Cao Cao, as a brilliant and ambitious king during the Three Kingdoms period, fought countless battles in his lifetime. He was a very great military man, politician and writer. He unified the North, ended the long-term division, stabilized the lives of the people, advocated the rule of law, established a series of strict systems, strengthened the centralization of power, and also recruited talents and vigorously reused talents.
Yang Xiu was a talent that Cao Cao valued very much, all the way to follow Cao Cao in the conquest, during which he helped Cao Cao to give advice, which was deeply appreciated by Cao Cao, but in the end he was killed by Cao Cao, and before he died, Yang Xiu actually said that he should have died a long time ago! After Cao Cao killed Yang Xiu, he asked his father Why Yang Biao had lost weight, and Yang Biao replied with a sentence that had been famous for thousands of years.
In the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, politics was dim, the country was fragmented, peasant uprisings broke out one after another in various places, the people lived in deep trouble, the social productive forces suffered heavy losses, and the warlords of various factions fell into a scuffle, and in the process of suppressing the peasant uprising, the warlords not only indiscriminately killed innocent people, but also robbed the people of their property.
Cao Cao was born in a family of eunuchs, and from an early age he had a half-understanding of politics, and when the Yellow Turban Army was about to occupy Yanzhou and create one chaos after another in Yanzhou, Cao Cao found the right time to make Xiaoyanzhou a foundation and began to take the world step by step. So he bought the local officials of Yanzhou and captured the Yellow Turban Army in one fell swoop, and more than 300,000 Yellow Turban Troops were pocketed.
From then on, Cao Cao hung all the way, and while confronting Tao Qian and Lü Bu, he also tried his best to win over the useless emperor Han Xiandi at that time. Let Emperor Xian of Han become a powerful pawn in his hands, fighting all the way, killing countless enemies, once occupying the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Huai River valley, and finally defeating Yuan Shao in the Battle of Guandu and leading the northern region.
The long-standing division of the north has ended, and the people's lives have gradually stabilized. Due to the protracted war and natural disasters, the people's harvest was very small, coupled with the military food of thousands of troops and horses, the burden on the people increased, Cao Cao saw this in time, vigorously developed agricultural production, built water conservancy, and implemented the tun tian system, and the army also began to cultivate the fields, to a certain extent to achieve self-sufficiency.
The peasants' burdens have been reduced, the social productive forces have been rapidly restored, and the pace of economic development has been accelerated. Politically, Cao Cao was the guardian of the rule of law, and during his reign he practiced the rule of law, suppressed powerful nobles, banned land annexation, truly benefited the people, and social order became orderly. Such a heroic iron man, but also a thoughtful, versatile person.
His poetry has a pivotal position in history, and one masterpiece after another is very popular, and many poems such as "Guancang Sea" and "Short Song Line" have been circulated to the present and have endured for a long time. The poem not only contains his personal great ambitions, but also is full of the pride of a soldier. Cao Cao attached great importance to culture, which made the culture of the late Han Dynasty flourish.
Cao Cao liked to recruit talents and cherished the talents under his command. In selecting talents throughout the country, he tried his best not to select people with prestige, but to choose some people of the lower classes, so as not to prevent people with connections from joining forces to carry out coups d'état, thus effectively strengthening the centralization of power. One of the talents, although he was a "second generation official", was also deeply appreciated by him.
That person is Yang Biao's son Yang Xiu, Yang Xiu has been studious since childhood, Yang Xiu received the best education under the solid family background, coupled with his unusual talent, Yang Xiu was famous for his talent from childhood, full of scriptures, and had many unique views on national affairs.
When faced with some thorny military and political issues, Yang Xiu can always help Cao Cao to come up with suggestions and suggestions, solve problems very well, and it can be said that he has hardly ever come up with "bad ideas". This made Cao Cao even heavier. However, Yang Xiu did not grasp a good point and intervened in the battle for the throne between Cao Cao's two sons, and he sided with Cao Zhi.
Cao Zhi often spoke beautifully of Cao Zhi around Cao Cao, so Cao Cao also began to like Cao Zhi more, but often walking by the river where there were no shoes, Cao Cao soon learned that Yang Xiu was secretly helping Cao Zhi, so Kai became disgusted with Yang Xiu, and finally did not establish Cao Zhi as king. Cao Cao hated people who were smart, but Yang Xiu grew up in the voice of people's praise, and it was inevitable that he was a little conceited.
Once Cao Cao received a box of delicious shortbread, Cao Cao ate a little and then wrote the word "He" on the box and left, in fact, Cao Cao wanted to show the mysterious demeanor of the leader, but the clever Yang Xiu was very eyeless, and distributed the remaining crisp candy to everyone, "one person and one bite", so easily broke Cao Cao's mystery.
This is indeed a bit of a steal of Cao Cao's limelight, and his behavior is somewhat out of place, but Yang Xiu does not think so, and still goes his own way. Another time Cao Cao wanted to renovate the Xiang Mansion, after completing the decoration of the gate, Cao Cao came to the front to check it out, and immediately wrote a movable word on the door, which was Yang Xiu's own cleverness again, and immediately ordered the craftsmen to change the gate to a smaller size.
This made Cao Cao even more disgusted with Yang Xiu, and Cao Cao's mind and pattern were still relatively broad, so he did not treat Yang Xiu well. But then something happened, and Cao Cao couldn't stand it any longer, because Because Yang Xiu was alone, the whole army was panicked and confused during the war. Why?
It turned out that Cao Cao had fallen into a difficult predicament in a war, retreating for fear of losing face, and the attack was dangerous. One night, when Cao Cao was about to rest, a general came to check the code of today's military order, and Cao Cao said "chicken ribs", but the general did not understand, and immediately made a decision without authorization after Yang Xiu learned of it.
Chicken ribs can be described as meatless, so it is pointless to wait, so he ordered his troops to retreat, Cao Cao heard the noise outside, grabbed a soldier to inquire about the situation, and the soldiers panicked when they heard the retreat. Retreat like a headless fly. Cao Cao was furious when he found out, and could no longer bear Yang Xiu, and ordered Yang Xiu to be put to death. Because he usually does anything, but this is a military camp.
It is guilty to act cleverly and to cause the army to mess up. It is said that Yang Xiu said before he died, "I should have died a long time ago", and I don't know if he reflected on the improprieties of his various behaviors. So repent before you die. Shortly after the execution of Yang Xiu, Cao Cao returned to Beijing to visit his father Yang Biao, who was resentful and could not speak.
But when Cao Cao asked him why he had lost weight so quickly recently, he said sadly, "Shame on the foresight of the day, especially the love of the old cow licking calf", which is also the source of the idiom "licking the calf deeply", Cao Cao said that he was also helpless, as a king, he was repeatedly lost by Yang Xiu's face, and he could only say that Yang Xiu's emotional intelligence really needed to be improved.