User:Kamek98/Battle of Tao River (247)

The Battle of Tao River was fought between the forces of Shu Han and Cao Wei in 247 and was the first of nine invasions of Wei by Shu led by Jiang Wei. Jiang Wei led the Shu forces to a potential victory, but was forced to retreat before the Shu forces could come to any favourable conclusions.

Battle
The battle began following Jiang Wei's quelling of rebellions in Pingkang (平康) and Wenshan (汶山) in 247 when he ordered Shu forces to invade Longxi, Nan'an and Jincheng. There, Jiang Wei waged battle against the Wei generals Xiahou Ba, the son of Xiahou Yuan, and Guo Huai. Jiang Wei beat the two of them, and Xiahou Ba fled.

Guo Huai then wanted to take a chance and attack the Qiang, but Deng Ai strongly opposed and was suspicious that Jiang Wei would be planning to return and launch a surprise attack. Agreeing, Guo Huai dispatched Deng to the northern coast of Baishui. Three days would pass and Liao Hua was sent by Jiang Wei to camp southeast of the same location as a ruse. Jiang Wei wished for the ruse to work in order for him to surprise attack Taocheng. Deng Ai, who suspected the movement days before, used the advantage of seeing through the ploy and gained occupation of Taocheng before Jiang Wei could do so. Deng Ai defeated Liao Hua and even injured the Shu general. Jiang Wei became angered by this movement and returned to Taocheng, attacking with brute force and hoping to get revenge on Deng Ai. Sima Zhao sent his team to rescue Deng as Gao Cheng attacked and captured the Shu main camp at Baishui. This ultimately forced Jiang Wei to retreat.

Following the battle, Deng Ai was promoted. As so, Jiang Wei quickly resembled the Shu army for another attack on Wei.

Modern references
The battle is featured as a playable stage since the seventh instalment of the Dynasty Warriors video game series.