The Battle of Jieqiao, also known as the Battle of Jie Bridge, was fought between the warlords Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan in 191 in the late Eastern Han dynasty. It was the first significant clash of arms between the rival warlords in the contest for dominion of Ji and Qing provinces in northern China. The site of the battle is generally considered to be a site east of Guangzong County, Julu Commandery (present-day Wei County, Xingtai, Hebei). Background Late in the winter of 191, following a victorious campaign against remnants of the Yellow Turban rebels, Gongsun Zan took the pretext of his cousin Gongsun Yue's death in the Battle of Yangcheng to declare war on Yuan Shao. His army marched southwest between the Qing and Yellow rivers into Ji Province. Very quickly a number of cities under Yuan's control were compelled to change sides. Yuan Shao hurriedly made conciliatory gestures, in a bid to forestall a full blown war. He gave his official position as Grand Administrator of Bohai to Gongsun Fan, a cousin of Gongsun Zan. Gongsun Fan, however, took the Bohai garrison to join his clansman. The battle Soon, Yuan Shao himself came in force and the two sides met 40 km south of Jie Bridge, a crossing on the Qing River. Gongsun Zan's army had a reported strength of 40,000, consisting of 30,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry. He arrayed his infantry in a square and divided his cavalry between the left and right wings. In the centre were placed his "white horse volunteers" (), an elite mounted unit which formed the core of his fighting force. Whilst the numbers may have exaggerated, their appearance must have been impressive; Records of Three Kingdoms describes how their "flags and armour lit up Heaven and Earth". Though Yuan Shao's army was of comparable size, it consisted almost entirely of infantry. His commander Qu Yi was placed at the vanguard with 800 crack troops and 1,000 crossbowmen. Behind them stood masses of footsoldiers, numbering in the tens of thousands, commanded by Yuan Shao himself. Observing that Yuan's vanguard was thinly spread, Gongsun Zan ordered a charge by his cavalry. The aim was to "break the enemy line" - destroying the core of an opposing army and then rolling up its retreating multitudes. Qu Yi's men hid behind their shields and awaited the onslaught. When Gongsun's cavalry was a mere ten