winning the support of his patrons, despite his mixed history, and surviving many reversals of fortune as his allies crumbled to Cao Cao. Liu was the contender who often seemed to be on the lower rung of the ladder, and motivated by his own honour, nonetheless managed to found his own dynasty. But was he any more ethical, courageous or chivalrous ? Clearly there is much more to his personal story than I can relate here. The semi-fictional Romance has a basis in his reputation and actions, portraying him as compassionate and righteous, whose success is attributed to his charisma and adherence to Confucian values. Certainly his success can also be attributed to other gifted men who illustrate all of these characteristics and remained loyal to him, in the shifting tide of alliances where accepting one warlord as readily as another, was a matter of survival. In his early days at college in 184, he swore an oath with his bloodbrothers appointing Liu Bei the first, Guan Yu the second, and Zhang Fei the third to carry on their leadership in pursuit of their common goal. He survived all of them, but his desire to avenge them caused him considerable trouble near the end. Liu is also the patron of shoemakers in Chengdu, where more than 80 million pairs of shoes are manufactured annually. In spite of the controversy with its obvious commercial exploitation, the shoe industry there unveiled a statue of Liu Bei with great fanfare. More commercial success has been built on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the 120 chapter novel in 800,000 words describing the history from 169 to 280 (the accession of Jin), through the eyes of over a thousand dramatic characters. It is one of the four great classics of Chinese Literature. It was aired in eighty-four 1 hr. episodes under a huge budget with 400,000 extras on CCTV in 1984, and a new ‘revised’ production with ninety-five episodes began in 2010. The climactic story Red Cliff dramatized in the 4 hr 40 min movie (only 148 mins. in the west) was released by John Woo in 2008. The whole cast of characters form the core of several popular graphic novels and award winning video games such as Dynasty Warriors.
Victory Count: 3 Ingenuity: 4 Scale and consequence: 4 Beating the odds: 4 Personal involvement and risk: 4 Legacy: 4
cultural icon of China towards the end of the Han Dynasty, who epitomized the Confucian virtues of justice and good government; at least according to the Romance of Three Kingdoms. Historical narrative alone does not elevate him quite so loftily above the rest; it is unclear what his motivations were other than he served his own ambitions, rather than those in power. He was forced to shelter and seek alignments with former ideological enemies as a matter of survival, and took advantage of true allies only to further his opposition to Cao Cao. It may be hard to see him as a liberator more than any other regional warlord, but there had to be reasons his contemporaries and colleagues held him in high regard. As a minimum he demonstrated a high degree of perseverance, self-motivation, and strategic perception; with Eastern Legalism as his political philosophy.
Although he was a descendant of a past emperor, he grew up in a poor family, selling shoes and straw mats after the death of his father. But he had higher aspirations and an affluent relative sent him to study under prominent scholars, where he met Gongsun Zan, the first of many great warlords he associated with. He found other pursuits more to his liking than his studies, but was considered calm, respectful and well-liked. In 184 at the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Liu Bei raised a volunteer force with contributions from wealthy horse merchants, and attracted two more future warlords, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei; who remained loyal throughout his long, eventful life. Joining the provincial army Liu Bei won military successes and was made Prefect of Anxi. He resigned under pressure from a corrupt government inspector, and took his volunteer army to Xu province, suppressing the remnants of the rebels, and was appointed prefect of Gaotang. When the government of Luoyang collapsed, Liu Bei appears in the Romance as opposing Dong Zhuo’s general Lu Bu at Hulao Pass. Gongsun Zan, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei all challenged Lu Bu in succession and were individually defeated in several bouts, until Liu Bei drawing his twin swords, joined the fray. Lu Bu feinted at Liu Bei and made his escape on Red Hare, the three oath brothers unable to keep up with his steed. When the coalition against Dong Zhuo fell apart due to internal conflict, Liu joined Gongsun Zan who was at war with Yuan Shao, and sent to fight in Shandong where he was fended off by Yuan Shao’s eldest son Yuan Tan. The invasion of Xu province by Cao Cao drew Liu Bei’s army in support of Tao Qian. After initial success Cao Cao withdrew when Lu Bu attacked his base in Yan province. Liu Bei remained in Xiapi, his following of 1,000 loyal troops plus some Wuhuan cavalry augmented by 4,000 troops from Tao Qian. Liu raised more troops on his own and made connections with the influential Mi and Cheng clans in Xu, marrying the younger sister of Mi Zhu. Upon Tao Qian’s death he was accepted as governor of Xu, reconciled with Yuan Shao.
After Lu Bu’s first defeat to Cao Cao he took refuge with Liu Bei. When Yuan Shu invaded Xu, Liu led his army to Xuyi where the two confronted eachother without decisive action. Zhang Fei had been left in charge of Xiapi, and killed Cao Bao in a dispute. In the unrest Lu Bu seized the city and Liu Bei’s family in a surprise attack. Liu marched to Xiapi but his army melted away and his small following was attacked by Yuan Shu. He retreated to Haixi in Donghai commandery (still supported by Mi Zhu), but attacked by both warlords his troops were reduced to cannibalism before he surrendered to Lu Bu. Lu’s increasing isolation made him apprehensive of Yuan Shu and he accepted Liu Bei’s pledge of allegiance, returning his family as an article of good faith. Liu Bei gathered an army of 10,000 men in Xiaopei, and this alarmed Lu Bu who attacked him again. Liu defended the city with his brothers, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei accepting challenges from Lu Bu and others. After the fourth watch his army withdrew from the north gate, and Lu Bu occupied the city. Liu reached Cao Cao in Xuchang who received him well, appointing him governor of Yu province. Lu Bu sent two generals including Zhang Liao to curb Cao’s influence by attacking Liu, who defended Xiapi. He was joined by Cao’s general Xiahou Dun, on the occasion where he won a challenge and killed the archer who shot his eye. In the cavalry skirmishes and duels Liu Bei could not recross the drawbridge fast enough without Lu Bu’s cavalry entering the city. Liu was forced to leave by another gate without his family, and fled to Cao Cao who launched his own campaign, taking Xiapi and eliminating Lu Bu in 198.
With emperor Xian under Cao Cao’s thumb, Liu Bei joined the conspiracy of Dong Cheng to oust him. When he learned that Yuan Shu had given up the struggle and was en route to submit to Yuan Shao, Liu Bei got permission from Cao to take an army and intercept him, before his role in the plot was discovered. By this he was entrusted with the Royal Seal, which stayed out of Yuan Shao’s hands. Yuan Shu was forced to return to Shouchan dying there. Liu stayed behind with the army, killing the Cao appointed governor of Xu, occupying Xuzhou and Xiaopei while his ally Guan Yu was in Xiapi. Yuan Shao had defeated Gongsun Zan and now moved on Cao Cao, receiving a delegate from Liu Bei with the offer of alliance. While confronting Yuan Shao at Guandu, Cao Cao sent his subordinates to deal with Liu Bei but they were defeated. Again taking charge personally, Cao Cao suppressed Liu’s rebels and drove them out, capturing Guan Yu who, thinking Liu Bei was dead, surrendered to Cao. Liu Bei reached Yuan Shao on the Yellow River, who lost two of his best generals to the actions of Guan Yu. Liu was with the charge of 6,000 of Yuan Shao’s light cavalry at Yan Ford, when they were surprised by Cao Cao himself defending his baggage train. Reunited on opposing sides of a battle, Guan Yu rejoined Liu. Yuan sent Liu to assist a rebellion in Runan by Liu Pi. Together the two attacked Xuchang but were defeated by Cao Ren. Liu returned to the north urging an alliance with yet another powerful rival, Liu Biao in Jing province (Hubei and Hunan). Then he returned to Runan to defeat and kill Cao’s general Cai Yang. When Yuan Shao met his final defeat at Guando, Liu fled to Liu Biao.
He remained in Jing for some years as the guest of Liu Biao, revealing his unhappiness; "In earlier times, I've never left the saddle. My thighs were thin. Now I do not ride anymore, they are fat and flabby. The days and months pass like a stream, and old age will come, but I have achieved nothing.” Liu Bei had his opportunity for action in 202 when Cao Cao sent Yu Jin and Xiahou Dun to attack him. After a sharp engagement Liu burned his camp and retreated. When Xiahou pursued into the mountain passes, he appeared to defeat Liu Bei’s forces in skirmishes against a dwindling force, but was led into a clever ambush and defeated with the help of Zhao Yun in the Battle of Bowang. By the time Xiahou returned to his camp, supplies were burning. Cao was planning his conquest of the Wuhuan confederacy but was concerned about this threat in his rear, and had to suspend his campaign against the sons of Yuan Shao. Cao secured a promise of non-interference from Liu Biao, who refused to attack Xuchang when urged to by Liu Bei. At peace for now, Jing province became prosperous and a haven for literati fleeing the wars. Liu made the acquaintance of revered scholars including Zhuge Liang, who eventually revealed his Longzhong Plan, a long term strategy for the overthrow of Cao Cao.
When Liu Biao died he was succeeded by Liu Cong, who without telling Liu Bei, surrendered to Cao Cao. By the time he realized Cao’s army had already reached Wancheng (Nanyang). In council with his advisors, Zhuge Liang suggested that Liu Bei should attack Liu Cong to secure Jing Province and defend against Cao Cao there, but Liu Bei rejected this; "as Liu Biao was dying, he entrusted his orphans to me. I cannot turn from this obligation and seek my own advantage. How am I to face him after I die?" Abandoning Fancheng, Liu’s retreating column of adherents became a mob of 100,000 refugees, marching only 10-20 li a day. He sent Guan Yu ahead to occupy the arsenal of Jiangling with its fleet. Cao led his cavalry in pursuit and in a day and a night caught up with Liu Bei at Changban, capturing his baggage, family and most of Liu’s army. When resistance collapsed, Zhang Fei commanded 20 horsemen in a rearguard as the bridges were thrown down; striking an intimidating pose as he shouted, "Come and battle me to the death!", and bought time for Liu Bei to escape. They abandoned the civilians and escaped with a few hundred followers to Guan Yu’s fleet, taking Liu downriver and across the Yangtze to Xiakou, where he linked up with his eldest son Liu Qi and 10,000 men. Liu Bei was in a familiar spot, with little power and no real allies, but his fortunes were about to change.
He had already received an envoy from Sun Quan, the third point in the current power triangle. Zhuge Liang met Sun Quan to formalize the alliance, and they resolved to check Cao’s southern expansion at an uncertain site known as the Red Cliffs, with 50,000 men against an estimated 230 - 270,000. Half of Cao’s army were surrendered troops of short tenure, and the northerners were exhausted from their long march. After a brief skirmish Cao withdrew the vanguard of his fleet to Wulin. Cao’s men were unused to southern climates and naval warfare, and the outbreak of plague weakened them further. Zhuge Liang observed: "Even a powerful arrow at the end of its flight cannot penetrate a silk cloth." In the Romance, Zhuge Liang took a squadron of ships close to the Cao fleet, draped with damp straw and wicker to attract massed archery fire, gathering the spent arrows to be used against the enemy. This led Cao to execute two of his experienced admirals, sinking their morale. They also tricked Cao Cao into thinking Liu Bei had deserted Sun Quan’s cause. To thicken the plot, Cao Cao’s infatuation with the wife of Zhou Yu distracted him. Cao Cao moored his ships together with chains during a squall (which left his men seasick), and the Sun generals Zhou Yu and Huang Gai masterminded a brilliant attack, sending fire ships against his fleet. They took full advantage of the resulting destruction and confusion, forcing Cao to abandon his fleet and begin a disastrous retreat on the Huarong road, harassed by skirmishers. With this surprising turnaround, Liu Bei was in the forefront of the pursuit by land and sea, taking the Nan Commandery. Cao left behind Cao Ren and other generals to defend the Jing strongpoints of Jiangling and Xiangyang, which would be the next targets of Sun-Liu aggression.
Spoiler :
It was Sun Quan’s generals that stopped Cao Cao’s momentum, and now under Zhou Yu mounted an energetic counteroffensive. His army was smaller than Cao Ren’s levies consuming supplies in Jing cities, but they were in a better condition and had naval mobility. They dueled for months with Cao Ren’s forces, severing communications with Jiangling which was finally abandoned. Liu Bei installed Liu Qi as Inspector General and led his men in the occupation of four commanderies south of the Yangtze. He made Gong’an his base and strengthened his army before Liu Qi died, taking his son’s place. He went to Jiangye to marry Sun Quan’s younger sister, and the Nan commandery was granted to him. Sun Quan’s generosity was supposed to be temporary so Liu could reestablish himself and raise new levies, but he found excuses to postpone relinquishing Jing.
By 211, Liu Zhang the governor of Yi province knew that Cao Cao intended to attack Hanzhong province which was strategic to both of them, and invited Liu Bei to assist him in conquering it first. Liu Bei led an expeditionary force into Sichuan after leaving behind Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun to guard Jing Province. Liu Zhang contributed more troops to Liu Bei, who went to Jiameng Pass and built up his presence there. After considering various proposals Liu Bei chose to doublecross Liu Zhang, requesting more troops to defend Jing. Liu Bei got 4,000, only half of what he asked for, when Liu Zhang realized one of his advisors had been in secret communication with Liu Bei, and had him executed. He tried to get his generals to keep this knowledge secret from Liu Bei, but betrayed himself by his actions. Liu Bei summoned Liu Zhang’s generals at Boshui Pass and had them executed for ‘disrespect’, whereupon their troops, used to this by now, simply joined Liu Bei’s ranks, and moved on Fucheng. Next spring Liu Zhang sent a host under his generals to hold Mianzhu Pass. When one of these defected to Liu Bei, two more were sent to replace him, who also surrendered. Liu Zhang’s son Liu Xun took the remainder back to Luo which came under siege. There Liu Bei’s advisor was killed by a stray arrow, and the resistance was stubborn. He had to call for reinforcements from his army in Jing under Zhang Fei who captured Jiangzhou, with a Yi general who was spared. Zhang Fei broke through a screening force to join Liu. The Yi general Zhang Ren made a desparate sortie on the Wild Goose Bridge against Liu, but was defeated and captured. Liu wanted to spare him for his courage and loyalty, and made his soldiers plead with him to submit, so the story goes. But "A loyal subject will never serve two masters!" and he was executed. Seems equally plausible that Liu used Zhang Ren to make his city submit, then executed him. Luo finally fell, but Liu Zhang still resisted from Chengdu. Ma Chao, the defeated warlord of Liang, was persuaded to kill his comrade and join Liu Bei. The sight of this army to the north of Chengdu caused consternation but the city was determined to resist. After seeing the bodies of commoners dying for him after three years, Liu Zhang was unwilling to see his people destroyed and surrendered to Liu Bei, who gave him an honorary title and shipped him off to Gong’an. Liu assumed the title Governor of Yi and Chengdu became his future capital. Liu married Wu Yi's sister to solidify his control on the newly conquered domain. He gave all his followers, new and old, higher ranks and responsibilities; and a new strict law code, replacing the softer one set by Liu Zhang.
Even Liu Bei began to overstretch the hospitality and patience of his chief ally Sun Quan, who now that Liu had a province of his own, demanded for the last time the province of Jing. Liu replied that he would relinquish Jing, when he liberated Liang province. Sun Quan sent 20,000 men to take the capture of Changsha, Guiyang, and Liling commanderies in the southern part of the province, and also 10,000 men to capture Lukou, blocking Guan Yu. Liu went back to Gong’an sending Guan Yu with 30,000 men to Yiyang. Before war could break out, Cao Cao’s invasion of Hanzhong brought the two allies to their senses, sort of. Liu agreed to give up two commanderies to Sun Quan, settling the border along the Xiang River, if he would launch a diversionary attack on Cao forces in Hefei. Cao Cao had defeated Zhang Lu at Yanphing and won control of the province, leaving three of his best generals there. Cao passed up an opportunity to attack Yi (Qin), still unstable under the recent rule of absentee Liu Bei. Cao’s general Zhang He was evacuating the citizens of Baxi intending to occupy a more defensible corridor when he was attacked by Liu’s general Zhang Fei. After 50 days of stalemate, Zhang He was ambushed in the rear, and gave up his following, reaching Nanzheng with a few hundred survivors. Liu Bei sent Ma Chao to support Zhang Fei while he took his main force to Yangping Pass. However Zhang Fei was forced to retreat after his aides were defeated and killed. Liu Bei sent a flanking force anyway to cut supplies to Xiahou Yuan in the pass, but was routed by Xiahou’s cavalry subordinate Xu Huang. Liu Bei pressed on against Zhang He instead and though he was stalemated there as well, he secured himself in the region and grew his strength. They faced eachother for a year when Cao Cao was gathering an army in Chang’an. Liu set up camps on Mount Dingjun overlooking Xiahou Yuan in the valley, then sent 10,000 men to attack Zhang He while setting fire to Xiahou’s palisades. The veteran Xiahou put out the fires with a small party while sending a strong force to reinforce Zhang He. Signaled by his scouts, Liu sent his own force against the weakened defenders below, killing Xiahou and another general. Zhang He retreated to the north bank of the Han River to await Cao Cao’s army. Liu fortified all the entries between Chang’an and Hanzhong, and contained Cao Cao for some months, who could not sustain the supply depletion and desertion rate. Liu occupied Nanzheng, and sent his generals to take other commanderies.
Liu now confidently declared himself King of Hanzhong, making Liu Shan heir apparent and appointing titles to his famous generals; Guan Yu as ‘General of the Vanguard’, Zhang Fei as ‘General of the Right’, Ma Chao as ‘General of the Left’ and Huang Zhong as ‘General of the Rear’. Along with Zhao Yun these were the five ‘Tiger Generals’ of the Romance. Guan Yu’s campaign in Jing was successful, nearly capturing Fancheng and with it Cao Ren, before suffering a defeat to Xu Huang. His supply situation was in jeopardy with the defection of 30,000 troops to his banner under Yu Jin, when Sun Quan had turned on Liu Bei. Wu troops launched a brilliant surprise attack on Guan Yu’s outposts, and after successive defeats Guan Yu was captured and killed while he was withdrawing to regroup. Furious, Liu Bei prepared for war with Eastern Wu while Cao Cao died; his ambitions incomplete but his enemies fallen out with eachother. Some of Liu’s generals, scared, ran to either Wu or Cao-Wei. Zhao Yun urged Liu Bei to pursue the war with Cao-Wei while they were still weak, and restore faith with his former ally Sun Quan, despite his seizure of Jing. Liu intended to avenge Guan Yu, and left the initiative in the north to the Cao-Wei forces. Cao Pi who had officially succeeded emperor Xian, found the Shu-Han warlord’s outposts poorly defended. Liu Feng made a desparate defense but received no help from Chengdu and his subordinates abandoned him. Liu Bei was angry at his loss and failure to support Guan Yu, and executed his adopted son. In spite of his precarious situation Liu Bei declared himself emperor of Shu-Han, claiming the legacy of the Han Dynasty.
In the autumn of 222 Liu Bei personally attacked Sun Quan with 100,000 men and seized Jing, leaving Zhuge Liang in charge at Chengdu. One of his best remaining generals, Zhang Fei was murdered by a mutinous subordinate, but Liu Bei was still able to win victories against Lu Xun’s 50,000 who retreated to Yiling. Outside of their fortifications they were no match for Liu Bei’s army accustomed to mountain warfare, and suffered heavy losses. Liu Bei’s naval forces captured Yiling and Lu Xun retreated to Xiaoting, while Liu Bei’s army marched in to the Eastern Wu heartland, defeating another of Sun Quan’s generals outside Yidao. Further progress was halted by the defense of these two cities. He was now in the plains of SE China, without the advantage of terrain, his lines of communication strung out in 50 armed camps along a 350 km stretch of the Yangtze, and his vanguard 150 km away at Yidao. In order to break the stalemate he led 8,000 of his best troops to set up an ambush, but Lu Xun would not take the bait. By summer, Liu’s army was suffering in the heat, and he moved his camps into the forest, summoning his fleet around to rendezvous. Zhuge Liang back in Chengdu remarked on the folly of this deployment. Anticipating Liu Bei's defeat, Zhuge according to the Romance, ‘conjured’ up the Stone Sentinel Maze to cover Liu’s retreat and foil his pursuers.
Lu Xun ordered saboteurs to travel upriver on boats and slip into position around Liu Bei’s camps at Yiling and westward. In a sudden strike they set fire to the dessicated forest in the summer heat, which caught on the wooden palisades of Liu Bei’s camps. As his men rushed to fetch water from the river they ran into ambushes by Lu Xun’s archers. Liu attempted a counterattack but this was also anticipated, and Liu Bei abandoned his forward positions on the Yangtze. His navy managed a successful withdrawal, covered by a valiant and successful rear guard action by Cheng Ji, who sacrificed himself. Fire had once again proved to be the trump card in Sun Quan’s hand. Liu destroyed his remaining camps, clambering over rock falls to an isolated position on the Ma’an Hills. He attempted to regroup but some of his forces were unable to rendezvous, cut off by an advance group of 5,000 Wu troops. Lu Xun attacked Liu Bei’s position personally, preventing him from preparing a final stand. To avoid a hopeless defeat, Liu had his men build a fire barricade of their own, and burned all their heavy equipment and armour to speed their flight. Liu escaped to Zigui with Wu troops hot in pursuit. Again his demoralized troops were unable to hold their ground, and he managed to escape again with the sacrifice of Wang Fu. Liu’s army was effectively destroyed, but his commander in Jing succeeded in withdrawing the survivors to Yufu (Fengjie) where he finally brought the advance of Wu to a halt. Liu accepted a Wu defector into his ranks and planned more operations in Baidicheng where he died from dysentery, aged 65 (the same as Cao Cao). He was succeeded by his son Liu Shan and his advisor Zhuge Liang, who renewed the alliance with Sun Quan. In 50 years both states would fall to Cao-Wei-Jin, but they left a strong legacy which would resurface in future independent dynasties.
Spoiler :
Liu had a remarkable gift for winning the support of his patrons, despite his mixed history, and surviving many reversals of fortune as his allies crumbled to Cao Cao. Liu was the contender who often seemed to be on the lower rung of the ladder, and motivated by his own honour, nonetheless managed to found his own dynasty. But was he any more ethical, courageous or chivalrous ? Clearly there is much more to his personal story than I can relate here. The semi-fictional Romance has a basis in his reputation and actions, portraying him as compassionate and righteous, whose success is attributed to his charisma and adherence to Confucian values. Certainly his success can also be attributed to other gifted men who illustrate all of these characteristics and remained loyal to him, in the shifting tide of alliances where accepting one warlord as readily as another, was a matter of survival. In his early days at college in 184, he swore an oath with his bloodbrothers appointing Liu Bei the first, Guan Yu the second, and Zhang Fei the third to carry on their leadership in pursuit of their common goal. He survived all of them, but his desire to avenge them caused him considerable trouble near the end. Liu is also the patron of shoemakers in Chengdu, where more than 80 million pairs of shoes are manufactured annually. In spite of the controversy with its obvious commercial exploitation, the shoe industry there unveiled a statue of Liu Bei with great fanfare. More commercial success has been built on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the 120 chapter novel in 800,000 words describing the history from 169 to 280 (the accession of Jin), through the eyes of over a thousand dramatic characters. It is one of the four great classics of Chinese Literature. It was aired in eighty-four 1 hr. episodes under a huge budget with 400,000 extras on CCTV in 1984, and a new ‘revised’ production with ninety-five episodes began in 2010. The climactic story Red Cliff dramatized in the 4 hr 40 min movie (only 148 mins. in the west) was released by John Woo in 2008. The whole cast of characters form the core of several popular graphic novels and award winning video games such as Dynasty Warriors.
Victory Count: 3 Ingenuity: 4 Scale and consequence: 4 Beating the odds: 4 Personal involvement and risk: 4 Legacy: 4
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