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Empty Fort Strategy
The Empty Fort Strategy is the 32nd of the Chinese Thirty-Six Stratagems. The strategy involves using reverse psychology (and luck) to deceive the enemy into thinking that an empty location is full of traps and ambushes, and therefore induce the enemy to retreat. Some examples are listed in the following sections. Cao Cao According to the ''Sanguozhi'', in 195, the Empty Fort Strategy was used by the warlord Cao Cao against his rival Lü Bu in one incident at Chengshi County (乘氏縣; southwest of present-day Juye County, Shandong). In the summer of that year, Lü Bu went to Dongmin County (東緡縣; northeast of present-day Jinxiang County, Shandong) and gathered about 10,000 troops to attack Cao Cao. At the time, Cao Cao had very few soldiers with him, but he set up an ambush and managed to defeat Lü Bu. The ''Wei Shu'' (魏書) gave a more detailed account of the ambush. Cao Cao had sent most of his troops out to collect grain so he had less than 1,000 men available in his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhuge Liang
Zhuge Liang ( zh, t=諸葛亮 / 诸葛亮) (181 – September 234), courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman and military strategist. He was chancellor and later regent of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He is recognised as the most accomplished strategist of his era, and has been compared to Sun Tzu, the author of '' The Art of War''. His reputation as an intelligent and learned scholar grew even while he was living in relative seclusion, earning him the nickname "Wolong" or "Fulong", meaning "Crouching Dragon" or "Sleeping Dragon". Zhuge Liang is often depicted wearing a Taoist robe and holding a hand fan made of crane feathers. Zhuge Liang was a Confucian-oriented "Legalist". He liked to compare himself to the sage minister Guan Zhong and Yue Yi developing Shu's agriculture and industry to become a regional power, and attached great importance to the works of Shen Buhai and Han Fei, refusing to indulge local elites and adopting strict ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhou Zhenhe
Zhou Zhenhe (; born 1941) is a Chinese historical geographer and a distinguished senior professor at the Institute of Historical Geography of Fudan University in Shanghai. His main research interests are cultural and administrative geography and history of Sino-foreign cultural relations. He is the chief editor of the 13-volume '' General History of Chinese Administrative Divisions'', published between 2007 and 2016. Biography Zhou was born in Xiamen, Fujian Province. From 1958 to 1963 he studied at the Department of Mining and Metallurgy of Xiamen University and then Fuzhou University. After graduation he worked for many years as an engineer at a coal mine in Hunan Province. When the National Higher Education Entrance Examination was restored after the end of the Cultural Revolution, Zhou took and excelled in the graduate examination and was admitted to the graduate school of Fudan University to study historical geography under the famous scholar, academician Tan Qixiang. In 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weilüe
The ''Weilüe'' () was a Chinese historical text written by Yu Huan between 239 and 265. Yu Huan was an official in the state of Cao Wei (220–265) during the Three Kingdoms period (220–280). Although not a formal historian, Yu Huan has been held in high regard among Chinese scholars. As per the texts, Roman (known to the Chinese as Daqin) travelers and traders of those times claimed that Roman elites were descendants of immigrants from ancient Chinese nobility and Parthian elites were descendants of ancient North Indian empires. Content The original text of the ''Weilüe'', or “Brief Account of Wei”, by Yu Huan has been lost, but the chapter on the Xirong people was quoted by Pei Songzhi as an extensive footnote to volume 30 of the ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', which was first published in 429. Other than this chapter, only a few isolated quotes remain in other texts. Yu Huan does not mention his sources in the text that has survived. Some of this new data presum ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Han River (Yangtze River Tributary)
The Han River, also known by its Chinese names Hanshui and Han Jiang, is a left tributary of the Yangtze in central China. It has a length of and is the longest tributary of the Yangtze system. The river gave its name to the Han dynasty and, through it, to the Han Chinese, the dominant ethnicity in China and the most populous ethnic group in the world. It is also the namesake of the city of Hanzhong on its upper course. Geography The headwaters of the Han flow from Mount Bozhong in southwestern Shaanxi. The stream then travels east across the southern part of that province. Its highland valley—known as the Qinba Laolin—divides and is protected by the Qinling or Qin Mountains to its north and the Dabashan or Daba Mountains to its south. The main cities are Hanzhong in the west and Ankang in the east. It then enters Hubei. It crosses most of Hubei from the northwest to the southeast, flowing into the Yangtze at the provincial capital Wuhan, a city of several million inha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhang Yi (Bogong)
Zhang Yi (died 3 March 264), courtesy name Bogong, was a military general of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Born in the late Eastern Han dynasty, Zhang Yi was a 10th-generation descendant of Zhang Liang. He started his career as a scribe under the warlord Liu Bei, who founded Shu later, and gradually rose to the positions of a county prefect and commandery administrator. In the early 230s, he served as an area commander tasked with maintaining the peace in Shu's southern commanderies. In 234, he led the Shu vanguard during the Battle of Wuzhang Plains against Shu's rival state Wei. From 238 to 259, Zhang Yi steadily rose through the ranks to become one of Shu's top generals. During this time, although he strongly opposed the Shu general Jiang Wei's aggressive stance towards Wei, he still accompanied Jiang Wei on his military campaigns against Wei. In 263, he surrendered to Wei forces along with the Shu emperor Liu Shan when Wei launched a large- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Huang Zhong
Huang Zhong (, ) (died 220), courtesy name Hansheng, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He is best known for his victory at the Battle of Mount Dingjun in 219, in which his force routed that of an enemy general, Xiahou Yuan, who was killed in action during the raid. Huang Zhong is portrayed in the 14th-century historical novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' and popular culture as an elderly general with youthful vigour and constitution, and as one of the Five Tiger Generals under Liu Bei. Early life Huang Zhong was from Nanyang Commandery (南陽郡), which is around present-day Nanyang, Henan. He initially served as a General of the Household (中郎將) under Liu Biao, the Governor of Jing Province. He was tasked to defend Changsha Commandery with Liu Biao's nephew, Liu Pan. Liu Biao died in 208 and his successor, Liu Cong, surrendered Jing Province to the warlord Cao Cao. Huang Zhong was appoint ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Mount Dingjun
The Battle of Mount Dingjun was fought between the warlords Liu Bei and Cao Cao in 219 during the prelude to the Three Kingdoms stretch of Chinese history. Liu Bei's victory in the battle marked a major milestone in his Hanzhong Campaign and allowed him to kill the commander of the Wei's forces, Xiahou Yuans and later taking Hanzhong Commandery. The battle In 217, Liu Bei led a campaign to attack Hanzhong, which was under the control of Cao Cao. His force met with resistance led by Xiahou Yuan at Yangping Pass (). The confrontation dragged on for more than a year until one night, Liu Bei set fire to the barbed fence around Xiahou Yuan's camp at the foot of Mount Dingjun. Alarmed by the attack, Xiahou Yuan sent Zhang He to defend the eastern corner of the camp, while he guarded the south. Liu Bei's main force pressed against Zhang He, outmatching the latter. Xiahou Yuan had to dispatch a fraction of his own troops to Zhang He's rescue. Fa Zheng saw that the situation was tu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xiahou Yuan
Xiahou Yuan () (died 219), courtesy name Miaocai, was a Chinese military general and politician serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He is known for his exploits in western China (in parts of present-day Gansu, Ningxia and Shaanxi provinces) in the 210s, during which he defeated Cao Cao's rivals Ma Chao and Han Sui in Liang Province and the surrounding areas, and forced several Di and Qiang tribal peoples into submission. He was killed in action at the Battle of Mount Dingjun while defending Hanzhong Commandery from attacks by a rival warlord Liu Bei. Xiahou Yuan's death was highly dramatised in the 14th-century historical novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', in which he was slain by Liu Bei's general Huang Zhong during a surprise raid. Early life and career Xiahou Yuan was from Qiao County (), Pei State (), which is in present-day Bozhou, Anhui. He was a younger cousin of Xiahou Dun and a descendant of Xiahou Ying, who served under ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hanzhong Campaign
The Hanzhong Campaign was a military campaign launched by the warlord Liu Bei to seize control of Hanzhong Commandery from his rival, Cao Cao. The campaign took place between 217 and 219 during the prelude to the Three Kingdoms period. Although Cao Cao's forces had settled in Hanzhong Commandery three years prior after the Battle of Yangping, they were worn out by an overall defensive strategy employed by Liu Bei's forces, who used targeted attacks to capture strategic locations from the enemy. One of these attacks resulted in the death of Xiahou Yuan, one of Cao Cao's top generals, delivering a huge blow to the morale of Cao Cao's forces. Due to logistical and other issues, Cao Cao was eventually forced to abandon Hanzhong Commandery and order a retreat. Liu Bei emerged victorious in the campaign and occupied Hanzhong Commandery in 219, after which he declared himself "King of Hanzhong" in autumn of that year. Background In 215, Cao Cao attacked the warlord Zhang Lu in Ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cao Cao
Cao Cao () (; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde (), was a Chinese statesman, warlord and poet. He was the penultimate grand chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, and he amassed immense power in the dynasty's final years. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao laid the foundations for what became the state of Cao Wei, and he was posthumously honoured as "Emperor Wu of Wei", despite the fact that he never officially proclaimed himself Emperor of China or Son of Heaven. Cao Cao remains a controversial historical figure—he is often portrayed as a cruel and merciless tyrant in literature, but he has also been praised as a brilliant ruler, military genius, and great poet possessing unrivalled charisma, who treated his subordinates like family. During the fall of the Eastern Han dynasty, Cao Cao was able to secure most of northern China—which was at the time the most populated and developed part of China. Cao Cao was also very successfu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battle Of Han River
The Battle of Han River was fought between the warlords Liu Bei and Cao Cao in 219 during the prelude to the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. The battle was the last major engagement in the Hanzhong Campaign, in which Liu Bei emerged victorious and subsequently declared himself King of Hanzhong. Background Cao Cao's general Xiahou Yuan was defeated and killed by Liu Bei at the Battle of Mount Dingjun in 219. In retaliation, Cao Cao led a large army along with millions of grains to supply his troops. Cao Cao wanted to attack Liu Bei's camp at the south of the Han River. Liu Bei sent his generals Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong to defend. Huang Zhong along with his soldiers went to capture the enemy's supplies while Zhao Yun and his subordinate Zhang Zhu would remain in the camp with Zhang Yi unless they did not return. The battle Huang Zhong's army moved to capture the supplies of grain Cao Cao had at the North Mountain; Zhao Yun along with his soldiers assisted Huang Zhon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Liu Bei
Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler. Although he was a distant relative of the Han imperial family, Liu Bei's father died when he was a child and left his family impoverished. To help his mother, he sold shoes and straw mats. When he reached the age of fifteen, his mother sent him to study under Lu Zhi. In his youth, Liu Bei was known as ambitious and charismatic. He gathered a militia army to fight the Yellow Turbans. Liu Bei fought bravely in many battles and grew famous for his exploits. Later, he participated in the coalition against Dong Zhuo, following this joined his childhood friend Gongsun Zan and fought under him against Yuan Shao. Later he was sent to help Tao Qian against Cao Cao. Thanks to the support of the influential Mi and Chen families along with Tao Qian's last will, Liu Bei inherited the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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