Battle of Xingyang ( 190 ) The Battle of Xingyang was a battle fought in 190 in the late Eastern Han Dynasty as part of the campaign against Dong Zhuo . It took place when Dong Zhuo ' s retreating forces , led by Xu Rong , encountered Cao Cao ' s pursuing army at Xingyang . Background . In 190 , dissenting regional officials and warlords formed a coalition against the Chancellor of State , Dong Zhuo , who controlled Emperor Xian . Dong Zhuo was concerned that the capital Luoyang was not as easy to defend as Chang ' an to the west , and thus moved all civilians and court officials , including the emperor , to Chang ' an while the military under Dong stayed to defend Luoyang . During the mass relocation on 9 April , Dong ordered his soldiers to raze Luoyang , confiscate from the rich , and looted from the Han emperor tombs . According to " Records of Three Kingdoms " , the people who died during the relocation was " beyond measure " . Around that time , the coalition members were stationed in different locations as such : Yuan Shao at Henei ( 河內 ) ; Zhang Miao , Liu Dai , Qiao Mao and Yuan Yi at Suanzao ( 酸棗 , near present - day Yanjin , Henan ) ; Yuan Shu at Nanyang ( 南陽 ) ; Kong Zhou at Yingchuan ( 潁川 ) ; Han Fu at Ye . Dong Zhuo ' s forces were still powerful , so the coalition members did not dare to pursue Dong as he retreated to Chang ' an . Cao Cao , then stationed in Suanzao , saw this as an opportunity to attack Dong Zhuo and he announced to the dormant alliance : Apparently , Cao Cao did not manage to rally anyone else in the alliance except his friend Wei Zi ( 衛茲 ) , who was under the warlord Zhang Miao . Nonetheless , the detachment marched west from Suanzao with the intention to occupy Chenggao ( 成皋 ) . The battle . Cao Cao and Wei Zi ' s armies advanced to the Bian River at Xingyang , an important staging post en route to Luoyang , and met the opposing army led by Xu Rong there . In a day of fierce fighting , the coalition force , consisting of a ragtag assembly of family retainers and looters , was ultimately no match for the professional frontiersmen of Dong Zhuo . The coalition men were heavily defeated and Wei Zi was killed . In addition , Cao Cao was hit by a stray arrow and his horse was injured . His younger cousin , Cao Hong , offered him his horse but Cao Cao would not accept at first . Cao Hong then said , " The empire can do without me , but it cannot do without you . " Cao Hong then followed Cao Cao on foot and they withdrew back to Suanzao by night . Xu Rong considered an attack on Suanzao , but he observed that even though Cao Cao ' s men were few in number they fought fiercely throughout the day , and so assumed that an attack on Suanzao against these sort of men would be difficult . He , too , withdrew . Aftermath . Cao Cao returned to Suanzao to see the warlords feasting every day with no intention of attacking Dong Zhuo , he reproached them . Learning from his defeat in Xingyang where he tried to attack Chenggao head - on , Cao Cao came up with an alternative strategy and presented it to the coalition : Instead of attempting another direct attack from Suanzao , the plan involved taking strategic points to blockade Luoyang and Chenggao . Then Yuan Shu , the coalition general in the south could , instead of attacking Luoyang , threaten Dong Zhuo ' s new capital in Chang ' an . The coalition would position themselves behind fortifications and avoid actual fighting . This arrangement , Cao Cao argued , could show the world that the coalition is on the move while applying pressure on Dong Zhuo ' s court . In this , Cao Cao was hoping that Dong Zhuo ' s government would eventually become over - strained , lose credit and collapse . Cao Cao concluded his plan with the words , " Now that our men are fighting for a just cause , if we hesitate and delay , we will disappoint everyone in the empire , and I will be ashamed for you . " However , the generals in Suanzao would not agree to his plan . Cao Cao abandoned the generals in Suanzao to gather troops in Yang Province ( 揚州 ) with Xiahou Dun , then went to camp with the coalition commander - in - chief Yuan Shao in Henei ( 河內 ) . Soon after Cao Cao ' s departure , the generals in Suanzao ran out of food and dispersed , some even fought amongst themselves . The coalition camp in Suanzao collapsed on itself . Years later , when Yuan Shao and Cao Cao became rivals in their contest for power , Yuan had his secretary Chen Lin draft a document to denounce Cao before their confrontation at the Battle of Guandu . At one point , Chen Lin used Cao Cao ' s defeat at the Battle of Xingyang to discredit him : In fiction . In Luo Guanzhong ' s historical novel " Romance of the Three Kingdoms " , the coalition were successively victorious and pressed on Luoyang . Dong Zhuo asked his aid Li Ru for advice , and Li replied that he should move the capital to Chang ' an . Dong Zhuo did so and burned Luoyang to the ground to force everyone to leave . The coalition generals saw the smoke coming from Luoyang and advanced , only to find the charred ruins of Luoyang . Cao Cao went to Yuan Shao and said that the coalition should pursue Dong Zhuo , but Yuan replied that everybody was worn out and there would be nothing to gain by pursuing , and all the lords agreed that they should do nothing . After this Cao Cao exclaimed , " You childish buffoons are not qualified to participate in strategic planning ! " Cao Cao then took Xiahou Dun , Xiahou Yuan , Cao Hong , Cao Ren , Li Dian , Yue Jin , and 10 , 000 troops to chase in pursuit . In the novel , the road west from Luoyang to Chang ' an was through Xingyang ( while in reality , Xingyang was to the east of Luoyang ) . When Dong Zhuo reached Xingyang , Xu Rong welcomed him . Li Ru , hearing of Cao Cao ' s approach , suggested to lure Cao Cao into an ambush with Lü Bu . In Xingyang , Cao Cao engaged Lü Bu , as predicted , and while Xiahou Dun was dueling Lü , Dong Zhuo ' s generals Li Jue and Guo Si attacked from both flanks and surrounded Cao Cao . Cao Cao ordered Xiahou Yuan and Cao Ren to hold them off , but Cao Cao ' s forces were eventually overwhelmed and retreated . As Cao Cao ' s men were preparing to settle for the evening , Xu Rong came out of his ambush and scattered Cao ' s camp . Cao Cao quickly mounted his horse to escape , but he was shot in the shoulder by Xu Rong and his horse was slain . Cao Cao became captured by two enemy soldiers but Cao Hong killed them and freed his master . Cao Hong offered his horse to Cao Cao , but there was a river ahead and Cao Cao could ride no more , while Xu Rong ' s men drew ever closer . Cao Hong then carried Cao Cao as he waded across the river . Xu Rong ' s men initially fired arrows at them , but soon turned around to cross the river in a ford upstream . When Cao Cao and Cao Hong finally reached the other side of the river , Xu Rong came charging from upstream , but Xiahou Dun intercepted and killed Xu Rong on the spot . Cao Cao ' s forces then came together , all relieved that Cao Cao is safe , and retreated back to Yuan Shao ' s main camp at Henei . Dong Zhuo ' s remaining forces left to follow him to Chang ' an .