Zhuge Liang in the Three Kingdoms period had extremely outstanding achievements in politics and military, not only being called "the first phase in the ages", but also being the military god Zhuge Wuhou who could predict the prophet and win every battle in the eyes of posterity. However, in the great cause of Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, although it went through several times, it was not successful, and a big reason was that it was blocked by Sima Yi.
If there is no Sima Yi who can resist Zhuge Liang, then the history of the Three Kingdoms is very likely to be rewritten, and Zhuge Liang can truly realize his long-cherished wish of "reviving the Han Dynasty and unifying the world", but with Sima Yi's resistance, Zhuge Liang can only help Liu Bei divide the world in the end and fail to unify the country. There is a question here, Sima Yi is so powerful, why did he not have a reputation in the early stage, and wait until the Three Kingdoms entered the late stage before it began to enter people's field of vision?
The reason is also very simple, only because in the beginning, Cao Cao had these five great strategists, they not only followed Cao Cao earlier, won Cao Cao's trust, and their talent and strategy were not inferior to Sima Yi,or even slightly superior. Since Cao Cao had so many good ministers available to him, Sima Yi, who had the "Wolf Gu Xiang", was naturally expelled from the inner circle of his think tank.
So who are these five great strategists of Cao Cao? They were Guo Jia, Xun Yu, Jia Xu, Xun You, and Mao Jie. I believe that everyone is familiar with the names of these five people, when Cao Cao did not rise for a long time, only when he was still a second-rate force, it was precisely because of the help of these people that The Cao Cao clique expanded the camp step by step, and finally successfully unified the entire north.
Guo Jia played a crucial role in the development of Cao Cao and was recognized as the "First Counselor" at that time. Cao Cao had three major battles in his life, in the Battle of Guandu, the original second-rate Cao Cao clique successfully eliminated the first-class Yuan Shao forces, of which Guo Jia's "ten victories and ten defeats" theory can be said to be indispensable; in the Battle of White Wolf Mountain, it was also Guo Jia who analyzed the situation and formulated strategies, allowing Cao Cao to successfully conquer the powerful Wuheng and unify the north.
However, after helping Cao Cao unify the north, Guo Jia died of illness, and then Cao Cao swung his army south to completely unify the world, and as a result, his strength was greatly damaged in the Battle of Chibi, and he fled in a panic, and in the process of fleeing, he lamented: "If Feng Xiao (Guo Jia) is there, he will not be alone", which shows Guo Jia's great help to Cao Cao. If Guo Jia had not died young, then the possibility of Cao Cao's domination of the world would obviously be much greater.
Xun Yu defected to Cao Cao in 191, once Cao Cao's base area of Gunzhou was captured by Lü Bu, Cao Cao did not care, but also wanted to take Xuzhou and then destroy Lü Bu, it was Xun Yu who stood up in time and explained to Cao Cao in detail the importance of the base area, so that Cao Cao did not make mistakes at the critical moment, and promptly destroyed Lü Bu to consolidate his base area. Jia Xu was known for his inexhaustible strategy, and it was he who successfully separated Ma Chao and Han Sui with his calculations, which allowed Cao Cao to successfully and easily pacify Guanzhong.
Xun You was known as Cao Cao's "mastermind", and when Cao Cao was beaten by Lü Bu, it was he who proposed to Cao Cao a strategy to flood the city with water, and successfully revived Lü Bu, who was brave and invincible, and it was also because of his strategy that he successfully beheaded the famous Hebei generals Yan Liang and Wen Ugly. Mao Jie was even more powerful, and Cao Cao's famous "blackmail of the Son of Heaven to order the princes" was proposed by Mao Jie.