Hulao Pass: The Tiger's Trap Pass 虎牢关
Historians would probably never knew how much blood had really been spilled across the vicinity of what was known as the Hulao Pass 虎牢关~ or more precisely, the "Tiger's Trap Pass." Since time immemorial, even by the standards of ancient China- Since the times of Shang, since beyond archaeological evidence, since Xia, since the legendary Emperors and since mythic gods and ancestors, none of human factors could contend with what nature itself had fashioned in raw, strategic landscape.
Music: The Phoenix King
During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Luoyang was the capital of the Republic of China for a brief period of time. Perhaps tellingly, in Japan's 1944 attempt to take Luoyang they chose to completely bypass and circle around the Hulao approach and attacked from the
north and south instead.
Hulao Pass was named when King Mu of Zhou once trapped a tiger in this place. Due to its important location, the site had seen endless amount of conflict that dated across Chinese history due to its proximity to the fertile valley of Luoyang. Since Luoyang was shielded by a ring of mountains in the shape of a C > and have the Yellow River completely protecting its north, there are only several entrances in which an outside force could approach the nestled valley. As such, this area had seen conflicts that dated throughout the Warring States period, Zhou, Han, Era of Fragmentation, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and throughout the 20th century.
It was little wonder that when the novel "Romance of Three Kingdom" was written, that the author chose this site for a legendary battle between the three sworn brothers of Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, and Guan Yu against the seemingly unstoppable Lu Bu.
A funnel in the east. The ring of mountain that protects the fertile valley around Luoyang forms a distinctive C > shape, the location of Hulao Pass is marked with an X.
The Battle of Hulao (621)
3,000 vs 100,000. the Battle of Hulao- or the Battle of the Tiger's Trap Pass on May 28, 621 was one of the most decisive battles in all of Chinese history, the climax of which was decided by a deadly charge with one of the principle commanders- Prince Li Shimin of Tang leading from the front. Hulao made the Tang dynasty the undisputed ruler of China and cemented its rule in as a hegemonic power in Asia for the next 2 and a half centuries.
FOR A DETAILED VERSION OF THE GREAT BATTLE:
YOU CAN FIND THE STORY OF THE GREAT BATTLE HERE:
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