During the Battle of Guandu, Xu You defected to Cao Cao at the key point of the confrontation between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, and offered a clever plan to sneak up on Wuchao, helping Cao Cao to achieve a decisive victory in the Battle of Guandu. Later, Cao Cao attacked Jizhou, and Xu Youxian broke the city and was killed because of his lack of words.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms says that Xu Youkou was killed by Xu Chu, and the historical Xu You was killed by Cao Cao. Cao Cao advocated "meritocracy", always attached importance to the construction of talent teams, and rarely executed his own strategists in the "entrepreneurial stage", so why only kill Xu You, who was "resourceful"?
Figure 1 Yellow Turban Uprising
First, Xu You has no bottom line in doing things for people
Before the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao's chief strategist Xun Yu's objective evaluation of Xu You was "greed but not rule". That is to say, Xu You is too greedy, greedy for wealth, greed for official positions, greed for money, greed for fame, and lack of great wisdom, this kind of person is not worried. This pertinent evaluation hit Xu You's "death hole".
Xu You had a good relationship with Yuan Shao and Cao Cao when he was young, and they were most likely small haired people who grew up together with "peeing and mud". Before and after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Xu You, together with Jizhou Assassin Shi Wangfen, Pei Guo Zhou Jing, and others, joined forces with Hao Jie to depose Emperor Hanling and establish the Marquis of Hefei as emperor, with the intention of dragging Cao Cao into the water. To tell the truth, the Han Ling Emperor was indeed a generation of emperors, and the beginning of the great chaos in the world during his reign had already appeared. But you people spend the boss's "salary" and want to turn around and kill your boss? Why did Xu You dare to think and dare to do it? Because once the success of the profit is too large: like Yin Yi and Huo Guang, abolish the old emperor and establish a new emperor, it is very likely that they will control the government, step into the ranks of the three dukes, and realize a dream that will never be realized in a lifetime (this is what Dong Zhuo did later). These people involved in the operation did not control the national army, nor did they hold high-level positions in the imperial court, failure was inevitable, Cao Cao was not a fool, and he certainly would not do it. But Xu You has been blinded by interests and does not consider reality. Unsurprisingly, Emperor HanLing immediately took action after discovering the hint of their rebellion, resulting in Wang Fen committing suicide and Xu You and others fleeing.
Figure 2 The Battle of Guandu was one of the "Three Great Battles" at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty
Shortly after the death of Emperor Hanling, Dong Zhuo's dictatorship was in chaos, and Xu You, who had been on the run for many years but was not willing to be lonely, jumped out and defected to the "old man" Yuan Shao. Later, when the Battle of Guandu broke out, Xu You offered Yuan Shao a plan, but Yuan Shao did not listen. Xu You, who had a premonition that Yuan Shao would fail, did not hesitate to turn his gun to Cao Cao for his own benefit.
Anyone can sell for the sake of profit, which is a vivid portrayal of people like Xu You who have no moral bottom line. Xu You can betray Emperor Hanling and Yuan Shao today for the sake of immediate interests, and it is difficult to ensure that tomorrow he will not "rebel against the water" at the critical moment when Cao Cao is trapped. Such a person staying around for a long time is to plant a "landmine" for himself, and it is difficult to guarantee that one day he will not step on it without paying attention, so in Cao Cao's eyes, xu You cannot stay for a long time.
Figure 3 Yuan Shao (?) –202), the beginning of the character
Second, Xu You no longer has much use value
Xu You's main link in the battle between the Cao Cao clique and the Yuan Shao clique, and there was no other dazzling performance. Xu You had not been able to offer advice to help Yuan Shao expand his strength, and Xu You's death did not have any adverse effect on Cao Cao's development. It can be seen that Xu You's strategic layout, ability to lead troops to fight, and govern the localities are not a star and a half worse than Xun Yu, Xu You, Cheng Yu, Guo Jia, and others, and such people "grasp a big hand" under Cao Cao. Xu You was like the plate of melon seeds before the official banquet, one more than him, not much less.
When Xu Yougang surrendered to Cao Cao, Cao Cao greeted Cao Cao with high-standard courtesy barefoot because Cao Cao had not yet found a way to break the situation at that time. Xu You was under Yuan Shao's account very early on, and he was sure of his weaknesses, and the strategy was highly targeted. Later, Cao Cao attacked Jizhou, and Xu You's contribution was also due to the fact that the management loopholes of the "original company" were very clear.
Jizhou had been breached, and Yuan Shao's sons were already like "loach in the pit—they couldn't turn over much waves." At this time, Xu You had little use value for Cao Cao, if Xu You was sensible, he could stay wherever he was cool; if he really didn't understand things, it didn't matter if he killed him.
Figure 4 Jizhou, Hezhou
Third, Xu You did not put himself in the right place with Cao Cao
From the zhou gongding etiquette to the Han Dynasty's uncle Andsun Tongding dynasty ceremony, the mode of getting along between the emperor and his courtiers, bosses and employees was determined step by step. For your own leaders, either you honor the "lord", or you express your closeness to call the "table character" This is the basic rule of handling.
Xu You singled out for Cao Cao, that is, Cao Cao's employees, not business partners. Xu You was able to make meritorious contributions because Cao Cao adopted his advice in time, and the soldiers in the front fought to the death to kill the enemy before making meritorious achievements. In other words, Xu You was able to make great achievements, not because of how much he could endure, but because Cao Cao provided him with a large enough platform.
But it is clear that the greedy Xu You did not realize this. With his own merits, Xu You still called the boss's nickname "Cao Aqi" before and after him. Leaders must have their own majesty, or they must not be very powerful, how to arrange work? So in a cry of "Cao A-Qi", Cao Cao's tolerance for Xu You also reached its limit step by step. Finally, one day, Xu You once again shouted Cao Cao's nickname to the people around him at the east gate of Yecheng, boasting about his exploits, and Cao Cao, who could not bear it, resolutely chose to take Xu You into custody and kill him.
Figure 5 Cao Cao (155–220)
Fourth, Xu You cannot handle the relationship with colleagues well
Xu You defected to Cao Cao during the critical period of the Battle of Guandu, and in addition to anticipating yuan Shao's inevitable defeat, another important inducement was that Xu You's family had broken the law and remained in Yicheng to arrest them. Fighting in the front, the most important thing in the rear is stability, so that the soldiers on the front line can "grasp the main business without distraction." The important reason why The Trial Match arrested Xu You's family at the key node of the Great War was that Xu You had not handled the relationship with colleagues such as Trial Match, Guo Tu, and Tian Feng before. In other words, Xu You's popularity among colleagues is very poor, so when they can turn a blind eye, they choose to "open their eyes" to find Xu You's trouble. Yuan Shao's advisers were not united, and Xun Yu, Guo Jia, and others knew it, so it was an open secret.
Cao Cao sneaked up on Wuchao, captured the general Chun Yuqiong alive, and cut off his nose. Cao Caonian planned to spare Chun Yu Qiong's life on the basis of his love affair with Chun Yu Qiong as the "Eighth Lieutenant of the West Garden". Cao Cao's men acquiesced and did not speak, only Xu You stood up and fanned the flames: Chun Yu Qiong would think of you whenever he looked in the mirror and saw that he did not have a nose! Hint to Cao Cao: If you let Chun Yu Qiong go, he will not be grateful, and he will definitely seek revenge on you again when he has the opportunity in the future. For the "old colleague" who fell into distress, Xu You did not hesitate to choose to fall into the well, and as a result, Chun Yu Qiong was killed. The advisers and generals who followed Cao Cao understood that Xu You was a bit "not a thing" and would try to avoid going as far as possible in the future.
Figure 7 Xu You (?) -204), the word is far away
The direct cause of Xu You's murder was that he was proud of his achievements and did not respect Boss Cao, and he neither rebelled nor committed crimes. Why did others make a small report to Cao Cao? Because Xu You has not been able to handle the relationship between himself and his colleagues, he cannot integrate into the circle of Cao Cao's subordinates. Therefore, when Xu You was imprisoned and killed, no one interceded for him. Colleagues saw that he was unlucky, happy that it was too late, who would take the initiative to touch this moldy head.
Xu You was eventually killed, dying of not being able to find his place. In other words, Xu You's ability is there, but the emotional intelligence is too low.