There are too many historical records about the Battle of Guandu. It can be said that the Battle of Guandu, this battle directly established Cao Cao's position as the overlord in the north. And the two sides of this war are Cao Cao and Yuan Shao.

The Battle of Guandu was a decisive battle for Cao Cao to unify the north. It was also a key battle for Cao Cao to win more with less.

In the decade from 190 A.D. to 200 A.D. After nearly a decade of melee among the princes. Two of the most powerful groups were formed. This is the Cao Cao Group and the Yuan Shao Group.

Yuan Shao obtained the lands of Jizhou, Qingzhou, Bingzhou, Youzhou, and Four Prefectures. Majestic in the north. Cao Cao's power reached Guanzhong in the west and Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and Xuzhou in the east. Controlled most of the area south of the Yellow River and north of Huaihan. and Yuan Shao formed a situation of confrontation between the north and south along the lower reaches of the Yellow River.

And at this time, Yang Feng has been destroyed, Lu Bu has died, Yuan Shu has died, Zhang Xiu has surrendered, Sun Ce is guarding Jiangdong, and Liu Biao is neutral and wait-and-see. The situation has become clear.

Yuan Shao's power was greatly superior to Cao Cao, and he was naturally unwilling to submit to Cao Cao. So Yuan Shao decided to take the initiative to attack Cao Cao. Thus, the battle of Guandu began.

At that time, Yuan Shao summoned hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses from Ji, Qing, You, and other states (more than 100,000 elite soldiers recorded in the official history) to prepare for a crusade against Cao Cao.

So why did Yuan Shao want to crusade against Cao Cao?

I think there are generally two reasons. One reason is that Cao Cao "coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes". This caused Yuan Shao's dissatisfaction. Because Yuan Shao's strength is already strong. He was unwilling to be Cao Cao's pawn. So the war was unleashed.

The second reason is that Yuan Shao sent a Jiangdong envoy Chen Zhen back to Yuan Shao at that time. The report to Yuan Shao said: "Sun Ce is dead, and Sun Quan succeeds him. Cao Cao had already appointed Sun Quan as a general as Cao Cao's own ally. After Yuan Shao heard this, he must have been furious. So I couldn't wait to start this war.

When Yuan Shao began to wage this war. Two of Yuan Shao's advisors, Fu Zhi and Tian Feng, tried their best to dissuade Yuan Shao from fighting lightly. As a result, Yuan Shao didn't listen, and Tian Feng was also put in prison.

In fact, the war was fought very hard. In February of the fifth year of Jian'an (200 AD), Yuan Shao's army went to Liyang, and his troops attacked Baima and Yanjin in two ways.

Cao Cao's side, when Yuan Shao reached Xu Du with the news that he was going to attack Cao Cao. Cao Cao was not afraid. He calmly analyzed the situation and believed that Yuan Shao had great ambitions and little resourcefulness. Tough on the outside and timid on the inside. Suspicion is mean and lacks prestige. There are many soldiers and no way to dispatch. So Yuan Shao is not worried.

In order to be able to deal with Yuan Shao with all his might, Cao Cao decided to deploy troops to defend Yuan Shao at the same time, and first break the surrounding separatist forces one by one, so as to save these little ghosts from taking the opportunity to make trouble. In February 199 AD, Cao Cao sent Cao Ren to capture the strategic location on the south bank of the Yellow River to shoot dogs, and in August, Cao Cao ordered the general to ban the army on the south bank of the Yellow River to monitor the movements of Yuan's army. In December, Cao Cao personally led his army to Guandu, preparing to fight Yuan Shao.

The Great War is on the verge of breaking out.

In February 200 AD, Yuan Shao led his army into Liyang, and when he learned that Cao Cao had sent Liu Yan, the Taishou of Dongjun, to garrison Baima, he immediately ordered the general Yan Liang to lead his troops across the Yellow River and capture Baima. Clear the way to the south. Yan Liang came violently this time, and under the frantic attack of the Yuan army, the soldiers defending the city on the White Horse suffered heavy casualties. Cao Cao after learning the news. immediately prepared to send troops to rescue Liu Yan, and at this time, the military advisor Xun Yu comprehensively analyzed the situation. Dissuading Cao Cao said: "We have very few troops now, and we can't go head-to-head with Yuan Shao's elite troops. The enemy's forces must be dispersed in order to defeat them, and if we can send a force to force Yanjin and make the gesture that we are going to cross the Yellow River and take Yuan Shao's back route, we will confuse Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao must divide his troops to defend. When the time comes, if you raid the white horse again, you will definitely be able to capture Yan Liang alive. ”

After Cao Cao heard this, he immediately adopted Xun You's suggestion and personally led his troops to the direction of Yanjin. Some people say that Liu Bei and Wen Chou came to Yanjin together for reinforcements. Later, after the defeat of Yuan's army, Liu Bei left. Fled.

Later, Cao Cao saw that Yuan Shao had been decided, Cao Cao immediately divided his troops and marched to Baima, but Yan Liang found that Cao's army was approaching and immediately rushed to the battle, resulting in a great defeat, and Yan Liang himself was also beheaded in the chaos. So there was a scene of Guan Yu beheading Yan Liang. The first engagement between the two sides ended in Cao Cao's victory.

After the Battle of White Horse, Yuan Shao relied on the advantage of being outnumbered. Prepare for a main decisive battle with Cao Cao. After Yuan Shao led his army to the south of Yanjin, he ordered Wen Chou to be the vanguard and launched an attack on Cao's army. This time, Cao Cao played another trick and used a trick again. As the saying goes, soldiers don't get tired of cheating. What trick did Cao Cao use this time?

Cao Cao ordered his soldiers to pile up their wagons on the road to create the illusion of abandoning the city and fleeing.

Yuan Jun was really fooled, and when he saw some military supplies piled up on the roadside, he rushed to grab them, and the scene was chaotic. Let's think about who it will be, and if we don't see such good supplies, we won't come to grab them. Not to mention Wen Chou's troops. But there is no such thing as pie in the sky. There is a causal cost.

Sure enough, Cao Cao saw that Yuan Jun had a plan. He personally led a large army into the enemy formation, and Yuan's army was defeated. Wen Chou was killed in the chaos. In the romance, it is said that Wen Chou was killed by Guan Yu. However, there is no specific record in the official history of who killed Wen Chou. Wen Chou was killed in the chaos of the army.

Wen Chou and Yan Liang are both famous generals under Yuan Shao. The killing of these two people greatly affected the morale of the Yuan army.

Although the battle ended with Cao Cao's victory, Cao Cao knew that his strength was inferior to Yuan Shao. Therefore, Baima and Yanjin were abandoned, and the whole army retreated to Guandu to avoid its edge.

At this time, Yuan Shao, who had lost two battles in a row, was eager to win. He rejected the advisor's suggestion to fight a protracted war with Cao Cao. and launched a fierce attack on Guandu, where Cao Cao was located. Cao Cao sent troops to fight Yuan Shao several times, but he didn't get any good bargains, and then retreated to the base camp to continue to hold on.

According to the historical sources above. I would like to add some facts about the fact that Yuan Shao and his army attacked Guandu.

That's what history says. In July, Yuan Shaojun entered Yangwu (now Yuanyang, Henan). In August, Yuan's army approached Guandu again, and set up a camp along the sand dunes, stretching for dozens of miles from east to west. Cao Cao had no way to retreat at this time, so he also camped against each other, and the war entered a phase of stalemate.

The historical material above. It can be said that some records of several battles between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao when he entered Guandu have been supplemented.

The historical data that follows has been simplified. The following is to add some actions that Yuan Shao did later.

Since Yuan Shao and Cao Cao entered the phase of stalemate. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were both stationed in their base camps. Yuan Shao saw that Cao Cao did not dare to fight, so he ordered the soldiers to build a high platform outside Cao Cao's military camp and fired bows and arrows at Cao Ying, but the soldiers of Cao Ying had shields to cover their bodies and were not afraid of Yuan Shao's bow and arrows. Yuan Shao later adopted underground tactics, digging tunnels to attack Cao Cao ordered his soldiers to build a long ditch in the camp to cut off the tunnels of Yuan's army.

It is this stage of Cao Yuan's stalemate. No one can take advantage of anyone. Especially the fortifications built by Yuan Shao. Let Cao Cao also work hard. It is said that Cao Jun also used a trebuchet to attack Yuan Shao's fortifications.

The result of such a stalemate was that Cao Cao couldn't stand it anymore.

In fact, Cao Cao really didn't want to fight anymore. He just couldn't hold on. At this time, Cao Cao's two strategists helped Cao Cao in the back.

First Xun Yu in Xudu, he sent a letter to persuade Cao Cao to fight. Because now it is Yuan Shao, who has killed the red-eyed, not someone else, and there is no way back. I want to fight to the death with Yuan Shao.

Xun Yu and Cao Cao said: "Success or failure is here. ”

Later, another strategist also supported Cao Cao's persistence. This is Jia Xu, the strategist who surrendered to Cao Cao with Zhang Xiu.

Jia Xu told Cao Cao that Ming Gong's wisdom surpassed Yuan Shao's. Be brave and surpass Yuan Shao, and employ people more than Yuan Shao. Decisive more than Yuan Shao. The only problem is that you always want to be foolproof. In fact, as long as you seize the opportunity and work hard, you can get it done in a few moments.

With the support of these two strategists, Cao Cao was even more clear that he wanted to defeat Yuan Shao.

At this time, Cao Cao was only waiting for an opportunity. And this opportunity has come.

Since Liu Bei fled, another heavyweight defected.

This heavyweight is Xu You.

So how did Xu Yu defect? After he defected, what did he do to help Cao Cao? Please follow below.