The Battle of Shouchun (寿春の戦い, rōmaji: Jushun no Tatakai) or Campaign against Yuan Shu was fought between the allied forces under Cao Cao, Sun Ce, and Liu Bei and the forces of the Zhong Dynasty led by Yuan Shu. After having declared himself emperor, Cao Cao issued an edict to the other eastern warlords to destroy Yuan Shu. Lu Bu, who was initially part of the alliance, later betrayed it to side with Yuan Shu.
It is also upon Yuan Shu declaring himself emperor, he attempted to rename the commandery that Shouchun was stationed in as Huai'nan/Huai South (淮南), though after his death, eventually the name would return to being Jiujiang/Nine Rivers (九江).
Decades later, the site would be a recurring place of defiance to the Sima family's rise to power. The rebellions were collectively known as the "Three Rebellions of Shouchun". All three were suppressed, and would lead to the Sima family running nearly unopposed in Wei. The first rebellion was led by Wang Ling, the second was led by Wen Qin and Guanqiu Jian and the final was led by Zhuge Dan. Wu also participated in all three rebellions, in an attempt to exploit Wei's civil war.
Role in Games
In Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2, the stage appears in Wu's story, and can only be unlocked by taking the bases during Jiao Zhi's Rescue. Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, fearful of Sun Ce's growing power, attempt to stop and kill him. The Wu forces must hold off the enemy attack long enough for Zhu Zhi and Cheng Pu to arrive with reinforcements. Defeating either of Yuans will end the battle.
The battle appears for the first time in Dynasty Warriors 6 and uses the Wu Territory map. Liu Bei is sent by Cao Cao to defeat Yuan Shu, who had previously declared himself emperor. During the battle, Liu Bei will receive reinforcements by Sun Ce.
In Dynasty Warriors 7, Cao Cao, Sun Ce and Liu Bei unite to bring down Yuan Shu in Shouchun in Wu's story. Although weary of Cao Cao, both Sun Ce and Liu Bei decide to join the alliance. This is also the battle where Liu Bei and Sun Shang Xiang meet each other for the first time. Cao Cao first orders the allied forces to surround Shouchun castle and lay siege to the gates. The player will be tasked to destroy the siege weapons on the castle walls and the defenders before the ram can get into position. Once the gates are breached, Yuan Shu will disappear and the player will have to search the castle for him, only to find some of his generals hiding in ambush. After a short time, Yuan Shu and the bulk of his army appear north of the castle and attempt to flee the battlefield. Midway, however, Chen Lan and Lei Bo defect to the allied forces and buy them enough time to catch up with Yuan Shu and slay him. The map also serves as the battlefield for Zhuge Dan's Rebellion.
In Jin's story, the first rebellion is a full battle between Wang Ling's rebels and Sima Yi, though Wang Yuanji senses her lord's declining health. The battle begins with the Wei forces rescuing Wang Guang. Although Sima Shi wants to execute him to serve as an example, Sima Yi keeps the youth alive for the moment as his pleas to stop his father's rebellion would serve enough to disorganize the enemy. After crushing most of the outer rebels, Wu reinforcements led by both Ding Feng and Zhuge Ke arrive outside Shouchun to defend Wang Ling. After the two are defeated, Wei forces are finally able to break inside the castle to slay Wang Ling.
The second battle is a two-part battle with Sima Shi. The first part involves attempting to secure the front lines from Wen Qin, but both Wen Yang and Wen Hu attack the main camp, forcing the Wei forces to pull back. After the two are repelled, Guanqiu Jian's forces are found hiding behind a mountain, and Sima Shi orders for an ambush downhill. Finally, Wen Qin will appear at the central garrison while Wen Hu will return to try a second attack on the Wei forces.
The second part begins when Sima Shi is attacked by both Wen Qin and Wen Yang at the center, and must defeat the pair with Deng Ai's assistance. Ding Feng soon arrives after the Wen family's defeat and marches with Guanqiu Jian's forces for a pincer attack on the main camp. Once the attack is stopped, Sima Shi will have to assist Zhuge Dan against Sun Jun's main body of reinforcements. After the defeat of all the Wu forces, Guanqiu Jian opens the gates for a last stand against the Sima family.
In Dynasty Warriors 8, Yuan Shu's demise is only mentioned in the narration while Wang Ling's rebellion is omitted from the story completely. Wen Qin and Guanqiu Jian's rebellion using the Tianshui map. The stage begins with Sima Shi ordering a two-pronged attack, with all gates to the high ground being locked. As the Wei forces advance, Wen Yang suddenly appears and charges the main camp before retreating as a messenger arrives with news of Wu's arrival. instead of a frontal attack, Sima Shi orders that the byroads leading to the rebel leaders' castles be used instead. Soon Liu Zan arrives with the first detachment of Wu forces and is joined by Wen Yang in attacking the Wei camp a second time.
After this second defeat, Wen Yang will return back to his father's camp while Ding Feng will lead the second set of Wu reinforcements to protect Guanqiu Jian. Eventually, Sima Zhao's unit will hit Wen Qin at the rear while Sima Shi's forces at the front can acquire a ram by defeating Wen Hu to break down the front gates. After the defeats of Wen Qin and Wen Yang, the gatekeepers of Guanqiu Jian will surrender and will open the gates to the final leader.
If Wen Yang and Wen Qin are defeated only after all the other officers, then Wen Yang will continuously complain at the battle being intentionally drawn out to make both sides suffer heavier casualties. Following the battle, Wen Yang will privately surrender to Sima Zhao but remains with his father to act as a spy until their raid at Xuchang.
The map again serves as the place for Zhuge Dan's Rebellion in Jin's story. In Wu's hypothetical path, after their victory at Hefei, Sun Quan pursues Cao Pi and the Wei army at Shouchun. Zhuge Dan's Rebellion also takes place in the Shouchun map.
In Zhuge Dan's Free Mode version of the stage, the castle is already surrounded by Sima Zhao, and surprisingly, also by a few Wu officers. Having received Cao Mao's reinforcements, Wen Qin and his sons immediately begin to suspect Zhuge Dan and mutiny against him. When Wen Qin is killed, Zhuge Dan will order his troops in a desperate charge out of the castle, attacking Sima Zhao who is leading the encirclement. Upon Sima Zhao's initial defeat, Zhuge Dan will notice Quan Dan being attacked by Sun Chen. If Quan Dan is rescued, some of the Wu forces will also defect to Zhuge Dan's side. Eventually, Zhuge Dan's forces reach the Wei main camp, guarded by Jia Chong. When he is defeated, the last objective left is to slay Sima Zhao.
The historical path of Lu Bu's Story Mode in Xtreme Legends has Lu Bu come to Liu Bei's aid against Yuan Shu at Shouchun. Chen Gong will come up with a pincer attack to defeat Yuan Shu. During the course of the battle, an irate Zhang Fei will attempt to raid Yuan Shu's supplies against orders to remain at the camp. If he is stopped in time, then Yuan Shu will consider thanking Lu Bu's forces. Once the battle is won, Lu Bu ensures peace between Liu Bei and Yuan Shu by shooting at his halberd with a bow.
In Wu's additional scenarios, Sun Jian is the one who takes control of Jiangdong, and becomes a major power in the south much more quickly. Upon Cao Cao's hard-won victory over Yuan Shao, Sun Jian takes the opportunity to strike the worn out conqueror. Initially proceeding without stiff resistance, Han Dang senses a trap, and advises taking the nearby garrisons, revealing Yue Jin leading ambush troops. Upon Yue Jin's defeat, Sun Jian's army continue their march, until Cao Cao's forces unexpectedly charge from the rear. Catching and defeating Cao Cao will end the battle.
In Jin's additional scenario, Sima Zhao, Wang Yuanji, and Zhong Hui provide cover for Zhuge Dan's plan to take out the mutiny led by Wen Qin. A DLC version of the battle takes place in the eyes of Zhuge Dan who sets up the ambush.
Historical Information
During the turmoil in Luoyang following Dong Zhuo's escape, Sun Jian found the imperial seal after conquering the city and gave it to his superior Yuan Shu. Years later, in 197, Yuan Shu used the seal to declare himself emperor, starting the Zhong Dynasty. This caused Sun Ce to break ties with him and the imperial court under Cao Cao's administration issued edicts to the surrounding warlords to destroy Yuan Shu.
Although Yuan Shu was powerful at the time he declared himself emperor, the rebellion of Sun Ce and other subjects caused him to lose many of his holdings in Yang Province, especially in Wu and Guangling. Yuan Shu's army was beaten by Lu Bu at Xiapi and Yuan Shu attempted to invade Chen kingdom in Yu Province. Although he managed to kill its King Liu Chong, Cao Cao led reinforcements and defeated Yuan Shu's army.
Yuan Shu managed to turn Lu Bu against his allies, but the latter was soon defeated and killed at Xiapi in 198. He then bribed the Shanyue leader Zu Lang to attack Sun Ce, but he was defeated and forced to surrender. Yuan Shu faced rebellions in his own camp, since Chen Lan and Lei Bo plundered his treasures and fled to the mountains. Yuan Shu then asked Yuan Shao for help, who sent Yuan Tan to escort him to Hebei. Cao Cao sent Liu Bei and Zhu Ling to intercept Yuan Shu and defeated Yuan Tan, forcing Yuan Shu to turn around and return to Shouchun. He died of illness on his way and Cao Cao's forces conquered Shouchun. Yuan Shu's family escaped south to Liu Xun in Lujiang, who was however defeated by Sun Ce in late 199.
The first rebellion of Shouchun occurred shortly after the death of Cao Shuang as Sima Yi began to reorganize the provincial commanders based on both loyalty and merit. Wang Ling, a longtime commander of Wei's eastern forces, saw the threat of Sima Yi and plotted a rebellion with his nephew and Yan Province's governor, Linghu Yu, to overthrow Cao Fang and install Cao Biao, prince of Chu, as the new ruler using connections from throughout Wei's border provinces. Unfortunately, Linghu Yu passed from illness midway through the operation, leaving Cao Biao in limbo over what to do, and Wang Ling without a major supporter. Wang Ling's eldest son, Wang Guang, warned his father against rebellion citing that Sima Yi controlled the military, had the support of the majority of court thanks to ousting the incompetent Cao Shuang
Ultimately, it would be Linghu Yu's official, Yang Kang that broke from the pressure of Linghu's death, and feared for his life if the plot were to be found out. Yang, on a tour at Luoyang at the time, reported the plot to Gao Rou, Grand Excellency of the Masses, who then reported to Sima Yi. Due to Wang Ling's rank, no immediate action could be taken, so Sima Yi opted to stealthily observe and poke at the situation, and sent his loyalist, Huang Hua to maintain watch over Wang and enter Wang Ling's circle. Wang Ling, unaware that his plan was leaked, attempted to continue forward by communicating with Cao Biao. Coincidentally, the death of Sun Quan and the damming of Dongxing would lead to them increasing security in the borders. Wang Ling attempted to use this as an excuse to request more troops.
Wang Ling first sent Yang Hong to Huang Hua to begin the rebellion, but Huang finally received the reason to hunt Wang Ling. He would convince Yang to convince to switch sides, and both wrote incriminating letters against Wang. Sima Yi immediately made these letters public and marched his army to Shouchun while announcing an early spree of amnesty before battle. Wang Ling's men instantly ran away, and Wang decided to surrender, putting an end to the rebellion before it could make headway.
En route to his sentencing, Wang Ling's convoy would pass the tomb of Jia Kui, and Wang Ling would cry out to his friend for having to be punished despite his genuine loyalty to Wei. After Wang Ling's death, his co-conspirators, including Yang Kang, who was mocked by the others, would collectively be put to death with their clans. The eastern border was rearranged with Guanqiu Jian being pulled south to Yu Province, and both Zhuge Dan, and Wen Qin, whose loyalties were suspect but had a personal grudge between themselves, were sent to Yang Province. The only one that escaped the extermination would be Wang Ling's sister, who was the wife of Guo Huai, a close associate of Sima Yi.
Following the defeat at Dongxing, the eastern border was reorganized with Zhuge Dan being moved to Yu Province and Guanqiu Jian to Yang Province. This move had the unintended effect of giving Wen Qin an accomplice whom he could actually work with, and a combination of Guanqiu Jian's loyalty to Wei and Wen Qin's poor relationship with the Sima clan would eventually come to a boil following the deposition of Cao Fang. Guanqiu Jian, encouraged by his eldest son and one of Luoyang's court officials, Guanqiu Dian, rebelled against Sima Shi's grip and wrote a letter of invitation to Zhuge Dan, unaware of his animosity with Wen Qin. The pair would also send their younger sons to Wu in the hopes of garnering their support if needed. Wu would only end up bringing reinforcements far too late into the rebellion, however.
In response, Zhuge Dan alerted Sima Shi, and Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin were forced to prematurely begin their revolt, the former sailing through Wei's rivers to reach Luoyang. Unfortunately, Guanqiu Jian assault would be stopped by Yan Province's governor, Deng Ai, who acted immediately to fortify a key checkpoint at Xiangcheng before the rebels could take it. Guanqiu would then attempt to garner more support for his cause by declaring his war against Sima Shi against the man himself rather than Wei's current administration, and declaring support for Sima Shi's relatives, Sima Zhao, Sima Fu, and the late Sima Yi.
Thanks to Deng Ai's defense, however, Sima Shi would decide to personally lead his army to crush the rebellion despite a recent surgery of an eye tumor. At Wang Su's advice, he requested Deng Ai to pull back to bring the rebel forces deeper into their territory, Zhuge Dan to seize Shouchun with the rebel leaders gone, and Hu Zun to cut off the rebels' escape back to Shouchun. Wang Su believed that as most of the rebel army veterans were conscripts from the north, stopping their attack and letting them wait would be enough to get them to desert, while the officers, whose families were mostly at Shouchun and in Yang Province, would instantly turn once Zhuge finished his task.
Guanqiu Jian, not sensing a trap, ordered Wen Qin to take the cavalry and chase Deng Ai. Midway, Wen Qin noticed both Deng Ai's barricades, and Sima Shi's army stationed nearby and believed that it was better to walk out without harm. Before they would return to their base, Wen Qin's son, Wen Yang, disagreed and argued that Sima's army was not organized yet and that a raid now would be their only chance at slaying the enemy commander. Wen Qin decided to split the army into two and turned around to attack Sima Shi's camp.
The sudden raid against the sleeping Wei troops held great success as even Sima Shi was caught off-guard, and his recent surgery's eye wound would reopen as the officers entered his tent for orders. Hiding his face with a blanket, Sima Shi organized the defense as the shock of the rebels' raid began to wane. Once the rebels were gone, Sima Shi finally stood up to reveal the unimaginable pain that he was suffering before ordering mobile unit led by Sima Ban and Yue Chen to chase Wen Qin before being sent back to Xuchang to recover.
The pair, exhausted from their attack on Sima Shi's camp, were easily routed. Unable to reach Guanqiu Jian, Wen Qin and Wen Yang opted to head directly south towards Wu. Guanqiu Jian's position would soon find itself under attack by both Sima Zhao, who had come to relieve his brother of command, and Wang Ji, governor of Jing Province. With desertion increasing as the noose tightened, Guanqiu Jian attempted to turn around to Shouchun, but Zhuge Dan had already taken the city, while Hu Zun was ready to ambush the rebels on their way back.
Guanqiu Jian would be left with only a handful of men alongside his brother, Guanqiu Xiu, and his grandson, Guanqiu Zhong would attempt to flee south before the rebel leader was fatally shot by a militia patrol named Zhang Shu. Both Xiu and Zhong would successfully escape to Wu. Despite crushing the rebellion, the reopened wound threw Sima Shi into the throes of death, and with his son too young to properly succeed him, would be succeeded by Sima Zhao.
Historical Information
During the turmoil in Luoyang following Dong Zhuo's escape, Sun Jian found the imperial seal after conquering the city and gave it to his superior Yuan Shu. Years later, in 197, Yuan Shu used the seal to declare himself emperor, starting the Zhong Dynasty. This caused Sun Ce to break ties with him and the imperial court under Cao Cao's administration issued edicts to the surrounding warlords to destroy Yuan Shu.
Although Yuan Shu was powerful at the time he declared himself emperor, the rebellion of Sun Ce and other subjects caused him to lose many of his holdings in Yang Province, especially in Wu and Guangling. Yuan Shu's army was beaten by Lu Bu at Xiapi and Yuan Shu attempted to invade Chen kingdom in Yu Province. Although he managed to kill its King Liu Chong, Cao Cao led reinforcements and defeated Yuan Shu's army.
Yuan Shu managed to turn Lu Bu against his allies, but the latter was soon defeated and killed at Xiapi in 198. He then bribed the Shanyue leader Zu Lang to attack Sun Ce, but he was defeated and forced to surrender. Yuan Shu faced rebellions in his own camp, since Chen Lan and Lei Bo plundered his treasures and fled to the mountains. Yuan Shu then asked Yuan Shao for help, who sent Yuan Tan to escort him to Hebei. Cao Cao sent Liu Bei and Zhu Ling to intercept Yuan Shu and defeated Yuan Tan, forcing Yuan Shu to turn around and return to Shouchun. He died of illness on his way and Cao Cao's forces conquered Shouchun. Yuan Shu's family escaped south to Liu Xun in Lujiang, who was however defeated by Sun Ce in late 199.
The second rebellion of Shouchun was due to both Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin joining their forces to bring down Sima Shi from his position. Despite the urging of his advisors, Sima Shi while recovering from his eye surgery decided to personally lead the army to crush the rebellion. Sima Shi had his brother Sima Zhao oversee the affairs back in Luoyang while Xuchang was the base of operations.
Sima Shi eventually reached Shouchun and had his army take control of the whole perimeter via capturing many important territories, deeming that most of their men followed their commanders' orders solely out of loyalty and fear and that instantly attacking would cause them to instantly stand their ground. To that end, Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin's armies started to fall to paranoia as they were at a loss at what to do in this awkward stalemate, true to Sima Shi's predictions. As the men fled while only a few supporters remained, Sima Shi decided to lead a sneak attack with Deng Ai as the vanguard in order to massively outnumber Wen Qin's troops without any casualties. Soon, Guanqiu Jian fled with his brother and grandson (but was soon killed at some point by a peasant), while Wen Qin fled to Wu with both of his sons.
However, the said campaign took a heavy toll on Sima Shi's health, causing him to be immediately transported back to Xuchang as Jia Chong oversaw the cleanup operations in his place. Sima Shi then passed away in Xuchang afterwards, but not before passing on his command to Sima Zhao, who eventually succeeded him.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
In the novel, Liu Bei, Zhu Ling and the others move to Xu Province to cut off Yuan Shu's escape to the north. Yuan Shu sends his general Ji Ling to fight them, but he is cut down by Zhang Fei after two bouts. Following this, Liu Bei offers Yuan Shu to surrender, but Yuan Shu refuses by insulting him and orders his men to attack. His forces are defeated and he tries to retreat to Shouchun, but he is ambushed by Chen Lan and Lei Bo. Yuan Shu escapes to Jiangling with 1,000 men, many of whom die from starvation. Yuan Shu eventually dies as a broken man.
Gallery
-
Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2 stage image
-
Warriors Orochi 3 stage image
.png)
.png)