Battle of Guandu

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Battle of Guandu
Part of the wars of the Three Kingdoms
Territories of Yuan Shao (red) and Cao Cao (blue) at the time of the battle
Date Spring, 200 CE Location Guandu, Henan, China Result Decisive Cao Cao victory
Belligerents
Cao Cao	Yuan Shao
Commanders
Cao Cao	Yuan Shao
Strength
~40,000	150,000+
Casualties and losses
?	70,000+ died 79,000+ surrendered or deserted Huge amount of supplies and grains lost

The Battle of Guandu (官渡之戰) was a battle during the prelude to the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history that took place at the Yellow River in the spring of 200.

It was a crucial victory for the warlord Cao Cao (155 CE - 220 CE) who led a campaign against his rival warlord Yuan Shao (154 CE - 202 CE). The battle was a turning point in the war between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. The battle led to the reunification of northern China under Cao Cao's rule.

[edit] Background

From 196 onwards, it became increasingly obvious that an armed confrontation between the warlords Cao Cao and Yuan Shao was inevitable. Yuan Shao was in control of the lands north of the Yellow River, namely the Hebei region, and had large and powerful armies under his command. Cao Cao controlled most of the lands south of the Yellow River and had the Emperor Xian with him in the new capital city of Xuchang. Cao Cao's forces, however, were not as strong as Yuan Shao's. The warlords saw each other as the barrier to their individual ambition to conquer and rule China. Thus, it seemed that a trial of strength between the two warlords was inevitable.

Before the battle, Yuan Shao's advisors Ju Shou and Tian Feng had foreseen that Cao Cao would become a threat to their lord in his ambition to dominate China. They advised Yuan Shao to start a campaign against Cao Cao when the latter was still building up his forces, but Yuan Shao ignored their advice. Tension between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had existed since the Emperor Xian returned from exile and was installed back on the throne by Cao Cao in Xuchang.

[edit] The battle

[edit] Prelude

Guandu's geographical position made it a militarily strategic position. It was near Yan Ford on the Yellow River and lay on the road leading to the capital city Xuchang. Cao Cao recognised its strategic importance and in the autumn of 199, he stationed troops there and prepared fortifications. The next year, Liu Bei defected from Cao Cao to Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao seized the opportunity to start a campaign against the south.

In the first month of 200, Yuan Shao's vanguard army attacked Cao Cao's garrison at Liyang, north of the Yellow River. Yu Jin, Cao Cao's commander at Liyang, reported the presence of incoming Yuan Shao forces to his lord in Xuchang. Upon receiving news of Yuan Shao's approach, Cao Cao immediately gathered an army of 20,000 and stationed them at Guandu in preparation for battle.

Shortly after, Yuan Shao's main army arrived, boasting of numbers up to 110,000, including 10,000 calvary. Yuan Shao's advisor Ju Shou noticed that Cao Cao's army was short of supplies and he proposed careful planning in sending troops to cut Cao Cao's supply lines to ensure total victory. Yuan Shao was confident of his army's superiority in numbers and he ignored Ju Shou's advice as Ju's suggestion was in direct opposition to his desire for swift victory. When Ju Shou insisted on his suggestion, Yuan Shao had him put in prison. Yuan Shao then pressed on the attack.

[edit] The battle at Baima

Yuan Shao's general Yan Liang crossed the Yellow River and attacked Cao Cao's fort at Baima, besieging it. Heeding his advisor Xun Yu's advice, Cao Cao led a battalion across Yan Ford on the river as a feint to trick Yuan Shao into believing that Cao Cao would attack his camp on the other side of the river. Yuan Shao withdrew his troops from Baima to counter Cao Cao's attack. Cao Cao's forces retreated and struck back eastward to lift the siege on Baima. In the ensuing battle, Yan Liang was killed and Yuan Shao's troops were routed.

Cao Cao then decided to abandon the fort and evacuated its occupants southward. Taking advantage of the situation, Yuan Shao's forces of 6,000 light calvary led by Wen Chou and Liu Bei set off in pursuit. However, Cao Cao anticipated the attack and prepared a distractive tactic. He ordered his troops to discard their steeds, weapons and other valuables along the way. Yuan Shao's forces were tempted by greed and broke their ranks to grab the valuables lying ahead. Just as they were grabbing valuables, Cao Cao's 600 elite calvary, which had been lying in ambush, attacked. In the chaos, Yuan Shao's commander Wen Chou was killed and Liu Bei fled. The battle at Baima inflicted a crushing blow to the morale of Yuan Shao's army as Yuan Shao had already lost two elite generals at the start of the campaign.

[edit] Stalemate

Yuan Shao reorganized his forces and sent Liu Bei with an army to attack Runan, hoping to expose Cao Cao's flank. Cao Cao recognised Yuan Shao's motive and was aware of fighting under disadvantageous conditions, thus he mobilised his main forces to Guandu. At the same time, he despatched Cao Ren and Yu Jin with a small army to harass the enemy's rear flank. Cao Cao also ordered his officials in charge of his lands in his absence to govern with lenience, so as to minimise chances of chaos within the civilian community which could affect his army's morale.

In the eighth month, Yuan Shao's army pushed to Yangwu, directly north of Guandu, and began constructing earthen fortifications. Cao Cao's army also began reinforcing the defences of Guandu. Both sides harassed each other with ballistas and catapults, hoping to crush each other's morale, but failed to achieve any effective results. Subsequently, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao became locked in a stalemate. To break the stalemate, Yuan Shao's men suggested that he send an battalion of troops to attack Cao Cao's base in Xuchang. However, Yuan Shao did not heed the suggestion as he preferred to wait for Cao Cao's army to run out of supplies before launching a full-scale attack on Guandu.

[edit] The inferno at Wuchao

Before long, Cao Cao's army began to run short of supplies and Cao Cao was in a dilemma on whether to retreat. Cao Cao employed shock tactics by sending out small calvary units to attack Yuan Shao's supply lines and burn his grain carts. Yuan Shao was forced to call for relief supplies. In the tenth month, Yuan Shao's general Chunyu Qiong returned with an army of 10,000 from Hebei escorting large reserves of food supplies. Yuan Shao ordered Chunyu to escort the supplies to Wuchao, a place 20km away from the main camp and placed him in charge of guarding the supplies there. Yuan Shao's advisor Ju Shou argued that Wuchao, being their important supply depot, was too lightly guarded and insisted that Yuan Shao should send more troops to guard Wuchao. Yuan Shao did not heed Ju Shou's advice again.

Shortly after, Yuan Shao's advisor Xu You defected over to Cao Cao and alerted Cao Cao to Yuan Shao's weakness at Wuchao. At night, Cao Cao led 5,000 elite infantry to attack Wuchao after leaving Cao Hong in charge of his main camp at Guandu. Cao Cao's army disguised itself as a reinforcement unit from Yuan Shao and attacked Wuchao. Almost all of Yuan Shao's food supplies were destroyed in the fire at Wuchao. Yuan Shao's general Zhang He urged him to send reinforcements to Wuchao but Yuan ignored him. Instead, Yuan Shao sent a small calvary unit to reinforce Wuchao and sent Zhang He and Gao Lan to lead his main army to attack Cao Cao's main camp at Guandu.

By dawn, Wuchao had turned into an inferno and the morale of Yuan Shao's army plummeted sharply due to the loss of food supplies. Meanwhile at Guandu, Yuan Shao's army led by Zhang He and Gao Lan failed to break through the enemy lines. Zhang He and Gao Lan surrendered to Cao Cao and their battalions destroyed their weapons. The morale of Yuan Shao;s army was drastically weakened and Cao Cao's forces seized the opportunity to launch the full attack on Yuan's army. Yuan Shao's 70,000 strong army was destroyed and much of his supplies were captured by Cao Cao. Yuan Shao fled and crossed the Yellow River with only about 800 calvary which was what was left of his army.

[edit] Aftermath

Cao Cao's victory at the battle of Guandu was a decisive one and the turn of the tide between the struggle of power between him and Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao died the following year and he named his younger son Yuan Shang his successor. His eldest son Yuan Tan was furious with the succession and fought with his younger brother. This resulted in internal conflict within Yuan Shao's forces. Yuan Shao's pool of talented advisors and generals were also divided into two factions by the conflict, namely the one which supported Yuan Shang and the other which supported Yuan Tan. Cao Cao seized the opportunity to launch an attack on Hebei and succeeded in defeating Yuan Shao's forces. Yuan Tan surrendered to Cao Cao. Later, Yuan Shang's forces suffered consecutive defeats and fled north. Cao Cao's forces pursued them and eventually conquered most of northern China and defeating the Wuhuan tribe. By then, most of northern China was unified under Cao Cao's rule.

The battle became testimonial to the fact that superior numbers do not always emerge victorious in battles. Ironically, Cao Cao faced this harsh fact himself eight years later at the Battle of Red Cliffs.

[edit] List of participants

[edit] Cao Cao forces

• Cao Cao
• Cao Hong
• Cao Ren
• Cao Zhang
• Cheng Yu
• Guan Yu
• Guo Jia
• Jia Xu
• Li Dian
• Liu Yan
• Liu Ye
• Shi Huan
• Xiahou Dun
• Xiahou Yuan
• Xu Chu
• Xu Huang
• Xun You
• Yu Jin
• Yue Jin
• Zhang Liao

[edit] Yuan Shao forces

• Chunyu Qiong
• Feng Ji
• Gao Lan
• Guo Tu
• Han Juzi
• Han Meng
• Jiang Qi
• Ju Shou
• Liu Bei
• Lü Weihuang
• Sui Yuanjin
• Wen Chou
• Xu You
• Yan Liang
• Yuan Shao
• Zhang He
• Zhao Rui

[edit] Factors affecting the outcome of the battle

This article may contain original research or unverified claims. Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (March 2009)

Cao Cao understood the value of tactical withdrawals better than Yuan Shao, as can be seen from his withdrawal at Baima. He understood and anticipated Yuan Shao's moves and took calculated risks to counter them. Most importantly, Cao Cao was able to dislocate and separate Yuan Shao's large army into smaller forces, thus rendering Yuan Shao's advantage in superior numbers useless.

In contrast, Yuan Shao was not as good as Cao Cao in deploying troops. More significantly, he refused to heed reasonable advice from his advisors. For example, if Yuan Shao listened to Ju Shou and placed more emphasis on the defence of Wuchao, Cao Cao would not have been able to destroy Wuchao and the food supplies there. Next, Yuan Shao's advisors often disagreed among themselves and pursued their individual personal interests. Although Yuan Shao's forces boasted of numerous talented generals and advisors, they were not very united, which attributed to the defeat. Besides, Yuan Shao was indecisive and stubborn, often refusing to listen to honest advice.

[edit] In Popular culture

• The battle is one of the highlights of Cao Cao's story in the PS2 game series Dynasty Warriors.

[edit] References

• Records of the Three Kingdoms Book of Wei
• Zizhi Tongjian chapter 63

Coordinates: 34°54′26″N 114°37′13″E / 34.90722°N 114.62028°E / 34.90722; 114.62028