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Battles

Battle of Guandu

Records

Cao Cao held Guandu with the smaller force, then burned Yuan Shao’s supplies at Wuchao. The battle decided the north. The frame is the Records, not a plot invented by the novel.

Drawn from the Records of the Three Kingdoms and Pei Songzhi’s notes. Famous novel scenes are not stated as fact.

Date
Jian’an 5 (200)
Outcome
Cao Cao breaks Yuan Shao’s main army and turns the Hebei war
Places
Xuchang

Guandu lies northeast of modern Zhongmou, not far south of Xu. In 200 Yuan Shao came down from Ye with more men and more grain. Cao Cao’s smaller army held a fortified line between Yuan Shao and the emperor. The standoff lasted months. Cao Cao nearly fell back on Xu when the grain ran out. Xun Yu told him to stay.

The turn was Xu You’s defection and the news that the supply base at Wuchao was thin. Cao Cao raided it at night and burned the stores. When Zhang He and the front heard that the grain was gone, the army came apart. Yuan Shao crossed the Yellow River with a few hundred riders. The battle did not finish every campaign in Hebei. It did end Yuan Shao’s chance of another invasion on that scale.

The novel keeps Xu You, Wuchao, and Zhang He’s surrender, and adds speeches and duels. As history, Guandu is the hinge of Cao Cao’s career. Without it, the emperor at Xu does not become a northern state. The entry is marked as the Records because the decision of the battle does not depend on the novel.