Chapter 16 6. Eclectic

In the twelfth year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao died, Yuan Tan died, Yuan Shang died, Yuan Xi died, and the power of the Yuan family was completely destroyed. Cao Cao became the veritable overlord of northern China.In September of that year, Cao Cao returned to the imperial court from Liucheng class teacher, passed by Jieshi, rode his horse up the mountain, looked at the Bohai Sea in the distance, and was full of energy, so he wrote "Guan Canghai": Facing Jieshi in the east, you can see the sea.The water is so light, and the mountains and islands stand tall.The trees are overgrown and the grass is luxuriant.The autumn wind is bleak, and the flood is surging.The journey of the sun and the moon is as if it is out of it; the stars are shining, as if they are out of it.Fortunately even zai!Sing to Yongzhi.

Reciting this poem, a majestic majesty of mountains and rivers, and the majesty of the sun and the moon will come to your face.Because the poet's achievements in politics are too dazzling, people often ignore his literary attainments. In fact, Cao Cao has also made outstanding contributions to the development of Chinese literature.Since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "abolished all schools of thought and respected Confucianism only", people's thinking has been restrained, and literati can only sing praises when they write, lacking both true temperament and independent style.In Cao Cao's poems, he expresses his feelings directly and generously, sweeping away the clichés of old songs and ancient dictions, and presents a fresh and vigorous style. This style is called "Jian'an character" by later generations. Leading the wave of Jian'an literature.

The text is the voice of the heart, and the reason why Cao Cao's pen can produce such deep, full, vigorous and powerful verses is precisely because he is an eclectic, pragmatic and truth-seeking person. Cao Cao's pragmatism is reflected everywhere in his life. First of all, his marriage does not follow the custom and does not stick to the name.Cao Cao's first wife, Mrs. Ding, cried every day after the death of her eldest son Cao Ang, and was sent back to her natal family in a fit of anger by Cao Cao. Afterwards, Cao Cao regretted it and went to pick up Mrs. Ding, but Mrs. Ding ignored Cao Cao again. then leave.

After Mrs. Ding left, Cao Cao straightened his concubine Mrs. Bian.Mrs. Bian was born in a family. She used to be a prostitute. This "prostitute" is not a "prostitute".According to the concept of family status at that time, such a woman could never be a wife.But Cao Cao didn't pay attention to this at all, because Bian's family is virtuous and bright, and he is a very good person. According to historical records, every time Mrs. Bian traveled with the army, she would always stop the car to say hello to a gray-haired old man, and would give him silk, and she often couldn't help but burst into tears and said, "Alas! I just hate that my parents are no longer alive."

After Mrs. Bian’s eldest son, Cao Pi, was appointed as Cao Cao’s successor, people came to express their congratulations and jokingly invited Mrs. Bian to treat her, but Mrs. Bian replied very calmly: “Pi’er was appointed only because he was old. As a mother, I am satisfied that I didn't teach my child badly, so how dare I take any credit for it!" Faced with such a big happy event, you can still treat it calmly and cautiously, not to mention for a woman from a humble background, even for a It is not easy for men.When Cao Cao heard about this, he admired Mrs. Bian very much: "The anger does not change, and the joy does not lose integrity, so it is the most difficult."

When dealing with family affairs, Cao Cao can be eclectic and focus on practical results. When dealing with government affairs, Cao Cao also upholds the same style.Cao Cao knew that Baye is a ship that sails far and wide, and talents are the oarsmen on the ship. Therefore, Cao Cao issued an order to seek talents three times in the 15th, 19th and 22nd years of Jian'an, and openly recruited talents from all over the world. Cao Cao's standards for recruiting talents can be called maverick and shocking.Since ancient times, people have used "virtue", "famous character" and "family status" as the criteria for selecting talents, but Cao Cao ignored these and only proposed one-talent.He asked officials at all levels to recommend all people with real talents and learning, regardless of humbleness, morality, and short-term.

Cao Cao's explanation is that "government is advocating virtue, and rewarding functions when there are things." That is to say, when the world is peaceful, moral standards can be put first, but when talents are urgently needed in the autumn of turmoil, then we should reward merit and ability Talent comes first.This is not sticking to ancient methods, not sticking to one pattern, and doing extraordinary methods in extraordinary times. Of course, Cao Cao's "talent-only promotion" is not to reject virtue, but "do not seek fame and deal with real disasters." We should not ignore those who have real talents and do things for the sake of blindly pursuing virtue.

Of course Cao Cao likes talents with both ability and political integrity, and his subordinates Cui Yan and Mao Jie are such people.Every time Cao Cao talked about them, he respected them and used them to select officials. Look at Cao Cao's attitude towards people with flaws in morality? Cao Cao has a fellow named Ding Fei, named Wenhou, who likes to take advantage of small things.Cao Cao once assigned him to take care of a herd of cattle, but he took out the thin cattle at home and replaced them with fat cattle from the public cattle herd. Later, this matter was reported and Ding Fei was dismissed from office.One day Cao Cao met Ding Fei on the road, and he deliberately joked, "Marquis Wen, where is your official seal?"Ding Fei knew that Cao Cao was teasing him, so he also deliberately replied, I will exchange my official seal for big cakes.Cao Cao laughed, turned around and said to the people around him, Mao Jie asked me to punish Ding Fei many times, I said forget it, Ding Fei is like a family who can catch mice and love him. A cat that steals and eats, even if there is a small loss, can protect the integrity of the belongings.Cao Cao's approach to treating such people is to reuse their talents and not avoid petty greed.

Guo Jia is also a typical example.Chen Qun often criticized Guo Jia in public, but Guo Jia remained the same and never repented.Cao Cao rewarded Chen Qun for his innocence, and told Chen Qun that what you did was right; at the same time, he trusted Guo Jia as before, and neither punished Guo Jia nor accused Guo Jia, nor asked Guo Jia to change his private life. . Cao Cao's behavior is not to make peace, nor is it to strike a balance.He understood that virtue must be respected and encouraged, otherwise villains would run rampant, so he praised and affirmed Chen Qun, thinking that Chen Qun was right to stick to the bottom line of morality and criticize those who behaved badly.But Cao Cao also understands what it means to catch the big and let go of the small. There is no perfect person in the world. Since everyone has shortcomings and faults, then there is no need to blame them all. Especially when dealing with extraordinary people like Guo Jia, we must use extraordinary methods.Cao Cao's attitude is that we should persist in the routine, but we should not admit death, and we should be flexible when it is time to implement expedient measures.

Cao Cao is pragmatic in employing people, not only does not avoid petty greed, he does not stick to small details, and he does not care about previous suspicions.Once upon a time, there was a man named Liu Xiongming from Lantian who lived at the foot of Fuche Mountain when he was young. He collected herbs and hunted for a living. He went in and out of the clouds every morning and evening, but never lost his way. It is said that he could breathe out clouds and fog.When Li Jue and Guo Si rebelled, many people went to join him. Later, he went to vote for Cao Cao. Cao Cao held his hand tightly and said: "When I first entered Guanzhong, I dreamed of a god-man. This god-man is you, right?" ?” Cao Cao treated him generously, and made him a general, and asked him to go back and recruit his subordinates.Unexpectedly, after Liu Xiongming went back, the situation changed. His subordinates refused to surrender to Cao Cao and forced him to rebel against Cao Cao. Liu Xiongming had no choice but to follow the deployment and gathered thousands of people to guard at the Wuguan crossing.Cao Cao sent Xia Houyuan to fight them, and Liu Xiongming was defeated and fled to Hanzhong. Later, when Cao Cao pacified Hanzhong, Liu Xiongming had nowhere to escape, so he had to surrender to Cao Cao again.As soon as Cao Cao saw him, he pulled his beard and said, "Old thief, I have caught you this time!" Cao Cao resumed Liu Xiongming's official position and transferred him to Bohai to work.

From these things, we can see Cao Cao's boldness and insight, pragmatism and grandeur.Lu Xun once praised Cao Cao and said: "It doesn't matter if you are unfaithful or unfilial, as long as you have talent, this is what others dare not say." There are a total of 102 counselors under the account, and the talent lineup is the strongest among the three countries.Civil servants and military generals worked together and showed their magical powers, so that Cao Cao's warships could ride the wind and waves, and set sail to benefit the distance. Eclectic and pragmatic are actually synonymous terms. If "grid" represents lifeless rules, it is these meaningless rules that "pragmatic" discards.Cao Cao has a spirit of pioneering, seeking truth and being pragmatic, which permeates every aspect of his life, from poetry to life to politics. Another meaning of "pragmatic" is seeing the truth and acknowledging the truth.Cao Cao didn't blame everything because he had insight into the truth of human nature, knowing that light and shadow always go hand in hand, and people with great wisdom will not yearn for the light while avoiding the shadow. The result of accepting the truth is peace of mind.When the water is clear, there will be no fish, and when people observe it, there will be no disciples; if the water is clean, it will break easily, and if it is bright, it will be dirty.People who achieve great things must be open-minded people.