Fall in love with the technology tree [Three Kingdoms]

"The Battle of Guandu was a textbook defensive warfare, mobile warfare, and resource warfare. Cao Cao demonstrated his excellent strategic vision and military sense in this battle, and pushed the classical art of warfare to a new level."

—— "History of Classical Chinese War" Chinese Language Library Revised Edition

"...Although the abandonment of Hedong caused Zhonghua Gong a huge loss, even she herself had to admit in the replay: When Yuan Shao put all his troops to the north of Xu County, we locked in a [-]% victory."

——Xi Zhicai's "To Cao Zixiu (Part 56)" New Century General Translation [Note 1]

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"...Cao Cao's victory in the Battle of Guandu did not depend on Yuan Shao's stupidity (the lord who absented himself from work because his son was sick is also a long time to see ==). But from the layout of this war at the beginning, it can be seen The gap between the strategic vision of the two sides.

"Cao and Yuan have confronted each other for many years. Yuan Shao is in the north of the Yellow River, and Cao Cao is in the south of the Yellow River. The border line stretches for thousands of miles from the middle reaches of the Yellow River to the mouth of the Yellow River. Where should the war start? Yuan Shao actually didn't have a clear idea. Even Yuan Shao None of the advisors could give a unified opinion.

"As early as during the Xuzhou War, Yuan Shao sent his eldest son Yuan Tan to attack Pingyuan County, trying to tear a hole in Qingzhou on the lower reaches of the Yellow River. Unfortunately, he met Cao Sheng who was in an explosive state, and the second generation of Yuan was beaten and went home to find his father. When the decisive battle between Cao and Yuan, Qingzhou ptsd in Yuan Shao's camp hadn't healed yet, seeing that Cao Cao had sent Xiahou Dun to Pingyuan County, he didn't dare to test further.

"Subsequently, Tian Feng proposed to cross the river from Cangtingjin, attack Juancheng by surprise, and cut off Cao Cao's logistics. This tactic, which can be called the most promising victory, did not get Yuan Shao's attention. The reason may be due to factional struggles within Yuan's army In the middle, Tian Feng was isolated and helpless. In the end, Boss Yuan hesitantly sent thousands of people to Cangtingjin to investigate the situation. Naturally, such a few people were smashed by the tiger and leopard cavalry led by Boss Cao himself. At the same time, Cao Jun chiseled The Yellow River ice in the Juancheng section was broken, forcing Tian Feng's plan to cross the river from Cangting to run aground.

"Frustrated frequently, Yuan Shao waved his hand, and everyone aimed at Xu County and forcibly crossed the river. So far, we cannot say that Yuan Shao's army has no tactics and fights with their feet, but the hesitation of the entire layout, the vagueness of the goal, and the internal division Visible to the naked eye.

"On the other hand, Cao Cao's side is completely different.

"Before the start of the war, Cao Cao said to his advisers: 'Hundreds of thousands of troops gather in a tiny place, and the food and grass come first. In the situation of weak troops, Xiahoudun, Xiahouyuan, Cao Hong, Xu Huang and others were assigned to garrison the major ferries in order to protect the "Qingyan Liang Road" that the Cao family spent a lot of effort to build. Even at critical moments, they abandoned the rich Hedong County, chose to rescue Cangtingjin.

"When Yuan Shao was still trying this and that, Cao Cao had already accurately realized the nature of this battle - a resource war, and chose the most favorable place for his own decisive battle - Guandu.

"Guandu is less than 100 kilometers away from Xu County, Cao Jun's largest and most fortified granary. It can be said that it is backed by a grain mountain. However, Yuan Shao wanted to fight in Guandu, but he did not have a solid grain storage place, which gave him a surprise attack on the granary. Opportunity is provided.

"At the beginning of 195 AD, Yuan Shao's general Yan Liang took the lead in crossing the river at Baimajin, threatening Xu County, and the difference in strength between the two sides reached 1 to 3. On the surface, Cao Cao lost Hedong and Hanoi, and was about to lose Xu County. He has fallen into absolute weakness. But in fact Now, the real battle has just begun..."

——Excerpted from the "Military Enthusiast" forum boutique post

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"Splash." The sound of water echoed in the blue-gray dawn, carrying the unique chill of winter.Cao Cao rubbed his face with ice water, then stood up from the stream with his blood-stained helmet in hand, and trudged back to the camp.

Dian Wei, with a ferocious face, followed Cao Cao step by step.

The tiger and leopard riding camp standing on the rocky beach is not so much a camp as a dilapidated battlefield.The bonfire has been burned out, and the last few flames are making a dying struggle in the cold wind.

The tired soldiers leaned together in their armor, grunting one after another, but they still held their spears tightly in their hands.The war horses also dozed off with their heads down, and only raised their eyelids when they heard Cao Cao's footsteps.

Walking down the low slope made of gravel, the woods are full of corpses, but the place is slowly becoming alive.Under the supervision of tiger and leopard knight soldiers, the dejected captives dragged the corpse into a big pit and buried it.

The battle was not fierce. The Jingzhou army who secretly attacked Wancheng lost their fighting spirit after seeing Cao Cao's flag. As you can imagine, the entire 2000-man army was swallowed up by tiger and leopard cavalry.

Even after burying the corpse overnight, the captured Jingzhou people still couldn't figure out why Cao Cao, who was supposed to be fighting with Yuan Shao, discovered their sneak attack so quickly.

What's even more frightening is that he came in person! ! !

The captive's commander was Deng Ji, who was stripped of his armor and weapons, and knelt in the cold wind wearing only his single clothes, glaring at Cao Cao as if he had seen a ghost. "Mr. Cao ran to Wancheng to ambush us? Are you afraid that Yuan Shao will take the opportunity to capture Xu County?"

Cao Cao folded his arms, looked at him lazily, and said, "Don't worry, Yuan Benchu ​​reacted very slowly. By the time he makes a decision, I'll be back in Xu County—you followed Liu Biao's order to attack me? Jingzhou Do the family agree?"

When Deng Ji heard this, he felt a little uncomfortable.

Cao Cao keenly caught it, laughed, and said to the general: "Liu Jingsheng still has a bit of heroism, but the Jingzhou gentry just want to guard their own territory and don't want to cause trouble, so they force him to hold him back. If It is really troublesome for Jingzhou to raise troops to attack."

Although the tiger and leopard knights galloped on their horses for half a month and never stopped from Cangtingjin to Wancheng, they still showed smiles at this time: "Liu Biao, keep your ears."

Deng Ji became more and more uncomfortable.Before he could figure out how to defend the lord, Cao Cao drew out his sword and brushed it twice, and the hemp rope on his body shattered.

While Deng Ji was stunned, Cao Cao had already got on his horse. "Go back and tell Liu Biao that he had enmity with Yizhou and Jiaozhou in the past, and now he should be careful about the fire in the backyard. The mantis catches the cicada, the oriole is behind, don't stare at Lao Tzu's Wancheng all day, the bottom of his pants will fall off .”

After leaving this sentence, Cao Cao patted his ass and rushed back to the camp.In less than a quarter of an hour, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, who had been sleeping with their heads covered before, finished their army.With the sound of horseshoes, this lightning-fast team disappeared into the woods in an instant, leaving only the almost stripped prisoners shivering in the cold wind, not recovering from the sudden freedom.

It took a long time for Deng Ji to realize: Oh my god, these hundreds of people have no clothes, no food, no weapons in the wilderness, how can they go back to Jingzhou?I'm afraid that if I haven't moved yet, I will be half frozen to death.

Not to mention Liu Biao's expression when he saw the snotty soldiers ten days later, Cao Cao had already rushed back to the Yellow River.

In two months, starting from Xu County to Cangting, then from Cangting to Wancheng, and then back to Xu County, Cao Cao ran a big triangle on the land of Yanzhou, completely completing the first stage of the battle against Yuan Shao and Liu Biao. Two-line defense.

Never before in this era has there been such insane athletic warfare.So far, nearly [-]% of the horses who followed them to leave Xu County two months ago ran away and died, and more than half of the soldiers fell to rest in various post stations due to fatigue.

But Cao Cao himself didn't seem to know how tired he was. As soon as he returned to the base camp in Xu County, he summoned his advisers and generals and asked, "I'm going to fight Bai Majin back tonight. Will Yan Liang be prepared?"

When the people below heard it, well, it's time for a war.

Xun Yu stood up and acted like a bird: "My lord... can your body hold it?" After all, a monster like Dian Wei's footsteps are wobbly, hey!

Cao Cao's tone choked, and he tentatively "give in": "Then I have a tonic soup? Just the goji berry, tuckahoe, and angelica that Ah Sheng often drinks?"

Guo Jia, Jia Xu, Xun Yu, Xun You, Cheng Yu, Play Zhicai:  …

I finally know who Cao Zhonghua's desperate energy is like.Your old Cao family has two talented workaholics!

Xun Youshi stood up calmly and cupped his hands: "If my lord can still gallop, it is better to use the strategy of attacking east and west to disperse the white horse's forces."

So Cao Cao drank two bowls of medicine and fell asleep, and led his soldiers to Yanjin the next day with great fanfare.Yanjin is upstream of Baimajin. Once Cao Cao crosses the river, it is equivalent to going around to the back of Yuan Shao's base camp.

Yan Liang, who had already crossed the river, heard the news earlier than Yuan Shao. He did not dare to be careless and allocated half of his troops to Yanjin to stop Cao Cao.However, Cao Cao decisively dropped the bulky infantry soldiers, rode lightly, and turned his head to attack the empty Baimajin.

This tactic was repeatedly deduced by Cao Ying's counselors, and the result is self-evident: Bai Majin returned to Cao Cao's hands.If there is anything worth mentioning, it is probably that Zhang Liao, who had recently defected to Cao Cao, led the vanguard to kill Yan Liang, proving his strength in the first battle.

Cao Cao, who took back the Baimajin, vaguely felt that something was wrong with Yuan Shaojun.When Yan Liang died, he didn't show much brains, and he was too sorry for his reputation as the "Four Generals of Hejian".

Cao Cao squinted at the dark river next to Baimajin, and suddenly pulled down the "Cao" flag on the fort, and ordered the cavalry: "Retreat! Go back south!"

It turned out that it was Bai Majin who took the initiative to fight back and gave up!

Although the soldiers were puzzled, they obeyed Cao Cao's order and returned to the forest south of Baima with all the grain stored in Baimajin.

"My lord, are you worried about Yuan Jun's conspiracy?" Zhang Liao, who had just made a great contribution, was much more courageous, and took the initiative to ask Cao Cao to solve his doubts.

Cao Cao smiled: "What kind of conspiracy is going to take Yan Liang's life? Yuan Shao can't bear it. It's just... Let's see again, if Yuan Jun has a conspiracy, it's okay, at worst we go back to Xu County; if there is no conspiracy, then we can go back to Xu County. Take another bite of fat from Yuan Shao."

Cao Cao waited in the forest for more than ten days before Yuan Jun arrived slowly.It turned out that Wen Chou led the team to reoccupy the White Horse, and Wen Chou also sent troops to sweep south like a blunt boy.

This... is too straightforward, right?

Although Cao Cao was puzzled, his military intuition made him return the carbine according to the original plan.As a result, the famous Wen Chou also died.

Cao Cao: ...It's fake.Yuan Shao's mind is showing off.Although I am good at fighting, Yuan Jun is too stupid!

Yuan Shao's brain is not showy, it is corrupted by love.When Yan Liang and Wen Chou gave Cao Cao the heads, Yuan Shao was not on the front line. He went back to Yecheng to see his wife and children.

It's not the eldest wife, but the younger wife and the bastard.The little boy Yuan Shang, who was deeply loved by Yuan Shao, caught the winter and spring flu and had a persistent high fever.Yuan Shao's father's love flooded into a torrent, and he said bluntly: "If something happens to my son, I will conquer the world, and who will I hand it over to?"

The eldest son Yuan Tan was so angry that he scolded his father.

The counselor was so angry that he scolded his mother.

But no one could stop Yuan Shao from committing suicide.

Different from Yuan Shao's slow pace, the Cao brothers are good at seizing opportunities.In the spring of 195 A.D., two goshawks carrying the report took off from Jizhou, one to the north and the other to the south, bringing the news to the Cao family twins that "Yuan Shaoyi took care of the young son's illness without hesitation".

After receiving the news, Cao Cao immediately decided to attack Yuan Jun's granary.

Cao Sheng, who received the news, also immediately decided to send troops.

Note 1: Since the death of the Han Emperor, Cao Cao successively asked his cronies to write letters to his eldest son Cao Ang, teaching him about recent major military and political events. The economic, military, political, cultural, etc. during the Hanzhong War period, the authors include nearly 60 civil and military ministers.After Cao Ang ascended the throne, he compiled these letters into a book, collectively called "To Cao Zi Xiu Shu".

Note 2: All quotations at the beginning of this chapter are fabricated, and the description of the Battle of Guandu differs in detail from the history.