【Gongsun Zhan's Turtle Dafa】

After the Battle of Baoqiu, Gongsun Zhan had completely succumbed to a disadvantage in the war against Yuan Shao, and most of Youzhou had already turned away and could only be trapped in the lonely city. And after Gongsun Chan suffered many big losses, due to the unfavorable war, he also began to become cautious and no longer trust others.

Gongsun Chan was afraid of accidents, so he lived on a high platform and firmly guarded it with a large iron gate. He repelled people from the left and right, and men over the age of seven were not allowed to enter the gate. Gongsun Chan only let the concubines serve, and all the official letters were hung with ropes. At the same time, he ordered the surrounding women to practice raising their voices so that the voice could travel hundreds of paces to convey his commands. Gongsun Chan alienated his guests and trusted no one, so his advisers and fierce generals gradually became distracted or left him.

From then on, Gongsun Chan rarely went out again, and gradually retreated from the front line to the background.

Someone asked him the reason, and Gongsun Chan said: "I used to expel the rebels outside the Saiwai and sweep the Yellow Turbans in Mengjin. To this day, the war is still in the ascendant, and it seems that it is not something I can solve, so it is better to strike the army and plough the fields and relieve the famine year. In the art of war, it is said that a hundred floors will not be attacked, but now my battalions are thousands of miles away, and I have accumulated three million grains, and these foods are enough to wait for the changes in the world. ”

At this time, Gongsun Chan has obviously lost his enterprising spirit, maybe he is not a complete failure now, but in his own heart he has already admitted that he has completely failed.

But no matter what you say, Gongsun Zhan's turtle Dafa in history is still very effective, Yuan Shao sent troops to attack several times, but he did not break Gongsun Zhan's turtle shell for several years. Gongsun Zan also gradually had the idea of dragging Yuan Shao down.

Until the time came to the third year of Jian'an (198).

This year is a very critical year, as mentioned above, at this time Yuan Shao's main opponent has changed from Gongsun Chan to Cao Cao, Cao Cao has become Yuan Shao's biggest threat after coercing the Son of Heaven and making the princes, although Yuan Shao has not eliminated Gongsun Zhan, but Gongsun Chan is no longer a big threat to Yuan Shao.

And this year, the situation was very unfavorable for Cao Cao. In addition to Yuan Shao, Cao Cao also faced threats from all sides from princes such as Lü Bu, Zhang Xiu, Liu Biao, and Yuan Shu. So at this point in time, Yuan Shao was inclined to eliminate Cao Cao first, after all, Yuan Shao didn't know when he would be able to smash Gongsun Zhan's turtle shell, and Tian Feng also asked Yuan Shao to send troops to Xuchang to win the Son of Heaven when Cao Cao was crusading against Zhang Xiu.

So in this year, Yuan Shao, when he obviously had the absolute upper hand, wrote a letter and took the initiative to ask for peace with Gongsun Zhan.

But what Yuan Shao didn't expect was that Gongsun Chan actually ignored Yuan Shao, at that time Gongsun Chan was already used to being a turtle, he felt that although Yuan Shao was strong, but Lu Yi and others didn't beat Yi Jing down, so although he couldn't take Yuan Shao anymore, Yuan Shao couldn't do anything about himself, and if he continued to drag it on, Yuan Shao couldn't stand it, and things might take a turn for the better.

At that time, Gongsun Zhan directly said to his subordinate Guan Jing: "Now that the four sides are fighting each other, it is obvious that no one can sit under my city for a year, what can Yuan Benchu do with me!" ”

So in this case, if Yuan Shao started a war with Cao Cao, although he was likely to directly eliminate Cao Cao, he would also face the risk of being reversed by Gongsun Zhan.

And this battle is different from the past, Yuan Shao is really determined to eliminate Gongsun Zhan.

【Final Battle】

In the third year of Jian'an (198), Yuan Shao attacked Gongsun Chan again, and then Gongsun Chan found that he might not be able to stop it this time.

First of all, Gongsun Chan was surrounded by others, but Gongsun Chan refused to save him, and said: "Save one person, then everyone will only wait for the rescue and refuse to fight." "When Yuan Shao came to attack, Gongsun Zhan's other battalion could not save itself, and Gongsun Zhan would not save him, and everyone would surrender or flee. Yuan Shao attacked directly in front of the city gate in this way.

Historically, Yuan Shao's crusade against Gongsun Zan this time was fully prepared. In order to destroy Gongsun Zhan's turtle shell, Yuan Shao divided his troops to dig tunnels, directly under the high platform built by Gongsun Zhan, and then moved on those pillars, and then set fire to them, and Gongsun Zhan's high-rise buildings collapsed in an uproar.

Gongsun Chan felt great pressure in the face of Yuan Shao's attack, so on the one hand, he sent his son Gongsun Xu to ask the leaders of the Black Mountain Army for help, and he planned to give up the useless turtle tactics, personally lead the elite cavalry to break through, and use the cavalry tactics he was good at to cut off Yuan Shao's back road along the West Mountain.

At this time, Changshi Guan Jing dissuaded: "Now the general's soldiers are disheartened, and the reason why they can still guard here is that they are reluctant to let their own children and rely on the general to be their master." After holding on for a long time, maybe Yuan Shao can withdraw from the army by himself; But if the general leaves here and rushes out, and there is no dignified person behind him, I am afraid that Yi Jing's critical moment will come now. ”

Out of this consideration, Gongsun Chan had to temporarily give up the idea of taking the initiative. Then Yuan Shao gradually advanced, and Gongsun Zhan's army became increasingly difficult, so Gongsun Zhan chose to retreat and build a three-story barracks to strengthen the defense.

Under the tremendous pressure of Yuan Shaojun, Gongsun Zhan dreamed that Jicheng was breached by Yuan Shao, and knew that he would fail, so he sent a messenger with his own letter to urge Gongsun Xu to speed up the rescue.

At that time, the letter wrote: "In the past, there was a great chaos in the last years of the Zhou Dynasty, and it is speculated that there were corpses everywhere, I didn't believe that there was such a thing, but today I really caught up." Now the attack of Yuan Shao's army is completely like a ghost, and the ladder rushes up and jumps on the roof of my building, the war drums and horns sound underground, and the situation is critical day by day, and I have no respite at all. The birds have nowhere to roost and have to throw themselves into the arms of people, and the turbulent water will overflow the high slope, you have to desperately ask Zhang Yan and rush forward to tell the emergency. The natural affection of father and son, no need to say will also be sensitive, please quickly take five thousand iron to ride to the low wetland in the north, light the fire as a signal, I will kill from the city, excite the might, and fight to the death there, otherwise, after my death, although the world is big, there is no place for you to stand. ”

But he didn't expect Yuan Shao's scouts to intercept the letter, and Yuan Shao even asked Chen Lin to change the content of the letter. Later, Yuan Shao lit the fire at the agreed time, and Gongsun Zhan thought that the help had arrived, so he went out of the city to fight. Yuan Shao set up an ambush, and Gongsun Chan was defeated and retreated to the small city guarded by it. Determined that it would be difficult to survive, he killed all his sisters, wives and children, and then set fire to it.

Guan Jing saw the defeat of Gongsun Zhan, sighed and hated and said: "If the general rushed out by himself before, he might not be able to succeed. I have heard that a gentleman mistakenly leads people into danger, and he must bear it with others, how can he live by himself! So he beat his horse and galloped to Yuan Shao's formation and died. Tian Wei was also killed in the battle with Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao sent all the heads of Gongsun Zan and others to Xuchang.

At that time, Zhang Yan, the leader of the Montenegrin thieves, and Gongsun Xu led 100,000 troops, and came to save Gongsun Chan in three ways.

In the fourth year of Jian'an (199), Gongsun Chan died, and Yuan Shu also died of illness in the same year, and the once large Yuan Shu alliance has been completely destroyed. The alliance between Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and Liu Biao has also been shattered, and the pattern of the princes in the world at that time has changed from the alliance between Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu to the duel between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao.

And soon, the decisive battle between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao will begin.

Note: Yuan Shao's talk about Gongsun Zan is related to Shujian's work.