In the post-Three Kingdoms era, the first fierce general in the Cao Wei camp was Zhang Guo, who ran rampant on the battlefield and was invincible. In the Shu Han camp, the strongest martial artist was Wei Yan, and Zhuge Liang's sixth out of Qishan was mainly to rely on Wei Yan to resist Zhang Guo, the first fierce general of Cao Wei.
Zhang Gao and Wei Yan were half-life rivals, pillars of the respective armies of Cao Wei and Shu Han, respectively. It seems that not only did the Shu Han side have a situation of withering talents and no succession, but Cao Wei was also facing such a problem. Shu Han relied on a prime-age faction like Wei Yan to carry on the upper and lower levels, seamlessly connecting, while Cao Wei relied on veterans like Zhang Gao to support himself and wait for the gradual growth of the younger generation.
Therefore, we cannot but sigh that Cao Cao and Liu Bei, the two heroes, are really wise in employing people, and each shows his brilliant talents, Liu Bei is promoted out of the ordinary, so that Wei Yan can take on heavy responsibilities early and get better training and training; and Cao Cao is a collection, so that Zhang Gao's love will eventually be promoted and reused for the heir Cao Pi, and the later period will shine with youth.
If we look at the Three Kingdoms, we can find that Zhang Gao and Wei Yan actually have many similarities, for example, their hearts are very arrogant, they are very pragmatic, they are very confident, they are both wise and courageous, and they are very good at self-preservation on the battlefield.
However, the fighting styles of the two men are quite different, and the methods adopted are also very different. Let's analyze Zhang Gao and Wei Yan's respective combat histories to analyze their mental journey.
Zhang Gao was also very brave in the early days, in the Battle of Guandu, Zhang Gao showed his strong strength for the first time, against Zhang Liao, forty or fifty combined battles into a draw, Zhang Gao did not retreat from the battle, without fear.
The real change in Zhang Gao's fighting style began at the Battle of Yongshan, where both Zhang Gao and Gao Lan had previously been yuan shao's generals, characters in the "Four Pillars of Hebei". At the Battle of Yongshan, Zhang Gao and Gao Lan were ordered by Cao Cao to lead their troops to intercept Liu Bei, attacking back and forth, trapping Liu Bei. At this time, Zhao Yun, the most jealous of Zhang Gao's life, appeared, and right in front of Zhang Gao's eyes, a shot overturned Gao Lan, and the "Hebei Four Court Pillars" were only Left zhang Guo.
Since then, Zhang Gao's combat style has changed greatly, he no longer has to carry the battle to the death, he has become particularly vigilant and sensitive, the slightest hint of wrong, immediately throw up his legs and run, never love war. Such as encountering Zhao Yun, meeting Ma Chao, meeting Zhang Fei, etc. In the battle of Tangqu, in order to survive, Zhang Gao could even leave his army and mounts, cross the mountains and escape; the Battle of Micang Mountain, in the case of absolute superiority, would rather watch Zhao Yun save Huang Zhong from the encirclement than to block and take a risk. However, after all the five tigers of the Shu Han Dynasty withered away, Zhang Gao suddenly burst into great power and repeatedly bravely took the lead, which made Zhuge Liang deeply jealous.
Wei Yan was also a stunned young man at first. In the battle of Fancheng, he fought less and more, and fought hard with his superior Wen Ping until he broke the last soldier and was willing to retreat. When liu Bei entered the river, Wei Yan openly provoked the veteran general Huang Zhong, and also tested his martial arts on the spot. Ye Mengguan also tried to compete with Zhang Fei and go to Fight Ma Chao. Young and vigorous, fearless and fearless.
Wei Yan's fighting style changed in the way he fought against Ma Dai under Ye Meng Pass, and Shihe repelled Ma Dai, fought bravely, and was shot in the left arm by Ma Dai with an arrow, suffering a big loss. Since then, Wei Yan's fighting style has changed drastically, and there is no longer a hard fight, but frequent defeats. You can check that in the Three Kingdoms era, Wei Yan was the most deceitful of all the warlords, a total of 6 times. Meet Pound, meet Ehuan, meet Lady Zhurong, meet Jiang Wei, meet Zhang Gao, meet Sima Yi. Whether the other party is strong or weak, male or female, old or young, he is all defeated. Even when encountering Sima Yi's five scum of war, Wei Yan was also "not in a three-way battle, pulling out his horse and leaving", Sima Yi actually caught up with peace of mind, which shows that Wei Yan's acting skills are so clever that he even coaxed the old fox Sima Yi to believe it.
Zhang Gao and Wei Yan had two encounters: the Battle of Jieting, where the two faced each other, Wei Yan "wielded his sword and rode straight to Take Zhang Guo", while Zhang Guo "returned to the army and left", Wei Yan pursued and fell into the ambush circle; at the Battle of Mumendao, Zhang Hao "took Wei Yan with a sharp gun and took Wei Yan directly", while Wei Yan was "not in harmony, Yan cheated and left", zhang Guo pursued and fell into the ambush circle. It seems that both of them are masters, their acting skills are very good, and they are all powerful movie stars who can take hundreds of flowers and golden roosters.
Analyzing the martial arts of the two men, Zhang Gao was definitely slightly superior. Zhang Gao had experienced far more fierce battles than Wei Yan, and Zhang Gao had fought against Zhang Liao, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Pound De, Zhang Fei, Huang Zhong, Wei Yan, and Guan Xing, and had repeatedly encountered fierce enemies against four super fierce generals. After so many fierce battles, Zhang Hao was still able to retreat with his whole body, and he had never been injured except for the ambush on the wooden doorway. The strongest opponents Wei Yan encountered were Pound De, Zhang Gao, EHuan, Jiang Wei, and Wang Shuang, and Wei Yan lost all four battles, raiding and killing Wang Shuang. Wei Yan had never met a super fierce general.
From Zhuge Liang's attitude toward Zhang Guo, it can also be seen that Zhang Gao's strength should be above Wei Yan, and if the two were on an equal footing, Zhuge Liang would not be so deeply jealous of Zhang Guo.
Based on this speculation, if Zhang Gao and Wei Yan had to divide the victory and defeat of the two sides, Wei Yan should be able to support at least sixty rounds or more, but there was no hope of winning.