During the Three Kingdoms period, all the princes wanted to use force to end their opponents and establish their own dynasties. In the beginning, the strongest was Yuan Shao.
Yuan Shao came from a large family, a strong family background, and his own style of a citizen, becoming the leader of the World's scholars. When he was in charge of Jizhou, the celebrities all submitted to him and helped him to occupy the four major northern continents with Jizhou as the center, becoming the most powerful warlord at that time.
Yuan Shao had many advisers, many of whom were still famous at that time, which even Cao Cao envied. The most famous advisers under Yuan Shao were Frustrated Zhi and Tian Feng, but it was precisely these two people that Yuan Shao did not use well, resulting in a defeat in the battle for hegemony with Cao Cao.
After becoming Yuan Shao's adviser, he made an important proposal to Yuan Shao, that is, to take Jizhou as a base, then sweep the remnants of the Yellow Turban to the east, and then eliminate Zhang Yan in Montenegro; then go north to eliminate Gongsun Zhan, coerce Rong Di, pacify the Xiongnu, and finally pacify Hebei, unite the soldiers of the Four Continents, recruit heroic talents, and compete with Cao Cao and others for heaven. Yuan Shao heeded this advice and immediately appointed Frustrated as the Overseer, the General of Fenwei.
Since then, Yuan Shao has been smooth sailing in the north, and it did not take long to unify the north, have the land of four states, and become a hegemon.
But from then on, Yuan Shao began to listen less to Frustrated Zhi's opinion, and when Emperor Xian of Han was wandering, Frustrated Zhi thought that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: he should go to Chang'an to take the emperor back, and then in Luoyang Dingdu, restore the Zongmiao Temple, and order the world with such merits, and he sent those princes who did not obey the orders, so that who else in the world would not dare to obey you? However, Yuan Shao was full of thoughts about becoming emperor himself, and refused to be frustrated with this opinion.
After Yuan Shao had four prefectures, he made his eldest son Yuan Tan the post of Qingzhou, and let the other two sons and nephew Gao Gan each lead a boat. Frustrated zhi advised that this was a self-inflicted disaster, but Yuan Shao still did not listen. Later, the Yuan brothers fought for power after Yuan Shao's death, and the Yuan clan split.
Before the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao planned to attack Xu County and engage in a decisive battle with Cao Cao. Frustrated, he pointed out to Yuan Shao that Cao Cao had already welcomed Emperor Xian of Han and therefore took the initiative morally. In addition, Cao Cao understood the military, could fight wars, governed the army strictly, and refined his soldiers, surpassing Gongsun Zhan and others. Therefore, you can't be tough with Cao Cao. It is time to march into Liyang and fight a war of attrition with Cao Cao, and within three years, Cao Cao will be defeated because he cannot afford to consume. But Yuan Shao still did not listen, insisting on entering the officer ferry.
During the Battle of Guandu, Frustrated Zhi also suggested to Yuan Shao that Cao Cao's grain and military supplies were small, which was conducive to a quick battle, and Yuan Shao's side had enough grain and grass, so it was necessary to fight a protracted war and eventually consume Cao Cao to death. But Yuan Shao still did not listen and insisted on a decisive battle with Cao Cao. As a result, Yuan Shao was defeated.
Another strategist, Tian Feng, played an important role during Yuan Shao's defeat of Gongsun Zhan. Later, Yuan Shao asked Cao Cao to move the capital to Juancheng and let Tianzi get closer to him, but Cao Cao refused. Tian Feng immediately suggested that he use this as an excuse to attack Xu County, but Yuan Shao had no intention of wanting an emperor, so he rejected this suggestion.
Before the Battle of Guandu, Liu Bei betrayed Cao Cao, and Cao Cao personally led troops to conquest Liu Bei. Tian Feng advised Yuan Shao: "Cao Cao is now going so far to the east to attack Liu Bei, which will definitely take a while, now concentrate all our forces to attack Cao Cao's rear, and the battle can be pacified." This is the best time. ”
Unfortunately, Yuan Shao was in a bad mood because his favorite youngest son was ill, so he rejected Tian Feng's suggestion.
Cao Cao seized the opportunity and adopted the tactics of a quick battle to defeat Liu Bei. Liu Bei defected to Yuan Shao and said that Yuan Shao would send troops to attack Cao Cao, but Yuan Shao felt that it was reasonable and wanted to send troops.
But at this time, Tian Feng thought that the opportunity had been lost, and he should not rush to send troops again, because Cao Cao had returned, Xu Du was already heavily guarded, and Xu Cao cao was haunted by soldiers, which was difficult to resist.
The best strategy is to rely on the Yellow River to hold on to the natural dangers, unite the heroes of the world externally, and practice farming internally to prepare for war. Then he eliminated the soldiers and horses, and constantly harassed Cao Cao, making him uneasy. In this way, in less than three years, Cao Cao will be dragged down, and then it will be easy to send troops to fight Cao Cao. However, Yuan Shao thought that the time was too long and did not accept this plan.
Xu You
Xu You was also originally Yuan Shao's adviser, and when Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were just engaged in battle at Guandu, Xu You said to Yuan Shao: "Cao Cao has few soldiers, and he will inevitably concentrate all his strength to resist, and Xu Du's guards will certainly be empty." If a light cavalry was sent to raid Xu Du, the Cao army would be defeated. Yuan Shao, however, did not think that he had strong strength, which was necessary, and did not accept this good strategy.
From the experience of these advisers of Yuan Shao, it can be seen that the talents of Yuan Shao's advisers belonged to the top at that time, and they were all thinking about Yuan Shao. But why was Yuan Shao defeated by Cao Cao in the end? The key to this is that Yuan Shao will not use people.
For example, in the matter of greeting Tianzi, whether it is Cao Cao or Yuan Shao, they all feel that this is not a trivial matter. Cao Cao, on the other hand, was able to listen to the advice of the counselors, immediately accepted the opinions, and took the emperor to his side. What about Yuan Shao? However, he only thought that he had the final say, and did not implement it immediately. When Cao Cao snatched the emperor to his side, Yuan Shao regretted it again, but the time had been lost, and it was too late to regret it.
At the time of Guandu, because Yuan Shao was strong, many of Cao Cao's men secretly colluded with Yuan Shao, and at this time, someone must have advised Cao Cao not to fight. But Cao Cao knew that this strategy would not work and did not adopt it.
Yuan Shao, on the other hand, suggested that his advisers should send troops to Xu County during Cao Cao's and Liu Bei's conquests, and after the opportunity was lost, he suggested that he deplete Cao Cao, and when Guandu was in a standoff, he suggested that he sneak into Cao Cao's rear so that he could easily defeat Cao Cao. But Yuan Shao did not accept.
Yuan Shao was able to win in the early days because his opponents were inferior to him compared to him, and as soon as the two sides fought, Yuan Shao could see each other's weaknesses. Therefore, as long as the strategist came up with an idea, Yuan Shao knew that he could defeat the other side. Therefore, he is more receptive to opinions.
Cao Cao's ability was far stronger than that of Gongsun Zhan and others, and also stronger than Yuan Shao. Therefore, Yuan Shao did not know how to deal with Cao Cao, even if others told him how to act, he was full of doubts, and finally took the wrong action, resulting in failure.
When comparing the conduct of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, Xun Yu commented that Yuan Shao "appointed people but doubted people's loyalty", "hesitated when things happened, worried about things, and lacked determination", and also liked to be in the limelight, always feeling that he was superior. As a result, although Yuan Shao was able to recruit many talents, he could not let these talents exert his talents, but acted arbitrarily. In the end, some useful talents left him and defected to Cao Cao.'s side.
Therefore, to use good talents, the most important thing is that leaders should correct their own mentality.