In the eleventh month of the fifth year of the Jian'an Era, as winter arrived, the Battle of Guandu had drawn to a close.
Although Yuan Shao had won this battle, the edge of his troops had been blunted, making further advance difficult.
Cao Cao, on the other hand, had suffered defeat and lost vast tracts of land, yet the strength of the troops under his command had not been diminished.
At this moment, however, Yuan Shao faced a grave problem that urgently needed resolving: his territory now bordered Liu Bei's forces along its entire length.
Originally, with Cao Cao acting as a buffer, Liu Bei and Yuan Shao had shared a border only between Qing and Xu.
But as Yuan Shao continued his advance, his territory had been pushed as far as north of Pei Commandery and Chen State.
Along this defensive line stretching for hundreds of li, every section was occupied by Liu Bei's army, whose total strength exceeded one hundred thousand men.
Furthermore, as Cao Ang contracted his defensive lines, the tens of thousands of troops originally stationed to guard against Liu Bei had also been freed up.
Added to this were the forces of Cheng Yu, Man Chong, and the others on the eastern front, who had withdrawn to Chenliu, bringing Cao Cao's troop strength in places such as Yingchuan, Chen State, and Chenliu in the Central Plains to over one hundred thousand.
In other words, after Yuan Shao seized Yanzhou, he would have to face head-on the pressure of more than two hundred thousand troops from Cao Cao and Liu Bei.
By then, Yuan Shao no longer possessed the arrogant air of looking down upon all beneath heaven. Seeing the sheer number of troops fielded by the two sides, he summoned his advisers to seek