The neglected important battles of the Three Kingdoms changed China's national fortune in World War I and indirectly led to the demise of Wei.

From the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period, many famous battles took place, the most famous of which was the "Three Kingdoms War"-"Chibi, Guandu and Yiling"; In addition, the battle between Shu and Wei in Hanzhong and the battle between Wu and Wei in Hefei are also famous.

However, there was such a battle in the later period of the Three Kingdoms, which was very important and large in scale, and even had a very far-reaching impact on the whole situation in China in the future. However, due to some reasons, this campaign has not been taken seriously and its popularity is not high. This is the battle of prosperity!

The Battle of Prosperity took place in AD 244, when Zhuge Liang had been dead for ten years, and Wei Mingdi Cao Rui died beside Cao Wei. Cao Shuang, the assistant general, was eager to build the army and conquer the world and decided to cut Shu!

Tang Chao of Cao Wei acted rashly against Cao Shuang, but Cao Shuang thought that this war was feasible, especially after Jiang Wan, the great fu of Shu Han Dynasty, withdrew his main force from Hanzhong to Fucheng County in October, 243. Cao Shuang believes that Wei Jun can easily conquer Hanzhong with its numerical advantages before the Shu army reinforcements. Even if Shu can't be destroyed, it can lay a solid foundation for Hanzhong and establish enough prestige.

However, "Shu Dao" is difficult to walk. There are three passages from Guanzhong to Hanzhong, but they are not easy to walk. Cao Shuang chose the shortest middle road to attack Shu, which proved to be a very failed decision, because although this road is the shortest, the road condition is the worst, and among the three roads, if Luodao has no water, it is the longest. Later, Wei Jun was really trapped by logistics.

As a result, Wei Jun's March was very unfavorable. Just out of the valley, a large number of livestock responsible for transportation died of thirst, and many migrant workers and soldiers died of thirst. Wei Jun's morale plummeted and his dissatisfaction with Cao Shuang was growing. How can such an army compete with the Shu army established by Zhuge Liang?

Wang Ping, the general of Zhenbei University, is guarding Hanzhong, but his total strength is less than 30,000, so he is at an absolute disadvantage. However, Wang Ping knew that Wei Jun would be very tired from afar, so he didn't panic at all. Instead, he defended himself on the basis of risk. Later, Han Shu general Fei Yi personally rushed to Hanzhong from Chengdu, and the Shu army fought back against Wei Jun.

Yang Wei, who joined the army in Cao Shuang, realized that the war was lost. If we continue to fight, it is estimated that all the troops will be smashed inside! Sima Yi, the Wei Taifu, advised him to withdraw his troops, and wrote a letter to him, saying that there was a danger that the whole army would be wiped out. Finally, they persuaded Cao Shuang to pull out.

How could Feiyi let Cao Shuang run away easily? He led an army to attack Wei Jun's flank and blocked its retreat, which made Wei Jun barely escape to Guanzhong after paying heavy casualties. In this campaign, Wei Jun suffered heavy casualties, and more than 100,000 orphans and widows who had been defeated in farming returned to agriculture and never returned to the army. Cao Wei's army dropped sharply from about 600,000 in its heyday to 400,000, with a loss of 200,000 people.

This has caused a very serious consequence: Cao Wei has been unable to suppress the judgments of the northern minorities, which laid the groundwork for the tragedy of the Western Jin Dynasty.

In addition, this war made Cao Shuang's prestige drop to the lowest point, which paved the way for his final downfall in the power struggle with Sima Yi, and indirectly led to Sima Jia's Western Jin Dynasty replacing Cao Wei.

Fighting for prosperity is a very important battle. However, because the main figures such as Jiang Wei and Sima Yi did not participate in the war, writers paid little attention to it. However, compared with the literary neglect, historians and military strategists have given high praise. Liu Ji (Liu Bowen), a military strategist in the Ming Dynasty, listed it as a classic example of "withdrawing troops" in his book Hundred Battles.

Author: Yun Fan