Three Kingdoms Part 1: The Battle of Guandu

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the problems of land, slaves, and refugees were intertwined with the expansion of tyrannical power. Foreign relatives and eunuchs fought each other endlessly. After the Yellow Turban Uprising, the Eastern Han Dynasty was already precarious, and warlords gradually formed a situation of separatism throughout the country

Dong Zhuo

In 190 AD, all the states and counties in the Kanto region promoted . Yuan Shao was the leader of the alliance. In 192 AD, Situ and Wang Yun acted against him, Dong Zhuo was killed by his subordinates Lu Bu

and then the Guanxi warlords After five years of internal melee, although the Northwest Warlords were finally overthrown, the Eastern Han Dynasty has been unable to recover. There was a large-scale melee for the separatist regime. All the warlords had their own thoughts. A few people wanted to restore the Han Dynasty, while more people either waited and watched temporarily, or had the ambition to replace the Han Dynasty on their own. Yuan Shao has long been Cao Cao, who was floundered and fledgling, was very active in the war against Dong Zhuo at first, hoping to help the world, and Cao Cao, who was born as an adopted son of an eunuch, was far less powerful than Yuan Shao, who was the fourth and third prince

Cao Cao's initial development ,Thanks to Yuan Shao's expansion, the two peasant armies of the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou and Heishan in Hebei grew rapidly. On the one hand, Yuan Shao wanted to prevent the two rebel armies from joining forces, and on the other hand, he wanted to develop strength in the Yanzhou and control the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Yuan Shao thought that the talented Cao Cao could help him. Yuan Shao appointed Cao Cao as the prefect of Dongjun as the leader of the alliance. Cao Cao got the opportunity to clear the Heishan army, and he recruited the elites of the Yellow Turbans and developed his own Qingzhou soldiers. Conquering the west, gradually established his base in Yanzhou and Yuzhou

When the various princes were concentrating on expanding their own territory, Cao Cao made a politically important decision to welcome the emperor

AD In 196, Han Xiandi returned to the old capital under the control of Zhang Yang, etc. Cao Cao made full use of the contradictions of all parties, seized the opportunity provided by Dong Cheng, entered the army Luoyang, controlled the emperor, and Moved to Xudu with the Son of Heaven, and then firmly controlled the Son of Heaven in his own hands

Although Cao Cao gained the initiative politically, he was under siege militarily

Before the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao Three expeditions Zhang Xiu, conquered Yuan Shu, destroyed Lv Bu, controlled Yang, Xu, Yanyu states

When Yuan Shao merged with Gongsun Zan, North China formed a two-power confrontation situation

Battle of Guandu staged

Yuan Shao, who is stronger, decides to strike first.South attack Xu

The news of Yuan Shao's southward movement reached Xudu, causing a great impact on the Cao Cao group. Some of them had already secretly communicated with Yuan Shao

Cao Cao used the words of Xun Yu and Guo Jia to stabilize the army , Immediately formulate countermeasures, decide to preemptively, march into Liyang, and divide troops to guard Guandu

Before Yuan Shao sent troops, Xudu's Liu Bei took the lead and raised his troops to fight against Cao Cao. Cao Cao in Guandu defeated Liu Bei in the fifth year of Jian'an.

In the 5th year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao issued an order to beg Cao, and a month later he sent troops to Liyang, and sent generals Yan Liang to besiege Baima

Cao Cao did not resolve the battle of Guandu, but went north from Guandu and marched to Yanjin_ span2span, attracted Yuan Shao, then quickly turned around, led the light cavalry to the white horse, beheaded Yan Liang, and killed the Wen Chou who came to rescue.

Yuan Shao decided to fight for a quick decision, and marched south, Cao Cao still had deep trenches and high barriers, and the strong walls could not escape. At that time, Yuan Shao's disdain for the advisors became the key to turning the situation around again. The advisor Xu You was scolded and defected to Cao Cao, revealing the entire situation of Yuan Shao's hoarding of grain and grass

Wuchao, Yuan Shao learned the news, not only did not send troops to relieve the siege, but sent Zhang He and Gao Lan to lead a large army to attack Guandu, and only sent thousands of cavalry to rescue Wuchao

As a result, Cao Cao killed the reinforcements that went to Wuchao, and killed Chunyu joan,Burning all the food and grass

Yuan Shao, who was completely lost in the army, was attacked by Cao Cao, only escaped the Yellow River with his eldest son Yuan Tan The battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao collapsed, and soon died of illness

The Battle of Guandu was a famous battle in the late Han Dynasty where less wins more. After the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao finally turned his back on Yuan Shao's disadvantage and laid the foundation for his unification of the North