Chapter 23 5. Zhang Xiu's unexpected fall

Cao Cao beat Liu Bei away, and did not dare to stay in Xuzhou, so he immediately led his army back to defend.He didn't dare to neglect Xuzhou this time, so he transferred Dong Zhao, who had just been appointed as Jizhou Mu, to Xuzhou Mu, and took charge of Xuzhou's affairs for him. In dealing with crises and decisively responding to emergencies, Dong Zhao is outstanding, and he is also someone Cao Cao can fully trust. It is very suitable for Xuzhou to be presided over by Dong Zhaolai. Cao Cao said that Yuan Shao was indecisive, but his heart was full of worries all the time.Although Yuan Shao is not enough to accomplish a major event, there is no guarantee that there will not be some sensible people under his command. If Yuan Shao is awakened, the consequences will be disastrous.

In fact, Cao Cao's worries were not superfluous at all.According to "Three Kingdoms", at the same time Cao Jun blitzed Xuzhou, Tian Feng, one of Yuan Shao's main advisers, ran to urge Yuan Shao to seize the opportunity to attack Xu County.But Yuan Shao didn't accept it. He didn't say bad things about Tian Feng's suggestion, and he didn't say yes, but he didn't act.His reason was very strange. He said that his son was sick, so wait and see. Yuan Shao had several sons. The exact number is unknown, but there were at least three. Apart from Yuan Tan who served as governor of Qingzhou, the second son was named Yuan Xi, and the third son was named Yuan Shang.Originally, Yuan Tan should be the heir, but Yuan Shang is the best-looking (beautiful), and both Yuan Shao and his first wife, Liu Shi, like the third son Yuan Shang, so the issue of the heir of the Yuan family has not been clarified.

After Yuan Shao eliminated Gongsun Zan, he appointed these three sons and his nephew Gao Gan to be in charge of each prefecture. Yuan Tan was the governor of Qingzhou, Yuan Xi was the governor of Youzhou, Yuan Shang was the governor of Yanzhou, and Gao Gan was the governor of Bingzhou.Yuan Shao's idea is to provide these children with an equal opportunity to see who is more talented. This move was clearly intended to overthrow the position of Yuan Tan's eldest son and pave the way for Yuan Shang to be established.Most people objected to this. Ju Shou said: "When a rabbit runs into the street, many people will chase him. If one person catches it, those who want to catch it will stop, because the rabbit I already have an owner. I hope you can read the lessons of previous failures, and think about the meaning of dividing by rabbit." But Yuan Shao didn't listen, and Ju Shou was disappointed, saying: "The catastrophe is about to start from here That’s how it started)!”

Why is Jushou so alarmist?Because in the hearts of ordinary people, the eldest son inheritance system cannot be messed up. No matter how stupid or stupid the boss is, he can't easily establish another person, otherwise it will cause chaos.If this kind of chaos is placed in the homes of ordinary people, at most it is a matter of throwing a few bowls and smashing a few pots, but in the homes of kings and princes, it is enough to cause turmoil in the current situation. In fact, Yuan Shao is already a prince, so his family affairs are no longer ordinary family affairs, but are closely related to the future and destiny of these states and millions of people, so Jushou is so anxious.It's a pity that Yuan Shao couldn't see this, and thought that family affairs were his own and had nothing to do with others.

Yuan Shao's unconventional actions really caused confusion among his subordinates. Seeing that Yuan Shao favored Yuan Shang, Shen Pei, Feng Ji and others began to gather around Yuan Shang, while Xin Ping and Guo Tu supported Yuan Tan.Different factions formed within Yuan Shao's camp. Once such factions are formed in a group, they will put the interests of the faction above the interests of the group as a whole, and will sacrifice the interests of the group in exchange for the interests of a few people. Many promising groups in history have been destroyed in this way. Tian Feng suggested that Yuan Shao seize the opportunity and go south. Although this was a clever strategy, it did not get the support of others. Yuan Shao put Tian Feng's suggestion on hold under the pretext of his son's illness.Tian Feng was very angry. He tapped with his walking stick and said, "It's such a pity that such a good opportunity is lost because of the illness of the youngest son!"

The above is the record of "Three Kingdoms", and there are completely different descriptions in other history books. According to the book "Xiandi Ji", Yuan Shao quickly launched an offensive to the south, and before leaving the army, there was a heated discussion within Yuan Shao's group.Yuan Shao's main counselors were clearly divided into two camps, the Hawk faction and the Dove faction, and the leader of the Dove faction was Tian Feng, who was actively fighting. "Xiandiji" stated that both Jushou and Tian Feng opposed Yuan Shao's sending troops. They believed that the people had suffered untold hardships after years of fighting. Now they should develop production and accumulate strength. They can use three years instead of trying to defeat the enemy through a war (three years) Among them, things can be settled).

Their views were opposed by representatives of the hawks, such as Shen Pei, Guo Tu, and others. The hawks believed that now is the best strategic opportunity. The more powerful Cao Cao is, the more difficult it will be to deal with him. Ju Shou retorted: "Rescuing chaos and punishing violence is a righteous soldier, and relying on the crowd to rely on strength is a proud soldier. The proud army is the first to fail. Cao Cao welcomed the emperor and established Xu County as his capital. Now it is unjust to lead his troops to attack him. Cao Cao promoted The law, the training of the army, the situation is completely different from Gongsun Zan. I am really worried about launching an unreasonable war and abandoning the safest and most reliable strategy."

Ju Shou brought up the topic of justice and injustice in war, which is actually a bit far-fetched. It sounds high-sounding, but it seems pale and empty in the real situation.The reason why Jushou and Tian Feng said this is because they have their own ideas, and they represent the common views of the locals in Jizhou. The locals do not want to fight, just like the people in Yanzhou did not support Cao Cao to fight Xuzhou.However, outsiders such as Shenpei and Guo Tu generally agreed to fight, and what they thought silently in their hearts was to fight back to their hometown. Yuan Shao is also an outsider, and he tends to be hawkish.More importantly, after Gongsun Zan's demise, his desire to unify the world became stronger and stronger, and he even couldn't wait any longer.

Yuan Shao accepted the suggestion of the Eagle Faction, not only quickly formed the Southward Corps, marched towards the Yellow River, but also made a lot of war preparations, the most important of which was to send multiple envoys in succession to win over the Allied Army. The key targets of Yuan Shao's wooing are Zhang Xiu, Liu Biao and Sun Ce. He wants to establish a united front and create an encirclement circle for Cao Cao. Although Yuan Shao's strategy cannot be said to have no effect at all, it basically failed. The envoys sent by Yuan Shao to Nanyang County arrived first. They met Zhang Xiu and stated Yuan Shao's proposition.Yuan Shao was well aware of Jia Xu's weight in front of Zhang Xiu, so he wrote a letter to Jia Xu specifically and sent envoys to do Jia Xu's work secretly (Yuan Shao sent people to recruit embroidery, and joined forces with Jia Xu's book).

Seeing the imminent battle between Yuan and Cao, Zhang Xiu might stand on Yuan Shao's side without even thinking about it, because he and Cao Cao are enemies, and Cao Cao also regards him as a sworn enemy.Yuan Shao's envoy explained his intention, and Zhang Xiu was ready to agree on the spot.At this time, Jia Xu spoke. Jia Xu faced Yuan Shao's envoy in front of Zhang Xiu and said, "Please go back and tell Yuan Benchu ​​that if brothers are not compatible, how can they tolerate the people of the world?" Zhang Xiu was taken aback when he heard the words, and asked Jia Xu, "How do you say that?"

After sending away Yuan Shao's envoy, Zhang Xiu asked Jia Xu, "Since this is the case, what should we do next?" Jia Xu said, "It's better to surrender to Cao Cao." Zhang Xiu was taken aback again and said, "Yuan Shao is strong and Cao Cao is weak, and we are enemies with Cao Cao. How can we submit to him?" Jia Xu explained the reason.He said: "Cao Cao served the emperor to order the world. This is the first reason; Yuan Shao is strong and we are weak. In this case, he will not pay attention to us. Cao Cao is weak and we must be happy to get us. This is the second. There is one reason; a person with the ambition to be a king will definitely put aside personal grievances and let the world know his tolerance. This is the third reason. I hope the general will not hesitate any longer!" After Jia Xu's analysis, Zhang Xiu thought it made sense, so he led his troops to surrender to Cao Cao. It was a very bold decision for Zhang Xiu to surrender to Cao Cao. Cao Cao would not regret this decision unless he was a person with great ambitions and put his personal grievances behind him, as Jia Xu analyzed.Zhang Xiu surrendered to Yuan Shao, basically without taking any risks, but surrendered to Cao Cao, he faced the test of life and death. Fortunately, Jia Xu, who has always been a good predictor, still maintained his consistent correctness on this important issue. When Cao Cao heard that Zhang Xiu had surrendered to him, he was surprised and immediately felt ecstatic. At this time, Cao Cao had already moved to the front line of Guandu. Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu went to the front line to meet Cao Cao. Cao Cao held Zhang Xiu's hand. This man almost killed him and owed him a son and a nephew. Adding the life of a favorite general is an enemy that he even dreamed of killing.Now he is standing in front of him, as long as he is willing, he can easily complete the idea of ​​revenge, but now all the hatred collapses in an instant, because he is really happy. Cao Cao hosted a banquet in honor of Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu, worshiped Zhang Xiu as General Yangwu, granted him the title of Liehou, and organized the troops brought by Zhang Xiu into the Guandu frontline corps on the spot.In order to dispel Zhang Xiu's worries, he also offered to marry the two families, and let his son Cao Jun marry Zhang Xiu's daughter. Cao Jun was born to Zhou Ji, and later adopted Cao Cao's younger brother, Cao Bin. After Cao Pi became emperor, he named this younger brother An Gong. For Jia Xu, Cao Cao prefers it.Although this was a formidable opponent who made him suffer three times in a row, he finally got him today, and Cao Cao felt like he had found a treasure.Cao Cao took Jia Xu's hand and said, "Sir, you have given me credibility in front of the world!" Cao Cao granted Jia Xu the title of Marquis of Du Ting in the name of Emperor Xian, and assigned him a higher position. He appointed him Zhi Jin Wu, a ministerial-level senior official responsible for the security outside the palace.Of course, this is a false position. Cao Cao would not let Jia Xu go to Xu County to stand guard for Liu Xie. He appointed Jia Xu a very high honorary position. by my side. After Dong Zhao was transferred to Xuzhou Mu, the position of Jizhou Mu was vacant, so Cao Cao appointed Jia Xu as Jizhou Mu.Although this is not a real job, in the minds of ordinary people, Zhou Mu is a "big border official" and has a high status. Cao Cao solved the problem that had been on his mind for a long time without a single soldier. He could breathe a sigh of relief regarding the situation in the south.