Cao Cao's invasion of Xuzhou
| Cao Cao's invasion of Xu Province | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the wars at the end of the Han dynasty | |||||||
 A Qing dynasty illustration of Cao Cao (right, on horseback) departing to attack Xu Province. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
| Cao Cao |
Tao Qian Tian Kai |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Cao Cao |
Tao Qian Liu Bei |
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| Strength | |||||||
| More than 5,000 | |||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Over 100,000 civilians | |||||||
Cao Cao's invasion of Xu Province was a punitive invasion launched by the warlord Cao Cao against Tao Qian, the Governor of Xu Province, in the late Eastern Han dynasty. The casus belli for the invasion was the murder of Cao Cao's father, Cao Song, in Xu Province. Although Tao Qian's culpability was questionable, Cao Cao nonetheless held him responsible. The invasion took place in two separate waves in 193 and 194, during each of which Cao Cao captured a number of towns and engaged in collective punishment of the civilian populace.
Cao Cao's father Cao Song was living in his hometown Qiao (譙; present-day Bozhou, Anhui) after retirement until it became a battle field when the Campaign against Dong Zhuo happened. So Cao Song along with the rest of Cao's family moved to Langya (琅邪; present-day Linyi, Shandong) in Xu Province. By 193, Cao Cao had established a base in Yan Province (covering present-day southwestern Shandong and eastern Henan). And he invited his father over to his territory. However, before Cao's family could reunite, they were murdered in the border line of Xu Province and Yan Province. There were two accounts of how they were murdered. One was that the governor of Xu Province, Tao Qian, sent his men to kill Cao's family because he was defeated by Cao several times. The other was that Tao Qian actually sent people to protect Cao's family because he was afraid of Cao Cao. But his men killed Cao's family for the great fortune they owned. Regardless of Tao Qian's culpability, Cao Cao intended to hold him responsible for the murder of his father.
In the summer or autumn of 193, Cao Cao invaded Xu Province with an unspecified number of troops and easily captured over ten cities. After conquering Tao Qian's capital of Pengcheng (彭城; present-day Xuzhou, Jiangsu), Cao Cao killed possibly more than 10,000 defenders. Tao Qian fled to Tan (剡; present-day Tancheng County, Linyi, Shandong), which Cao Cao assaulted unsuccessfully.
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