At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and during the Three Kingdoms period, although the world was in chaos, countless talented people appeared. This is true of the sentence “ chaos emerges as a hero ”. Talent in this historical period not only included many talented martial generals, but also talented military advisors who were effective assistants to the leading monarchs at that time.
In terms of military strategy, many people think that Zhuge Liang was the most powerful strategist because he helped Liu Bei establish the Shu Han Dynasty. Others commented Sima Yi is the best military strategist of the Three Kingdoms because he not only “surpassed” Zhuge Liang but also held the great power of the Cao Wei dynasty.
However, in reality, the best strategist of the Three Kingdoms was not Zhuge Liang or Sima Yi. Instead, this strategist is the one causing many surprises on the political chessboard. This person is it Tuan Uc.
Tuan Uc was Cao Cao’s talented military advisor and strategist.
Tuan Uc (163 – 212) courtesy name Wen Nhuoc, was a strategist and great mandarin during the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was instrumental in helping Cao Cao build his career during the Three Kingdoms period. During his lifetime, Tuan Uc was a very famous official among Cao Cao’s famous strategists. He was even called by Cao Cao as “ Ngo chi Tu Phong ”, comparing him with Truong Luong, one of the famous Three Masterpieces of the early Han Dynasty.
According to Special stories Truong Thuc’s article about Tuan Uc assessed that T Uan Uc does not pay attention to appearance, good conduct, taking care of the righteous path and being famous in the world. He is a talented hero of the country. At the same time, he was worshiped by many other famous scholars such as Sima Yi and Chung Do.
According to analysis by experts, without the powerful support of Tuan Uc, Cao Cao would have been eliminated long ago and could not have established the Cao Wei dynasty. Xun Yu changed the course of history four times and was considered Cao Cao’s most talented advisor.
So, what are these 4 historical changes?
First, the battle of Xuzhou
Cao Cao repeatedly followed Tuan Uc’s advice and achieved many great achievements in his career.
The first time Tuan Uc changed the course of history was at the Battle of Tu Chau. At that time, Cao Cao sent troops to attack Xuzhou. Although the front line had many advantages, Cao Cao’s base in Duyen Chau was almost captured by Lu Bo.
Specifically, in 193, the governor of Tran Luu district, Truong Mac (under Cao Cao), along with his brother Truong Sieu and strategist Tran Cung, when they heard that Cao Cao had massacred the people of Tu Chau, was extremely disappointed and did not recognize it. his position in Duyen Chau as well. The three decided to find a new leader to overthrow the Cao family. At that time, Lü Bo wandered from Yuan Shao’s place again, so Tran Cung advised Truong Mac to welcome Lü Bo back and make him the governor of Duyen Chau to replace Cao Cao.
Obviously, in this situation, Cao Cao fell into a disadvantageous situation, lost a large area of land, and at the same time it was difficult to grow strong in the future.
Tuan Yu skillfully helped Cao Cao recapture Duyen Chau.
Fortunately, Cao Cao had Xun Yu as his strategist. At critical times, Tuan Uc set up a trick to try to hold the last three citadels in Duyen Chau for Cao Cao: Nhan Thanh, Dong An and Pham Huyen. Therefore, Cao Cao did not lose his base and promptly brought his troops back to fight Lu Bo. This created an opportunity for Cao Cao to reverse the situation. It was with Xun Yu’s help that Cao Cao stabilized his position and eventually succeeded in defeating Lu Bu, forcing the powerful general out of Yanzhou in 195.
After this battle, Cao Cao was not only recognized by the imperial court but also firmly established his first territory.
Second, “serve the king and obey the vassals”
Cao Cao followed Xun Yu’s advice to carry out his strategy.
According to historical records, when the Truong An court was in chaos, two powerful ministers, Ly Thoi and Quach Di, turned against each other, and Emperor Han Hien escaped from the capital to the east and returned to Luoyang. At that time, Tuan Uc and Trinh Duc were the two people who advised Cao Cao to go welcome the “son of heaven” to help the Han dynasty, and at the same time summon the world.
In this way, there will be justice to suppress the vassal rebellion. History books call this strategy “ Serve the emperor and obey the orders of the vassals ” (roughly translated as Assisting the Emperor in giving orders to vassals ). This is considered an important strategy that brought Cao Cao to success and growing stronger. The significance of this ultimate strategy is so great that it is not inferior at all. Long Trung’s countermeasures ” that military strategist Zhuge Liang outlined for Liu Bei to unify the world.
Judging from Tuan Uc’s advice to Cao Cao, it can be seen that this strategist has great power and influence to be able to convince the monarch of the Cao family. Although the Han Dynasty was in decline at that time, there were still many people loyal to this dynasty. Xun Yu’s strategy was to help Cao Cao promote the word “meaning” to win people’s hearts in the context of great chaos.
If there is no strategy “Assist the Emperor to give orders to the vassals ” Cao Cao’s power would not have been able to become so powerful. Therefore, Tuan Uc’s actions and strategies completely changed the course of history.
Third, the battle of Quan Do
Cao Cao won a great victory at Guandu and completely destroyed Yuan Shao’s power by following Xun Yu’s advice.
The third time Xun Yu changed the course of history was during the Battle of Guan Do in 200. According to historical records, in the early and middle stages of the Battle of Guan Du, Cao Cao was actually at a disadvantage. Meanwhile, Yuan Shao had a strong military force, far surpassing Cao Cao’s strength.
Fighting between the two sides was fierce. Specifically, the two sides held out for a long time without winning or losing, but clearly the Cao army was in a weaker position. When he was running out of military provisions, Cao Cao wanted to retreat to Hua Xuong, so he wrote a letter to ask Tuan Uc for advice.
Immediately afterwards, Tuan Yu wrote a letter advising Cao Cao: Thousands of times, you should not think about retreating. Once you withdraw, you will not be able to hold on anymore ”. Instead, according to Tuan Uc, this is an important time to use tactics because both sides have been fighting for a long time and are both tired.
Cao Cao accepted Xun Yu’s opinion and tried to defend to wait for events. Sure enough, not long after that, Hua Du, Yuan Shao’s strategist, surrendered and offered to Cao Cao to plunder food and grass in O Sao. This caused Yuan Shao’s army to fall apart.
Wednesday, after the battle of Quan Do
After changing the course of history four times, Tuan Uc deserves to be the strongest strategist in the Three Kingdoms.
After the battle of Quan Do, although Vien Thieu’s entire army was defeated miserably, this only caused the Vien family to begin to weaken but not completely collapse. Despite winning the battle of Quan Do, gradually changed the landscape of the war , but it would be very difficult for Cao Cao to completely defeat Yuan Shao and unify the North. However, at that time, Cao Cao did not realize this and was eager to take action against the Yuan family. If he really does so, the outcome that Cao Cao will have to accept is failure.
At this turning point, Tuan Yu stood up and successfully dissuaded Cao Cao. Tuan Uc believes that although Vien Thieu’s “group” is powerful, it is not internally united. Therefore, if Cao Cao is impatient to attack, they will be forced to unite against the outside world. If Cao Cao did not attack, the Yuan family would naturally separate themselves. Wait until they are separated and weakened. If Cao Cao attacks again, the probability of success will be even greater.
Indeed, After Cao Cao followed Tuan Uc’s advice, what happened to the Vien family was exactly as this strategist predicted. The Yuan family had internal conflicts and was weak, so Cao Cao completely destroyed Yuan Shao’s children in 207 and unified the North. During this time, Tuan Uc maintained Hua Xuong without any incidents.
From the 4 times of historical progress changes, it can be seen Tuan Uc deserves to be the most powerful and powerful military strategist in the Three Kingdoms. Without him, Cao Cao would have been destroyed long ago. Unfortunately, Cao Cao and Xun Yu later disagreed about the goal of usurping the Han Dynasty. Finally, Tuan Uc died quite mysteriously in the year 212, at the age of 50. He was awarded the rank of Lieutenant and was given the posthumous name Kinh Hau.
Experts assess that, if there were no conflicts and Tuan Uc did not die prematurely, this talented strategist could use all his strength to help Cao Cao unify the world. Tuan Yu’s departure can also be considered a great loss for Cao Cao.
Article reference sources: Sohu, Baidu, Zhihu
