Battle of Jieqiao The Battle of Jieqiao , also known as the Battle of Jie Bridge , was fought between the warlords Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan in 191 in the late Eastern Han Dynasty . It was the first significant clash of arms between the rival warlords in the contest for dominion of Ji and Qing provinces in northern China . The site of the battle is generally considered to be a site east of Guangzong County , Julu Commandery ( present - day Wei County , Xingtai , Hebei ) . Background . Late in the winter of 191 , following a victorious campaign against remnants of the Yellow Turban rebels , Gongsun Zan took the pretext of his brother Gongsun Yue ' s death in the Battle of Yangcheng to declare war on Yuan Shao . His army marched southwest between the Qing and Yellow rivers into Ji Province . Very quickly a number of cities under Yuan ' s control were compelled to change sides . Yuan Shao hurriedly made conciliatory gestures , in a bid to forestall a full blown war . He gave his official position as Grand Administrator of Bohai to Gongsun Fan , a distant relative of Gongsun Zan . Gongsun Fan , however , took the Bohai garrison to join his clansman . The battle . Soon Yuan Shao himself came in force and the two sides met 40 km south of Jie Bridge , a crossing on the Qing River . Gongsun Zan ' s army had a reported strength of 40 , 000 , consisting of 30 , 000 infantry and 10 , 000 cavalry . He arrayed his infantry in a square and divided his cavalry between the left and right wings . In the centre were placed his " white horse volunteers " ( 白馬義從 ) , an elite mounted unit which formed the core of his fighting force . Whilst the numbers may have exaggerated , their appearance must have been impressive ; " Records of Three Kingdoms " describes how their " flags and armour lit up Heaven and Earth " . Though Yuan Shao ' s army was of comparable size , it consisted almost entirely of infantry . His commander Qu Yi was placed at the van with 800 crack troops and 1 , 000 crossbowmen . Behind them stood masses of footsoldiers , numbering in the tens of thousands , commanded by Yuan Shao himself . Observing that Yuan ' s vanguard was thinly spread , the experienced horseman Gongsun Zan ordered a charge by his cavalry . The aim was to " break the enemy line " - destroying the core of an opposing army and then rolling up its retreating multitudes . Qu Yi ' s men formed a shield wall and awaited the onslaught . When Gongsun ' s cavalry was a mere ten paces away , the crossbowmen loosed waves of bolts , followed by the footsoldiers , who rose with their spears . After a general melée the front of Yuan Shao ' s line was littered with cut down horses and Gongsun Zan ' s dead . Gongsun ' s general Yan Gang was killed in the fighting . Yuan Shao ' s army is said to have taken 1 , 000 heads . Having failed to breach the enemy line , Gongsun ' s cavalry wheeled around and streamed away from the battle , followed by the infantry . Gongsun Zan attempted to regroup and hold the line of the Qing River . His rearguard clashed with Qu Yi ' s men at Jie Bridge itself and were driven into retreat . The abandoned Gongsun camp was quickly overrun , its yak tail standard ( comparable to the regimental colours of European armies ) lost . Seeing that Gongsun was all but defeated , Yuan Shao advanced with a bodyguard of several tens of crossbowmen and a hundred men - at - arms . He was caught by surprise by 2 , 000 horsemen who had been detached from Gongsun Zan ' s main force . According to the " Records of Three Kingdoms " , the aide - de - camp Tian Feng was about to support Yuan Shao behind a low wall for refuge . Yuan threw his helmet to the ground , and said , " A real man should die in front of the ranks . To be idle behind a wall , that is no way to live ! " The enemy horsemen , ignorant of Yuan Shao ' s identity , were beginning to withdraw when Qu Yi arrived on the scene to drive them away . This story , somewhat detached from the main battle sequence , emphasises Yuan Shao ' s bravery . Aftermath . The Battle of Jieqiao halted the southern advance of Gongsun Zan but it was by no means decisive in the protracted struggle between Gongsun and Yuan which lasted until 199 . Gongsun returned a year later , in the winter of 192 , along the same route . Even though the battle was a setback for Gongsun Zan , it did not impact significantly on his army . Many of the soldiers who fled must have found their way back to Gongsun in the days and weeks after the battle . The battle is unique in that it is described in detail in " Records of Three Kingdoms " . The arrangement of the armies and the tactics used , usually neglected by traditional Chinese histories , are reasonably clear . The battle demonstrates the ineffectiveness of even an experienced cavalry force against a disciplined infantry unit with competent leadership . It is also significant to note that although the numbers involved are very high , the actual fighting is decided by only a small elite portion of the entire army . Once the core was defeated , the demoralised masses quickly follow .