When it comes to the person behind Han Xin’s military miracle, the most well-known is Li Zuoche, the grandson of Li Mu, who once left a famous saying: "A wise man will make a mistake after a thousand considerations, and a fool will gain something after a thousand considerations." Pushed Han Xin and successfully conquered Yanqi. However, what is little known is that it was not Li Zuoche who really helped Han Xin create military miracles, but Cao Shen, who was not well-known in history.
Compared with Xiao He and Han Xin, Cao Shen's historical reputation is obviously much smaller. If it weren't for the allusion of "Xiao Gui and Cao Sui", I believe Cao Shen might have been forgotten by the world. Why was Cao Shen, who was inferior to Xiao He in appearance, inferior to Han Xin in general, and inferior to Zhang Liang in planning, by Liu Bang as the "second contributor to the founding of the Han Dynasty"? Behind Han Xin's military miracle, what role did Cao Shen play?
Cao Shen was a native of Peixian County, Xuzhou. In his early years, he was a small official in charge of the prison, or the warden. Xiao He was his boss. Liu Bang was an official (pavilion chief) who escorted prisoners and was a subordinate of Cao Shen. Therefore, Liu Bang had the smallest official position, followed by Cao Shen and Xiao He the largest.
After Liu Bang raised his flag to revolt, Cao Shen led his troops to attack everywhere. "Historical Records" recorded more than ten records of "defeat", "big defeat" and "capture of the city". He was invincible. Nothing can be overcome. Among them, Cao Shen also defeated three famous generals of the Qin Dynasty that we know well. Cao Shen's record is very valuable.
"Historical Records of the Cao Xiangguo Family": Rescued A from the north, attacked Zhang Han's army, trapped Chen, and pursued to Puyang. Attack Li You's army, break it, kill Li You, and capture one of Qin's marquises. Attack Wang Li's army and form Yangnan. They attacked again and defeated it greatly. ?In the early stages of the turmoil in the late Qin Dynasty, Zhang Han was the sworn enemy of the rebel army. He almost put out the uprising in the late Qin Dynasty by himself, but was defeated by Cao Shen. Later, Cao Shen killed Li Si's son Li You and defeated Wang Jian's grandson Wang Li.
Liu Bang marched all the way west and wanted to take the lead in capturing Xianyang. He still faced two problems: first, Wuguan and Yaoguan, which were the passes that no one could open. There is still a lot of power near Xianyang. "Historical Records of the Cao Xiangguo Family" records: Cao Shen attacked Wuguan and Yaoguan from the west and captured them. They attacked the Qin army in the south of Lantian, and attacked the north at night. The Qin army was defeated, and then they reached Xianyang and destroyed Qin.
It can be said that in Liu Bang's battle to destroy Qin, Cao Shen was the number one general and the number one hero. Fan Kuai, Zhou Bo, Xia Houying, Xiao He and others could not compare with him.
We all know that Han Xin is a military genius and is victorious in every battle under Liu Bang. However, after all, he has followed Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu for several years and has a certain military career. However, Cao Shen has no military experience before, but he seems to be like this. With the help of God, he immediately showed extraordinary military talent and was invincible. It is really difficult to understand. Perhaps he can only be classified as a super genius, and his execution ability is even more magical than Han Xin.
At the beginning of the Chu-Han struggle for hegemony, Liu Bang worshiped Han Xin, who had no actual combat experience, as his general. Later, Han Xin immediately showed extraordinary military talent and made a plan to build a plank road openly and secretly to Chen Cang, assisting Liu Bang to quickly pacify the Three Qin Dynasties. At this point, Liu Bang restored the territory of Qin, which was equivalent to the emergence of Qin again.
Before Liu Bang pacified the Three Qin Dynasties, Qi Tian Rong fired the first shot against Xiang Yu, so Xiang Yu mobilized the main force to attack Tian Rong, giving Liu Bang the opportunity to secretly attack Chencang. After Liu Bang pacified the Three Qin Dynasties, he appointed Cao Shen as the acting Prime Minister Zuo and led his troops to garrison in Guanzhong to defend the base area. Since Xiang Yu's main force was in Qi to quell the rebellion, he directly led his troops to capture Pengcheng. After that, Xiang Yu immediately returned to the army and defeated 560,000 people with 30,000 troops and horses, annihilating Liu Bang's main force. Liu Bang fled with only a dozen cavalry, which also put Liu Bang into a crisis situation. , known as the "Battle of Pengcheng" in history.