After the elimination of Mugu, in order to cope with the subsequent war with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao made arrangements in advance, and ordered Zang Ba and others, who had potential influence in Qingzhou, to invade Qingzhou, occupy Qi (now Linzi, Shandong), Beihai (southeast of present-day Shouguang, Shandong) and other places, and consolidate the right flank; Soon, Zhang Xiu listened to the plan of the strategist Jia Xu and surrendered to Cao Cao, Cao Cao was overjoyed, worshiped Zhang Xiu as a general of Yangwu, and relieved his worries.

In December of the fourth year of Jian'an (199), Cao Cao led his army to Guandu (now Zhongmubei), preparing to meet Yuan Shao.

Battle of Guandu

Battle of Guandu [22]

After Tao Qian's death, Liu Bei served as the pastor of Xuzhou for a time, and after Xuzhou was captured by Lü Bu, Liu Bei defected to Cao Cao. Cao Cao thought that Liu Bei was a hero, and successively referred to him as Yuzhou Mu and General Zuo. Soon after Cao Cao captured Xuzhou, Huainan Yuan Shu was ready to flee to Qingzhou to rely on Yuan Shao, Cao Cao sent Liu Bei to intercept it, Yuan Shu could not go north, vomited blood and died.

In the first month of the fifth year of Jian'an (200 years), Dong Cheng and others conspired to punish Cao Cao and were killed by Cao Cao. Liu Bei then attacked and killed Xuzhou assassin Shi Chexuan and occupied Xuzhou.

"Liu Bei rebelled in Xuzhou [23] ". Therefore, Cao Cao decided to go east to conquer Liu Bei. [23] All the generals said: "Those who fight for the world with the public, Yuan Shaoye." Now Shao Fang came and abandoned the east, after Shao took the people, what if?" Cao Cao said: "Liu Bei, Renjie, if you don't attack today, there will be trouble." Although Yuan Shao has great ambitions, he will not move when he sees things late. Then he marched and defeated Liu Bei with lightning speed, and Liu Bei fled to Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao was the most powerful force in the north at that time, and he was also the most powerful enemy of Cao Cao's unification of the north. Yuan's family, since Yuan Shao's great-grandfather Yuan An below, "the fourth generation of the three public positions", "protégés and former officials all over the world", the power is already very large, after Yuan Shao obtained the land of Hebei, and, secluded and Qingzhou, the strength has increased greatly, and there are hundreds of thousands of troops. Yuan Shao with his eldest son Yuan Tan, second son Yuan Xi, and nephew Gao Gan guarded Qing, You, and Sanzhou, and the rear was stable, and the soldiers were well fed, and Cao Cao was not taken seriously at all. He selected 100,000 elite soldiers and 10,000 war horses, aiming to eliminate Cao Cao in one fell swoop.

In the fifth year of Jian'an (200 years), Yuan Shao ordered the general Yan Liang and others to march into Baima (now Huaxian County), and led a large army into Tun Liyang (now the east of Jun County) to launch an attack on Cao Cao. Cao Cao's strength was much weaker than that of Yuan Shao [24], and the area south of the Great River occupied by Cao Cao was both small and the land of the four wars, dilapidated and not yet fully recovered, and the supplies were not as abundant as Yuan Shao's. Cao Cao's troops were far inferior to Yuan Shao's, his total strength was probably only tens of thousands, and the number of troops put into the front line was "less than 10,000 soldiers, and 123 wounded" according to the "Emperor Wu Ji". Pei Songzhi thought that this number was not accurate, Cao Cao's troops would not be so small, but there was no doubt that Cao Cao's troops were far inferior to Yuan Shao. [25]

Yuan Shao's army came to attack, and Xu was shaken. Cao Cao comforted the generals and said: "I know that Shaozhi is a human being, with great ambition and small wisdom, strong and timid, jealous and less powerful, many soldiers and unclear divisions, arrogant and different orders, although the land is wide and the food is abundant, it is enough for me to serve it." ”

In February, Yuan Shao's general Yan Liang and others besieged Baima, kicking off the prelude to the Great War. In April, Cao Cao personally led his troops north to relieve the siege of Baima, and he adopted the strategy of the strategist Xun You, advanced the army to Yanjin (now the north of Yanjin), made a posture of crossing the river to attack the Yuan army, attracting the Yuan army to divide the troops to the west, and then suddenly turned and rushed to Baima. Cao Cao's army suddenly arrived, the Yuan army was caught off guard, Yan Liang was beheaded by Guan Yu [26], the Yuan army was defeated, and the siege of Baima was lifted. Cao Cao rescued the soldiers and civilians of the White Horse and retreated west along the Yellow River. When Yuan Shao heard this, he immediately ordered Wen Chou and Liu Bei to cross the river to chase Cao Cao. Cao Cao saw that the pursuers were approaching, so he ordered the sergeants to unsaddle and release the horses, and put the burden on the road. The Yuan army pursued the troops so much, scrambling for baggage, and the formation was chaotic. Cao Cao led the only cavalry to suddenly kill, breaking the pursuers and beheading Wen Chou. Yuan Jun was shaken. Cao Cao won the first battle, took the initiative to withdraw his troops, and continued to hold Guandu.

In August, Yuan Shao's army marched into the camp, dozens of miles from east to west, relying on the sand pile as a tun, and forced Guandu. Cao Cao divided his troops to stick to the camp and waited for the opportunity to move. The Yuan army launched a fierce attack on Cao Ying, first making high turrets, raising earth mountains, shooting arrows into Cao Ying's camp from above, and then digging tunnels to attack Cao Ying from underground, all of which were solved by Cao Cao by setting up trebuchets and digging ravines. The two armies attacked and defended each other for nearly two months. After a long war, Cao Cao was in an extremely difficult situation.

In October, Yuan Shao transported more than 10,000 carts of grain and grass from Hebei, and sent the general Chun Yuqiong and others to escort more than 10,000 people along the way, and stayed overnight in Wuchao, which was forty miles away from Yuan Shao's camp. At this time, Yuan Shao's strategist Xu You was remorseful because of Yuan Shaoxian's plan to attack Xudu and his family members in Hebei were arrested, so he came to Cao Cao and offered a plan for Cao Cao to sneak attack the black nest. Cao Cao was overjoyed, stepped out to greet him, and then personally led the elite infantry to ride 5,000 people, the army ranks, Malekou, changed into the military uniform of the Yuan army and attacked the nest from the road at night. Cao Cao's army went to Wuchao and ordered to set fire on all sides, Yuan's army was in chaos, and Chun Yuqiong refused to defend the camp. [27] When Yuan Shao heard this, he hurriedly sent troops to rescue, and Cao Cao saw that "the thief is a little closer, please divide the troops and refuse." Cao Cao was furious and said: "The thief is behind, Naibai!" The soldiers fought desperately, so they broke Yuan's army, beheaded Yu Qiong and others, and burned their grain and grass. When Yuan Shao heard that Cao Cao had attacked Wuchao, he thought that this was a good opportunity to break through Cao Cao's camp, so he sent few reinforcements and besieged Cao Cao's camp with heavy troops. Due to Cao Cao's reserved troops, Cao's camp was not broken, and the news of the defeat of Wuchao had come, and the generals Zhang He, Gao Ran and others led their troops to surrender to Cao Cao, and Yuan's army was dispersed. Yuan Shao abandoned his army and fled back north of the Yellow River. Cao Jun won a complete victory, beheaded more than 70,000 ranks, and won all the treasures of Yuan Jun's heavy books. Cao Cao counted Yuan Shao's letters, got the letter of his subordinates colluding with Yuan Shao, burned them all, and said: "When Shao is strong, he can't protect himself, and everyone cares!"

In terms of objective conditions, Cao Cao was at a disadvantage, but because he was able to correctly analyze the objective conditions and be good at listening to the correct opinions of others, he was able to make use of his strengths and avoid his weaknesses, adopt correct strategies and tactics, and transform the war into a favorable aspect for himself, and finally won the victory through his own subjective efforts. In the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao defeated his biggest enemy, Yuan Shao, and it was the general trend for him to unify the north. The Battle of Guandu is also a famous example in the history of Chinese warfare in which fewer won more and the weak defeated the strong.

Expedition to Wuhuan

In the seventh year of Jian'an (202), Yuan Shao died of illness, and Yuan Shao's two sons, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, were at odds and had a fight. Yuan Tan was defeated by Yuan Shang and surrendered to Cao Cao.

In February of the ninth year of Jian'an (204), Cao Cao took advantage of Yuan Shang's dispatch of troops to attack Yuan Tan and marched to besiege Yecheng (now Handan, Hebei Province, in the area of Linzhangxi). Yuan Shang led the army back to the rescue, relying on Fushui (now Fuyang River) as a camp, and Cao Cao marched to surround his camp. Yuan Shang was frightened and asked for surrender, but Cao Cao did not allow it. Yuan Shang fled by night, and Yuan's army was scattered. Yuan Shang fled to Zhongshan (present-day Dingxian, Hebei). Cao Cao ordered people to take the seal ribbon of the captured Yuan Shang to surrender the defenders of Yecheng, and the fighting spirit in the city collapsed. Yecheng was then breached by Cao Cao. From this year onwards, Cao Cao moved his stronghold north to Yecheng in Jizhou [28], and the government ordered the army to leave thereafter, while Xu County, the capital of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, left only a few officials.

In the first month of the tenth year of Jian'an (205 years), Cao Cao defeated Yuan Tan in the name of negative covenants, and Hebei and Qing Prefectures were pacified. So, Cao Cao asked him to return to Yanzhou and changed his position as Jizhou pastor. After Yuan Shang's army was defeated, he fled to Youzhou to assassinate Yuan Xi. Soon, Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi fled to Wuhuan in the three counties. In the same year, Zhang Yan, the leader of the Montenegrin army, led more than 100,000 of his troops to surrender to Cao Cao. [29]

In the eleventh year of Jian'an (206), Cao Cao defeated Gao Gan and pacified the state.

In the twelfth year of Jian'an (207), Cao Cao decided to expedition to Wuhuan in order to eliminate the remnants of the Yuan clan and completely solve the problem of the three counties of Wuhuan entering the fortress. At the end of the Han Dynasty, the three counties of Liaoxi, Liaodong and Youbeiping were combined, which was the Wuhuan of the three counties, and its leader was the Wudun of Liaoxi. The Wuhuan of the three counties had always had a good relationship with the Yuan clan, and repeatedly invaded the border and plundered people and property.

In May, Cao Cao personally led a large army to Wuzhong (present-day Jixian County). It was the rainy season, the roads were waterlogged, "shallow and not passable for cars and horses, deep for boats and boats". Cao Cao went from having no end to the discussion of the field, and instead marched from a route that had been cut off for a long time, but "there are still micropaths to be found". Under the guidance of Tian Chou, Cao Cao's army climbed Xu Wushan (now north of Yutian, Hebei), out of Lulongsai (near Xifengkou, Hebei), "more than 500 miles of moat mountains and valleys", and pointed directly to Liucheng (now Chaoyangnan, Liaoning).

Expedition to Wuhuan

Expedition to Wuhuan

In August, when Cao's army entered less than 200 miles from Liucheng, Wuhuan found out, so he led tens of thousands of cavalry with Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi and others to meet them. When the two armies met, the Wuhuan army was very strong, and Cao's army was "the car is heavy, the armor is few, and the left and right are afraid", but Zhang Liao persuaded Cao Cao to fight. Cao Cao climbed the heights to lookout, and saw that although there were many Wuhuan troops, the formation had not yet been arranged, so he ordered to give his command to Zhang Liao for temporary use. Zhang Liao commanded the vanguard troops and took advantage of the slight movement of the Wuhuan army to launch a fierce attack on the Wuhuan army. The Wuhuan army was defeated, and the dead were wild. Wuhuan Shan Yu Bandun was also killed on the spot. In the battle of White Wolf Mountain, the Cao army won a complete victory, and more than 200,000 Hu and Han surrendered. [30-32]

Yuan Shang and others fled to Gongsun Kang, who seized Pingzhou. At this time, someone persuaded Cao Cao to take advantage of the situation to attack Gongsun Kang, and Cao Cao said: "I will make Kang behead Shang and Xi, and do not bother the soldiers." Then he led the army back to the division. Soon, Gongsun Kang really killed Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi, and dedicated their heads to Cao Cao. The generals didn't know why, Cao Cao said: "He is still afraid of waiting, I am anxious and forceful, and if I am slow, I will be self-motivated, and its momentum is also." As a result, Cao Cao broke through the three counties of Wuhuan and completely wiped out the Yuan forces.

From November to Yishui, Daijun Karasuma Xingshan in Pufulu, Shangjun Karasuma Xingshan in that building to congratulate the king of his name. In the same year, Guo Jia died of illness before Cao Cao returned north due to unaccustomed water and soil, harsh climate, and overwork day and night. On the way back, according to the "Biography of Cao Xuan": "It was cold and dry, there was no water for 200 miles, and the army lacked food, so they killed thousands of horses for food, and dug the ground into more than 30 zhang to get water." Also, when asked about the former admonition, everyone knows why, and everyone is afraid. The public is rewarded generously, saying: 'Go forward alone, take advantage of the danger to be lucky, although you get it, the sky will support it, so it cannot be taken for granted.' The advice of the kings, the plan of all peace, is to reward each other, and it is not difficult to say it later. ’” [33]

The Battle of Red Cliffs

In the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208), the Xuanwu Pool was opened to train the navy. In June, Cao Cao deposed the Three Dukes, restored the prime minister system, and appointed himself prime minister of the Han Dynasty. After basically pacifying the north, the troops turned to the south. In July, he marched south to conquer Liu Biao in Jingzhou. In August, Liu Biao died of illness, and his son Liu Cong took over as the pastor of Jingzhou. In September, Cao Cao's army entered Xinye, and Liu Cong thought that he could not resist it, so he raised the people of Jingzhou to surrender to Cao Cao.

At this time, Liu Bei, who defected to Liu Biao after the Battle of Guandu, was stationed in Fancheng (now Xiangfan, Hubei), and when he heard that Liu Cong had surrendered, he led his army to retreat to Jiangling (now Hubei). Jiangling is an important town in Jingzhou and has a large number of military supplies. When Cao Cao heard this, he was afraid that Jiangling would fall into Liu Bei's hands, so he personally led 5,000 cavalry from Xiangyang (now Xiangfan, Hubei) to gallop 300 miles, catch up with Liu Bei at Changban in Dangyang (now northeast of Dangyang, Hubei), break his army, and then occupy Jiangling. [34]

The Battle of Red Cliffs

The Battle of Red Cliffs

After Cao Cao defeated Liu Bei, he wanted to swallow Jiangdong in one fell swoop, Sun Quan and Liu Bei formed an alliance with the efforts of Lu Su and Zhuge Liang and others, and Sun Quan ordered Zhou Yu, the governor of the capital, to lead an army of 30,000 and form an alliance with Liu Bei's 20,000 horses to resist Cao Cao. Cao Cao went east from Jiangling to Chibi (present-day West Chiji Mountain, Wuchang County, Hubei) to engage the combined forces of Sun and Liu, and temporarily garrisoned his troops in Wulin (present-day northeast of Honghu County, Hubei) to confront the other side across the river. Zhou Yu used a trick of surrender, ordered the general Huang Gai to lead ten small warships, loaded with firewood and grass, poured with anointing oil, nailed a big nail to the bow, pretended to surrender, and marched to the north shore, when it was two miles away from Cao Ying, all ships were set on fire together, and then with the help of the wind, they rushed straight towards the Cao army, the Cao army was defeated, and the boat was burned. Cao Cao led his army to retreat overland from Huarong Road (northwest of present-day Jianli, Hubei) to Jiangling. Withdraw troops to the north.

Pingding Liangzhou

After the defeat of Chibi, Cao Cao took some measures to stabilize the interior. In the spring of the fifteenth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao issued the "Order to Seek Talents", saying: "Today's order has not yet been decided, and this special urgency is also ······ The second and third sons are bright and ugly, and I am the only one who moves, and I have to use it. Cao Cao put forward the policy of employing people without sticking to conduct and meritocracy, with the aim of collecting talents to his side as much as possible.

In the sixteenth year of Jian'an (211), Cao Cao began to use troops against Guanzhong. In March, Cao Cao sent Zhong Xuan, the commander of the school, to lead the general Xiahou Yuan to march into Guanzhong in the name of crusading against Zhang Lu in Hanzhong (Zhinan Zheng, now Hanzhong, Shaanxi). Guanzhong Ma Chao, Han Sui, Yang Qiu and other ten were suspicious and turned against each other for a while. Cao Cao immediately sent the general Cao Ren to attack Guanzhong, and Ma Chao and others were stationed in Tongguan. [35]

In July, Cao Cao led a large army to conquer Guanzhong and defeated the Guanzhong coalition army. In September, Ma and Han again asked for land cession and sent Ren Zi to seek peace, but Cao Cao adopted Jia Xu's suggestion, falsely allowed it, and defeated Han and Ma again. Han Sui and Ma Chao were defeated and left Liangzhou, while Yang Qiu fled back to Anding, and Cao's army beheaded Chengyi and Li Kan and other rebel generals, and Guanzhong was pacified [36] . In October, Cao Cao marched to settle down, and Yang Qiu surrendered [37] . Cao Cao led the army to withdraw, and ordered Xiahou Yuan to continue the westward expedition, and within two years, chase Ma Chao, break Han Sui, destroy Song Jian, sweep Qiang, Di, Hubu Guanright, and the Liangzhou area was basically pacified.

A very good minister