Battle of Tong Pass ( 211 ) 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 . 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 .