The Battle of Yangping, also known as the Battle of Yangping Pass, was fought between the warlords

Cao Cao Cao Cao () (; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde (), was a Chinese statesman, warlord and poet. He was the penultimate Grand chancellor (China), grand chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, and he amassed immense power in the End of ...

and Zhang Lu from roughly April 215 to January 216 during the late

Eastern Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

of China. The battle concluded with a victory for Cao Cao.

Background

Sometime between 17 April and 15 May 215, Cao Cao launched a campaign against Zhang Lu in

Hanzhong Commandery Hanzhong (; abbreviation: Han) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Shaanxi province, China, bordering the provinces of Sichuan to the south and Gansu to the west. The founder of the Han dynasty, Liu Bang, was once enfeoffed as the ...

. When Cao Cao's army arrived at Chencang (陳倉; present-day

Chencang District Chencang District , is a district of the city of Baoji, Shaanxi province, China. Chencang is the former name of Baoji, which was given to the district. The district makes up the outer areas of Baoji, most of the area being rural. In 2020, the Bao ...

Baoji () is a prefecture-level city in western Shaanxi province, People's Republic of China. Since the early 1990s, Baoji has been the second largest city in Shaanxi. Geography The prefecture-level city of Baoji had a population of 3,321,853 accordin ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...

) and was about to pass through Wudu (武都; around present-day

Longnan Longnan () is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Gansu province in China. It borders Sichuan on its south and Shaanxi on its east. As of the 2020 Chinese census, the population of the prefecture-level city was 2,855,555. Geography and ...

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

), the Di tribes in the area blocked their path, so Cao Cao sent

Zhang He Zhang He () (died July or August 231), courtesy name Junyi, was a military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He continued serving in the state of Cao Wei under its first two rulers, Cao Pi and ...

, Zhu Ling and others to attack the Di and clear the way. Between 16 May and 14 June 215, Cao Cao's army passed through San Pass (散關) and arrived at Hechi (河池). The Di king, Dou Mao (竇茂), led thousands of tribesmen to resist Cao Cao, but Cao defeated them by the following month and he massacred the Di population. Qu Yan (麴演), Jiang Shi (蔣石) and other generals from Xiping (西平) and Jincheng (金城) commanderies killed Han Sui and sent his head to Cao Cao. Between 13 August and 10 September 215, Cao Cao's forces reached Yangping Pass (陽平關; in present-day

Ningqiang County Ningqiang County () is a county and both the southwesternmost and westernmost county-level division of Shaanxi province, China, bordering both Sichuan and Gansu. It is under the administration of Hanzhong City. The source of the Han River is loca ...

) after making a long and arduous journey through mountainous terrain. When his soldiers started complaining, Cao Cao announced that he would remember them for their contributions to encourage them to move on.

The battle

Zhang Lu ordered his younger brother Zhang Wei (張衛) and officer Yang Ang (楊昂) to lead troops to defend the pass. Zhang Wei and Yang Ang had defensive structures built in the mountainous areas, spanning over 10 '' li'', to deter Cao Cao's advances. Cao Cao was unable to overcome the enemy after launching assaults so he withdrew his forces. Zhang Lu's men lowered their defences when they saw Cao Cao retreating. Cao Cao gave secret orders to Xie Biao (解忄剽) and Gao Zuo (高祚) to lead a sneak attack on the enemy at night and they achieved success. Yang Ang was killed in action while Zhang Wei fled under the cover of night.

Aftermath

Zhang Lu retreated to Bazhong (巴中; in present-day eastern

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

) when he heard that Yangping Pass had been taken. Cao Cao's army occupied Nanzheng (南鄭; present-day

Nanzheng County Nanzheng District (), formerly Nanzheng County (), is a district of the city of Hanzhong, Shaanxi province, China, bordering Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; form ...

, Shaanxi), the capital of Hanzhong Commandery, and seized the precious items stored in Zhang Lu's treasuries. The people in Hanzhong surrendered to Cao Cao, who then renamed the place to "Hanzhong" from its previous name "Hanning" (漢寧). Cao Cao separated Anyang (安陽) and Xicheng (西城) counties from Hanzhong and placed them under the jurisdiction of Xicheng Commandery (西城郡) and appointed an Administrator (太守) to oversee the commandery. He also partitioned Xi (錫) and Shangyong (上庸) commanderies and appointed Commandants (都尉) to govern those areas. Between 11 October and 8 November 215, the tribal king Pu Hu (朴胡) and Du Huo (杜濩), the Marquis of Congyi (賨邑侯), led the people in Bayi (巴夷) and Cong (賨) to submit to Cao Cao. Cao Cao split Ba Commandery (巴郡) into Badong (巴東; "East Ba") and Baxi (巴西; "West Ba") commanderies and appointed Pu Hu and Du Huo, who also received marquis titles, as their Administrators respectively.

Emperor Xian Emperor Xian of Han (2 April 181 – 21 April 234), personal name Liu Xie (劉協), courtesy name Bohe, was the 14th and last emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty in China. He reigned from 28 September 189 until 11 December 220. Liu Xie was a so ...

also granted Cao Cao the authority to confer titles upon the nobles and officials in the area. Between 9 December 215 and 6 January 216, Zhang Lu led his followers out of Bazhong and came to surrender to Cao Cao. Cao Cao accepted their surrender and granted marquis titles to Zhang Lu and his five sons. Around the time,

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 H ...

had recently seized control of Yi Province (covering present-day

and

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

) from its governor Liu Zhang and occupied Bazhong after Zhang Lu left. Cao Cao ordered Zhang He to lead a force to attack Liu Bei, but Zhang He was defeated by Liu's general Zhang Fei at the Battle of Baxi. Between 7 January and 5 February 216, Cao Cao left Nanzheng and headed back to Ye (present-day

Handan Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shando ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

), leaving behind Xiahou Yuan to guard Hanzhong.(十二月，公自南鄭還，留夏侯淵屯漢中。) ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 1.

In popular culture

The battle is featured as a playable stage in

Koei Koei Co., Ltd. was a Japanese video game publisher, developer, and distributor founded in 1978. The company is known for its ''Dynasty Warriors'' games based on the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', as well as simulation games based on p ...

's video games '' Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends'' and '' Dynasty Warriors 7'' as well as ''

Warriors Orochi 3 ''Warriors Orochi 3'', originally released as in Japan, is a 2011 hack and slash video game developed by Tecmo Koei and Omega Force for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. This is the fourth installment of the crossover series ''Warriors Orochi'', a ...

''.

Notes

References

* Chen, Shou (3rd century). ''

Records of the Three Kingdoms The ''Records or History of the Three Kingdoms'', also known by its Chinese name as the Sanguo Zhi, is a Chinese historical text which covers the history of the late Eastern Han dynasty (c. 184–220 AD) and the Three Kingdoms period (220– ...

'' (''Sanguozhi''). * Pei, Songzhi (5th century). ''

Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms () by Pei Songzhi (372-451) is an annotation completed in the 5th century of the 3rd century historical text ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', compiled by Chen Shou. After leaving his native land, Pei ...

'' (''Sanguozhi zhu''). * Sima, Guang (1084). ''

Zizhi Tongjian ''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...

''. {{coord missing, Shaanxi Yangping 215 216 Yangping 215