Battle of Guandu The Battle of Guandu was fought between the warlords Cao Cao and Yuan Shao in 200 CE in the late Eastern Han Dynasty . The battle , which concluded with a decisive victory for Cao Cao , was a turning point in the war between the two warlords . It marked the beginning of Cao Cao ' s gradual reunification of northern China , which made possible the establishment of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period . 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 Xu . The warlords saw each other as the barrier to their individual ambitions to conquer and rule China . Thus , it seemed that a trial of strength between the two warlords was inevitable . Some years 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 as Cao Cao was still nominally his ally . Tension between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao started to build up after Cao Cao moved Emperor Xian from the old capital Luoyang . Prelude . The geographical position of Guandu ( 官渡 ; northeast of present - day Zhongmu County , Henan ) made it a militarily strategic position . It was near Yan Ford ( 延津 ; north of present - day Yanjin County , Henan ) on the Yellow River and laid on the road leading to the capital city Xu . Cao Cao recognized its strategic importance and in the autumn of 199 , he stationed troops there and prepared fortifications . Other deployments along the frontline included Liu Yan ( 劉延 ) in Boma ( 白馬 ; near present - day Hua County , Henan ) , Yu Jin in Yan Ford , Cheng Yu in Juancheng ( 鄄城 ; near present - day Juancheng County , Shandong ) , and Xiahou Dun in Meng Ford ( 孟津 ; present - day Mengjin County , Henan ) . At the same time , Cao Cao sent Zang Ba to harass Qing Province ( 青州 ) , which was governed by Yuan Shao ' s son Yuan Tan , to prevent his eastern flank from coming under attack . In the first month of 200 , Liu Bei rebelled against Cao Cao and seized Xu Province after killing Che Zhou ( 車冑 ) , Cao Cao ' s appointed Inspector ( 刺史 ) of Xu Province . Cao Cao , in an unexpected move , left his northern front exposed to Yuan Shao and turned east to retake Xu Province . Yuan Shao tried to use the opportunity to start a campaign south , but was daunted by Yu Jin , the defender of Yan Ford . When Cao Cao returned to Guandu after his victory over Liu Bei , who sought refuge under Yuan Shao afterwards , Yuan Shao wished to renew the campaign against Cao Cao . The aide - de - camp ( 參軍 ) Tian Feng , who had urged Yuan Shao to attack Cao Cao while he was away , advised against such a campaign , reasoning that they had lost their chance and must wait . Yuan Shao ignored Tian Feng ' s repeated remonstrations and imprisoned him under charges of demoralizing the army . Shortly after , Yuan Shao had Chen Lin draft a document condemning Cao Cao in what is essentially a declaration of war , and marched his main army toward the forward base of Liyang ( 黎陽 ; northwest of present - day Xun County , Henan ) north of the river . At the time , Yuan Shao ' s army boasted of numbers up to 110 , 000 , including 10 , 000 cavalry . Skirmishes along the Yellow River . Yuan Shao ' s general Yan Liang crossed the Yellow River and attacked Cao Cao ' s fort at Boma , besieging it . Heeding his advisor Xun You ' s advice , Cao Cao led a battalion toward Yan Ford 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 split off his troops from Liyang to counter Cao Cao ' s attack . Hence Yan Liang ' s siege at Boma across from Liyang became unsupported . Cao Cao then struck eastward to lift the siege on Boma . In the ensuing battle , Yan Liang was killed by Guan Yu 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 cavalry led by Wen Chou and Liu Bei set off in pursuit . However , Cao Cao anticipated the attack and prepared a distraction 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 cavalry , which had been lying in ambush , attacked . In the chaos , Yuan Shao ' s commander Wen Chou was killed and Liu Bei fled . Even before the main engagement at Guandu , these relatively minor skirmishes 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 . The advance on Yangwu and flanking attempts . Cao Cao was aware that he was fighting under disadvantageous conditions , thus he abandoned the forward bases along the Yellow River to prepare for a determined defence at Guandu . 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 that could affect his army ' s morale . After the engagements at the river , Yuan Shao ' s army pushed to Yangwu ( 陽武 ; near present - day Yuanyang County , Henan ) , directly north of Guandu , and began constructing earthen fortifications . By doing so he had ignored Cheng Yu ' s bastion of 700 men at Juancheng , and possibly missed an opportunity to attack Cao Cao ' s eastern flank . This was according to Cheng Yu ' s prediction earlier that Yuan Shao would ignore a position with so few men . Yuan Shao ' s Attendant Officer ( 從事 ) Ju Shou had reservations about concentrating all of the main army at Yangwu , and suggested to leave a garrison at Yan Ford as a step of caution in case the attack on Guandu did not go well . Yuan Shao ignored the suggestion again . Ju Shou , in despair , tried to excuse himself by claiming to be ill , but Yuan Shao became annoyed at him and would not grant him leave . Instead , he divested Ju Shou ' s men and divided them under the commands of Guo Tu and Chunyu Qiong . Yuan Shao reorganized his forces and sent Liu Bei with an army to support the rebellions against Cao Cao in Yinjiang ( 氵隱疆 ; southwest of present - day Xuchang ) , just 20 " li " south of the capital . Cao Cao became concerned about such developments in his rear , but his cousin Cao Ren observed that Liu Bei could not have too much control over his new men given by Yuan Shao . So Cao Cao sent Cao Ren to deal with the rebellion . Cao Ren succeeded , killing the rebel leader Liu Pi and routing Liu Bei . Yuan Shao also tried to cut off Cao Cao from the west by sending Han Meng ( 韓猛 ) southwest . Cao Ren again responded to the threat by defeating Han Meng at Mount Jiluo ( 雞洛山 ; 50 " li " northeast of present - day Xinmi , Henan ) . Yuan Shao did not send any detached force into Cao Cao ' s territory after this . At Yangwu , several war plans were presented to Yuan Shao . Ju Shou observed that Cao Cao ' s men were running out of grain , and thus it would be proper to enter a war of attrition , denying Cao Cao a decisive battle . Another advisor , Xu You suggested that Yuan Shao should maintain the front at Guandu but at the same time send men to circle around and capture the emperor in Xu . Yuan Shao accepted neither plan , saying he preferred to capture the emperor with a direct advance . Xu You was not pleased . The siege of Guandu . In the eighth month , Yuan Shao ' s army slowly advanced southward from Yangwu and engaged Cao Cao ' s men in trench warfare , behind the earthen embankments that both sides made . Both sides harassed each other with engines of war . Yuan Shao had erected siege - ramps and high platforms which allowed his men to rain arrows onto Cao Cao ' s forces . In response , Cao Cao ' s men had to carry their shields above their heads , and retaliated with traction trebuchets that destroyed the archer platforms . Yuan Shao also tried to tunnel under Cao Cao ' s fort , but Cao Cao had a large ditch dug within his lines to block the tunnels . Subsequently , neither side could overcome each other as Cao Cao and Yuan Shao became locked in a stalemate . Before long , Cao Cao ' s army began to run short of supplies and Cao Cao was in a dilemma on whether to retreat in order to lure Yuan Shao deeper into his territory . Xun Yu , the defender of the capital Xu , sent Cao Cao a letter dissuading him from retreat . He wrote , drawing historical examples from the Chu – Han Contention : Cao Cao followed this advice and held fast to his ground . In the ninth month , Xun Yu pointed out that Yuan Shao had been storing supplies at a depot in the village of Gushi ( 故市 ; southwest of present - day Yanjin County , Henan ) , guarded by Han Meng . Cao Cao sent out small cavalry units led by Xu Huang and Shi Huan ( 史渙 ) to attack this position . They succeeded , routing Han Meng , disrupting Yuan Shao ' s supply lines , and burning his grain carts . Yuan Shao was forced to call for relief supplies in response to this raid . The raid on Wuchao . 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 ( 烏巢 ; in present - day Yanjin County , Henan ) , a place 40 " li " away from Guandu near Gushi , 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 the general Jiang Qi ( 蔣奇 ) to serve as a perimeter guard to Chunyu Qiong and cut off any potential raids . Yuan Shao , again , did not heed Ju Shou ' s advice . Shortly after , Yuan Shao ' s advisor Xu You , who had harboured dissatisfaction against Yuan Shao for not using his plan and having his wife arrested by Shen Pei , defected over to Cao Cao . He understood Cao Cao ' s shortage of supplies and alerted Cao Cao to Yuan Shao ' s exploitable weakness at Wuchao . Cao Cao ' s generals were suspicious of this piece of intelligence , but his advisors Xun You and Jia Xu urged Cao Cao to put Xu You ' s plan to action . Thus at night , Cao Cao led 5 , 000 infantry and cavalry to attack Wuchao after leaving Cao Hong and Xun You in charge of his main camp at Guandu . Cao Cao ' s army disguised itself as a reinforcement unit from Yuan Shao and attacked Wuchao . Chunyu Qiong ' s initial defences were overrun , and he retreated to hold his forts , which Cao Cao attacked and set on fire . When Yuan Shao ' s camp received the news that Wuchao was under attack , Zhang He urged Yuan Shao to send reinforcements to Wuchao to save the supplies , on which the fate of the campaign hinges . Guo Tu , however , advocated the opposite : attack Cao Cao ' s base at Guandu with the hope that Cao Cao will abandon the raid on Wuchao . Yuan Shao used Guo Tu ' s idea and sent Zhang He and Gao Lan to lead his main army to attack Cao Cao ' s main camp at Guandu , while only sending a small cavalry unit to reinforce Wuchao . With incredible bravado , Cao Cao ignored pleas to split off his force to deal with the reinforcements , thus his men were prepared to fight to the death . The raid on Wuchao was a great success , with Yuan Shao ' s casualties over a thousand . Yuan Shao ' s generals Lü Weihuang , Han Juzi , Sui Yuanjin , and Zhao Rui ( 趙叡 ) were decapitated ; Chunyu Qiong was captured by Yue Jin and had his nose cut off . Almost all of Yuan Shao ' s food supplies at Wuchao were burnt . 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 . Cao Cao also cut off the noses of the dead , mixed them with noses and lips of oxen and horses , and showed them to Yuan Shao ' s men , as a form of intimidation . Meanwhile at Guandu , Yuan Shao ' s army led by Zhang He and Gao Lan failed to break through the enemy lines . Affected by the news of the defeat in Wuchao and rumors of Guo Tu making slanderous remarks about them , Zhang He and Gao Lan surrendered to Cao Hong and 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 numerous armies were destroyed and much of his supplies were captured by Cao Cao . Yuan Shao himself fled north across the Yellow River with only about 800 cavalry , which was what was left of his army . Order was restored only when Yuan Shao reached the camp of his general Jiang Yiqu , from where he gathered his straggling troops . Some of Yuan Shao ' s men could not cross the Yellow River in time and were captured by Cao Cao , including Ju Shou . Some of these men had feigned surrender so they could escape later , thus Cao Cao had these men buried alive . In his proclamation of victory to Emperor Xian , Cao Cao claimed to have killed 70 , 000 enemy troops . Aftermath . Cao Cao ' s victory at the Battle of Guandu was a decisive one and marked the turn of the tide in his struggle for power with Yuan Shao . Yuan Shao died two years later and his youngest son Yuan Shang was made his successor . His oldest 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 - one supported Yuan Shang and the other supported Yuan Tan . Cao Cao seized the opportunity to launch an attack on Yuan Tan ' s base at Liyang . Though Cao Cao eventually withdrew , Yuan Tan came to resent Yuan Shang even more during course of the battle , which led to open warfare between the brothers . Yuan Tan eventually allied with to Cao Cao against Yuan Shang , but Cao Cao accused him of violating some terms of the alliance and killed him in battle . On the other hand , Yuan Shang suffered defeats at the hands of Cao Cao and fled north to join his second brother Yuan Xi . Cao Cao ' s forces pursued them and defeated the Wuhuan tribe , the Yuan brothers ' ally , in the Battle of White Wolf Mountain . Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi fled to Liaodong to seek shelter under the warlord Gongsun Kang in 207 , but Gongsun killed them instead and sent their heads to Cao Cao . By then , most of northern China was unified under Cao Cao ' s control , and Cao Cao could begin to turn his attention to the south . Legacy and analysis . Throughout the ages , Cao Cao ' s impressive victory at Guandu , the climatic event of his life , has drawn analysis by both historical commentators and militarists hoping to imitate his success . Song Dynasty historian Sima Guang , compiler of the chronicle " Zizhi Tongjian " , remarked that while Yuan Shao was generous , elegant and able , he was also obstinate , self - satisfied , and seldom heeded reasonable advice . These negative attributes were the cause of his defeat . In more recent times , both the Chinese Nationalist s and Communists have picked up on this battle and made their own interpretations , in various degrees of objectivity . The Nationalists followed traditional Chinese historiography in that they judged the battle in terms of personalities , rather than the situations and the tactics involved . For example , Cao Cao was seen as capable , decisive , and far - sighted , while Yuan Shao was derided as mediocre , slow , arrogant , and unable to employ men properly . Communist leader Mao Zedong , in his writings about strategic retreat , used the Battle of Guandu along with the Battle of Chenggao , Battle of Kunyang , Battle of Red Cliffs , Battle of Xiaoting , and Battle of Fei River to illustrate the concept . In all of these battles , he wrote , " . . . the contestants were unequal in strength , and the weaker one yielding a step at first , pinned down the stronger one through delayed action and defeated him . " Mao ' s words attracted some attention to the battle , and many papers were written to analyze the Battle of Guandu in Maoist terms . The Maoist interpretation , while taking note of Yuan Shao ' s serious errors of judgement , advocates that the strong enemy will make fateful errors , while the weaker opponent need only to await their appearance . The Marxist interpretation portrays Yuan Shao as the representative of the great landlord - official class , and Cao Cao as of the middle and small landlord class . The battle was thus a product of class conflict in which Yuan Shao ' s fall was inevitable . Historian Carl Leban attributes Cao Cao ' s victory to one single strategic decision — the defender ' s choice of location . Leban asserts that Cao Cao chose Guandu as the place to make his stand because of his superior understanding of the relation between topography , logistics , and tactics over Yuan Shao . It was the issue about logistics that prompted Cao Cao to abandon the defence at the Yellow River . By luring Yuan Shao far south into Guandu , Cao Cao had forcibly extended Yuan Shao ' s supply lines and was thus able to pounce on his logistical disadvantage to gain a decisive victory . Another western historian , Rafe de Crespigny , is skeptical of the traditional viewpoint and questions Yuan Shao ' s supposed advantage over Cao Cao . De Crespigny argues that Yuan Shao ' s hold on his nominal territories were not as secure as Cao Cao , who had aggressively campaigned to stabilize his surroundings . Taking note that Yuan Shao took ten years to eliminate the isolated Gongsun Zan , de Crespigny suggests that it was not due to indecisiveness that Yuan Shao did not take advantage of Cao Cao ' s temporal weaknesses , but that Yuan Shao might not have had the men to spare for such ventures . From such a perspective , Yuan Shao , faced with the ever - growing threat of his former ally Cao Cao , concentrated his force in a direct approach to Cao Cao ' s headquarters in hope that such a strike would overwhelm his enemy . Though he was outwitted and defeated by Cao Cao , Yuan Shao ' s decisions might not have been so foolish as numerous traditional historians and commentators have said . Modern references . The battle is featured as a playable stage in Koei ' s video game series " Dynasty Warriors " as one of the highlights of Cao Cao ' s story mode . In the fifth installment Boma , Yan Ford , and Guandu are defended by Cao Cao , Xiahou Dun , and Cao Pi respectively . In the seventh installment , the battle clearly focuses on Cao Pi ' s point of view , where he leads the attack on Wuchao , defeating and recruiting Zhang He ( who ' d been its defender instead of attacking Cao Cao ' s camp as in history ) .