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Colonel
"The romance of the 3 kingdoms" is one of the most classic Chinese novels. In fact, it has been classically listed as one of the top 4 Chinese novels in the history of China. It is famous for military and political strategies. The actual novel was written in the Ming dynasty and the story was based on true history that occurred 2000 years ago at the end of the Han dynasty, between 200 and 300 AD. Although the novel has made this time period very famous, the true historical events in this time period has always been well known and well-studied throughout Chinese history. In fact, how Chinese think and how Chinese strategize with allies and against enemies have been heavily influenced by what happened in this time period. So if you want to understand why Chinese do things in a certain way, you need to understand this time period. Thus, I thought it would be good to start a thread on the 3 kingdom, given that we are all interested in military strategies.
To begin, I would like to briefly describe the historical background of the 3 kingdom period. This was the end of Han dynasty. The last few emperors of the Han dynasty happened to die young, leaving their young sons to the throne. With no actual mature and grown figures to lead them, these little emperors depended heavily on the people they felt they could trust, their servants or the eunuchs. The power of the eunuchs became ever growing to the level that they became more powerful than the emperor. Then came the natural disasters, drought, flood, locust, etc. Then rebellions. With the weakened central govn't and the govn't's heavy dependence on the military to quench the rebellions, generals guarding various cities became warlords. Then several officials in the capital decided to ask the generals to fight the eunuchs. What they didn't know was that they had actually invited even more dangerous figures into their homes. The eunuchs were eliminated, but in their place, the generals who were invited to the capital became even worse than the eunuchs. Then more generals were invited to the capital to fight the initial waves of the generals. After a while, the power of the generals became so big than one of them, Cao Cao, took the emperor to his own power center and literally took all the power away from the emperor. The only thing left for the emperor was the actual physical form of the throne and nothing else. Cao Cao mainly had the North (Kingdom of Wei) and had two challengers: Liu Bei in the West (Kingdom of Shu) and Sun Quan in the South (Kingdom of Wu). Thus, 3 kingdoms or 3 states. The 3 states fought for political and military dominance for close to a century, forming and breaking alliances countless times. In the end, none of the 3 won. It was the son of the supreme commander of the kingdom of Wei, Sima Yi, (his name is Sima Zhao) took over the Wei kingdom and ultimately destroyed the other 2 kingdoms and unified China again and established the Jin dynasty, ending the 3 kingdom period.
OK, now comes the main topic of this thread: controversies. There have been numerous military strategies used by the main characters in this period that have been highly controversial. I will begin by listing a few:
1) Hua Rong Pass
This happened immediately after the battle of the Red Cliff (as depicted in the movies). to make thing easier, Wei attacked an alliance between Shu and Wu. Zhuge Liang, the military counsel of Shu, predicted that when Cao Cao, the leader of Wei, was defeated, he would take the route of Hua Rong Pass to escape. He then ordered one of his most capable general Guan Yu to set up an ambush at Hua Rong Pass. Guan Yu's ambush was successful and managed to stop Cao Cao. However, Guan Yu let Cao Cao go because Guan Yu serve under Cao Cao for 12 years before being reuniting with his blood brother Liu Bei (the leader of Shu).
Now, the question: was this a miscalculation by Zhuge Liang, or Zhuge liang intentionally sent Guan Yu so that Cao Cao could escape alive? Why would Zhuge Liang want to let Cao Cao go? Well, it turns out Shu was extremely weak at the time. Wei, led by Cao Cao, had almost all of Northern China and commanded 1.5 million troops. Wu, led by Sun Quan, occupied most of the southern China and had close to 100,000 troops. Shu, on the other hand, had no land at the time and had only a few thousand troops and 3 generals. Very pathetic indeed. Wu was forced to ally with Shu because their enemy was too strong. If Cao Cao was captured/killed in the battle, Wu would immediately turned to Shu and killed them off and Sun Quan would become the new emperor. Easy. Zhuge Liang knew this too well. He did not want to give Wu a chance to do this. Thus, keeping Cao Cao alive would force Wu to maintain alliance with Shu, thus keeping Shu alive and giving Shu a chance to develop.
2) Wei Yan's strategy to sneak attack Chang An
This happened at the beginning of Zhuge liang's first Norther expedition. At this time, Shu is already very strong. Although it just lost a major battle to Wu at Yi Ling and lost close to 750,000 troops, Zhuge Liang was able to mass and train close to 400,000 troops and was about to attack Wei from the Mountain of Qi. At the time, Zhuge Liang's strategy was a safe one: marching along the main roads and taking every city on the way, cross the river of Wei and take the city of Chang An. Chang An is the key because it is the last major city to the west of the capital city of Wei, Luo Yang. One of Zhuge Liang's general, Wei Yan, suggested that he could take 5000 troops and took the small roads all the way to Chang An. Without all the big cities and Passes in the way, he could get to Chang An in a day and attack Chang An. Chang An would not be able to mount any meaningful defense because no one would expect an attack and the general stationed at Chang An was a spoiled prince, nothing more. Zhuge Liang did not agree and brushed his idea aside. His opinion is that, although the plan is ambitious, it is way dangerous. What if someone cut them off? Since Wei Yan would be leading only a small force, there would be no reinforcement, no supply, nothing except what they would bring with them. If there was a smart defender, he would send a troop to go behind Wei Yan and cut him off. Then Wei Yan would be left to himself between the biggest city in the West (Chang An) and a determined force behind him. Zhuge Liang would be still leading the main force marching along the main roads, literally hundreds of miles away. Bad idea.
However, I believe Wei Yan's strategy could work. Zhuge Liang has been known to play safe all his life. He never puts himself in danger. This time, I think he played it too safe. Wei Yan's strategy could work precisely because the commander of the defending force was a spoiled prince who had never been on a battle field. This guy not only had no experience, but also was a very arrogant man. This would make him an ideal target for a surprise attack. If Wei Yan showed up in front of his city of Chang An overnight, he would be so shocked and completely lost his will to fight. He would not be able to think of strategy, other than running for his life. Indeed, this was what he did in a battle against Zhuge Liang's forces. If Zhuge Liang actually allowed Wei Yan to sneak attack Chang An, they could have destroyed Kingdom of Wei. Instead, Zhuge Liang's methodical way of attacking and obtaining every city along the way gave Wei time to regroup, not once, but twice. Finally, Wei hired Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang's nemesis. Sima Yi's arrival meant that Zhuge liang had to pulled back and ending the expedition.
3) Lost of Jie Ting
This followed the above event. When Sima Yi got to Chang An, he immediately found a weakness in Zhuge Liang's formation. There was a small crossroad called Jie Ting, which was the main choke point for Zhuge Liang's supply line. Sima Yi wanted to cut off Zhuge Liang's supply. He immediately sent out troops to attack Jie Ting. Even before Sima Yi got to Chang An, Zhuge Liang already predicted that Sima Yi would target Jie Ting. So He sent Ma Su, one of his generals, to guard the crossroad. Ma Su is a talented general, on paper. Although he had contributed to the discussion of many Zhuge Liang's strategies, he had never commanded troops and never actually fought any battles himself. When he got to Jie Ting, he immediately abandoned the direct order from Zhuge Liang and changed how the defense should be set. It turned out that his new defense formation was completely wrong. when Sima Yi first heard there were troops at Jie Ting, he was so nervous that he wanted to pulled back because he knew Zhuge Liang already knew his plans. Then when he actually saw the defense, he laughed so loud. He couldn't believe Zhuge Liang would send such an idiotic general to defend some place this important. In the end, Jie Ting was lost and Zhuge Liang had to pull all his troops back.
Although the direct blame was on Ma Su, I think Zhuge Liang should be blamed. how can you send a rookie on such an important mission, no matter how good he was on paper? It would be OK if it was a last resort, but Zhuge Liang at the time had hundreds, if not thousands of highly capable and highly experienced generals at his disposal. He should never send Ma Su.
What do you think? And other controversies?
To begin, I would like to briefly describe the historical background of the 3 kingdom period. This was the end of Han dynasty. The last few emperors of the Han dynasty happened to die young, leaving their young sons to the throne. With no actual mature and grown figures to lead them, these little emperors depended heavily on the people they felt they could trust, their servants or the eunuchs. The power of the eunuchs became ever growing to the level that they became more powerful than the emperor. Then came the natural disasters, drought, flood, locust, etc. Then rebellions. With the weakened central govn't and the govn't's heavy dependence on the military to quench the rebellions, generals guarding various cities became warlords. Then several officials in the capital decided to ask the generals to fight the eunuchs. What they didn't know was that they had actually invited even more dangerous figures into their homes. The eunuchs were eliminated, but in their place, the generals who were invited to the capital became even worse than the eunuchs. Then more generals were invited to the capital to fight the initial waves of the generals. After a while, the power of the generals became so big than one of them, Cao Cao, took the emperor to his own power center and literally took all the power away from the emperor. The only thing left for the emperor was the actual physical form of the throne and nothing else. Cao Cao mainly had the North (Kingdom of Wei) and had two challengers: Liu Bei in the West (Kingdom of Shu) and Sun Quan in the South (Kingdom of Wu). Thus, 3 kingdoms or 3 states. The 3 states fought for political and military dominance for close to a century, forming and breaking alliances countless times. In the end, none of the 3 won. It was the son of the supreme commander of the kingdom of Wei, Sima Yi, (his name is Sima Zhao) took over the Wei kingdom and ultimately destroyed the other 2 kingdoms and unified China again and established the Jin dynasty, ending the 3 kingdom period.
OK, now comes the main topic of this thread: controversies. There have been numerous military strategies used by the main characters in this period that have been highly controversial. I will begin by listing a few:
1) Hua Rong Pass
This happened immediately after the battle of the Red Cliff (as depicted in the movies). to make thing easier, Wei attacked an alliance between Shu and Wu. Zhuge Liang, the military counsel of Shu, predicted that when Cao Cao, the leader of Wei, was defeated, he would take the route of Hua Rong Pass to escape. He then ordered one of his most capable general Guan Yu to set up an ambush at Hua Rong Pass. Guan Yu's ambush was successful and managed to stop Cao Cao. However, Guan Yu let Cao Cao go because Guan Yu serve under Cao Cao for 12 years before being reuniting with his blood brother Liu Bei (the leader of Shu).
Now, the question: was this a miscalculation by Zhuge Liang, or Zhuge liang intentionally sent Guan Yu so that Cao Cao could escape alive? Why would Zhuge Liang want to let Cao Cao go? Well, it turns out Shu was extremely weak at the time. Wei, led by Cao Cao, had almost all of Northern China and commanded 1.5 million troops. Wu, led by Sun Quan, occupied most of the southern China and had close to 100,000 troops. Shu, on the other hand, had no land at the time and had only a few thousand troops and 3 generals. Very pathetic indeed. Wu was forced to ally with Shu because their enemy was too strong. If Cao Cao was captured/killed in the battle, Wu would immediately turned to Shu and killed them off and Sun Quan would become the new emperor. Easy. Zhuge Liang knew this too well. He did not want to give Wu a chance to do this. Thus, keeping Cao Cao alive would force Wu to maintain alliance with Shu, thus keeping Shu alive and giving Shu a chance to develop.
2) Wei Yan's strategy to sneak attack Chang An
This happened at the beginning of Zhuge liang's first Norther expedition. At this time, Shu is already very strong. Although it just lost a major battle to Wu at Yi Ling and lost close to 750,000 troops, Zhuge Liang was able to mass and train close to 400,000 troops and was about to attack Wei from the Mountain of Qi. At the time, Zhuge Liang's strategy was a safe one: marching along the main roads and taking every city on the way, cross the river of Wei and take the city of Chang An. Chang An is the key because it is the last major city to the west of the capital city of Wei, Luo Yang. One of Zhuge Liang's general, Wei Yan, suggested that he could take 5000 troops and took the small roads all the way to Chang An. Without all the big cities and Passes in the way, he could get to Chang An in a day and attack Chang An. Chang An would not be able to mount any meaningful defense because no one would expect an attack and the general stationed at Chang An was a spoiled prince, nothing more. Zhuge Liang did not agree and brushed his idea aside. His opinion is that, although the plan is ambitious, it is way dangerous. What if someone cut them off? Since Wei Yan would be leading only a small force, there would be no reinforcement, no supply, nothing except what they would bring with them. If there was a smart defender, he would send a troop to go behind Wei Yan and cut him off. Then Wei Yan would be left to himself between the biggest city in the West (Chang An) and a determined force behind him. Zhuge Liang would be still leading the main force marching along the main roads, literally hundreds of miles away. Bad idea.
However, I believe Wei Yan's strategy could work. Zhuge Liang has been known to play safe all his life. He never puts himself in danger. This time, I think he played it too safe. Wei Yan's strategy could work precisely because the commander of the defending force was a spoiled prince who had never been on a battle field. This guy not only had no experience, but also was a very arrogant man. This would make him an ideal target for a surprise attack. If Wei Yan showed up in front of his city of Chang An overnight, he would be so shocked and completely lost his will to fight. He would not be able to think of strategy, other than running for his life. Indeed, this was what he did in a battle against Zhuge Liang's forces. If Zhuge Liang actually allowed Wei Yan to sneak attack Chang An, they could have destroyed Kingdom of Wei. Instead, Zhuge Liang's methodical way of attacking and obtaining every city along the way gave Wei time to regroup, not once, but twice. Finally, Wei hired Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang's nemesis. Sima Yi's arrival meant that Zhuge liang had to pulled back and ending the expedition.
3) Lost of Jie Ting
This followed the above event. When Sima Yi got to Chang An, he immediately found a weakness in Zhuge Liang's formation. There was a small crossroad called Jie Ting, which was the main choke point for Zhuge Liang's supply line. Sima Yi wanted to cut off Zhuge Liang's supply. He immediately sent out troops to attack Jie Ting. Even before Sima Yi got to Chang An, Zhuge Liang already predicted that Sima Yi would target Jie Ting. So He sent Ma Su, one of his generals, to guard the crossroad. Ma Su is a talented general, on paper. Although he had contributed to the discussion of many Zhuge Liang's strategies, he had never commanded troops and never actually fought any battles himself. When he got to Jie Ting, he immediately abandoned the direct order from Zhuge Liang and changed how the defense should be set. It turned out that his new defense formation was completely wrong. when Sima Yi first heard there were troops at Jie Ting, he was so nervous that he wanted to pulled back because he knew Zhuge Liang already knew his plans. Then when he actually saw the defense, he laughed so loud. He couldn't believe Zhuge Liang would send such an idiotic general to defend some place this important. In the end, Jie Ting was lost and Zhuge Liang had to pull all his troops back.
Although the direct blame was on Ma Su, I think Zhuge Liang should be blamed. how can you send a rookie on such an important mission, no matter how good he was on paper? It would be OK if it was a last resort, but Zhuge Liang at the time had hundreds, if not thousands of highly capable and highly experienced generals at his disposal. He should never send Ma Su.
What do you think? And other controversies?
