Now many people highly respect Guo Jia's suggestion that Cao Cao Northern Expedition to Wuheng should be the first credit for pacifying Wuheng, but objectively speaking, Guo Jia's contribution to the Northern Expedition is average, and the first merit should be Tianchou, and the Northern Expedition is not a good suggestion.

【Northern Expedition】

Historically, Guo Jia's suggestion of the Northern Expedition is a precedent, after Liu Bei betrayed Cao Cao to seize Xuzhou, Cao Cao was ready to put Yuan Shao aside first, and dealt with Liu Bei first, and received Guo Jia's strong support, the situation was similar to the crusade against Wuheng.

At that time, Cao Cao and Guo Jia expected that Yuan Shao would react slowly and would not send troops to attack, and Guo Jia also believed that Liu Biao would stop Liu Bei, and the result was indeed as expected, Yuan Shao did not send troops, and Liu Biao also stopped Liu Bei.

But these two things are still very different, after Liu Bei captured Xuzhou, it became a big problem for Cao Cao, if it was not eliminated in time, Liu Bei would become a great threat to Cao Cao when Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were in a confrontation, so it was necessary for Cao Cao to take the risk to recapture Xuzhou.

And when Cao Cao was preparing to crusade against Wu Heng, Cao Cao had become the overlord of the Central Plains, and Wu Heng would have limited threat to Cao Cao even if he helped Yuan Shang and others, and the Yuan family did have considerable influence in the north, but now the diehard elements of the Yuan family have basically been eliminated, and the influence of the Yuan family in the northernmost Youzhou has always been average, and it can be seen from Yuan Xi's direct drive away by his subordinates that no matter how strong Wuheng and Yuan Shang and others are in the three counties, it is impossible to directly threaten Jizhou and Qingzhou across Youzhou.

Therefore, Guo Jia somewhat exaggerated the threat of Yuan Shang and Wu Heng, they are indeed a hidden danger in the north, but they are only hidden dangers, and they are not a threat that must be eliminated. In this case, Cao Cao took some risks to send troops from the rear to crusade against Wuheng, Jingzhou is relatively close to Xuchang after all, if something happens to Liu Biao's side, sending a large army north is a high threat to Cao Cao's side, in case the Son of Heaven is snatched away, Cao Cao has no place to cry.

Therefore, unlike when he was attacking Xuzhou, Cao Cao no longer had to take this risk, he could send a general to lead part of the army to defend the north, and the overall should be safe, so Guo Jia's proposal to go north to crusade against Wuheng regardless of the internal emptiness is a bit radical.

【The Difficulty of the Northern Expedition】

Although Cao Cao discussed a lot when he was crusading against Wuheng, he actually ignored an important issue, which also led to Cao Cao's heavy losses later, and he lost a lot of troops along the way, and even Guo Jia and Zhang Xiu lost their lives.

That is, Cao Cao was not fully prepared for the geographical environment in the north at that time, and the direct point was that Cao Cao and his subordinates lacked experience in going out of the fortress. Cao Cao and his generals fought in the north and south, it can be said that they have experienced a lot of places, but they basically have not fought out of the fortress, Cao Cao's previous trip to the north was also to quell the rebellion of Zhao Qian and Huo Nu, and the Wuheng people did not lower themselves out of the fortress.

And Cao Cao and his advisers and generals did not realize this, they treated the Wuheng people as ordinary princes, and subconsciously thought that the geographical environment outside the Saiwai was similar to other places, so when Cao Cao really arrived outside the Saiwai, it was very unsuitable for the local environment, and the losses of the Cao army in the decisive battle with the Wuheng people were not large, and most of the losses were caused by not adapting to the environment.

Therefore, the real difficulty of the Northern Expedition was not the strength of the Wuheng people, but the lack of awareness of the environment outside the Cao Cao group. Later, Cao Cao's son Cao Zhang later carried out the cavalry general to conquer Wuhuan, which was a great success, and even surrendered to Liaodong Xianbei Kebineng, so there were basically no Cao Cao's problems.

【Achievements of the Northern Expedition】

Now many people think that Cao Cao's Northern Expedition to Wuheng's first merit should be Guo Jia's, Guo Jia himself not only advocated Cao Cao's Northern Expedition, but also suggested that Cao Cao advance lightly when he was in Yi County, and strive to eliminate Wuheng and the Yuan brothers by surprise.

It has been discussed earlier that Guo Jia's proposal to lead the Northern Expedition is not a very good suggestion, and then Guo Jia's suggestion that Cao Jun's light advance and later surprise attack on Wuheng have little to do with it, and from a certain aspect, although this suggestion is good, in fact, the effect is not good.

When Cao Cao led the army to the end, the Wuheng people had already sent heavy troops to block Cao Cao's way, that is to say, Cao Cao's actions were finally discovered by the Wuheng people, and failed to succeed, Guo Jia's strategy of advancing lightly was a failure, on the other hand, because Guo Jia let Cao Cao leave a lot of baggage in Yi County, so Cao Cao's supply also had problems, which may lead to Cao Cao's killing of thousands of war horses as military rations before the fight started.

The person who really solved the problem for Cao Cao was Tian Chou, Cao Cao and others were not familiar with the northern border, but Tian Chou was familiar with it! Tian Chou then offered Cao Cao a retreat as a strategy, successfully paralyzed the Wuheng people, and then Tian Chou as a guide with Cao Cao's army detoured to the rear of the Wuheng people, the enemy army failed to detect Cao Cao's movements in time, although the Cao army was more than 200 miles away from them still found, and made certain preparations, but the Wuheng people hastily assembled the troops in a disorderly manner, giving Cao Cao a flaw, Cao Cao with Zhang Liao as the vanguard and then won a big victory.

So the person who really let Cao Cao's army successfully attack it and catch it was Tian Chou, not Guo Jia.

Of course, in addition to Tian Chou, Guo Jia and others, generals such as Zhang Liao and Cao Chun also played well, not to mention Cao Cao as the coach.

【Northern Expedition Summary】

In history, Cao Cao's Northern Expedition was relatively successful, this battle dealt a heavy blow to the power of the Wuheng people, and stabilized their rule in the north.

At the same time, this military operation is also more risky, Cao Cao pinned the safety of the rear on Liu Biao's personal thoughts, a very dangerous act, although Liu Biao finally stopped Liu Bei as Guo Jia expected, but he was not afraid of 10,000 in case.

On the other hand, Cao Cao's Northern Expedition also suffered a lot of losses due to the neglect of the geographical environment, and Cao Cao later considered this reason because he believed that the Northern Expedition could not be used as a conventional method.

In the Three Kingdoms era, the threat of foreign races was limited, although the Central Plains was fighting every year, but the external record was very brilliant, whether it was the Xiongnu and Wuheng in the north, or the barbarians and Yue people in the south, they were all beaten and did not want to be beaten, and the ability of Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi brothers was also relatively average.

So in general, the threat of Wu Heng and Yuan Shang brothers joining forces against Cao Cao is relatively limited, even if Cao Cao does not crusade in the north, he will not be able to turn the sky upside down. But the damage to Youzhou may be relatively large. Cao Cao can send troops on an expedition if the rear is stable, after all, the advantages of the Northern Expedition outweigh the disadvantages, not only can dispel the arrogance of nomads such as Wuheng, but also sweep away the troubles of the Yuan family, but it is a bit risky to send troops when Liu Bei directly threatens Xuchang.