Liu Bei fled to Yecheng (the seat of Jizhou, in the southwest of Linzhang, Hebei today), Yuan Shao felt that Cao Cao was a powerful enemy, and determined to attack Xudu.Tian Feng, who originally advised him to attack Xudu, did not agree to attack immediately at this time.He said: "Now Xudu is not empty, how can we still attack! Although Cao Cao has few troops, he is good at using troops and has many changes. We should not underestimate him. I think we should make long-term plans." Yuan Shao didn't listen to Tian Feng's words, Tian Feng repeatedly advised him, Yuan Shao thought that he disturbed the morale of the army and put him in prison. He sent documents to all states and counties to denounce Cao Cao.In 200 A.D., Yuan Shao gathered 100,000 elite soldiers and sent Jushou (ju sound ju) as the supervisor of the army. He marched from Yecheng to Liyang (now Jun County, Henan).He first sent general Yan Liang to cross the Yellow River and attack Baima (now Hua County, Henan).

At this time, Cao Cao had already led his troops back to Guandu, and when he heard that the white horse was besieged, he was going to rescue it himself.His counselor Xun You advised him: "The enemy has many soldiers and we are few. We can't fight him head-on. It's better to divide some of our troops to go west and pretend to cross the river in Yanjin (northwest of Yanjin, Henan Province) and lead the main force of Yuan's army to the west. .We'll send a light cavalry force to White Horse, and catch him off guard." Cao Cao adopted Xun You's opinion and made a big noise.Yuan Shao heard that Cao Cao was going to cross the river in Yanjin, so he sent a large army to intercept him.How did you know that Cao Cao had personally led a light cavalry to attack the white horse.Yan Liang, the general of the Yuan army who surrounded the white horse, was unprepared and was defeated by Cao Jun.Yan Liang was killed, and the siege of the white horse was lifted.

When Yuan Shao heard that Cao Cao had saved the white horse, he jumped up in anger.Ju Shou, the supervisor of the army, persuaded Yuan Shao to keep the main force in the south of Yanjin and attack with a part of the force.However, Yuan Shao was so anxious that he did not listen to Jushou's advice, and ordered the whole army to cross the river to pursue Cao Jun, and sent General Wen Chou to lead five or six thousand cavalry to fight in the vanguard.At this time, Cao Cao retreated from Baima to Guandu.Hearing that Yuan Jun was coming in pursuit, he ambushed 600 cavalrymen on the southern slope of Yanjin, ordered the soldiers to take off their saddles, and let the horses walk down the hillside, throwing weapons and armor all over the ground.

Wen Chou's cavalry rushed to the south slope. Seeing this, they thought that Cao's army had fled far away, and asked the soldiers to pack up the weapons that had been thrown on the ground.Cao Cao gave an order, and six hundred ambush soldiers rushed out together.Yuan Jun had no time to resist and was killed in pieces.Wen Chou also lost his head in a daze. After the two battles, Yuan Shao lost two of his generals, Yan Liang and Wen Chou, in succession, and Yuan's soldiers were defeated.But Yuan Shao refused to give up, and must pursue Cao Cao.Jushou said, "Although we have many people, we are not as brave as Cao's army. Although Cao's army is brave, they don't have as much food as us. So we still stand here. When Cao's food and grass run out, they will naturally retreat."

Yuan Shao did not listen to Jushou's advice, and ordered his soldiers to continue marching until they reached Guandu before setting up camp.Cao Cao's men and horses had already returned to Guandu, arranged their positions, and stood firm. Yuan Shao saw that Cao Jun was guarding the camp, so he ordered his soldiers to pile up a mountain of earth outside Cao Ying and build a high platform, so that the soldiers could shoot arrows at Cao Ying from a condescending position on the high platform. Cao Jun had no choice but to cover himself with a shield and walk around in the barracks. Cao Cao discussed with his advisers and designed a thunderbolt chariot.This car is equipped with a mechanism.The soldiers pulled the trigger and sent out stones weighing more than ten kilograms, which knocked down Yuan Jun's high platform, and many Yuan Jun soldiers were beaten to death.

Yuan Shao suffered a loss and came up with another way.He asked the soldiers to dig tunnels secretly in the middle of the night, planning to sneak into Cao Ying from the tunnels to attack.But their actions were discovered by Cao Jun long ago.Cao Cao ordered the soldiers to dig a long and deep trench in front of the barracks and cut off the exit of the tunnel.Yuan Shao's sneak attack plan failed again. In this way, the two sides held a stalemate in Guandu for more than a month.As time went on, Cao Jun's food became less and less, and the soldiers were exhausted. Cao Cao couldn't bear it anymore, and wrote to Xu Du to tell Xun Yu that he was going to withdraw.Xun Yu wrote back, advising Cao Cao to persevere no matter what.

At this time, Yuan Shao's military rations were continuously transported from Yecheng.Yuan Shao sent General Chun Yuqiong to lead 10,000 horses to deliver the military rations, and hoarded a large amount of military rations in Wuchao, 40 miles away from Guandu. Xu You, Yuan Shao's counselor, found out that Cao Cao was short of food, and offered advice to Yuan Shao, persuading Yuan Shao to send a small force to bypass Guandu and attack Xudu.Yuan Shao said coldly: "No, I must defeat Cao Cao first." Xu You wanted to persuade him, but someone sent Yuan Shao a letter from Yecheng, saying that Xu You's family had broken the law there and had been arrested by local officials.Yuan Shao read the letter and scolded Xu You severely.

Xu You was angry and hated, remembering that Cao Cao was his old friend, so he escaped from Yuanying overnight and went to Cao Cao. Cao Cao had just taken off his boots and fell asleep in the camp. When he heard that Xu You had come to join him, he was so happy that he had no time to put on his boots. He ran out barefoot to welcome Xu You, and said, "Okay! If you come, there will be hope for my great event." .” Xu You sat down and said, "Yuan Shao is coming very fiercely. How do you plan to deal with him? How much food do you have now?" Cao Cao said: "It can be supported for another year."

Xu You smiled coldly and said, "Not so many!" Cao Cao changed his words and said, "Yes, we can only support it for half a year." Xu You pretended to be angry and said, "Don't you want to defeat Yuan Shao? Why are you still telling lies in front of your old friends!" Cao Cao had no choice but to tell the truth: "The food in the barracks can only last for a month. What do you think?" Xu You said: "I know your situation is very critical, so I came here to send you a message. Now Yuan Shao has more than 10,000 carts of grain and ordnance, all of which are in Wuchao. Chunyuqiong is very defensive. You only need to bring a The light cavalry went to attack and burned all his food and grass, and within three days he would be defeated without fighting."

When Cao Cao got this important information, he immediately called Xun You and Cao Hong, ordered them to guard the Guandu camp, and led 5,000 cavalry to march to Wuchao overnight.Under the banner of Yuan Jun, they encountered Yuan Jun's sentry along the way and questioned them, and they said that Yuan Shao sent them to reinforce Wuchao.Yuan Jun's sentry had no doubts and let them pass. When Cao Jun arrived at Wuchao, he surrounded Wuchao's grain village, set a fire on it, and burned 10,000 carts of grain and grass to nothing.Chunyu Qiong, the defender of Wuchao, rushed to fight and was also killed by Cao Jun.

Yuan Jun's soldiers who were in Guandu panicked when they heard that Wuchao was on fire.Yuan Shao's two generals Zhang He (sound he) and Gao Lan led the troops to surrender.Cao Jun took advantage of the momentum to attack fiercely, and Yuan Jun fled in all directions.Yuan Shao and his son Yuan Tan fled north with the remaining 800 cavalry before they could even put on their armor. After this decisive battle, Yuan Shao's main force has been wiped out.Two years later, Yuan Shao died of illness.It took Cao Cao another seven years to wipe out Yuan Shao's remnants and unify the north.