| Battle of Mt. Bailang | |||||||
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| Forces | |||||||
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| Cao Cao's Forces | Allied Forces | ||||||
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| Cao Cao | Yuan Shang Tadun | ||||||
The Battle of Mt. Bailang or Battle of White Wolf Mountain (白狼山の戦い, rōmaji: Hakurōzan no Tatakai) was the last battle of Cao Cao's unification of northern China. At the advice of Guo Jia, Cao Cao marched his forces deep into the territory of the Wuhuan tribes, who hosted the fleeing Yuan brothers after their defeat against Cao Cao.
Role in Games
First introduced in Dynasty Warriors 8, the battle serves as the final battle against the Yuan family in Wei's story. Cao Cao's forces start out in the southern part of the map with their first task being the capture of the enemy bases at the foot of the mountain. Afterwards, since the Yuan brothers stay inside the mountain bases, Guo Jia orders the army to split into two. While he and Zhang Liao take the eastern route to go around the mountain and attack Yuan Tan from behind, Cao Cao and Jia Xu are tasked to breach the main gates with a ram. Yuan Xi's archers prevent the rams from advancing, however, so the latter are forced to use a ladder to climb up the mountain and attack. After the defeat of Shen Pei, Cao Cao and Jia Xu use the western route to join Guo Jia and Zhang Liao on the attack on Yuan Tan. After Yuan Tan is killed, Yuan Xi decides to charge out, despite Yuan Shang's concern and is swiftly wiped out. Around that time, Wuhuan reinforcements arrive at the northwest and Guo Jia decides to deal with them himself. The player can either choose to help Guo Jia out or use the secret passage to attack Yuan Shang and end the stage. Depending on the player's choice, Guo Jia will survive the battle or die in the cutscene at the end.
In the Yuan family's side of the battle, the three brothers first face a frontal assault from Cao Pi and Jia Xu. Once one of the two groups is defeated, Guo Jia will appear from the rear to launch a surprise attack. After all three assault units are defeated, Cao Cao will order a final charge, and he must be defeated.
The area is also reused as the "Battle of Liang Province".
In the Xtreme Legends expansion, the area is searched by Sima Shi in the hopes of creating the perfect meat bun. Various garrisons throughout the map will first be highlighted, and it is the job of the army to search these garrisons for the legendary ingredients, the mushrooms, scallions, wheat, meat, wine and bamboo shoots, but the allied army must hurry lest someone else take the ingredients and leave. Ding Feng and his younger brother will be guarding the legendary mushrooms. Ma Chao and Ma Dai will be guarding the legendary bamboo shoots. Various bandit leaders of the area will guard the legendary flour. Xu Zhu will be guarding the legendary scallions, and will activate ballistae to help him defend the ingredient. Zhang Fei and Zhang Bao will be guarding the legendary wine. After the five ingredients are taken, Sima Zhao will now find the meat in a garrison, but it is guarded Meng Huo and King Mulu. Once all the ingredients are gathered, Dong Zhuo will appear to try and take the ingredients, and must be defeated. After Dong Zhuo withdraws, Sima Shi will instead attempt to hoard all the ingredients to himself, causing the rest of the army to attack him instead. After Sima Shi's defeat, the officers are finally allowed to rest, and enjoy the meat buns. As Sima Shi prepares to eat his, a tiger grabs it instead, causing Shi to angrily chase the beast. If Sima Shi is the player character during Free Mode, the stage will end immediately after all the ingredients are returned to camp.
Historical Information
After his defeat at Guandu, Yuan Shao died in 202 without naming a successor. This eventually led to a contest between Yuan Shao's oldest son Yuan Tan and his favored, youngest son Yuan Shang. Although Cao Cao wanted to capitalize and defeat the Yuan brothers, Guo Jia advised him against it and told him to deal with Liu Biao instead. With their common enemy Cao Cao turning his attention to the south, the Yuan brothers soon started to fight each other. Cao Cao went back north and allied with Yuan Tan, defeating Yuan Shang in Ye and forcing him to flee north to Yuan Xi in You Province. Since Yuan Tan started to pillage Cao Cao's border cities afterwards, Cao Cao besieged him at Nanpi and killed him in 205. He then conquered Bing from Gao Gan and defeated Yuan Xi in You Province, forcing the latter and Yuan Shang to seek refugee with their allied Wuhuan tribes.
Since the Wuhuan posed a threat in the north and had captured numerous chinese families during their raids, Cao Cao decided to destroy them. Although some of his generals tried to dissuade him, Guo Jia convinced him to keep up with the plan, stating that the Yuan brothers would cause trouble in the future and that Liu Biao in the south would not attack. Cao Cao put Dong Zhao in charge of the supply lines and started his advance. He was aided by Yuan Shao's former aide Tian Chou, who possessed great knowledge of the territory and thus served Cao Cao's forces as guide. Tian Chou's leadership allowed Cao Cao's forces to outflank the Wuhuan and divide their armies.
In the eighth month of 207, Cao Cao's army arrived at Daling River and were spotted by the surprised Wuhuan troops. The Wuhuan leader Tadun gathered his generals Wuyuan and Louban, as well as Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi and attacked Cao Cao's forces at White Wolf Mountain with some ten thousand men. Although the attack was sudden for both parties and Cao Cao's men were outnumbered, Cao Cao saw that the Wuhuan ranks were disorganized. He then ordered Zhang Liao and Cao Chun to use the weakness and attack. Zhang Liao swiftly defeated the Wuhuan cavalry, while Cao Chun's men captured and killed Tadun as well as numerous other Wuhuan generals. Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi and the Wuhuan generals Louban, Wuyuan and Supuyan fled east to the semi-autonomous warlord Gongsun Kang in Liaodong, whereas many settlers and Wuhuan tribesmen surrendered to Cao Cao.
Cao Cao continued his advance to Liaodong, threatening to attack the peninsula as well. Yuan Shang plotted to kill Gongsun Kang and take over his armies, but Gongsun Kang had both Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi killed and sent their heads to Cao Cao, submitting to him. The Wuhuan leaders who fled with the Yuan brothers were also beheaded, while Nanlou and Pufulu, who did not help Tadun in the battle, submitted to Cao Cao.
The victory secured Cao Cao's domain in northern China and he became Chancellor of the Han Dynasty. Guo Jia's predictions proved to be correct as well, since Liu Biao did indeed not attack. However, Guo Jia, among Zhang Xiu and others, did not live to see Cao Cao's return to Ye, having died from illness or other circumstances.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Cao Cao's campaign against the Yuan brothers and the Wuhuan is depicted in chapter 33 of the novel. Cao Cao follows Guo Jia's advice to campaign against the Wuhuan and marches through Gobi desert, but during their march, he notices that Guo Jia's health rapidly decreases. He wants to turn around and abandon the campaign because of the difficulties, but Guo Jia persuades him to continue, saying that he should travel with light baggage and light armored troops. He also advises him to seek help from people of the area before being sent to Ye for treatment. With Tian Chou's help, Cao Cao advances further and meets Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi and Tadun at White Wolf Mountain. After Zhang Liao informs him about the enemies' troop strength, Cao Cao sees disorder in their ranks and orders an attack. Zhang Liao, along with Xu Chu and Xu Huang charges into the Wuhuan cavalry and personally kills Tadun. Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi escape to the east, but are executed by Gongsun Kang shortly afterwards, while Guo Jia dies at Ye before Cao Cao's return.