博望坡之战 / Bowang Slope Battle (Late Han)

Overview

博望坡之战 / Bowang Slope Battle enters the wiki through Hanji 1057 as Liu Bei’s burned-camp lure against Cao-side commanders. The episode’s distinctive contribution is the contrast between the historical account and later Romance memory: the source attributes the plan to 刘备, not 诸葛亮.

Current Profile

Under 刘表’s shelter, Liu Bei moves north and reaches Bowang. 曹操 sends 夏侯惇 and 于禁, with 李典 also in the force. Liu Bei burns his camp and retreats; Li Dian warns that an unexplained retreat through narrow, wooded terrain looks like an ambush. Xiahou Dun pursues anyway, enters the trap, and Li Dian’s rescue prevents a deeper defeat.

Key Characteristics

• Burned-camp withdrawal used as bait rather than panic.
• Terrain-dependent ambush where narrow and wooded roads make pursuit dangerous.
• Cao-side warning failure: Li Dian reads the trap but Xiahou Dun ignores him.
• Historical-attribution contrast with the Romance tradition.
• Adds an active battlefield branch to Liu Bei’s otherwise shelter-and-recovery posture under Liu Biao.

Evidence

• Battle sequence: Hanji 1057 says Liu Bei attacks north from Liu Biao’s side, burns his camp, withdraws, and ambushes Xiahou Dun’s pursuing force.
• Warning failure: Hanji 1057 emphasizes Li Dian’s correct warning about ambush signs and terrain before his rescue of Xiahou Dun.
• Attribution contrast: Hanji 1057 explicitly contrasts official-history/chronicle attribution to Liu Bei with the later Romance account associated with Zhuge Liang.

Qualifications

This page is limited to the source’s Bowang account. It does not adjudicate every later literary version of the battle; it records the wiki-relevant distinction that the episode itself makes.

What Changed

• Created the page from Hanji 1057’s Bowang ambush branch.

Relationships

• 刘备 - source-attributed planner and ambush actor.
• 夏侯惇 - Cao-side commander lured into pursuit and rescued.
• 李典 - warning-reader and rescue actor.
• 于禁 - Cao-side officer in the expedition.
• 刘表 - sheltering Jingzhou power behind Liu Bei’s northern movement.
• 诱敌离位 - tactical concept illustrated by the burned-camp withdrawal.
• 《三国演义》 - later narrative tradition contrasted with the source’s historical attribution.