Shao Zhen felt that all the players from the Three Kingdoms had a stand-in, and it would be a pity not to find someone to disguise himself.
Sun Ce of the Eastern Wu Dynasty died, and his younger brother Sun Quan inherited his father and brother's legacy and took control of Jiangdong. Cao Cao made him a general. In order to seek peace with Cao Cao, Sun Quan rejected Yuan Shao's request for an alliance against Cao Cao.
Yuan Shao mobilized 700,000 troops from Ji, Qing, You, and four states to attack Cao Cao. This is the famous "Battle of Guandu" in history.
Tian Feng, a counselor who was imprisoned in prison, urgently wrote to Yuan Shao, advising him that "it is better to just stay quietly and not to recruit large armies rashly." Yuan Shao refused to accept the advice and wanted to fight to the death with Cao Cao.
Cao Cao's personal army of 70,000 met the enemy. Before the war, he and his advisers reviewed the situation and believed that Yuan Shao had many soldiers and sufficient food. The enemy was strong and we were weak, so it would not be easy to win. However, Yuan Shao also had a fatal weakness: he was arrogant and had no plan, and he was jealous of the wise and refused to give advice.
Yuan Shao's counselor Jushu advised Yuan Shao: "Although our army is large, it is not as brave as that army; although that army is elite, its food and grass are not as good as ours. Our army has food, and it is advantageous to defend slowly. If we can wait for a while, the other army will be better." If we don't fight, we will be defeated. If our army rushes forward to fight, it will play into Cao Cao's hands. I hope my lord will think twice." Yuan Shao not only refused to listen, but instead locked Jushou in the imperial army. The three armies were ordered to quickly march to Guandu, with an army of 700,000 people encamped on all sides in the east, west, south and north.
Cao Cao adopted Guo Jia's suggestion and made a decisive decision to defeat his spirit with a hasty battle.
Yuan Shao first used digging troops to dig tunnels but failed, and then built mountains to surround the stronghold and fired arrows day and night to harass them. The war lasted for a while, with both sides winning and losing. However, Cao Cao finally wanted to abandon Guandu and return to Xudu due to lack of food and soldiers. Xun Yu, who stayed in Xudu, wrote a letter to advise Cao Cao to stick to Guandu and stabilize the morale of the army. If he can win in battle, he will be defeated if he retreats. While Cao Cao used the thunder chariot designed by Liu Ye to deal with Yuan Shao's crossbowmen, he also ordered Xu Huang and other generals to harass Yuan Jun's supply lines and gain the initiative.
Yuan Shao sent general Han Meng to escort grain and grass to the front of the army to support the army, but Xu Huang robbed and burned him. The counselor Shen Pei reminded Yuan Shao: "Wuchao is where our army stores food. It must be heavily defended to prevent any unexpected events."
Yuan Shao sent Chunyu Qiong, a drunkard, to guard Wuchao. The imprisoned Jushu asked to see Yuan Shao regardless of his personal safety, and shouted urgently: "Han Meng's food and grass have been robbed, and Wuchao is in danger. Beware of Cao Cao's surprise attack on Wuchao." However, this failed to attract Yuan Shao's attention.
Due to lack of food and fodder, Cao Cao sent a secret letter to Xudu to urge for food. This letter was intercepted by Yuan Shao's counselor Xu You. He suggested to Yuan Shao: "Cao Cao stationed the military officer at the crossing and could take advantage of the opportunity to attack Xuchang." Yuan Shao did not use his plan and even attacked Xu You. Suspicious, Xu You learned that his family members were imprisoned, and angrily defected to Cao Ying.
When Cao Cao saw Xu You coming to the camp, he was so happy that he went out barefoot to greet Xu You. He gave Xu You a great gift and said, "You are willing to come from far away. It is God who helps me." He asked Xu You to defeat Yuan's plan, and Xu You told him: "I once Advise Yuan Shao to attack Xuchang secretly." Cao Cao was shocked: "If Yuan Shao follows Ziyuan's plan, I will be defeated!"
Xu You deliberately asked Cao Cao how much rations he still had in the army, but Cao Cao just refused to say it clearly. Xu You said loudly: "Don't hide it from me, the army has run out of rations!" Having already given up, he bowed to Xu You and sincerely asked for advice to defeat Yuan's plan.
Xu You informed Cao Cao that all the food, grass and baggage of Yuan Shao's 700,000-strong army were stationed in Wuchao, and Chunyu Qiong, who was guarding Wuchao, was addicted to alcohol and could attack Wuchao by surprise.
Cao Cao personally led 5,000 elite soldiers, pretending to be Yuan Shao's food guard Jiang Qi, raided Wuchao at night, burned all his food and grass, and had Chunyu Qiong tattooed on his face, and returned him to Yuan Shao's camp to humiliate Yuan Shao.
Yuan Shao sent generals Zhang He and Gao Lan to attack Cao Jun's camp, but they were defeated because Cao Cao had already ambushed them. Yuan Shao listened to the slander and suspected that the two generals had the intention to surrender to Cao Cao, so the battle was ineffective. Zhang He and Gao Lan were forced to defect to Cao Ying. Seeing that the time was right, Cao Cao divided his troops in eight directions and went straight to Yuan's village. He won a great victory and obtained a lot of food and baggage. He also found many letters from Yuan Shao's tent to people in Cao's camp communicating with Yuan Shao. The entourage suggested that all these people be beheaded. Cao Cao replied: "When Yuan Shao was strong and powerful, I couldn't protect myself, let alone others?" Then he ordered all the letters to be destroyed. All the officers and men in the army were convinced.
Yuan's army collapsed, and Yuan Shao crossed the river with only 800 cavalry to escape. Jushou refused to surrender and was shot dead. Cao Cao ordered him to be buried at the crossing of the Yellow River. Tian Feng was sentenced to death by Yuan Shao in prison.
In the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao with a small number and defeated a large number, and sent troops to both sides of the Yellow River.
When Yuan Shao returned to Jizhou, his eldest son Yuan Tan, second son Yuan Xi, youngest son Yuan Shang and nephew Gao Gan led troops from Qing, You and Bingzhou respectively to assist in the battle. Yuan Shao gathered more than 200,000 troops and sent them to Cangting to avenge Guandu.
Cao Cao used Cheng Yu's "ambush from ten sides" strategy and sent Xu Chu to lure Yuan Jun to pursue them on the river. Cao's soldiers had no way to retreat, so they could only turn around and fight to the death, killing Yuan's army until corpses lay all over the field and blood flowed into rivers. Yuan Shao hugged his third son and cried bitterly. He fainted and vomited blood, so he had to return to Jizhou to recuperate.
Cao Cao won a great victory at Qingcang Pavilion and rewarded the three armies heavily. Suddenly he received a letter from Xun Yu: "Liu Bei raised troops in Runan and took advantage of the opportunity to attack Xudu." Cao Cao left Cao Hong to garrison troops on the river and led his army to Runan to face Liu Bei. Due to being outnumbered and defeated, Liu Bei defected to Liu Biao in Jingzhou. Cao Cao followed Cheng Yu's suggestion to "defeat Yuan Shao first, then capture Jingxiang" and led his troops to Guandu to attack Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao suffered another defeat, his old illness relapsed, and he vomited blood and died. Before his death, he abolished his eldest son and established his younger son, and appointed his third son Yuan Shang as General Sima. This caused dissatisfaction among Yuan Tan and Yuan Xi.
Guo Jiajin advised Cao Cao not to attack in a hurry, but to wait until his brothers turned against each other before attacking Yuan's army. Sure enough, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang started killing each other. Cao Cao took advantage of the situation and used Xu You's plan to control the water of the Zhang River and capture Jizhou City. Yuan Shao's counselor Shen Pei preferred death over surrender and was beheaded by Cao Cao. He was buried in the north of the city after his death. After the city was broken, Cao Cao paid homage to Yuan Shao, but Xu You was arrogant and rude, and was killed by Xu Chu.
Yuan Shang went to Youzhou to join Yuan Xi. Yuan Tan surrendered to Cao Cao, but was rejected. He was killed in the battle by Cao Hong. The counselor Guo Tu was also shot dead by Le Jin.
When Cao Cao returned to Yizhou from the northern expedition to Wuhuan, Guo Jia unfortunately died of illness and left a secret note: "Now that I heard that Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang are going to surrender to Liaodong, I must not send more troops. Gongsun Kang has long been afraid of the Yuan family's annexation, so the two Yuans will definitely surrender if they go to Liaodong." Doubtful. If we attack the enemy with troops, we must join forces to meet the enemy, and do not move in a hurry. If we slow down, Gongsun Kang and the Yuan family will have their own plans, and the situation is clear." Cao followed his words and held his troops still. Soon Gongsun Kang suspected that the two Yuans wanted to occupy Liaodong, so he killed the two Yuans and sent their heads to Cao Cao, hoping to submit to the imperial court. At this point, Liaodong was pacified.
After seven years of arduous campaign, Cao Cao finally unified the north. When he returned, he changed his route and traveled along the coast. Standing on a jieshi on the edge of the Bohai Sea, he looked at the turbulent sea and reviewed the past battles. He became inspired by poetry and recited a famous poem "Guan Cang Hai", which has been passed down to this day.
Cao Cao used the weak to defeat the strong, defeated Yuan Shao, and then unified the north. In order to advance southward, he trained troops and farmed in Xudu.
After Liu Bei's defeat in Runan, he defected to Liu Biao in Jingzhou. He once persuaded Liu Biao to take advantage of Cao Cao's northern expedition to Wuhuan to attack Xudu, but Liu Biao failed to adopt it.
Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei were living in Jingzhou. They encountered a rebellion in Jiangxia. Liu Bei called for war and went to conquer it. He quickly put an end to the rebellion in Jiangxia and won the "De Lu" horse.
Liu Biao's wife, Mrs. Cai, was worried that Liu Bei would seize Jingzhou. For this reason, Liu Biao had no choice but to let Liu Bei live in Xinye.
One day, Liu Biao asked Liu Bei to come to Jingzhou to express his concerns. He wanted to abolish the eldest son and establish a younger son, but he was worried about the etiquette and law. He wanted to establish an eldest son, and the military power in Jingzhou was in the hands of the Cai family, which would lead to chaos in the future, so he was in a dilemma. Liu Bei said without thinking: "Since ancient times, the way of abolishing the elders and establishing the younger ones has been to create chaos. If you are worried about the power of the Cai family, you can slowly reduce it." Unexpectedly, Mrs. Cai, who was hiding behind the screen, heard him. She hated Liu Bei and ordered her younger brother Cai Mao to surround Guanyi late at night to kill Liu Bei. Liu Biao's minister Yi Ji informed Liu Bei of Cai Mao's plan, and Liu Bei quietly left the post and returned to Xinye. Cai Mao conspired with Mrs. Cai to kill Liu Bei at the Xiangyang Conference.
At a grand gathering in Jingxiang, Liu Biao asked Liu Bei to host the reception. His two sons, Liu Qi and Liu Cong, accompanied him. Zhao Yun followed Liu Bei and stayed with him. At this time, Cai Mao had secretly ambushed troops and horses throughout the city. The east gate, south gate, and north gate are all guarded, leaving only the west gate because there is Tanxi River in front of it. In order to facilitate their attack, they transferred Zhao Yun to the side hall for the banquet.
Yi Ji tried to secretly tell Liu Bei: "Only Ximen is feasible, you should leave as soon as possible."
Liu Bei rode his "De Lu" horse toward the west gate. Cai Mao led his troops to pursue him. Liu Bei escaped from the west gate, but a large stream blocked his way. The stream was several feet wide, and the current was very fast. The pursuers were approaching. In a hurry, Bei rushed his horse down the stream. The horse's hooves were deeply sunken. Suddenly he jumped up from the water and flew to the west bank. Cai Mao led his army to the stream and saw that Liu Bei had jumped over Tanxi River and Zhao Yun was leading his troops to find him, so he had no choice but to enter the city.
Liu Bei escaped from danger and came to Shuijing Villa to ask Mr. Shuijing for help.
Liu Bei rode over Tanxi River and came to Shuijing Villa to meet with Sima Hui (Mr. Shuijing). Liu Bei asked Sima Hui for advice and asked him to help. Sima Hui pointed out to Liu Bei: "If two people, Wolong and Fengchu, can be together, the world can be settled." "You should go and look for yourself."
Zhao Yun searched for Liu Bei everywhere, and finally met him at Shuijing Villa. The two returned to Xinye together. On the way, they suddenly met Shan Fu (real name Xu Shu) singing songs by the road. Liu Bei saw that he was an extraordinary person and mistakenly thought he was Wolong and Fengxiao. The two talked all night long and became very speculative. Liu Bei then worshiped Xu Shu as his military advisor.
Xu Shu assisted Liu Bei and used troops for the first time, defeating Cao Cao. Zhao Yun broke through the Eight Gate Golden Lock Formation in one fell swoop, and Guan Yu also captured Fancheng. Cao Cao was shocked and wanted to take Xu Shu under his wing. He used Cheng Yu's plan to bring Xu Shu's mother to Xudu. He obtained his handwriting and forged a letter from Xu Shu's mother to deceive the concubine into rushing to Xudu.
