At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the warlords were fighting, and the smoke was everywhere, and the heroes were competing for each other. Arrogant soldiers and fierce generals emerge one after another, fighting each other, and everywhere they see, they are full of devastation. During the years of the struggle for hegemony, the Central Plains dropped from the original 50 million people all the way to less than 10 million people. From Dong Zhuo's rebellion to the formation of the situation of the Three Kingdoms, during this period of time, for the people of Limin, no one was living in dire straits.
The white bones are exposed in the wild, and there is no rooster crowing for thousands of miles. The people are left behind, and the thought breaks people's intestines. Cao Cao wrote in "Artemisia Li Xing" that Cao Cao was a generation of heroes with great ambitions, and countless people died at his hands.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty 1800 years ago, it was still in the era of cold weapons, and the strength of the army, in addition to relying on the skills of the leaders, generals and strategists, the number of military horses was also a crucial measure. Since ancient times, the side with the strongest forces has often won in battles, while the side with weak forces has often suffered.
However, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there was a famous battle in which less won more, that was the "Battle of Guandu" in 200 AD. Cao Cao fought against Yuan Shao's hundreds of thousands of troops with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and in the end, Cao Cao won the battle of Guandu.
Prior to this, Cao Cao moved the capital to Xu County, coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, defeated Lü Bu, and gradually occupied a large area south of the Yellow River.
Yuan Shao ran to Jizhou, defeated Gongsun Zhan, Qingzhou, Youzhou and other places as his own, and began to recruit wise men, recruit military horses, after a period of rest, Yuan Shao's army is already strong and strong, the number has exceeded 100,000 people.
Although Cao Cao won a small victory, there were only 20,000 soldiers and horses, and the strength of the two sides was very different. However, Cao Cao's army of Yuan Shao had long been in his throat, and if Yuan Shao did not get rid of him for a day, Cao Cao was almost unable to sleep.
Before attacking Yuan Shao's army, Cao Cao first launched an attack on Shouchun's Yuan Shu and beat Yuan Shu's army to the ground, and Yuan Shu had no choice but to take refuge in Yuan Shao. As Cao Cao's power increased greatly, Yuan Shao, who had never taken him seriously in the past, realized the seriousness and ordered his subordinate Yan Liang to lead an army of 100,000 to meet the battle.
So, why did Yuan Shao's troops be strong, but in the battle of Guandu, he still failed in the face of Cao Cao's 20,000 troops?
Although Cao Cao's advisers were worried, Cao Cao knew that although Yuan Shao was strong and strong, he did not know how to lead troops to fight, and he had already lost the hearts of the people in the army. Therefore, Cao Cao concentrated his forces, occupied Qijun, Beihai, Dong'an and other places, and sent a team of men and horses to garrison Guanzhong to prevent the enemy from sneaking up.
However, during the great battle between the Cao and Yuan armies, the situation changed slightly: Liu Bei rebelled against Cao and defected to his rival Yuan Shao, while Guan Yu was taken in by Cao Cao and later beheaded Yan Liang, one of Yuan Shao's generals.
After defeating Yan Liang's army, Cao Cao withdrew his troops along the Hexi, attracting Yuan Shao's army to pursue, and after arriving in Yanjin, Cao Cao ordered his men to discard the spoils, which led Yuan Shao's army to rob, Cao Cao's army took the opportunity to kill back, and the 5,000 army brought by Wen Chou and Liu Bei was almost wiped out.
Even if the previous battles were unfavorable, with his huge military strength, Yuan Shao could still turn the tide as long as he transported troops a little, and his fate would not be like this, so what was the key reason for Yuan Shao's failure?
Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's armies fought in Guandu, after several battles, both sides were damaged, and Cao's army did not take any advantage, on the other hand, Yuan Shao's side, its troops and grain and grass were abundant, if the stalemate continued, Cao Cao's army would inevitably be forced to retreat because of food shortage. Cao Cao lamented all night in his tent and almost lost the courage to fight.
At this critical juncture, a turning point appeared: Yuan Shao's grain convoy was rushing to the front line, and Cao Cao sent his subordinate Xu Huang to burn all the grain and grass wagons.
Then, Yuan Shao's general Chun Yuqiong led 10,000 soldiers and horses to escort grain and grass and stationed them in Wuchao to rest, while Xu Yu in Yuan Shao's army turned to Cao Cao and offered him a plan - to attack Wuchao and burn the grain and grass of Yuan Shao's army. This operation was also one of the main reasons for Yuan Shao's failure.
Yuan Shao never thought that Xu You would betray himself and offer such a poisonous plan for Cao Cao, if Yuan Shao had been able to remember Xu You's old feelings and forgive Xu You's family members who committed crimes, maybe he would not have done this wrong.
Cao Cao sent 5,000 troops and horses to easily occupy Wuchao, and also captured Chun Yuqiong, tattooing and humiliating him in the face, which is actually the plot in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". In history, Chun Yuqiong was not an idle person, and Cao Jun fought hard, which won the key battle.
Just when Yuan Shao was anxious to deal with it, his two strategists gave different opinions - one of them thought that Yuan Shao should raise troops to attack Cao Cao's camp at this time, since Cao Cao personally led the army to attack Wuchao, his camp must be easily broken, and he could first capture Cao Cao's camp and then aid Wuchao.
However, another strategist believed that if he did not aid Wuchao and handed over the land of grain to others, Yuan Shao's army would inevitably be defeated without a fight, and if it was unfavorable to attack Cao's camp, Cao Cao would form a two-sided attack as soon as he arrived, and the situation would be even more severe.
Just when he was in a dilemma, Yuan Shao wanted to "rain and dew evenly", and sent military horses to both sides, so that they were all "given for nothing", and even his generals Gao Ran and Zhang He also defected to Cao Cao.
Knowing that the general trend had gone, Yuan Shao and his son only led more than 800 people to abandon the city and flee, and the results of the battle of Guandu had already surfaced......
Throughout the battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao failed, there are many reasons behind it, Yuan Shao's improper use of troops, so that tens of thousands of soldiers died under the sword and gun, and Yuan Shao is unpopular, on the other hand, Cao Cao, the majority of military generals and strategists, in fact, has the benefit of "people".
In the end, Yuan Shao's generals were dissatisfied with his master, and Xu Yu defected to Cao Cao and offered advice for him, which was a turning point in the battle of Guandu. Even if Yuan Shao has 100,000 soldiers, what can he do to Cao Cao? Yuan Shao is loyal and treacherous, but he is arrogant, lacks assertiveness, and is not a hero.
In ancient times, warfare was about "the right time, the right place, and the right people", and if all of these things did not have an advantage, how easy would it be to rely on a large number of well-equipped military horses to win?
The general trend of the world is nothing more than this, and those who achieve great things need to adapt to the time, take advantage of the geographical advantages, and appease people's hearts in order to be invincible.