Chapter 7 2. The difference between Cao and Yuan

Yuan Shao was furious. After Cao Cao became a general, Yuan Shao was appointed Taiwei.Yuan Shao jumped up immediately, because the Taiwei was under the general.Yuan Shao said angrily, Cao Cao had already died several times, and I saved him every time.This guy is so ungrateful, does he still want to "hold the emperor to make me"? This is probably the cause of the so-called "Cao Cao coerced the emperor to order the princes", and it is also the evidence: Emperor Xian was the emperor he held hostage, and Yuan Shao was the prince he tried to order.It's a pity that Cao Cao didn't admit it.Neither he nor his counselors have said this sentence, nor have they ever used the reference to "holding the emperor".

What did Cao Cao say? Serve the Son of Heaven.Serve the emperor to order not to be a minister, and serve the emperor to order the world. Is there a difference between holding the emperor and serving the emperor? Of course there is, and it is an essential difference.To serve means to respect and protect, and to coerce means to hijack and use; "Order not ministers" means to make the local government obey the central government, and "order the princes" means to make others obey themselves.The former is a program, while the latter is a strategy; the former wants to achieve national unity, while the latter wants to realize personal ambitions, how can it be the same?

So, who said that the princes should be coerced by the emperor? Others say Cao Cao's.For example, Zhuge Liang said that Cao Cao "took the emperor to command the princes"; people in the Sun Quan group also said that Cao Cao "took the emperor to conquer the four directions."As political opponents, they all know that "holding the emperor" is immoral, so they don't hesitate to put this hat on Cao Cao. In fact, the earliest version of this remark comes from Jushou (Ju read Ruju) and Tian Feng, Yuan Shao's advisers.Ju Shou's saying is "Using the Son of Heaven to order the feudal lords, and the beasts and horses to fight against them"; Tian Feng's saying is "Using the Son of Heaven to command the feudal lords, the whole world can refer to it."This is their suggestion to Yuan Shao.

The words used by both of them are also "hold". It seems that Yuan Shao Group's level was not high almost from the beginning.On the contrary, on Cao Cao's side, there are not only Mao Jie's "follow the emperor's orders but not ministers", but also Xun Yu's three major programs: serve the master to follow the people's expectations, uphold the public to subdue heroes, and support righteousness to be handsome.Xun Yu said that with such great smoothness, general strategy and great virtue, one will be upright, majestic and invincible. Obviously, Xun Yu focuses on righteousness, while Ju Shou focuses on benefit.Xun Yu always sticks to one theme: defending the current emperor is maintaining national unity, which is "great righteousness".Jushou repeatedly emphasized a strategy: mastering the current emperor can have political capital, which is "great benefit".

Style and taste, superior or inferior. The style of a counselor is the taste of the boss.Ju taught Xiaozhi to benefit, which shows that Yuan Shao values ​​profit; Xun Yu taught him to use righteousness, which shows that Cao Cao values ​​righteousness.At least at that time, Cao Cao was righteous, or pretended to be righteous. However, any statement and decision-making is a double-edged sword.The banner of political correctness and justice set by Mao Jie and Xun Yu put a high hat on Cao Cao and put a curse on him, making him dare not proclaim himself emperor brazenly throughout his life.Perhaps it was for this reason that Cao Cao resented them when his ambitions swelled.Xun Yu was forced to commit suicide, and Mao Jie was imprisoned and almost died.

This is of course something to say later, let's look at Jushou now. Jushou was one of the counselors that Yuan Shao accepted by the way after he cheated Jizhou from Han Fu.After he joined Yuan Shao, the two had a conversation.Just as Mao Jie's talk is "Cao Cao's version" of "Longzhong Dui", Ju Shou's talk can also be counted as "Yuan Shao's version", and it is said with great literary grace—— What he said made Yuan Shao's blood boil, and he immediately said "this is my heart".It's a pity that Yuan Shao probably only listened to those beautiful words, but he didn't implement what Jushou hoped most, welcoming the emperor and restoring the country.

Therefore, shortly before Cao Cao welcomed the emperor, Jushou once again proposed the strategy of "coercing the emperor to order the princes, and the beasts and horses to fight for justice", but it was opposed by others.They believed that the Eastern Han Dynasty was about to come to an end, and everyone was aspiring to win the Central Plains.Instead of getting the emperor to your side, it is better to be king first. Now or never.Yuan Shao hesitated, but Cao Cao took the lead. This time it was Yuan Shao's turn to be surprised: After Cao Cao moved his capital to Xu County in welcoming Emperor Xian, he got a large piece of land south of the Yellow River, and the people in the Guanzhong area also joined him one after another.More importantly, Cao Cao became a hero to help the Han Dynasty, while the opposition was placed in a disadvantageous position of injustice.From then on, Cao Cao could borrow or use the name of the emperor no matter how he appointed officials to expand his territory, or crusade against dissidents and political enemies, no matter how unjust he was, it was just.Opponents are passive.If they want to oppose Cao Cao, they must first take the risk of opposing the emperor.

Cao Cao took the lead and took advantage of it. Yuan Shao suffered a big loss.As soon as Cao Cao welcomed the emperor to Xu County, he solemnly issued an imperial edict to Yuan Shao in the name of the emperor, accusing him of "having a vast territory and a large number of soldiers, but dedicated himself to building a party". attack others.When Yuan Shao received the imperial edict, he was out of breath, but he had no choice but to swallow his anger and write a letter to defend himself. After regretting, Yuan Shao came up with another remedy.He asked Cao Cao to move the emperor to Juancheng (Juandu Rujuan, now Shandong Juancheng), which was closer to him, on the grounds that Xudu was low-humidity and Luoyang was dilapidated, trying to share this trump card with Cao Cao.Cao Cao was amused in his stomach, so he refused politely.

Of course, Cao Cao also made concessions.He knew that he could not turn against Yuan Shao at this time, so he resigned from the post of general and handed it over to Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao stopped making trouble now.In fact, Yuan Shao was not in the court, and his orders could not go beyond the scope of his jurisdiction. Being a general had no real meaning.What's more, this position was handed over by Cao Cao, so he has no face, and it can only make people laugh in vain. What's more, Cao Cao can give him face, but he will not give him real power, nor will he listen to his orders.Because Yuan Shao had a problem with Yang Biao and Kong Rong, he asked Cao Cao to find a fault and kill them.Cao Cao knew that now was not the time to kill, let alone kill celebrities indiscriminately.What's more, even if he wants to kill, it is Cao Cao's own business, how can Yuan Shao command it?

So Cao Cao replied another letter to Yuan Shao in a serious manner.The letter said that today the world is falling apart, heroes and heroes rise together one after another, and the monarchs and ministers have neither the same nor the same virtue, which is the so-called "autumn of mutual trust".At this time, as the ruler of the empire, even with the most honest attitude, it may be difficult to win the trust of others.If you still want to kill one or two of them, wouldn't everyone be in danger? Then, Cao Cao taught Yuan Shao by citing scriptures: Back then, Emperor Gao conferred Yongchi, who had a feud with him, as Marquis, which stabilized the entire court and the world. Has the general forgotten this story?

Yuan Shao was convinced, he gritted his teeth, but there was nothing he could do. Of course Cao Cao knew what Yuan Shao was thinking, and he also knew that one day he and Yuan Shao would publicly fall out.But he also realized that things were not as simple as he imagined.Don't think that if you master the little emperor and become a general, the world will be yours.Nothing!In fact, Yuan Shao didn't listen to him, Yuan Shu didn't listen to him, and small warlords like Lu Bu and Zhang Xiu didn't listen to him, let alone Liu Biao and Sun Ce who were far away in the sky. The banner of the emperor cannot replace the criticism of weapons, and the world of warlords can only be fought by iron horses and swords. Cao Cao, who was not yet Wei Wu, raised his whip again.