Text: Cao Yunfei (author's original authorization)
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the battle of Jieqiao against Yuan Shao was defeated miserably, and did not completely destroy Gongsun Zhan, but activated Liu Yu, the nominal master of Youzhou, when Liu Yu saw Gongsun Zhan return to the base camp with a gray face, Liu Yu suddenly felt that he was "okay again", and began to take the initiative to find Gongsun Zhan's trouble, and when he was four years old, Liu Yu launched the most courageous thing in his life.
Liu Yu was not a particularly trouble-provoking person, whether from a political point of view or in terms of his style of doing things, he was not a militant figure, so what exactly mobilized Liu Yu's large-scale attack on Gongsun Zhan this time? The answer is the hostile class of Gongsun Zhan that we mentioned last time, the Hao clan. This attack was huge, and when Gongsun Zhan, who was well versed in military affairs, also learned the news, his first reaction was to quickly slip away and feel invincible (the Book of Later Han records that "the Part of the Later Han Dynasty was scattered, and the pawns were afraid of themselves, but they wanted to dig up the Eastern City"), which showed how powerful Liu Yu and the Hao clan were this time. However, for Liu Yu, this battle was a pity, obviously not a person with ambition and military talent, but he wanted to forcibly raise troops, and the result was bound to end in failure, which also confirmed his prediction of Cheng Xu - "victory is difficult to protect". There is nothing to mention about the battle itself, but Liu Yu's death and Gongsun Zhan's attitude toward the Hao clans who supported Liu Yu ("the loss of the good soldiers in the crown") became the foreshadowing of the future.
The Hao clan can be killed, but the huge class of the Hao clan cannot be killed. The Hao clans, who had originally supported Liu Yu, soon began a second counterattack, and with the addition of Yuan Shao and Wu Huan, Gongsun Zhan had to begin to bear great military pressure. The Book of Later Han records that "Liu Yu engaged in Yuyang Xianyu and others, and led the state soldiers together, and wanted to repay the emperor together... The king of Wuhuan Qiao, grateful for Yu Ende, led his men and more than 7,000 horsemen from Xianbei to assist Yu Zihe in the south, and joined forces with Yuan Shao to attack Li Yi with 100,000 troops." Sure enough, Liu Yu's improper command of the battle results were completely different, coupled with Yuan Shao's step-by-step pressing and excellent strategy, Gongsun Zhan soon fell into a situation of isolation and helplessness, without the support of Youzhou forces, distant allies could not arrive in time, the distant water was difficult to save the near fire, and finally had to self-immolate in the high-rise building, and a dazzling star in the north was lost in the sea of fire.
The White Horse Burning Hao, also the White Horse Burning Yu Hao, was both the White Horse General Gongsun Zhan's slaughter of the Youzhou Hao clan, and also the eventual death of Gongsun Zhan at the hands of the Hao clan. There are many principles for the failure of Gongsun Zhan, although the Hao family is its most important reason, but Gongsun Zhan's personal construction actually has some drawbacks.
First, Gongsun Zhan's reputation is not good.
Wang Fuzhi said that he was "stubborn and happy to kill Gongsun Zhan, and he was self-sufficient"; Chen Shou said that he was "arrogant, remembered and forgotten good, and committed many thieves"; this type of words is very common in Gongsun Zhan, coupled with the attitude of the people of Youzhou after Liu Yu was killed by Gongsun Zhan ("The people are old, do not pity the old people"), which shows that Gongsun Zhan has no "heroic spirit" in the eyes of the masses of the people and the eyes of intellectuals, but is full of the appearance of some "violent elements". This is in sharp contrast to the feats we mentioned earlier in defending Youzhou, repelling Wuhuan, and breaking the Yellow Turban, which is largely because Gongsun Zhan himself rarely does some of his own propaganda work, and he rarely reflects on himself to improve his personal construction, and his reputation depends on his personal excellent typhoon (the outstanding performance and handsome appearance of Baima Yicong on the battlefield, etc.), it can be said that he is what he is, neither covered up nor progressed, so although there are many talents in the surrounding area, he rarely sees himself invested in Gongsun Zhan's account. And Yuan Shao's men were many celebrities.
Second, Gongsun Zhan's psychological problems are actually quite serious.
Subject to the influence of his birth, Gongsun Zhan was not only cruel to the Hao clan, but also to himself, so he could see that Gongsun Zhan was moving forward on the battlefield, but with the growth of Gongsun Zhan, Gongsun Zhan began to use this fierceness for every moment, whether it was the people or the people, it was this kind of thinking and habit that led to Gongsun Zhan's refusal to rescue the generals, and then in Yuan Shao's offensive and defensive battles, the more he fought and contracted, and when the situation became worse and worse, this fierceness would become suspicious and distrustful of everyone around him. Falling into an extreme state, it seems that Gongsun Zhan's behavior of building a castle tower and staying away from the people is not difficult to explain.
Gongsun Zhan is a pity and a pity. However, his demise also symbolizes the rise of another haojie. With the demise of Gongsun Zhan, there seemed to be no one in the four prefectures of Qing, You, He, and Ji that could stop Yuan Shao.s steps. Of course, this is an afterthought.