In the vast history of our country, the Three Kingdoms is a special historical period. In this turbulent era, many heroes have emerged, and the stories of these heroes have been spread around the world because of the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Among the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao has always been a special existence. His identity is changeable, his personality is complex, and he is out of the question in troubled times. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when Cao Cao was alive, the imperial power fell, and the heroes rose up and competed for the Central Plains, and the world was in chaos. He seized the opportunity to grow from a small captain in the Han Dynasty to a great warlord. During this period, Cao Cao experienced several battles, the most famous of which was the battle of Guandu. In this battle, Cao Cao defeated the strong with the weak and brought his talent to the extreme. So why can Cao Cao defeat the powerful Yuan Shao and win the battle of Guandu?

Since the 18th Route Warlord destroyed the traitor Dong Zhuo and restored the Han Dynasty, the princes were suspicious of each other and the alliance broke down. Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty was young, and Cao Cao was narrow-minded and made friends with princes, which led the princes to regard Cao Cao as their greatest enemy. In 199, Yuan Shao prepared100000 soldiers to attack Xuchang, the capital of Cao Cao. When Cao Cao heard the news, he made a decisive decision and prepared himself to resist Yuan Shao's attack with his 20,000-strong army. In the history of China, wars with wide disparities like this are rare. Most ministers around Cao Cao think Yuan Shao is powerful and invincible. So how did Cao Cao win the war when the weather, geography and people were not dominant?

The first thing to compare is the core leaders of both sides, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, who are resourceful, calm and decisive. On the contrary, Yuan Shao is indecisive and suspicious. On the battlefield, time is fleeting and there is no room for hesitation. However, in this respect, Yuan Shao is obviously a failure. After hearing the news of Yuan Shao's invasion, Cao Cao threw out an army early to focus on defense. Yuan Shao can only lead the troops to confront Cao Cao in Guandu. At this time, Yuan Shao can only lead troops. The following Pi base is eyeing Cao Cao, who is facing a crisis between Scylla and Charybdis. Cao Cao listened to the advice of counselors Guo Jia and Xu You, and prepared a good soldier to take the lead in cleaning up Liu Bei. As a result, Liu Bei's ally Yuan Shao did not respond, neither sent troops to support nor harassed Cao's rear. As a result, Liu Bei was defeated and fled in a hurry. Cao Cao led his troops back to Guandu safely, fully preparing for a decisive battle with Yuan Shao. After this incident, we can see that Yuan Shao is hesitant to do things.

Compared with Cao Cao, Yuan Shao's second shortcoming is that he doesn't listen to other people's opinions and likes to make his own decisions. On the contrary, Cao Cao knows how to make good use of people and listen to others' opinions, and finally he can turn defeat into victory. In the early stage of the battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao sent general Yan Liang to attack Baima, and Cao Cao personally led the troops to deal with Yuan Jun's attack. Xu You, the counselor, made a diversion to Cao Cao and crossed the river to attack Yuan Shao's rear, but he was actually a reinforcement to attack Yan Liang. Yuan Shao was really taken in. In the middle of the battle of Guandu, Cao Cao's army was tired and difficult to supply, so Cao Cao had the idea of withdrawing troops. At this time, the counselor Xu You analyzed the situation for Cao Cao and thought that Yuan Shao was eager for quick success and instant benefit. As long as Cao Cao persists, there will be surprises one day. Cao Cao listened to the advice again, strengthened his defense and waited for the opportunity with peace of mind. Finally, at the suggestion of Wang, he raided the old nest of Wu, laying the foundation for the victory of the battle of Guandu.

On the other hand, our Yuan Shao has been fooling around during the war. Liu Bei was attacked, and the counselor suggested rescue. Yuan Shao refused on the grounds that his son was seriously ill. Later, Xu You, a counselor, suggested that Yuan Shao send raiders to guard Xuchang, the empty capital of Cao Cao, to welcome Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty in order to capture Cao Cao. As a result, Yuan Shao disagreed and even boasted that Cao Cao should be arrested first. Seeing this situation, he went to Cao Cao, which was a coup to suddenly attack Wu's lair. Wu Chao is the most important rear base in Yuan Jun, which can be said to be the heart of Yuan Jun, so Cao Cao attached great importance to it. Then Cao Ren and his advisers were ordered to guard the village and personally led troops to surround Wu Chao. Cao Cao sent his troops quickly, and Wu Chao's defenders were in chaos, so he refused to keep them.

In this critical situation, Zhang He, a general under Yuan Shao, suggested that Yuan Shao send troops to support the Wu Dynasty. As a result, Yuan Shao insisted on capturing Cao Jun's camp first, and only sent a small number of people to the DPRK. In the end, the Wu Dynasty was captured by Cao Cao, and Zhang He and others who went to support also surrendered to Cao Cao. After the war, Yuan Shao's army lost food and grass, and the army was in chaos. Yuan Shao was helpless and withdrew to the north. In the battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao made frequent moves, which led to the loss of Yuan Jun's advantages. In the use of talents, Yuan Shao has no clue. He was headstrong, self-righteous, and didn't listen to advice at all, which led to the advantage quietly shifting to Cao Cao's side in the late war. Therefore, Cao Cao's victory in the battle of Guandu is inseparable from his great talent.

Of course, it is impossible to win the war by Cao Cao alone. Cao Cao has a group of talents around him, which is an important reason for his victory. At the beginning of the White Horse besieged city, Guan Yu single-handedly entered the enemy lines, beheaded Yuan Jun general Yan Liang, and killed general Wen Chou in the ambush. Yuan Shao's two-yuan general was easily beheaded by Guan Yu alone, which directly led to the chaos of Yuan Shao's soldiers' morale and panic. It was also the battle of the White Horse that killed Yuan Shao. In the middle of the battle of Guandu, another counselor, Xu You, gave Cao Cao advice, and Cao Cao continued to insist, waiting for a chance to fight back.

Although Cao Cao is far weaker than Yuan Shao, he has many advisers and generals, and Cao Cao knows how to make good use of people. These people played a great role in the battle of Guandu. Although Yuan Shao has an army of 100,000, there are not many valiant soldiers. Slightly prominent Xu You and Zhang He also surrendered to Cao Cao. It can be said that Yuan Shao's army was in a state of disintegration in the later period of the war, and such an army naturally could not win the battle. It can be said that from the beginning of the war, there was a problem with Yuan Shao's talent reserve, and the defeat was set.

After the battle of Guandu, Cao Cao's strength was greatly shaken and his prestige increased day by day. However, after Yuan Shao fled to the north, he became seriously ill and died two years later. After Yuan Shao's death, his two sons competed for territory with each other, and Cao Cao took the opportunity to divide and rule, eventually destroying Yuan Jun's power and dominating the north. It can be said that the battle of Guandu was also a turning point in Cao Cao's career, which cleared the biggest enemy for him to unify the world and became a famous battle in history.