Regarding Cao Cao's most elite tiger and leopard cavalry troops, there is almost no mention in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" 1, but it is recorded in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
First of all, the commanders of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry have always been Cao generals such as Cao Chun, Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen. Everyone knows that Cao Cao trusts the Cao generals the most. The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry has always been commanded by Cao generals. This shows its importance. "Three Kingdoms·Wei Shu"
" said: "The tiger and leopard cavalry commanded by Chun are all the best in the world, or a hundred people will make up for them." Their eliteness can be seen. Regarding the commander of the tiger and leopard cavalry, according to the "Three Kingdoms Volume Nine Xia Hou Cao Biography", there are eight famous people in total.
Also known as the Eight Tigers Cavalry. They are Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Cao Chun, Xia Houdun, Xia Houyuan, Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, Xia Houshang.
Next, let’s take a look at the achievements of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. First, they killed Yuan Tan on the battlefield in the Battle of Nanpi in the ninth year of Jian’an (AD 204); then they conquered Wuhuan in the north in the twelfth year of Jian’an (AD 207).
At that time, he beheaded Wuhuan Shanyu Tadun on the battlefield; defeated Liu Bei in the battle of Changbanpo in the 13th year of Jian'an (208 AD); and defeated the Guan army led by Ma Chao in the 16th year of Jian'an (211 AD).
The Western Army; in the 23rd year of Jian'an (AD 218), Xiabian defeated Wu Lan.
According to the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", Cao Cao's highest command organization of the army is called "Bafu". The army is divided into three parts: the central yang army (let's just say it is not from the Kuomintang), the local army, and the garrison army. The local army is the garrison of the states and counties.
It is the border defense force. The Zhongyang army is divided into two armies: the internal and external armies. The foreign army is actually the Chinese army stationed outside but under the direct command of Cao Cao. The Wuwei camp is called the imperial guard of the capital and the palace. It is Cao Hubaoqi.
The troops directly under Cao Cao are usually about 100,000. The central army of the Chinese Army is the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, which is the core elite part to protect Cao Cao and the Bafu. The part stays in the palace all year round. Most of them are led by Cao Cao's relatives and are called leading generals Cao Ren and Cao Chuntu.
He served as the leading general of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. For example, "The Ninth Biography of the Nine Xia Hou Cao Cao in the Book of Wei" states that Cao Chun "initially served as Yilang, Sikong Military Supervisor of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry from Wei Nanpi". There is also a lot of other information that this Tiger and Leopard Cavalry does exist.
And it is definitely Cao Cao's strongest army.
According to the records of "Three Kingdoms", Cao Cao had such an elite cavalry. They called it "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry" because they were as brave as tigers and leopards in battle. Although there are not many records in the history books, "Three Kingdoms" is only in "Three Kingdoms".
There are records in "Wudi Ji" and "Zhu Xia Hou Cao Zhuan". It is well-founded to say that he was Cao Cao's elite troops. According to Pei Songzhi's annotation in "Three Kingdoms", "Wei Shu" said: "The tiger and leopard cavalry under Chun's command are all over the world.
Xiao Rui may make up for it from hundreds of people." It can be seen that the members of this army are all selected from the best. It is an exaggeration to say that a person who can serve as a general in an ordinary army is just an ordinary soldier in the "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry". It is conceivable that
His combat effectiveness is at the top of the Three Kingdoms armies.
The commanders of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry have always been generals of the Cao family. According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms, only Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu and Cao Chun were recorded. Cao Cao sent his most trusted Cao generals to serve as the commanders of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. This shows that Cao Cao’s influence in
Although there are not many records about the "Hu and Leopard Cavalry" participating in the battle, we can still see the achievements of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry through the only materials. The first is the battle of Nanpi with Yuan Tan in the ninth year of Jian'an.
Cao Chun "supervised the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to besiege Nanpi" and "Tan was defeated in a sudden attack. Chun's subordinates beheaded Tan." Yuan Tan died at the hands of the "Hu and Leopard Cavalry" led by Cao Chun. The second was in the twelfth year of Jian'an.
During the northern expedition to Wuhuan, Cao Chun led the "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry" to behead the Wuhuan Chanyu Tadun on the battlefield. Thirdly, in the 13th year of Jian'an, Cao Chun "conquered Jingzhou to pursue Liu Bei in Changban and won the second
"The women carried the baggage and collected the scattered soldiers." In other words, it was also the "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry" who fought long distances to defeat Liu Bei in the Battle of Changbanpo. In the 16th year of Jian'an in the 4th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao fought with Ma Chao.
"The tiger cavalry attacked and defeated the Xiliang Ma Chao Army." Some people say that in the 23rd year of Jian'an, Cao Hong and Cao Xiu also led the "tiger and leopard cavalry" when they defeated Zhang Fei and Wu Lan. Although Cao Xiu commanded "
"Tiger and Leopard Cavalry", but the records in the historical materials do not show that Cao Xiu used the "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry" to attack in this battle, but I speculate that it is very likely. From the performance of the "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry", we can see that Cao Xiu attacked in almost every battle.
Cao always deployed the "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry" at the most critical moments, and the battles this unit participated in were almost all tough battles. For example, the Battle of Nanpi was actually very difficult. Cao Cao once wanted to give up, but Cao Chun insisted on attacking quickly.
The victory of the "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry" shows the ability of this unit to attack difficult problems. In addition, during the Northern Expedition to Wuhuan and the pursuit of Liu Bei in Changban, this unit attacked and pursued Liu Bei after a long-distance attack. It was "three hundred miles in a day and night" that shows his ability.
The mobility and combat effectiveness are beyond the comparison of ordinary troops. Even Xiliang Ma Chao's army, who was good at horse warfare, was defeated by it. So I think this army is Cao Cao's well-deserved "ace army". There is one more thing.
Proving the importance of the "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry" is that when the commander of the army, Cao Chun, died and was about to choose a new commander, Cao Cao said: "How can we get Chun Zhibi again! I am not the only one who will be the governor?" So he no longer chose a commander and chose a new commander.
Being the commander of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry in person shows that Cao Cao is very concerned about the command of the "Hu and Leopard Cavalry" troops, because this is his elite unit. To the extent that it is a direct lineage of Cao Cao's elite, it can be considered
Cao Cao's "Ace Army".
The number of "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry" troops is not recorded in historical materials, but because it is an elite unit, it is difficult to select and cavalry was a very expensive unit during the Three Kingdoms period. The cost of establishing such elite cavalry should be more considerable, so the number will not be large, otherwise Cao Cao
I won't be so cautious when using him. But it is estimated that their number is more than Dian Wei's "Tiger Guard" because he can fight as a separate force on the battlefield. Therefore, the author speculates that it should be ten thousand but not more than two or three.
Otherwise, they would not be called elites. As for the subsequent whereabouts of the "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry" troops, there is no record in the official history. The author speculates that there are two possibilities. One is that they were incorporated into the guard troops of Cao Cao or his son Cao Pi.
It is the "Guard Army". The second one may be that the number of wars decreased and the scale and level expanded after the three-part world was settled. The performance of the "Tiger and Leopard Cavalry" can be compared with the Suwei Huqi, a tiger cavalry belonging to the Chinese army that existed in both Wu and Shu, and historical data.
The tigers and leopards recorded in the book are Su Wei (Three Kingdoms Cao Xiu's biography: "The envoy led the tiger and leopard to ride the Su Wei"), which can be determined to be part of Cao Cao's prime minister's personal soldiers (later evolved into Cao Wei's central army). But after that, Wei
Tigers are not absent from the Jin military system. Tigers can be seen in the saying of Leopard Cavalry. Leopard Cavalry may have existed as a formal military system for a short time. The last two commanders of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen, were leading the Tigers, and the Leopard Cavalry queens were all under Cao Cao
In the 21st year of Jian'an, he entered the establishment of the King of Wei and worshiped him as the chief of the central army (the pro-army chief appointed after Cao Cao became prime minister later became the chief of the central (forbidden) army of Cao Wei). This should not be a coincidence. After Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen, the Cao family
It is no longer said that the disciples were the commanders of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. Instead, they were promoted to the official imperial officer positions such as General Wuwei and then promoted to the leading army. It can be seen that the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry may have been renamed and incorporated into the Tiger Guard after the 21st year of Jian'an.
Among the formal Chinese military establishments such as battalions and cavalry, there are not many opportunities for power and the costs are huge. They may be slowly withdrawn or merged with other units.
Wei Wu started from scratch. Although he was actually Cao's army, he had to use the name of Han. The pro-military system was established once in the fourth year of Jian'an when he became the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, and again when he entered the Wei Dynasty in the 21st year of Jian'an. Although the tiger and leopard cavalry followed
Xianzhong first appeared in the Battle of Nanpi in the 10th year of Jian'an, but it can be estimated that its establishment was also related to Cao Cao's appointment as the Prime Minister's personal soldier (Zhong Lingjun) in the fourth year of Jian'an. However, in the fourth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao became the prime minister.
Soon faced with the Guandu War, it was difficult to take into account his own safety. I was afraid that he would have no time to perfect the system. Therefore, the establishment of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry was estimated to be after the Guandu War. At this time, Cao Cao was so powerful that China's power was rapidly expanding. At this time, he established a pro-guard army.
Soldiers should be in order. The establishment of tiger and leopard cavalry was established in the five years after the Battle of Guandu to when Cao Cao conquered Nanpi, probably two or three years after the Battle of Guandu. Cao Cao was so "difficult to lead" that he chose Cao Cao
There must have been a lot of time among pure commanders that Cao Cao personally led Cao Chun for a period of time after his death. However, Cao Cao's direct cavalry must not have been established at this time. In the Battle of White Horse, Cao Cao personally commanded the cavalry charge.
With less than 600 cavalry (maybe an exaggeration, but not too exaggerated), Yuan Shao defeated thousands of cavalry and killed his generals. Although it was a trick, it shows that he was very confident in the ability of his cavalry (Wei Wujun ordered that it was time (Battle of Guandu)
) soldiers [jing] training is not as good as today) thought it was enough to hit ten with one blow. In fact, Cao Jun's cavalry has always been very active. Cao Ren was a cavalry general and was good at riding. He was able to conquer Tao Qian and use cavalry as the vanguard.
Lang Ducai defeated Zhang Xiu. In the Battle of Guandu, he commanded the cavalry to defeat Yuan Shao's southbound army twice. Cao Pidian said that he could ride a horse at the age of 6 and 8 years old, and then he could shoot left and right without missing a beat. It can be seen that at that time, the aristocratic children
It is not uncommon for people to be skilled in bows and horses. Pei's Notes on the Three Kingdoms quoted Wei Shu as saying that tigers and leopard cavalry may be substituted from among a hundred generals. This hundred men may not be cavalry troops, but may also be generals who are good at bows and horses in the infantry army. This further illustrates that tigers
The arrogance of the Leopard Cavalry is not only because they are elites in the army, but also have a very special status (even if Cao's army has tens of thousands and hundreds of generals, this level is not low). Therefore, it is difficult to find a commander. Those who have enough prestige need to be alone and cannot command these few.
The cavalry had poor prestige and was not enough to check and balance. According to the official system of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the official position of Yilang was originally 600 stones. The strange phenomenon of Yilang supervising the cavalry occurred twice during the Han and Wei Dynasties. One time, Cao Ren used Yilang to supervise the cavalry, and the other time was Cao Cao.
Purely Yilang joined the Sikong Military Supervisor of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. Obviously this was an expedient measure during the successive wars in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. However, after Cao Cao became prime minister in the fourth year of Jian'an's reign, his official position increased and his strength was greatly enhanced by the Guandu War. His generals also rose.
There were many people who were promoted to generals and partial generals. Judging from the 600-stone Yilang who led the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, the scale of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry at this time was not large. The seal of the Leopard Cavalry Sima Yin also shows that the rank of the commander is that the Army Sima is more powerful than Qianshi.
The level is only one level higher than 600 stones. And the three-level army and one army only have 5,000 people (about 30,000 people in Yujin Seventh Army). The rank of the leading general should be at the general level, which is much higher than that of Sima Du of Yilang Army.
(There are also ranks such as captain, lieutenant, lieutenant, general, etc.). In addition to tigers and leopard riders, the rank of those with special leadership status should be only higher than that of the general military system. Therefore, at least the scale at this time cannot be very large. It may be thousands
The rest of the army (the commander of the army is divided into captains). For smaller units, the army commander can lead Dian Wei as Cao Cao's guard. When he is a guard, he can lead hundreds of soldiers as a captain and then be promoted to a captain based on merit. Therefore, it is estimated that
This is probably the number of army Sima leaders.) These thousand people should be the elite veterans from all directions that Cao Cao has collected over the years. They cannot be drawn from a certain group. The backbone of them may be the one who fought in the White Horse Battle in February of the fifth year of Jian'an.
They defeated several times Yuan Shao's cavalry force with less than 600 men. Judging from the time, Lu Bu's old troops may have some, but they were mainly selected from the cavalry that Cao Ren had commanded for a long time. It is most reasonable.
The cavalry of the Three Kingdoms is actually mainly an auxiliary unit and is rarely used to charge into battle. Lu Bu personally charged into battle for Yuan Shao to attack Zhang Yan, which should have been very painful. The 700 soldiers in the camp led by Gao Shun under him were elite vanguards, but they were infantry. Le Jin used infantry
Wuchao beheaded Chunyu in the battle of Qiongnanpi, and advanced first to behead Yanjing. They were both hard-hitting and dangerous, and their merits were accumulated quickly. Their performance was naturally eye-catching. The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry did not perform well at the beginning of its establishment. The Battle of Nanpi in the tenth year of Jian'an was a siege.
The vanguard was Yue Jin. Yuan Tan was defeated and was chased by tiger and leopard cavalry. Then the vanguard of the Northern Expedition to the Three Counties was Zhang Liao. He was the first to defeat the enemy. After that, the tiger and leopard cavalry captured Wuhuan Chanyu. During this period, compared with the famous generals of Cao Wei, Zeng Ba Yi Feng
Although Cao Chun had many meritorious deeds and became the Marquis of Three Hundred Households at this time, he did not have many heroic achievements. Thinking about the promotion experience of the Cao family's children like a triple jump, it can only be said that the tiger and leopard cavalry at this time did not have many fierce battles.
.Cao Chun was involved in Nagasaka's pursuit of Liu Bei, but the five thousand cavalry were personally commanded by Cao Cao. Cao Chun followed them at this time. The five thousand cavalry should be the total number of Cao Cao's cavalry, or the tiger and leopard cavalry at this time did not have five.
Thousands. But in the Great War of Kansai, Cao Cao used tiger cavalry to attack the Kansai soldiers. At that time, Cao Cao showed off that he had 5,000 elite cavalry. In other words, at this time, there were already 5,000 tiger and leopard cavalry. But 5,000 cavalry should not be represented by Cao Xiu's cavalry.
It is doubtful that those with the rank of captain or below would be able to hold it. In the Battle of Guandu, those who commanded five or six thousand cavalry would at least have the rank of general.dd