Chapter 9 (9) Showdown

This is a decisive battle for Cao Cao to unify northern China. This is a famous battle in which fewer people win more. This is another thought-provoking historical event.Yuan Shao had a large number of people, while Cao Cao had few major generals. However, Cao Cao's army defeated Yuan Shao with one against ten.So how did Cao Cao win the many with the few and the strong with the weak?What is the course of this war?Please pay attention to "Yi Zhongtian Pin Three Kingdoms Showdown"! From 190 AD to 200 AD, after nearly ten years of melee among the princes, the two most powerful groups were formed, namely the Cao Cao Group and the Yuan Shao Group.Yuan Shao acquired the lands of Yizhou, Qingzhou, Bingzhou, and Youzhou, and occupied the north; Cao Cao's power reached Guanzhong in the west, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and Xuzhou in the east, and controlled most of the areas south of the Yellow River and north of Huaihan , and Yuan Shao formed a north-south confrontation along the lower reaches of the Yellow River.At this time, Yang Feng was dead, Lu Bu was dead, Yuan Shu was dead, Zhang Xiu had surrendered, Sun Ce was guarding Jiangdong, Liu Biao was standing on the sidelines, and the situation became very clear.

At that time, Yuan Shao's strength was far superior to Cao Cao's, and he was naturally unwilling to be inferior to Cao Cao, so Yuan Shao 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 from Xiamen University is a guest on "Hundreds of Lectures", telling you about the magnificent history. 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 Phase of the Battle of Guandu: The Confrontation Phase

The first stage is the "confrontation stage". Yuan Shao took the lead. In February of the fifth year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao stationed in Liyang. On the north bank of the Yellow River, he sent general Yan Liang to attack the white horse across the river, and at the same time sent general Wen Chou to attack Yanjin. The main battlefield was in the white horse. .At this time, Liu Yan was stationed on the white horse, and Liu Yan had 3,000 people. In this way, in April of the fifth year of Jian'an, Liu Yan couldn't stand it anymore, so he wrote a chicken feather letter to Cao Cao asking for help. Live, decided to reinforce the white horse.At this time, one of Cao Cao's counselors, Xun You, told Cao Cao, let's not fight the white horse, but let's fight Yanjin, Cao Cao immediately understood, what does it mean?All the while, am I not a white horse now?We don't fight white horses, our army crosses the Yellow River from Yanjin, and assumes a posture of outflanking Yuan Shao's rear. Yuan Shao will definitely be deceived and reinforce Yanjin.Cao Cao immediately adopted Xun You's suggestion, and led an army to march towards Yanjin with great fanfare.Please note that his march was done with great fanfare, and he deliberately let Yuan Shao's scouts know, so Yuan Shao's scouts went back to report immediately. Sure enough, Yuan Shao was deceived and sent troops to reinforce Yanjin.But when Cao Cao walked halfway, Cao Cao ordered the troops to rest where they were, and then sent a light cavalry to take a small road and go straight to the white horse. The general (one) led by Guan Yu was Guan Yu.

Here's another episode.At the end of 199 AD, when Cao Cao was deploying to fight Yuan Shao, Liu Bei rebelled against Cao Cao, and actively contacted Yuan Shao, intending to join forces to attack Cao Cao.Cao Cao personally led the elite troops to attack Liu Bei, occupied Pei County in one fell swoop, and recovered Xuzhou. Liu Bei's entire army was defeated, and led a small number of soldiers and horses to flee to Hebei and defected to Yuan Shao's account.Guan Yu was powerless to resist and surrendered to Cao Cao. After Guan Yu surrendered to Cao Cao, Cao Cao treated him very well. Guan Yu made a decision at that time: after making great contributions to Cao Cao, he will go back to his brother Liu Bei.Then Guan Yu and other generals led this light cavalry to the white horse. Yan Liang was caught off guard and was cut off by Guan Yu's force.Only at this time did Yuan Shao realize that he had been fooled. He fell for the strategy of diverting the tiger away from the mountain, and then sent Liu Bei and Wen Chou to intercept Cao Cao.And Cao Cao also knew very well that although the white horse was freed from the siege, this place could no longer be defended. Yuan Shao would definitely counterattack, and we would definitely not be able to defend the white horse.Moreover, once Yuan Shao got the white horse, he must vent his anger on the people of the white horse and want to massacre the city, so Cao Cao decided to take the people of the white horse along the Yellow River to Yanjin.Those of us who read know that Liu Bei took the people with him when he left after a defeat. I am afraid that few people know that Cao Cao also took the people with him when he retreated.Cao Cao took so many white horses to Yanjin, but of course he walked very slowly. As a result, he bumped into Liu Bei and Wen Chou's army.

What was the situation?It was Cao Cao with five or six hundred cavalry who came to a hillside southeast of Yanjin and was about to rest.The sentinel reported to Cao Cao, saying that there were hundreds of cavalry coming ahead, and Cao Cao said he knew.After a while, the sentinel reported again that a thousand cavalry had arrived, and the number of infantry was uncountable.Cao Cao said not to report, and then gave the order to dismount and rest on the spot.The general didn't understand, and said that the enemy is rushing over, we should get on the horse and prepare, how can we get off the horse and rest in place?Besides, the luggage we transported from Baima, that is, food, cloth, and other random things are on the way. At least we have to transport these things back to the barracks and prepare for the battle.Cao Cao said don't worry about it, Cao Cao said you don't care about it, get off my horse and sit on the ground to rest.This is another trick of Cao Cao, what kind of trick?It was a trick to lure the enemy. Sure enough, Liu Bei and Wen Chou rushed over with the cavalry and saw all the good things on the ground, so the cavalry began to hesitate. After hesitating for a while, they couldn’t resist the temptation, and they all got off their horses to pick them up. Those things, grab those treasures, Cao Cao gave an order at this time, get on the horse!The charge horn was blown, the war drums were beating, and the killing was shouting. Six hundred cavalry slanted down from the high slope, and Yuan Jun was beaten all over the ground, and Wen Chou was also cut off immediately.Who killed it?I don’t know, it’s Guan Yu, there is no official history record, maybe it’s also Guan Yu, because after this war, Guan Yu left a letter, a letter of thanks, sealed all the rewards Cao Cao gave him, and rode on his horse. Chituma went to look for the elder brother who ran faster than the rabbit.Moreover, after Wen Chou was killed, Liu Bei turned around and ran away. Liu Bei is still relatively capable.This is the first stage of the Guandu War.

In the confrontation stage of the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao attacked east and west, attacking him unprepared, and caught Yuan Shao by surprise. He not only broke the siege of the white horse, but also defeated Yuan Shao's two generals. Cao Jun can be said to have won the first battle.However, although Yuan Shao lost the first battle, he still has the advantage in terms of military strength. It will take time for Cao Jun to win completely, so what will happen in the next contest between the two sides? The Second Phase of the Battle of Guandu: The Stalemate After the war was over, Cao Cao knew very well that he was not Yuan Shao's opponent, because Yuan Shao claimed to have an elite army of 100,000 at the time, while Cao Cao, according to "Three Kingdoms", had less than 10,000 troops.Of course, Pei Songzhi, who commented on "Three Kingdoms", believes that this number is inaccurate. Cao Cao's army is not only 10,000, but it is estimated to be 20,000 to 30,000.So Cao Cao understood that Yanjin and Baima could not be defended, so although Cao Cao won the battle, he retired from Guandu.As for Yuan Shao, he thought he was awesome. Cao Cao must be timid to run back after winning the battle. If he can't win, we should move forward, so Yuan Shao marched into Guandu.But Yuan Shao didn't know that Cao Cao's decision was very pragmatic. Cao Cao knew that it would be uneconomical for me to confront Yuan Shao in Yanjin at this time. I would rather take a step back. What's the benefit of taking a step back?The enemy's supply lines were stretched.When we look at the map, we know that Xudu is here, Guandu is here, Yecheng is here, Liyang is here, and Baima is here. Cao Cao's supply line leader fought in Baima, and Yuan Shao's supply line leader fought in Guandu, so Cao Cao is called the enemy. In and out.But when he retreated to Guandu, Cao Cao had nowhere to go, so Yuan Shao set up a camp at Guandu, and Cao Cao also set up a camp accordingly. The war entered the second stage: the "stalemate stage".

The technical content of the war at this stage is very high. Yuan Shao first built a high hill inside his camp, he got the soil to make a hill, built a tower on it, and then sent his archers to shoot arrows at Cao Ying from a high position.This is powerful, like the current rocket launcher, Cao Cao (army) suffered heavy casualties.So Cao Cao wanted to deal with him, so he made a machine called a stone machine. I can't describe what this machine looks like now. Anyway, it can hit such a big stone like a cannon, and invented such a machine. Machine, made a batch of this machine, and then fired big stones into Yuanying one by one.This stalemate has been going on for several months, both sides are tied, but both are tired

One day, a cart carrying rations from Xudu drove into Cao Cao's barracks, and Cao Cao went to work for the army.Cao Cao was very kind to the soldiers. He saw that the food transport teams worked very hard, their faces were yellow and emaciated, and some transporters couldn't afford shoes and walked barefoot. Their feet were covered with calluses, even worn out and bleeding.After Cao Cao saw it, he was very sad. Cao Cao went over to ask them about their problems, asked about their health, and then held their hands and said: "Brothers have worked hard, please give me another 15 days, only 15 days, after 15 days I will never make you work so hard again.In other words, the war will end within fifteen days.Does Cao Cao have this confidence?No, the actual idea was that Cao Cao didn’t want to fight any more. He planned to withdraw his troops within fifteen days. be opposed to.Xun Yu said, Lord Ming, we have to fight this battle, we have to fight if we don’t want to, or if we can’t. Please think about it, Lord Ming. Even if he wants to fight us to the death, he won't let it go. If you retreat, he will continue to advance. You have no way out, so you can only hold back.Then Cao Cao went to seek Jia Xu's opinion again, and Jia Xu said, "Mr. Cao, you are better than Yuan Shao in four aspects: your wisdom surpasses Yuan Shao, your courage surpasses Yuan Shao, your employing people surpasses Yuan Shao, and your determination surpasses Yuan Shao. You have four aspects." Surpassing Yuan Shao, why can't he win after fighting for half a year?The fundamental reason is that you always want to be safe, and you worry too much. As long as you make up your mind and concentrate your forces, you will surely win.

Jia Xu and Xun Yu's opinion is right, war is a very risky thing, especially in the era of cold weapons, no one is sure of victory, it is very difficult to be foolproof in war, this requires The will of the coach, in this case, the outcome of the war often depends on whether the will of the coach is strong, and the final victory often lies in the efforts of persisting. In the second stage of the Battle of Guandu, Cao and Yuan were at a stalemate, and each had losses.Cao Jun's food and grass were almost exhausted, and his soldiers were exhausted. Cao Cao almost lost the confidence to stick to it.So, will Cao Cao, whose morale has been shaken at this time, withdraw his troops?What opportunities are waiting for Cao Cao?

The third stage of the battle of Guandu: the turning stage Opportunity came as it said, and because of three things, the war entered the third stage: the "turning stage." The first thing, Liu Bei slipped away.During the stalemate in the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao once sent Liu Bei south to harass near Xudu.A member of the Yellow Turban Army who had betrayed Cao Cao was united, named Liu Pi. The two of them harassed Cao Cao around Xudu, and were finally beaten to death by Cao Jun.After Liu Bei returned to Guandu, he told Yuan Shao that it would be impossible to fight like this. Shouldn't we unite with Liu Biao in the south, and let Liu Biao attack Cao Cao in the south?Yuan Shao thought it made sense, then you go, you and Liu Biao are both members of the Liu family, of course Liu Bei is the envoy, so he approved Liu Bei to bring his own army to join Liu Biao.

What kind of Liu Biao did Liu Bei join forces with? He was just cheating!Why did Liu Bei run away?One possibility is that Yuan Shao gave him a bad look after he came back from a defeat. This is the guess of some historians, but this possibility is not very big, or it is not very important.why?Firstly, Yuan Shao and his son are very polite to Liu Bei, according to the records in the history books, they are very respectful; secondly, even if Yuan Shao's face is not good this time, Liu Bei can bear it, because Liu Bei has always been He relied on this and that, he used to rely on Gongsun Zan to fight Yuan Shao, then he relied on Daqian to fight Cao Cao, later he relied on Cao Cao to fight Lu Bu, and now he relied on Yuan Shao to fight Cao Cao, how many times he has changed, how many times he has turned ugly? Hold back.I think he is probably the rat on the sea ship. He is the first to know whether the ship will capsize. He is very sensitive politically. He may have expected Yuan Shao to fail, so he slipped away.This incident did not attract enough attention at the time, but I think it is a sign, and this is the first thing. The second thing is that Xu You defected.There are three theories about the reason for Xu You's defection. The first one is that Xu You was greedy for money and Yuan Shao couldn't satisfy him, so he defected to Cao Cao. , so Xu You defected; the third theory is that Xu You suggested to Yuan Shao that we should now take a small road to Xudu to hijack the emperor, but Yuan Shao did not accept his suggestion, so he defected.In fact, these three theories can be unified, that is, Xu You found that Yuan Shao's strategy could not be used, and his desire could not be satisfied, so he felt that he could not stay any longer, so he defected to Cao Cao.And Xu You is very important. He was Yuan Shao's earliest adviser and he has a lot of military secrets. He is also very smart and has many ideas.As soon as he defected to Cao Cao, Cao Cao clapped his hands and laughed loudly, "I'm done, haha, now my job is easy to handle."As soon as Xu You defected to Cao Cao, he immediately had an idea with Cao Cao: burn Wuchao.Where is this black nest?Wuchao is here. Wuchao is the place where Yuan Shao hoarded his military rations. It is a grain depot.Xu You advised Cao Cao to send cavalry to raid Wuchao and burn Yuan Shao's army rations with a torch. Cao Cao immediately adopted this strategy and rushed to Wuchao overnight. Then at this time, the third thing happened, Zhang He turned against the water.Zhang He is also a general under Yuan Shao, he is actually better than Yan Liang and Wen Chou. Yan Liang and Wen Chou are brave but not resourceful, while Zhang He is brave and resourceful.At that time, after Yuan Shao got the news of Cao Cao's surprise attack on Wuchao, Zhang He proposed to Yuan Shao that Wuchao must be reinforced immediately. If we lost Wuchao, we would have no way out, and we would definitely be defeated.But one of Yuan Shao's counselors, Guo Tu, disagreed. Guo Tu said that we should go to Guandu now. Once we go to Guandu, Cao Cao will come back to rescue Guandu when he is halfway there.Yuan Shao felt that Guo Tu's method was good, so he adopted Guo Tu's method and sent a very bad army, sending light soldiers to rescue Wuchao and heavy troops to attack Guandu.Zhang He said, "My lord, this is not enough. Guandu is Cao Cao's stronghold. How could we take it down in a while? If I could take it down, I would have taken it down a long time ago. We have been fighting for so long because it can't be taken down. Save Wu. Let's nest!Yuan Shao said no, no, that's it, go to Guandu.What was the outcome?Wuchao fell, all the rations were burned, and Guandu could not be defeated.This result proved that Guo Tu's idea was wrong, right? Guo Tu was very nervous. What would he do after being nervous?He ran to Yuan Shao to make a small report, saying, my lord, Zhang He was gloating when he heard that we had lost Wuchao, and he said it proved him right.Guo Tu was sure that Yuan Shao was desperate for face, and Yuan Shao immediately became suspicious.Seeing that it was over, Zhang He lost the front, caught fire in the backyard, and had nowhere to go, so he and his subordinate Gao Lanyi agreed, forget it, let's surrender, burn the chariot, and raise the flag to surrender to Cao Cao. At this time Zhang Yun was at Guandu, Cao Cao had not yet returned from Wuchao, and was on his way back from Wuchao. Cao Cao's military adviser Xun You and Cao Cao's general Cao Hong were guarding Guandu.At that time, Zhang He and Gao Lan came to surrender with their troops. Cao Hong said, was this a real surrender or a false surrender?Xun You said don't hesitate, General Cao, open the door quickly, it must be true surrender, open the gate of the camp, and Zhang Yun will come in.Cao Cao also came back from Wuchao after Zhang He surrendered. He was overjoyed and held Zhang He's hand. This is Han Xin surrendering Liu Bang! The Fourth Stage of the Battle of Guandu: The Decisive Stage Well, Liu Bei ran away, and Yuan Shao lost foreign aid; Xu You defected, and Yuan Shao lost his brain trust; Zhang He rebelled, and Yuan Shao broke his arm.All three things proved that Yuan Shao's general situation was over, and the war quickly entered the fourth stage: the "decisive victory stage".This stage is simple, that is, Cao Cao concentrated his forces to counterattack according to Jia Xu's suggestion, but Yuan Shao's army was already in a state of confusion and was vulnerable. Yuan Shao himself took his eldest son Yuan Tan, jumped on his horse, turned around and ran north. I can't even take care of it.Suddenly, this war is over. Cao Cao came to Yuan Shao's big tent and found that there were books, treasures, and antiques in Yuan Shao's big tent. You said you were going to march and fight, why did you bring these things?What are you doing, show off.Yuan Shao always thinks that he is a gentleman, a Confucian general, and he takes books, treasures and antiques with him wherever he goes, puts them on a shelf, and wipes them clean. took Cao Cao's spoils.This incident took place in October of the fifth year of Jian'an. After this battle, the Yuan Shao Group fell into a slump. The Battle of Guandu came to an end with Cao Cao's overall victory. Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao's 100,000 troops with a surprising victory.This battle enabled Cao Cao to finally establish his indisputable dominant position 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 be the final fate and fate of Yuan Shao who failed? In May of the seventh year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao fell ill and vomited blood and died.In the ninth year of Jian'an, Yuan Shang, Yuan Shao's successor, was defeated by Cao Cao.In the tenth year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao's eldest son Yuan Tan was killed by Cao Cao.In September of the twelfth year of Jian'an, Gongsun Kang, the prefect of Liaodong, murdered Yuan Shao's successor Yuan Shang and Yuan Shao's second son Yuan Xi, and sent the heads of these two people to Cao Cao's account.There are two episodes in the death of Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi. At that time, the two boys ran to the place of Gongsun Kang, the place of Gongsun Kang, the prefect of Liaodong.Everyone said there was going to be a (war), but Cao Cao said there was no need, just wait, Gongsun Kang will send me the heads of these two men.Why do you say?Cao Cao said it was very simple. He said that these two groups are basically in the same bed and different dreams, and both sides will have the other's ideas. If we are in a hurry, they will collude closely;Sure enough, after Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi went to Gongsun Kang's place, the two brothers pondered and said, when we invited Gongsun Kang to drink, we did him. Isn't this land ours?What is Gongsun Kang thinking, saying that these two guys offended Cao Cao and came to me, how can I explain to Cao Cao?I bought them drinks and did them too.In the end, it was Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi who were done. It was really at the banquet. Gongsun Kang set up a grand banquet, arrested the two boys, tied them up, and threw them on the ground.These two people said, oh, it's cold on the ground, it's November, winter, the ground is cold, can you give us a cushion to sit on?Gongsun Kang said, oops, you two are going to travel far away, what kind of cushions do you want! All of this was expected by Cao Cao, so I repeatedly emphasized a point of view, in political and military struggles, the victors are those who understand human nature and are able to ponder the other party's mind.Yuan Tan died, Yuan Xi died, Yuan Shang died, and the Yuan family has since withdrawn from the stage of history, all of which are rooted in the Battle of Guandu.After the Battle of Guandu, the situation in China at that time has undergone a fundamental change. In northern China, the surname is basically Cao. This ending was foreseen by two people on Yuan Shao's side, one was his counselor Ju Shou, and the other was his counselor Tian Feng. These two people firmly opposed Yuan Shao's launching such a war.But Tian Feng opposed it more fiercely. Tian Feng said, the first thing we need to do now is to strengthen ourselves. While we strengthen ourselves, we can send small troops to harass Cao Cao. Our troops are divided into several groups and come from different directions. If Cao Cao rescues the east, we will fight the west, and if Cao Cao rescues the west, we will fight the east. Anyway, he will be exhausted, and we will wait for work. It will take less than three years, and this matter will come to fruition.Now, my lord, you are gathering one hundred thousand elite troops to put all your eggs in one basket. What if you lose?Yuan Shao said there is no chance?What if?How can I beat it?Tian Feng said, my lord, you can't do this!Tian Feng is also Yuan Shao's old counselor, and he may be a little bit dependent on his old man, trying his best to prevent Yuan Shao from launching this war.Yuan Shao was furious, what are you doing?Now my troops have assembled, the bugle has sounded, and I’m about to go out. You keep saying what to do if you fail, what to do if you fail, what to do if you fail, crow’s mouth, let’s say, let’s say I’ll kill you, Lock it up, put it in prison, disturb the morale of the army, shake the morale of the army, curse me for being a bad start, you stay in prison for me first, and see what face you have to see me when I come back triumphantly! More than a year later, news of the defeat in the Battle of Guandu spread to Yecheng. Facts proved that Tian Feng was right, so friends came to visit Tian Feng in prison, and congratulated him, saying, Brother Tian, ​​now you will You can get out of jail, and now you will be reused, because it turns out that you were right.After Tian Feng heard the news, he looked up to the sky and sighed, alas, this time I am doomed!Everyone said why, how is this possible?Isn't that what proves your right?Yes, why, how is it possible, please watch the next episode, victory or defeat depends on you.