Battle of Tong Pass (211)

Battle of Tong Pass
Part of the wars at the end of the Han Dynasty
Date March – September 211 CE Location Tongguan County, Shaanxi, China Result Decisive Cao Cao victory
Belligerents
Cao Cao	Coalition of Guanxi forces
Commanders and leaders
Cao Cao Cao Ren Xu Huang Zhu Ling	Ma Chao Han Sui Hou Xuan Cheng Yin Yang Qiu Li Kan† Zhang Heng Liang Xing Cheng Yi†
Strength
60,000	100,000

The Battle of Tong Pass, also known as the Battle of Weinan, was fought between the warlord Cao Cao and a coalition of forces from Guanxi (west of Hangu Pass) from March to September 211 in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. The battle was initiated by Cao Cao's western expansion, which triggered uprisings in Guanxi. Cao Cao scored a decisive victory over the Guanxi coalition and established a hold of the Guanzhong region.

Background

Before the end of the Han Dynasty, the warlord Ma Teng commanded a sizable army in the northwestern frontiers of China that threatened the North China Plain controlled by Cao Cao. When Cao Cao finished his unification of northern China in 207, he wished to turn south to attack Liu Bei and Sun Quan; so to avoid being attacked from behind, Cao Cao appointed Ma Teng as an official and summoned him to Ye City. Ma Teng and some of his family members were effectively held hostage to prevent Ma Teng's son, Ma Chao, from invading Cao Cao's territory.

Cao Cao's southern expedition did not go well; however, as he was defeated by the combined forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei at the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208. He soon turned his attention west instead, with the intention to invade Guanzhong. In March 211, Cao Cao sent Zhong Yao to attack Hanzhong (Han'ning), which was controlled by Zhang Lu, while sending Xiahou Yuan to rendezvous with Zhong's forces. Gao Rou cautioned Cao Cao against such a move, saying that sending massive armies west could draw suspicion from the western warlords and cause the latter to revolt. However, Cao Cao paid no heed to his advice.

As predicted, the western forces began suspecting an assault from Cao Cao, and soon Ma Chao, Han Sui, Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Yang Qiu, Li Kan, Zhang Heng, Liang Xing, Cheng Yi, and Ma Wan (馬玩) rallied their armies and marched on Tong Pass (in present-day Tongguan County, Shaanxi). The coalition comprised a mixture of Han Chinese, Qiang, and Hu soldiers. Many counties of the area joined the uprising, and some civilians had to escape into Hanzhong via Ziwu Valley (子午谷).

In response, Cao Cao ordered Cao Ren to defend against the invading forces and issued orders that they must refrain from engaging the enemy.

The battle

In July, Cao Cao left the capital to lead his troops against Ma Chao, while leaving his son Cao Pi to defend his headquarters in Ye City. In August, his troops arrived at Tong Pass where the standoff between his forces and the Guanxi forces was taking place. As the standoff dragged on, more and more Guanxi reinforcements came to Tong Pass, but Cao Cao seemed gleeful at every instance of enemy arrival. When asked by his officers why he was so happy when the enemy was gaining numbers, he replied "The road to Guanzhong is long, and if the barbarians defended themselves along the treacherous terrain, we cannot conquer them in one or two years. But now that they all assembled here in this uneasy alliance, it will be much easier to eliminate them. That is why I am happy."

Cao Cao gave the Guanxi forces an impression that a frontal assault was imminent, but had Xu Huang and Zhu Ling covertly travelled north. The two men had slithered cross the Yellow River via Puban Ford (浦阪津) to the west with 4,000 men, and pitchd camp there, circumventing Tong Pass. A month later, Cao Cao's main force followed, while Cao Cao and Xu Chu guarded the rear. When Ma Chao got wind of Cao Cao's maneuver, he led roughly 10,000 men to give chase. Arrows poured down on the rearguard, but Cao Cao was in no hurry. Seeing that the situation became dire, Xu Chu helped Cao Cao onto a boat, but the ferryman was shot dead. Xu Chu then used a saddle to shield arrows with his left hand, and paddled the boat with his right. Ma Chao's men kept on firing arrows on Cao Cao's boat even though it had sailed for miles. It was then Ding Fei (丁斐), a general under Cao Cao, gave the command to release the livestock. Seeing this, the pursuing army, being mostly herders, gave up on the chase and went for the horses and oxen instead. It was through these efforts that Cao Cao safely crossed the river.

Cao Cao's force then regrouped with Xu Huang's, and marched south along the river. The Guanxi armies then accordingly positioned themselves against attack from the north. Then, Cao Cao sent out some decoy troops to distract enemy defense while setting up a pontoon bridge crossing the Wei River that would allow his forces to complete the circumvention of Tong Pass. At night, a portion of Cao Cao's forces crossed the river and tried to set camp; however, the soil was too sandy to be used for building fortification, and Ma Chao's cavalry soon chased away the builders. Eventually, on the advice of Lou Gui, Cao Cao had his men pour water on piled-up sand. The mixture froze in the cold night and became solid, and thus a bridgehead was established south of the Wei River. The icey fortress was shortly attacked by Ma Chao, but the attackers were repelled by Cao Cao's ambushes.

As the battle dragged on, Ma Chao attempted a ceasefire and requested the lands west of the Wei River, but Cao Cao rejected. Ma Chao would try to entice Cao Cao's men to attack his newly established camp, but Cao Cao did not bite the bait. In an attempt to negotiate, Cao Cao, Han Sui, and Ma Chao came together bringing no one but their close guards. Ma Chao had hoped that, with his strength, he could capture Cao Cao and force him to agree to their terms, but he had heard of the prowess of Cao Cao's bodyguard, so he asked, "Is the Tiger Marquis with you today?" Cao Cao pointed at Xu Chu, who glared at Ma Chao, and Ma dared not make a move.

To avoid attrition, the generals of the Guanxi armies agreed to cede territories and send their sons to Cao Cao as hostages in exchange for peace. Cao Cao's strategist Jia Xu suggested that he could pretend to accept the terms, and then turn the allied forces against each other. Cao Cao agreed, and arranged for an armistice. Han Sui was sent by the Guanxi armies as the representative. He was once a friend of Cao Cao, and when they met, they did not talk about military affairs but instead recollected their youths in the capital, occasionally clapping their hands and laughing amiably. When the meeting was over, Ma Chao demanded to know what Cao Cao said, but Han Sui responded that it was nothing much. Ma Chao became suspicious of Han Sui from there on. A few days later, Cao Cao sent Han Sui a letter with certain words smudged out as if Han did it himself. Ma Chao saw this letter and thought Han Sui was collaborating with Cao Cao, and did not trust Han any more.

To capitalize on this suspicion, Cao Cao set the time for a final clash between the two forces. First, he challenged the allied forces with lightly armoured soldiers, then surrounding the allied forces with heavy cavalry in both flanks. The allies were routed and several commanders including Cheng Yi and Li Kan were killed in battle. Han Sui and Ma Chao fled to Liang Province and Yang Qiu to Anding (present-day Anding District, Gansu). Cao Cao emerged victorious.

Aftermath

Further information: Siege of Jicheng and Battle of Lucheng

The forces of Guanxi were unable to regroup again in a coalition and their strengths were greatly weakened after this battle. Of the remnants of the coalition, Yang Qiu soon surrendered, Han Sui was defeated by Xu Huang and Zhang He, and only Ma Chao was actively causing trouble for Cao Cao.

After Cao Cao's main army retreated due to an uprising back home, Ma Chao attacked the commanderies in Longxi with the forces of the western tribes and the commanderies took their lead from him, except for the city of Jicheng (冀城, capital of Tianshui Commandery). When he conquered Jicheng, Ma Chao killed the Inspector of Liang Province, Wei Kang (韋康), occupied the city and controlled Wei's forces. He called himself the General Who Conquers the West and took over the governance of Bing Province and the military matters of Liang Province. The deputies who served under Wei Kang, Yang Fu, Jiang Xu (姜叙), Liang Kuan (梁寬), Zhao Qu (趙衢) and others plotted against Ma Chao. Yang Fu and Jiang Xu revolted in Lucheng and Ma Chao left Jicheng in an attempt to quell the uprising. Meanwhile, Liang Kuan and Zhao Qu closed the gates of Jicheng and Ma Chao could not return to the city. He had little choice but to seek refuge with Zhang Lu in Hanzhong.

Later, Cao Cao had Ma Teng's household executed for Ma Chao's uprising. Only Ma Chao and his cousin Ma Dai remained in his once great family.

In fiction

The battle was mentioned in chapters 58 and 59 of Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi).

Ma Chao rallied an army to attack Cao Cao for revenge after the latter murdered his father Ma Teng and younger brothers Ma Xiu and Ma Tie.

Cao Cao was defeated by Ma Chao in the first skirmish of the battle. Amidst the chaos, Cao Cao fled and was pursued by Ma Chao. Ma Chao shouted that the man dressed in the red robe was Cao Cao, so Cao took off his robe and discarded it to avoid being recognised. When Ma Chao saw that he shouted again that the man with a long beard was Cao Cao, so Cao drew his sword and quickly trimmed his beard until it was very short. Ma Chao then shouted that the man with a short beard was Cao Cao, and Cao responded by wrapping a flag around his jaw. Cao Hong appeared and held off Ma Chao long enough for Cao Cao to escape.

The following day, Ma Chao engaged Cao Cao's general Xu Chu in a duel. Xu Chu removed his upper garments, fighting topless against Ma Chao both on horseback and on foot. Neither of them managed to overcome his opponent.

Cao Cao eventually followed Jia Xu's strategy to turn Ma Chao and his ally Han Sui against each other. Ma Chao fell for the ruse and believed that Han Sui was planning to betray him so he barged into Han Sui's tent and attacked him. Han Sui lost his left arm during the fight and narrowly escaped under the protection of his subordinates. Cao Cao then took advantage of their internal conflict to attack them and defeated Ma Chao.

Ma Chao fled to join the warlord Zhang Lu in Hanzhong after his defeat.

Historicity

Both Ma Chao and Cao Cao's biographies in the Sanguozhi confirmed that Ma Chao started a rebellion in 211 together with Han Sui, Yang Qiu, Li Kan and Cheng Yi in Guanzhong and they formed a coalition army to attack Cao Cao, leading to the Battle of Tong Pass. The Dianlue stated that around a year after Ma Chao rebelled, Emperor Xian issued an imperial decree to Cao Cao, ordering him to have Ma Chao's entire family executed. This proves that the order of events had been reversed in Sanguo Yanyi, because Ma Chao started a rebellion in the first place, and then his clan was exterminated by Cao Cao about a year later.

The duel between Ma Chao and Xu Chu is not documented in the Sanguozhi and is likely to be fictional. Ma Chao, Cao Cao and Xu Chu's biographies gave an account of a meeting between Cao Cao, Ma Chao and Han Sui during the battle. Cao Cao rode forth on horseback to speak with Ma Chao and Han Sui. Cao Cao was accompanied only by Xu Chu. Ma Chao had confidence in himself and secretly harboured the intention of charging forward and capturing Cao Cao when they met. However, he had heard of Xu Chu before and suspected that the man with Cao Cao was Xu Chu. He then asked Cao Cao, "Where's your Tiger Marquis?" Cao Cao pointed at Xu Chu, and Xu glared at Ma Chao. Ma Chao was afraid and did not dare to make his move.

Ma Chao, Cao Cao and Jia Xu's biographies all mentioned about Cao Cao heeding Jia Xu's suggestion to sow discord between Ma Chao and Han Sui and turn them against each other. Cao Cao's biography gave a detailed account of this incident, which is mainly similar to the description in Sanguo Yanyi, except that there is no mention about Ma Chao cutting off Han Sui's arm in a fight. Besides, the generals Cheng Yi, Li Kan, Yang Qiu and others were not subordinates of Han Sui, but rather, independent members who joined Ma Chao's alliance.

Modern references

The Battle of Tong Pass is one of the playable stages in Koei's video game series Dynasty Warriors for the PS2. If the player is on Cao Cao's side and follows the order of events in both history and the novel by making Han Sui defect, it is an easy victory. In the original releases of Dynasty Warriors 6 for the PS3 and the Xbox 360 the stage was removed, but the stage was brought back, along with the Battle of Ruxukou and the Battle of Jieting, in the later release for the PS2.

References

• Chen, Shou. Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi).
• Luo, Guanzhong. Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo Yanyi), ch. 58-59.
• Pei, Songzhi. Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi zhu).
• Sima, Guang. Zizhi Tongjian.