In the fourth year of Jian'an (199 AD), Dong Cheng, dissatisfied with Cao Cao's control of the imperial government, claimed that there was an edict from Emperor Xian, and secretly contacted Liu Bei, Zhongji, Wu Zilan and others to jointly deal with Cao Cao. In the first month of the fifth year of Jian'an (200 AD), Dong Cheng's plot was leaked, and all those involved in the matter were killed except for Liu Bei, who had fled back to Xuzhou in the name of intercepting Yuan Shu, because he had not escaped a disaster in Xuchang.
Liu Bei was also a person that Cao Cao greatly valued, and Cao Cao believed that the heroes of the world were only him and himself. Such a dangerous person naturally could not be left unchecked, so Cao Cao personally led an army to conquer Xuzhou. Liu Bei's army in Xiao Pei was widowed, and naturally could not resist, so the soldiers fled to Hebei and defected to Yuan Shao. Guan Yu, who remained behind in Xia Pi, did not have time to escape and was captured by Cao Cao.
Speaking of Cao Cao's true love for Guan Yu, Guan Yu was also named a partial general as soon as he surrendered. Some people may think that the official position of general may not seem high, but if we compare it with the five major generals with foreign surnames that Cao Cao valued most later—Zhang Liao, Le Jin, Yu Ban, Zhang Guo, and Xu Huang—at that time, we can find out what this appointment really meant:
The first of these five to follow Cao Cao's Lejin, which would only be a lieutenant of Kou;
The second followed Cao Cao, Yu Ban, who later became the head of the foreign generals, who was only a general at this time, half a level lower than Guan Yu;
The third Xu Huang, like Yu Ban, is also a general;
The fourth Zhang Liao was after Lü Bu was defeated by Cao Cao, and he took the initiative to surrender with his own men, and at first he was only a zhonglang general, until cao Cao and Yuan Shao fought a great battle, and then slowly accumulated merits and rose to the rank of general;
The fifth Zhang Guo, who was still under Yuan Shao at this time, did not lead his troops to surrender to Cao Cao until the Battle of Guandu and was given the title of Partial General.
The official position was equivalent to that of Guan Yu, but at this time, the official position of Yu Ban and others had also been promoted. Moreover, Zhang Gao took the initiative to surrender, and Guan Yu was captured and surrendered, which should theoretically be given more preferential treatment. Therefore, on the whole, this treatment is also worse than Guan Yu.
From the above comparison, it is not difficult for us to see that Guan Yu's official position is already very high.
That is to say, as soon as Guan Yu surrendered to Cao Cao, he surpassed Zhang Liao, Le Jin, Yu Ban, and Xu Huang. And Zhang Gao although surrendered later
In addition, after Guan Yu later learned of Liu Bei's news, he sealed the gold and left Cao Cao to find Liu Bei. Cao Cao's men wanted to chase after him, but Cao Cao did not blame Guan Yu, but instead praised him for his loyalty to the old lord and let him go. In contrast, later, after Being Frustrated Was Captured, he also had to flee back to Hebei, but Cao Cao was not polite and directly killed him.
Obviously, Cao Cao was extraordinarily polite in his treatment of Guan Yu, showing his preference for him.
And Guan Yu's ability is also very outstanding.
In history, Guan Yu was the first fierce general at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and has always had the reputation of "ten thousand enemies". During the Battle of the White Horse, Guan Yu rushed straight into the enemy line and killed the opposing general Yan Liang, which showed the strength of his martial arts.
Guan Yu's command ability is not bad. In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219 AD), Guan Yu led an army to northern Xiangfan, defeating cao ren and Yu Ban, two famous generals, and annihilating 40,000 or 50,000 Cao troops in one fell swoop. Cao Ren once fought Zhou Yu in the Battle of Gangneung for a year, which made Zhou Yu suffer a lot. Yu Ban was Cao Cao's most important foreign general, and it should be said that neither of them was a general.
What's more, in terms of military strength in this battle, the Cao Army should still be in the ascendancy. It can be said that it is very difficult for Guan Yu to defeat the two of them under the condition that the troops are inferior, or to almost kill the other side and destroy a whole army.
Therefore, Guan Yu's martial arts and commanding ability were extremely strong at that time.
Being appreciated and loved by his superiors and with strong abilities, if Guan Yu continues to stay under Cao Cao, then his future can be said to be immeasurable. Although according to Cao Cao's personality, the Cao clan and Xiahou clan of the same sect would certainly be more important, but Guan Yu was above the forbidden and Zhang Liao, and it was not a big problem to become the head of the foreign generals.
Guan Yu should also know this, but he finally resolutely left Cao Cao and returned to Liu Bei's side, and it should be said that this loyalty is still very rare. Maybe that's why Cao Cao liked him so much.