Battle of Jianwei


The Battle of Jianwei was fought between the contending states of Shu Han and Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China. The battle was also the third of a series of military campaigns against Wei launched by Shu's chancellor, Zhuge Liang. The battle concluded with a Shu victory and capture of Wudu and Yinping commanderies, which are around present-day Longnan, Gansu.

The battle

In the spring of 229, Zhuge Liang ordered Chen Shi to lead troops to attack the Wei-controlled Wudu and Yinping commanderies, while he remained at the staging area in Yangping Pass with an army as backup.
Upon receiving news that the Wei general Guo Huai had mobilised his forces to attack Chen Shi, Zhuge Liang moved his army from Yangping Pass to Jianwei in the northwestern corner of Wudu Commandery. When Guo Huai heard that Zhuge Liang was heading towards Jianwei, he decided not to attack Chen Shi, and instead ordered his troops to evacuate the area and set up a defensive line in anticipation of further Shu advances. However, Zhuge Liang did not proceed farther after reaching Jianwei, where he deployed his troops to counter any Wei reinforcements that might show up.
Guo Huai and his troops retreated later. The Shu forces thus successfully captured Wudu and Yinping commanderies. As the Wei government deemed the two commanderies unimportant, they did not send forces to recapture them from Shu.
Since Wei forces had relocated the local tribesmen and livestock away from the two commanderies, Zhuge Liang thought that it would be futile and strategically useless to station troops there to guard them. As a result, he withdrew all Shu forces from the two commanderies and retreated to Hanzhong Commandery.

Aftermath

The victory at Jianwei was short-lived, and the manpower and resources invested in it drained the third Northern Expedition too greatly; for the rest of 229 and for the first part of 230, the Shu forces could do nothing more than construct a defensive line in Hanzhong Commandery in preparation for a Wei offensive towards Hanzhong in the autumn. The diminished Shu forces would launch no further offensives until the fourth expedition in 231.
When Zhuge Liang returned from the campaign, the Shu emperor Liu Shan issued an imperial decree to congratulate him on his successes in defeating Wang Shuang during the second Northern Expedition and capturing Wudu and Yinping commanderies during the third Northern Expedition. He also restored Zhuge Liang to the position of Imperial Chancellor.