The Jin Dynasty destroyed Wu, the first large-scale breakthrough of the Yangtze River Graben in Chinese history, but it was unexpectedly one-sided.
From November 279, when Sima Yan ordered wu to be cut down, to March 280, when Sun Hao surrendered, the Jin army encountered almost no decent resistance in the four prefectures and forty-three counties of Eastern Wu.
In ancient times, the traffic was not convenient, and if the distance was removed in these four months, there was not much time for fighting...
Before the start of the battle, no one expected that the Jin army would win so easily, after all, Sun Hao was brutal, and there was also the Yangtze River natural danger, 230,000 non-commissioned officers, and the traditional advantage project - the water army.
Wu's Jin army was also more than 200,000, and the troops were divided into six roads, advancing on land and water, so there was no advantage in the total strength.
The Jin Sixth Route army cut down Wu Tu
Although the Wu army lost one after another on the western front, Sun Hao felt that it was still possible to fight, so he calmly sent the chancellor Zhang Ti, Danyang Taishou Shen Ying, the protector Sun Zhen, and the deputy army division Zhuge Liang to lead 30,000 troops to cross the river to meet the Jin army led by Wang Hun on the eastern front.
Shen Ying questioned the battle of crossing the river, and he said to Zhang Ti:
"The Jin army has been training the water army in Shudi for a long time, and it will definitely come down the river to fight here, and we should concentrate our forces here to fight the Jin army to the death!" Victory will not only prevent the Jin army from crossing the river, but also may also retake the lost land on the western front. If you cross the river and fight with them and lose, it will be over! ”
From the general military principle, Shen Ying's strategy of using the advantages of the Eastern Wu water army to fight a defensive counterattack was undoubtedly correct.
Game "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" Shen Ying (?) -280 years) image
However, Zhang Ti has his reason:
"Fools know that the Kingdom of Wu is about to die, and if we wait here for the Jin army, waiting and waiting, when the Jin army kills us, our soldiers will be scared and run out." When we cross the river and fight, all we want is to fight a decisive battle with the enemy with all our might, and if we lose, we will also die for the sake of the country's social welfare, and there is no regret! ”
As the commander-in-chief of one side, Zhang Ti's overall view is undoubtedly very clear, Eastern Wu has long been lost, the army is also demoralized, waiting for the Jin army here, not to wait for work, but to cool themselves.
Therefore, he insisted on crossing the river in the posture of a strange soldier to fight the Jin army to see if he could find a glimmer of life.
The image of Zhang Ti (236-280) in the game Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Not to mention, Zhang Ti's move really killed the Jin army by surprise. After crossing the river, 30,000 Wu troops surrounded Wang Hun's 7,000 soldiers and horses at Yang He. Zhang Qiao chose to surrender.
Zhuge Liang persuaded Zhang Ti, and he didn't know if it was a fraudulent surrender, a strategy to slow down the army, it was better to kill them all!
"We still focus our energy on dealing with the main force of the Jin army, such a small group of enemies will leave him alone, and it is not ominous to kill and surrender."
Subsequently, Zhang Ti led his army to continue to advance, and finally encountered Wang Hun's general Zhang Han, the main force of Zhou Jun.
Shen Ying led five thousand elite Danyang soldiers to attack the Jin army. However, the Jin army was vegetarian, and after resisting the three shocks of the Wu army, it killed back, at this time, Zhang Qiao, who had surrendered, also appeared in his original form to attack from the rear, and the Wu army collapsed.
Zhuge Liang saw that the general trend had gone, and collected five or six hundred remnants of soldiers to prepare to take Zhang Ti and break through.
"Zhongsi (Zhuge Liang, the word Zhongsi), don't you persuade me, today my death date has arrived, when I was appreciated by your family when I was a child, I often worried that I would not be able to die as I wanted, and I failed him.
Zhuge Liang was embarrassed, but he could only flee with tears on his own, but after more than a hundred steps, he saw That Zhang Ti was killed by the Jin army, and Shen Ying and Sun Zhen were also captured later.
At this point, Eastern Wu completed the last resistance.
Subsequently, the Jin army continued to kill Jianye, the guerrilla general Zhang Xiang led 10,000 water troops to attack, as soon as he saw the Jin banner, he fell, Tao Mao led 20,000 non-commissioned officers to relay, and 20,000 non-commissioned officers escaped that night...
At this time, Sun Hao had already had to descend.
Sun Hao tied his hands and surrendered to Wang Hao
Zhang Ti was not an outstanding military expert, and even his political measures as the last chancellor of Eastern Wu were not recorded in the history books, although he became famous at a young age, but after becoming a high official, he was ridiculed by public opinion for being too flattering. I don't know if this is a means of surviving under tyrants.
When Wei was fighting Shu, he expected that Shu Han would die. When jin conquered Wu, he also knew very well in his heart that Sun Wu would die. But he was in the position of prime minister and was still willing to give it a go.
You say he's stupid, he's stupid, is it worth dying for a tyrant like Sun Hao?
Zhang Ti was not only Eastern Wu, but also the only minister in the entire Three Kingdoms who died on the battlefield. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms describes him no differently from the history, so I will end today's article with one of the poems in it:
"Du Preba Mountain built a big banner, jiangdong Zhang Ti was loyal. I have exhausted my strength in the south, and I can't bear to secretly know. ”
Bibliography: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Romance of the Three Kingdoms