Chapter 28 3. Killing Yanliang and punishing Wenchou

Ye County, Yuan Shao’s base camp, and Xu County, Cao Cao’s base camp, are about 500 miles away in a straight line, separated by rivers such as the Yellow River and Bianshui, and strategically important places such as Liyang, Baima, Yanjin, and Guandu along the line. This is the center line of Yuan Cao’s decisive battle , It is also the battlefield that determines the ultimate success or failure. In order to meet Yuan Shao's attack, Cao Cao set up three lines of defense: the first line of defense is Liyang (now Jun County, Henan Province), which is on the north bank of the Yellow River; Yanjin, Henan today); the third line of defense is Guandu.

Before the decisive battle, Cao Cao sent a small number of troops to Liyang, not seeking to fight Yuan Jun, but only to monitor the enemy and cooperate with the South Bank operations.He also ordered Yu Jin to lead 2,000 people to garrison Yanjin, Liu Yan, the prefect of Dongjun, to garrison Baima, and the rest of the main force to be stationed in the Guandu area. Facing the attack of more than 100,000 Yuan troops, Cao Cao set up a multi-level defense in depth system instead of distributing the main force on the front line of the Yellow River. The troops along the Yellow River were divided into guards.

The function of the second line of defense is to delay Yuan Jun's attack, consume Yuan Jun's vitality, dampen his spirit, and then start a decisive battle with Yuan Jun on the third line of defense. But this kind of military deployment also took a lot of risks, because Guandu was the last barrier of Xu County. After the first two lines of defense were breached by the enemy, there was no way to retreat. They had to win here, or they would fail completely. In February of the fifth year of Jian'an (200), Yuan Shao personally led an army from Ye County to the south, pointing at Liyang, accompanied by Liu Bei.Cao Jun did not resist, and quickly withdrew to the south of the Yellow River.

Liyang has been an important strategic location on the north bank of the Yellow River since ancient times, and it is the base for crossing the river. Many wars have taken place here throughout the history.Cao Jun has no intention of fighting Yuan Shao in Liyang, because it is difficult for his own troops to continue here, and there is a danger of being wiped out by the enemy under the situation of disparity in strength. After Yuan Shao occupied Liyang, he sent his general Yan Liang as an advance force to cross the river to attack Baima, an important military site on the south bank.This decision was opposed by Ju Shou.

Ju Shou persuaded Yuan Shao, saying: "Yan Liang is narrow-minded. Although he is brave, he cannot take on important responsibilities independently." Yuan Shao refused to listen. Yan Liang's situation is unknown, but he was very famous. At that time, his status and reputation in the army far surpassed Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others.Yuan Shao used to rely heavily on Jushou and almost obeyed his advice, but this time he did not accept Jushou's suggestion.As a result, it turned out that Ju Shou was right. Regarding Yuan Shao's Southern Expedition, there were certain internal differences. The local faction represented by Tian Feng and Jushou expressed opposition, and the contradictions were once made public.Before leaving, Yuan Shao imprisoned Tian Feng, who held strong objections.

Jushou served as the supervisor of the army in the name of General Fenwei under Yuan Shao, and he had great power.At the suggestion of Guo Tu and others, Yuan Shao divided Jushou's power of supervising the army into three, which were held by Jushou, Guo Tu and veteran Chunyu Qiong respectively. According to the "Biography of Emperor Xiandi", before Yuan Shao set off, Jushou recruited people from his own clan and divided up the family wealth. He said to them: "If the power is there, the prestige will increase; if the power is not there, you will not be able to protect yourself. Sad!" One of his clan brothers said, "How can Cao Cao be Yuan Gong's opponent? Why are you worried?" Ju Shou said, "With Cao Cao's strategy, and with the emperor as a backup, we have just defeated Gongsun Zan, and the soldiers are exhausted. , the master will be arrogant and indulgent, the success or failure is already obvious."

Before the army took action, Jushou had spread the "theory of national subjugation" everywhere. Yuan Shao must have noticed it. Jushou's influence in Jizhou prevented Yuan Shao from launching an immediate attack, but his trust in Jushou was greatly reduced.Therefore, when Jushou pointed out important personnel arrangements again, Yuan Shao dismissed it without thinking because of his aversion to Jushou. In April of the fifth year of Jian'an (200), Yan Liang led his troops across the Yellow River and pointed directly at Baima. Cao Cao decided to go north in person to rescue the siege of Baima.At this time, Xun You put forward a different opinion. He believed that Yuan Shao's army was too powerful to attack by force, and could only be outsmarted.Xun You suggested that the white horse should be ignored first, and the main force should go to Yanjin, which is one of the most important ferry crossings on the Yellow River. This would give Yuan Jun a posture that Cao Jun wanted to cross the river from here to outflank Liyang, and induce Yuan Jun's main force to move to the other side of Yanjin. After being transferred, he quickly transferred to Baima.

The adventurous nature of this proposal has two aspects. One is that Yuan Shao sees through Cao Jun's attempt and advances westward regardless of division of troops;In both cases, the result is the same: the white horse is lost, and Cao Jun is defeated. Cao Cao carefully considered Xun You's suggestion. He believed that Xun You's suggestion was worth trying in the reality that the enemy was strong and we were weak, so he gave up the plan of personally rushing to rescue the white horse and marched into Yanjin instead.Sure enough, Yuan Shao was tricked and transferred part of the main force to attack the white horse to Yanjin.

Cao Cao saw that the strategy was successful, so he formed a light cavalry force with Zhang Liao as the main general, and galloped on the white horse with the force of lightning.Zhang Liao took the order and asked Guan Yu to go with him, Cao Cao agreed. After Guan Yu surrendered to Cao Cao, he shared the same interests with Zhang Liao and Xu Huang and had a good relationship.All three of them returned from the enemy camp, and perhaps because of their common experiences, it was easier to talk.Cao Cao admired Guan Yu (a strong man), but found that Guan Yu didn't seem to have any plans to stay for a long time, so he asked Zhang Liao to find out about Guan Yu's bottom.

Zhang Liao explained his intentions, and Guan Yu sighed: "I know Cao Gong treated me well, but I have received the kindness of General Liu and swore to die together. I can't betray him. I won't stay here forever, but I will repay Cao Gong later. Let's go." Zhang Liao relayed Guan Yu's words to Cao Cao truthfully, Cao Cao was not angry, but felt that Guan Yu was very loyal. According to the book "Fu Zi", after Guan Yu said those words to Zhang Liao, Zhang Liao murmured in his heart and told the original words, fearing that Cao Cao would be angry and kill Guan Yu, so he didn't tell the truth, and felt sorry for Cao Cao's trust in him.In the end Zhang Liao still told the truth.

Yan Liang, who was on the front line of the White Horse, always thought that the main battlefield was in Yanjin, which was more than a hundred miles away, but he didn't expect that a powerful force suddenly came to him, and he rushed to the battle, but was defeated.In this battle, Guan Yu made a great contribution and personally beheaded the enemy general Yan Liang. Guan Yu beheaded Yan Liang and fulfilled his original promise. Cao Cao had a premonition that Guan Yu might leave, so he immediately rewarded Guan Yu and wanted to keep him.But Guan Yu made up his mind to go. He sealed up all the things Cao Cao rewarded him, left a letter, and left Cao Ying to find Liu Bei.Cao Cao's subordinates wanted to chase him, but Cao Cao said, "He is also his master, so don't chase him." Guan Yu was very sought after in later generations, and he was called a martial artist, not because of his bravery, but because of his deeds.Guan Yu's behavior is very prominent in this matter: he is not moved by profit, he puts righteousness first in everything, he is very particular about his work, and even if he leaves, it is hard to find reason. Liu Bei had already defected to Yuan Shao at this time, Guan Yu had just killed his general, and Yuan Shao was holding a memorial service for Yan Liang, so Guan Yu dared to defect to him at this time.This is Guan Yu, who only thinks about righteousness in his heart, and doesn't think about anything else.Yuan Shao hated and loved Guan Yu who ran over, but he didn't say anything in the end. Before Guan Yu returned to Liu Bei's side, Zhao Yun, who had been working under Gongsun Zan and whose whereabouts were unknown after Gongsun Zan's defeat, heard that Liu Bei was with Yuan Shao, so he also made a special trip to join him.Liu Bei lived here with Yuan Shao, and his main generals Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, and Zhao Yun finally gathered together. Although Cao Cao broke the siege of Baima, knowing that Yuan Shao's army would arrive soon, he decided to withdraw from Baima.Sure enough, Yuan Shao commanded the main force to cross the river, but Ju Shou expressed a different view on this. According to the "Biography of Emperor Xiandi", Jushou suggested that regardless of the white horse, take Yanjin, which is already at your fingertips, and rely on the advantage of the ferry here to continuously transport the main force across the Yellow River, and then consolidate Yanjin, making it a strategic support point. Taking Xu County, the retreat can be calmly withdrawn to the north of the Yellow River. Yuan Shao didn't like to listen to Jushou's words. In Yuan Shao's view, there was no such option as defeating and withdrawing during this trip.At the same time, the defeat at the white horse in the first battle made Yuan Shao lose face, and he had to get up wherever he fell, and Yuan Shao had to win the white horse to regain his face. Ju Shou stood by the Yellow River and sighed: "Yellow River, Yellow River, I know that I will never come back after this trip (the Yellow River is long, I don't care)!" So he resigned due to physical reasons.Yuan Shao was very angry and handed over the Jushou Department to Guo Tulai. Cao Cao predicted that Yuan Shao would order the main force to attack the White Horse. He ordered all the soldiers and civilians of the White Horse to retreat with the army, but it took him a lot of thinking in which direction to retreat. Baima belongs to Dongjun of Yanzhou Governor's Department, not far east along the Yellow River is Puyang, another military important place, which is still in the hands of Cao Jun at this time.Further east is Juancheng, Cao Cao's central city in Yanzhou's governor's department. Cheng Yu was defending Juancheng with only 700 men.In order to ensure the safety of the middle road, Cao Jun's scattered troops have been transferred to the middle line as much as possible.Before the battle began, Cao Cao wanted to send 2,000 more troops to Juancheng, but Cheng Yu disagreed. He said, "Yuan Shao has 100,000 troops, and he thinks he is invincible. Now that Juancheng has few soldiers, he will not come to attack easily. If there are more troops, they will think that they have to attack." Cheng Yu suggested leaving Juancheng alone, and Cao Cao accepted the suggestion.Yuan Shao heard that there were not many troops in Juancheng, so he gave up attacking here.Afterwards, Cao Cao praised Cheng Yu's courage and accurate judgment, and once said to Jia Xu: "Cheng Yu's courage is really better than the ancients!" Cheng Yu's suggestion seems to be correct. From the perspective of preserving Juancheng, showing weakness is also a tactic, similar to the empty city strategy. Juancheng was preserved thanks to the lack of additional troops. However, considering the overall strategy, if Yuan Shao divides his troops to attack Juancheng, it will also reduce the pressure on the main battlefield in the middle. Usually, the side attacking the city will be several times larger than the side defending the city. On the battlefield, Cheng Yu's thinking can be regarded as having gains and losses. Now, in view of the weak defense in the east, it is impossible for Cao Cao to retreat eastward, but he cannot easily retreat to the third line of defense at Guandu, so Cao Cao made a bold decision: retreat westward along the Yellow River, and take all the white horses with him. luggage and people. To the west along the Yellow River is Yanjin, which was just occupied by Yuan Shao. Cao Cao retreated westward, which was beyond Yuan Shao's expectations.Yuan Shao's strategy at this time should be to abandon Cao Cao and attack directly to the south. This is the central battlefield.But Yuan Shao was eager to fight Cao Cao himself to regain the lost face, so he divided the main force that had crossed the Yellow River into two teams, one led by Guo Tu to guard the white horse, and the other led by Wen Chou and Liu Bei to retreat along Cao's army. direction of pursuit. Yuan Jun chased to the south of Yanjin, where he encountered troops led by Cao Cao himself.At this time, Yuan Jun had about five or six thousand troops, while Cao Cao had only six hundred. The situation was very dangerous.But even so, Cao Cao still fought a beautiful victory. The record of this battle in "Three Kingdoms: Emperor Wudi Ji" is: Cao Cao has already set up camp, and when he heard that Yuan Jun was coming, he asked people to go up to a high place for reconnaissance.After a while the scout reported: "The enemy soldiers are coming, there are about five or six hundred people!" Cao Cao didn't move.After a while, the scouts reported again: "There are more cavalry and countless infantry." Cao Cao said: "Stop talking!" Facing an enemy ten times larger than himself, Cao Cao did not order to retreat, but instead issued a strange order. He asked everyone to go out of the camp to unsaddle and dismount their horses, and at the same time put the baggage brought from the white horse on the road.The accompanying generals all thought that the enemy had many cavalry, so it was better to retreat to the camp and stand firm until reinforcements arrived. Cao Cao turned his eyes to Xun You, his deputy chief of staff, and Xun You smiled slightly and said, "This can be used as bait, how can we withdraw?" Xun You told the secret in Cao Cao's heart. Seeing that the enemy soldiers were approaching, all the generals said it was time to get on their horses. Cao Cao said: "Don't worry." After a while, the enemy's cavalry became more and more. .Cao Cao said, "It's done!" Cao's army all got on their horses and rushed out. Yuan's army was unprepared and was defeated. Wen Chou was killed in this battle, and all those who did not die became prisoners. The above records seem suspicious.There is no doubt about the outcome of this battle. Wen Chou was killed, and Yuan Jun was hit hard again, but it is puzzling that only 600 people defeated 5,000 or 6,000 people in one fell swoop, and beheaded the enemy's main general. On the surface, Cao Cao used the heavy supplies as a bait to first make the enemy into chaos and then take advantage of the chaos to attack, so he won, but this is only one aspect, and it can't change the fact that the enemy and our forces are very different.Even if the enemy soldiers are a little flustered at first, for a well-trained force, adapting to the situation is the basic ability, and they will soon be able to organize an effective counterattack. At that time, the number of troops will be the decisive factor in victory or defeat. Yuan Jun came in pursuit, and the number is still increasing. Maybe five or six thousand people are not all of it. Cao Jun's six hundred people retreated to the camp to defeat the enemy's several attacks. It would be inconceivable that all the enemy soldiers who were not killed were captured. Throughout the history books, there is no detailed explanation on this issue.After analyzing it, there are several issues that need attention: First, why did Cao Cao have to retreat to Yanjin, which has been occupied by the enemy?The second is why there are only 600 people around Cao Cao?The third is that all the luggage that followed Cao Cao's retreat were there, but where did the common people go? If these issues are considered together, it seems that Cao Cao's retreat to Yanjin was a well-conceived plan, and it was also a deliberate arrangement to bring the luggage and the people. Because a large number of ordinary people were mixed in the luggage, the scene was very chaotic, like going to a big market.It is not only these luggage that are used as bait, but also ordinary people.On the way Cao Cao retreated to Yanjin, he should have time to deploy his troops and mobilize the surrounding troops to move to the preset battlefield.When Cao Jun suddenly launched an attack while Yuan Jun seized the supply, the number of troops invested was by no means 600, but much more. If Yuan Jun could be wiped out in a short period of time, the number of troops would be at least more than Yuan Jun. The reason why there are no detailed records of these aspects in "Three Kingdoms" and other related historical materials is because it is inconvenient to answer the role of the common people who marched with the army in this battle, so they concocted six hundred people to wipe out five or six thousand people and killed famous generals in front of the battle. The myth of Wen Chou. Of course, Cao Cao's plan has a great risk, that is, Yuan Shao became smarter, and instead of chasing westward, he directly marched into Guandu, which is directly in front of him.But Cao Cao knew Yuan Shao too well. They had known and cherished each other since their youth, and now they met on the battlefield. Cao Cao knew Yuan Shao was eager to take revenge after being defeated in the first battle, so he only brought 600 people as bait to attract the main force of Yuan's army. As far as the Yanjin area, concentrate superior forces and quickly annihilate them. Both Yan Liang and Wen Chou were famous generals. They were defeated and beheaded by Cao Jun in just a few days, which greatly boosted the morale of Cao Jun and deeply shocked Yuan Jun's soldiers. Yuan Shao was enraged, he personally led the army to cross the river, the vanguard advanced to Yangwu (now southeast of Yuanyang, Henan), Cao Cao led the main force to retreat south from the second line of defense, and retreated to Guandu.