Among the three giants of the Three Kingdoms, the most capable and powerful is, of course, Cao Cao Mengde. With Cao Cao alive, Liu Bei sun quan was eager to move, but in the end he did not dare to take the step of establishing himself as emperor.
In the eyes of Liu Xie, the son of the Great Han Dynasty, the three giants of the Three Kingdoms were the most reliable Cao Cao, because Cao Cao was willing to give his three daughters to the emperor as concubines, and Liu Bei Sun Quanlai would not even see the emperor's face, let alone pay taxes and specialties and gold.
As Cao Cao said in the Shu Zhi Ling: "Let the country have no orphans, and I don't know when several people are called emperors and several people are called kings!" ”
The smartest thing about Cao Cao was that he didn't use Wei as a Han Dynasty, and as long as he was a Han Chancellor for a day, Sun Quan Liu Bei could only call himself a Han Chen. Cao Cao could use the holy will of Liu Xie, the son of the Great Han Dynasty, to order Liu Bei to beat Sun Quan and order Sun Quan to fight Liu Bei, and if they did not listen, then Cao Cao would occupy the commanding heights in the great righteousness, including Zhuge Liang and Zhang Zhao, and the civil officials and door valve families of Eastern Wu and Western Shu would not wholeheartedly assist the separatist forces.
Cao Cao was able to suppress Liu Bei's Sun Quan because he was not only stronger than Liu Bei Sun Quan, but also smarter than Liu Bei Sun Quan—if Cao Pi could learn half the wisdom of his father, the Three Kingdoms would be unified. In fact, Cao Cao originally had the opportunity to unify the three kingdoms, but unfortunately he was disturbed by Xu Huang's barbarism.
If we look at the history of the Three Kingdoms, we will find that Cao Cao did not hurt his bones in the Battle of Chibi, he was also the strongest of the three giants, and Liu Bei and Sun Quan, the brother-in-law, were actually a pair of hedgehogs who hugged each other for warmth: too far away is not hot, too close will be injured.
Cao Cao's cleverness, or rather his deep calculations, lies in this: after the Battle of Chibi and the Defeat of Hanzhong, Cao Cao never took the initiative to attack again, and he returned to Yecheng, posing as a posture of enjoying his old age in peace, singing at night and night on the Tongque Stage, but behind his back, he was fiercely armed, ready to take advantage of the fire when Sun Liu turned his face.
The opportunity was left to those who were prepared, and Cao Cao finally waited for the day when Sun Liu turned against him: Guan Yu attacked Xiangfan, and Sun Quan cut the back road for the sake of jingzhou's flesh and bones.
According to Cao Cao's original intention, he insisted on not abandoning Fancheng and sat and watched Sun Quan and Guan Yu die: "Sun Quan sent an envoy to write a letter to please Guan Yu for self-efficacy. Cao Gong also wanted to make Yu and Quan fight each other, so he passed on the book of power, so that Cao Ren showed Yu with a crossbow. ”
Cao Cao's approach is very unkind, but it is also extremely shrewd, that is, Bian Zhuang, who wants to learn to stab the tiger, and when Guan Yu and Sun Quan are defeated and injured, he will peel the tiger skin and eat tiger meat.
Zhang Liao was well aware of Cao Cao's strategic layout, so he rubbed and rubbed until Guan Yu was defeated, and he sent the army to the front.
According to the analysis of the battle situation at that time, even if Lu Xun Lü Meng took Jiangxia and Nan County, he might not be able to withstand Guan Yu's counterattack, because Lü Zi understood that he crossed the river with lightly armed water army marines, and the newly fought or deceived cities and pools were unstable and insufficient, while Guan Yu attacked Xiangfan with a full set of siege equipment.
Guan Yu retreated from the Xiangfan front, and Cao Ren was unable to pursue, because Cao Ren only had a few thousand men and was already hungry.
Regardless of whether Guan Yu could regain the lost land, there would definitely be a fierce battle between him and Lu Xun. So Cao Cao gave Xu Huang an order: "Send the generals Xu Shang, Lü Jian, and others to Order: 'Soldiers and horses must be gathered, and they must be in front of them.'" ’”
Cao Cao's meaning is obvious: Xu Shuzi, don't be greedy and adventurous, wait until everyone is together.
Zhang Liao rubbed and rubbed, Cao Cao slowly and leisurely, and when everyone gathered, Guan Yu and Lü Meng should also be separated from life and death, but Xu Huang, who was stunned, actually disobeyed Cao Cao's orders and launched a comprehensive attack on Guan Yu, not only stumbling on Guan Yu's return to aid Nan County and the public security, but also beating Guan Yu almost into a light rod commander.
Readers all know that ancient warfare has always been to kill three thousand enemies and lose eight hundred, Xu Huang defeated Guan Yu's men and horses, and his own losses were also very heavy, so after the Battle of Haocheng, Xu Huang was no longer able to launch a new offensive - his remnants of his army were no longer enough to fight with Lü Mengluxun for territory.
Xu Huang killed Guan Yu and became a cat who took chestnuts in the fire- the cat's paw burned a string of burning bubbles, and the chestnut was picked up and eaten by Sun Quan.
In addition to Cao Cao's resentment, he was also a little lucky: fortunately, Guan Yu ran fast, and if he died at the hands of Xu Huang, I would lose a lot!
Readers can imagine: What would be the situation if Xu Huang, like Zhang Liao, could not advance, and watched Guan Yu return to the division to fight Lü Mengluxun from a distance? Is the ultimate beneficiary Cao Cao Mengde?
Xu Huang was not stingy, and he played Cao Cao's good hand of cards in a sloppy way, and Cao Cao praised it on his lips, but did not give Xu Huang any substantial reward, while Zhang Liao, who was grinding and rubbing, was treated with special courtesy by Cao Cao: "Liao and Taizu will meet Mopi." When the Liao army arrived, Taizu took advantage of the labor and returned to TunChen County. ”
Cao Cao withdrew his army together with Zhang Liao, that is, he was extremely disappointed in Xu Huang's greedy and adventurous advance: you beat Guan Yu was a fierce victory, let Lü Meng pick up a big bargain, and use your remnants to fight Lü Meng's victorious soldiers, there was no benefit at all, I was busy with this scene, it was considered to be making a wedding dress for Sun Quan!
If we look closely at the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, volumes 1, 17, 36, 47, and 54, we will find that Cao Cao's opponents in the next big game are Sun Quan, who is also Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Lü Meng, Lu Xun and others, but they are just pawns.
Cao Cao's only regret is that Xu Huang's chess piece is a bit disobedient, if he is stable for another ten days and a half months, then Cao Cao can not only pocket the entire Jingzhou, jiangdong and xichuan parts of the prefectures, but also expected to take - when this time, Cao Cao beat Liu Bei, Sun Quan will not help, Cao Cao fights Sun Quan, Liu Bei will only watch the hilarity, Cao Cao unifies the world, and the Battle of Xiangfan is the best opportunity and turning point.
Cao Cao missed a great opportunity to deplete Liu Bei's sun power because of Xu Huang's recklessness, and although his son Cao Pi was more stable than Xu Huang, he did not hold his breath in the end, and once again gave up the opportunity to unify the three kingdoms in one fell swoop.
Guan Yu was captured by Eastern Wu, and Cao Cao's strategic intention was half achieved: to break up Sun Liu's alliance, leaving Liu Bei and Sun Quan to form an endless blood feud.
Unfortunately, Cao Cao's headache has not been cured, and before Liu Bei Sun Quan started fighting, he hung up first.
The monkey anxious Cao Pi called himself emperor, and Liu Bei was not willing to be followed, so the three giants fought, and it became a three-kingdom struggle for hegemony, and no one would win all the hearts and minds of the world.
Liu Bei and Sun Quan began to fight, the first battle was Yiling, Liu Bei lost, but not without the strength to fight again, he retreated to Yong'an, waiting for Zhao Yun, the governor of Jiangzhou, who came to his aid, to prepare to regroup and fight again in Eastern Wu, Sun Quan also reorganized his armaments, and the second battle was about to start.
According to common sense, Cao Pi should sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, waiting for Sun and Liu's two families to decide the victory or defeat, but when Liu Bei was not relieved, he preemptively launched an attack on Eastern Wu: "Order Cao Xiu, Zhang Liao, and Zang Ba out of the cave mouth, Cao Ren out of the shu, Cao Zhen, Xiahou Shang, Zhang Guo, Xu Huang to besiege Nan County." ”
Cao Pi's troops suppressed the situation, and Sun Quan had to make peace with Liu Bei, at this time Liu Bei was ready to watch a hilarious scene: "Cao Xiu made Zang Ba attack Xuling with five hundred light boats and dared to kill 10,000 people, burn siege vehicles, and kill thousands of people." The generals Quan Chun and Xu Sheng pursued the Wei general Yin Lu and killed hundreds. In December, Zheng Quan, the Grand Master of Taizhong, hired Liu Bei to the White Emperor and began to restore Tongye. ”
Under the military pressure of Cao Pi, Sun Quan instigated, Liu Bei became the ultimate beneficiary, and also got a chance to breathe, and the situation in which no one obeyed anyone was established in the Three Kingdoms, which was officially formed.
If we look closely at this history, we will find that Cao Cao's shrewdness, Xu Huang's recklessness, Cao Pi's monkey rush, and at the same time, Liu Bei and Sun Quan are not good stubble: these two can flex and stretch, they do not want to fight on both sides, and they do not hesitate when they should bend their knees and shrink their heads, so that Cao Pi has the feeling that the tiger eats the hedgehog - there is nowhere to put his mouth.
History cannot be rewritten, but readers can imagine: If Xu Huang had not been greedy and adventurous, and did not damage Guan Yu's main force, what would the situation be like in the Battle of Jingzhou? If Cao Pi was not in a hurry to attack Eastern Wu, would Sun Quan take the initiative to make peace with Liu Bei? If Liu Bei had eased up, would he have launched the Second Battle of Yiling? At that time, will the unification of the three countries be accelerated?