Chapter 372: The Battle of Hanzhong, God's Will Doom Me In July of the seventh year of Jian'an, Cao Cao led his army back to Chang'an. The story begins in March. However, at the beginning of the year, when Cao Cao heard that Liu Bei was marching into Hanzhong, he personally led an army of 50,000 south to stop Liu Bei from taking Hanzhong. The army set out in January and arrived in Hanzhong in early March. By then, Liu Bei had already reached Nanzheng. Faced with this situation, Cao Cao used his general Ma Chao to defeat Liu Bei first, and then entered Nanzheng to confront Liu Bei. The two armies camped on both sides of the Han River, and the joint camps guarded the important roads above and below the Han River, refusing to give an inch. At this time, Wu Yi led his troops to attack Mianyang, west of Nanzheng. The two armies, one in the east and one in the west, with a total of 80,000 to 90,000 people, surrounded Nanzheng. Seeing this, Cao Cao naturally became anxious, because he was short of food and grass and needed to fight quickly, but the two armies had already opened up the situation. If the confrontation continued like this, it would be extremely disadvantageous to him. So he called his men together to discuss the matter, hoping to find a way to win the victory as soon as possible. Seeing this, Guo Jia said: "Although the two armies are now in the east and west, they are fighting separately. If you want to win quickly, you should defeat the weaker one first." "Although Liu Bei has a small army, his officers are highly skilled. Liu Zhang's men have never fought in a war before, so we can defeat them first."

"I see that there are several high mountains to the east of Mianyang and south of Yangping Pass. If we occupy this place, we can command the people from a high position." "We can send an army up the mountain first to observe the enemy's movements, and then we can either bypass them or attack them as we see fit." "Once Liu Zhang's troops retreat, Liu Bei will be unable to hold out alone. We can attack their food supplies and force them to retreat." Cao Cao followed his advice and sent Xiahou Yuan to lead Du Xi and others with more than 10,000 soldiers to garrison in the west. The news of Cao Cao's move was passed back to Liu Bei's camp. Seeing that Cao Cao had divided his troops to garrison the west side, Liu Bei summoned Fa Zheng to ask the reason. When Fa Zheng heard this, he said to Liu Bei with a smile: "Cao Cao wanted to occupy the high ground first and observe the movements of Wu Yi's troops." "Because there are high mountains such as Dingjun Mountain and Chaqi Mountain here, they are high above the enemy. If Wu Yi passes through here, he will be attacked by Cao Cao." "If Wu Yi does not go beyond this place, it will be exactly what Cao Cao wants, and he can concentrate on fighting against your army." When Liu Bei heard this, he secretly thought that Cao Cao was not easy to deal with. If Wu Yi was under his command, he could give orders to him. But now, although Wu Yi has marched here, the command power is no longer in his hands. The two families cannot cooperate, so it is naturally difficult to defeat Cao Cao. "Cao Cao used this strategy to block our reinforcements. What do you think our army should do?" While thinking, Liu Bei looked at everyone. Liu Ye thought carefully for a while, then stepped out and said: "In my opinion, Cao Cao has been on a long expedition and has difficulty in supplying food and grass, so he must fight quickly." "Now this move is probably not aimed at the enemy and our army, but is probably intended to first defeat Wu Yi's tens of thousands of troops." "Although the soldiers in Sichuan are brave, they have rarely fought in many years and may not be a match for Cao Cao, so we should reinforce them!" "So, if Cao Cao advances westward, our army can help him hold on. If Cao Cao advances eastward, our army will hold on." "It will only take a few months. When Cao Cao runs out of food and the news of the victory in the east reaches him, Cao's army will surely retreat." When Liu Bei heard this, he nodded in agreement and then asked the generals who was willing to go to help. Everyone asked to fight, but Huang Zhong stepped forward and said: "I have not achieved anything since I joined the lord's army. I will fight now and I will not give in to anyone!" Historically, Huang Zhong was already in his seventies during the Battle of Hanzhong, but now he is only in his fifties.

But among all the generals under Liu Bei, he was already considered old. Seeing this, Liu Bei couldn't help but laugh: "I heard that Xiahou Yuan is Cao Cao's cousin. He is very brave and is quite good at using troops." "The general is already old. If he gets into trouble, who can save him? It would be better to let Zilong go!" He also respected the elderly and loved the young, and did not quite trust Huang Zhong to take on such a big responsibility, so he wanted Zhao Yun to lead the army. But when Huang Zhong heard this, he angrily replied: "My lord, please don't look down on me because I am old. Even if Taishi Ziyi fights me, there will be no winner." "If you are worried, my lord, I will lead 3,000 soldiers of my own army to kill Xiahou Yuan and present him to you." Seeing this, Liu Bei was reluctant to refuse. While he was hesitating, Pang Tong stepped out and said with a smile: "My lord, you don't know that General Huang is a fierce general in Jingzhou, and he is braver than ten thousand men." "I think Xiahou Yuan doesn't have many military achievements and may not be a match for the general. Since Xiaozhi is familiar with the geography of Sichuan, he can be sent to supervise the army." "If you do this, I can guarantee that the general will return victorious this time and fulfill his mission." Seeing Pang Tong come out to support him, Liu Bei naturally had no doubts anymore, and simply sent Huang Zhong to lead 5,000 soldiers and horses and Fa Zheng to the west to help in the battle. After receiving the order, Huang Zhong and Fa Zheng marched from the south bank of the Han River and went straight to Wu Yi's military camp. But when Wu Yi saw Huang Zhong coming, he felt a little dissatisfied. After all, Liu Bei had few soldiers and they had many. Under such circumstances, Liu Bei still sent troops to reinforce them, which shows how much he distrusted them. But now the two armies have joined forces, and Liu Bei has good intentions, so he can't say much and directly let Huang Zhong be responsible for defending the rear. So, when his troops entered Mianyang and saw the steep mountains, he said to his generals: "At the moment, we are going out with Liu Zhengdong on two different routes. Although he has come a long way, he has already come here." "Our army has come close but has not yet conquered the dangerous terrain. Now there are mountains ahead, who dares to take it?" When the generals heard Wu Yi's words, they were ashamed and asked for battle one after another. Wu Yi then ordered Liu Gui and Dong Fu to lead 8,000 soldiers and horses to attack. The two men went to the mountain pass to ask for a fight, but Xiahou Yuan held his ground and refused to come out, so the two men did not dare to attack. Huang Zhong could not stand the delay for several days any longer, so he came to Wu Yi to challenge him for a fight. Wu Yi felt embarrassed and urged the two to advance. When Dong Fu and Liu Qi heard this, they didn't care much about it and led their troops to line up at the mountain pass and march along the road. As a result, when they reached the mountains, they suddenly saw battering rams and rocks rolling down the mountain. They could not move forward and were about to retreat when Xiahou Yuan led an army out of the woods to attack. The two were defeated, and Xiahou Yuan killed Dong Fu in the chaos. Only Liu Gui led thousands of remaining soldiers to retreat. As for the camp, Liu Qi cried and said that Xiahou Yuan was very brave and Dong Fu was dead, so they could never defeat him. Upon seeing this, Fa Zheng advised Wu Yi to advance step by step, move forward from the stronghold, and limit Xiahou Yuan's range of activities. But Wu Yi wanted to save face but was slapped in the face by the two men. He was already unhappy in his heart. When he saw him offering a suggestion, he said angrily: "Since you have such a plan, why didn't you offer it earlier? Now that you have lost soldiers and generals, it will fulfill your wish!" "Since you have a method, go and get it. Why bother talking so much? Just go!" He also knew that Dingjun Mountain was difficult to capture, so he simply let Zhang Ren lead the army and go into battle with Huang Zhong and Fa Zheng to see how the two would break into the stronghold.

However, Fa Zheng was a vengeful man and would not tolerate such provocation. He immediately went into battle with Huang Zhong and Zhang Ren. He and Huang Zhong first circled the mountain, and then decided to attack a hill opposite Dingjun Mountain to observe the situation. Unexpectedly, this mountain was also occupied by Xiahou Yuan, so he sent his subordinate Du Xi to guard it. However, he had few soldiers and was defeated by Huang Zhong in one battle. When Xiahou Yuan saw that the mountain was lost, he took the initiative to go out of the mountain to take it back, but was stopped by Zhang Ren. Seeing that the enemy troops were gradually surrounding Dingjun Mountain, he had no choice but to lead his troops to break out and set up camp in Zouma Valley in the mountain valley. Seeing Xiahou Yuan coming down the mountain, Fa Zheng took the opportunity to order Huang Zhong to attack Dongwei Lujiao and asked Zhang Ren to attack Nanwei Lujiao. Because Zhang Ren had a large number of troops and Huang Zhong had a smaller number, Xiahou Yuan divided most of his troops to garrison the South Enclosure and stationed himself at the East Enclosure. Faced with fierce attacks from both sides, his troops were exhausted after just two days, and he had no choice but to ask Cao Cao for help. Upon hearing this, Cao Cao hurriedly ordered Xu Huang to lead his troops to reinforce, but he was stopped by Wu Yi and was not allowed to cross the border. At the same time, Liu Bei saw that Cao Cao had reinforcements, so he ordered Zhao Yun to harass Cao Cao outside his camp with cavalry. Cao Cao ordered Ma Chao to attack, but Zhao Yun retreated with the cavalry. This went on for several days, which made Cao Cao very annoyed. Faced with Liu Bei's harassment, Cao Cao did not dare to attack westward at will, and had to order Xiahou Yuan to withdraw his troops. After receiving the order, Xiahou Yuan ordered his soldiers to recuperate and prepare to break out. However, at night, they saw a fire in the east. If it were any other general, he would have called on his soldiers to go and stop Huang Zhong's attack, but Xiahou Yuan was different. He was a man who valued nurturing soldiers rather than strategy, and he thought that they had to break out anyway, so he wanted to let the soldiers have a good rest. So he took more than 500 personal soldiers to Dongwei to personally resist Huang Zhong's troops. Unexpectedly, Fa Zheng was in a high position and saw that the enemy had few reinforcements, so he ordered Huang Zhong to lead the main force to attack. Thousands of soldiers rushed forward and shouted loudly. Huang Zhong took the lead and rushed down the mountain with a force like the collapse of heaven and earth. Xiahou Yuan was caught off guard by this and quickly ordered his troops to retreat, but he was caught up by Huang Zhong. Before he could fight with Huang Zhong, he saw Huang Zhong raising his sword, and the man was caught off guard and his head was immediately cut off. As soon as Xiahou Yuan died, Huang Zhong led his troops into his camp. When his troops heard of Xiahou Yuan's death, they fell into chaos and the camp was eventually defeated. At this point, Fa Zheng, Huang Zhong and Zhang Ren had won the victory and were very proud of it. The next day, he returned to the camp and said: "Now the old general and I have killed Xiahou Yuan here. I wonder what else the general has to say?" When Wu Yi heard this, he remained silent. Seeing his arrogance, he felt hatred in his heart, but knowing that he had Liu Bei's support, he did not dare to say much. Seeing that the strategic location of Dingjun Mountain had been breached, he led his troops eastward again and reached the city of Nanzheng. At this time, it was already the end of April in the seventh year of Jian'an. When Cao Cao heard the news of Xiahou Yuan's death, he was suddenly overwhelmed with grief, cried uncontrollably, and fainted. When he woke up, his headache came back and he was unable to handle affairs. Just then Liu Bei heard that Huang Zhong had killed Xiahou Yuan, so he ordered Zhang Fei to come and challenge him. Everyone was afraid of Zhang Fei's reputation and did not dare to fight. Only Ma Chao saw everyone like this and cursed:

"He is just a common man, how can you be afraid of him? Wait and see me fight and capture him!" After saying these words, he led his troops out of the camp to fight with Zhang Fei. The two of them fought soldier against soldier, general against general, and it was unclear who would win. Seeing that he could not capture Zhang Fei, Ma Chao thought that he had boasted too much, and if he could not capture Zhang Fei, wouldn't it be a humiliation? Then he invited Zhang Fei to continue fighting the next day. Zhang Fei agreed and led his troops to retreat. As for the camp, Pang Tong stopped him and said, "Ma Chao is a brave general in Cao's camp. We cannot defeat him by force. We must use our wits to defeat him." As he said this, he offered a plan to Zhang Fei. Zhang Fei was no longer the reckless man he used to be, so he immediately followed the plan. The next day he came to fight with Ma Chao as usual. After a fierce battle, he suddenly pretended to be defeated and retreated. When Ma Chao saw that Zhang Fei had been defeated, he led his troops in pursuit. After marching for ten miles, he suddenly saw Zhao Yun leading cavalry to attack from the north, and Zhang Fei also hurried back. The two armies attacked each other, and Ma Chao was defeated and returned. As for the camp, Guo Jia said: "A general should not be too brave. Now that we have suffered such a defeat, we should keep this in mind in the future." His words were well-intentioned, but Ma Chao had just been defeated, so he glared at him and left immediately. Seeing him like this, Guo Jia couldn't help but frown, thinking that this man was selfish and could not be used for important tasks. Moreover, Cao Cao was unable to take charge of affairs now, and if Ma Chao betrayed him, something terrible would happen. So he came to Cao Cao to talk about everything. Cao Cao was suffering from a severe headache at the time. Upon hearing this, he could not help but sigh: "I know this man is hard to use, but now my army has no generals to use, so I have no choice but to appoint him!" When Guo Jia heard this, he sighed immediately. They had quite a few generals under their command. But after the death of Le Jin, Xiahou Yuan and others, there was a sense of loss of talent. The only generals Cao Cao can use now are Xu Huang and Ma Chao. If he doesn’t use Ma Chao, who else can he use? Thinking of this, he was about to speak, but he saw a soldier coming hurriedly to report that Yuan Shao had raised an army to attack Shangdang. It is also said that Qin Zhen led an army of 50,000 to invade Nanyang. Cao Ang came to reinforce, but was defeated, and even Cao Chun was killed in the battle. Cao Cao was already heartbroken by the death of Xiahou Yuan, and when he heard the news of Cao Chun's death, he felt depressed and upset. The man spat out a mouthful of blood, cried out: "God has doomed me," and fainted again. At this point, Cao Cao woke up but could no longer get up. Seeing this, Guo Jia hurriedly advised him to withdraw his troops. Cao Cao heard this and lay on his couch, sighing, "If I had known this would happen, why would I have sent out the troops?" After saying this, he sighed and ordered his troops to withdraw, not wanting to get entangled with Liu Bei. (End of this chapter)