After clashing a few times in the battlefield with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao's army was forced to retreat to Guandu. By then, Yuan Shao had 700,000 troops, while Cao Cao only had 70,000 well-trained troops.
It was then that Yuan Shao's advisor, Xu You defected to Cao Cao's camp. He advised Cao Cao to set fire to Yuan Shao's grain depot in Wuchao to derail his plans.
Cao Cao thought it was a brilliant idea. So, he chose 5,000 of his trained troops and camouflaged them by getting them to wear the same armour as Yuan Shao's army. This strategy allowed his soldiers were able to sneak into Yuan Shao's army camp in Wuchao.
The general guarding Wuchao loved to drink. So, Cao Cao's soldiers waited till he was extremely drunk before torching the grain depot. Chaos ensued and Cao Cao took this opportunity to strike.
Yuan Shao's army was thrown into confusion and he fled with 800 of his troops. After the battle at Guandu, Yuan Shao completely lost power. - Compiled from The Three Kingdoms
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