Know yourself and know yourself, and you will win every battle. Cao Cao, who is proficient in the art of war and has a strategic vision, must have made the top-level design and offensive and defensive deployment of this war by perceiving the situation at that time and analyzing the enemy's strength. So what was the war situation at that time?
This war was a part of feudalism in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. What caused this confusion? The imperial court devolved the important right of conscription to the states and counties, and let them form a team to suppress the Yellow Scarf Army on their own turf, so that everyone could clean their own snow! As a result, the gourd was pressed and the ladle was lifted, which suppressed the yellow turban insurrectionary uprising. However, it is out of control to hold the emperor to make the princes flock to compete for territory! Even the landlords and tyrants organized their own "trilogy", that is, private armed forces. Since then, the whole country has fallen into a turbulent situation of years of struggle among governors, and the Eastern Han Dynasty has been tottering. Why did the imperial court destroy the Great Wall? There's nothing I can do. Eunuchs have been in power for a long time, the court is corrupt and the troops are empty.
In this situation, if Cao Yingyuan and Cao Yingyuan want to confront each other, they should first consider whether other governors will take the opportunity to stab in the back and who are friends and enemies. This is the primary problem of the revolution. So what are the main separatist forces after the melee? By the fourth year of Jian 'an, namely 199, Yuan Shao had invaded Liyang and attacked Cao Cao. At this time, it was the time when the two sides confronted each other. The original Lu Bu 1 1 separatist group in Xuzhou was destroyed by Cao Cao, Yangzhou Yuan Shu was destroyed by Cao Cao after several expeditions to the East, and the publicity in Hanoi was killed by his subordinate Yang Chou, who destroyed Yang Chou and led his troops to surrender to Yuan Shao. Persuaded by counselor Jia Xu, he finally refused Yuan Shao's wooing and surrendered to Cao Cao on June 5438+0 1. Han Fu in Jizhou and Gongsun Zan in Youzhou were successively destroyed by Yuan Shao, leaving Yuan Shao who occupied Jizhou, Qingzhou, Youzhou and Bingzhou, Cao Cao who occupied Yanzhou, Yuzhou and Hanoi, and Liu Biao in Jingzhou in the south. At this point, Liu Bei in the East just killed Che Zhou, the secretariat of Cao Cao School, captured Zhong Wang, the second commander-in-chief of Liu Dai who attacked him, and put him back in Xudu.
So how will the remaining three companies choose to take sides? Yuan Shao sent Marco to Jiangdong to woo Sun Ce. When Cao Cao and Liu Bei fought in Xuzhou, Sun Ce was preparing to attack Xudu, but was killed by an assassin. Sun Quan, the younger brother who succeeded to the throne, was married by Cao Cao and rejected Yuan Shao. But his first consideration at this time is to attack Liu Biao to avenge his father and basically remain neutral; But Liu Biao interacted with Yuan Shao and sent someone to contact other counties to attack Cao Cao. At this time, Cao Cao was actually in the place of four wars: there was Yuan Shao in the north, and the Guanzhong generals were still watching in the west. In the south, Liu Biao teamed up with Yuan Shao, Xuzhou Liu Bei and Qingzhou Yuan Shao's eldest son Yuan Tan, and threatened in the east. And Lombardi has no worries at this time, with sufficient food and troops.
Cao Yuan's pre-war strength, in terms of hard power, the strength of both sides is more than 1 10,000 to 1 10,000, which is too different. Cao Yuan is obviously at a disadvantage. However, Cao Cao has considerable advantages in soft power. Serenade is skilled, well-trained, brave and good at fighting, and has a high degree of internal unity. There is a high-level think tank headed by Yu Xun, and Cao Cao, the supreme commander, is far-sighted, resourceful and decisive, surrounded by moral flags that allow princes to have emperors. On the other hand, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and his think tank have seen through: they are ambitious, resourceful, timid, jealous, mean, weak, hesitant, too many soldiers and improper deployment, arrogant generals and different decrees, intrigue among counselors and unstable people's hearts, that is, the ideological and political work of the army has not been done well. This is also where Cao Cao dares to win more with less.
199 In June of the fourth year of Jian 'an, Yuan Shao selected 100,000 elite soldiers and horses to attack Xudu South, and the battle of Guandu started. The decisive battle between Cao Yuan and Cao Cao is imminent.
On the important decision of sending troops to crusade against Cao Cao, Yuan Shao's think tank has two opinions. Another Tian Feng, who was in charge of the army's longevity, thought that he had just been at war with Gongsun Zan in Youzhou for a year, so he should have a rest and present a trophy to the emperor. If blocked by Cao Cao, they can send troops to Liyang in the name of blocking Cao Cao from approaching the emperor, and then gradually develop to the south of the Yellow River, harassing Cao Cao at the border, making him restless and occupying his land. Finally, they can take advantage of the fishermen and settle down, and do not advocate this time. Guo Tu and Sun Gan, the advisers sent by Liu Bei, who killed Che Zhou, both advocated sending troops, thinking that now is a good time to attack on a large scale. The two sides had a heated debate about whether to send troops, and Yuan Shao didn't make up his mind. Finally, he listened to Xu You's advice and began to attack. Ju Shou remonstrated Yuan Shao's intention to send troops, and Guo Tu took the opportunity to enter Zen, saying that Ju Shou's military power was too great and its prestige was too high to control, which aroused Yuan Shao's suspicion. Therefore, Yuan Shao divided the army into three commanders, giving Ju Shou, Guo Tu and Chunyu Qiong one each. Before the invasion, internal contradictions were fierce. The giant hand and Tian Feng were undoubtedly right, which was the first major strategic mistake made by Yuan Shao.
Facing the invasion of Yuan Shao's army, Cao Cao decided to send troops to meet the enemy according to the analysis and judgment of the enemy's situation, and made the following strategic arrangements: in autumn and August of the fourth year of Jian 'an, he sent Cang Ba to attack Qingzhou from Linyi, Shandong Province, occupied Linzi, Beihai, Changle and Dongan, Yishui County, Shandong Province, and contained Yuan Tan, Yuan Shao's eldest son, consolidated the right wing and prevented Yuan Jun from attacking Xudu from the east; Cao Cao personally led the troops into Liyang, Jizhou, on the north bank of the Yellow River, which is now Xunxian East, Henan Province, and ordered the general to ride two thousand troops to guard Yanjin, an important ferry on the south bank of the Yellow River, which is now Yanjin North, Henan Province, to assist Ada, the satrap of Dongjun, to guard Baima, which is now Huaxian East, Henan Province. Stop Yuan Jun from crossing the river south, and at the same time set up a base in Guandu (now northeast of zhongmou county, Henan Province) to stop Yuan Shao from attacking from the front; And sent people to soothe Guanzhong, win over Liangzhou and stabilize the west wing. At the same time, Liu Dai and Zhong Wang were sent to Xuzhou to contain Liu Bei and then attack him to prevent him from joining forces with Yuan Shao. As a result, the two men were defeated and captured, and were put back to Xuchang by Liu Bei. At this time, Liu Beichu was unstable in Xuzhou and didn't want to attract Cao Cao's army. Yuan Shao hesitated at this moment, and the two armies formed a confrontation.
Judging from the above deployment, Cao Cao's strategic policy is to concentrate his troops on the third floor of the fortress, with Liyang on the north bank of the Yellow River as the first line, Baima on the south bank of the Yellow River as the second line, and Guandu on the south as the third line. At the same time, the east wing and Xuzhou adopt containment strategy, and the west side adopts the strategy of wooing and appeasing. The overall strategy is "giving priority to defense, combining attack and defense, waiting for success and taking the initiative to attack."
Judging from the situation at that time, this deployment was appropriate. First of all, Yuan Shaobing is more than Cao Cao and Serenade, so he can only focus on fortification. Secondly, Guandu is an important place for Yuan Shao to capture many capitals and must be fortified.
Cao Cao, who was ready to deploy, hesitated when he saw Yuan Shao. In September, I returned to Guandu from Liyang and then to Xudu. 165438+ In October, he accepted the surrender of Zhang Xiu mentioned above and returned to Guandu in February, 65438+, which was also a walk to do other things.
The confrontation between the two sides lasted until the second year, that is, the first month of the spring of the fifth year of Jian' an. Dong was exposed to Cao Cao's murder by the imperial edict of Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty. After Cao Cao killed Ping, he put down the rebellious Xiliang Marten and prepared to attack Liu Bei himself. People were afraid that Yuan Shao would take the opportunity to attack, so they advised Cao Cao not to hit Liu Bei and Yuan Shao first, but Cao Cao assumed that Yuan Shao would not make a move, and capturing Xiapi in Xuzhou would enable Xu Du to keep in touch with Yanzhou and Qingzhou and avoid fighting on two fronts. Counselor Guo Jia also agreed. So he captured Xuzhou, and Liu Bei was defeated, and fled to Yuan Shao, forcing Guan Yu to surrender and bring it back to Xudu. Liu Bei once sent Sun Gan to Yuan Shao to help, but Yuan Shao refused because his youngest son was critically ill. He also rejected Tian Feng's suggestion, and used Cao Cao to sneak attack on Liu Bei. Xuchang was empty and went straight to Xudu, missing an excellent soldier.
In February of the fifth year of Jian 'an, after some arguments, Xu You's suggestion was finally adopted. Chen Lin was ordered by the Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty to crusade against Cao Cao, drafted a "Wen" to crusade against Yuan Shao, announced it to the world, denounced Cao Cao, and the two families officially declared war. Then Yuan Shao invaded Liyang, sent Guo Tu, Chun Yuqiong and Yan Liang as pioneers, crossed the Yellow River, and attacked Ada, the satrap of Dongjun, on the white horse, in an attempt to seize the south bank of the Yellow River, ensure the main force to cross the river, and seek a decisive battle with Cao Cao. Tian Feng was sentenced to death for opposing sending troops. Cao Cao has a headache. After watching a battle, he was terrified and broke out in a cold sweat. He actually cured his headache, and he was deeply impressed by Chen Lin.
After Liu Bei finished, Cao Cao returned to Li in April to solve the siege of the White Horse, followed the advice of Xun You, the counselor, and adopted a diversion strategy, pretending to copy Yuan Shao's posterior route by crossing the Yellow River and tricking Yuan Shao into sending Guo Tu and Chunyu Qiong to solve it. He personally went out to raid the White Horse, with Zhang Liao and Guan Yu as pioneers. As a result, he met Yan Liang more than ten miles away from Baima. Guan Yu, under the cover of Zhang Liao, went straight to Yan Liang and beheaded him, Yuan Jun.
Then, Cao Cao moved the people of Baima County and retreated westward along the Yellow River. Yuan Shao led the army to cross the river in pursuit, and the army went south to Yanjin. He sent generals Wen Chou and Liu Bei to continue to lead the army in pursuit of Cao Jun. At that time, Cao Cao's cavalry was less than 600 people, stationed on the hillside of Baima South, while Yuan Jun rode five or six thousand troops, followed by infantry. Cao Cao used the trick of luring the enemy, let the soldiers release their horses, and deliberately abandoned the trench on the roadside. Yuan Jun was really caught, and they scrambled for property. Cao Cao ordered the attack, defeated Yuan Jun and killed Wen Chou. What I want to say is that Wen Chou was killed by the rebels, not by Guan Yu. After that, Cao Jun returned to Guandu smoothly. Yan Liang and Wen Chou were both famous soldiers in Hebei Province, but they were beheaded in World War I, and just after the war, they bruised Yuan's morale and gave Yuan Shao a duel. At this time, Guan Yu knew that his eldest brother Liu Bei was in Yuan Shao's army and went to take refuge.
From Cang Ba's flank war in Qingzhou to the outpost war in Baima Yanjin, it can be regarded as the peripheral war of Guandu War.
In July, Yuan Shao marched into Wu Yang (now Zhongmou North, Henan Province) and prepared to attack Xudu South. The battle of Guandu officially started in the autumn and August of 200 AD in the fifth year of Jian 'an. Yuan Jun's main force approached Guandu and camped on sand dunes dozens of miles wide from east to west. Cao Cao also set up camp separately to attack Yuan Jun. Before the war, the great hand advised Yuan Shao that Cao Cao had little food and grass and should fight a protracted war with him. Yuan Shao was imprisoned for disturbing the morale of the army. Cao Jun's first battle was unfavorable, with less than 10,000 troops and 23/ 10 wounded. In September, Cao Jun attacked again, which was not good for Yuan Jun. He returned to the camp again and held on. At this moment, Yuan Shao listened to Shen Pei's suggestion, built a building, piled a mountain of soil, and killed Cao Cao with an arrow. Cao Ying soldiers had to cover their bodies with shields when they walked, and everyone was very scared. Cao Jun built a mine car with a riprap device, which destroyed the building built by Yuan Jun ... Yuan Jun dug a tunnel and attacked again, and Cao Jun dug a deep ditch around the barracks, cutting off Yuan Shao's tunnel.
The two sides were deadlocked for three months. Cao Cao is in a difficult situation. The front of serenade is short of food, the foot soldiers are tired and the rear is unstable. Cao Cao almost lost the confidence to stick to it, so he wrote to Yu Xun, who was guarding Xuchang, to discuss retreating to Xudu. Yu Xun wrote back to persuade Cao Cao to stay where he was. So Cao Cao decided to continue to stand by and strengthen defense to prevent Yuan Jun from attacking the motorcade. On the other hand, he actively sought and captured fighter planes and defeated Yuan Jun. Soon, Yuan Shao took thousands of grain wagons, followed Xun You's plan and sent Huang Xu and Shi Huan to intercept them, which burned thousands of grain wagons in Yuan Jun and increased the supply difficulties in Yuan Jun.
During this period, runan county Yellow Scarf Army Liu Pi surrendered to Cao Cao, Yuan Shao sent Liu Bei to help, and was defeated by Coss. Jiangdong Sun Ce tried to sneak attack Xudu, but was assassinated by an assassin. This is what Zhuge Liang said. The situation has been developing in favor of Cao Cao.
In October, Cao Cao was exhausted and lacked food and grass, which was very difficult. At this time, Yuan Shao sent another car to transport grain, and Chunyu Qiong led ten thousand soldiers to escort him. Ju Shou, who was imprisoned in the army, risked his life to suggest that Yuan Shao send Jiang Ji to lead the army to transport grain in the outer layer to cut off Cao Jun's plunder, but Yuan Shao refused. So Chunyu Qiong led an army of grain transporters to spend the night in Wu Chao (now southeast of Henan Province, only four miles away from Yuan Jun Camp) without foreign aid. At this time, Xu You's greed was discovered by Yuan Shao and left out in the cold. His suggestion that Yuan Shao should attack Xuchang was not adopted. In a rage, he went to Cao Cao and suggested that Cao Cao take the Wu Dynasty lightly and burn his trench. Cao Cao immediately put it into practice, leaving Cao Hong and Xun You to guard the camp, personally led the troops to ride five thousand, falsely used the banner, each took a bunch of firewood, copied out a path in the dark, and attacked Wu's lair. Arrive at dawn and set fire to the city immediately. When Yuan Shao learned that Cao Cao had attacked the Wu Dynasty, he sent Qing Qi to save him. Zhang He, the commander of Ningguo, and Gao Lan, the general, stormed Cao Daying with heavy troops. But Cao Cao is too strong to attack. When Jun rushed to Wu Chao Chunyu Qiong Barracks, Yuan Shao's reinforcements were approaching. Cao Cao prepared his troops and defeated Yuan Jun, and Cao Jun's warrior Le Jin killed Chunyu Qiong and burned all his food and grass. When Zhang He and Gao Lan heard that their lair had been broken, they surrendered to Cao Cao, causing the morale of the army to be shaken, internal divisions and the army to collapse. In the battle of Guandu, Cao Jun successively annihilated and trapped more than 70,000 people in Yuan Jun, and some said it was 80,000. Yuan Shao returned to Hebei with 800 cavalry in panic, regretting that he didn't use Tian Feng's words, but he made things difficult for Tian Feng, and Tian Feng was killed by Yuan Shao.
After the battle of Guandu, Cao Jun captured Jushou alive and wanted to take him instead of being killed. In this way, a generation of celebrities cast pearls before swine, wasted their talents and died. In a large number of seized property and letters, it was found that some people in Xu Du and the army had expressed the meaning of rebellion to Yuan Shao, but Cao Cao ordered all the letters to be burned, rather than pursued, which showed the profundity of his thoughts. Yin Ben, a native of Liaodong who was good at astronomical phenomena when Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, predicted that the only thrill would appear here 50 years later, and now it really came true.
In the summer and April of the sixth year of Jian 'an, Cao Cao attacked Cangting and defeated Yuan Shao. After Yuan Shao returned to Jizhou, he reunified the scattered troops and led the army to pacify the counties and counties where there was rebellion in Jizhou area. In the seventh year of Jian 'an, Yuan Shao died of vomiting blood due to defeat. After that, Cao Cao completely wiped out the Yuanjun Group in five years, and conquered Wuhuan in the twelfth year of Jian 'an, that is, in 207 AD. At this point, the long-term war-torn north was unified.
Cao Cao was at a disadvantage at the beginning of the war, and Yu Xun, Xun You and Xu You were responsible for Cao Cao's suggestions and reversing the situation. But Yuan Shao didn't listen to Tian Feng, Ju Shou and Xu You, which led to failure.