Treatise on Armament Technology: Volume 27, Strategic Studies

Three Kingdoms: Part II

"[Move] toward Jingzhou A strategic province in central China to wait for developments there. Once the change occurs and we strike, the matter can be settled in a single stroke."

Cao Cao said, "Excellent." He left Jia Xin to guard Liyang and returned south.

Yuan Tan said to Yuan Shang: "Now that Cao’s army is retreating, his men’s hearts are set on returning home. Before they have finished crossing the river, we should dispatch troops to ambush them; we could cause a total rout. We must not miss this opportunity."

Shang was suspicious of him Shang feared that if Tan defeated Cao Cao, Tan's prestige would grow too great, or that the military movement was a pretext for Tan to seize power. Tan was furious and attacked Shang. Tan was defeated and led his troops back, crossing to the south.

Cao Cao attacked Liu Biao’s army at Xiping. Meanwhile, Yuan Shang attacked Yuan Tan and crushed him. Tan fled to Pingyuan, and Shang laid a tight siege against him.

Tan sent Xin Pi—the younger brother of his advisor Xin Ping—to seek help from Cao Cao.

Liu Biao The governor of Jingzhou and a relative contemporary of the Yuans sent a letter to advise Tan, saying: "A gentleman fleeing hardship does not seek refuge in an enemy state; even when a friendship ends, one does not speak ill of the other original: "交絕不出惡聲" (jiao jue bu chu e sheng); a classic Chinese idiom emphasizing that even after a falling out, a person of character maintains dignity and does not badmouth their former ally. How much more so is it wrong to forget the enmity of your ancestors referring to the bitter rivalry between their father, Yuan Shao, and Cao Cao, abandon the bonds of kinship, and create a feud that lasts for ten thousand generations, leaving behind the shame of a broken alliance? Even if the ruler of Jizhou referring to his younger brother, Yuan Shang, who had inherited the capital of the Yuan territories does not act as a proper brother, you should lower your ambitions and endure humiliation, making the survival of the cause your primary duty."