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Xu Huang was born in Yang County, Hedong County. He once worked as a minor official in Hedong County. Because of his meritorious service in following General Yang Feng in suppressing bandits, he was appointed as the cavalry commander.

In the third year of Chuping, Dong Zhuo was executed and his three clans were exterminated.

Dong Zhuo's subordinates Li Jue, Guo Si and others rebelled, attacked Chang'an, and killed Inspector Huang Wan and Prime Minister Wang Yun.

Xu Huang persuaded Yang Feng to escort the emperor back to Luoyang, and Yang Feng followed his advice.

After Emperor Xian of Han crossed the river and arrived in Anyi, he rewarded Xu Huang with the title of Marquis of Duting.

In the seventh month of autumn in the first year of Jian'an, Yang Feng, Han Xian and others escorted Emperor Xian of Han back to Luoyang, and Yang Feng sent another army to garrison Liang County.

After returning to Luoyang, seeing that General and Inspector of the Imperial Capital Han Xian and General of the Guard Dong Cheng were fighting for power every day, Xu Huang persuaded Yang Feng to submit to Cao Cao. Yang Feng followed Xu Huang's advice, but later changed his mind.

In October of the same year, Cao Cao went to Liang to attack Yang Feng. Yang Feng fled south to Yuan Shu, while Xu Huang surrendered to Cao Cao.

"Cao Cao gave Xu Huang military power and sent him to attack the bandits in Juan County and Yuanwu. Xu Huang won both battles and was promoted to the rank of General."

"After that, he followed Cao Cao to attack Lu Bu. Xu Huang forced Lu Bu's generals Zhao Shu, Li Zou and others to surrender. He also killed Sui Gu in Hanoi together with Shi Huan."

"In the first month of the fifth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao marched eastward to attack Liu Bei and defeated him. After Liu Bei defected to Yuan Shao, Xu Huang followed Cao Cao and defeated him again."

"Later, in the Battle of Guandu, Xu Huang followed Cao Cao to defeat Yan Liang and capture Baima City."

"After the army marched to Yanjin, Cao Cao adopted the strategy of his adviser Xun You, using food and grass as a trap to lure Wen Chou. Xu Huang was appointed to attack Wen Chou and defeated him. He was therefore appointed as a general."

"After that, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao confronted each other at Guandu. Xun You proposed to kill Yuan Shao's grain transport vehicle halfway and recommended Xu Huang to carry out the task."

"Cao Cao agreed and sent him and Shi Huan to intercept and kill the enemy. They successfully burned the enemy's food supplies. Because of his greatest contribution, Xu Huang was named Marquis of Duting."

"In February of the ninth year of Jian'an, after Yuan Shao's death, due to the conflict over the succession, his third son Yuan Shang attacked his eldest son Yuan Tan, leaving only Su You to guard Yecheng."

"Cao Cao led his troops to besiege Yecheng and captured Handan. Han Fan, the magistrate of Yiyang, pretended to surrender the city, and Xu Huang was sent to attack him."

"After Xu Huang arrived, he wrote a letter of persuasion and shot it into the city with an arrow. The letter stated the pros and cons. After reading it, Han Fan came to his senses and surrendered to Xu Huang."

"Xu Huang advised Cao Cao to accept Yiyang's surrender as an example for other cities that had not been conquered to see, so as to prevent them from fighting desperately. Cao Cao accepted his advice."

"Han Fan was granted the title of Guannei Hou. Later, after Liang Qi, the county magistrate of Shexian, surrendered the city, Cao Cao also granted him the title of Guannei Hou."

"Afterwards, Xu Huang led his troops to attack Maocheng alone, and ambushed and captured three garrisons."

"He also followed Cao Cao to defeat Yuan Tan in Nanpi and to suppress the rebels in Pingyuan County, thus pacifying Pingyuan."

"In May of the 12th year of Jian'an, Xu Huang followed Cao Cao to the north to attack the Wuhuan in the three counties. Cao Cao met the enemy at Bailang Mountain. Zhang Liao was the vanguard. Tadun and many famous kings in the tribe were beheaded. Xu Huang was awarded the title of Hengye General for his merits."

"In July of the 13th year of Jian'an, Xu Huang followed Cao Cao to the south to conquer Jingzhou. Liu Zong surrendered, and Xu Huang led his troops to garrison Fancheng alone. He also attacked the enemies in Zhonglu, Linju and Yicheng."

"After that, he and Man Chong conquered Guan Yu in Hanjin, and then he and Cao Ren attacked Zhou Yu in Jiangling."

"In the 15th year of Jian'an, Xu Huang led his troops to attack the rebels in Taiyuan County. He surrounded Daling and captured the city, beheading the enemy commander Shang Yao."

"Later, Ma Chao, Han Sui, Yang Qiu and others rebelled. Cao Cao sent Xu Huang to station troops in Fenyin to pacify Hedong County. He also gave him cattle and wine and asked him to visit the graves of his ancestors."

"In July of the 16th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao and Ma Chao's armies were facing each other across Tongguan. Cao Cao was worried that he could not cross the Yellow River, so he asked Xu Huang for advice."

"Xu Huang told Cao Cao that they had led the army here, and Ma Chao no longer sent troops to guard Puyang, which showed his lack of strategy;"

"He requested to personally lead a group of elite soldiers as an advance force to cross Pubanjin to cut off the enemy's retreat, and Cao Cao agreed to his request."

"So Xu Huang led 4,000 elite soldiers across the river. He led his troops to dig trenches and set up fences. Before they were stationed, the enemy general Liang Xing led more than 5,000 soldiers to attack. Xu Huang defeated the enemy, and Cao Cao's army was able to cross the river and then defeated Ma Chao's forces."

"Afterwards, Cao Cao sent Xu Huang and Xiahou Yuan to pacify the Di tribes in Yumi and Wei, and they joined Cao Cao in Anding."

"After Cao Cao returned to Ye County, Xu Huang was sent to pacify Fu together with Xiahou Yuan. They defeated the remaining bandits in Xiayang, killed Liang Xing, and accepted the surrender of more than 3,000 households."

"After that, Xu Huang followed Cao Cao to fight Zhang Lu. He was also sent to suppress the Di people in the mountains of Qie County and Qiuyi. All the enemies surrendered, so Xu Huang was promoted to General Suppressing Bandits. He also rescued General Zhang Shun who was besieged and broke through more than 30 garrisons of Chen Fu."

"In the 21st year of Jian'an, Cao Cao returned to Ye County, and Xu Huang and Xiahou Yuan were left behind to defend against Liu Bei at Yangping Pass."

"Liu Bei sent Chen Shi and more than ten battalions of soldiers to attack Ma Mingge Road. Xu Huang attacked from a fork in the road and defeated the enemy. The enemy was forced to throw themselves into the valley, suffering many casualties."

Li Bai: Many people have the impression that after Xu Huang defeated Guan Yu, Guan Yu was defeated and fled to Maicheng.

In fact, Guan Yu did leave, but he went to besiege another city, Xiangyang.

The main purpose of Xu Huang's defeat of Guan Yu's "Ten-Layer Siege" was to rescue Cao Ren, the commander of the Xiangfan defense line, and Man Chong who were trapped. Since Cao Ren had escaped, it was meaningless for Guan Yu to continue besieging Fancheng, so he led his army southward and besieged Xiangyang.

At this time, Xu Huang and others did not lead their troops south to pursue Guan Yu. If Guan Yu was beaten badly by Xu Huang, Xu Huang would definitely not allow Guan Yu to besiege Xiangyang.

Therefore, Xu Huang did not defeat Guan Yu, and Guan Yu still had the strength to besiege Xiangyang.

I have been fighting in the military for more than thirty years, and all the ancient warriors I know of who were good at fighting could not have attacked without ten layers of antlers.

Let’s first look at Xu Huang’s military strength. At the beginning, Xu Huang had about 5000 men, and “Xu Huang commanded no more than men.”

In fact, Cao Cao secretly sent "Yin Shu, Zhu Gai and other twelve camps to attack Huang", reaching more than 40,000 troops.

Xu Huang took advantage of Guan Yu's defensive weakness that "each settlement was three miles apart" and first used a "feint to the east and attack in the west" tactic, pretending to attack Weitou Tun, and then used the main force to raid Sizhong.

At Weitou, flags with three times the actual number of troops were set up to create the illusion that the main attack was on Weitou: "Raise the alarm to attack Weitou, but secretly attack the four tombs."

Under the fierce attack, Guan Yu led 5000 infantry and cavalry to rescue.

It took Guan Yu two hours to reach Sizhong from Weitou, and Xu Huang took 1.5 hours to break through Sizhong. Then the main force fought against Guan Yu's reinforcements. Xu Huang had already won in terms of troop numbers, morale and terrain.

After receiving Xu Huang's psychological warfare letter, Guan Yu transferred 3000 cavalry back to Jiangling for defense. In addition, the march was difficult after the flood, which delayed the rescue.

Moreover, Cao Cao had sent more than 3 reinforcements, and they were repelled due to multiple factors. Most of Guan Yu's 5000 troops were infantry, and when they retreated to Luwei, they were pursued by Xu Huang and followed into the fortifications, and were eventually defeated, with thousands of people drowning in the Han River.

However, Guan Yu's main force in the Northern Expedition was the navy, and the main force was not damaged, so he continued to move south to besiege Xiangyang.

Xu Huang did not dare to pursue southward because all the ships of the military district commander Cao Ren had been destroyed.

"After hearing this, Cao Cao was overjoyed and gave Xu Huang the military token, praising Xu Huang for his brilliant plan. Cao Cao then personally went to Yangping Pass to withdraw the troops from Hanzhong."

"In the 24th year of Jian'an, Guan Yu, the former general of Shu who was guarding Jingzhou, led his main force to attack the Jingxiang area in the north. Cao Ren, the general who conquered the south, went to conquer Guan Yu and stationed in Fancheng. Cao Cao sent Xu Huang to assist Cao Ren in conquering Guan Yu and stationed troops in Wancheng."

"In August of the same year, the Han River flooded and Yu Jin's troops were drowned. Guan Yu took the opportunity to besiege Cao Ren in Fancheng and also besieged Xiangyang to trap General Lu Chang."

"At that time, most of Xu Huang's men were new recruits and it was difficult for them to fight against Guan Yu's army, so he led his troops to station at Yanglingbi."

"Cao Cao returned to Yangping Pass from Ye County and sent generals Xu Shang, Lu Jian and others to meet Xu Huang and ordered them to gather troops and attack again."

"The enemy camped in Yancheng. Xu Huang pretended to dig trenches to cut off the enemy's retreat. The enemy really fell into the trap, burned down the camp and fled."

"Xu Huang took the opportunity to occupy Yancheng, and the two camps were connected and approached to a place only about three feet away from the enemy camp."

"Afterwards, Cao Cao successively sent Yin Shu, Zhu Gai and other troops, totaling twelve battalions, to join Xu Huang."

"At this time, the enemy was stationed in Weitou and also had troops stationed in Sizhong. Xu Huang made a feint, claiming to attack Weitou, but in fact he secretly attacked Sizhong."

"Seeing that the four tombs were about to be captured, Guan Yu personally led 5,000 elite soldiers to fight, and Xu Huang met them in battle."

"Because Guan Yu and Xu Huang had a good relationship before the battle, they talked to each other from a distance before the battle, only talking about their lives, not military matters."

"After the two armies fought, Guan Yu was defeated and retreated. Xu Huang pursued him closely and followed Guan Yu into the enemy's encirclement. He took the opportunity to defeat the enemy and many of them were forced to jump into the Mian River and die. The siege of Fancheng was lifted."

"After his defeat, Guan Yu led his army to retreat to the south of the Han River. At this time, the Shu army's boats still occupied the Mian River, blocking his way to Xiangyang. Sun Quan took the opportunity to attack Guan Yu's rear, so Guan Yu had to lead his army back south, and the siege of Xiangyang was lifted."

"When Cao Cao knew about this, he praised Xu Huang highly, believing that his achievements surpassed those of Sun Wu and Sima Rangju. After Xu Huang led his troops back in triumph, Cao Cao personally went out of the city to greet him seven miles away and held a banquet to celebrate for Xu Huang."

"At the banquet, Cao Cao urged Xu Huang to drink, saying that it was his credit that Fancheng and Xiangyang could be saved."

"At that time, all the armies were gathered together. When Cao Cao was inspecting, some soldiers left their ranks to watch. However, Xu Huang's army was well-organized and the soldiers remained motionless. Cao Cao thought Xu Huang had the style of Zhou Yafu."

"In the 25th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao died in Luoyang, and Cao Pi ascended the throne as King of Wei. He appointed Xu Huang as the Right General and granted him the title of Marquis of Luxiang."

"After Cao Pi ascended the throne and became emperor, he promoted Xu Huang to the title of Marquis of Yang and ordered him to go to Shangyong with General Xiahou Shang to attack Liu Bei. They successfully captured Shangyong and defeated Liu Bei."

"Afterwards, Emperor Wen of Wei appointed Xu Huang to guard Yangping Pass and conferred him the title of Marquis of Yangping."

"After Emperor Ming of Wei ascended the throne, the court increased Xu Huang's fief by 200 households because of his meritorious service in resisting Wu's general Zhuge Jin in Xiangyang, "totaling 3,100 households."

"Later, Xu Huang became seriously ill and left a will that he should be buried in the clothes he usually wore."

"In the first year of Taihe, Xu Huang died. The court gave him the posthumous title of Zhuanghou, and his son Xu Gai inherited the title."

"After Xu Gai died, his son Xu Ba inherited the title. Emperor Ming split up Xu Huang's food and sacrifices and made his two sons and grandsons marquises."

"In the seventh month of the autumn of the fourth year of Zhengshi, Xu Huang was enshrined in the temple of Taizu."

Su Shi: Xu Huang was from Xieliang in Hedong, and was a fellow townsman of Guan Yu.

Born as a minor official, he had a low status in the Eastern Han society, which attached great importance to family background, and had no chance of rising to the top.

As the time was turbulent, Xu Huang also hoped to make a name for himself through his own efforts.

Xu Huang initially served under Yang Feng, who granted him the title of General of Chariots and Cavalry for his meritorious service in protecting the emperor. Xu Huang was appointed Commandant of Cavalry and was granted the title of Marquis of Duting.

But the good times did not last long. Yang Feng was later defeated by Cao Cao for attacking Emperor Xian's carriage. He fled to Yuan Shu and was later killed by Liu Bei.

A wise bird chooses a tree to roost in, and a virtuous person chooses a master to serve. Xu Huang did not follow Yang Feng anymore, but wisely chose to join Cao Cao.

Later, Xu Huang also expressed his luck in meeting a wise leader in troubled times.

Cao Cao first sent Xu Huang to suppress the bandits on the south bank of the Yellow River. After Xu Huang suppressed the bandits, Cao Cao appointed him as a general.

From then on, Xu Huang officially began his career of fighting wars in the south and the north. In the third year of Jian'an, he fought against Lu Bu, in the fourth year, he fought against Sui Gu, and in the fifth year, he fought against Liu Bei. He never missed a battle in the three years. Xu Huang was highly valued by Cao Cao for his outstanding performance.

However, the real test was yet to come. Xu Huang and Shi Huan then participated in the entire Battle of Guandu, and successfully attacked Yuan Shao's logistical supply lines and burned the grain and grass escorted by Yuan Shao's general Han Meng. They made great contributions in the Battle of Guandu and were promoted to generals and granted the title of Marquis of Duting.

It is worth noting that the court of the Eastern Han Dynasty controlled by Cao Cao was very strict in awarding official positions and titles, and would not grant them unless they had made great contributions.

Guan Yu was awarded the title of Marquis of Han Shou Ting only after he killed Yan Liang and Wen Chou in the Battle of Guandu, which shows Xu Huang's achievements in the Battle of Guandu.

Cao Cao's army had a tradition of massacring cities to intimidate the enemy.

During the process of Cao Cao suppressing Yuan Shao's forces, Xu Huang advocated persuading some resisting cities to surrender and not killing innocent people.

This shows that Xu Huang was not only a general, but also possessed considerable wisdom and strategy. Xu Huang's strategy of surrender reduced the casualties of Cao's army and accelerated the process of pacifying the remnants of Yuan Shao's forces.

Xu Huang followed Cao Cao to pacify Yuan Shao's four states of Ji, Qing, You and Bing, and also participated in the Battle of Bailang Mountain, pacifying the brothers Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi in one fell swoop and eliminating the remaining forces of Yuan Shao.

Because of his accumulated military merits, Xu Huang was appointed as General Hengye.

Soon after Cao Cao was defeated in the Battle of Chibi, Xu Huang cooperated with Cao Ren who was defending Jiangling to resist Guan Yu's attack and ensure the safety of the rear of Jiangling, and his performance was outstanding.

After fighting in the south, Xu Huang fought in the north. He first followed Xiahou Yuan to quell the rebellion in the Guanzhong area. Later, Cao Cao personally led an expedition against the northwestern warlords Ma Chao and Han Sui. When they were unable to cross the Yellow River, Xu Huang volunteered to lead a group of elite soldiers to cross the river and establish a beachhead at Pubanjin, allowing Cao Cao's army to cross the Yellow River.

After Cao Cao pacified Ma Chao and Han Sui, Xu Huang assisted Xiahou Yuan in managing Guanzhong and other northwestern regions. In the battle against Zhang Lu in Hanzhong, he was promoted to General Pingkou for his military exploits. (End of this chapter)