Xu Shu (?) –c. 230s), courtesy name Yuanzhi, was a native of Yingchuan, Yuzhou (豫州, in modern Yuzhou, Henan). At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Bei was a strategist and later returned to Cao Cao.
Xu Shu's real name is Fu, surname Shan. [21] In his early years, he avenged his life and changed his name to Xu Shu after being rescued. Later, he took refuge in Jingzhou with Shi Guangyuan of the same county, and had close contact with Sima Hui, Zhuge Liang, and Cui Zhouping. When Liu Beitun was stationed in Xinye, Xu Shu went to defect, disguised himself as a fortune, and recommended Zhuge Liang to Liu Bei. When Xu Shu went south, because his mother was captured by Cao Cao, he bid farewell to Liu Bei and entered Cao's camp. Later, this matter was artistically processed into "Xu Shu entered the Cao camp and did not say a word" and other after-a-break remarks, which were widely circulated. Xu Shu was also praised for becoming a model of filial piety. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Wei, Xu Shu was promoted to the rank of Right Lieutenant General and Yushi Zhongcheng (御史中丞).
Xu Shu, Gao Shiye, in the book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" does not have a high sense of existence, but he is very talented, he also chose the lord he wanted to be loyal to at the beginning, that is, Emperor Liu, Cao Cao is a thirsty person, knowing that Xu Youcai is a great filial piety, he thought of capturing his mother and forcing Xu Shu to leave Liu Bei, who he had always wanted to serve.
However, when they arrived at Cao's camp, Xu Shu's mother knew that it was because of her own reasons that her son had to turn to Cao Cao, so she was very angry, so she hanged herself. Xu Shu's heart was ten thousand alpacas stepping on, so that in Cao Ying there had never been any plan for Cao Cao, and the phrase "in Cao Ying's heart is in Han" is used to describe him. But the real situation is not like the proverb, in fact, Xu Shu sacrificed two plans for Cao Cao.
One
At that time, in order to save Ah Dou, Zhao Yun had been wandering in Cao Cao's camp and not leaving, even if Zhao Yun was very powerful, but Cao Cao also had many powerful figures under his hands at that time, and if they besieged Zhao Yun together, they would definitely be able to win.
But in fact, Zhao Yun can be said to have escaped from Cao Cao's pursuit unscathed, including Xu Shu's handwriting, he knew that Zhao Yun was a very powerful military general, which was very important to Liu Bei, so he persuaded Cao Cao to surrender Zhao Yun instead of killing him, which gave Zhao Yun the opportunity to escape.
Second
When faced with a common and very powerful enemy Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan chose an alliance, and when they burned Chibi, Xu Shu saw Pang Tong's plan, but for Liu Bei's victory, he did not expose this plan, but instead took this opportunity to take the initiative to ask Cao Cao to want to defend the rear for Cao Cao, so that he had no worries, which made Cao Cao very happy, but in fact Xu Shu used this opportunity to escape from Cao Cao.