Review
The water rolling in the east of the Yangtze River, the waves exhaust the heroes. In the Three Kingdoms era, when people were able to rise from generation to generation, there was such a general. Liu Bei commented that he was "worthy of his leading position, and what is the use of this", Guo Huai commented that he was "a famous general of the country, and a non-general cannot be safe", and Chen Qun commented that he was "the country depends on it". The Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui fell in love with him, and the history books also record that Zhuge Liang was "deeply worried" about him.
He was highly capable, but he began to submit to Cao Cao in 200 AD and served as a deputy general for 26 years. He is not inferior in ability, but not famous. He was born in a troubled world, and he has been in battle for a long time, but his death is a mystery. He is Zhang Gao, and today we will talk about the story of General Zhang Gao, one of the five sons of liang.
Born into the ranks
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Zhang Guo was a native of Hejian Zheng County, which was located in the northwest direction of Jizhou and remembered that Zhuo County was adjacent to Youzhou Zhuo County, which was the place where Liu Guan Zhang Jieyi was, and Jizhou first belonged to Jizhou Mu Hanfu, so at the time of the Yellow Turban Rebellion at the end of the Han Dynasty.
Zhang Gao joined the army nearby and defected to Han Fu, and he was made the official position of military commander, which was not a large position in the whole country, but it was not a small official in Han Fu's troops.
When Cao Cao recruited the Yellow Turban, he was just a lieutenant. Only one level higher than Sima Jun, Xiahou Huan, as a close confidant of Cao Cao, only achieved the rank of Sima during his crusade against Dong Zhuo.
In 191 AD, Han Fu's subordinates rebelled, and under the threat of Yuan Shao, it was Han Fu who gave Jizhou to Yuan Shao, and Han Fu's original troops all belonged to Yuan Shao, and Zhang Gao was promoted to lieutenant.
The rank of lieutenant was one level higher than that of Du Wei, and Cao Cao's beloved general Xiahou Yuan was not promoted to lieutenant until the Battle of Guandu. The history books do not record whether Zhang Gao's family lineage is prominent, but from the perspective of Zhang Gao's military starting point and promotion speed, his talent is obvious.
Later, after Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zhan, Zhang Guo was promoted to the rank of general of Ningguo Zhonglang, and the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records that "Zhang Guo was broken, And Gong Duo", that is to say, the reason why Zhang Gao was promoted was because he had a lot of merit in the war, and the high starting point and high official position before Zhang Gao should also be because of his outstanding talent in the war.
Abandon Yuan to Cao
Just when Zhang Gao was triumphant in The Spring Breeze in Yuan Shao's army, the following year in 200 AD, the Battle of Cao Yuan Guandu broke out, the Battle of Guandu was a classic example in Chinese history of winning more with less and defeating the strong with the weak, which was a turning point in Cao Yuan's power and a turning point in Zhang Gao's life. Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao, who had a large number of grain and soldiers, with his outstanding military skills and perfect strategy.
In this battle, Zhang Gao, as a general under Yuan Shao, very early advised Yuan Shao to be wary of Cao Cao, but Yuan Shao did not listen to his advice, but instead listened to the rumors of the counselor Guo Tu and alienated Zhang Guo, and finally Zhang Lin surrendered to Cao Cao in grief and helplessness, and Cao Cao got Zhang Gao to say happily, Is this not Han Xin's return to Han? Bai Zhangguo was made a partial general.
Subsequently, Zhang Gao followed Cao Wei's generals on a southern expedition to the north. According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, after Zhang Gao surrendered to Cao Cao, he first followed Cao Cao to fight yuan Shao's old forces, and after attacking Yecheng in 204 AD, he attacked Nanpi with Cao Chun, and then attacked Yongnu with Le Ban, and after pacifying Wuhuan, Zhang Gao was promoted to the rank of general of Pingdi for his merits.
In 211, Ma Chao rebelled against Cao in Guanzhong, and Zhang Gao followed Xiahou Yuan to quell the rebellion of Ma Chao and various departments of Western Liang. In 215 AD, Zhang Lu surrendered in Hanzhong, the land of Hanzhong was owned by Cao Cao, and when Cao Cao returned to Jizhou, he sent Zhang Gaozhen to guard Hanzhong, which has been a place of contention for soldiers since ancient times, and Cao Cao let Zhang Guozhen guard Hanzhong, which was an affirmation and trust in his ability.
In the same year, Zhang Gao marched into Brazil, and the Shu Han general who was stationed in Brazil at that time was Zhang Fei, and Zhang Lin moved more than 10,000 people from Padang and Brazil to Wei province within more than fifty days of Zhang Fei's battle, although he eventually lost the army, but he was able to fight with the fierce general Zhang Fei and bring back tens of thousands of people and labor, and Zhang Gao's ability was self-evident with his credit. As a result, Zhang Gao was promoted to general of Lang Kou.
Courageously hinder Liu Bei
In 217, Liu Bei ordered Zhang Feimachao and other generals to attack the area west of Hanzhong. Thus forming a siege of Hanzhong, but was defeated by Cao Hong, Cao Xiu, and Cao Zhen.
Therefore, in 218 AD, Liu Bei personally led a large army to directly attack Hanzhong and besiege the Guangshi area, which was garrisoned by Zhang Gao. The record of this passage in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is quite wonderful: "Prepare more than 10,000 elite troops, divided into ten parts, attack Gao at night, and lead his own troops to fight, and be prepared to be overwhelmed." ”
This means that Liu Bei led tens of thousands of elite soldiers to attack Zhang Gao, and Zhang Gao personally led his troops to fight against the enemy, so that Liu Bei's plan to break through Guangshi in a short period of time was shattered. It is recorded that Liu Bei's army at that time was ten times that of Zhang Gao, but he was never able to defeat Zhang Gao.
The content of the historical records is limited, and we have no way of knowing whether this was the first confrontation between Liu Bei and Zhang Guo, because it is well known that Liu Bei defected to Gongsun Zhan in the early days, and Zhang Gao made countless contributions in the battle to defeat Gongsun Zhan, and it is very likely that Liu Bei and Zhang Gao had known each other before.
In the subsequent Battle of Hanzhong. Liu Bei seemed to be on the same page as Zhang Gao, and the object of many battles was Zhang Gao, and there was a feeling that he must decide with Zhang Gao.
Xiahou Yuan, as commander-in-chief, feared that Zhang Guo would be broken by Liu Bei, so he divided half of his troops to support him, but as a result, the entire army was destroyed, the main division was killed, and the whole army was shaken.
At the moment when the army was about to collapse, Sima Guohuai recommended Zhang Guo as the commander-in-chief, and Zhang Guo regained his strength and insisted on leading the remnants to resist Liu Bei, until the arrival of Cao Cao's reinforcements.
It can be said that Zhang Gao was the biggest obstacle for Liu Bei to capture Hanzhong, Liu Bei's military strength at that time was stronger than Zhang Gao's, and his fierce generals were like clouds, and with the help of the strategist Zhuge Liang, he was unable to defeat Zhang Guo for a long time, which showed that Zhang Guoshi was a superior general.
Lick Zhuge Ge
In 226 AD, Zhang Gao had been in Cao Ying for 26 years, and during most of these 26 years, he participated in various battles as a deputy general.
But time will not fail to live up to the hard work, in 226 AD, Cao Wei's new emperor Cao Rui ascended the throne, Zhuge Liang of Shu Han saw the opportunity and began his first Northern Expedition, the Shu army was like a bamboo, Liangzhou looked at the wind and fell, at this time of survival, Cao Rui thought of Zhang Guo, a veteran who had followed his grandfather to the south and the north more than 20 years ago.
Zhang Gao was worshipped as a right general and led an army to attack the strategic location of the Shu army. Everyone knows that "Ma Mo carelessly lost the street pavilion, and Zhuge Liang cut off the horse with tears", yes, Zhang Gao defeated Ma Mo and attacked the street pavilion, and quickly bypassed the street pavilion and continued to march into Pingding to recover Nan'an, Tianshui and other places that opposed Wei and Shu.
Zhang Gao's victory in attacking Jieting and the subsequent counter-offensive directly led to the defeat of Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition. Zhuge Liang's 1st Northern Expedition was the closest to victory and the closest to the danger of the collapse of the Cao Wei regime, and Zhang Gao's efforts in this battle made him quickly gain the love of the new emperor Cao Rui, and in 229 AD, Zhuge Liang's second Northern Expedition, Zhang Gao once again led the army.
This time, Zhang Gao accurately judged that Zhuge Liang would not attack Chen Cang, and sure enough, Zhang Gao's army had not yet arrived, Zhuge Liang had already retreated, and Cao Rui valued Zhang Gao more and made him a general on the West Che Riding, and Cao Rui sealed Zhang Gao's official position to distinguish him from other Che Generals, which was an extra favor to Zhang Gao.
It can be said that Zhang Gao was the nightmare of Zhuge Liang's first two Northern Expeditions, and ruthlessly cut off the great dream of revival of this Han Chancellor who had bowed to the Shu Han Society.
The Mystery of Death
In 231 AD, Zhuge Liang again carried out the Northern Expedition. Cao Rui originally planned to have Zhang Gao's commanding general attack Zhuge Liang, but later temporarily changed Sima Yi to the governor, which is very strange here, why did Cao Rui temporarily change the candidate for the commander-in-chief?
The author believes that one is that the Sima family is strong in the dynasty, and the other is that Sima Yi's official position is greater than That of Zhang Gao, and in any case, Zhang Guo, who resisted Zhuge Liang this time, became a deputy again, but he probably did not expect that this deputy would become the end of his life.
Zhang Gao's death has always been a mystery, there is a view that Sima Yi deliberately killed Zhang Gao in order to exclude dissidents, quite a sense of conspiracy theory, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms records that Zhang Gao was in pursuit of Zhuge Liang, was hit by an arrow in the knee, and then died of his wounds, that is, a normal battle death.
The Wei Luo records that Zhang Gao told Sima Yi not to pursue, sima Yi did not heed Zhang Gao's advice, insisted on letting him lead his troops to pursue, and then Zhang Gao was ambushed and died of his wounds.
The common denominator between these two versions is that Zhang Gao was indeed injured and died in the process of pursuing Zhuge Liang, the difference is that the latter records that Sima Yi insisted on letting Zhang Guo go after him, and Zhang Gao was forced to pursue and then died in order to comply with the military orders.
In fact, combined with the situation at that time, Zhang Gao's death should not have been deliberately done by Sima Yi. At that time, it was only 231 AD, the power of the Sima family was not strong enough to compete with the imperial power, and the emperor Cao Rui at that time was only in his twenties, and Sima Yi was nearly a twilight age, he could not expect the emperor to die early, nor did he expect that he could live until the end.
Moreover, at that time, there were still many ministers and generals who supported the emperor and Sima Yi who were not the same heart, and Sima Yi did not have to kill Zhang Guo alone.
However, Zhang Gao pursued Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi was also responsible, the most likely situation is that it was Sima Yi who confronted Zhuge Liang for the first time, the experience was still insufficient, plus Cao Rui originally planned to make Zhang Gao the commander, so Sima Yi was eager to pursue in order to prove his ability, and the result was Zhang Gao's death.
postscript
At this time, some people will have to ask, no, how can this Northern Expedition be Sima Yi's first time to resist Zhuge Liang? Didn't Sima Yi always wrestle with Zhuge Liang?
In fact, the real history is that the first four times at the end of Zhuge Liang's six Northern Expeditions were all confrontations with Cao Zhen, which had almost nothing to do with Sima Yi, and later novels, in order to highlight Sima Yi's talent that was not inferior to Zhuge Liang, forcibly added a lot of drama to Sima Yi, adding the merits of Cao Zhen Zhang Guo and other generals to Sima Yi.
The historian Wang Xin's evaluation is very interesting, he said that against Zhuge Liang, Cao Zhen Zhang Guo was the first to do, and Sima Yi's battle achievements were far inferior to Zhang Gao's, let alone compared with Cao Zhen.