【Xu Yu descends to Cao】

According to the record of "Cao You's Biography", Cao Cao was overjoyed when he heard that Xu You had come to take refuge in him, and he couldn't wait to put on his shoes, so he went out barefoot to meet him, and when he saw Xu You, he clapped his hands and smiled and said: "Xu Ziqing, you have come from afar, my great event has been successful!" ”

After taking his seat, Xu You said to Cao Cao: "Yuan Jun has many generals and powerful forces, what can you do to deal with him?" How much grain and grass is left? Cao Cao said: "It can also support it for a year." Where did Xu You believe it, so he said directly: "Not so much, say it again." Cao Cao said: "It can be supported for half a year." ”

Xu You said: "Don't you want to break Yuan Shao? Why not tell the truth! Cao Cao said: "It's just a joke, but in fact, it can only cope with a month, what should I do?" Xu You said: "You are alone, there is no rescue outside, and the food and grass are exhausted, this is a critical juncture." Yuan Shao has more than 10,000 baggage vehicles, in the old city, Wuchao, the defenders are not tightly guarded, if they send lightly armed troops to attack, come by surprise, burn their grain, grass and military supplies, within three days, Yuan Shao's army will collapse by itself. ”

In history, Xu You put forward a proposal to burn the black nest, but because Xu You was a rebel, Cao Cao's group did not trust him very much, and many people were suspicious of Xu You, thinking that it might be a trap, and at that time, only Xun You and Jia Xu persuaded Cao Cao to listen to Xu You's proposal.

And when Cao Cao's army was about to run out, he asked Jia Xu about the countermeasures, and Jia Xu replied: "You are wiser than Yuan Shao, braver than Yuan Shao, better than Yuan Shao in employing people, and better than Yuan Shao at the right time. Decisions must be made at critical moments, so that the enemy can be pacified in a few moments. ”

So Cao Cao finally followed Xu You's advice and decided to send troops to destroy the Black Nest.

【Burning the Black Nest】

According to the "Biography of Cao Cao", after Cao Cao decided to send troops, he left Cao Hong and Xun You to defend the camp and personally led 5,000 infantry cavalry to attack. At that time, Cao Cao ordered the army to use the banner of Yuan Jun, and the soldiers held small wooden sticks in their mouths, tied the horses' mouths to prevent sounds, and went out of the camp at night from the path, each carrying a bundle of firewood and grass. On the way through, he met someone to interrogate him, so he replied: "Yuan Gong is afraid that Cao Cao will attack the rear baggage, so he sent troops to strengthen the garrison." Those who listened believed it were true, but they were all unguarded. After arriving at the black nest, Cao Cao Bao surrounded Yuan's army and set fire to it on all sides, causing chaos in Yuan's camp. At this time, the sky was getting brighter, Chun Yuqiong and others saw that Cao's army was small, so they set up a position outside the camp, Cao Cao marched and attacked, Chun Yuqiong and others could not resist and retreated to the camp, so Cao's army began to attack.

Yuan Shao knew that after Cao Cao attacked Wuchao, he sent cavalry to reinforce Wuchao, and when he saw that the enemy's reinforcements were approaching, someone on Cao Cao's left and right said: "The enemy's cavalry is gradually approaching, please divide your troops to resist." Cao Cao shouted angrily: "The enemy is behind the back, report again!" ”

Under the encouragement of Cao Cao, the soldiers of the Cao army fought desperately, so they broke the Yuan army, beheaded the heads of the generals Wei Yuanjin, the cavalry governor Han Juzi, Lu Weihuang, Zhao Rong, etc., cut off the nose of the general Chun Yuqiong, killed more than 1,000 soldiers, cut off all their noses, and sent them to the Yuan army together with the tongues of cattle and horses, and the soldiers of the Yuan army were shocked. In this battle, Cao's army also burned all the grain stored by Yuan's army.

Chun Yuqiong was captured by Cao Jiang Le Jin and brought to Cao Cao. Cao Cao asked Chun Yuqiong: "What is the reason why you are like this today?" Chun Yuqiong replied: "The victory and defeat are controlled by the sky, ask me what to do?" Cao Cao wanted to spare Chun Yuqiong's life, and Xu Yu advised: "In the future, when he looks in the mirror (and sees that his nose is cut), he will not forget today's (shame and hatred)." After listening, Cao Cao agreed to kill Chun Yuqiong.

In this way, Cao Cao won a complete victory in Wuchao, and the victory in this battle became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

【Zhang He Gui Cao】

After Cao Cao attacked Chun Yuqiong to attack Wuchao, Yuan Shao soon learned the news, and he said to his son Yuan Tan: "Even if Cao Cao breaks through Chun Yuqiong, I will go and break through his camp and leave him with nowhere to return." So Yuan Shao prepared to send the generals Gao Ran and Zhang He to attack the Cao army camp. Zhang He persuaded and said: "Cao Cao personally led the elite soldiers to attack, and he will be able to break through Chun Yuqiong and others, once they are defeated and their baggage is destroyed, the general trend has gone, please go to the rescue of Chun Yuqiong first." ”

Yuan Shao's main adviser, Guo Tu, insisted on attacking Cao Cao's camp first. Zhang He continued to persuade: "Cao Cao's camp is strong and must not be conquered. If Chun Yuqiong and the others are captured, we will all become prisoners. Yuan Shao then sent light troops to rescue Chun Yuqiong, and sent Zhang He and others to lead heavy troops to attack Cao's camp. Cao Cao cut off the noses of more than 1,000 Yuan soldiers, and cut off the lips and tongues of the captured cattle and horses, and showed them to Yuan Shao's army, causing great panic in the army.

After Guo Tu knew that his plan had failed, he was ashamed in his heart, and in order to shirk his responsibility, he went to Yuan Shao to falsely accuse Zhang He, and said to Yuan Shao: "Zhang He heard that our army had lost, and he was very gloating. And after Zhang He heard about this incident, he hated and feared, fearing that he would become the second Tian Feng, so he and Gao Ran and other generals burned the equipment for attacking the camp and went to Cao Ying to surrender. At first, Cao Hong was afraid of falling into the scheme and did not dare to accept their surrender. Xun You said: "Zhang didn't use the strategy for Yuan Shao, and he went down in a rage, what do you have to doubt!" So he chose to accept the surrender of Zhang He and Gao Ran.

Cao Cao was also pleased with Zhang He's surrender, and personally greeted him and said, "Ruweizi goes to Yin, and Han Xin returns to Hanye", and then served as a partial general and a marquis of Fengdu Ting. Zhang He was also one of the main generals in the Cao Cao Group, and later generations and Xu Huang, Le Jin, Zhang Liao, and Yu Ban were called Cao Wei's "five good generals".

In history, although Wuchao is not the place where Yuan Shao placed all the grain and grass in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", but the temporary place where Chun Yuqiong transported the grain and grass, but Yuan Shao's grain road has been intercepted by Cao Cao before, and Wuchao is the latest batch of grain and grass, so even if there is still surplus grain in Yuan Shao's army at that time, it cannot be too much, and the grain and grass in Wuchao should account for the vast majority of the grain and grass in Yuan Shao's army.

And in this series of battles, Yuan Shao's losses are not only grain and grass, his generals Chun Yuqiong, Wei Yuanjin, Han Juzi, Lu Weihuang, Zhao Rong were all killed in this battle, Xu You, Zhang He, Gao Ran, etc. also surrendered to Cao Cao, and also lost a large number of troops in Wuchao and attacking Cao Cao's camp.

Yuan Shao had reached the end of the road, and the outcome of the Battle of Guandu was already clear at this time.