ed。 He gathered his sons into his arms and wept bitterly。 Then he fell into a swoon。 He was picked up； but his mouth was full of blood which ran forth in a bright scarlet stream。
He sighed； saying； 〃Many battles have I fought； and little did I think to be driven to this。 Heaven is afflicting me。 You had better return each to his own territory and swear to fight this Cao Cao to the end。〃
Then Yuan Shao bade Xin Ping and Guo Tu as quickly as possible follow Yuan Tan to Qingzhou and prepare to give battle to Cao Cao lest he should invade。 Yuan Xi was told to go to Youzhou and Gao Gan to Bingzhou。
So each started to prepare armies and horses for repulsing Cao Cao。 Yuan Shao with his youngest son Yuan Shang and the remnant of his officers went away to Jizhou； and military operations were suspended for a time。
Meanwhile Cao Cao was distributing rewards to his army for the