Tian Feng and Jushou, two advisers under Yuan Shao, were two outstanding advisers under Yuan Shao in the battle of Guandu. For these two men, Cao Cao, who knows people better and uses people better than Yuan Shao, once said for Tian Feng that "the unknown raises the longevity" and "the world is not worried".

As for the Yuan and Cao armies, Ju Shou thought that "the number of soldiers in the north is not as strong as that in the south, and the goods in the south valley are not as good as that in the north", while Tian Feng also thought that "the good use of soldiers, though few, can not be ignored". According to the records in the Ji of Emperor Wudi, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao "refused to enter the moon, and although they were defeated, the people were miserable and their foot soldiers were exhausted". Tian Feng and Jushou did not speculate out of thin air, but did intelligence work.

So when Yuan Shao decided to send troops to crusade against Cao Cao, Tian Feng and Jushou once gave Yuan Shao advice, and they gave advice. The article is as follows: learn from the lessons of the past years, the people are tired, the jade is not accumulated, and the service is yin. This country is deeply worried. It is advisable to advance the envoy Xian Di Jie and take agriculture as the people's benefit; If I can't get through, that is to say, Cao Shi broke away from my kingly way, then entered Liyang, and gradually set up camp in Henan. Thanks to making boats, repairing equipment and sending fine riders, he couldn't live, so I used this as an escape. In three years, things can be settled. Many people think that Tian Feng and the giant's strategy is to fight a protracted war. In fact, the real strategic intention of Tian Feng and the giant is to fight an economic war with military assistance. Tian Feng said to Yuan Shao: The general is based on the solid mountains and rivers, and there are four states, which create heroes from outside and repair agricultural warfare from inside, and then simplify its elite and divide it into raiders, who take advantage of weakness to disturb Henan, attack the left if they save the right, and attack the right if they save the left, which makes the enemy tired and the people restless; I'm tired, but I'm sleepy. In less than two years, I can sit still.

There are two key points: first, the internal agricultural war; The second is to send elite riders to disturb the enemy. Only in this way can we achieve the effect of "if there is no peace, I will take it and flee", rather than simply a protracted war.

Nearly eight months have passed since Yuan Shao decided to send troops to actually send troops, but the time is not long. Therefore, Cao Cao used this incident to make strategic arrangements and solved Liu Bei's sudden mutiny in Xuzhou. Yuan Shao did not send troops on horseback according to the established plan, nor did he adopt the policy of Tian Feng and the giant hand to repair the agricultural war. On the contrary, he did nothing and wasted time. If Yuan Shao is willing to send troops on horseback according to his established plan, the chances of winning are also great, because Cao Cao had worries at that time, aspirants such as Dong Cheng and Liu Bei were ready to move, and the soldiers and civilians were exhausted. "The south valley is empty, and the goods and wealth are not as good as the north." Otherwise, according to the policy of Tian Feng and the giant hand. So is Tian Feng's strategy with the giant hand a good strategy? First of all, let's look at the war within agriculture. As the saying goes, "the reason why the country is prosperous is also the battle of agriculture." The turmoil at the end of the Han Dynasty caused serious damage to agricultural production. Emperor Wu of the Three Kingdoms quoted Shu Wei as saying: "I am in chaos and lack of food. When all the troops are gathered together, there is no plan at the end of the year. If you are hungry, you will be a little embarrassed. When you are full, you will abandon the surplus, disintegrate and be displaced. There are countless invincible self-destructors. " In the first year of Jian 'an, Cao Cao began to carry out the strategy of ploughing and wage agricultural war. However, Yuan Shao did not have a clear land policy. Although it owns four states, serious land annexation and undeveloped agriculture are very unfavorable to the long-term development of Yuan Shao's career. Therefore, Tian Feng's civil war plan is beneficial to Yuan Shao both today and in the future. But Yuan Shao wouldn't listen.

Look at the plan of fine riding to disturb the enemy. Yuan Shao's advantages in Hebei services and arms are that there are many cavalry, the cavalry is fast, and he can quickly advance and retreat. It has great advantages for harassment. Cao Cao and serenade can't be prevented everywhere, which is exactly what Sun Tzu said in the Art of War. "Therefore, the former widowed, the latter widowed, the left widowed, and the right widowed." This plan is also very vicious, supplemented by the strategy of Tian Feng's civil war. The purpose of sending elite cavalry is to harass Cao Cao's agricultural development. Therefore, the cavalry sent must be mainly to plunder farmers and destroy agricultural production, not to find some strongholds of Cao Cao. In this way, Cao Cao had to send troops to rescue him, otherwise the agricultural production in his territory would collapse in the long run, and the peasants who had been plundered for a long time would either rebel or rebel. This plan is not a perfect plan for Yuan Shao, because Yuan Shao runs the army badly. If the elite cavalry sent by Yuan Shao rises during the plunder and does not retreat on time for greed, it is easy to have a war of annihilation when Cao Cao comes. Wen Chou was wiped out by Cao Cao because his cavalry only cared about money. However, we can only be perfect in many things, but not perfect. Therefore, although this strategy is risky, it is also a good plan for Yuan Shao. But Yuan Shao wouldn't listen. Yuan Shao wasted nearly eight months and didn't know what he was doing.

In the first month of the fifth year of Jian 'an, Cao Cao personally signed Liu Bei, and Tian Feng persuaded Yuan Shao to "attack Mao". Yuan Shao rejected Tian Feng's suggestion on the grounds that his child was ill and had no intention of going on an expedition. Many people think that "after attacking Taizu" is a sneak attack on Xuchang, which is also possible, but there are two other understandings of "after attacking Taizu". One is to attack Guandu while Cao Cao is away; One is to attack Cao Cao's army that conquered Liu Bei from the rear, and form a pinch attack with Liu Bei. To realize the above three strategies, we must first occupy Yanjin and take Yanjin as our stronghold. According to Biography of Yu Zhuo, Yuan Shaopa sent people to attack Yanjin. At that time, Yujin had only 2,000 soldiers guarding Yanjin. If Yuan Shao, according to his deployment, attacks Yanjin with all his might, and even the two thousand-man-guarded performances can't be beaten, then does the battle of Guandu need to be fought again? Could it be that the Art of War didn't teach the enemy how to fight fifty times as many troops, so they didn't know how to fight? Cao Cao quickly put down Liu Bei's rebellion, only left Guandu and came back in less than a month. Suppose Yuan Shao laid Yanjin before Cao Cao put down Liu Bei's rebellion and took Yanjin as his stronghold, which strategy is most likely to be realized, that is, what does Tian Feng mean by "attacking Mao"? The author thinks it is most likely to attack Guandu. Guandu is the throat of Xuchang. When Cao Cao wanted to abandon Guandu and surrender to Xudu, Xun Yan "choked and could not enter", which shows the importance of the battle of Guandu. As long as Guandu can be captured, Xudu will be difficult to hold. At that time, it was Cao Cao's internal "the situation has been exhausted and will change."

When Cao Cao abandoned Yanjin and retreated to Guandu, another counselor Jushou advised Yuan Shao not to make a move. This strategy is also reasonable. Sun Tzu's Art of War says that "soldiers are not expensive, but they are rich". Yuan Shao invaded Baima and Yanjin, suffered three defeats in a row, damaged generals Yan Liang and Wen Chou, and was captured by the little-known general Cao Cao. The morale of the army is naturally low, and the combat effectiveness is far less than that of Cao Cao's army. This is one of them; Cao Cao is short of money and food, so it is good for him to make a quick decision, while Yuan Shao has money and food, so he can support a protracted war and attack each other with his own strengths, which is in line with the principle of "winning with the enemy" in Sun Tzu's Art of War. This is the second one.

To sum up, Tian Feng and Jushou are really first-class counselors, and Cao Cao's evaluation of Tian Feng and Jushou is also very appropriate, but Yuan Shao has no knowledge of people, which is why Yuan Shao is not as good as Cao Cao.

There are so many tedious articles, including many guesses and assumptions. The main purpose is to prove that there are many unpredictable things in the war, and changes in the war are possible every minute. Cao Cao's military command and decision-making ability is the fundamental determinant of his ability to defeat the strong with the weak, rather than winning by luck.