Cao Cao's technical warfare

This is the decisive battle for Cao Cao to unify northern China. Winning more with less is a famous battle and a thought-provoking historical event. Yuan Shao is outnumbered and Cao Cao is outnumbered. However, Cao Cao's army defeated Yuan Shao. So how did Cao Cao win more with less, and win the strong with weakness? What is the course of this war? Please pay attention to Yi Zhongtian's The Battle of the Three Kingdoms!

From A.D. 190 to A.D. 200, after nearly ten years of feudal rule, two most powerful groups were formed, namely Cao Cao Group and Yuan Shao Group. Yuan Shao acquired the land of Yizhou, Qingzhou, Bingzhou and Youzhou, and lived in the north; Cao Cao's forces reached Guanzhong in the west and Yanzhou, Yuzhou and Xuzhou in the east, controlling most of the areas south of the Yellow River and north of Huai Han, forming a confrontation with Yuan Shao along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. At this point, Yang Feng has been destroyed, Lu Bu is dead, Yuan Shu is dead, Zhang Xiu has fallen, Sun Ce is holed up in Jiangdong, and Liu Biao is watching. The situation is very clear, that is, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao do not live next to each other, and they must fight it out.

At that time, Yuan Shao's strength far exceeded that of Cao Cao, so he decided to attack Cao Cao, which led to the famous "Battle of Guandu" in history. So, how did the weak Cao Cao deal with the powerful Yuan Shao? Professor Yi Zhongtian of Xiamen University is a guest in Lecture Room, telling you the wonderful story of that magnificent history. Yi Zhongtian's Three Kingdoms showdown is being broadcast, so stay tuned!

Yi Zhongtian:

Today we are talking about the battle of Guandu. The war officially started in February of the fifth year of Jian 'an, and it was divided into four stages.

The first stage of the battle of Guandu, the confrontation stage.

The first stage is the "confrontation stage". Yuan Shao took the initiative to attack. In February of the fifth year of Jian 'an, Yuan Shao entered Liyang on the north bank of the Yellow River and sent general Yan Liang to cross the river to attack Baima. At the same time, he sent general Wen Chou to attack Yanjin. The main battlefield is in Baima. At this point, Ada was stationed in Baima. There were 3,000 people in Liuyan, so that Ada failed to hold it in April of the fifth year of Jian 'an. He wrote a letter to Cao Cao asking for help. Cao Cao also knew that Ada couldn't hold on any longer and decided to reinforce Baima. At this time, one of Cao Cao's counselors, Xun You, told Cao Cao that I wouldn't play the white horse, but we would play Yanjin, and Cao Cao immediately understood. What do you mean? A diversion, now I am not a tight white horse? We don't play white horses. Our army crossed the Yellow River from Yanjin, posing as if Yuan Shao had been cheated and reinforced Yanjin. Cao Cao immediately adopted Xun You's suggestion and led the army to make great strides toward Yen Jin. Please note that his March was a big show, deliberately letting Yuan Shao's scouts know, so Yuan Shao's scouts immediately went back to report. Sure enough, Yuan Shao was cheated and sent troops to reinforce Yanjin. But when Cao Cao was halfway there, Cao Cao ordered his troops to rest in place, and then sent a light cavalry to copy the path and jump straight at the white horse. Guan Yu was the first general.

* There is another episode here. At the end of A.D. 199, when Cao Cao was deploying a crusade against Yuan Shao, Liu Bei rose up against Cao Cao and took the initiative to contact Yuan Shao, intending to jointly attack him. Cao Cao personally led a good soldier to attack Liu Bei, occupying Pei County and recovering Xuzhou. Liu Bei was completely annihilated and led a few military forces to flee to Hebei to go to Yuan Shao's account. Guan Yu was unable to resist and surrendered to Cao Cao.

After Guan Yu surrendered to Cao Cao, Cao Cao was very kind to him. Guan Yu made a decision at that time: after making great contributions to Cao Cao, he would return to his brother Liu Bei. Then Guan Yu and others tied the hussars and jumped on the white horse. Yan Liang was caught off guard and beheaded by Guan Yu. At this time, Yuan Shaocai found himself cheated. He was a diversion. Then Liu Bei and Wen Chou were sent to intercept Cao Cao. And Cao Cao also knows very well that although the place of White Horse has been cleared, this place can no longer be kept, Yuan Shao will definitely fight back, and we can't keep the White Horse. Moreover, once Yuan Shao got the white horse, he must take it out on the white horse and kill the city, so Cao Cao decided to take the white horse to Yanjin along the Yellow River. Those of us who have read the Romance of the Three Kingdoms know that Liu Bei should take the common people with him when he leaves after defeat. I'm afraid few people know that Cao Cao also took the people with him when he retreated. Cao Cao took so many people to Yanjin on white horses. Of course, he walks slowly. As a result, they ran into the troops of Liu Bei and Wen Chou.

What was the situation then? It turned out to be Cao, with five or six hundred cavalry, who came to the southeast hillside of Yanjin to rest. The sentry reported to Cao Cao that hundreds of cavalry were coming ahead, and Cao Cao said he knew. After a while, the sentry reported that a thousand cavalry had arrived, and the number of infantry could not be counted. Cao Cao said not to report, and then ordered to dismount and rest in place. The generals didn't understand, saying that the enemy was coming and asked us to get ready. How can I dismount and rest in place? Besides, the luggage we brought from Baima, that is, food, cloth and 7788 things, is on the way. We should at least transport them back to the barracks and prepare for battle. Cao Cao said never mind, and Cao Cao said never mind. Get off the horse and sit on the ground and have a rest. This is another plan of Cao Cao. What plan? As expected, Liu Bei and Wen Chou rushed over with cavalry and looked at everything on the ground. It's all good things, and the cavalry began to hesitate. After hesitating for a while, they could not resist the temptation. They all dismounted to pick up those things and grab those treasures. At this time, Cao Cao gave the order to mount the horse! The bugle sounded, drums sounded, ShaSheng deafening, six hundred fighters tilted down from the high slope, Yuan Jun was immediately beaten everywhere, and Wen Chou was beheaded. Who killed him? I don't know. The romance of the Three Kingdoms says Guan Yu, but there is no official record. Probably Guan Yu, because after the war, Guan Yu left a letter and a thank-you letter, sealed all the rewards that Cao Cao gave him, and rode his red hare to find his brother who ran faster than a rabbit. Moreover, after Wen Chou was killed, Liu Bei turned around and ran. Liu Bei's ability is still relatively large. This was the first stage of the Guandu War.

In the confrontation stage of the battle of Guandu, Cao Cao took Yuan Shao by surprise, which not only solved the siege of the white horse, but also folded two generals of Yuan Shao. Jun can be said to have won the first battle. However, although Yuan Shao lost the first battle, he still has an advantage in strength. It will take time for you to win completely, so what will happen next?

The second stage of the battle of Guandu, the stalemate stage

After the war, Cao Cao knew very well that he was no match for Yuan Shao, because Yuan Shao claimed to be a hundred thousand elite at that time, and Cao Cao recorded less than ten thousand according to the records of the Three Kingdoms. Of course, Pei Songzhi, who annotated the History of the Three Kingdoms, thought this figure was inaccurate. Cao Cao's army is more than 10,000 people, with an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people. Must be outnumbered. Therefore, Cao Cao understood that Yanjin and Baima could not defend, so although Cao Cao won the battle, he retired from the army. As for Yuan Shao, he thinks he is awesome. Cao Cao must be timid to run back after winning the battle. If he can't win, we will move forward, so Yuan Shao entered Guandu. But Yuan Shao didn't know that Cao Cao's decision was very pragmatic. Cao Cao knew that it was not cost-effective for me to confront Yuan Shao in Baima and Yanjin at this time. I'd rather take a step back. What are the advantages of taking a step back? Prolonged the enemy's supply line. Look at the map and you will know that Xudu is here, Guandu is here, Yecheng is here, Liyang is here, Baima is here, Cao Cao's supply line was long when he fought in Baima, and Yuan Shao's supply line was long when he fought in Guandu, so Cao Cao told the enemy to advance and I retreated. But after retreating to Guandu, Cao Cao also set foot on no way back, so Yuan Shao camped in Guandu, and Cao Cao camped accordingly, and the war entered the second stage: "stalemate stage".

At present, the war is highly technical. Yuan Shaoxian built a high hill in his camp. He made the earth into a hill and put it on the building. Then send archers to shoot arrows at Cao Cao from the commanding heights. This is powerful, just like the rocket launcher now. Cao Cao (his army) suffered heavy casualties. So what did Cao Cao want to do with him, so he made a machine called a trebuchet. I can't describe what this machine looks like now. Anyway, it can hit such a big stone like a gun, invented such a machine, made a batch of this machine, and then shot the big stones at Yuan Ying one by one. After months of stalemate, the two sides were tied, but they were all tired.

One day, a car carrying Xu Du's commissary drove into Cao Cao's barracks, and Cao Cao joined the army. Cao Cao is still very kind to soldiers. He saw that the convoy carrying food was very difficult and sallow and emaciated. Some porters can't afford to wear shoes, walk barefoot, their feet are full of calluses, and even wear out and bleed. Cao Cao was very sad after reading it. Cao Cao went over to ask them questions, asked them to be cold and warm, and then took their hands and said, Brothers, please give me fifteen days, just fifteen days. In fifteen days, I won't let you work so hard again. In other words, the war will end in fifteen days. Cao Cao, is he sure? No, the actual idea is that Cao Cao doesn't want to fight. He intends to withdraw his troops within fifteen days. He is too tired to play. He wrote a letter to Yu Xun who stayed in Xudu, but Yu Xun objected. Yu Xun said, Gong Ming, we must fight this war. If you don't want to fight or can't fight, you have to fight. Please think about it. Yuan Shao is their nest this time, and he took out all 100 thousand chosen men just to fight with us. He won't let go. If you return it to him, you will enter. You have no way out, you can only resist. Then Cao Cao went to consult Jia Xu, and Jia Xu said, Cao Gong, you are better than Yuan Shao in four aspects: you are smarter, braver, more talented, more decisive and better than Yuan Shao. Why can't you win after playing for half a year? The fundamental reason is that you always want to be foolproof and you worry too much. As long as you make up your mind and concentrate your strength, you will surely win.

Jia Xu and Yu Xun are right. War is a risky thing, especially in the era of cold weapons. No one is sure of winning. It is difficult to be foolproof in war, which requires the will of the coach. In this case, the outcome of the war often depends on whether the coach's will is strong, and the final victory often lies in persistent efforts.

* In the second stage of the battle of Guandu, Cao Yingyuan was at loggerheads and each suffered losses. Cao Jun is running out of food and grass, and his infantry is tired. Cao Cao almost lost the confidence to persist, and began to succumb to it, with the idea of withdrawing troops. Then, will Cao Cao, whose morale has been shaken, withdraw his troops? What kind of opportunity will it be waiting for Cao Cao?

The third stage of the battle of Guandu, the turning stage.

The opportunity came, and the war entered the third stage because of three things: "turning stage."

First thing, Liu Bei ran away. During the stalemate in the battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao sent Liu Bei south to harass Xudu. Liu Pi, a former member of the Yellow Scarf Army who betrayed Cao Cao, is united. The two of them harassed Cao Cao near Xudu, and were finally beaten out of the water by Cao Jun .. After Liu Bei returned to Guandu, he told Yuan Shao that it was no good to fight like this. Should we unite Liu Biao in the south and let Liu Biao attack Cao in the south? Yuan Shao thinks it makes sense, so go ahead. You and Liu Biao are both from the Liu family. Of course, Liu Bei is a special envoy, so Liu Bei was approved to join Liu Biao with his own army.

What is Liu Bei's alliance with Liu Biao for? He just ran away! Why did Liu Bei run away? One possibility is that Yuan Shao showed his face when he came back from defeat. This is a guess by some historians, but it is unlikely, or it is not very important if there is one. Why? First, Yuan Shao and his son were quite polite to Liu Bei. According to historical records, they respect him very much. Second, even if Yuan Shao's face is not good this time, Liu Bei can bear it, because Liu Bei has always taken refuge in this and that. Once I took refuge in Gongsun Zan to fight Yuan Shao, then I took refuge in Tao Qian to fight Cao Cao, then I took refuge in Cao Lu Bu, and now I take refuge in Yuan Shao to fight Cao Cao. How many times has he changed? He can resist this ugly look. I think he is probably a mouse on a seagoing ship. He is the first person to know whether the ship will capsize. He is sensitive to politics. He may have predicted that Yuan Shao would fail, so he slipped away. This incident did not attract enough attention at that time, but I think it is a sign. This is the first thing.

The second thing, Xu You defected. Xu You defected for three reasons. The first was Xu You's greed for money. Yuan Shao couldn't satisfy him, so he went to Cao Cao. The second way of saying this is that Xu You's family did evil, and Shen Pei, who stayed in Yecheng, was imprisoned, so Xu You defected. The third argument is that Xu You suggested to Yuan Shao that we take a shortcut to Xudu to hijack the emperor. Yuan Shao defected without taking his advice. In fact, these three statements can be unified, that is, Xu You found that his strategy here in Yuan Shao was useless and his desires were not satisfied, so he felt that he could not stay any longer and went to Cao Cao. Xu You is a very important person. He was Yuan Shao's earliest counselor, mastered a lot of military secrets, and was a very clever man with many ideas. As soon as I went to Cao Cao, Cao Cao clapped his hands and laughed and helped me. Haha, this is a good thing for me. Xu Youyi went to Cao Cao and immediately had an idea with Cao Cao: burn the nest. Where is this black hole? Wu Chao is here. Wu Chao is the place where Yuan Shao hoarded rations. This is a grain depot. Xu You suggested that Cao Cao send cavalry to raid Wu's lair and burn it clean with a torch. Cao Cao immediately adopted this plan and arrived at the lair of Wu State overnight.

Then at this time, the third thing happened, and Zhang He turned against the water. Zhang He is also a member of General Yuan Shao, actually better than Yan Liang and Wen Chou. Yan Liang and Wen Chou are foolhardy, while Zhang He is resourceful. At that time, after Yuan Shao got the news of Cao Cao's surprise attack on the Wu Dynasty, Zhang He proposed to Yuan Shao that the Wu Dynasty must immediately reinforce. If we lose Wu Chao, we have no way out, and we will be defeated. But Guo Tu, Yuan Shao's counselor, disagreed. Guo Tu said that we should fight Guandu now. When we fight Guandu, Cao Cao will come back to save Guandu when he gets caught, and Wu Chao's encirclement can't help himself. Yuan Shao thought Guo Tu's idea was good, so he adopted Guo Tu's idea, sent a poor army, sent light troops to save the Wu Dynasty, and sent heavy troops to attack Guandu. Zhang He said, Master, this will not work. Guandu is Cao Cao's base camp. Where can I take it off in a short time? If I can win it, I will win it earlier. We've been fighting for so long because we can't get it off. Save the nest! Yuan Shao said no, no, no, that's it. Call guandu. What was the result? The nest fell down, and the stores were all burned, but Guandu could not fight. Does this result prove that Guo Tu's idea is wrong? Guo Tu is very nervous. What will he do when he is nervous? He ran to Yuan Shao and reported that Master Zhang He was gloating when he heard that we had lost our lair. He said he was right. Guo Tu was convinced that Yuan Shao was a respectable guy, and Yuan Shao immediately became suspicious. When Zhang He finished reading it, he lost in front, caught fire in the backyard and was desperate. He and his subordinate Gao Lan made a total. Forget it, surrender, burn the chariot and raise the flag to surrender to Cao Cao.

At this point, Zhang He is in Guandu, and Cao Cao has not returned from Wu Chao. On the way back from Wu Chao, Cao Cao's strategist Xun You and Cao Cao's general Cao Hong are guarding Guandu. At that time, Zhang He and Gao Lan led troops to surrender. Cao Hong said this is a real surrender or a fake surrender? Xun You said don't hesitate, General Cao. Open the door. It must be a real surrender. Open the camp gate and let Zhang He in. Cao Cao came back from Wu Dynasty after Zhang He surrendered. He was overjoyed and took Zhang He's hand. This is Han Xin's surrender to Liu Bang!

The fourth and decisive stage of the battle of Guandu.

Well, Liu Bei ran away and Yuan Shao lost foreign aid. Xu You rebelled and Yuan Shao lost his mind. Zhang He rebelled and Yuan Shao broke his arm. Three things prove that Yuan Shao's general trend has gone, and the war has quickly entered the fourth stage: the "decisive battle stage". This stage is very simple, that is, according to Jia Xu's suggestion, Cao Cao concentrated his forces to counterattack, and Yuan Shao's side was already in chaos and vulnerable. Lombardi himself jumped on the horse with his eldest son, Yuan Tan, turned around and ran north, forgetting everything. The war will be over soon.

Cao Cao came to Yuan Shao's tent and found books, treasures and antiques in Yuan Shao's tent. You said you were going out to March and fight. Why did you bring these things? What are you doing? Play. Yuan Shao has always considered himself a romantic celebrity and a Confucian general. He takes books, treasures and antiques with him everywhere and puts them on the shelf to clean them up. This kind of demeanor is excellent. It turned out to be Cao Cao's trophy. This happened in October of the fifth year of Jian 'an. After this war, Yuan Shao Group was devastated.

The battle of Guandu ended in Cao Cao's overall victory. Cao Cao unexpectedly defeated Yuan Shao's 100,000 troops. This war made Cao Cao finally establish his indisputable dominance in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, the most prosperous and culturally developed area in China at that time. And what will happen to the failed Yuan Shao?

In May of the seventh year of Jian 'an, Yuan Shao vomited blood and died. In the ninth year of Jian 'an, Yuan Shang, Yuan Shao's successor, was defeated by Cao Cao. Ten years after Jian 'an, Yuan Tan, the eldest son of Yuan Shao, was killed by Cao Cao. In September of the 12th year of Jian 'an, Gongsun Kang, the satrap of Liaodong, killed Yuan Shang, the heir of Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shao's second son, and sent their heads to Cao Cao's account, so Yuan Group was destroyed. The death of Yuan Shang and Yuan Xizhi has two episodes.

At that time, two boys ran to that place in Gongsun Kang, and that place in Gongsun Kang was in Liaodong Prefecture. Everyone said there was going to be a battle, but Cao Cao said it was unnecessary. Just wait. Gongsun Kang will give me the heads of these two men. Why do you think it is? Cao Cao said it was simple. He said that these two groups are simply strange strange bedfellows, and both sides will play tricks on each other. If we are in a hurry, they will collude closely. We cut him some slack and they started killing each other. Sure enough, after Yuan Shang and Yuan went to Gongsun Kang, the brothers wondered, we invited Gongsun Kang to drink, and we did, so this place is ours. What does Gongsun Kang think? He said that these two guys offended Cao Cao and came to me. How should I tell Cao Cao? I bought them drinks and washed them. The result is Yuan Shang and Yuan, and it is really at the banquet. Gongsun Kang arrested the two boys at the hongmen banquet, tied them up and threw them on the ground. The two men said, alas, it's cold here, November, winter, and it's cold here. Can you give us a cushion to sit on? Gongsun Kang said, alas, you two head to go out of town, what kind of cushion!

All this was expected by Cao Cao, so I have repeatedly stressed that in political and military struggles, the winners are people who understand human nature and can read each other's minds. Yuan Tan died, Yuan died, Yuan Shang died, and the Yuan family withdrew from the historical stage, all of which were rooted in the battle of Guandu. After the Battle of Guandu, the situation in China changed radically at that time, and China in the north was basically named Cao.

This ending was foreseen by two people around Yuan Shao, one was his counselor Jushou and the other was his counselor Tian Feng. The two men resolutely opposed Yuan Shao's waging such a war. Tian Feng objected even more fiercely. Tian Feng said that the first thing to do now is to strengthen ourselves. While strengthening ourselves, we can send small troops to harass Cao Cao. Our army is divided into several parts. From different directions, we will fight the west when Cao Cao saves the east, and we will fight the east when Cao Cao saves the west. Anyway, we'll keep him busy. We waited and waited, so in less than three years, this matter came naturally. Now the master has assembled 100 thousand elite troops to put all your eggs in one basket. What if you beat them? Yuan Shao said that in case where? What if? How can I beat it? Tian Feng said, master, you can't do this! Tian Feng is also an old counselor of Yuan Shao, or he may be a little junior, and he tried his best to stop Yuan Shao from waging this war. Yuan Shao flew into a rage What are you doing? Now that my troops have been assembled and the horn has sounded, I'm going to set off. You always say what to do if you fail, what to do if you fail, what to do if you fail, and what to do if you fail. Besides, I will kill you, lock you up, put you in prison, disturb the morale, shake the morale, and curse me for getting off to a bad start. Stay in prison first, and don't you dare come to see me when I come back triumphantly!

More than a year later, the news that the battle of Guandu failed reached Yecheng, and it turned out that Tian Feng was right. So a friend came to visit Tian Feng in prison and congratulated him, saying, Brother Tian, you can be released from prison now, and you will be reused now, because it turns out that you are right. After hearing the news, Tian Feng sighed, alas, I'm dead this time! Everyone says why, how is this possible? Doesn't this prove that you are right? Yes, why? How is that possible? Please watch the next episode. There is evidence of victory or failure.