Zhang Liao, as the vanguard of Cao Cao's outpost of Cao Cao's expedition to Wuhuan, commanded the elite tiger and leopard cavalry to fight against the Wuhuan cavalry, and in the final battle, he killed Wuhuan Shan Yu Dun and more than a dozen famous wuhuan kings, defeated the Wuhuan people, and killed and captured nearly 200,000 people.
Guan Yu in the battle of Guandu between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu - the Battle of Baima, as Cao Cao's forward, rushed to Yan Liang, the general of Yuan Shao who was besieging Baima, Guan Yu saw Yan Liang's cover, rushed to the main general Yan Liang, stabbed Yan Liang to death in one fell swoop, beheaded Yan Liang's head, and Yuan's army was also defeated.
Zhang Liao and Guan Yu both have the record of slaying the enemy's main generals, how to judge Zhang Liao and Guan Yu, which is stronger and which is weaker, who is more powerful?
Guan Yu chopped yan liang
1. Compare the nature of the two wars
First of all, we must compare the situation of the two wars fought by the two men, the Battle of White Wolf Mountain was a key battle of Cao Cao's expedition to Wuhuan, Cao Cao's war in the northern conquest of Wuhuan was to adopt the strategy of paralyzing others, taking them by surprise, lightly armed, and attacking them unprepared, Cao Cao pretended to make the illusion of withdrawing his troops because of the weather, and then led the light cavalry to find another way, unexpectedly attacking from the road that the Wuhuan people could not think of.
When the Wuhuan people discovered Cao Cao's army, the distance between the two sides was only two hundred miles, and although Wuhuan was in a hurry to fight, there was still some time to prepare.
The Battle of White Horse was an important surprise attack that occurred before Cao Cao's Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao attacked the west with a sound of east and west, surprised, pretended to attack Yanjin, and then suddenly turned the horse's head to attack White Yan Liang, when Yan Liang found the forward of Cao Cao's army, the two armies were only a dozen miles apart, Yan Liang was able to react for only a short period of twenty minutes, Yan Liang was attacked by the enemy before and after, caught off guard, and was cut off by Guan Yu in the battle.
Zhang Liao
Other words
Guan Yu's Battle of the White Horse was shorter than Zhang Liao's Battle of the White Wolf Mountain, leaving the enemy with less time, so the stronger the objective conditions for victory, and the strength of Guan Yu and Zhang Liao was inversely proportional to the objective conditions of the war, and theoretically it was more difficult for Zhang Liao to win
。
2. Compare the scale of the two wars
Judging from the situation of prisoners after the war, the scale of the Battle of White Wolf Mountain was even greater, and there were 200,000 people captured in Wuhuan alone, which showed that the number of Wuhuan people participating in the battle was at least 200,000, and Cao Cao's army participated mainly in the battle of tiger and leopard cavalry and other light cavalry, because Cao Cao was lightly armed, heavy infantry walked slowly, and still marched in the back, and the number of troops cao Cao participating in the battle was estimated to be only 10,000 people, which was already the limit of cao Cao's ability to raise the number of cavalry.
In the Battle of Baima, Yan Liang, as the vanguard of Yuan Shao's army, used to attack Liu Yan of Dong Commandery on Cao Cao's side, Liu Yan only had three thousand people, and judging from Liu Yan's request for help from Cao Cao, Yan Liang's army must have more than three thousand people, and there were at least ten thousand people who could surround Liu Yan.
When Cao Cao led a large army to attack Yan Liang on Baima through the sound of the east and the west, Guan Yu and Zhang Liao took the lead as forwards, and the number of these forwards was generally only three or four thousand, and Cao Cao led the army to the back, so Cao Cao's main participation in the Battle of Baima was Guan Yu and Zhang Liao's forwards, plus Liu Yan's original three thousand people, and the total number of Cao's army participating in the Battle of Baima was about 7,000.
In the Battle of White Wolf Mountain, Zhang Liao's 10,000 men fought against Wuhuan's army of 200,000 people, the ratio of the number of enemies and us in the Battle of White Wolf Mountain was 20:1, while in the Battle of White Horse, Guan Yu's 4,000 men + Liu Yan's 3,000 men totaled 7,000 people who should fight Yan Liang, and the ratio of the number of enemies and us in the Battle of White Horse was 10:7.
So the Battle of White Wolf Mountain is more difficult to fight, because the numbers are at an absolute disadvantage
Guan yu
3. Compare the generals involved in two wars
In addition to Zhang Liao, who was the leader of the forward, there were also xu huang, Zhang Guo, Cao Chun, Han Hao, Shi Zhuo, Xian Yufu, Yan Rou and other generals, all of whom were famous generals of the Cao army, and their opponents were Wu Huandan Yu And the reputable king of Wu Huan.
In the Battle of White Horse, Cao Cao's generals, Yu Yu, Zhang Liao, and Liu Yan, and Zhang Liao, who participated in both the Battle of White Wolf Mountain and the Battle of White Horse, were in the front and the Battle of White Wolf Mountain in the back, and their opponents were only Yan Liang, although there are records that Chun Yuqiong and Guo Tu also participated in this war, but there are few records.
The famous generals of Cao Cao's side in the Battle of White Wolf Mountain are obviously many, while the Battle of White Horse is very rare, so Cao Cao has a general advantage in the Battle of White Wolf Mountain
Guan Yu was good at war
4. Compare the performance of Zhang Liao and Guan Yu on the battlefield
The Battle of White Wolf Mountain was an encounter, Cao Cao's 10,000 cavalry encountered Wu Huan's 200,000 cavalry, but Wu Huan's 200,000 troops had not yet formed a formation, due to the disparity in strength between the enemy and us, some of Cao Cao's generals were afraid of battle, and Zhang Liao personally asked Cao Cao to fight, taking advantage of the fact that the other side did not form a formation, should hurry to attack, Cao Cao listened to Zhang Liao's advice.
So the two sides of the cavalry battle, the Cao army cavalry is all elite tiger and leopard cavalry, experienced in hundreds of battles, rich combat experience, and there are many generals involved, there is no direct evidence that Zhang Liao personally killed WuHuanDan Yu Indun on the battlefield, because this war was commanded by Zhang Liao, so this credit can also be credited to Zhang Liao.
At least Zhang Liao's specific performance in the Battle of white wolf mountain is unknown, the history books do not record in detail, from Zhang Liao's consistent bravery, Zhang Liao at least rushed to the front, and Xu Huang, Zhang Gao and other generals will not show weakness. Because there are also records that Cao Chun's tiger and leopard rode to capture Jian Dun and then beheaded him, it is also possible that Cao Chun died in the rebellion, and there were many famous generals in the Three Kingdoms who died in the rebellion, including Wen Ugly, Xiahou Yuan, and so on.
Therefore, Zhang Liao's chopping is most likely the work of leadership, rather than being killed by his own hands.
But if you look at Guan Yu's Battle of the White Horse, it is different, the history books clearly record that Guan Yu personally killed Yan Liang, and the "Biography of Guan Yu in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms" clearly records that Guan Yu personally killed Yan Liang:
Yu saw Liang Li Gai, and he beheaded him among the multitudes, and shao zhuan was unable to do so, so he lifted the white horse siege.
This is the era of cold weapons, in the melee of thousands of armies, the history books clearly record the behavior of single-handedly riding alone to behead the enemy commander, which is very remarkable bravery, and it is also the only evidence in the Three Kingdoms that it is a personal beheading, and the gold content of Guan Yu's beheading yanliang is very high, which is also the direct evidence that Guan Yu is called "ten thousand enemies" and "the general of the bear and tiger".
Therefore, in terms of personal bravery, Guan Yu's performance in the Battle of white horse was far better than Zhang Liao's performance in the battle of White Wolf Mountain.
If you want to compare the two martial generals through two wars, it seems a bit one-sided, but it can be said that Zhang Liao's difficulties in the Battle of White Wolf Mountain were much greater than the difficulties that Guan Yu encountered in the Battle of White Horse, but Guan Yu's personal bravery was far better than Zhang Liao's.