【Worries of retiring from the army】

Cao Cao turned from offensive to defensive, life was not very good, in the face of Yuan Shao's huge pressure, the increasing reduction of grain and grass, and the uprisings in various places, Cao Cao was already a little unable to hold on, he no longer wanted to stalemate with Yuan Shao, and was ready to change his strategy, ready to retreat to Xuchang, lure the enemy deep, and eliminate Yuan Shao in his hinterland.

Cao Cao wrote a letter to Xun Yu about his thoughts, seeking his opinion. Xun Yu replied: "Yuan Shao has now concentrated all his troops in Guandu, and intends to compete with you. You resist the strongest with the weakest, and if you can't control the enemy, you will be conquered by the enemy, which is the important key to taking over the world. Moreover, Yuan Shao is just a hero in the cloth, who can recruit talents around him, but he can't appoint them. With your martial wisdom, plus respect for the Son of Heaven and righteousness, who can stop you! Today, although there is little food, it has not yet reached the predicament of Chu and Han when they confronted each other in Xingyang and Cheng. At that time, Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were unwilling to retreat first, because if they retreated first, they would be at a disadvantage. Your army is only one-tenth of Yuan Shao's army, but you have held on, choked Yuan's throat, and made Yuan's army unable to advance for half a year. The situation has come to an end, and it will change, and this is the time to win by surprise, and we must not give up. ”

At that time, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao had been in a stalemate for a long time, and both sides were fighting with one breath, if Cao Cao retreated, the morale would definitely be dispersed, and I was afraid that it would be a collapse for thousands of miles, and there was nothing to lure the enemy in.

And Cao Cao controlled the Son of Heaven, located in the Central Plains, if he showed a weak attitude, it would definitely cause further internal divisions, at that time, there were many people in the court who secretly took refuge in Yuan Shao, but it was not blatant to see Cao Cao's strength was still there, if Cao Cao showed weakness, then it would be difficult to say what the consequences were. On the other hand, the external princes are also paying attention to this decisive battle, Yuan Shao loses, they can't reach out to Yuan Shao, but Cao Cao loses, they don't mind cutting a piece of cake, for example, Liu Biao saw that Cao Cao had withdrawn his troops, so he might clearly start to help Yuan Shao, send troops to recapture Nanyang, and even invade Xuchang.

So Cao Cao couldn't retreat, and he would go to the place of burial if he took a step back, but Cao Cao was still more wise at that time, and after reading Xun Yu's letter, he listened to Xun Yu's advice, and made up his mind to stick to the camp and hold on to Yuan Shao.

【Attack on Grain and Grass】

In order to defeat Yuan Shao, Cao Cao followed Xun You's advice and started with Yuan Shao's grain and grass, when Yuan Shao's thousands of grain trucks came to Guandu, Xun You said to Cao Cao: "Yuan Shao's convoy transporting baggage is coming soon, and the escort general Han Xun is brave and light on the enemy, attack him, you can defeat him!" Cao Cao said, "Who should I send?" Xun You said: "Xu Huang is the most suitable." So, Cao Cao sent the partial generals Xu Huang and Shi Jian from Hedong to intercept Han Xun halfway, repel Han Xun, and burn the baggage.

After a long confrontation, the supply of Cao Cao's rear was becoming more and more difficult, when Cao Cao saw the people transporting grain and grass, comforted them and said: "In another fifteen days, defeat Yuan Shao for you, and you will no longer have to work hard to transport grain." At this time, Cao Cao had already made up his mind to defeat Yuan Shao in the short term, and he was no longer ready to drag it out.

In the confrontation with Yuan Shao Guandu, Cao Cao on the one hand had fewer troops than Yuan Shao, unable to confront him head-on, on the other hand, he was also inferior to Yuan Shao in the supply of grain and grass, so even if Cao Cao took the lead, he could not gain the upper hand, in order to reduce Yuan Shao's advantage, Cao Cao started from Yuan Shao's grain road, and achieved considerable results, although it did not cause fatal damage to Yuan Shao's army, but it has successfully slowly weakened Yuan Shao's advantage.

After killing Yan Liang and Wen Chou successively, successfully resisting Yuan Shao's attacks in Guandu, breaking Liu Bei and Han Xun sent by Yuan Shao, and burning Yuan Shao's baggage, Cao Cao has brought the situation back little by little, and now Cao Cao only lacks an opportunity to completely defeat Yuan Shao.

Everything is ready, only the east wind is owed, and soon the east wind will come.

【Xu Yu rebelled against Yuan】

Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were in a stalemate in Guandu for more than 100 days, and after winter, Yuan Shao sent a large number of vehicles to transport grain and grass, and asked the general Chun Yuqiong and others to lead more than 10,000 people to escort them, and stayed in Wuchao, forty miles north of Yuan Shao's camp.

Since Xu Huang and Shi Jian had already intercepted Cao Cao's grain and grass once, in order to be safe, he persuaded Yuan Shao and said: "You can send Jiang Qi to lead an army to patrol the perimeter of the grain transportation team to prevent Cao Cao's army from attacking." There was nothing wrong with Fu Zhu's proposal, but unfortunately Yuan Shao already had a deep opinion on Fu Zhu at that time, and he couldn't listen to his words at all.

While Cao Cao was worried about resisting Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao's group was also racking their brains to eliminate Cao Cao. At that time, Xu You, the main strategist under Yuan Shao, persuaded Yuan Shao and said: "Cao Cao has few soldiers, and concentrates all his strength to resist our army, Xu Du is guarded by the rest of the people, and the defense must be empty. After occupying Xudu, he welcomed the Son of Heaven to crusade against Cao Cao, and he would definitely be able to capture Cao Cao. If he hadn't broken up at once, he would have been able to defeat him if he had been exhausted and exhausted. ”

Xu You proposed that Yuan Shao divide his troops and march to Xuchang, but Yuan Shao had failed to send Liu Bei and Han Xun in front, and even at present, Liu Bei led his army in Yuzhou and killed Cai Yang of Cao Cao's faction, but it failed to form an effective threat to Xuchang, and Xu You did not propose other ways to solve this problem, so Yuan Shao did not agree with Xu You's opinion.

According to the record of "Spring and Autumn of the Han Dynasty", Xu You hoped that Yuan Shao would divide his troops to attack Xuchang, but Yuan Shao replied: "I want to surround and eliminate Cao Cao now!" Xu Yu was half angry.

At this time, someone in Xu You's family broke the law, and the interrogator who stayed in Yecheng arrested them, Xu You was furious when he found out, and he began to fear that Yuan Shao would hold him responsible, so he decided to betray Yuan Shao and take refuge in Cao Cao.

In history, Xu You's betrayal and Sun Ce's death have long been expected, Guo Jia thought that Sun Ce would die at the hands of assassins sooner or later if he didn't pay attention to his own safety during the Battle of Guandu, and Xun Yu said to Kong Rong before the war: "Although there are many Shao soldiers, the law is not in order." Tian Feng just committed it, and Xu Yu was greedy and not cured. The trial is specialized and unplanned, and the results are used for their own use, these two people leave the knowledge of the future, if the family violates its law, it must not be indulgent, not indulgent, and it will change. Yan Liang, Wen Chou, a husband's brave ears, but a fowl can fight. ”

As a result, Xun Yu's prediction was all in the middle, Tian Feng was imprisoned by Yuan Shao because of his crime, Xu You was greedy and finally broke the law, and the trial was also because Xu You had illegal behavior, and his wife and children were arrested, which led to Xu You betraying Yuan Shao in anger, Yan Liang and Wen Chou only had the courage of a husband, and they were all beheaded in front of the battle.

After Xu You took refuge in Cao Cao, the Guandu War finally ushered in the turning point that Cao Cao had been looking forward to.