In every dynasty, there are real generals, and there are also dishonorable parallel goods. In the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", there is such a parallel general, his name is Xiahou Chun.
In the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Xiahou Chun is described as brave and fierce, of which the bridge section of "pulling out the arrow and the eye" is very bloody, Xiahou Huan's battle, the left eye was shot by the arrow, the pain made him a porcelain tooth, hurriedly pulled out the arrow with his hand, but unexpectedly pulled out the arrow with the eyeballs, and immediately shouted: "Father and mother's blood, do not abandon it!" ”
After saying this, he immediately stuffed his eyes into his mouth and swallowed it, and then he raised his gun and rode forward to kill Cao Sex, avenging an arrow of revenge - this kind of fierce strength is no less than Guan Gong's feat of scraping bones and healing poison.
He was highly treated in the Cao camp. During Cao Cao's reign, Xiahou Huan first served as the general of Fubo, the governor of Henan, and later as a former general.
The degree of trust he received from Cao Cao was incomparable to that of others, so that he could freely enter Cao Cao's bedroom without having to communicate with him.
After Cao Cao's death, Cao Pi succeeded to the throne, and in February of that year, that is, he made Xiahou Huan a great general, but he did not have that Hong Fu, and only served as a general for two months, and died of illness in April.
We know that the military generals of the Three Kingdoms period were rewarded for their military merits, but after going through the history books, they did not find Xiahou Chun's achievements in meritorious service, on the contrary, almost all his life was a defeat. Even in history, there is a series of embarrassing and even hilarious legends.
When Shi Zai Xiahou Chun was a teenager, he was known for his courage in the township, and when he was fourteen years old, someone humiliated his teacher, and in a moment of anger, he killed the man, which means that Xiahou Chun had great courage when he was a child.
When Cao Cao raised an army to fight against the Yellow Turban Army, Xiahou Huan, as a playmate when he was a child, also participated in the army and served as a general, but at this time he did not lead the army independently.
His first single-handed battle, the results can make people laugh - even made the enemy's "meat ticket".
In the first year of Xingping (194), Cao Cao attacked Tao Qian and took Xiahou Huan, who he believed in, to hold Puyang.
At this time, Lü Bu took advantage of Cao Cao's absence and sent his subordinates to play a trick, and as a result, Xiahou Huan was easily deceived and was kidnapped.
Xiahou Chun was kidnapped by bandits and brought to his subordinate Han Hao, who wanted to use him as a hostage to extort money.
However, Han Hao did not eat this set, and immediately ordered the soldiers to hold still, and told the kidnappers that according to the law of the land, they would not consider the safety of the hostages, and made a gesture of sending troops to attack, the number of bandits was relatively small, if Han Hao really launched an attack, it would be jade burning.
The kidnappers were meant to seek wealth, and even though they knew that they were going to take their lives into it, they were frightened, and not only gave up the hostages, but also surrendered en masse.
After Xiahou Chun was released, he led his troops to counterattack Lü Bu, but he was shot in the left eye by a stray arrow, and returned in defeat, and has since been jokingly called "Blind Xiahou".
Xiahou Huan has always paid attention to appearance, and whenever he looks in the mirror and sees that he is blind in one eye, he will be very angry and throw the mirror to the ground.
In 198, Cao Cao sent his trusted confidant to help Liu Bei seek revenge on Lü Bu, only to be taught a harsh lesson by Lü Bu's subordinates Gao Shun and Zhang Liao.
In 202, Xiahou Huan led his troops, with Li Dian as his deputy general, to resist the northern invasion of the often defeated general Liu Bei. Before the war, Xiahou Chun did not listen to Li Dian's advice, and was ambushed by Liu Bei's troops at Bowangpo, where he was burned to the ground by the fire and suffered a great defeat.
The often defeated general lost to the often defeated general, and Xiahou Chun's prestige suddenly dropped to a low point.
After this battle, in terms of military affairs, Xiahou Chun did not make any more meritorious achievements.
However, it is very surprising that such a parallel general can always get Cao Cao's trust and reuse.
In fact, in detail, xiahou Huan was able to obtain such a revered status for multiple reasons.
First of all, he was the founding father of the Han Dynasty, the famous general Xiahou Bao, and was a local hero of Pei Guochen.
Secondly, Xiahou Huan and Cao Cao were brothers of the same clan.
"Song, son of xiahou and uncle of Xiahou Huan, is a brother of Consort Xi." (Pei Songzhi's note on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms)
Historical records show that Cao Cao's father, Cao Song, was a child of the Xiahou Family to the Cao Family, who was both Xiahou Huan's direct uncle and Cao Cao's biological father. That is to say, Cao Cao and Xiahou Huan must be directly related by blood.
In the main history, when Cao Cao issued an edict to prepare for the army to start a business, Xiahou Huan was the first responder, and only later did Cao Ren, Cao Hong and others follow.
"In the winter of December, the army began to rise up in his own country, and it was six years old. Chen LiuXiaolian Weizi used his family wealth to raise an army, and there were 5,000 people. (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Chronicle of Emperor Wu, citing the Wei and Jin Dynasties)
The 5,000 men were funded by Cao Cao's friend Wei Zi and recruited by Xiahou Huan, Xiahou Yuan, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Cao Chun, and Cao Shao.
It was these five thousand people who enabled Cao Cao to inhabit one of the Eighteen Road Princes.
As one of the earliest initiators, Xiahou Huan was too senior and seemed to be the second person after Cao Cao.
In fact, when Xiahou Huan was a child, he did not develop towards the martial generals, he followed the Confucian doctrine of the scriptures, he studied the "Classics" at an early age, even if he later became a military general, he was still eager to learn more, even in the military camp, he often studied Confucianism, personally greeted the Confucian students who preached the scriptures and discussed the Tao.
Moreover, Xiahou Huan's life was very simple, and he often distributed rewards to soldiers and people, which was very consistent with Confucian advocacy.
Therefore, Xiahou Chun's life's deeds are not achievements, but political achievements!
From the beginning of Cao Cao's army, Xiahou Huan had been sitting in the rear.
Cao Cao also trusted him, and if Cao Cao was in Yanzhou, Xiahou Huan was guarding Puyang. Only there was really no way, Cao Cao asked him to lead his troops to the conquest, it may be a little difficult, and in other aspects Xiahou Huan has done very well.
He is also an expert in water management and tuntian, he digs canals to control water, benefits the people, and is a model worker. In the post of Jiyin and Chen Liutaishou, in the face of the locust plague, Xiahou Huan led his generals to cut off the Taishou water, build a pond for the local residents, and personally carry the soil as a weir to set an example. Pitang is a new type of agricultural technology that appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty, irrigation efficiency is extremely high, after the pitang was repaired, Xiahou Huan also encouraged the people to cultivate and familiarize themselves with the use of methods, and the local people have been benefiting since then.
From this point of view, Xiahou Chun is not useless, but Luo Guanzhong described such a typical civilian official as a brave military general, I don't know what it means?
Resources:
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Western Jin Dynasty, Chen Shou
Zizhi Tongjian, Song Sima Guang
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