Why did Zhao Yun dare to be alone in the battle of Changbanpo?

Zhao Yun, courtesy name Zilong, was born in Changshan Zhending. A famous general from Shu during the Three Kingdoms period, he followed Liu Bei in a series of foreign wars and was one of the Five Tiger Generals. It can be said that Zhao Yun, as a general of the Shu Han Dynasty, made great contributions to the establishment of the Western Shu regime. It left a profound mark in the history of the Three Kingdoms.

In "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Zhao Yun is portrayed as an excellent general. He once killed seven in and seven out in Changbanpo, but when he was besieged by Xia Houmao with a thousand people, he said: He said the words "My life is at stake". Today we will use "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" as a model to analyze Zhao Yun.

According to Chapter 41 of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms":

Zhao Yun fought against the four generals, and Cao's army came together. Yun Nai pulled out his green sword and slashed randomly. Where his hand started, his clothes and armor were flat, and blood flowed like a spring. Kill all the generals and break through the siege.

At that time, Zhao Yun was holding a green sword and holding Adou in his arms. One person and one rider can kill seven in and seven out. Facing tens of thousands of Cao's troops and rising to the challenge, we can see his bravery and loyalty. He is worthy of being a true tiger general.

The Battle of Changbanpo was Zhao Yun’s famous battle. Since then, everyone in the world has known about this young general with a white horse and a silver spear. Liu Bei also valued him for his bravery and protection of Liu Chan. Since then, Zhao Yun has entered the upper echelons of the Shu Han Dynasty and became Liu Bei's right-hand man, which is amazing. It was Zhao Yun's outstanding performance in the Battle of Changbanpo that repelled the menacing Cao army, thereby protecting Liu Bei's retreat.

According to the description of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms":

In the battle at Fengming Mountain, Zhao Yun first killed several generals of Cao Wei. You must know that Zhao Yun was already seventy years old at that time, and he was still strong and strong in the battle with enemy generals. He killed Han Ying, Han Qiong, and Han Qi one after another, and captured Han Yao alive. He was a true tiger general.

Faced with the menacing Zhao Yun, Xia Houmao obviously had no good solution but to lead his army away. At this time, Cheng Wu, who joined the army, proposed that Xia Houmao should command the army on the mountain, lure Zhao Yun into the encirclement, and kill Zhao Yun. Zhao Yun fell into the trap and led his army into the encirclement of Cao's army. Xia Houmao was only able to do it on the mountain. Zhao Yun rushed left and right but still could not break through. He sighed, "My life is at stake."

In fact, in the battle of Changbanpo, the reason why Zhao Yun was able to kill seven in and seven out. It was because Boss Cao had a love for talents and ordered the army not to shoot arrows in order to capture Zhao Yun alive. You must know that this bow and arrow can be said to be one of the most important weapons in ancient wars. Without bows and arrows, long-range force suppression would be lost. In addition, in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", many highly skilled military generals were killed by bows and arrows, such as Cao Cao's close bodyguards, who were killed by random arrows from Zhang Xiu's army when they came to Dian Wei. .

In my opinion, bows and arrows had a great impact on ancient warfare. After all, as one of the few weapons that can cause long-range damage, its suppressive effect on generals can be said to be innate. Cao Cao ordered not to fire arrows in the battle of Changbanpo, which was one of the reasons why Zhao Yun killed seven in and seven out.

In the battle of Fengming Mountain, Xia Houmao obviously did not have the leisure to capture Zhao Yun alive. According to the description in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "the armies and horses from all sides were gradually approaching, and crossbow arrows were fired from all directions in a hurry, and the men and horses could not move forward." It can be seen that at that time, Xiahou Mao's army fired arrows to prevent Zhao Yun from being killed with the intention of killing Zhao Yun. And Zhao Yun was indeed affected by this and failed to rely on his own strength to break through.

In addition to the influence of bows and arrows, Zhao Yun's age also made him behave differently in the Battle of Fengming Mountain and the Battle of Changbanpo. During the battle of Changbanpo, Zhao Yun was still young and in the prime of life. So he was able to break through Cao Cao's siege. During the Battle of Fengming Mountain, Zhao Yun was already seventy years old. Although he killed military generals one after another, he showed his bravery. However, compared with when he was young, he was indeed not as powerful as before, and his strength and bravery were not as good as before. It is no wonder that he was unable to break through Xia Houmao's besieging army in the end.

In addition, in the battle of Changbanpo, Zhao Yun was only one person in charge. With Adou in his arms, the target is relatively small, which is helpful for him to break out and leave. As long as the force is strong enough, it is easy to break through. In the battle of Fengming Mountain, Zhao Yun not only had to ensure that he broke through, but he was also the commander of the first army. When he was surrounded, there were more than a thousand Shu soldiers around him.

If Zhao Yun abandoned them and broke out alone, it would definitely be easier with his bravery. But as the commander of an army, he could not abandon his soldiers, so Zhao Yun actually led the army to break out. The difficulty has been greatly increased. It's no wonder that when he faced the siege of Cao Wei general Xia Houmao, he sighed, "My life is at stake." From this point of view, it is not surprising.

Among the generals of the Three Kingdoms, Zhao Yun can be said to be very outstanding in both character and ability. As for the difference in performance between Zhao Yun in the Battle of Fengming Mountain and the Battle of Changbanpo, what do you think? What do you think?