After Zhuge Liang took refuge in Liu Bei, he had long thought that Cao Cao would send an army to attack Jingzhou, and Liu Bei's stationed Xinye was the northernmost front line of Jingzhou. As early as before Cao Jun came, Zhuge Liang had begun to let Liu Bei recruit people and train the array. When Xia Houdun led an army to invade, Zhuge Liang had already made arrangements, with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei leading an army as an ambush, Liu Feng leading an army to set fire specially, and Liu Bei and Zhao Yun as forwards to lure Xia Houdun with defeat.
Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei
Xia Houdun is Cao Cao's closest general, and also the commander-in-chief of this Cao Jun. Under his command, there are Yu Ban, Li Dian and other generals. Xia Houdun, with his strong strength, has a large number of soldiers. He doesn't care about Liu Bei at all and has been chasing Liu Bei. As a result, he was introduced into the encirclement and was blocked and set on fire in a narrow road and overgrown place. As a result, Cao Jun was defeated and countless people died. All this was commanded by Zhuge Liang behind the scenes.
At the same time, this is also the first time that Zhuge Liang showed his military talents in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. He only used fire to defeat Xia Houdun's 100,000 troops, which gave the weak Liu Bei the confidence to confront Cao Cao. You know that Liu Bei had only a few thousand troops at that time, and his strength was so weak.
Huoshao bowangpo
Because this is the first time that Zhuge Liang used his troops, and at the same time, he used fire attack. In addition, after Bowangpo in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang directed and planned the burning of a new field and the burning of Chibi, which added up to three fires. Therefore, later people made it an unwritten agreement that the new official must set three fires when he took office.
If a new official wants to make a contribution, he must do something beneficial to his political achievements during his first term, which is later commonly known as "the three new officials take office." However, the above contents are all stories recorded in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Because the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is only a novel, it does not represent the real history. Therefore, the burning Bowangpo in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is completely different from the burning Bowangpo in the real history.
Houdun Xia
The first difference is that the people who led the battle of Bowangpo were different. According to the romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang led the battle of Bowangpo in the real history, but Liu Bei led it. In the official history, Zhuge Liang was still living in seclusion in Longzhong and had not taken refuge in Liu Bei.
The second difference is that the battle of Bowangpo was fought in a different way. It is said in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms that Zhuge Liang defeated Xia Houdun by luring the enemy deep into the air and attacking with fire. In fact, fire was not used in real history. Although there was a plan to lure Xia Houdun into the encirclement, there was no use of fire, but an ambush was arranged to defeat Xia Houdun.
Guan Yu provoked Zhuge Liang.
The third point is different: the reasons for the Bowangpo war are different. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is said that Xia Houdun led hundreds of troops to take the initiative to attack Liu Bei's Xinye, and Bowangpo was the only way. In fact, in real history, Liu Bei took advantage of Cao Cao's fighting in the north and actively led his army to attack Xu Du, the core area of Cao Cao, where Cao Jun was forced to fight back.
Let's briefly talk about the battle of Bowangpo in real history. This is the first time that Liu Bei won a great victory in his life, and it was against Xia Houdun, a general of Baidi (it is said that Xia Houyuan is a general of Baidi, but Xia Houdun is also a general). Xia Houdun is Cao Cao's closest general. Although his military ability is limited, no one can compare with his actual power and trust. This battle was Liu Bei's active attack on Xuchang. At that time, Cao Cao conquered the remnants of Yuan Shao in the north, and Xia Houdun, Yu Ban and Li Dian.
Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, Zhao Yun
Liu Bei confronted Xia Houdun, using the methods of self-destruction of the camp, pretending to retreat and luring the enemy into depth, and successfully introduced Xia Houdun, the general of Baidi, into the ambush circle, and defeated the army led by Xia Houdun. At that time, Li Dian also advised Xia Houdun not to pursue Liu Bei, and he might be ambushed by Liu Bei, but Xia Houdun did not listen. As a result, he was really ambushed and suffered a big defeat.
Liu Bei
The History of the Three Kingdoms-Biography of Li Dian also recorded the Battle of Bowangpo. Said: "Liu Biao made Liu Bei invade to the north, until Ye, and Mao sent a code from Xia Houdun to refuse it. Once the fire is burned, I will lead the army to pursue it. The code says:' If a thief retreats without reason, there will be doubts. The south road is narrow and the vegetation is deep, so you can't chase it. " If you don't listen, you will be forbidden to pursue it, and the code will stay behind. If you wait for the thief to fall into the ambush, the war will be unfavorable, and you will save it. If you are ready to see it, you will retreat. "
According to the records in Biography of the First Lord and Biography of Li Dian, Liu Bei won the battle, but Cao Bing did not lose much. Moreover, the History of Emperor Wudi, Biography of Xia Houdun, Biography of Yu Ban and History as a Mirror in the History of the Three Kingdoms did not record this battle. It shows that the scale of the battle of Bowangpo is not large. Because Liu Bei and Cao Bing made few victories, the battle of burning Bowangpo was greatly exaggerated by The Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
In addition, according to the "Three Kingdoms", the fire of Bowangpo was caused by Liu Bei, who set fire to the camp before the false escape, instead of introducing Cao Bing into the ambush first and then attacking with fire, as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms said. In history, Liu Beiduo gave people the impression that he was a politician with little military talent. The Battle of Bowangpo showed that he was still a strategist. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms shows Zhuge Liang's extraordinary efforts, but it is unfair for Liu Bei to record the merits of this battle in the name of Kong Ming.