End of Han Dynasty: Encyclopedia II - End of Han Dynasty - Gradual reunification under Cao Cao

End of Han Dynasty - Gradual reunification under Cao Cao

End of Han Dynasty - Cao Cao's use of Emperor Xian as titular authority

What Yuan Shao would not do, Cao Cao did. Cao was at this time a relatively minor warlord, as the governor of the small Yan Province (兗州, modern western Shandong and eastern Henan), with his headquarters at Xu (in modern Xuchang, Henan). He saw the strategical advantage in having the emperor under his control and protection, and in 196 he marched west to Luoyang and, after securing an agreement with Emperor Xian's generals Dong Cheng (董承) and Yang Feng (楊奉), convincing them of his loyalty, he entered Luoyang and technically shared power with Dong and Yang, but was in fact in command. Unlike the situation with Dong Zhuo, though, Cao knew how to assuage the other generals and nobles, and while he gave them little power, he made sure that they remained honored, so minimal opposition against him developed at the imperial court. He then moved the capital to Xu to affirm his control over the imperial government, and while Yang opposed him, he defeated Yang and was able to move the capital.

Cao then began to issue imperial edicts in Emperor Xian's name -- including a harshly-worded edict condemning Yuan Shao for taking over nearby provinces -- even though it still bestowed Yuan with the highly honorific post as commander of the armed forces as well as a march. It was finally then that Yuan and the other warlords saw the advantage in having the emperor under control, but it was by then too late for them.

End of Han Dynasty - March toward a Cao-Yuan confrontation

Despite the move, the imperial government still lacked funds and food supplies. Cao, under the suggestion of Zao Zhi (棗祇), started a policy of using his soldiers as farmers in addition to warriors. The result was that the area around Xu became highly productive farmland, and from this point on, Cao never again lacked food supplies in his campaigns.

At this time, the main power blocs were:

• Yuan Shao, who controlled either directly or through his sons and nephew Gao Gan (高幹), most of modern Hebei, Shanxi, and Shandong; he was considered the most powerful of the warlords
• Yuan Shu, who continued to control most of modern Anhui and parts of Jiangsu
• Gongsun Zan, who controlled modern Beijing, Tianjin, and western Liaoning
• Liu Zhang, who controlled modern Sichuan and Chongqing
• Liu Biao, who controlled modern Hubei and Hunan
• Lü Bu, who had by this point established himself with control of northern Jiangsu, after betraying and attacking Liu Bei, who had earlier controlled the area

There were still many other warlords, but there have been many conquests that reduced the degree of fracture. In particular, Cao aggressively sought to get the minor warlords to submit to him. In 197, he was nearly killed in one of this operations -- as after he forced Zhang Xiu's surrender, he carried out an affair with Zhang's aunt, angering Zhang -- who then rebelled and made a surprise attack on him, killing his oldest son Cao Ang. Cao Cao barely escaped with his life. The same year, however, he was able to persuade Ma Teng and Han Sui, who together controlled most of modern Shaanxi and Gansu, to submit to him.

That year, Yuan Shu declared himself emperor, under the empire name Zhongjia (仲家). His subordinate Sun Ce (the son of Sun Jian), who controlled the modern southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang, after unable to convince him the foolishness of the action, broke away from his command and formed an independent command. Lü, who had entered into alliance with Yuan, also broke off the alliance, and dealt Yuan a major defeat near his capital, Shouchun (壽春, in modern Lu'an, Anhui). Cao then also attacked Yuan, forcing Yuan to flee his capital. Yuan Shu was not a major player in the wars after that point.

In 198, Yuan Shao tried to persuade Cao to move the emperor and the capital to Juancheng (鄄城, in modern Heze, Shandong), much closer to his own power base, to try to wrestle the emperor away from Cao. Cao refused.

Later that year, Cao attacked and defeated Lü. Even though Lü then surrendered, Cao knew of Lü's history of treachery, and executed him, along with his strategist Chen Gong. He took Lü's domain under his own control.

In 199, Yuan Shao defeated and killed Gongsun, extending his territory to the northern boundaries of the empire. He now did not fear an attack from the north, and turned his attention to the south. He entered into an alliance with Liu Biao and was intent on attacking Cao, also had designs on the imperial title. The confrontation appeared inevitable.

End of Han Dynasty - The Battle of Guandu

Against the advice of Ju and Tian Feng (田豐) (who reasoned that Yuan's forces were tired after prevailing over Gongsun and needed rest), Yuan prepared for war against Cao, confident that his much larger force could easily crush Cao's. Cao prepared for war, but at the same time there was a conspiracy in the capital Xu forming against him, led by Dong Cheng and Liu Bei. In early 200, Liu took an opportunity to rebel against Cao and take over Xu Province (徐州), while Dong prepared to assassinate Cao in the capital. However, Dong was discovered and killed. Cao then attacked Liu -- leaving his flank open for Yuan to attack, believing that the indecisive Yuan would not do so -- and defeated Liu, who fled to Yuan's camp. Liu's fierce warrior subordinate and friend Guan Yu was captured by Cao. (Tian indeed advised Yuan to attack Cao immediately, but Yuan failed to do so.)

Only after Liu Bei was defeated did Yuan start implementing his plan to attack Cao, against Tian's advice that opportunity had past. Tian repeated his advice, and Yuan, in anger, had him imprisoned and then started the march south. However, in two relatively minor skirmishes, Cao's forces defeated and killed Yuan's generals Yan Liang and Wen Chou, greatly hurting Yuan's forces' morale. (In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan was said to have personally killed both Yan and Wen, but it appears far more likely that Guan only killed Yan. In any case, Guan then left Cao's camp and rejoined Liu Bei, and Cao allowed him to do so, knowing that he could never have Guan's full loyalty.)

The Yuan and Cao armies finally met at Guandu (官渡, in modern Zhengzhou, Henan), south of the Yellow River. Yuan had an overwhelming force that was well-supplied, but he did not guard his supplies well. Cao personally led a small detachment and made a surprise attack on Yuan's supply troops, commanded by Chunyu. Instead of immediately coming to Chunyu's aid, however, Yuan tried to attack Cao's well-guarded headquarters but could not capture it immediately. Cao then defeated and killed Chunyu, demoralizing Yuan's forces into collapsing by itself. Yuan had to flee north of the Yellow River; much of his army surrendered to Cao. From that point on, while Yuan remained a major power player, he could no longer challenge Cao's supremacy. (After Yuan returned home, instead of releasing Tian, he was embarrassed and had Tian executed.)

End of Han Dynasty - The destruction of the Yuan power bloc

Yuan Shao remained depressed after his losses at Guandu, and in 202 he died. A major succession struggle developed among his oldest son Yuan Tan and his younger son Yuan Shang (袁尚). Several years prior to his death, based on traditional orders of succession, Yuan Tan, as the oldest, should have succeeded Yuan Shao, but because Yuan Shao's wife Lady Liu favored Yuan Shang, Yuan Shao did too, and therefore had Yuan Tan be posthumously adopted by Yuan Shao's older brother Yuan Cheng (袁成). He then divided up his domain between his sons and nephew Gao Gan, under the ostensible reason that he wanted to examine their abilities. His home province of Ji was given to Yuan Shang, while Yuan Tan was given Qing Province (青州, modern central and eastern Shandong). His middle son Yuan Xi was given the former Gongsun domain of You Province, while his nephew Gao was given Bing Province (并州, roughly modern Shanxi). Yuan, however, left no explicit instructions as to who should succeed him.

Of Yuan Shao's strategists, Feng Ji (逢紀) and Shen Pei (審配) supported Yuan Shang, while Xin Ping (辛評) and Guo Tu (郭圖) supported Yuan Tan. After Yuan Shao's death, most of his subordinates initially favored asking Yuan Tan to succeed him, because he was the oldest son. Shen and Feng, however, forged a will for Yuan Shao in which Yuan Shang was made the heir. Yuan Tan was angry and mobilized his forces under the pretense of attacking Cao -- which raised Cao's attention, and Cao preemptively attacked him. Yuan Shang came to his aid, and the sides fought inconclusively initially. In 203, however, Cao won a major battle over the Yuans, who retreated to the Ji Province capital Yecheng (鄴城, in modern Handan, Hebei). Cao was then ready to siege Yecheng, but under the advice of his strategist Guo Jia, withdrew, reasoning that if he pressed them, the Yuans would unite and fight him, whereas if he withdrew, the Yuans would resume infighting.

That they did. Yuan Tan, still angry that Yuan Shang received the larger inheritance, attacked Yuan Shang, but most of his domain, Qing Province, rebelled and followed Yuan Shang's command. Yuan Tan fled to Pingyuan (平原, in modern Dezhou, Shandong), which Yuan Shang proceeded to siege. Yuan Tan made the fateful decision of seeking help from Cao -- despite Liu Biao's counsel that such a move would be disasterous. Cao marched north against Yuan Shang's home territory, and Yuan Shang was forced to lift the siege to defend his home. In early 204, however, incorrectly believing that the Cao advance had been stopped, Yuan Shang against put Pingyuan under siege. In response, Cao advanced to Yecheng and put it under siege. Yuan Shang was forced to return to try to relieve Yecheng, but Cao crushed his forces. Yuan Shang fled north to Zhongshan (中山, in modern Shijiazhuang, Hebei), and Yecheng fell to Cao. Shocked, Gao, instead of welcoming Yuan Shang to Bing Province to jointly defend against Cao, submitted to Cao.

In the midst of Cao's siege of Yecheng, Yuan Tan rebelled and attacked his flank, and also attacked his brother Yuan Shang. Yuan Shang was forced to further flee north to Yuan Xi's You Province. Cao, who expected Yuan Tan's betrayal, then turned east and attacked Yuan Tan. In 205, Cao captured Yuan's final stronghold of Nanpi (南皮, in modern Cangzhou, Hebei) and killed Yuan Tan in battle. Yuan Xi's subordinate Jiao Chu (焦觸) then rebelled and submitted to Cao, and Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang abandoned You Province and fled north to the Wuhuan chief Tadun (蹋頓), who had remained loyal to Yuan Shao and wanted to help the Yuans to regain their territory.

At this time, Gao also betrayed Cao and declared an open rebellion. In 206, Cao crushed his forces, and Gao fled south, intending to flee to Liu Biao's territory. On the way, he was intercepted by Cao's forces and killed. Bing Province fell under Cao's control as well. In 207, Cao marched north against Tadun, taking a path that Tadun did not exist and descending in surprise on Tadun's headquarters, defeating and killing him. Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang fled east to the warlord Gongsun Kang (公孫康), who controlled roughly the modern Liaoning. Gongsun executed them and sent their heads to Cao. The Yuan power bloc was no more. (During Cao's campaign against Tadun, Liu Bei, who had by now fled to Liu Biao, advised Liu Biao to make an attack against the capital Xu; Liu Biao declined, missing out on a chance to surprise Cao -- one that he would regret later not taking.)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Gradual reunification under Cao Cao", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki