Before the Battle of Wuchao, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao were ostensibly in a stalemate, but in fact Cao Cao had run out of grain, and if he could not defeat Yuan Shao quickly, Cao Cao could only make the decision to retreat. At that time, Cao Cao would have no choice but to abandon the northern region of Yanzhou and retreat his forces to the border between Yanzhou and Yuzhou, allowing Yuan Shao's army to cross the Yellow River. Once Yuan Shao gained a foothold in Yanzhou, he could dispatch a large army to threaten Xuchang at any time, and Cao Cao was in danger.
Cao Cao
Therefore, the Battle of Wuchao was the most important battle in the Battle of Guandu, and it was Cao Cao who won the Battle of Wuchao in order to defeat Yuan Shao at Guandu. When later generations commented on the Battle of Wuchao, they were more demeaning to Yuan Shao's side, believing that the reasons for Yuan Shao's defeat were:
1. Yuan Shao did not pay enough attention to Wuchao and refused to be discouraged by his suggestion to increase troops to patrol Wuchao; 2. Chun Yu Qiong was a mediocre talent, and appointing Chun Yu Qiong to guard Wuchao was a trusted non-person; 3. Making a wrong decision, instead of fully supporting Wuchao, he attacked Cao Cao's base camp in an attempt to encircle Wei and save Zhao.
These three reasons let posterity give an evaluation of Yuan Shao:
1. Can't know people to make good use of them; 2. Can't accept advice; 3. Be indecisive in decision-making.
Compared with Cao Cao, Yuan Shao seemed to be useless, and it was no wonder that Yuan Shao would lose to Cao Cao.
In fact, the reason for this conclusion is that we are all hindsight, and if we look at it from the perspective of Yuan Shao or Chun Yu qiong, the choice between Yuan Shao and Chun Yu Qiong when they are about to go to war has a certain reason. The Battle of Wuchao is not as simple as we think, and Yuan Shao is by no means a mediocre, otherwise how could he have grown into a prince?
First, let's see how Yuan Shao arranged the troops of Wuchao before the Battle of Wuchao.
First, Yuan Shao asked Chun Yu to guard wuchao in Qiongzhen.
Chun Yu Qiong was a hacked figure in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so much so that many people thought that Chun Yu Qiong was just a drunken straw bag. In fact, Chun Yuqiong was one of the eight lieutenants of the West Garden formed by Cao Cao and Yuan Shao with Liu Hong, the Emperor of Hanling, which proved that Chun Yuqiong had certain talents. In other words, once upon a time, Chun Yuqiong stood on the same starting line as Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, but later Cao Cao and Yuan Shao relied on their deep family foundations and seized the opportunity to become princes of one side, and Chun Yu Qiong became Yuan Shao's subordinates.
Secondly, there are more than 10,000 troops guarding Wuchao.
After all, Wuchao was located in the rear, and it was also a place to store grain, and it was enough to arrange more than 10,000 troops to defend the town, so Yuan Shao would reject the suggestion of sending Jiang Qi to lead a troop to patrol Wuchao;
Third, Wuchao is only 50 miles away from the main battlefield Guandu, even if there is a problem, at the speed of cavalry, an hour or so can support Wuchao.
Fourth, around Wuchao, Yuan Shao set up a guard post to check.
As long as the sentry can get the news that Wuchao has been attacked and rescue Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao definitely has enough time to rescue Wuchao.
Yuan Shao
"Zizhi Tongjian": In winter, in October, Shao fu dispatched the car to transport the valley, so that it would send More than 10,000 soldiers such as Chun Yuqiong to Su Shao camp forty miles north. Frustrated, he said, "You can send Jiang Qibei as a supporting army to the table, with cao cao's money." "Shao does not follow.
Moreover, Wuchao is important as a grain store, it is a top secret, how does Cao Cao know? Therefore, Xu You's defection to Cao Cao was a key point, and he leaked Yuan Shao's most important military intelligence. When Cao Cao learned that Yuan Shao had tuned grain in Wuchao, he was keenly aware that this was an excellent sneak attack opportunity, and if he won, he would gain the initiative in the war, and there would be no great loss if he lost. For Cao Cao, this risk was definitely worth taking, so Cao Cao personally led 5,000 elite cavalry to sneak into Wuchao.
Yuan Shao and Xu You
Yuan Shao's scouts would soon receive news of Cao Cao's troops, and preliminarily judged the approximate strength of Cao Cao's troops, but the information was still limited. As for whether Cao Cao personally sent troops or who the main general was, how many troops were specific, whether the cavalry or infantry were, and where the target of the troops was, Yuan Shao had no way of knowing, and even Yuan Shao might not even know xu You to vote for Cao Cao. From this, Yuan Shao and his think tanks came to the judgment that Cao Cao might raid Wuchao. It was just that Cao Cao's troops were not large, and there was no news from the sentry, which would make Yuan Shao feel that Wuchao was not in a critical situation.
Yuan Shao did not know Cao Cao's troop deployment, Yuan Shao made a decision: 1. Send a small force to support Wuchao. After all, Wuchao is a heavy grain and grass land and the lifeblood of the whole army, and Yuan Shao must be on the defensive; 2. Attack Cao Cao's base camp with all his might, one can take advantage of the opportunity to take Cao Cao's base camp, and the other can judge Cao Cao's intention to send troops through attack, and even force Cao Cao to return to the army. From the perspective of ancient military, there was nothing wrong with Yuan Shao's response.
The black nest was burned
Cao Cao's cavalry deceived the sentry under the banner of Yuan Shao, which showed that The guard post set up by Yuan Shao did not play its due role. When Cao Cao's army came to Wuchao, they surrounded Wuchao and set fire to it on all sides, at this time, the Wuchao defender Chun Yuqiong learned that Wuchao had been attacked. Chun Yuqiong faced the following situation: 1. He could judge Cao Cao's strength through the battlefield situation, but did not know whether Cao Cao would have follow-up troops; 2. He did not know whether the sentry had received the news that Wuchao had been attacked, and whether he had asked Yuan Shao for support, but Wuchao was on fire, and the sentry could know with the naked eye that Wuchao was burned. In any case, Chun Yuqiong must send another person to break through and rescue Yuan Shao. In terms of time, even if the best plan is made, Yuan Shao sent people to support Wuchao, and Chun Yuqiong also had to hold on for more than an hour.
"Zizhi Tongjian": Cao Daxi, cao hong, Xun You guarded the camp, and rode five thousand people on foot, all of them used the banner of the Yuan army, tied the horse's mouth, and came out of the middle of the night, and the people held their salaries, and those who had asked questions in the past said: "Yuan Gong feared that Cao Cao would use the rear army to send troops to prepare for the benefit." "The hearer believes it, and he is at ease.
Faced with this situation, Chun Yu Qiong has two ways to cope:
1. According to the Nest of The Keeper.
Wuchao was originally a camp, with fortifications and even a certain fireproof ability. Chun Yu Qiong used the fortifications on the one hand, and on the other hand, arranged personnel to put out the fire. The disadvantage of this response is that the passive defense will use the Cao army to calmly set fire, but Chun Yuqiong can only sit back and watch the Wuchao be burned, and the fire will become larger and larger, and the loss will become more and more serious. After Cao Cao finished setting the fire, he sat and watched the Wuchao burn almost to the ground, and then calmly left.
2. Go out of the village to meet the enemy, the historical Chun Yu Qiong did this.
Chun Yuqiong made this decision because: 1) he had more than 10,000 troops on his side, but Cao Cao had few troops; 2) waiting for the opportunity to destroy Cao Jun. Wuchao was burned, as a guard general Chun Yuqiong must be responsible, in Yuan Shao's place is certainly not good, if Chun Yuqiong really destroyed this Cao army, it is to atone for his sins; 3) drive the Cao army away and defend Wuchao. Even if it was impossible to destroy the Cao army, Chun Yuqiong only needed to repel the Cao army and prevent the Cao army from continuing to set fire, and Wuchao could be saved. As soon as the reinforcements arrived, the Cao army would retreat on its own, and the losses of Wuchao would not be too large.
"Zizhi Tongjian": Both to the end, the siege, the great set of fire, the camp chaos. Huiming, Qiong, and others saw that there were fewer soldiers, went out of the Chen Gate, and attacked them in a hurry, and Qiong withdrew from the camp and attacked them.
Therefore, from the perspective of ancient military, Chun Yuqiong faced the sneak attack of the Cao army, and it was also the best strategy to go out to meet the enemy. It's just that Chun Yu Qiong seems to be superior to Cao Jun in terms of military strength, but in fact he is at a disadvantage:
1. The Cao army came prepared, and the Yuan army hurried to fight.
Cao Cao made a complete plan for his own plan to attack Wuchao, including the selection of elite soldiers, the weapons and materials to be carried, the route of the march, and the arrangement of the formation. Chun Yu Qiong's army was temporarily responded to when Wuchao was attacked, and may not even have the most basic formation, which is like a ragtag crowd.
2. Cao Cao's army was elite cavalry, and Yuan's army was miscellaneous infantry.
Cao Cao made sufficient preparations for the sneak attack on Wuchao, and the 5,000 cavalry he led were also carefully selected and elite. Yuan Shao's elite troops were all at the front with the Cao army, and it was impossible to leave the elite army in the rear to escort grain and grass.
3. Cao Cao's military ability is indeed stronger than Chun Yu Qiong's.
Cao Cao had always been on the battlefield and personally commanded the war, and his military ability and experience were far from being comparable to Chun Yuqiong.
In this case, it is clear at a glance who is superior and who is inferior to the two armies, and it is not simply a matter of comparing the numbers. The Cao army and the Yuan army were short-armed, and the Yuan army was soon defeated, and Chun Yuqiong did not wait for Yuan Shao's reinforcements, and as a result, the soldiers were defeated and captured. Chun Yu Qiong was still heroic, but after being captured, he did not yield and was eventually killed by Cao Cao.
Cao Cao attacked Wuchao at night
Judging from this battle, the reason why Cao Cao was able to win was that after receiving the news that Yuan Shao had stored grain in Wuchao, he made an accurate judgment, formulated a precise battle plan, and was prepared for battle. The reason for Yuan Shao's defeat was the haste to fight without defense, and the reason for the hasty response of Yuan Jun was the underestimation of Xu You's defection and the ineffectiveness of the guard posts he had set up. Yuan Shao and Chun Yuqiong, as military commanders, made relatively appropriate decisions according to the actual situation of the battlefield, but they were not able to catch it, and eventually swallowed the defeat.
Refer to "Zizhi Tongjian" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"