The battle of Guandu was a great battle between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, the two most powerful warlords in the north, which took place in Guandu (now northeast of Zhongmou, Henan).
The Eastern Han Dynasty suppressed the Yellow Scarf Army uprising, but its regime was also on the verge of extinction. In the process of suppressing the uprising of the Yellow Scarf Army, the local bureaucrats took the opportunity to expand their own armed forces and fight in their own way. Finally, there are two northern warlords, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.
Yuan Shao occupied Jizhou (now south-central Hebei, western Shandong and northern Henan); Cao Cao took Runan and Yingchuan, and at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he welcomed the Han Emperor to Xu County (now Xu Changdong, Henan Province) in Yingchuan County, and controlled it in his own hands, holding the Emperor as a vassal. Yuan Shao could not tolerate Cao Cao's strength. After defeating another great warlord, Gongsun Zan, he quickly took aim at Cao Cao. At this time, Yuan Shao occupied an absolute advantage in strength and military equipment. With a huge population, he tried to capture Xuchang and destroy Cao Cao in one fell swoop. Yuan Shao's counselor Ju Shou and Tian Feng disapproved of the plan. They think that Cao Cao is now in a favorable political position, holding the emperor to make the princes. If you attack him rashly, he will be unknown. In addition, Cao Cao reclaimed land, resumed water conservancy, resumed agricultural production and solved the problem of rations. Moreover, Cao Cao's laws and regulations are unified, and the soldiers are refined, but his side is tired and empty because of repeated use of soldiers. Therefore, it is not appropriate to use troops quickly. Before attacking Cao Cao, Ju Shou and Tian Feng advised Yuan Gengtian to help the people, develop agricultural production and enrich the military. This prudent strategic plan was not adopted by Yuan Shao. With the catering and encouragement of Guo Tu, Shen Pei and others, Yuan Shao chose 654.38+ ten thousand troops and went straight to Xuchang.
Before the massive attack, Yuan Shao sent people to Jingzhou to persuade Liu Biao, a priest in Jingzhou, to cooperate from the south and jointly attack Cao Cao. Liu Biao verbally promised, but actually did not send troops. Later, Yuan Shao sent messengers to Yangcheng to mobilize Zhang Xiu to attack Cao Cao from the side, but without success, Zhang Xiu was surrendered by Cao Cao. This weakened Yuan Shao's strength.
Besides, Cao Cao's strength is far less than Yuan Shao's, and only 20,000 to 30,000 people can participate in the war. After learning that Yuan Shao was going to attack, he immediately discussed countermeasures with his advisers Guo Jia and Yu Xun (Yu Yu).
They compared and analyzed the situation of Yuan and Cao, and pointed out that they were defeated by Yuan:
First, Yuan Shao sent troops to attack Cao, and Cao was called by Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, which won worldwide support. Yuan Shao's attack was unpopular;
Second, Yuan Shao is very suspicious and jealous of talents. Cao Cao boldly employed people, surrounded by a group of generals and counselors;
Third, although Yuan Shao has many plans, he is indecisive, with many internal factions and many contradictions. Cao Cao, on the other hand, can make decisive decisions after the strategy is established, distinguish right from wrong, be not confused, and have clear rewards and punishments, which makes the group more United;
Fourth, in terms of fighting, Yuan Shao likes to bluff and doesn't understand the art of war, while Cao Cao is good at fighting. Finally, I decided to confront Yuan Shao with my own advantages and disadvantages.
Cao Cao made a strategic defense plan according to the other side's intention to use troops: sending Cang Ba to Qingzhou to contain Yuan Jun and consolidate its right wing; He also sent Yujin to lead 2,000 cavalry to station (now Yanjin County, Henan Province), and sent the white horse satrap (now northeast of hua county, Henan Province) to stop the frontal attack. And set up a defense line in Guandu as the main position to stop the other side.
Yuan Shao personally led hundreds of thousands of troops into Liyang, the front line of Hebei Province, ready to cross the river south and take Xuchang directly. He sent general Yan Liang across the Yellow River to attack the White Horse. The white horse satrap Ada organized resistance, but suffered heavy casualties. When Cao Cao heard the news, he quickly led the troops from Guandu North to save Baima. He adopted the plan of Xun You, an adviser, and led troops to pretend to attack Yanjin, southwest of Baima, as if to cross the Yellow River to attack the rear of Yuan Shao. When Yuan Shao saw this, he immediately sent troops to Yanjin to fight. Cao Cao immediately led the Qingqi to gallop the white horse, but the other party didn't know it at all. Until more than ten miles away from the white horse, it was discovered by Yan Liang. Yan Liang took the lead and was beheaded by Guan Yu, the general of Liu Bei who served in Cao Cao's army. Yuan Jun was immediately defeated, and the siege of the White Horse was quickly solved. After that, Cao Cao moved out all the residents of Baima City and retreated to Guandu along the river with the army.
When Yuan Shao learned that Cao Cao had retired his white horse, he led his army across the river to the south, trying to swallow Cao Jun ... Yuan Shao's army came to the direction of Yanjin, and Cao Cao ordered the army to be stationed on the hillside south of Yanjin. Yuan Shao ordered Wen Chou, a general, to lead 6,000 cavalry to pursue Cao Jun, while Cao Cao ordered all cavalry to release their horses and abandon the trench. When Yuan Jun saw this scene, he scrambled to grab the military supplies on the road. Cao Cao immediately commanded the army and mounted a horse to kill them. The other party made a mess, and Wen Chou was killed in the chaos, and the whole army was captured.
The two battles of Baima and Yanjin became the prelude to the battle of Guandu. Yuan Shao lost two generals and many troops, and his morale was frustrated. Cao Cao changed the passive situation to a great extent. However, Yuan Jun still maintains its advantage. In order to change the situation that the enemy is strong and we are weak, Cao Cao took the initiative to retreat to Guandu from the south bank of the Yellow River after winning the first battle, so as to lure the enemy into depth, strike from behind and hit the enemy with his camera.
After Yuan Shao's first battle was unfavorable, he still didn't learn the lesson, and he still attacked blindly with his own human and material advantages. In July, he led an army to Wu Yang, north of Guandu, and refused to accept Bow's suggestion to consume Jun's strength with a protracted war. He ordered the main force to enter the front line of Guandu to camp, and the military camp stretched for dozens of miles.
Cao Cao also organized the army and put it in position. Cao Cao took the initiative to attack Yuan Jun, but failed. So Cao Cao changed his policy and held his ground, unable to get away. When Yuan Shao saw this, he ordered the soldiers to build high oars outside Cao Ying, so that the archers could shoot Cao Jun violently there, and the arrows rained down on Cao Ying. Cao Cao's soldiers had to use shields to cover their body movements. In order to strike back at each other, Cao Cao ordered craftsmen to build a thunderbolt car overnight (a kind of car that used organs to deliver stones), and fired stones with thunderous sound, breaking Yuan Jun's high paddle. Yuan Shao hurriedly ordered the soldiers to dig tunnels and go straight to Cao Cao in order to sneak attack; Cao Cao ordered people to dig long trenches on the camp wall for defense. In this way, you come and I block, and the two sides are deadlocked in Guandu.
The number of Cao Jun soldiers is already small, and the rations are not enough. Over time, the foot soldiers were tired, the canteen was bad, and morale was shaken. Cao Cao was very worried and wrote to discuss with Yu Xun who stayed in Xuchang, saying that he would give up Guandu and retreat to Xuchang. Yu Xun believes that Cao Jun should stick to Guandu. At the critical moment when the two armies are deadlocked, whoever wants to retreat first will be caught by the enemy. As long as we stick to it, the situation will change rapidly. Yu Xun told Cao Cao never to retreat and never to lose the opportunity. Cao Cao listened to Yu Xun's advice, strengthened his confidence, appeased the army, continued to stick to Guandu, and prepared for a decisive battle at a favorable opportunity.
During the stalemate between the two armies, on the one hand, Cao Cao strictly ordered the rear to urge grain and grass to support military supplies; On the one hand, he sent people to burn Yuan Jun's hay. It happened that Yuan Shao sent Han Meng to escort thousands of grain trucks to Guandu, and they were on their way. Cao Cao sent Huang Xu and Shi Huan to rob, beat back Han Meng, and burned up the grain and supplies that Han Meng had sent.
Yuan Shao also sent people from Hebei to transport more than10,000 carriages and materials to Wu Chao (now Fengqiu West, Henan Province), 40 miles north of Yuan Jun camp. General Chunyu Qiong and ten thousand men are stationed here to protect it.
Soon, Xu You, one of Yuan Shao's advisers, betrayed Cao Yuan. He provided Cao Cao with the information about the location of Yuan Shao's shop and suggested that Cao Cao lead a Qingqi to sneak attack. Cao Cao was overjoyed and began to act that night. Cao Hong and Xun You stayed at Guandu Camp, and led five thousand cavalry to the Wu Dynasty. Under the banner of Yuan Jun, each of them tied all the horses' mouths with a chopstick in his mouth and soon arrived in Wu Chao. Subsequently, Yuan Shao's grain depot was surrounded and set on fire. Soldiers stationed in Yuan Jun woke up from their dreams and found flames and smoke everywhere. Chunyu Qiong hurried to fight, but was defeated by Jun, so he had to go back to camp and stick to it.
Lombardi learned that Wu Chao's grain depot was burned and thought it was an excellent opportunity to capture Guandu and annihilate Cao Jun's main force .. So he ordered general Zhang He and Gao Lan to attack Guandu Camp in Cao Jun, but Cao Cao was unmoved and still led the army to fight to the death with Yuan Jun in Wu Chao. Zhang He was afraid that Chunyu Qiong wouldn't stay up. He repeatedly asked Yuan Shao to send troops to save Wu's lair, but Yuan Shao still insisted on attacking Guandu with the main force, and only sent a few cavalry to save Wu's lair. The camp of Guandu Cao Jun was strong and abnormal, and the soldiers held their ground. Yuan Jun's main force could not be captured for a long time, which created favorable conditions for Cao Cao to finally win Wu Chao. Finally, Cao Cao led his troops to defeat Yuan Jun's reinforcements, occupied Yuantun and killed Chunyu Qiong. More than 10,000 wagons and grain valleys here were burned down.
The destruction of Wu Chao's grain depot greatly shook Yuan Jun's morale. Originally, Guo Tu, who advocated storming Guandu and opposed Zhang He's heavily rescuing Wu's lair, framed Zhang He for Yuan Shao for fear of being held accountable. Zhang He was angry and afraid. Together with Gao Lan, he burned all the siege equipment and defected to Cao Cao. This made Yuan Jun more confused, and Yuan Jun broke up.
Cao Cao took advantage of the situation, led his troops to attack, defeated Yuan Jun, wiped out more than 70,000 people and seized all his military assets. Yuan Shao only led 8,000 Qin Bing to the north of the Yellow River and never recovered. From then on, Yuan Shao was anxious and angry, and became seriously ill.
The battle of Guandu is a famous example in China's military history, in which the few win the many and the weak win the strong. In this battle, Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao, who had 65,438+10,000 troops. The main reasons are as follows: politically, although Yuan Shao Group occupied most of the northern region, with abundant food and a large population, it indulged aristocratic families and annexed land at will, which seriously damaged the local social and economic development; Cao Cao, on the other hand, practiced the rule of law, cracked down on strongmen, cultivated land, rewarded agricultural production, restored the social economy of the Central Plains, and paid attention to reducing the burden on the people and winning over the people.
Judging from the strategic situation, Cao used contradictions and weaknesses in time to attack the enemy, enabling him to turn passivity into initiative and defense into attack. Defeat the enemy with flexible strategies and tactics.
In terms of employing people, Cao Cao knows how to be good at employing people and is good at adopting the correct suggestions of subordinates. A diversion from east to west, luring the enemy deep, and then attacking the grain depot. It was the advisers who made suggestions that made Cao Cao turn the corner, turn the corner and finally win. Yuan Shao, on the other hand, is arrogant and underestimates his enemy, arbitrary and partial, which leads to talents leaving him and failing again and again.
The victory of the battle of Guandu laid the foundation for Cao Cao to unify the north.