The Battle of Guandu took place at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and was a famous battle in ancient China. The two sides of the war were Yuan Shao, the warlord who occupied Jizhou, Qingzhou, Youzhou, and Hezhou at that time, and Cao Cao, a warlord who held a large area of Henan under the command of Tianzi to order the princes. The result of the war was that Cao Cao won more with less and defeated Yuan Shao. However, at the beginning of the war, Yuan Shao's strength occupied an absolute advantage, whether it was the number of troops, army equipment, grain and grass reserves, the quality of military generals, the area occupied, etc., Yuan Shao was overwhelmingly stronger than Cao Cao. At that time, Yuan Shao had just attacked Gongsun Zhan, and the army had just won the battle and was morale. However, the factors that determine the victory or defeat of the war are not only military strength, but more importantly, the ability and virtue of the general. As the saying goes, "a soldier bears a bear, and a bear bears a nest". The main reason for Yuan Shao's eventual failure was his misconduct. The following is a specific look at what Yuan Shao did from several aspects, resulting in his doomed defeat at the beginning of the war.
First, fight alone. Jian'an four years (199) September. Yuan Shao and Cao Cao both Chen Bing guandu, the war was about to break out. In order to increase the odds of victory, Yuan Shao attempted to ally with Zhang Xiu in the southwest of Cao Cao and Liu Biao in the south of Cao Cao, and attacked Cao Cao in many ways. Yuan Shao's emissaries arrived at Yecheng and sent a letter to Zhang Xiu, who coveted immediate interests and wanted to agree to Yuan Shao's alliance, and Jia Xu, a strategist on the side, saw through Yuan Shao's face and stopped him: "Please tell Yuan Benchu that brothers are incompatible, how can you tolerate the world's soldiers?" What Jia Xu was referring to was Yuan Shao's attack on Yuan Shu's Yangcheng. Yuan Shao's attendant was speechless and had to return. Yuan Shao also sent emissaries to his brother Yuan Shu for help. Yuan Shu had been stabbed in the back by Yuan Shao earlier, and naturally would not sincerely agree to Yuan Shao, and the two brothers were very good at a set of surfaces and a set of backs. Yuan Shu pretended to agree to Yuan Shao, but in fact he did not move and watched from the sidelines. Later, Zhang Xiu worried that Yuan Shao was small, and once Cao Cao was defeated, he did not have a good end, so he surrendered to Cao Cao. As a result, Yuan Shao could only fight alone against Cao Cao.
Second, the division is unknown. Although the fundamental reason for Yuan Shao to launch the Battle of Guandu was known to all aspirants in the world, that is, to seize Emperor Xian of Han and replace Cao Cao with the power of the Heavenly Sons to make the princes, and then realize Yuan Shao's wish to become emperor. But the troops needed a reason, and this reason naturally could not tell Yuan Shao's naked desire to be emperor. Yuan Shao's adviser Frustrated Zhi thought of this, so he said to Yuan Shao: "We should send the imperial court a good report to pacify Gongsun Zhan, and if the good news cannot be delivered to Tianzi, then we can condemn Cao Cao for blocking our contact with the imperial court and tell the world, then if we send troops to attack Cao Cao again, we will gain the support of the people of the world, and we can become famous." However, Yuan Shao's confidence in defeating Cao Cao exploded, and he was anxious to fight, plus Guo Tu and Zhen Pei said: "According to the art of war, those who exceed the enemy's strength by more than ten times can surround the enemy, and those who exceed the enemy by five times can attack, and if the strength is equal, they can fight a decisive battle." Now there is the wise and courageous martial arts of the Ming Gong, and it is really easy to gather the strong troops of Heshuo to fight against Cao Cao. If you don't take the opportunity to attack, it will be difficult to do in the future. So Yuan Shao quickly sent troops, Chen Bing guandu, and the soldiers pointed to Tianzi, which was condemned by the people of the world.
Third, the pro-villain Yuanxianchen. On the eve of the Battle of Guandu. Yuan Shao had just defeated Gongsun Zhan, and the strategist Frustrated advised Yuan Shao: "In recent years, we have been fighting against Gongsun Zhan, raising troops for many years, the people are suffering, the warehouses are insufficient, and the tax burden is also heavy. However, Yuan Shao did not listen to The Good Advice of Depression, believing that he had just annexed Gongsun Zhan's old department, and his military strength was strong, and it was easy to defeat Cao Cao. Later, Frustrated Zhi advised Yuan Shao: "We should build more ships, repair weapons, send elite horses, and harass Cao Cao's borders in several ways, so that he will not be at peace, and in three years, we will not be able to force Cao Cao to surrender without effort." Yuan Shao did not listen to the strategy of frustrated teaching, and the strategy of frustration was contrary to Yuan Shao's ideas at every turn, causing Yuan Shao to dislike frustration. Just as Guo Tujin said to Yuan Shao, he said: "Frustrated with the supervision of the three internal and external armies, it is very prestigious, and I am afraid that I will not be controlled in the future." Yuan Shao listened to Guo Tu's words and divided the army led by Frustrated Zhi into three roads, two of which were under the jurisdiction of Guo Tu and Chun Yuqiong.
Judging from the above three aspects, Yuan Shao's misconduct, centrifugal morality, and selfishness obscured his reason, and he was doomed to failure in the early stage of the war.
Editor/Genichi, picture from the web