【Fallen Dominoes】

In the fifth year of Jian'an (200), the two strongest princes in the Central Plains began a formal confrontation, and Cao Cao finally completed a gorgeous reversal of fewer enemies and more weak victories. Cao Cao first defeated Yuan Shao's general Yan Liang in the Battle of the White Horse and beheaded him, and then used the burden as a temptation to defeat Wen Chou and Liu Bei, and killed Yuan Shao's general Wen Chou again.

Then Cao Cao led his troops back to Guandu, and Yuan Shao personally led a large army to crusade, and the two sides launched a decisive battle in the area of Guandu. After Cao Cao took advantage of the morale of the generals to attack Yuan Shao to no avail, he turned from offensive to defensive and began to hold out, and Yuan Shao successively attacked Cao Cao with high-rise buildings, earth mountains, and tunnels, but failed to conquer Cao Cao's camp.

Yuan Shao also sent Liu Bei and Han Xun to attack Cao Cao's hinterland, but they were ultimately defeated by Cao Ren and failed to actually pose a clear threat to Cao Cao, instead Cao Cao sent Xu Huang and others to attack Yuan Shao's supply forces, but it was a great success.

Although Yuan Shao strongly besieged Cao Cao for hundreds of days, in fact, after continuous defeats, the army had reached a critical point. And Xu You's defection to Cao Cao and his plan to attack Wuchao eventually became the first card for Yuan Shao's army to be completely defeated and the dominoes to fall.

However, Yuan Shao's decision-making mistakes led to Cao Cao's successful capture of Wuchao, the supply of grain and grass was almost lost, many generals in the army were killed, Zhang He and Gao Ran also turned to Cao Cao, and the morale of the army was completely dispersed, and Yuan Shao's defeat was decided.

【Collapsed Yuan Shao's army】

After the fall of Wuchao, the supply of grain and grass suffered heavy losses, many generals were killed, and the heavy generals under his command defected, and the soldiers in the army were exhausted, seeing this situation, Yuan Shao took his son Yuan Tan and others wearing turbans, riding fast horses, and led 800 knights to cross the Yellow River and escape. Cao's army couldn't catch up, but captured all of Yuan Shao's baggage, books, and treasures.

Yuan Shao fled to Liyang on the north bank of the Yellow River in Liyang, entered the camp of the subordinate general Jiang Yiqu, held his hand and said, "I have entrusted my head to you." Jiang Yiqu gave the big tent to Yuan Shao and asked him to give orders inside, and Yuan Shao's subordinates heard that Yuan Shao was alive and gradually gathered together again. The rest of the troops pretended to surrender, and Cao Cao buried them all alive, killing 70,000 or 80,000 people one after another.

In the Three Kingdoms era, there were not many cases of pit killing enemy troops, and this time was the largest pit killing enemy army in the Three Kingdoms era, even in ancient Chinese history, its scale and number were ranked first.

The Battle of Guandu thus ended with Cao Cao's complete victory and the annihilation of Yuan Shao's entire army.

【Book Burning】

After Cao Cao conquered Yuan Shao's camp, he confiscated Yuan Shao's correspondence, and obtained letters from Xu Du officials and his own generals to Yuan Shao, and he burned all these letters, saying: "When Yuan Shao is strong, even I can't protect myself, let alone everyone!" ”

And who is this one in history who did this? It was Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu. When Liu Xiu also had bad luck, his brother was killed by Emperor Changshi, and he was sent to the north, when it happened that Wang Lang was in the north to establish himself as the emperor, so many of Liu Xiu's subordinates began to "Pearl Secret Investment", and later Liu Xiu eliminated Wang Lang, got a bag of such letters, some subordinates persuaded Liu Xiu to clean up these half-hearted people, but Liu Xiu gathered all his subordinates, and lit a fire in front of everyone to burn all those letters.

Historically, Cao Cao and Liu Xiu also defeated strong enemies in the north, and they also had the nominal control of the Son of Heaven at that time, and they both chose to give up the responsibility for these wall grasses, and then both of them unified the north, Liu Xiu revived the Han dynasty again, and Cao Cao laid the foundation for Cao Wei.

On the contrary, after Dong Zhuo's death, Wang Yun still held his old ministry accountable, and finally forced Li Dao, Guo Yan and others to rebel, not to mention his own death, and the hope of reviving the Han family was shattered.

Of course, this kind of thing can't be done at any time, Liu Xiu and Cao Cao did this because the strong enemy had been defeated at that time, and they could control the situation, and those wall grasses had no other choice, and on the other hand, they still had some use, and there were too many people who committed crimes, and the law did not blame the public, otherwise one or two people would have been pulled out and clicked.

But after this incident, many of Cao Cao's subordinates were undoubtedly grateful to him and more loyal to him.

【Death of Frustration】

Yuan Shao ran fast, completely ignoring the death of his subordinates, so he didn't have time to follow Yuan Shao across the river and escaped, and was captured by Cao's army, but at that time he shouted: "I didn't surrender, I was captured!" ”

And Cao Cao and Fu Zhu were old acquaintances, so they came to greet him in person and said to him: "We are in different regions, we have been separated and cannot see each other, I didn't expect you to be caught by me today." He said: "Yuan Shao made a mistake and failed on his own. I can't use my intellect and abilities, and I deserve to be captured. Cao Cao said: "Yuan Shao lacks brains and cannot adopt your strategy, and now, the world is in turmoil, and I want to create a meritorious cause with you." "The lives of my uncle and younger brother are in the hands of Yuan Shao. If you value me, please kill me quickly, this is my blessing. Cao Cao sighed and said, "If I had gotten you a long time ago, there would be no major events in the world to worry about." ”

As a result, Cao Cao pardoned him and gave him generous treatment. However, soon after, Fu Zhu still planned to escape back to Yuan Shao's army, and Cao Cao had no choice but to kill him.

A generation of talented people has fallen.

【Tian Feng's Death】

Tian Feng was imprisoned for advising Yuan Shao to send troops, and when Cao Cao heard about it, he said happily: "Yuan Shao will definitely be defeated." And after Yuan Shao was defeated and fled, Cao Cao also said to others: "If Yuan Shao adopts Tian Feng's strategy, it is difficult to predict the victory or defeat." ”

But in fact, Cao Cao thought too much, and was forcibly taken across the Yellow River by Yuan Shao, and then put forward so many suggestions for Yuan Shao, but Yuan Shao didn't use it.

After Yuan Shao's defeat, he proved Tian Feng's prescient name, when Yuan Shao's army broke all the way, and all the soldiers beat their chests and cried: "If Tian Feng was here, it would not have come to this point." Someone said to Tian Feng: "You will definitely be reused." ”

However, Tian Feng is very sober-minded, he knows his lord very well, Tian Feng said: "Yuan Shao is generous on the outside but suspicious on the inside, and he can't understand my loyalty

I have repeatedly angered him by his upright persuasion, and if he rejoices in his victory, he may be able to forgive me; Now resentful of the defeat, jealousy is about to flare up, and I don't expect to live. ”

And the facts turned out to be as Tian Feng expected, after Yuan Shao came back, he said to Feng Ji: "Everyone who stays in Jizhou will miss me when they hear that our army has failed; Only Tian Feng had dissuaded me from sending troops before, and unlike everyone else, I also felt guilty. ”

As a result, Feng Ji said: "When Tian Feng heard that the general had lost, he clapped his hands and laughed, and was glad that his pre-establishment had been realized. Yuan Shao was furious and said to his subordinates: "I didn't use Tian Feng's strategy, and I was really teased by him." He ordered Tian Feng to be put to death.

Tian Feng followed in the footsteps of frustration.