/sanguo/wenyi/renwu/index.html There is an introduction to the more important characters.
There are about three hundred battles in the Romance of the Three KingdomsThe more classic ones are ten:
1. The Battle of Guandu
200 A.D. Yuan Shao chose 100,000 elite infantry and 10,000 cavalry to make Liyang his home base; he ordered Yan Liang to be the vanguard and crossed the river to attack Baima. Cao Cao used Xunyou's plan and threatened to cross the river to attack Yuan Shao's rear road. Yuan Shao ordered Yan Liang to divide half of his army to Yanjin to block Cao Cao's crossing the river; Cao Cao ordered Yu Ban to hold Yanjin, and used Zhang Liao and Guan Yu as the vanguard, and he himself led the main force straight to Baima, and Liu Yan, the governor of Dongxian County, pincered Yan Liang, who was killed in battle. Enraged, Yuan Shao ordered his entire army to cross the river; he also ordered another general, Wen Chou, to attack Baima with Liu Bei as his vanguard. Cao Cao abandoned Baima and retreated to Yanjin, personally commanding his elite troops to follow him, and intentionally releasing provisions; Wen Chou and Liu Bei pursued with more than 6,000 cavalry, scattering in all directions to seize the provisions; Cao Cao took advantage of the opportunity to order an attack, which caused a great disturbance in Yuan's army, and Wen Chou himself was killed; Cao Cao retreated back to Guandu to lure the enemy deeper into the enemy's territory. Yuan Shao again refused to listen to Tian Feng's stratagems, and escorted him to Yecheng. Yuan Shao set up a joint camp and pressed forward; Cao Cao responded by ordering Yu Ban and Le Jin to attack both flanks, winning a great victory. In order to win the victory, Yuan Shao turned on Li Tong and Liu Pei in the south; instead of betraying him, Li Tong led his troops to destroy the local strongholds that were secretly communicating with Yuan Shao; Cao Cao also ordered Cao Ren and Xu Huang to lead cavalry to suppress Liu Pei and Liu Bei by night and day. Cao Cao's strategist Guo Jia thinks that Sun Ce is too frivolous and will die at the hands of an assassin. Soon after, Sun Ce is attacked by his enemies and dies of his wounds (Guo Jia secretly sends Cao Cao's men to kill Sun Ce). When Cao Cao's army ran out of food and wanted to retreat to Xuchang, Xun Wenruo urged Cao Cao to hold out and maximize his support for the front line. In October 200 AD, Cao Cao orders Cao Ren and Xu Huang to attack Yuan Shao's general Han Mang and burn thousands of wagons of grain. Yuan Shao's strategist Xu You suggested that Yuan Shao send a partial division to raid Xuchang and steal the Emperor of Han, but after being rejected and having his family imprisoned by Jianbei, Xu You had no choice but to defect to Cao Cao and suggested that Cao Cao sneak into Wuchao, where Yuan's army was storing its grain and hay; Cao Cao left Cao Hong and the others to guard the camp, and led Xiahouyuan, Zhang Liao, and Cao Ren directly to Wuchao, and at the same time ordered Xu Huang to sneak into the Gushan city, where the other grain and hay were being stacked by Yuan; Cao Cao's army pretended to be Yuan's troops and deceived Yuan's inspection, and sneak into Wuchao. Cao's army pretended to be Yuan's army, and deceived Yuan's inspection and attacked Wuchao. When the news reached Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao refused to listen to his general Zhang He's suggestion of saving Wuchao with a heavy force, but followed his strategist Guo Tu's advice and ordered Zhang He and Gaolan to attack Cao Cao's camp with a heavy force, while only sending a small number of cavalry to save Wuchao. When Cao Cao arrives at Wuchao, he first focuses on attacking the Wuchao Yuan camp, capturing the guard general Chun Yu Qiong and burning all the supplies; he then turns around and defeats the Yuan cavalry that came to his rescue; at the same time, Xu Huang also captures the old city and burns all the supplies. When the news reached Yuan's camp, Guo Tu started a rumor that Zhang He was gloating over the defeat of Wuchao, and sent someone to inform Zhang He that Yuan Shao was going to kill him, so Zhang He surrendered to Cao Cao's army. Cao Cao then launched a counterattack, and most of Yuan's troops surrendered to Cao Cao's army; Yuan Shao and his men escaped with only 800 of his own soldiers; more than 70,000 of those who surrendered were buried alive by Cao Cao's order; Frustrated Frustration, a gifted strategist, surrendered to Cao Cao's sincerity, but was killed when he found out that his family was safe in Hebei and he wanted to run away to the north; and another important strategist, Tian Feng, was killed by Yuan Shao, who had listened to the rumor that he had been killed by the slanderous Yuan Shao. The Battle of Guandu, arguably the most exciting battle of the Three Kingdoms period, is also a famous example in the history of warfare; it marked Cao Cao's formal claim to the north and laid the foundation for the unification of the north.
2. The Battle of Red Cliff
In 208 A.D., Liu Biao was seriously ill, and Sun Quan stepped up his attack on Jingzhou; Liu Bei, who had defected to Liu Biao and was stationed in Xinye, expanded his army to tens of thousands under the pretext of defending himself against Cao Cao and Sun Quan, and ordered Guan Yu to vigorously train his naval forces at Fankou in order to prepare for the seizure of Jingzhou; Liu Yiyi, Liu Biao's eldest son, was forced to station himself at Xiakou by his stepmother, Cai's family; Liu Biao died of illness in August, and Liu Zong, Liu's second son, was forced by his mother, Cai's family to station himself at Xiakou. In August, Liu Table's eldest son, Liu Yi, was forced by his stepmother, the Cai family, to settle in Xiakou. Cao Cao then led a large army quickly south through the paths of Ye and Wan, defeating Liu Bei's defenders and occupying Xinye; Liu Zong surrendered to Cao Cao on the advice of Wang Ch'ang, Kuai Yue, Cai Mao and others. Liu Bei attempted to occupy the South County (Jiangling), relying on the large amount of supplies there to resist Cao Cao; Cao Cao learned of Liu Bei's intentions, he personally led 5,000 elite cavalry to pursue Liu Bei by night and day, due to the large number of people following Liu Bei south, Cao Cao's army in Dangyang Chang Ban for catching up with Liu's army, while Guan Yu, Zhuge Liang had already retreated in advance to the Xiakou, Liu's army was defeated, Liu Bei, Zhao Yun and others, "only to be exempted from the body! Liu Bei and Zhao Yun were "only spared by their bodies"; Liu Bei had no choice but to change his mind and return to Xiakou. After Cao Cao took Jiangling, he captured and surrendered eight counties in Jingzhou, and was surrendered to Liu Zong's water and land forces, amounting to 100,000 men; Liu Bei then sent Zhuge Liang to ally with Sun Quan, who decided to resist Cao Cao after listening to the analysis of Zhou Yu, Lu Su and Zhuge Liang and ordered Zhou Yu, Lu Su, and Cheng Pu to bring more than 30,000 sailors to meet with Liu Bei. in November, Cao Cao led more than 100,000 men in an attack on Liu Bei at Xiakou; Cao Cao's water forces were in Chibi, where he lost a fight with the allied Sun-Liu forces, and Cao Cao led a battle with Liu Bei, and Liu Cao was defeated. Cao Cao's army was stationed in Wulin after he arrived with his main force; due to the lack of water and soil, a large number of Cao Cao's army contracted schistosomiasis. In order to overcome Cao Cao's inability to adapt to water warfare, Cao Cao ordered most of his ships to be linked together with iron cables, forming the "chain ships" that would prove to be fatal in future defeats. Zhou Yu and Huang Gai realized that the chain ships had an Achilles' heel of not being able to easily escape fire, and decided to attack them with fire; usually the wind blows north in winter, but due to the climate in Jiangnan, there are a few days in December each year when the wind blows south-east; in order to facilitate the setting of fires, Zhou Yu and Huang Gai used the "trick of the flesh", and Cao Cao was tricked into falling for it. On a night when the wind was blowing from north to south-east, Huang Gai swindled his way into surrendering and set fire to Cao Cao's army, causing chaos and an attack by the allied forces; a large number of Cao Cao's troops were burned, drowned, and surrendered, and Cao Cao fled back to Jiangling from Huarong Road under the protection of his personal bodyguards; in order to prevent his ships from falling into the allied army's hands, Cao Cao ordered the destruction of all the ships in the other camps by setting fire to them. At the same time, Sun Quan attacked Hefei in the south, and Cao Cao had no choice but to order Zhang Liao, Le Jin, and Li Dian to come to Hefei's aid by night and day; he left Cao Ren and Xu Hao to guard Jiangling, and retreated to Xuchang himself. A year later, Cao Cao ordered Cao Ren and Xu Huang to withdraw from Jiangling and defend Xiangyang and Fancheng, and most of Jingzhou fell into the hands of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, who attacked Hefei on the eastern front in 209, but were stopped by Liu Fu at Hefei. Cao Cao's army of more than 100,000 was defeated by Sun and Liu's coalition of only 50,000-60,000 men, mainly due to the schistosomiasis epidemic and the loss of combat effectiveness of the northern armies, while Cao Cao's over-pride and underestimation of the enemy were the main subjective reasons; the coalition forces took full advantage of the favorable conditions, so the win was a matter of course. In the Battle of Red Cliff, all of Cao Cao's naval forces were lost, while Liu Bei and Sun Quan were greatly strengthened after the Battle of Red Cliff, and Cao Cao lost the opportunity to unify China in a short period of time, which had a considerable impact on later generations.
3. The Battle of Hanba
In 215 A.D., Cao Cao took Zhang He and Zhu Ling as his vanguard, bringing 5,000 troops to open the way in front of him, and leading himself to lead an army of 100,000 men from Chencang. Zhang Lu proposed surrendering to Cao Cao, and his brother Zhang Wei and general Yang Ang and other powerhouses firmly opposed it. Zhang Wei and Yang Ang led tens of thousands of men to hold on to Yangping Pass; Cao Cao's army was unable to make many strong attacks, so they decided to pretend to retreat to confuse Zhang Wei, who then reduced the defending force. Cao Cao immediately ordered a strong attack at night, due to the weak strength of the defenders and lax alert, Yang Ping Pass was then lost, Yang Ang was killed in battle; Cao Cao's army continued to attack the other camps, which alarmed the thousands of Night Mice on the mountain, which rushed into Zhang Wei's camp, causing shouts and neighing of horses, and Cao Cao thought that Zhang Wei had counter-attacked, and so he ordered Xiahou Dun, Xu Chu, and other generals to lead a large-scale attack, which was not enough for Zhang Wei, and so he surrendered, and the seizure of Yang Ping Pass centrally demonstrated the talent of Cao Cao's The capture of Yangping Pass centered on Cao Cao's talent in the art of military command. Zhang Lu again proposed to surrender, but was opposed by Yan Pu, so Zhang Lu sealed off and traveled to Ba County. Cao Cao knew that Zhang Lu was interested in surrendering, so he bribed the leaders of the seven Ba tribes with high-ranking officials, and Zhang Lu had no choice but to surrender. Cao Cao then ordered Xiahou Yuan, Xu Huang, and Zhang He to take Sanba, while Cheng Yin, Hou Xuan, and other rebels in Guanzhong also surrendered to Cao Cao, who then took over Hanzhong and Ba County.
Liu Bei learned that Cao Cao had pacified Han and Ba (of which Badong's capital is now Chongqing), and was so threatened that he had to compromise with Sun Quan, who wanted to use this opportunity to launch an offensive in Hefei to take down Huainan, and the two sides then divided Jingzhou between themselves. Liu Bei then ordered Huang Quan to attack Sanba and kill Du Yu, a Ba leader who had defected to Cao Cao, while Cao Cao ordered Zhang He to counter-attack, taking Badong and Basi and relocating the people to Hanzhong, and then battling Zhang Fei for more than 50 days, which Zhang Fei lost. Cao Cao took a series of measures to stabilize Hanba, then left Xiahou Yuan and others behind to defend it while he returned to Luoyang (the appropriateness of continuing to attack Liu Bei will be analyzed later) and relocated more than 80,000 people back to Guanzhong. After Liu Bei concentrated his forces, he first attacked Wudu with Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, and Wu Lan, who were ready to block Cao Cao's reinforcement of Hanzhong in the area of Xiandian; and he himself led Fazheng, Huang Zhong, and Zhao Yun with his main force to attack Yangpingguan Pass, which was guarded by Xiahou Yuan. Cao Cao immediately ordered Cao Hong and Cao Xiu (originally Cao Zhi was the commander-in-chief, but due to Cao Pi's strange behavior -) to reinforce Hanzhong, and started a fierce battle with Liu Bei's army in Xiajian, breaking Wu Lan, who fled into Yinping and was killed by the locals, and then defeating Ma Chao and Zhang Fei, and pacifying Lei Ding and other parts of the local leaders who responded to Liu Bei's army. Liu Bei asks Zhuge Liang for help, and Zhuge Liang calls for "men to fight and women to transport" to maximize the concentration of forces to support the front line. The situation is quite unfavorable for Cao Cao, who himself has stationed his troops in Chang'an and orders Cao Ren to pacify Wancheng's general Houyin, who has surrendered to Guan Yu. Liu Bei, pro-Fazheng, mobilized half of Xiahou Yuan's army to reinforce Zhang He, then attacked Xiahou Yuan by night. In the early hours of the next morning, Liu Bei sent Huang Zhong to sneak up on Xiahou Yuan, who was directing the repair of his antlers, and Xiahou Yuan was killed, forcing Zhang He to gather his remnants and return to defend Yangping Pass. As the situation became even more dire, Cao Cao then went to the Hanzhong front in person, ordering Xu Huang to sneak into the Maming Pavilion, where Chen Shi was defending, and restoring Hanzhong's connection to the Lower Defense; Liu Bei ordered his men to hold their positions while attacking Cao Cao's supply lines, and ordered Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong to sneak into the northern mountains, burning more than 10,000 sacks of Cao's army's grain and herbs. Cao Cao had no choice but to ask Cao Zhen to pick up Cao Hong from the lower defense and abandon Hanzhong, while relocating tens of thousands of people back to Guanzhong. The result of the Battle of Hanzhong basically decided the establishment of the Three Kingdoms.
4. Guan Yu loses Jingzhou
October 218 A.D., the people of Nanyang were unable to bear the exploitation of the riots, and the guardian of Wanyuan, Houyin, took the opportunity to rebel, and sent a letter to Guan Yu to ask for help; Guan Yu was slow in reflecting the situation, and Houyin was captured and killed by Cao Ren. 219 A.D., in July, Guan Yu was inspired by the victory of Liu Bei in Hanzhong, and he moved northward to Xiangfan; Cao Cao, with Yu Ban as his general, supervised the 7 armies to rescue Cao Ren, and at the same time, he ordered Xu Huang to lead the armies to Wancheng. 8 months, flash floods occurred, which flooded Wancheng. In August, a flash flood drowned Yu Ban's 7 armies, Guan Yu took the opportunity to attack, Pound was killed and Yu Ban surrendered; Cao Ren sank his white horse and defended Fancheng. Guan Yu used his generals to attack Xiangyang, but personally attacked Fancheng, and set up a position north of Fancheng to prevent reinforcements from Cao's army in the north; at the same time, he sent his men to rebel against the nearby counties, and the assassin Hu Xiu of Jingzhou and Fu Fang of Nanxiang surrendered, while some of the officials south of Xuchang secretly responded to Guan Yu; Sun Wolf, a native of Luhun, gathered in the city of Yecheng to respond to Guan Yu's riot, and Wei Iron of Yecheng took advantage of the opportunity to try to stage a coup d'état; this is the so-called "Wei Zhen Hua Xia", which is the most important of all. "Cao Cao is a great leader of the country. Cao Cao listens to Sima Yi and Jiang Ji and allies with Sun Quan, while ordering Xu Huang to lead an army to rescue Cao Ren and naming Zhang Liao to aid Cao Ren. Sun Quan intentionally sent Lu Xun to replace Lu Meng, and Guan Yu was so careless that he drew away some of Jingzhou's defenders; in Leap October, Sun Quan ordered Lu Meng to be the grand governor and lead an attack on Jiangling, followed by Sun Jiao, and another right protector Jiang Qin to supervise the naval forces into the Shinshui (Han River) to prevent Guan Yu from moving downstream. Lu Meng to Xunyang (now southwest of Huangmei, Hubei), the warships disguised as merchant ships, soldiers dressed as merchants, day and night. To public security, forced shu guard general Fu Shiren surrendered, then used Fu Shiren persuaded to surrender Jiangling guard general Mi Fang, and generous treatment of guan yu generals dependents, release guan yu captured Wei soldiers, comfort the people. At the same time, Lu Xun into Yiling (now Yichang territory), west defense Liu Bei. Xu Huang to the front line, and Cao Ren contact, Cao Ren army morale; for the separation of Sun and Liu, from which to profit, is to make generals will Sun Quan letter shot into the camp of Guan Yu, Guan Yu see, hesitation, the military heart wavering. Xu Huang took the opportunity to attack Guan Yu's strongholds and broke Guan Yu, and took the opportunity to open up the Fancheng route. At that time, the flood water receded, Cao Ren led his army to cooperate with Xu Huang to attack Guan Yu, and Wen Li shortened Guan Yu's grain road from the waterway, and Guan Yu retreated step by step. Guan Yu knew that Jingzhou had been lost, hastily retreated, soldiers learned that their families were treated kindly, the morale dropped dramatically; after Guan Yu was defeated in Mecheng.
5. The Battle of Yiling
In 219 A.D., Guan Yu was captured and killed by Lu Meng, Jingzhou was owned by Sun Quan, and Liu Bei's power to the east of Bashan was all but extinguished. In order to salvage his vested interests and to avenge Guan Yu's death, he decided to go east despite the advice of his ministers, and ordered Zhang Fei, the general of the Che Cavalry, to meet Jiangzhou (present-day Chongqing) from Langzhong (now part of Sichuan). Zhang Fei before departure was assassinated by the generals, Liu Bei still made Zhuge Liang stay in Chengdu, Zhao Yun in Jiangzhou for the rear military governor, since the army in July east. Sun Quan failed to make peace with Liu Bei, but he further made peace with Wei and sent another envoy in August. Cao Wei took advantage of the situation to appoint Sun Quan as the King of Wu, intensifying the separation between Sun and Liu. Sun Quan accepted the title of King, and at the same time ordered Lu Xun, the Right Protector and General of Zhenxi, to be the Governor, leading 50,000 men from Zhu Ran, Pan Zhang, Xu Sheng, Han Dang and Sun Huan to resist the Shu army; and made General Bu, the General of Pingrong, to lead 10,000 men to guard Yiyang (present-day Hunan) in an attempt to prevent the indigenous tribes in Wuling (present-day western Hunan, eastern Guizhou and southwestern Hubei) from assisting the Shu. When 40,000 Shu army attacked Wu (now Sichuan Wushan), Zigui (now belongs to Hubei), Lu Xun for Shu army strength, eagerness to win and the terrain is unfavorable to their own situation, take a step back first, focus on the troops, the camera decisive battle strategy, make the defending generals Li Yi, Liu A rate of troops retreated to the Yiling Cheng Ting (today's Hubei Zhicheng North, the Yangtze River East Bank), according to the advantage of the terrain, the canyon and mountains will be several hundred miles to Liu Bei, to exhaust the Shu army. In the first month of the following year, Liu Bei sent generals Wu Ban and Chen Shi to supervise the navy into the Yiling area, locking the west bank of the eastern Yangtze River. In February, personally led the generals from zigui south crossing, through the rugged mountain road, into the yiling, yidao (now zicheng) area even camp, sitting in the town of I pavilion command; Huang Quan for the north generals, supervise the army of the northern part of the river to the north of yiling, and wu army, and prevent the attack of wei army; Sent the service middleman ma liang into the wuling county, to meet the tribal leaders against wu to shu Shamo ke, for greater support. When Liu Bei sends his former minister Zhang Nan to besiege Sun Huan in Yidao, Wu generals ask Lu Xun to send troops to rescue him, but Lu Xun knows that Sun Huan is popular and Yidao is a strong city with enough food, so he insists on not dividing his troops. When the Shu army frequently challenged the Wu generals, Lu Xun patiently persuaded them not to come out. Some veteran generals and generals from the office of the noble relatives attempted to go their own way, wanting to move out rashly, Lu Xun rope to military discipline, and strictly stop. Liu Bei ambushed 8,000 Shu soldiers in the valley and sent Wu Ban to camp on the flat ground in an attempt to lure Lu Xun into battle. Lu Xun realized his plan and refused to fight. The two armies held each other for half a year. The Shu army had traveled a long way, the quick decision was not possible, and the camps were scattered, the transportation was difficult, and the soldiers were tired and slack. In the heat of summer, Liu Bei moved his navy to the land and lost the initiative. In June, Lu Xun thought the time was ripe and decided to switch from defense to counterattack. First, he broke a camp of Shu army by fire attack, and then he ordered his troops to take advantage of the situation to attack, forcing Liu Bei to retreat to the west. When Zhang Nan heard about this, he also abandoned the barbaric road to the north and was attacked by Zhu Ran and Sun Huan from north and south, and was killed in battle. Lu Xun that is to make the water army blockade river, Sun Huan and other choke Yiling Road, divided Shu army in the river east and west, and then each break, fire even camp, camp more than 40. Shu troops were heavily wounded and killed, generals Du Lu, Liu Ning surrendered, the big Governor Feng Xi and Shamo Ke was killed. Liu Bei was defeated and retreated to the northwest of Ma'anshan Mountain, defended by the danger. Lu Xun concentrated his troops and attacked on all sides, wiping out tens of thousands of Shu troops. Liu Bei led the remaining troops to the west at night to break out, the rear guard general Fu Rong, etc. was killed by the Wu army. Liu Bei's army retreated to Zigui, and ordered the postmen to burn cymbals and armor on the dangerous road to block the road to break the back. The generals of Wu army asked for battle and wanted to pursue in force. In order to prevent Cao Wei from attacking Wu, Lu Xun only sent Li Yi and Liu Ah to follow them to Nanshan Mountain (the mountain on the south bank of Zigui). Huang Quan was cut off by the Wu army and led his troops to Wei. Liu Bei collected the scattered soldiers and returned from Zigui to Baidi City (east of Fengjie, Sichuan). Li Yi and Liu Ah returned to defend Wu in August. In April of the following year, Liu Bei fell ill and died.
6. Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition
228 A.D., Cao Pi died of illness, Zhuge Liang took the opportunity to send troops to Hanzhong, leading his own army to attack the Qishan Mountain, which is defended by Cao Wei; and at the same time, sent veteran generals Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi to lead their divisions from the Slanted Valley, threatened to attack Mecheng, and then attacked Cao Wei's center of the city of Chang'an; due to the Shu army after more than 2 years of saving up, well-prepared, and Cao Wei is not well-prepared, the Shu army very quickly! Because the Shu army was well-prepared after more than 2 years and Cao Wei was not well-prepared, the Shu army quickly captured Qishan, and Cao Wei's Tianshui, Nan'an and An Ding defected to Shu, shaking Cao Wei's dynasty. Cao Rui, the Ming Emperor of Wei, immediately ordered General Cao Zhen to lead an army of 150,000 troops from Chang'an to reinforce Meicheng; Zhang He, a famous general of wisdom and courage, led 50,000 troops to intercept Zhuge Liang's troops by night and by day; and he himself arrived at Chang'an to take charge of the situation. Zhuge Liang used Ma Su as the vanguard to occupy the strategic Jieting. Ma Su did not listen to the bitter advice of his deputy general Wang Ping, and stationed his army on the nearby hill, while letting Wang Ping stationed nearby; Zhang He arrived at Jieting and divided part of his troops to prevent Wang Ping from combining his troops with Ma Su, and led the main force to encircle Ma Su's army on the hill, and at the same time, ordered to set the hill ablaze; Ma Su was greatly defeated, and did not dare to meet with Zhuge Liang, but fled back to Chengdu, and then fell ill and died in the prison. After losing Jieting, the Shu army was basically pinned down by Zhang He and could not break through Zhang He's defense line; and Zhao Yun's department on the eastern front was also defeated by Cao Zhen's superior force; Zhuge Liang had no choice but to return to Hanzhong, and the first Northern Expedition failed. Before the Northern Expedition, General Wei Yan proposed that he lead 5,000 elite troops to take a shortcut from Xiegu to Chang'an, which was rejected by Zhuge Liang.
In the winter of that year, Cao Wei's Grand Secretary Cao Huo was defeated by Wu at Shiting, and the main force of Guanzhong traveled east to rescue Cao Huo. Zhuge Liang took advantage of the opportunity to kill out of the pass, surrounded the strategic location of Chencang; because Cao Wei general Cao Zhen had expected Zhuge Liang will have this, beforehand, let the wisdom and courage of the general Hao Zhao led 3,000 soldiers and horses to guard Chencang. Because of the Chencang terrain, easy to defend the south attack, plus Hao Zhao in the post prepared a large number of rolling stones, grease, rockets and other materials, but also strengthened the city wall. The Shu army had not yet broken through after more than 20 days of strong attack, the Shu army was short of food and grass, and Zhang He, a famous general of Cao Wei, also led a large army to support; Zhuge Liang could only order to return to Hanzhong and set up ambushes to kill Wang Shuang, a Wei general who came to pursue; the second Northern Expedition ended in failure.
In the spring of 229 A.D., Zhuge Liang sent Chen Shi (Chen Shou's father) to take the two small counties of Wudu and Yinping. Although the third northern expedition was to gain two counties, it could not reverse the passive disadvantage.
In 231 A.D., Zhuge Liang's fourth northern expedition again attacked the Cao Wei stronghold of Qishan. Cao Rui ordered Sima Yi and Zhang He to meet Zhuge Liang with a large army; Zhuge Liang left Wang Ping to lead a part of the men to continue the attack on Qishan, and led the main force to fight with Sima Yi; on the way, he defeated Cao Wei's Liangzhou herdsman Guo Huai's department, and seized the local wheat as military food. Sima Yi knew that the Shu army had traveled a long way, plus the supply line was long and arduous, so he held out; after Zhuge Liang designed to defeat Sima Yi, Sima Yi even held out. But the Shu army due to responsible for the logistics of the second person in charge of the real power Li Yan (Li Ping) grain and grass supply is not, and the false transmission of the Lord's order to let Zhuge Liang retreat, Zhuge Liang had no choice but to retreat; Sima Yi learned that Zhuge Liang retreated, ordered general Zhang He to chase, Zhang He protested, Sima Yi forced to order Zhang He to chase, Zhang He Zhuge Liang ambush shot; the fourth Northern Expedition is also a failure to the end.
In 234 AD, after 3 years of recuperation and production of the Shu army, a change in the past from the old way of Qishan, from the oblique valley, at the same time sent a letter to allow Sun Quan to cooperate with the war; Cao Wei also Sima Yi led the army and Zhuge Liang confrontation. Zhuge Liang arrived at Wuzhangyuan, in order to fight with Cao Wei's army for a long time, in the local cantonment; Sun Quan's army also for Wei Mingdi Cao Rui personally led the army defeated, Sun Quan retreated to Jianye; Sima Yi knows that the Shu army is not possible to fight for a long time, but also use the old way of holding out waiting for the Shu army to retreat from the end of the grain, no matter how Zhuge Liang will be excited, but still hold out. Due to the hardships of military life and victory is far away, Zhuge Liang is seriously ill; Zhuge Liang left the vice commander Wei Yan and Jiang Wei, Yang Yi and other discussions on the aftermath. After Zhuge Liang's death, Yang Yi became the commander-in-chief, leaving Wei Yan as the rear guard; Wei Yan did not get along with Yang Yi, and first returned south to Burning Pavilion Road, where he was defeated by Yang Yi, and his son was killed by Yang Yi's Ma Dai on his way back to Chengdu. Zhuge Liang's five northern expeditions ended in failure.
7, Guandong allied forces to kill Dong Zhuo
8, the battle of Huainan
9, Cao Wei destroyed Shu and Wu
10, the Western Jin Dynasty to unify China
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