When Yuan Shao co-opted other princes, Cao Cao was not without action, he had already understood Yuan Shao's threat to himself, in order to meet the decisive battle with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao had already begun to win over the princes who threatened him, or eliminated, and internally, Xun Yu escorted Cao Cao and stabilized the army's heart, it can be said that Cao Cao had a relatively stable rear before the decisive battle with Yuan Shao.

【External Enemy】

Historically, Cao Cao first made his fortune from Yanzhou, which was in the hinterland of the Central Plains, so he faced a lot of competitors, many times even enemies on all sides. Cao Cao moved the capital to Xuchang, and although he ushered in a period of rapid development after getting the Son of Heaven, the external situation was still relatively grim.

In the second year of Jian'an (197), Cao Cao was very worried about this situation, when Cao Cao had just failed in the crusade against Nanyang, Yuan Shao took the opportunity to write a letter to humiliate Cao Cao, at that time Cao Cao had been with Yuan Shu of Huainan, Lu Bu of Xuzhou, Zhang Xiu of Nanyang, Liu Biao of Jingzhou and other princes of discord, Cao Cao was very afraid that Yuan Shao would continue to win over the princes of Guanzhong, and even lead the Qiang people and the Hu people to rebel and unite Liu Zhang in the south, so that Cao Cao was basically fighting against the princes of the whole world with the power of Yan and Henan.

At this critical moment, Xun Yu stood up again, he first used the "four victories" to show that Yuan Shao was not terrible, and Cao Cao was bound to win, but before that, Cao Cao needed to stabilize the rear, first to pacify Lu Bu in Xuzhou, and finally analyzed the current situation of the princes in Guanzhong, thinking that they had no leader and needed to be appeased with kindness, and proposed to let Zhong Xuan deal with the matter.

Therefore, before the decisive battle with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao first crusaded against Zhang Xiu, Yuan Shu, Lu Bu and others who were threatening him, and according to Xun Yu's proposal, Zhong Xuan led the lieutenant of the school as a servant, and supervised all walks of life in Guanzhong.

Zhang Xiu was not a big prince in the history of the Three Kingdoms, but the Nanyang he occupied was very close to the capital Xuchang, so he was regarded as a thorn in the side by Cao Cao. On the contrary, it was later Jia Xu who persuaded Zhang Xiu to surrender for the second time and helped Cao Cao solve this problem.

Yuan Shu said that the emperor and queen were the most important enemies that Cao Cao should crusade against morally, but Yuan Shu was actually not a big threat to Cao Cao, so although Cao Cao's group also took measures against Yuan Shu

Many measures were taken, but most of them were for the sake of face, and Cao Cao personally crusaded against Yuan Shu because he took the initiative to invade Yuzhou. Then Yuan Shu sought to go north, but he had already destroyed himself without success.

In order to prevent Yuan Shu from going north, Cao Cao sent Liu Bei to crusade against Yuan Shu, but instead let Liu Bei reoccupy Xuzhou, Cao Cao personally sent troops to crusade against Liu Bei in order to correct his mistakes, and defeated Liu Bei, captured Liu Bei's family, and also got Guan Yu.

Lü Bu was capricious, first reneging on his covenant with Yuan Shu, hoping to be recognized by the imperial court as the rightful Xuzhou pastor, but after the goal was not achieved, he turned to reunite with Yuan Shu, and also sent Gao Shun to crusade against Liu Bei, the Yuzhou pastor appointed by the imperial court, and chose to betray the imperial court.

In history, Lu Bu had two black histories of taking advantage of the void, so Xun Yu thought that when Cao Cao confronted Yuan Shao, Lu Bu would inevitably make some moves, and would become the biggest threat to Cao Cao's rear, and included Lu Bu in the list that must be eliminated in advance. After Lü Bu betrayed the imperial court, Cao Cao decisively sent troops to attack Xuzhou and killed Lü Bu after he surrendered.

After Zhong Miao arrived in Guanzhong, he was given the power of Cao Cao not to be bound by the system, and he persuaded Han Sui, Ma Teng and other princes in Chang'an, and they all sent a son to Xuchang as a hostage to help Cao Cao stabilize the situation in the region, and later in the fifth year of Jian'an (200) Cao Cao and Yuan Shao even gave Cao Cao 2,000 horses for military use at the critical moment of Guandu.

Later, Cao Cao sent Zhishu to serve Yushi and Hedong people to pacify the Guanzhong area, and he also put forward many suggestions to help the imperial court manage the region.

At that time, the generals in the Guanzhong region saw that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were fighting, and they all remained neutral and sat back and watched the success or failure. After Yang Fu returned, the generals of Guanzhong asked him: "Yuan Shao and Cao Cao will fight, who will win and who will lose?" ”

Yang Fu said: "Yuan Gong is tolerant but not decisive, scheming but hesitant; If you are not decisive, you will have no prestige, and if you hesitate, you will miss the opportunity. Cao Gong has great talents, makes decisions at the right time, does not hesitate, unify laws and regulations, strong soldiers and horses, can appoint talents without sticking to one pattern, and his subordinates will do their best, and they will definitely be able to achieve great things. ”

In addition to the princes such as Lü Bu, Yuan Shu, and Zhang Xiu, Sun Ce, who occupied Jiangnan at that time, had a relatively close relationship with the imperial court, and he sent Zhang Hong to Xuchang to make friends with the ministers of the court and the central government to express his loyalty to the Han family; Liu Biao of Jingzhou had contacts with Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, tended to be neutral, and concentrated his forces on suppressing rebellions in the south; Yizhou was also a civil strife at that time, and Liu Zhang did not participate too much in the contradictions between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao in the distance.

【Internal Troubles】

At the same time facing the threat of external princes, the Xuchang court was also turbulent, at that time Emperor Xian had grown up, unwilling to fall into power, there were many royalists and surrenderers in the court, but the situation was finally stabilized by the efforts of Cao Cao and Xun Yu.

In the fourth year of Jian'an (199), Dong Cheng was promoted to the general of the chariot cavalry, and was able to open the mansion, his power increased greatly, at this time he was still the father-in-law of Emperor Xian, so Emperor Xian placed expectations on him, hoping that Dong Cheng could help him regain power and restore the Han family, so he handed over the edict to Dong Cheng.

In order to fight against Cao Cao, Dong Cheng recruited Chongji, Wu Shuo, Liu Bei, Wang Zifu and others, which became the biggest concern within the court at that time, but fortunately, Dong Cheng and others did not keep things confidential in the following year, and Cao Cao learned about it in time and was decisively dealt with. If Dong Cheng and the others suddenly launched in Xuchang at the critical moment of the confrontation between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, it would most likely cause an immeasurable blow to Cao Cao.

At that time, in addition to Dong Cheng and others, Xu He and others also tried to rebel, but because Xu Chu was always around, they did not dare to start. When Xu Chu left to rest, Xu He and others entered with knives, but when Xu Chu returned home, he was suddenly moved and immediately returned to Cao Cao's account guards, and Xu He and others didn't know about it, so when they saw Xu Chu when they entered the account, they were shocked, and even their faces changed. When Xu Chu saw it, he immediately killed Xu and the others and solved the crisis.

At that time, under the tremendous pressure of Yuan Shao, many people in the court were afraid, Cao Cao said: "I know that Yuan Shao is a person, with great ambition and short-sightedness, brave on the outside but timid on the inside, suspicious and mean and lacking prestige, although there are many people and horses and no way to dispatch, the generals are arrogant and the government decrees are inconsistent, although his land is vast and the food is abundant, it is just prepared for us." ”

At that time, the Shaofu, the world's famous man Kong Rong also once said to Xun Yu: "Yuan Shaodi is strong in the army, there are Tian Feng, Xu You and other advisers to give advice for him, and loyal ministers such as trial and matching, Feng Ji and other loyal ministers do things for him, Yan Liang and Wen Chou bravely crown the three armies and lead the army for him, I'm afraid it will be difficult to defeat!" ”

And Xun Yu said to Kong Rong very confidently: "Although Yuan Shaobing is numerous and the laws are not rectified, Tian Feng is rigid and easy to commit crimes, Xu You is greedy and undisciplined, the trial is dictatorial and unplanned, and the discipline is decisive and rigid for self-use, these two people take care of the rear, if Xu You's family breaks the law, they will not let it go, and if they are not lenient, Xu You will inevitably rebel." As for Yan Liang and Wen Chou, they are just the courage of the horseman, and they can be captured in one battle! ”

Cao Cao and Xun Yu's words dispelled many people's worries about the situation at the time, and gave everyone the necessary confidence, and then things were exactly as Cao Cao and Xun Yu expected, Yan Liang and Wen Chou were proved to be just the courage of the horseman, Xu You also finally rebelled, and Yuan Shao's grain and grass and territory also belonged to Cao Cao.

In history, before the decisive battle between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, the main threats around Cao Cao, Lu Bu, Yuan Shu, and Zhang Xiu had been eliminated one by one, and Dong Cheng and others who had internal rebellion had also been eliminated, and Xun Yu suppressed Kong Rong and other officials who favored Yuan Shao.

In the fifth year of Jian'an (200), Yuan Shao had basically unified the north and controlled the four prefectures of Jizhou, Qingzhou, Bingzhou, and Youzhou, and his power reached its peak, and Cao Cao also swept away the surrounding warlords and stabilized the internal situation.

Therefore, although Cao Cao was not completely prepared at that time, he already had the strength to fight with Yuan Shao. PS: I didn't send it out, sorry