First, Ma Chao and others took advantage of Cao Cao's emptiness and began to attack Guanzhong:
The Battle of Weishui, also known as the Battle of Weinan, was introduced into the curriculum by the United States Military Academy at West Point, which shows how classic the Battle of Weishui is. At the beginning of the Battle of Weishui, Ma Chao and Han Sui saw that Cao Cao's troops in Guanzhong were empty, so they took the opportunity to launch a military attack. In fact, at that time, Cao Cao's military strength was really insufficient, because Cao Cao controlled the huge Central Plains region and his troops were relatively scattered. When Cao Cao came to Guanzhong, he faced hundreds of armies of Ma Chao and Han Sui, while Cao Cao's army was less than 20,000. At this time, Ma Chao's attack was very sharp. Cao Cao took a defensive posture, assessed the situation and killed the morale of Ma Chao's army, while observing the weaknesses of Ma Chao and Han Sui's army. In this respect, Cao Cao took the initiative. Although he was at a disadvantage militarily, at this time, Cao Cao had gained a firm foothold and his morale was further stabilized, which laid the foundation for the next stalemate stage.
Second, Cao Cao used the right time and place to realize his strategic advantage:
Cao Cao knows how to make use of weather, geography and people. He saw that the weather in the northwest was very cold at that time, so he used sand on the river and quickly built an effective defense circle. He used favorable geographical conditions to defend Ma Chao's attack route, which made Liang Jun enter the stalemate stage. It can be said that Cao Cao seized the opportunity in the right time and place, but Ma Chao gradually lost his military advantage.
Thirdly, Cao Cao used the internal contradictions of Ma Chao to finally win the battle of Weishui:
At this time, Cao Cao began to take advantage of others and occupy the conditions. He pretended to talk to Han Sui before the battle, which aroused Ma Chao's suspicion, gradually disintegrated the allied forces of Ma Chao and Han Sui, and then began to storm the opponents, thus winning the victory with fewer victories.