The Battle of Guandu is one of the few famous battles in Chinese history in which fewer won more, when the military strength of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao was extremely different, according to the available information, Yuan Shao was 100,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry, and Cao Cao had only about one-tenth of Yuan Shao's strength, that is, the total strength of about 10,000.

[Comparison of disparities in military power]

In the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms: Emperor Wu Ji", it is mentioned that Cao Cao's army has less than 10,000 soldiers and horses, and there are many wounded soldiers ("when the public soldiers are less than 10,000, the wounded are 123"), and the "Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Yuan Shao" clearly says that "Jian Jing is 100,000 and rides 10,000 horses", and in "Xun Yu Biography" also mentions that "the public is ten out of one", which coincides with it.

In "The Words of the World", it is recorded that Yuan Shao sent 50,000 soldiers and 8,000 horses. However, Yuan Shao already had tens of thousands of troops at the time of the Battle of Jieqiao, and now that he has annexed the four northern states, the total number of troops should be at least 200,000 or 300,000, and it is more accurate and close to raising 100,000 elite troops.

And although there are a lot of 100,000 troops, it is not too much, and Liu Yu, the Mu of Youzhou, can mobilize 100,000 people when he crusades against Gongsun Zhan, not to mention Yuan Shao, who has become the lord of the north, and why doesn't Yuan Shao mobilize more troops? This is also related to the environment at that time, on the one hand, the command of the troops at that time was relatively primitive, not the more troops, the better, and Yuan Shao had been fighting in the north for many years, and the situation was not very good, so the 100,000 army was already close to the limit of Yuan Shao's mobilization.

But Cao Cao's troops are too small, Cao Cao's territory is not much smaller than Yuan Shao, when Cao Cao was in Yanzhou, there were definitely more than 10,000 people, and now he has subdued the Yellow Turban Army and defeated Yuzhou, Xuzhou and other places, and the total strength should actually be no less than Yuan Shao.

So was the specific situation at that time really as disparity in the number of troops recorded in the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms"? Is it really as terrifying as a 10:1 ratio between the two sides?

Here Pei Songzhi also put forward his own opinions, he believes that the first Cao Cao had 5,000 troops from the beginning, and then annexed the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army, and received more than 300,000 soldiers. The second official crossed Yuan Shao and Cao Cao to fight against each other, Cao Cao's troops were too small to be Yuan Shao, and Cao Cao also sent troops several times, first sent Xu Huang and others to attack Yuan Shao's grain and grass, and led the army to attack Chun Yuqiong, on the contrary, Yuan Shao took the opportunity to send troops to attack Cao Cao's camp but to no avail, obviously Yuan Shao did not have such a great ability to contain Cao Cao, and Cao Cao really only had 10,000 people It is unreasonable; Third, after the victory of Guandu, Cao Cao killed Yuan Shao's army of 70,000 or 80,000, and only 10,000 people were busy?

And later, Zhong Xuan also sent Cao Cao 2,000 horses, if Cao Cao had an army of 10,000, it would be too extravagant. What's more, there was still a problem with Cao Cao's rear supply in the later period, if Cao Cao's army was really 10,000 people, wouldn't this be a slap in the face of Cao Cao's Tuntian strategy?

At that time, although Cao Cao's troops were less than Yuan Shao's, they should not be as disparity as recorded in the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms", otherwise Fu Zhu and Tian Feng would not have thought that Cao Cao was difficult to fight.

Therefore, the military strength ratio recorded in the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" is unlikely to be true, and Cao Cao, as a prince at the same level as Yuan Shao, is not so weak. Chen Shou was a figure in the Wei and Jin dynasties, and it may have been written in this way to glorify and boast about Cao Cao's orthodox status.

【True Gap】

Although Cao Cao's military strength is definitely more than one-tenth of Yuan Shao's, it is an absolute reality that Cao Cao's military strength is less than Yuan Shao's, after all, Cao Cao's situation at that time was much more difficult than Yuan Shao's.

First of all, the situation in Cao Cao's territory at that time was much worse than that of Yuan Shao's side, Yuan Shao's side was already frustrated that it was not suitable to send troops and needed to recuperate, and Cao Cao's side was simply terrible, although Cao Cao's territory was not smaller than Yuan Shao's at that time, but it was more of a burden, not only could not provide Cao Cao with output, supplies, and troops, but needed supplies from the imperial court, and Cao Cao needed to divide troops to defend.

Like Xuzhou, Cao Cao slaughtered Xuzhou three times earlier, many Xuzhou people have a blood feud with Cao Cao, they can't really serve Cao Cao at all, and Liu Bei needs Cao Cao to send troops to maintain after this trouble. In addition, like Xuchang, as the capital of the Han Dynasty and Cao Cao's base camp, it must also be heavily guarded.

Moreover, Cao Cao's territory is mainly in the Central Plains, and it borders the princes on all sides, so Cao Cao needs to divide more forces to prevent possible threats from other princes, unlike Yuan Shao's side of the northern border, which is simple and can concentrate more troops.

Under the tremendous pressure of Yuan Shao, Cao Cao's territory was also full of contradictions, at that time many counties and counties had the intention of betraying Cao Cao, and later Yuan Shao also sent Liu Bei to his hometown Yuzhou to disturb Cao Cao's rear, which caused a great threat to Cao Cao, making it impossible to concentrate his forces.

Of course, if Cao Cao was willing, he could still squeeze together tens of thousands of people to fight against Yuan Shao, but at this time Cao Cao was also facing a more realistic problem, that is, Cao Cao's food and grass supply was insufficient, which was also a direct reason for Cao Cao's shortage of troops.

In the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao's supplies could not keep up, and although Yuan Shao's army in the Battle of Guandu was not necessarily ten times that of Cao Cao, it should have at least twice or even three times that of Cao Cao's army. Cao Cao's group as a whole was not much weaker than Yuan Shao, but the situation at that time was too bad for Cao Cao.

During the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao was unable to concentrate his forces on the one hand, and could only meet Yuan Shao with part of his strength, but on the other hand, he lacked military rations and insufficient supplies, so it led to the disparity between him and Yuan Shao's military strength, and finally he was forced to use fewer enemies and more enemies, and weak to strong.

But after all, the ratio of troops is only an important indicator of the strength of the two sides, and Yuan Shao has an advantage in this regard, but he loses if he doesn't fight well.

【Re-discussion of Tuntian】

On the other hand, the Battle of Guandu was also a good point for Cao Cao's Tuntian policy, and the results were obvious, Cao Cao's Tuntian policy implemented in the first year of Jian'an was not satisfactory in the decisive battle of Guandu.

At that time, Yuan Shao, who had far more troops than Cao Cao, did not have a supply problem (at least there is no relevant record), but Cao Cao, who fought on the home territory and had fewer troops than Yuan Shao, had a supply problem, and Cao Cao had to increase taxes in various places to fill the vacancy, which is also an irony in a sense.

However, the policy of Tuntian, especially the exploitation of Mintun, was indeed too heavy, and it was no longer a slave society at that time, and this method was very demoralizing to the peasants, so no one liked to do it at all, and even if they forced others, they would not really do it, so it could be used for a while, but in the long run, this policy was destined to be eliminated.

Note: The exploitation of Juntun is heavier than that of Mintun, but the people of Mintun are for themselves, and the soldiers of Juntun are for the country, and the essence is different.