Guan Yu Kills Yan Liang,the most Incredible Combat Moment in Three Kingdoms
Three Kingdoms 29
In the first month of 200 AD, Cao Cao ventured out of his Guandu官渡 battalion and marched against Liu Bei.
At that time, the counselor Tian Feng田丰 persuaded Yuan Shao to take advantage of Cao Cao's absence to attack Xuchang, but Yuan Shao refused by illness of his child, so angry that Tian Feng slammed the ground with a crutch and shouted.
Unfortunately, after Cao Cao defeated Liu Bei and returned to Guandu, Yuan Shao decided to attack Cao Cao's headquarters Xuchang许昌, Tian Feng thought that the chance had been lost, so he dissuaded Yuan Shao not to rush to a decisive battle,just selecting elite cavalry to harass Cao Cao in batches,making him exhausted,only one battle could win everything, otherwise, it would be too late to regret once we were defeated.
Tian Feng's suggestion is the same as the Ju Shou 's 沮授strategy before.
Yuan Shao did not listen to Ju Shou, of course, he would not listen to Tian Feng too, but Tian Feng's personality was relatively straight,he repeatedly advised when he saw that Yuan Shao did not listen,Yuan Shao eventually became angry and ordered Tian Feng to be arrested.
Yuan Shao's biggest character problem is indecision, not decisive enough when facing the opportunity.
But Yuan Shao didn't do nothing,In February 200, before Cao Cao had returned from Xuzhou徐州, Yuan Shao sent his general Yan Liang颜良 with more than 10000 men to attack Baima白马,which was guarded by Liu Yan刘延, the Commantheial governor of Dongjun东郡 , while he personally led his army into Liyang黎阳.
Yuan Shao did not take the opportunity to send the main force to cross the river to fight a decisive battle, nor did he follow Tian Feng's advice to attack Xuchang, but chose a very conservative route and order a small number of soldiers to attack Yanjin延津.
At that time, Yu Jin于禁 and Yue Jin乐进, who were stationed in Yanjin,who had only 5,000 men, when faceing Yuan Shao's tentative attack, the two were very powerful.
They not only stubbornly held the Yanjin ferry and repelled Yuan Shao's troops, but also heroikilledfought back over the Yellow River to attack Yuan Shao's territory, from Yanjin all the way to Ji County and Huojia County, burned more barrick battalions of Yuan Shao's army, killed and captured thousands of enemies,more than 20 of Yuan Shao's Junior officers surrendered.
In the first battle with the Cao army, Yuan Shao paid for his conservative strategy,also saw the heroic of Yu Jin and Ye Jin,the two future "Five great generals" of Wei State.
In April of the same year, Cao Cao returned from Xuzhou and personally took command of Guandu,while Yuan Shao lost this opportunity.
Long before Yan Liang attacked Baima,Ju Shou opposed letting Yan Liang to lead the army alone because Yan Liang is more brave than wise,but Yuan Shao did not listen.
At this time, Baima had been besieged for two months, although Liu Yan was still holding on, but many soldiers died and wounded,Liu Yan himself was also injured, he was almost lost.
Cao Cao wanted to personally lead his troops to the rescue, but his counselor Xun You荀攸 believed that once Cao Cao personally arrived in Baima, Yuan Shao would definitely lead the main force to engage,at this time, it was not appropriate to fight directly with Yuan Shao, who had superior troops, and it was better to disperse Yuan Shao's forces.
Therefore, Xun You advised Cao Cao to lead his troops to Yanjin first,pretend to cross the river as attacking Yuan Shao's rear, and then sengding hussars to sneak attack Baima, which would definitely be able to capture Yan Liang.
Cao Cao advanced into Yanjin at Xun You's plan,and Yuan Shao really divided his troops to engage.
Seeing that Yuan Shao had taken the bait, Cao Cao immediately sent Zhang Liao张辽 and Guan Yu,who just surrendered,as the vanguard,he himself and Xu Huang徐晃 follow them closely towards Baima.
Yanjin and Baima were a hundred miles away,when they had only more than 5 km left that Yan Liang just found them,he was shocked and led his troops to engage in a hurry.
Guan Yu, who was riding his horse in front of his team at that time, he saw Yan Liang's banner and from a distance.So under the cover of Zhang Liao, Guan Yu took a spear and ruch into the enemy’s formation by himself, he charged across thousands of enemies, rushed towards Yan Liang,and then stabbed Yan Liang to death directly, and then pulled out his saber and cut off Yan Liang's head and rushed back,no of Yan Liang's soldiers could stop him.
The commander of Yuan Army was beheaded and the whole army was in chaos,then Cao Cao took the opportunity to command Xu Huang and others to lead the army to attack,and the Yuan army was defeated.
This time could be described as Guan Yu's Battle of Fame ,which was also the only time in the Three Kingdoms History,that someone killed the enemy's commander by himself among tens of thousands of enemies.
The problem was that Yan Liang was not unprepared at that time, although he was in a hurry to engage, he still had discovered the Cao’s army from miles away, and the location of the commander must be defenced layer by layer.
Moreover, regardless of the combat effectiveness of the ordinary soldiers of the Yuan army, those Vice generals, commandants and guards who surrounded Yan Liang must be Experienced Veterans and with elite Weapons and armors, how did Guan Yu rush to Yan Liang's side so quickly.
Before this battle, Yan Liang had long been famous, Kong Rong孔融 once said that Yan Liang was matchless bravery, and Ju Shou also commented that Yan Liang was not good at strategize but did being valorous.
It seems that Yan Liang's bravery was known to everyone, even if the martial arts were not as good as Guan Yu,it could not be too bad,and he was still wearing heavy armor, even if Guan Yu rushed to Yan Liang, how did he kill him by only one shot.
But this just happened, Guan Yu not only did it, but also calmly cut off Yan Liang's head, and brought it back unscathed, which was simply incredible,his reputation as the Chinese Master of War is well deserved.