The Battle of Hanzhong took place between Liu Bei and Cao Cao. The war lasted for two years. In the end, Liu Bei fought and was called the King of Hanzhong. Generals from both sides were killed in the battle for Hanzhong, but there are few records of this battle in history books.

Map of the Battle of Hanzhong

Strengths of both sides in the Battle of Hanzhong

The leaders of both sides in the Battle of Hanzhong are Liu Bei and Cao Cao. The amount of troops invested by both sides is difficult to verify. When Liu Bei attacked Zhang He's camp, he invested more than 10,000 elite troops, but there is no record of the total force Liu Bei invested in the entire Hanzhong battle. As for Cao Cao, in the 22nd year of Jian'an (217), Chen Lin issued a "Challenge to General Wu". "Bu Qu Wen" claims that Xiahou Yuan had 50,000 elite troops guarding Hanzhong, as well as some ethnic minority troops. "The Collection of Zhuge Liang" said that Cao Cao personally came to fight for Hanzhong and brought hundreds of thousands of troops. There are no records of troop losses on both sides.

Introduction to the Battle of Hanzhong

The Battle of Hanzhong was a battle between Liu Bei and Cao Cao during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty. This war was initiated by Liu Bei from the 22nd year of Jian'an (217) to the end in May of the 24th year of Jian'an (219). The war lasted for nearly two years. The leaders of the two warring sides were Liu Bei and Cao Cao. Liu Bei's main participating generals included Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, Fazheng, Huang Quan, etc. Cao Cao's main participating generals included Xia Houyuan, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, Cao Hong, Zhang He, Xu Huang, Guo Huai, etc. Liu Bei began to take the initiative and sent Liu Feng to call for battle in front of Yangping Pass. Cao Cao cursed Liu Bei for sending his adopted son to fight, saying that he could use Huang Xuer Cao Zhang to fight Liu Feng. Cao Cao then sent someone to summon Cao Zhang to help Hanzhong. In May, Cao Zhang traveled day and night to Chang'an. But Cao Cao had already withdrawn from Hanzhong. The Battle of Hanzhong ended with Liu Bei's victory. In the seventh month of autumn, Liu Bei was declared the King of Hanzhong.