Battle of Rang

The Battle of Rang (穰城之戰) was the last major battle between the warlords Cao Cao and Zhang Xiu in 198 in the late Eastern Han dynasty. Cao Cao was almost able to take the city but had to pull back on hearing that Yuan Shao was moving to attack his headquarters Xu city.

Background

In 197, Cao Cao led his army from Xu to attack Jing Province (covering present-day Hubei and Hunan), which was governed by Liu Biao. Although the warlord Zhang Xiu surrendered to Cao Cao at first he later led a revolt and launched a surprise attack on Cao's camp that drove Cao from Wan city. Cao Cao was almost killed but escaped. After this victory, Zhang Xiu moved his army to Rang, somewhat south of Wan, and prepared to intercept further advances by Cao Cao; he was aided by unnamed generals from Liu Biao's army. Cao Cao himself focused on other matters such as moving to attack Yuan Shu, but he sent Cao Hong with an army to fight over Nanyang. These battles went on throughout 197, with mixed results. First, Cao Hong attempted to capture Zhangling and Nanyang counties, but Zhang Xiu was able to repel him, forcing him to retreat to She. Cao Hong then made his headquarters at She county, where he was constantly harassed by Zhang Xiu. Cao Hong was soon able to turn the tide however and defeat Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao in a number of battles at Wuyang, Yinye, Duyang, and Bowang.

In Winter of 197, Cao Cao had dealt sufficient enough defeats to Yuan Shu that he was able to return to deal with Zhang Xiu in person. He attacked Zhang Xiu at Huyang and took the land winning a big victory. One of the generals Liu Biao sent to aid Zhang Xiu - Deng Ji (鄧濟) - was captured in the battle. After this loss, Zhang Xiu suffered further defeats to Cao Cao and ultimately lost everything north of Rang, including Wan. However, he proved to be a stubborn enough opponent that Cao Cao could not immediately advance on Rang.

The battle

Cao Cao took a few months to consolidate his forces and marched for Rang in the third month of 198. Zhang Xiu and Cao Cao fought over the city for the next two months, and Zhang Xiu offered some stubborn resistance, but was still having difficulty holding out. Unknown to Zhang Xiu, defectors from Yuan Shao’s army brought Cao Cao rumors that Yuan Shao was planning to attack Xu city while Cao Cao was away, so he decided to withdraw from Rang to defend Xu. (Yuan Shao had, indeed, been contemplating such a maneuver while Cao Cao was at Rang, though he ultimately decided against it). Thinking he had forced Cao to run, Zhang Xiu pursued him, joined by Liu Biao’s forces. Liu Biao’s men got ahead of Cao Cao’s by a side road and camped at Anzhong to intercept him, while Zhang Xiu followed from the rear. The plan was that at Anzhong, they would smash Cao Cao between them and, ideally, destroy his whole army. Jia Xu warned that Cao Cao was too clever to be defeated by such a basic tactic, but Zhang Xiu and the others though he was being overcautious.

True to Jia Xu’s prediction, Cao Cao saw the danger the land he was on posed and acted accordingly. He sent some of his men ahead to build fortifications and set an ambush, then set men against both Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao. After some fighting, Cao Cao had both forces feigned retreat. Zhang Xiu's and Liu Biao’s forces pursued and found themselves attacking fortified positions. At that moment, Cao Cao struck with his ambush troops, completely defeating Liu Biao's force then turning and defeating Zhang Xiu's. Zhang Xiu fled back to Wan, where he apologized to Jia Xu for not listening to his advice. Jia Xu then surprised Zhang Xiu by instructing him to pursue again, promising that he would obtain victory this time. He said that Cao Cao himself was beyond Zhang Xiu’s skill, but none of Cao Cao’s other commanders could stand up to him. During the earlier retreat, Jia Xu knew that Cao Cao would command the rear himself, so pursuit against him was useless. However, having won one victory, he would now feel secure and have someone else guarding the rear. Zhang Xiu accepted Jia Xu’s advice and pursued. He was able to catch up to Cao Cao’s army and Jia Xu was right as Yue Jin had been left to guard the rear. Yue Jin was surprised and while he fought well, he was bent in the end and forced to fall back. Zhang dealt a significant blow to the rearguard and then pulled back to Wan.

Aftermath

After the battles at Rang and Anzhong, Cao Cao had greater concerns than Zhang Xiu’s relatively small army - most notably Lü Bu and an impending invasion by Yuan Shao. During 199, Yuan Shao, after his final victory over Gongsun Zan and establishing an alliance with the Wuhuan tribes on the northern frontier, was preparing for his campaign against Cao Cao. Wanting all the help he could get and since Zhang Xiu was one of the few commanders to go up against Cao Cao and remain standing, Yuan Shao sent an envoy to invite him to ally. His plan was to have Zhang Xiu attack Xu city from the south while Yuan Shao engaged Cao Cao in the north. Zhang Xiu met with Yuan Shao’s messenger and was going to agree but Jia Xu disagreed. He advised Zhang Xiu to join Cao Cao instead reasoning that Yuan Shao had a large army with many officers and would not appreciate them - and that he was difficult to get along with in any case pointing to the battles between Yuan Shao and his half-brother Yuan Shu. Cao Cao, however, had a smaller army and would be grateful for a force of skilled veterans, and that he was known for treating surrendered enemies quite well. Zhang Xiu was worried about reprisals due to their past enmity, but Jia Xu assured him that Cao Cao would be willing to forgive their private quarrel. So, in winter of 199, Zhang Xiu submitted to Cao Cao. Jia Xu was proven right. Cao Cao was extremely pleased to receive Zhang Xiu’s surrender. He threw a banquet in Zhang Xiu’s honor and apologized for his past behavior regarding Zhang Ji’s widow. Further, Cao Cao promoted Zhang Xiu to be General Who Rises in Might, and he gave Jia Xu an excellent position as well. On top of that, he arranged for his son Cao Jun (曹均) to marry Zhang Xiu’s daughter.

References

• Chen Shou. Records of the Three Kingdoms, Volume 8, Biography of Zhang Xiu.
• Chen Shou. Records of the Three Kingdoms, Volume 9, Biography of Cao Hong.