Why Cao Cao Took Revenge in Xuzhou

In the previous episode, Liu Bei found temporary footing under Gongsun Zan, while Yuan Shao gradually overcame Gongsun Zan in the north.

At the same time, Cao Cao was changing too. He was no longer only a local commander leaning on Yuan Shao. He was becoming a power in Yan Province.

Cao Cao Moved Toward Yan Province

After the Suanzao alliance collapsed, Cao Cao no longer expected much from lords who drank, delayed, and watched one another.

Bao Xin had warned him that Yuan Shao, as alliance leader, was using authority for private gain and might become another Dong Zhuo. Cao Cao was not strong enough to restrain Yuan Shao yet. He needed to build south of the Yellow River first.

The opportunity came when Yellow Turban remnants and Black Mountain-related forces attacked Dong Commandery. The local administrator could not resist. Cao Cao came to help and defeated Bai Rao's forces.

Yuan Shao saw that Cao Cao could fight and recommended him as Administrator of Dong Commandery.

In name, this was a recommendation to the court. In practice, Yuan Shao was making the appointment himself. Chang'an was in the hands of Dong Zhuo's former men, and commands barely left the capital gates. In this world, the man with troops gained the right to speak.

Cao Cao established his seat at Dongwuyang and finally had a small base.

Xun Yu Came to Cao Cao

At this time, Xun Yu joined him.

Xun Yu, courtesy name Wenruo, came from the famous Xun clan of Yingchuan. He had a reputation for high talent and was also called a man fit to assist a ruler.

After Dong Zhuo's disorder, Xun Yu judged that Yingchuan was a crossroads region and would be devastated if the realm fell into war. He urged local people to leave. Many refused to abandon home. Xun Yu moved his own clan to Ji Province.

By the time he arrived, Ji Province had fallen from Han Fu to Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao treated Xun Yu as an honored guest, but Xun Yu concluded that Yuan Shao would not accomplish the great task. He left and joined Cao Cao.

Cao Cao was delighted and called him his Zhang Liang, comparing him to the great strategist of Han founding memory. Xun Yu was only twenty-nine.

Later, Li Jue's forces raided east of the passes, and Yingchuan and Chenliu suffered heavily. Xun Yu's earlier warning was proven right.

The Qingzhou Troops Became Cao Cao's Foundation

Soon, Qingzhou Yellow Turbans entered Yan Province.

Governor Liu Dai wanted to fight them directly. Bao Xin advised against it. The rebels were numerous, the people were frightened, and local troops lacked spirit. Better to hold cities, deny battle, wait for the rebels to run short of supplies, and then strike.

Liu Dai ignored him and was killed.

Yan Province had no leader. Chen Gong, then still serving Cao Cao, saw the opening and persuaded Cao Cao to let him convince Yan officials to invite Cao Cao as acting governor. Bao Xin also supported Cao Cao.

Cao Cao accepted the province and immediately faced the Yellow Turbans. He and Bao Xin fought hard, using repeated stratagems until the rebels were defeated. Bao Xin died in the fighting, and his body could not be found. Cao Cao mourned him, buried a wooden image, and personally sacrificed to him.

Cao Cao then pursued and accepted large numbers of surrendering Yellow Turbans. The figures in the histories are huge and may be inflated, but the scale was clearly enormous.

From these surrendered people he selected elite soldiers and formed the Qingzhou troops, one of the early foundations of Cao Cao's army.

The Emperor and Grain Became Strategy

Once Cao Cao had footing in Yan Province, Mao Jie offered two key ideas.

First, support the emperor and use the emperor's name to command those who disobeyed. Second, store grain and settle the people so long war could be sustained.

These became central to Cao Cao's future: legitimacy in one hand, food in the other.

In the warlord age, many armies collapsed before battle because they lacked supplies. Land was abandoned, people fled, and soldiers starved. Yuan Shu's forces in Huainan even reached scenes of cannibalism.

Cao Cao understood that the man who could feed soldiers over time would outlast men who only gathered troops.

He also sent envoys to the Chang'an court. They had to pass through Zhang Yang's territory in Henei. Zhang Yang disliked Yuan Shao, and Cao Cao was a Yuan Shao ally, so he first hesitated. A subordinate advised him that Cao Cao, though still weak, was a hero worth befriending.

Zhang Yang let the envoys pass. Li Jue and Guo Si at Chang'an first suspected false loyalty, but Zhong Yao advised them to welcome Cao Cao's initiative. Cao Cao gained a small measure of court recognition.

Cao Cao's Father Was Killed

Then Cao Cao's father, Cao Song, was killed.

Cao Song had been Grand Commandant and the adopted son of the eunuch Cao Teng. He was very wealthy. When Cao Cao rose in rebellion, Cao Song took Cao Cao's younger brother and hid in Langya. After Cao Cao became governor of Yan Province, he sent for his father.

Cao Song traveled with carts full of treasure. Passing through Xuzhou, soldiers under Tao Qian saw the wealth and grew greedy. They attacked, killed Cao Song and Cao Cao's brother, divided the goods, and fled.

Tao Qian may not have personally ordered the killing. But as governor of Xuzhou, he could not escape responsibility for troops under his authority killing and robbing a guest in his territory.

Cao Cao was enraged and marched on Xuzhou.

Xuzhou Was Slaughtered

Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou under the name of avenging his father.

But Yan Province bordered Xuzhou, and Cao Cao also needed to expand. Cao Song's death gave him the fiercest possible reason to strike.

That autumn, Cao Cao defeated Tao Qian's forces, captured more than ten cities, and reached Pengcheng. Tao Qian retreated.

Many people had fled east to Xuzhou to escape war in the central plains. Cao Cao's revenge campaign hit them terribly. Historical accounts describe hundreds of thousands of men and women driven into the Si River and drowned, with corpses blocking the flow. The numbers may be shaped by ancient rhetoric, but the memory is clear: Xuzhou suffered massacre.

Tao Qian asked Tian Kai of Qing Province for help. Tian Kai came with Liu Bei, then Chancellor of Pingyuan. Liu Bei had several thousand men, and Tao Qian gave him four thousand Danyang troops. Liu Bei left Tian Kai and joined Tao Qian, who recommended him as Inspector of Yu Province and stationed him at Xiaopei.

Cao Cao's supplies ran low, so he withdrew to Yan Province. His attack on Xuzhou unexpectedly gave Liu Bei a new chance.

Zhang Miao and Chen Gong Opened Yan Province to Lü Bu

Cao Cao attacked Xuzhou again, but his rear collapsed.

Zhang Miao, an old friend, and Chen Gong, a former supporter, joined Lü Bu to seize Yan Province.

Zhang Miao had once been close to Cao Cao. When Yuan Shao wanted Cao Cao to kill Zhang Miao, Cao Cao refused, saying Zhang was an intimate friend and the realm was not settled enough for friends to kill one another. Before the first Xuzhou campaign, Cao Cao even told his family to go to Zhang Miao if he did not return.

But power changed the relationship. Once Cao Cao became governor of Yan Province, Zhang Miao was beneath him and grew resentful.

Chen Gong had helped Cao Cao enter Yan Province, but Cao Cao's killing of the famous scholar Bian Rang and his family shook the local elite. Chen Gong regretted his support and turned against him.

Lü Bu, after fleeing Chang'an, had visited Zhang Miao in Chenliu and left on good terms. Yuan Shao disliked that connection because he had tried to kill Lü Bu.

Chen Gong now urged Zhang Miao: Cao Cao was away in Xuzhou, Yan Province was empty, and Lü Bu was a great warrior. If they invited Lü Bu to govern Yan Province, Zhang Miao could become a power in his own right.

Zhang Miao agreed. Chen Gong secretly welcomed Lü Bu and made him governor of Yan Province.

Cao Cao was fighting in Xuzhou when his old friend and old subordinate pried open his rear. The next episode follows Liu Bei's rise in Xuzhou while Cao Cao rushes back to face Lü Bu, Chen Gong, and Zhang Miao.