Siege of Jicheng

Siege of Jicheng
Part of the wars of the Three Kingdoms
Date 213 CE Location Gangu County, Gansu, China Result Ma Chao victory
Belligerents
Ma Chao Zhang Lu Qiang people Hu people	Cao Cao
Commanders and leaders
Ma Chao Yang Ang	Wei Kang Yang Yue
Strength
10,000[1]	1,000[1]

Cao Cao's northwest campaigns Tong Pass Jicheng Lucheng Yangping

Siege of Jicheng
Traditional Chinese	冀城之圍
Simplified Chinese	冀城之围
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Jìchéng Zhī Wéi

The Siege of Jicheng was a part of the campaign Ma Chao initiated in an attempt to retake Liang Province after the coalition of warlords from Guanxi (west of Hangu Pass) was defeated at the Battle of Tong Pass in the winter of 211 during the prelude to the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history.

Contents 1 Background 2 The siege 3 Aftermath 4 Modern references 5 Notes 6 References

Background

Being defeated, Ma Chao took the remainder of his army and fled to Lantian where he would make his final stand against Cao Cao. However, Su Bo in Hejian rebelled, and Cao Cao decided to lead his main army to quell the rebellion. Thus, Ma Chao was able to recuperate, and replaced Han Sui as the leader of the loose confederation of Liang Province warlords. This time he recruited more Qiang and Hu soldiers , and received reinforcements form Zhang Lu of Hanzhong. He planned to conquer all counties in Longxi, and within a year, all cities except Jicheng in the area surrendered.

The siege

In 213 Ma Chao started to besiege Jicheng, but it proved to be difficult. Even the Inspector of Liang Province, Wei Kang (韋康), faced an extremely numerical disadvantage, his assistant, Yang Fu, greatly encouraged the army by taking the lead in defending the city. Yang Fu recruited scholars and clansmen numbered to around 1,000 to place under the command of his brother, Yang Yue, and he himself acted as Yang Yue's strategist. Yang Fu told Yang Yue to set up the crescent moon formation on top of the city wall to counter Ma Chao's invasion, and waited for reinforcement from Chang'an.^[1] However, from the first month to the eighth month, there were no sign that any relief force were being sent, so Wei Kang sent his staff, Yan Wen, out in the middle of the night in an attempt to get help from Xiahou Yuan, who was stationed at Chang'an. Yan Wen was caught by Ma Chao's soldiers, and Ma Chao tried to use Yan Wen by telling him to go to the front of the city and tell the defenders that they were doomed. He lied and shouted, "A grand force from the east is coming, keep holding until they arrive!" For this Ma Chao asked Yan Wei if he treasured his life, but Yan did not reply.^[2] Since Ma Chao had not been able to breach the wall for a long time, he wanted to lure Yan Wen to change allegiance, so he gave Yan Wei another chance, and asked if he knew anyone inside the city that would welcome him, but Yan still kept silent. Ma Chao was irritated and censured Yan seriously, finally Yan Wen stood up and said, " A gentleman serving a lord can die for him but not betray him, yet you desired an old man to conduct evil speeches! Am I a person who would rather live in shame?"^[3] Ma Chao executed Yan Wen in rage.

After witnessing the death of Yan Wen, Wei Kang and the Administrator of Jicheng were terrified, and hesitated to resist further. Yang Fu strongly opposed surrender, but Wei Kang still opened the city gates and let Ma Chao in. Once in, Ma Chao arrested Yang Yue, and asked Zhang Lu's general, Yang Ang, to murder Wei Kang and the Administrator of Jicheng.

Aftermath

At the beginning of the siege, Cao Cao was fighting Sun Quan in Ruxukou, and after he returned to the city of Ye, he was launching the establishment of the state of Cao Wei,^[4] so he was too occupied to send reinforcement to Jicheng, he only let Xiahou Yuan lead a relief force until the eighth month. Not knowing that Jicheng had already fallen, Xiahou met Ma Chao 200 li outside of Jicheng, and was defeated. Ma Chao's feat greatly impressed King Qianwan, leader of the Di tribe, and he allied with Ma Chao. Thus, Ma Chao named himself General Who Conquers The West, became the governor of Bing Province, and placed himself in charge of the military affairs of Liang Province. He had also gained some security by successfully capturing a base from which to command from. However, Ma Chao's successes would not last long. Yang Fu contacted Jiang Xu, Zhao Ang, Yin Feng, Li Jun, Liang Kun, and Zhao Qu to rebel against Ma Chao simultaneously at the ninth month of 215.^[1] At the end, Ma Chao, Pang De, and his cousin Ma Dai fled Liang Province and took refuge under Zhang Lu.

Modern references

The Siege on Jicheng is featured in Koei's video game Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends and is called Battle of Ji Castle.

Notes

References

• Chen Shou (2002). Records of Three Kingdoms. Yue Lu Shu She. ISBN 7-80665-198-5.