Chapter 23 Section 3 Offensive and defensive battle on the front line of Guandu

After the battle of Baima and Yanjin, Yuan and Cao entered a temporary stalemate.Although Yuan Shao suffered consecutive disadvantages in these two battles, he still maintained his advantage.In terms of manpower, Yuan Shao's army is nearly 100,000, and Cao Cao's army is no more than 30,000 to 40,000.In terms of the economic strength in the rear, Yan (Yanyan) and Yuzhou occupied by Cao Cao were the most severely damaged areas since the end of Han Dynasty, and they were far less prosperous than the Hebei area occupied by Yuan Shao.Although Cao Cao started farming and accumulating grain in the same year he entered Xudu, after all, it was only four or five years ago, and the military food and salary were far less than Yuan Shao's.However, Cao Cao was a far-sighted and talented politician in history. In order to win people's hearts, he took some relatively enlightened political measures.For example: He once returned all the cotton silk confiscated in Yang'an County (the old city is in the northeast of Queshan County, Henan Province) to the people.Another example: He ordered the troops to march, and horses were not allowed to step on the green crops, and those who violated it were executed.Once his own horse trampled a wheat field and ordered his subordinates to judge the crime according to the regulations. As a result, he drew his sword, cut off a lock of hair, and threw it on the ground to express his punishment for his fault.Cao Cao's approach is objectively beneficial to the people, so to a certain extent, he was able to get the support of the people, creating favorable conditions for defeating the enemy militarily.

Yuan Shao suffered serious setbacks at the beginning of the war, but he did not learn from the failure. He still insisted on a decisive battle with Cao Cao relying on his advantages in the number of troops, equipment and material reserves.After a period of rest, in July of this year, Yuan Shao assembled his army at Yangwu, north of Guandu, and prepared to continue to attack.At this time, Ju Shou once again analyzed the situation of the war to him and said: "Although our army is large in number, it is not as brave and good at fighting as Cao's army; the weakness of Cao's army is that the army has less food, and the material reserves are not as sufficient as ours. Cao's army is good for urgent battles. The army is good for fighting slowly. Therefore, our army should use protracted warfare to consume Cao's strength, so as to finally defeat Cao's army." Yuan Shao did not listen to these advices, and still insisted on going his own way.He ordered the main force to go to the front line of Guandu and build a camp relying on sand piles, which was dozens of miles long from east to west.Cao Jun also camped separately to confront Yuan Jun.

In September, Cao Cao launched an attack on Yuan Jun, but was unable to win.So he changed his policy, kept deep trenches and high fortifications, stood firm, waited for a favorable opportunity, and then attacked Yuan Jun.Yuan Shao was eager to fight. Seeing that Cao Jun retreated into the camp and would not come out again, he ordered the soldiers to pile up many earth hills outside the Cao camp, and built high wall buildings on the earth hills, and asked the soldiers to lay down on Cao Jun's camp on the wall towers. arrow.With an order, Yuan Jun fired thousands of arrows from the wall tower, and the arrows rained down on Cao Jun; Cao Ying's soldiers had to cover their bodies with shields, and people panicked.In response to Yuan Jun's approach, Cao Cao asked the craftsmen to rush to build a batch of stone carts overnight, which were distributed within the camp wall, facing Yuan Jun's earth mountain.When Yuan Jun's archers shot arrows, Cao Ying pulled the stone cart together, fired stones like beads, and beat them upwards.Yuan Jun's wall building was broken, and many archers were killed or injured.The sound of the stone-making cart is like thunder when it launches stones, and people call this kind of cart "Thunderbolt Chariot".Yuan Shao saw that the attack with the wall tower was unsuccessful, so he ordered his men to dig a tunnel directly to Cao Ying.Cao Cao asked the soldiers to dig a long trench inside the camp wall for defense.Yuan Jun dug the tunnel to the edge of the ditch, but he couldn't enter it, and it wasted a lot of effort.In this way, the two sides held a stalemate in Guandu for about three months.

On Cao Cao's side, the number of troops is small, and the military rations are very difficult. If the war lasts for a long time, it will be detrimental to Cao's army.Faced with this situation, Cao Cao himself once wavered and planned to retreat to Xudu.Cao Cao's counselor Xun Yu analyzed the future of the war for him, and believed that this war was a good opportunity to defeat Yuan Shao.He advised Cao Cao to do his best to strive for the final victory.Cao Cao accepted Xun Yu's opinion and strengthened his determination to deal with Yuan Shao to the end.On the one hand, he ordered the troops to continue to stick to Guandu, on the other hand, he kept a close eye on the enemy's movements, looked for favorable opportunities, and fought the final decisive battle.