At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, foreign relatives and eunuchs alternated chaos, and the people of Li were miserable and could only rise up, and Zhang Jiao launched a huge Yellow Turban Uprising at this time, giving this ancient empire a heavy blow. The huge Han Empire was crumbling, and the taishou and assassins in various places joined the ranks of the division, and Cao Cao also rose at this time.
In his early years, he started by suppressing the Yellow Turban Army, and through conquest after conquest in the north, he created a piece of his own world, in the process of conquering the four sides and pacifying the world, it was inseparable from the help of many military generals, and the military generals of Cao Cao's own clan had Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xiahou Yuan, and Xiahou Huan, so who was the most trusted among them?
Compare from the time of following Cao Cao
The ancient Chinese had a concept of cronyism, and many ambitious tyrants liked to cultivate their own cronies, and spread out to the elite of the entire army by cultivating cronies who belonged to cronies.
People who are generally qualified to become cronies not only need to have superb skills, but also to establish deep feelings with their superiors. Chinese feelings are generally established between life and death, so the sooner you follow your husband, the easier it is to gain trust.
At the beginning of the uprising, Cao Cao was supported by the army in his own family village, and at that time, the first two martial artists who followed Cao Cao were Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Huan. However, the two were not brothers, and Xiahou Huan was Xiahou Yuan's brother.
In the sixth year of Zhongping (189), Cao Cao raised an army in Chenliu, and Xiahou Yuan followed Cao Cao with Sima Cao, and although Xiahou Huan did not clearly record the time of his pursuit, he was not much different, and he also followed Cao Cao when he was just in trouble. Cao Ren and Cao Hong were both cao cao's younger brothers, and followed cao cao relatively late, although it is not clearly recorded.
Compared with the following time, the two brothers Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Huan were relatively trusted a little more.
From the contributions made and military achievements to the comparison
To compare whether a person is trusted or not, it depends on how much merit he has done, and who is more powerful than the ancient courtiers. Compared with who governs the people who live more affluently and pay taxes, the contrast between the military generals is not this.
Although there were many military generals in the Three Kingdoms period who were also responsible for governing the localities, it was still the size of each other's military merits and contributions that competed.
Therefore, we should also compare Cao Cao's trust in these four military generals with their contributions and military achievements.
Xiahou Yuan and Cao Cao had a very good relationship, Cao Cao had committed a crime when he was at home, or Xiahou Yuan had made a prison for him, and later Cao Cao raised an army to rescue him. At the time of the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao's army was short of food, and it was Xiahou Yuan who led his troops to send grain to Cao Cao. When Ma Chao rebelled, it was also Xiahou Yuan who broke it. Of course, the most important thing was that Xiahou Yuan defended Liu Bei's attack at Yangping Pass.
The reason why Xiahou Huan was trusted by Cao Cao was mainly because he dared to sacrifice his life for Cao Cao, and during the conquest of Lü Bu, he was shot in the left eye by Lü Bu's soldiers and continued to fight unyieldingly.
When he was a local official, there was a locust plague due to drought, and Xiahou Huan personally led his soldiers to cut up water from the soil and build ponds for irrigation of the land, and his various acts of benefiting the people made the local people particularly fond of him.
On this point, it is something that the other three cannot compare. Cao Cao once made him a general of Fubo, and it should be known that the General of Fubo in the Han Dynasty, Ma Yuan, was the object of Cao Cao's lifelong admiration.
Cao Ren's military achievements were quite numerous, and he once made a plan to attack Huguan during the Battle of Guandu, which Cao Cao admired very much. After Cao Cao's defeat at the Battle of Chibi and the emptiness of the Wei soldiers and horses, he let Cao Ren defend Jiangling against Zhou Yu's attack, and Cao Ren also exerted his strength in the garrison for more than a year.
The more dangerous it is, the more it can show a person's loyalty, and in terms of loyalty to Cao Cao, cao Hong will definitely be talked about.
When Cao Cao was pursuing Dong Zhuo, he was defeated by Dong Zhuo's general Xu Rong and lost his mount, and in this crisis moment, Cao Hong ceded the mount to Cao Cao, which was equivalent to saving his life. At the time of the Battle of Guandu, everyone charged into battle, but Cao Hong did not make a fuss, and he stayed at his headquarters to repel Zhang Gao's attack. The results of the Battle of Guandu were preserved.
Based on the above comparison, Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Huan are more meritorious than the other two, and according to common sense, it is speculated that Cao Cao should trust them both more.
The decisive victory still depends on who is high and who is low in political treatment
Xiahou Yuan was made a general of The Expedition to the West by Cao Cao at the time, while Xiahou Huan was the position of a general, and Cao Ren's position was not specified, but after Xiahou Yuan's death, Cao Ren succeeded him to his official position.
Therefore, it is speculated from here that Cao Ren's official position should be lower than that of Xiahou Huan, comparing Cao Ren's succession to the position of great general, Cao Pi was already the emperor, and at that time, Cao Cao died, and according to the rules that the new emperor of ancient China had to be crowned, it was speculated that Cao Ren must be promoted as a great general. In Cao Cao's time, Cao Hong's official position was at most the position of a general of the capital protector.
Therefore, from the perspective of political treatment, it is still Xiahou Huan who is the highest. The two brothers Xiahou Huan and Xiahou Yuan were the first to follow Cao Cao's army.
Comprehensive analysis, Cao Cao should be more trusting xiahou Huan, the so-called higher the position, the greater the responsibility, and the higher the degree of trust.