How does Cao Cao evaluate Yuan Shao?

Cao Cao's evaluation of Yuan Shao is that I know him. He is ambitious but wise, strong in color and weak in courage, evasive and weak in power, numerous in soldiers and unclear in plan, arrogant and inconsistent in government orders. Although the land is vast and rich in food, it is enough for our use.

I know that Yuan Shao is a man with great ambition but little wisdom. He looks fierce, but his appearance is weak. He is always secretive about these things. There are many soldiers but they can't be cured, and their generals are arrogant but disobedient. Although there is a lot of land and a lot of grain reserves, they are nothing to me.

The change of Cao Cao's view on Yuan Shao.

Cao Cao said that when he was about twenty years old, he worshipped Yuan Shao very much, because it is said that he was born in a family of "four generations, three publics" and his moral expectations were extraordinary. But by the age of thirty, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had served together, and then he began to look down on Yuan Shao. Finally, at the age of forty, when they were separated, Cao Cao simply looked down on Yuan Shao.

Since then, it has indeed confirmed Cao Cao's evaluation. Yuan Shao finally missed too many opportunities because of these defects. After his death, Yuan Shao's sons competed with each other for the title, so that Cao Cao divided them and broke them.