Records of the Three Kingdoms
Guo Jia, courtesy name Fengxiao, was from Yangdi in Yingchuan. He first saw Yuan Shao, decided Yuan Shao planned much and decided nothing, and went to Cao Cao. Cao Cao said the man who would complete his work was this one. Around Guandu, Guo Jia judged more than once that Yuan Shao’s camp was divided and that Liu Bei could not be left long. Those judgments sit in the biographies. They are not one examination paper called the ten victories and ten defeats.
In 207, on the campaign against the Wuhuan, Guo Jia fell ill and died at thirty-eight. The defeat at Red Cliffs came a year after his death. Cao Cao still said later that if Guo Jia were alive he would not have been brought to that pass.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The novel often leaves him a dying plan, or keeps him alive on the eve of Red Cliffs. The dates do not fit. The ten victories and ten defeats are gathered into one neat memorial.
The book wants a short-lived prophet. In the histories he is a counselor of Guandu and of the northern campaign, not the man who calculated Red Cliffs.
Reference: Wikipedia · Guo Jia