Wei Strategist
Guo Jia, the Demon Talent
郭嘉170 to 2074 star
In short
Guo Jia (170 to 207) was the adviser Cao Cao trusted to judge men and moments. He left Yuan Shao's service unimpressed, told Cao Cao why he would win at Guandu, foretold that Sun Ce would die by an assassin, and pressed for the fast march that destroyed the Wuhuan in 207. He died that year, aged thirty seven. After Red Cliffs, Cao Cao said it would not have happened had Guo Jia lived.
| Lived | 170 to 207 |
|---|---|
| Name in Chinese | 郭嘉 |
| Courtesy name | Fengxiao |
| Served | Yuan Shao briefly, then Cao Cao |
The history
Guo Jia was from Yangzhai in Yingchuan, the commandery that gave Cao Cao most of his advisers. He went north to see Yuan Shao first, and left, telling friends that Yuan Shao collected able men and could not use them, and loved plans and could not decide.
Xun Yu recommended him to Cao Cao in 196. After their first talk Cao Cao said this was the man to make his great work succeed, and Guo Jia said he had found his lord.
Before Guandu, the history has him set out why Cao Cao would beat Yuan Shao despite the numbers, in the argument later called the ten victories and ten defeats. He urged the attack that finished Lu Bu at Xiapi when Cao Cao wanted to withdraw. After Yuan Shao’s death he advised leaving the Yuan sons alone until they fought each other, which they did.
In 207 Cao Cao’s staff feared that Liu Bei would strike from the south if the army went north against the Wuhuan. Guo Jia said Liu Biao would never let Liu Bei move, and that speed mattered more than baggage. The army left its heavy wagons, crossed five hundred li of empty country, and won at White Wolf Mountain.
He fell ill on the way back and died. Cao Cao told his other advisers that they were all of his own generation, and only Guo Jia was young enough to have been left the future.
The novel
Romance of the Three Kingdoms adds a deathbed letter that tells Cao Cao how to settle Liaodong without fighting. In the history that judgment is Cao Cao’s own.
Guo Jia in the game
In Warlords of the Three Kingdoms Guo Jia is the Demon Talent: a 4 star strategistof Wei. The game's line for him: “Cao Cao's favorite strategist, whose counsel won the north and whose death, Cao Cao said, lost Red Cliffs.”
| Kingdom | Wei |
|---|---|
| Role | Strategist |
| Rarity | 4 star |
| Base attack and defense | 19 and 27 |
| Where from | Summoned at the Imperial Summon, for Jade. The odds are shown before every summon. |
A warlord sworn to Wei fields him 10% stronger, as every General of their own Kingdom. Wei, Shu or Wu has what the choice changes.
Four star is where he starts. Duplicates become shards, shards add stars, and each star adds a tenth to both numbers.
Questions
How did Guo Jia die?
Of illness in 207, after returning from the campaign against the Wuhuan beyond the northern frontier. He was thirty seven.
Would Guo Jia have changed Red Cliffs?
Cao Cao thought so. After the defeat in 208 he sighed that if Guo Fengxiao had been alive he would not have come to this. It is a lament, not a proof, but it is in the history.
What did Guo Jia predict about Sun Ce?
In 200, when Sun Ce was rumored to be marching on Cao Cao's capital, Guo Jia said he was reckless, had killed too many men with loyal followers, and would die at the hands of a common assassin. Sun Ce was killed that year by retainers of a man he had executed.
How do you get Guo Jia in Warlords of the Three Kingdoms?
Summoned at the Imperial Summon, for Jade. The odds are shown before every summon.
Sources
The history follows Chen Shou's Records of the Three Kingdoms, written in the third century, with Pei Songzhi's annotations of the fifth, and Fan Ye's Book of the Later Han for the years before the Han court fell apart. What the page calls the novel is Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, of the fourteenth century. Where the two disagree, the page says which is speaking. For more on him, see Guo Jia on Wikipedia.
Written by Gitkonek Studio, .
Keep reading
- Xiahou Dun, the One-Eyed GeneralStruck in the eye by an arrow, he pulled it out and ate the eye, saying he would not waste a gift from his parents.
- Xu Chu, the Tiger FoolCao Cao's bodyguard, who once dragged an ox backward by its tail for a hundred paces.
- Cao Cao, the Hero of ChaosXu Shao called him a capable minister in peace and a treacherous hero in chaos; he laughed and took the second.
- Sima Yi, the Wolf Who Looks BackHe outwaited Cao Cao, outlasted Zhuge Liang, and left his grandsons an empire that had not been his.
- Zhang Liao, the Terror of HefeiAt Xiaoyao Ford his eight hundred broke Sun Quan's host, and in Wu his name was used to quiet crying children.