Even the two sides involved in the battle may have underestimated the evaluation of the Battle of Jinan's West Hills.
In fact, this battle was a change in the Taishan Army's war in the Central Plains.
Previously, Zhang Chong had been considering the Taishan area and the central and southern Shandong area as the starting point to explore the hinterland of the Central Plains. For this reason, he specially deployed his general Guan Yu here.
During this year, Guan Yu did fulfill Zhang Chong's expectations. While operating the central and southern Shandong base, he continued to launch attacks on Xuzhou and Qingzhou, defeating Tao Qian of Xuzhou and the Yellow Turbans of Qi successively. At the same time, he also opened up the Jiaodong area.
base area.
But as the situation in the entire world changed, the pressure on Guan Yu as the protruding part began to increase.
In the past, when the center of the Han Dynasty was at odds with each other, the governors of various places naturally guarded their respective territories, and allowed the Taishan Army to let it go without taking the initiative to attack them.
However, as the world split, new powerful leaders emerged in each state and county. They were already ambitious. After reintegrating the local forces, they were no longer as conservative as the Han Dynasty governors in the past, and began to show very strong aggression.
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In this process, the Taishan Army recuperating and recuperating north of the river was like the elephant in the room, which could not be ignored.
In order to counter the storm attack after the Taishan Army, they will inevitably join forces as they did against the Tyrant Qin in history. This battle in the West Hills of Jinan, including the previous Battle of Pingyuanjin, is the result of this logic.
Feeling the pressure from Taishan Army, not only Qingzhou began to integrate internally, but even Qingxu seemed to have some kind of tacit understanding.
Of course, the top brass of the Taishan Army, including Zhang Chong, could foresee this change in the general environment and respond accordingly.
However, looking specifically at the two major wars launched by the Zuo Army and the former Marshal's Department under his command, the current problems of the Taishan Army cannot be underestimated.
First, Ding Sheng's army did not pay enough attention to the various forces in Qingzhou. They thought that the Pingyuan army was a defeated general, so they regarded it as a weakling.
First, at the beginning of the conflict, he did not decisively mobilize his troops to attack, and then when the conflict became fierce, he failed to cooperate with Guan Yu's troops further east, causing him to face the siege by Cao and Shen's large corps alone.
There was no problem with Guan Yu's overall strategy and tactics, but there were several unexpected moments in this battle.
The first thing he didn't expect was that the originally lukewarm situation in Qingzhou would continue to boil over because of his initiative to attack Dongpingling, causing Bian Bingneng from the south to organize a sufficient number of troops to come for support.
Another surprise was that he did not expect Xuzhou to move north to support Cao Cao so quickly. Obviously, Guan Yu underestimated the determination of Qing Xu's powerful men to fight against the Taishan Army.
The last thing I didn't expect was that there were so many talented people in Qingxu.
First there was Linpu Chen Deng, who was heroic and energetic, and then there was Langya Zang Ba, who fought bravely and to the death.
Of course, what Guan Yu didn't expect the most was that Cao Cao was so good at using troops.
In the two battles in Pingyuan and Jin, and in the hilly areas, Cao Cao fully demonstrated his unconstrained style of using troops and being resourceful and decisive in combat.
This time, Guan Yu and his opponent thought together and set out to ambush together. If Guan Yu was late this time, the main force of his two captains would suffer a devastating blow.
If this really happens, the entire Taishan Army's situation in central and southern Shandong will collapse.
On July 14, as night fell, the Taishan Army and the Qingxu Allied Forces withdrew from the battlefield with restraint.
Finally, Guan Yu withdrew to Licheng and appointed Zhang Nan as the prefect of Jinan, stationing him here as a flank gate.
After Cao Cao watched Guan Yu retreat in an orderly manner, he did not pursue further.
Because compared with the Taishan Army, Cao Cao's losses in this battle were even greater.
First, he lost Licheng, which opened the western gate of Qingzhou, and also lost several generals, including one of his cousins who died under Guan Yu's troops.
Not to mention the losses of other troops, the losses of Dingkou, and the losses of Dongpingling.
But fortunately, Cao Cao was not the loser this time, because it was with the battle of Pingyuanjin that he completed the entire Qingzhou.
In this battle, Beihai nobles donated their land to serve, and Pingyuan civil and military officials also recognized Cao Cao's ability and followed his lead. Today, Cao Cao went from having only one county in Jinan to occupying five counties in Qingzhou in less than half a year, leaving only the most remote east.
Lai.
In this way, he has completed the first step of the prisoner confrontation proposed by Xun Yu, and the next step can be to attack Xuzhou.
It's just that it's not certain whether Qingxu will conquer by force or form an alliance.
If it weren't for Chen Deng, Zang Ba's bloody battle proved the honor of the Xuzhou army, and maybe Cao Cao would set his sights on Xuzhou this time after he calmed down.
But now that Xuzhou has Chen Deng and Zang Ba, all this is unknown again.
So are Chen Deng and Zang Ba the losers this time?
Not at all. Although Chen Deng's Jianghuai troops seemed to have suffered considerable losses in this battle, he gained first-hand experience in fighting against the Taishan Army.
After receiving a vivid lesson, Chen Deng had a clearer understanding of himself and the combat power of the Taishan Army this time, and was able to make targeted improvements.
And that's not all what Chen Deng gained, he also gained fame.
Xuzhou is a large state in the East, and the leaders in the state are more than capable of fighting in cars. Not to mention that there is no hero in Yangzhou now. Those who are interested in the Quartet all saw from this battle the possibility of Chen Deng becoming a new force.
Compared with the reluctance and conservativeness of Xuzhou generals, Chen Deng's enterprising spirit attracted the progressives in the state like the sun rising in the east. I believe that with Chen Deng's return to Xuzhou, his strength will surely rise to the next level.
Unlike Chen Deng, Zang Ba may not have gained much.
He was not the first one to go north, so his name has nothing to do with him. He was not as good as the friendly troops behind him who suffered no losses in this battle.
So Zang Ba seems to be particularly embarrassed, even though he has paid everything he needs to pay, he seems to have gained nothing.
But this is not the case, at least a little bit of Zang Ba has been achieved.
That is, after this battle, the Langya soldiers under his command have more or less stepped out from the shadow of the Taishan Army. For this alone, Zang Ba thinks it is worth it.
So in this battle, it seems that no one has won or lost.
But the Taishan Army lost some of its future.
In this war, they failed to nip the emerging forces in Qingzhou in the bud, and allowed them to grow up in the flames of war.
Then the next time the Taishan Army wants to attack Qingzhou, it will be even more difficult.
In fact, this was also the view of the Political Affairs Hall before, that is, if it doesn't move, it will be done, and if it moves, it will be thunderous. But unfortunately, it backfired and turned it into a dull battle.
People may not have said much at the time, but historians in the future often blamed Zhang Chong's indifference to the situation in the southeast behind the defeat of the Taishan Army in this battle.
From the outbreak of the conflict in early July to the withdrawal of troops by both sides in mid-July, Zhang Chong neither gave sufficient instructions to the front line nor provided sufficient reinforcements. It seemed that the entire Yecheng did not care about the battle of Pingyuanjin.
This accusation is certainly reasonable, but it is not objective.
In fact, when Ding Sheng's military reports were continuously sent to Yecheng, Zhang Chong had already attached great importance to this battle, and even held three joint meetings of the Privy Council and his subordinates on it.
But just when Ding Sheng's battle was unfavorable and news of his request for reinforcements reached Yecheng, two pieces of news were suddenly sent to Yecheng, one from the south and the other from the north.
To the north, the remaining forces of the Han family in western Liaoning, eastern Liaoning, Xuantu County, and Lelang County united with some Xianbei tribes in the Xianbei Mountains, and took advantage of the ebb of the mountain and sea channel to attack the Youbeiping lands.
This joint army was obviously another group formed by the exiled nobles from Youzhou and the naturalized generals of the Northern Lu from outside the pass, who took over the military town of the Han family here and combined with the local tyrants.
Since its establishment, this group has aimed to destroy the Taishan Army.
Different from the territories with national boundaries that ordinary people understand, the territory of the Han Dynasty in the north is often changeable. It is always subject to the result of the strength confrontation between the Han Dynasty and Xianbei.
When the Han Dynasty prospered, the territory of the Han Dynasty in the north could be expanded to the Songliao Plain area, that is, the area north of the Yanbei Great Wall.
The Yanbei Great Wall is the result of the Yan people's expansion to the east of Yanshan Mountain during the Warring States Period.
At that time, in order to relieve the pressure from Zhao and Qi, the Yan people began to expand east of Yanshan, which is the current location of the Liaodong Peninsula.
In this area, there is a vast plain called the Liaohe Plain.
To the north is the Songliao Plain, to the west is the Mongolian Plateau that will be occupied by the Mongols in the future, to the south is the Bohai Sea, and to the east is the future Korean Peninsula.
At the same time, geographically, the Liaohe Plain is protected by three huge mountains.
To its northwest, the area where it meets the Mongolian Plateau is the Xianbei Mountains, which will also be the Greater Khingan Mountains in the future; to its southwest is the huge Yanshan Mountains; and to its east is the long Changbai Mountains.
It can be said that the Liaohe Plain is an independent geographical unit outside the Yanshan Mountains. No matter which ethnic group is based on this, it can separate its territory.
Fortunately, the Yan people entered here first and began to manage this area.
After the Qin and Han Dynasties unified, they still occupied this plain and became the master of this place.
But the Yan people at that time also discovered that the threat to this area came more from the fishing and hunting people further north. These Donghu people and Sushen people would often go south to attack Han farming areas in autumn to obtain enough food.
winter.
Therefore, the Yan people relied on the Xianbei Mountains and Changbai Mountains to build an east-west Great Wall in the middle to resist the southward movement of the Hu people from the Songliao Plain.
This Great Wall became the dividing line between farming forces and fishing and hunting forces. Even after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who was famous for his martial arts, defeated Wei's Korea, he did not expand further north and still maintained his current sphere of influence.
Because the harsh cold of nature is always more powerful than the ambitions of individual humans.
The current Liaodong area is the Han family's four Han counties east of Yanshan.
But even though the Han family has occupied this area for hundreds of years, we still should not overestimate the central government's control over this area.
Most of the time, the Han Dynasty generally adopted restrictive administrative measures here. Only after the rise of Xianbei in the future, in order to prevent the Xianbei people from connecting with the Wuhuan people here along the Xianbei Mountains, the Han Dynasty established the Liaodong vassal state here.
He began to directly administer the Wuhuan people within his territory.
For more than a hundred years, the Han family fought repeatedly with the Xianbei people in this area, and finally ended in Han victory.
Countless Han generals grew up from this area. For example, Gongsun Zan, who died in the Battle of Zhongren Pavilion, rose to the position of being the leader of the Liaodong vassal state.
In order to maintain the Yanbei Great Wall defense line, the Han family built a complete beacon warning system here. Each beacon was five miles away, and each beacon had ten soldiers.
Behind these beacon defense lines is the Han people's reclamation area. Because of the moisture of the Liao River, even if this area is ripe once a year, it can still support tens of thousands of troops.
And these settlements provided a steady stream of troops and supplies for these beacons.
In other words, relying only on the plains of the Liao River Basin, this place can completely support the northern defense line, which greatly reduces the burden on the central government.
But now, with the collapse of the Han Dynasty, the Han family regime in Youji has begun to completely collapse, and today's Liaodong region has become more and more an isolated island.
Those who were not tolerated by the Taishan Army, except for those who went south to Qingzhou, all the rest flowed into the Liaodong region through the channels of the Yanshan Mountains.
While these people brought population, wealth and culture to the Liaodong region, they became increasingly politically opposed to the Taishan Army. Moreover, because of the presence of a large number of Beihu generals in this group, their relationship with the local Xianbei and Wuhuan people
A change began to occur.
In the past, the country north of the Great Wall was the country that led the bow, and it was ordered by the Chanyu. Within the Great Wall, the crown and belt room was built by the Han family.
But now, some kind of fusion of Hu and Han has begun to appear in the four counties of Liaodong, and this operation is a manifestation of this trend.
It was precisely because Zhang Chong saw this change in trend that he had to spend most of his energy in the Liaodong region.
Because the consequences of this incident are very terrifying.
Not to mention that the biggest variable in future history will be the Xianbei people from the Northeast. Let’s just say that now, with the force of the Hu people and the system of the Han people, if we don’t pay attention to it, this area will soon form a threat to the Taishan Army’s rear.
An extremely powerful armed group.
Not to mention, as the technology of the Han family is passed on to the Hu people, the strength of the Hu people in the entire north will be rapidly improved, which will bring unimaginable pressure to the Taishan Army's defense line in northern Xinjiang.
When Yuan Shao or Cao Cao in the Central Plains have integrated all parties, and then engage in a north-south attack with the Hu people in the north, Hebei will really become the deathbed of the Taishan Army.
Therefore, when Ding Sheng's army and Guan Yu's army were fighting fiercely in Qingzhou, Zhang Chong discussed repeatedly with Duman and other disciples, and finally decided to take advantage of the power in the Liaodong region before it was formed, to defeat it first, in order to win the Taishan Army's external situation.
Safety.
Only in the past half month, because the existence of the Qingzhou war has consumed Yecheng's resources and energy to a certain extent, this matter has remained in preparation.
It was not until the southeast finally sent a report of the two sides' withdrawal that the military strategy of the eastward expedition to Liaodong was finally completed.
This time, the war machine of the Taishan Army finally started turning again.
Looking at Liaodong with a disdainful eye.
In ancient times, the limit of agricultural civilization's expansion in the north was north of the Daling River, and there was no way to retain people further north. Only with the addition of modern technology, the Northeast region developed.