In the war during the Three Kingdoms period, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao launched a fierce duel, which became a good story in the long scroll of history. However, the seemingly simple question of why Yuan Shao could not defeat Cao Cao hides the mystery of the years. It turned out that Yuan Shao's fate was predestined as early as his youth, and this was a road that had already been paved.
In this fascinating topic, we will follow in the footsteps of Yuan Shao as a young man, unravel the mystery of his fate, and explain why he was repeatedly defeated in his duels with Cao Cao. Perhaps, this story can make us think deeply about the coincidences of history, lament the change of fate, and at the same time let us better understand the Three Kingdoms era where there were many heroes. Let's go through the fog of time together and explore the young time when Yuan Shao was doomed to failure.
Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, two of the most legendary figures in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, had an extraordinary relationship. In the winter of 172, 18-year-old Cao Cao left his hometown of Qian County and went to Luoyang Taixue for further study. He is not a child of a family, but a grassroots class in the officialdom through the imperial examination.
Luoyang Taixue gathered a large number of students, tens of thousands of Taixue students from all over the world, crowded in hundreds of small residences. Cao Cao has a bold personality and is not very concerned about his studies, preferring to spend time making friends. It is rumored that he often hangs out with several young men in the song and dance theater on the bank of Bianshui, and spends his days boring.
26-year-old Yuan Shao had just returned to Luoyang after his father's funeral. He was born in a famous family, and his ancestors had two commoners, and his father was also recognized as a famous son of the world.
At the age of 20, he had already paid homage to the county order, and then resigned and went home to keep filial piety. So in the circle of scholars at that time, he was quite prestigious. After returning to Luoyang, Yuan Shao lived in a mansion arranged by his clansmen, strictly following etiquette and maintaining himself differently. Occasionally, a few confidants would be invited to the house to talk about learning and politics.
How the two met is impossible to verify, perhaps Cao Cao inadvertently met Yuan Shao's clansmen when he was messing around, or the two ancestors had a deep friendship. But what is certain is that these two people with different personalities, one is cold and noble, and the other is uninhibited, but they eventually became friends. Whenever Cao Cao was criticized and punished by his colleagues in Taixue, he would go to Yuan Shao to confide; When Yuan Shao discussed political affairs, he always liked to ask Cao Cao's opinion.
In this way, these two inseparable people lived a comfortable life in Luoyang. They talked about a wide range of topics, from scriptures to political affairs, from hunting to socializing, from street fights to mischief. One day in the winter of 172, they were wandering through the market when they overheard the news that a wealthy family was holding their daughter's wedding today. Cao Cao's eyes lit up, and he immediately proposed to Yuan Shao to join in the fun. Yuan Shao, who has always been reserved, also rarely agreed.
That night, the two quietly came to the vicinity of the wedding site. The banquet was in full swing, and Cao Cao looked up at the brightly lit mansion, his eyes full of unavoidable plans. He suggested that the two of them disguise themselves as servants and suddenly break into the banquet and catch a frightened young girl. Although Yuan Shao felt that it was a bit excessive, he still did not stop Cao Cao. In the end, the girl was chased by bodyguards and fled into the darkness with the two. It turned out that she was the bride herself!
What Yuan Shao never expected was that the bride, who had always been honest and dutiful, broke her leg bone in the process of escaping. What frightened Yuan Shao even more was that in the early morning of the next day, the bride's family actually found the clue of ** - Cao Ang, the third son of the Cao family.
Cao Ang is Cao Cao's cousin, and Cao Cao dragged him to join in the fun that day, and he was innocently involved. Although he was apprehensive in his heart, Yuan Shao still invited a famous doctor to be the bride**. Fortunately, the bride's injuries were not serious and she was soon alive. However, this bizarre incident took their toll.
The bride's family wanted to arrest Cao Ang for an explanation, but Cao Cao had already settled the relationship and brought him back to his hometown safely. The bride's family could only swallow this breath. Unbeknownst to him, half a year later, an assassin suddenly broke into Cao Cao's residence in Luoyang and shot him twice in succession. Fortunately, Cao Cao reacted quickly and dodged the attack, only then did he realize the seriousness of the matter.
He had always been outspoken, but this time he was unusually quiet and didn't say a word. But Yuan Shao was furious when he heard this, and he couldn't tolerate his friend being hurt. As long as Cao Cao speaks, he can mobilize the power of his family to avenge his friend. However, Cao Cao did not agree, but just said, "Let the past pass." So Yuan Shao let go of the idea of personal revenge.
Fortunately, before that, Cao Cao passed the imperial examination and was appointed as Langzhong, and then left Luoyang to serve in the Yuzhou Assassin History Department. Yuan Shao's plan of revenge ultimately failed to be implemented, and a fruitless blood feud was put to rest. However, the two have very different personalities since childhood, and the way they deal with this matter highlights the difference in their personalities - Cao Cao is calm and composed, while Yuan Shao has no one in his eyes and is aggressive**.
Later generations sighed, this is like the later life path of the two, Cao Cao was restrained and introverted, and finally established the Wei State; Yuan Shao, on the other hand, was arrogant and accomplished nothing. Whether the original prank was a joke or an unintentional revelation of the different trajectories of their lives, no one knows.
More than ten years later, in the winter of 190, Emperor Ling of Han died, and Luoyang fell into chaos. At this time, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had each led their own troops and horses, and their sphere of influence spanned several states and counties. In this political storm of competition for the world, former friends confronted each other again and launched a fierce contest.
After many years, the two have become unrecognizable: Cao Cao is still in good spirits, but he has added a lot of gray hair to his forehead; Although Yuan Shao's appearance is still the same, he pays more and more attention to dressing up and carefully caring for his image. However, the most obvious change lies in the political attitudes of the two men - Cao Cao's strategy was far-reaching, laying the foundation for the peace of one side; Yuan Shao, on the other hand, was addicted to pleasure and gradually lost interest in political affairs.
The unintentional prank of the year finally broke out at this moment and turned into a fierce conflict of political struggle. In the winter of 200 AD, Yuan Shao led an army of more than 100,000 to attack Wei and quickly occupied Yecheng. At this time, Yuan Shao thought very highly of himself and regarded Cao Cao as an insignificant existence. However, even when retreating to Pusaka, Cao Cao's power did not diminish in the slightest.
The two armies fought a decisive battle at Guandu, and the outcome was undecided. Before this battle, Cao Cao's advisors had said to him: "Jun and Yuan Ben had a first friendship, and they were the first to be gracious, and the faith and righteousness were the first to be lost, which is a bad omen." Cao Cao was very worried, and even more worried about whether his subordinates would have different intentions.
However, the unintentional prank of the two armies has become the fuse of mutual hatred between the two armies. As soon as the battle of Guandu began, Cao's morale was high, as if they wanted to avenge the hatred of Cao Cao's assassination more than ten years ago; And there are also rumors in the Yuan army that Cao Cao once killed Yuan Shao's beloved concubine and so on.
As a result, the two armies fought to the death, and the decisive battle was fought to the end. After more than a month of hard fighting, Cao Cao finally defeated Yuan Shao's army with less and more. After this battle, Yuan Shao was forced to retreat to Youzhou, and soon died of illness in Xiangping. Cao Cao's power grew from strength to strength, extending to most of Hebei and Shanxi.
A prank that was unintentionally inserted into the willows back then actually achieved the very different political fates of the two. Cao and Yuan, one founded the country, and the other buried the world. Who would have thought that their jokes back then would set the scales of history.
We often say that the destiny of heaven is clear, and there is really no accident, this sentence can be said to be completely in line with the lives of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. The fate of their war was actually predestined. That seemingly unintentional prank is like God's judgment on the future of the two.
The situation of the Three Kingdoms in which we are now is also in history has been forged since the moment Cao Yuan met in the winter of 172. Their pranks and blood feuds back then finally achieved the different fates of the two. Cao Cao founded the country, Yuan Shao buried the world, and the balance of history was formed.
Their relationship transcends the boundaries of political enemies and contains complex emotional entanglements. The friendship that once seemed easy and pleasant, like a glimpse of the sky, beautiful and short. Those inadvertently caused pranks, but they are like seeds, quietly planting a thousand-year-old blood feud. As the so-called gentleman's word, a quick horse, a joke in his youth has become a shackle that they can't get rid of in their lives.
Cao Yuan and the two were originally bosom friends and good friends, and they dominated the rivers and lakes together, but because of an unintentional sword light, their friendship collapsed in an instant, and they were finally ruined and became undying enemies. The cycle of heaven, the reincarnation is entangled, and in this treacherous rivers and lakes, karma follows like a shadow.
Decades of grievances and hatreds are like a magnificent picture, showing their various states of life. Those former laughter, swords and swords, and grievances have all been vividly depicted in this picture. Every confrontation, every betrayal, and every reunion makes people sigh that life is impermanent, and things are wrong.
Now, when all the dust settles and looking back, those former grievances and hatreds have turned into nothing. Only the empty green smoke in the full place, as if telling their former glory and loneliness, flowed like a bubble in the middle of the moon, which made people sigh.