Jizhou
It is said that after Gongsun Zan set himself on fire and died, his son Gongsun Xu was killed by Tuge (a tribe of the Xiongnu). Zhang Yan of the Black Mountain Army was also defeated by Yuan Shao. Then Gongsun Zan's remaining generals, including Liu Bei, surrendered to Yuan Shao.
At this point, Yuan Shao annexed Gongsun Zan's army, with more than 300,000 troops, unified the north of the Yellow River, and dominated the four states (Ji, Bing, Qing, and You), becoming the strongest warlord force today.
Soon after, Cao Cao, who had captured Yuzhou, led his army to capture Hanoi County and expanded his sphere of influence to the Sizhou area. At that time, Cao Cao occupied Yanzhou, Yuzhou and half of Sizhou, and had more than 30,000 troops.
Less?
Not only did Cao Cao himself think it was less, but even Yuan Shao scorned it. Therefore, after unifying the four northern states, Yuan Shao, who didn't know where to fight for a while, set his sights on Cao Cao's Yanzhou.
Yuan Shao stopped pretending and showed his cards, preparing to use 170,000 elite infantry and 30,000 cavalry, claiming to be an army of 500,000 (actually only 200,000), to seize Xuchang, attack Cao Cao in one fell swoop, and seize the emperor into his own hands.
In the past, the two close friends would fight whenever they wanted. To others, it might seem so sudden, but in fact, ever since Cao Cao disobeyed the emperor's orders, the private relationship between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao began to have constant friction, and they gradually became discordant. , even hostile.
From the beginning, Cao Cao asked the emperor to make himself a general, but he made Yuan Shao a Taiwei (the status of a Taiwei was lower than that of a general). Yuan Shao felt deeply humiliated and was not granted the title.
Every time Yuan Shao received an imperial edict, he was always worried that it would be detrimental to him. He wrote several times to scold Cao Cao and asked Cao Cao to hand over the emperor to him, but Cao Cao refused.
Later, when Yuan Shao attacked Gongsun Zan, Cao Cao had people send a message to Gongsun Zan, wanting to join forces with Gongsun Zan to attack Yuan Shao, etc...
The two sides were calm on the surface, but secretly there was an undercurrent, and they had long wanted to stab each other. The reason why Cao Cao did not take action was because the rear areas were not at peace, and the two hidden dangers of Zhang Xiu in Wancheng and Chen Feng in Xuzhou had not been resolved.
The reason why Yuan Shao delayed until now was also because the trouble of Gongsun Zan in the rear had not been eliminated before. But now that Yuan Shao had eliminated Gongsun Zan one step ahead of Cao Cao, he no longer had any worries. Only then could he preemptively send troops to attack Cao Cao.
Qingzhou and Xuzhou are also on the sidelines. Why doesn't Yuan Shao attack Chen Feng first?
This question is a little bit idiotic, but we can try to put it into Yuan Shao's perspective to briefly explain it.
Question: Why didn't Yuan Shao fight Chen Feng first, but Cao Cao first?
Answer: We know that today’s princes’ territorial and military rankings are
Yuan Shao is the strongest (sitting in four states, with more than 300,000 troops)
Chen Feng is the second (sitting in three states, with 90,000 troops)
Cao Cao is third (controlling two and a half states and more than 30,000 troops)
Let’s take a look at Yuan Shao’s relationship diagram:
Yuan Shao→Cao Cao (hostile〤)
……↘Chen Feng (neutral○)
If you are Yuan Shao and you want to expand your territory, you have to choose one of Cao Cao and Chen Feng to invade.
Should you choose Cao Cao, the weakest of the three who is already hostile and closest, or should you choose Chen Feng, the second ranked one who is a little far away and has a neutral relationship?
We won’t answer it for now. Let’s deduce it.
① If Yuan Shao attacks Cao Cao first and Cao Cao is weak, the odds of winning are 80 to 20 and Yuan Shao has a high chance of winning.
Even if Chen Feng, who is neutral in the middle, intervenes, Yuan Shao's goal is for the emperor to grab it. At worst, he and Chen Feng will split Cao Cao's territory. Cao Cao will still be the winner. After Cao Cao wins, Yuan Shao can safely continue to go south to fight against Chen Feng. .
② If Yuan Shao did not attack Cao Cao first, but attacked the neutral Chen Feng first, then Yuan Shao and Chen Feng would immediately change from a neutral relationship to a hostile relationship, and the two sides would start to fight each other.
Cao Cao, who was already hostile to Yuan Shao on the other side of the road, would naturally take the opportunity to stab Yuan Shao in the waist. In this way, Yuan Shao became one against two, and the odds of winning were 50 to 50, and it was not certain who would win.
Therefore, we can draw a conclusion: ①Cao Cao is closer than Chen Feng, ②Cao Cao is weaker than Chen Feng, ③Cao Cao has one more important person "Emperor" than Chen Feng, so it is much better for Yuan Shao to fight Cao Cao first than to fight Chen Feng first. Much more.
Analysis completed
Back to topic
After learning that Yuan Shao was about to attack, Cao Cao, who was ill-prepared, could not help but tremble a little. He repeatedly returned to garrison at Guandu in the north of Xuchang and hurriedly formed his troops to respond to the enemy.
at the same time
Jingzhou Nanyang
Wancheng
While Yuan Shao sent troops to attack Cao Cao, he also sent people to Wancheng to recruit Zhang Xiu to surrender.
Zhang Xiu was ready to agree to surrender to Yuan Shao, but Zhang Xiu's adviser Jia Xu took the lead and rejected Yuan Shao's envoy in front of Zhang Xiu.
Zhang Xiu was puzzled and asked Jia Xu: "Now that Yuan Shaohu dominates the four states, he is the most powerful ruler in the world. Isn't it wise to submit to him?"
Jia Xu said: "Yuan Shaozhi is a man of great ambition but little wisdom, fierce in appearance but timid, restrained but little powerful, many soldiers but unclear divisions, arrogant generals but inconsistent political orders.
Although he is very powerful now, but for a while, if the general defected to him, not only would he not be reused, he would also be afraid that he would have no foothold and run away in the future. "
"What you said is absolutely true." Zhang Xiu woke up after hearing this, so he asked again: "Since Yuan Shao is unavailable, are we going to join Cao Cao again?"
Jia Xu said: "Cao Cao has three advantages over Yuan Shao. First, Cao Cao holds the emperor's power to command the princes, which is justifiable; second, Cao Cao's military strength is weak and he is more willing to win over allies; third, Cao Cao has great ambitions and will be able to ignore past grudges.
If the general defected to Cao Cao at this time, it would be a timely help to him. Not only would he no longer hold grudges against the general, but he would reuse the general, but..."
"But what?"
"However, this battle of Guandu has just begun, and the situation is not yet completely clear. The Xuzhou Shepherd Chen Feng who is now in the east will probably make some movements soon. I suggest that the general does not need to stand in line too early and wait and see what happens. It’s not too late.”
"I deeply admire you for your foresight, sir."
Zhang Xiu followed Jia Xu's suggestion and did not rush to stand in line. He quietly defended Wancheng and waited for the situation to change...
Jizhou
Liyang (on the north coast of the Yellow River, at the junction of Jizhou and Yanzhou)
After Yuan Shao led an army of 200,000 to Liyang, he first issued a proclamation, accusing Cao Cao of "indiscriminate killing of innocents, ingratitude, holding the emperor hostage, torturing loyal ministers, and stealing royal tombs" and other crimes. (It seems that Cao Cao has indeed done all of these)
Then he sent his three generals Guo Tu, Yan Liang, and Chunyu Qiong to surround Cao Cao's Baima Fortress, while he led the main force and began to cross the Yellow River, preparing to attack Cao Cao's Yanzhou in one fell swoop.
Yanzhou
Guandu
Cao Jun's camp
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"
After Cao Cao learned that the White Horse Fortress was besieged and Yuan Shao began to cross the river, he felt pitiful, weak and helpless.
At this time, Cao Cao's counselor Xun You suggested: "Yuan Shao has more troops and we have fewer troops, so we should not confront him head-on. The lord can adopt the strategy of attacking from the east and attacking the west. He can lead his troops to Yanjin first, pretend to cross the river and attack Yuan Shao's rear, so that Yuan Shao can divide his troops. Head west to fight.
Then send Qingqi to attack the Yuan army attacking the White Horse Fortress. If they are unprepared, they will be able to defeat Yan Liang, and then the siege of the White Horse will be easily solved. "
