In the fifth year of Jian'an (200), Yuan Shao personally led a large army to formally crusade against Cao Cao, and he asked Chen Lin to make a crusade against Cao Cao, which spread throughout the prefectures and counties, accusing Cao Cao of "jackal ambition, cunning and conspiracy, but wanting to scratch the pillars, lonely and weak Han family, eliminate Zhongzheng, and specially defend the hero", fearing that he would have "usurpation", and he, as a righteous party, sent troops south in order to support the Han family and protect the Son of Heaven. (Note 1)

Yuan Shao was full of confidence in this battle, thinking that as long as his army went south to the Central Plains, it could be easily pacified, but at that time, the core figure under Yuan Shao's command was not frustrated, and the confrontation between the two sides at the beginning also gave Yuan Shao a hard blow.

[Sad Prediction]

Before leaving, Fu Zhu was very optimistic about this battle, he thought that Cao Cao would win, Yuan Shao would be defeated, so he gathered his clan, distributed his family property to the clansmen, and sighed: "If the strength can be preserved, then the power will be everywhere; Once the power is destroyed, even the self cannot be preserved. Pathetic! ”

Frustration refers to the fact that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao fought a decisive battle, Yuan Shao has already put down all the bets, if Yuan Shao wins, then everything is easy to say, if he loses, then the game is over.

His younger brother Fuzong asked, "Cao Cao's soldiers and horses are not as good as our army, why are you afraid?" "With Cao Cao's wisdom and strategy, and holding the Son of Heaven hostage as capital, although we were defeated by Gongsun Zhan, the soldiers were actually tired, coupled with the pride of the lord and the extravagance of the generals, it is estimated that the whole army will be lost, and it will be in this battle." Yang Xiong once said: 'The six countries have been disturbed, but they are only serving Qin to replace Zhou. That's today! ”

Fu Zhu understands Cao Cao's strength very well, Cao Cao, who has held the Son of Heaven hostage, is no longer Yuan Shao's pawn back then, and now Cao Cao can be on an equal footing with Yuan Shao, the strength of Cao Cao's group cannot be humiliated, and Fu Zhu understands that Yuan Shao's weakness, tired soldiers, proud commanders and generals, is the so-called arrogant soldiers will be defeated. But sadly, even if he already knew the end, there was nothing he could do.

To be correct, although there is a way to frustrate, but no one listens to him, what is the use!

【Battle of the White Horse】

Yuan Shao sent troops to attack Cao Cao, entered the officer crossing, on the one hand, personally commanded troops to Liyang, and on the other hand, sent the generals Yan Liang and Chun Yuqiong to Baima to attack Liu Yan, the Taishou of Dongjun under Cao Cao. Seeing that Yuan Shao was about to send Yan Liang out, he immediately persuaded Yuan Shao: "Yan Liang is impatient and narrow-minded, although he is brave, he must not be allowed to take charge alone. It's a pity that Yuan Shao didn't listen, and still let Yan Liang control the troops.

Yan Liang, as a general under Yuan Shao, was very brave, Liu Yan gradually lost his support, and in the face of Yan Liang's offensive, Cao Cao decided to rescue Liu Yan and could not let him gain a firm foothold in the south of the Yellow River. But at that time, Yuan Shao's troops were far more than Cao Cao, and Cao Cao's army could not directly defeat Yuan Shao's army, so in this case, Xun You stood up.

At that time, Xun You said to Cao Cao: "Now we have few soldiers, and we are not the opponent of Yuan's army, so we can only disperse his forces." After you arrive in Yanjin, make preparations to cross the river to attack Yuan Shao's rear, and Yuan Shao will inevitably fight westward. Then, you lead your army lightly and rush forward, attack the white horse, and attack it unprepared, and you can defeat Yan Liang. ”

Cao Cao followed the plan and pretended to be ready to cross the river, but Yuan Shao heard that Cao's army was going to cross the river, so he divided his troops to the west to intercept it. Cao Cao then led his army to advance rapidly towards Baima, and there were still more than ten miles before Yan Liang got the news, was surprised, and came to meet him. Cao Cao sent Zhang Liao and Guan Yu as vanguards, Guan Yu saw Yan Liang's banner umbrella cover, rode his horse and drove straight in, stabbed Yan Liang to death in the crowd, cut off his head and returned, no one in Yuan Shao's army could resist. So, to relieve the siege of the White Horse, Cao Cao moved the people of the city westward along the Yellow River.

The Battle of White Horse was the first battle of the formal confrontation between Yuan Shao's group and Cao Cao's group, in this battle, Yuan Shao did not listen to the advice of Fu Zhi to take Yan Liang as the main general, and Cao Cao listened to Xun You's plan to lure the enemy, and attacked the east and west, not only successfully dispersed Yuan Shao's forces, but also caught Yan Liang off guard.

Then Guan Erye, as the vanguard of the army, beheaded the enemy's generals, killed one in and out, and directly crushed the morale of Yan Liangjun. As the top strategists at that time, Fu Zhu and Xun Yu were also exhausted, but it was a pity that the gap between their lords was too big.

In this way, Cao Cao made a good start in the war with Yuan Shao, but the huge gap in military strength between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao still existed.

【Guarding Juancheng】

At that time, in addition to Xun You, another strategist under Cao Cao, Cheng Yu, also performed very well. At that time, Cao Cao originally sent Cheng Yu, the general of Zhenwei, to lead only 700 people to defend Juancheng, the former Yanzhou administrative office, and Cao Cao planned to add 2,000 soldiers to Cheng Yu because he was worried that the Juancheng guards would be insufficient. But what people didn't expect was that Cheng Yu didn't agree, but said to Cao Cao: "Yuan Shao has 100,000 troops, thinking that he is invincible, seeing that my troops are weak, he must look down on him and will not attack." If you give me more troops, then Yuan Shao's army will not not attack after passing by, and the attack will definitely be overcome, then you will lose the strength of you and me in vain, please don't worry. ”

As Cheng Yu expected, Yuan Shao heard that his soldiers were small, and he thought that Juancheng had no threat to his rear, so he did not attack, and afterwards Cao Cao said to Jia Xu: "Cheng Yu's courage has surpassed the ancient warriors Meng Ben and Xia Yu!" ”

【Frustration and loss of power】

Yan Liang's death had proved the foresight of Fu Zhu, but Yuan Shao not only did not learn from the experience, but rejected Fu Zhi more and more.

After Yuan Shao saw Cao Cao's moves, he wanted to cross the Yellow River to pursue in order to save Yan Liang's face from defeat, but he was frustrated and dissuaded him, saying: "Between victory and defeat, there are changes, and you can't think about it carefully." Now the army should be stationed in Yanjin, and part of the army should be sent to Guandu, if they win, it is not too late to come back to meet the army, if the army crosses the river and goes south, in case of defeat, everyone will have no way to retreat. ”

But at that time, Yuan Shao couldn't listen to any of Fu Zhu's words, he ignored Fu Zhu's advice to prepare for his own back road, but directly pressed down the army and almost poured out.

Seeing Yuan Shao playing like this, he no longer had any hope in his heart, and when he crossed the river, he sighed and said: "The lord is arrogant, and the generals below will only be greedy for merit, and the Yellow River will be long, can we succeed?" So, feeling extremely disappointed, he decided to resign from his illness. But Yuan Shaoduo was a cautious person, not only did he not approve, but he held a grudge in his heart, and relieved him of the military power and transferred all the troops he led to Guo Tu's command.

In this way, before the battle of Guandu was fully launched, the number two person in Yuan Shao's group had basically lost the corresponding power and status, and Yuan Shao cut off his arm again after putting Tian Feng in prison.

The battle of Guandu in history was actually doomed long before the war.