Cao Cao had Xun You, Jia Xu, and Cao Hong guard his main camp, where the defector Xu You remained. Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan were positioned to the left, Cao Ren and Li Dian to the right, in case of surprise. Then, with Zhang Liao and Xu Chu in front, Xu Huang and Yu Jin behind, Cao Cao led forth his commanders and captains and a force of five thousand under the false colors of his enemy. Each soldier carried bundles of straw and kindling, and kept a stick clamped in his mouth. The horses, too, were gagged. At dusk they moved out silently. Soon the night sky was crowded with stars.
Imprisoned by Yuan Shao for his unwelcome advice, Ju Shou could see a corner of the starry designs and persuaded the jailer to take him outside. Looking up, he noticed Venus moving retrograde into the zone of Ox and Dipper, the first two sections of the northern quadrant. Startled, he cried out, "Disaster looms!" and demanded an audience with Yuan Shao.4
Though drunk in bed, Yuan Shao granted the request. Ju Shou said to Yuan Shao, "I have been observing the sky. Venus was moving in the opposite direction between the lunar lodgings Willow and Ghost, as streaks of light shot into the zone of Ox and Dipper. I fear the enemy is going to strike. Alert the guards at Wuchao. Send your best men to patrol the roads nearby, or Cao will outmaneuver you." "You are an offender now," Yuan Shao scoffed irritably, "how dare you try to fool my people with nonsense!" Harshly he said to the jailer, "You were ordered to keep him confined. How dare you release him?" Yuan Shao called for a soldier to take the prisoner away and had the jailer executed. As Ju Shou was led out, he wept, saying, "Our army is doomed. My bones will have no resting place." A poet of later times lamented Ju Shou's fate:
Ju Shou's counsel earned his ruler's hate,
And Yuan Shao proved that he was tactics' fool.
He lost his grain, his base was sacked;
Still he hoped to hold Jizhou intact.5
Through the darkness Cao Cao advanced on Yuan Shao's outposts. Challenged by sentries, he had his men answer, ''Jiang Qi here, on orders to proceed to Wuchao to guard the grain. "Seeing their own colors, Yuan Shao's troops suspected nothing. Cao got through several outposts the same way and reached Wuchao at the fourth watch. He had his men encircle the depot with lit torches. Then his officers burst in making an uproar. Chunyu Qiong, sleeping off a drinking bout in the command tent, was roused by the din." What's going on? " he shouted. Before he could say more, Cao's men had attacked him with staves and pulled him down.
Gui Yuanjin and Zhao Rui, officers of Yuan Shao's who were returning with a grain delivery, saw the flaming bins and raced to the rescue. Cao Cao was told of the officers' arrival: "They're almost upon us—to the rear. Send men to stop them." "The front," Cao shouted back, "give everything to the front. When they're at our backs, we'll deal with them." His commanders pressed forward, redoubling their blows. In moments fire was everywhere; smoke blotted out the sky. Yuan Shao's officers, Gui and Zhao, set upon the raiders from behind. Cao Cao turned on them, overpowering and killing both and burning the grain they were delivering. Next, Chunyu Qiong was brought before Cao Cao, who ordered his ears, nose, and fingers cut off, had him tied onto a horse, and sent him back in this manner to humiliate Yuan Shao.
In his tent Yuan Shao heard reports of the great fire to the north. He realized Wuchao was lost and summoned his advisers. Zhang He said, "Let me go with Gao Lan and save Wuchao." "Not a good idea," Guo Tu responded. "If they have plundered the stores, then Cao is there and Guandu is undefended. Strike Guandu first, and Cao will retreat swiftly. This is exactly how Sun Bin relieved Wei's siege of Zhao and went on to defeat Wei's army."6 But Zhang He disagreed. "Cao Cao," he argued, "is full of schemes. He would never undertake such an operation and leave his base vulnerable. If we attack Guandu and fail, Chunyu Qiong will be captured and so will we." Guo Tu, however, insisted that Cao Cao, intent only on the supplies, had left no forces behind. Guo Tu's view prevailed. Yuan Shao sent Zhang He and Gao Lan with five thousand against Guandu, and Jiang Qi with ten thousand to relieve Wuchao.
Cao Cao's men decimated Chunyu Qiong's units and took possession of their battle dress, armor, and banners; then they disguised themselves as remnants of Chunyu Qiong's guards struggling back to camp. When they met up with Jiang Qi, the commander Yuan Shao had sent to relieve the depot, Cao's men said they were Wuchao guards fleeing Cao's attack. Unsuspecting, Jiang Qi rode on toward Wuchao. Suddenly, the backup contingents led by Zhang Liao and Xu Chu challenged Jiang Qi. "Halt!" they shouted; and before Jiang Qi could respond, Zhang Liao had cut him down and slaughtered his troops to a man. Meanwhile, Cao Cao arranged for a report to reach Yuan Shao saying that Jiang Qi had chased off the raiders. As a result, Yuan Shao sent more men on to Guandu and none to Wuchao.
Zhang He and Gao Lan had already begun their attack on Guandu. The three-sided defense—Xiahou Dun on the left, Cao Ren on the right, Cao Hong in the center—was concerted. By the time Yuan Shao's reinforcement arrived, Cao Cao was in striking position behind them, sealing shut the fourth side. During the ensuing slaughter Zhang He and Gao Lan managed to break away.
The defeated Wuchao guards straggled back to Yuan Shao with the mutilated Chunyu Qiong. Yuan Shao demanded to know how Wuchao was lost. "Chunyu Qiong was drunk," the guardsmen replied, "we couldn't fight them off." Yuan Shao had Chunyu Qiong beheaded.
Guo Tu realized that Zhang He and Gao Lan would testify to the folly of his advice to Yuan Shao, so he acted to prevent their return from Guandu. He began by slandering them. "I think, my lord," he told Yuan Shao, "that our defeat will be most gratifying to Zhang He and Gao Lan." "What are you talking about?" Yuan Shao asked. "Those two have been meaning to defect for some time," Guo Tu asserted. "By not exerting themselves on this mission they have caused us heavy losses." At once Yuan Shao sent for the two commanders to answer to their crime.
Guo Tu, however, had informed Zhang He and Gao Lan that Yuan Shao was going to execute them for the defeat at Guandu. Thus, when Yuan Shao's messenger delivered his summons, Gao Lan asked bluntly, "Why is our lord recalling us?" "I do not know," he replied. Without further ado Gao Lan slew the messenger and told the startled Zhang He, "Yuan Shao believes any slander. Sooner or later Cao Cao is going to take him. Why sit and wait to die? Let's join Cao Cao." Zhang He responded, "I have wanted to do it for a long time."
Yuan Shao's two commanders surrendered to Cao Cao with their troops. Xiahou Dun asked Cao Cao, "Is this genuine?" Cao Cao replied, "If I treat them well, they will come around in any event." The two commanders received permission to enter the camp. Coming before Cao Cao, they dropped their weapons and prostrated themselves. "Had Yuan Shao listened to you," Cao Cao said, "he could have spared himself this defeat. Now you two have come to us like Weizi, who quit the dying Shang dynasty, or Han Xin, who left Xiang Yu to serve the house of Han." Cao Cao appointed them adjutant generals and, respectively, lord of a higher precinct and lord of Donglai. The two defectors were completely satisfied.
Yuan Shao had now lost the services of Xu You, Zhang He, and Gao Lan, as well as his supply depot at Wuchao. His army was confused and demoralized. Xu You urged Cao Cao to strike quickly. Zhang He and Gao Lan offered to take the lead. Cao Cao approved and sent them to raid the northern army's main camp. At the third watch the attackers divided into three units and struck. Fighting raged until dawn; then the raiders withdrew, having inflicted casualties on half of Yuan Shao's army.
Xun You proposed the next step; "Spread rumors that you are sending one force to take Suanzao and attack Ye, and another to take Liyang and cut off their return to Jizhou. Yuan Shao will panic and divide his troops, and we can wipe him out." Cao Cao adopted the plan and ordered the army to noise about the new strategy. The rumors reached Yuan Shao and in alarm he dispatched Yuan Tan with fifty thousand men to Ye, and Xin Ming with fifty thousand to Liyang that very night. As soon as Cao Cao learned that Yuan Shao had made his move, he divided his army into eight units and descended on the enemy camp.
Having lost all taste for combat with Cao Cao's forces, Yuan Sh
ao's troops broke and ran. The army disintegrated. With no time even to don his armor, Yuan Shao fled on horseback, wearing an unlined tunic and a headband. His youngest son, Shang, followed him. The attackers, Zhang Liao, Xu Chu, Xu Huang, and Yu Jin, swept after him. Yuan Shao, in his anxiety to cross the river, had left behind maps, documents, chariots, gold, and silk. Accompanied by a mere eight hundred riders, he outraced his pursuers.
Cao Cao gathered up all that Yuan Shao had abandoned. Eighty thousand of the northern army had perished. The earth ran red, and the drowned were past numbering. Cao Cao's victory was total; he rewarded his men with the captured valuables. Among the official papers he found a packet of letters written by those in his capital who had secretly communicated with Yuan Shao. Some of his advisers urged Cao Cao to round up the unreliable elements and kill them. But Cao Cao replied, "When Yuan Shao was powerful, my own safety stood in doubt—not to speak of others'." He ordered the letters burned and the matter dropped.
During the debacle Yuan Shao's imprisoned adviser, Ju Shou, had not been able to escape. Taken before Cao Cao, who had known the man in former times, he declared, "I shall not submit!"7 "Yuan Shao," Cao Cao said, "was a fool to ignore your counsel. Why cling to folly? With you to advise me, the empire would know peace." Cao Cao treated Ju Shou handsomely and kept him in the army, but he stole a horse in an attempt to flee to Yuan Shao. He was consequently executed. Ju Shou maintained an unperturbed demeanor to the moment of his death. "I should not have killed so loyal and honorable a man," Cao Cao sighed and ordered that Ju Shou's body lie in state. He was interred at a crossing point of the Yellow River. A tumulus raised over the grave bore the inscription "Tomb of Master Ju, Who Died Gloriously for Loyalty." Later a poet expressed his admiration in these lines:
Men of note abounded in the north:
"Loyalty uncompromised" made Ju Shou's fame.
His steady eye could gauge the turns of war.
His upturned gaze could read a moving star.
Iron-hearted to the very last;
His spirit facing death was light and free.
His splendid conduct led him to his doom;
Cao Cao in tribute raised a lonely tomb.
Cao Cao gave the order to attack Jizhou. Indeed:
The weaker prevailed by cunning calculation;
The stronger failed for want of strategy.
Would Cao Cao become the master of the north?
Read on.
31
Cao Cao Defeats Yuan Shao at Cangting;
Liu Xuande Turns to Liu Biao in Jingzhou
To exploit Yuan Shao's defeat, Cao Cao regrouped and tracked his fleeing enemy. But Yuan Shao reached Liyang on the north shore safely. He was wearing an unlined tunic and a headband. Eight hundred horsemen remained in his command. Jiang Yiqu, the general in charge, welcomed the defeated leader to Liyang and, after receiving an account of the battles at Guandu, publicly announced his arrival. Yuan Shao's scattered forces rallied in a vast multitude, and their morale revived. Yuan Shao ordered the newly assembled army to begin marching to his home province, Jizhou.
One night, bivouacked in the wilds, Yuan Shao heard faint cries. Investigating, he found stragglers from his army clutching one another, moaning for the loss of brothers, comrades, and kinsmen. "If only he had taken Tian Feng's advice," they cried, weeping and beating their breasts, "we would not have known these sorrows." Yuan Shao said remorsefully, "I doomed my own cause when I ignored Tian Feng's advice. How can I face him at home?"
The next day Pang Ji greeted Yuan Shao as he was setting out with a party of soldiers. Yuan Shao said to him, "This defeat was my doing. I ignored Tian Feng's counsel, and now I cannot face him." "My lord, when he heard of your defeat in the prison," Pang Ji lied, "he clapped his hands and smirked, saying, 'Just as I anticipated.'" Rage mounted in Yuan Shao. "Mocked by that idiot? He dies!" he roared, and sent his sword to the jail.
Meanwhile, a guard visiting Tian Feng in his cell said, "Congratulations, Assistant Inspector!" "The occasion?" Tian Feng asked. The guard responded, "When General Yuan returns, you are sure to be acclaimed for predicting his defeat." "I am done for," Tian Feng replied with a smile. "Everyone is so happy for you," the guard went on, "why speak of death?" "General Yuan," Tian Feng explained, "may appear broadminded but is in fact deeply suspicious. Loyalty and sincerity count for little with him. In the rejoicing after a victory he might have been inclined to be lenient, but after a humiliation like this there is no hope." The guard shook his head doubtfully. At that moment the envoy arrived with Yuan Shao's sword and the order to behead Tian Feng. "It is no surprise," Tian Feng remarked to the astounded guard. All the jailers wept. "A man of honor," Tian Feng said, "takes his stand in the wide world between Heaven and earth. If he chooses the wrong lord, he is responsible for his ignorance. I can face death today. Despair is pointless." Then he slit his throat. In the words of a later poet,
First Ju Shou fell, a captive of the foe;
Then Tian Feng died, a prisoner of his lord.
Breaking thus the pillars of his state,
Yuan Shao sealed his northern country's fate.
Many grieved for Tian Feng.
Yuan Shao arrived in Jizhou too agitated to administer his province. His wife, Lady Liu, who had replaced Shao's principal wife after her death, urged him to name an heir. Of his three sons, the eldest, Tan (Xiansi), ruled Qingzhou, and the second, Xi (Xianyi), ruled Youzhou. The third son, Shang (Xianfu), was the son of Lady Liu and had grown to magnificent manhood. His father doted on him and kept him near home.
Since the battle of Guandu, Lady Liu had been pressing Yuan Shao to name Shang his heir. Yuan Shao took counsel with Shen Pei, Pang Ji, Xin Ping, and Guo Tu. Shen Pei and Pang Ji were in Shang's service and favored him; Xin Ping and Guo Tu served Tan and favored him. At the meeting each supported his master's cause. Yuan Shao said, "With continuing external threats, it is urgent that we establish the succession. My eldest, Tan, is hot-tempered and prone to violence. The second, Xi, is a weak sort, unlikely to amount to much. The third, however, has the makings of a true hero: he attracts the worthy and respects the able. He is my choice. What are your views?"
"Of the three," Guo Tu began, "the eldest, Tan, has priority. Moreover, he is ruling a province. My lord, to reject the elder and elevate the younger will cause strife. Now with our prestige somewhat tarnished and our enemies at our borders, we must not disturb the vital relation of father to son, brother to brother. My lord might better devote himself to coping with the threats we face and give less attention to the other matter." Yuan Shao wavered and took no action.
Suddenly Yuan Shao had a report that Yuan Xi was coming from Youzhou with sixty thousand men; Yuan Tan, from Qingzhou with fifty thousand; and Gao Gan, Shao's nephew, from Bingzhou with another fifty thousand to help Shao fight the enemy. Delighted, Yuan Shao consolidated his army and prepared to face Cao Cao.
Cao Cao pitched his triumphant forces along the river, where people greeted them with food and wine. The white-headed village elders were invited into Cao Cao's tent. He asked them, "How old are you gentlemen?" "Nearly a hundred, each of us," they responded. "Our troops have disrupted your communities, and it troubles me," Cao Cao said. "In the time of Emperor Huan," one of them responded, "a yellow star shone in the region above this ground, once the boundary between the ancient states of Song and Chu.1 Yin Kui of Liaodong, the star-teller, stayed here one night. He told us that the yellow star foretold that in fifty years' time a true king would arise here between Liang and Pei. It is now fifty years since Yin Kui spoke those words. The people here have suffered from Yuan Shao's taxes, but you, Prime Minister, march in the name of the highest virtue and duty to succor the people and punish the guilty. Yuan Shao's defeat at Guandu confirms Yin Kui's prediction. Now the millions inhabiting this region can look forward to an era of just peace."
Cao Cao replied to the elder, "How can I live up to such claims?" He gave the elders gifts of food and drink and bade them good-bye. He then
issued an order saying, "Any soldier who kills even a chicken or a dog in these villages will be punished as if he had taken human life." This command shocked the troops, but they complied and thereby won popular support, to Cao Cao's quiet satisfaction.
It was reported to Cao Cao that Yuan Shao had mobilized from his four provinces an army of two to three hundred thousand, which was now camped at Cangting. Cao Cao advanced and deployed his troops in opposition. The next day, when each side had consolidated its order of battle, Cao Cao showed himself before the formation with his generals. Yuan Shao also appeared, surrounded by his three sons, his nephew, and his civil and military officials. Cao Cao spoke first. "Yuan Shao," he cried, "your plans have come to naught, your strength is spent. Why hold out? Will there be time for regret when the sword is on your neck?"
Furiously Yuan Shao looked back at his generals. "Who will begin?" he said. His youngest son, Shang, anxious to impress his father, dashed forward, two blades dancing in the air. "Who's that?" Cao Cao asked. "Yuan Shao's third son," someone replied. Shi Huan, Xu Huang's lieutenant, was already in the field, spear couched for action. The horsemen tangled. After a few exchanges, Yuan Shang wheeled and reversed direction, parrying with his blade. Shi Huan pursued. Yuan Shang fitted an arrow to his bow and, twisting back, shot Shi Huan through the left eye. Down he went. Witnessing his son's triumph, Yuan Shao flourished his whip toward the enemy and his troops flocked forward. In the moil and ruck of battle great slaughter was done; then gongs from both sides recalled the troops.
Three Kingdoms Page 41
