The ancients called food Lu to enjoy The Lu, Cao Cao gave Xun Yu an empty box, no food is no Lu, according to the "Book of Rites qu Lixia" recorded: "The death of the son of heaven is the collapse, the death of the princes is known as the death of xue, the death of the doctor is known as the pawn, the death of the soldier is not Lu, and the death of the shu people is known as death." Xun Yu took the medicine to commit suicide after seeing the empty box, and said very clearly in the "Tongjian Kaoyi", which is called concealment.
Xun Yu (荀彧), in his early years, was recommended as a filial piety and served as a shougong order (in charge of the emperor's pen, ink, paper and other items), and later Dong Zhuo deposed the young emperor Liu Xie and established emperor Liu Xie, and Xun Yu abandoned the official and returned to his hometown. Later, when there was a war in Xun Yu's hometown of Yingchuan, he took refuge in Jizhou and defected to Yuan Shao, the third duke of the fourth dynasty, but Xun Yu finally believed that Yuan Shao could not become a major event, and left Yuan Shao to join Cao Cao, which can be said to have chosen a Ming Lord.
After Xun Yu surrendered to Cao Cao, he made many achievements in many aspects, and he held the weight in the middle for more than ten years, and made remarkable achievements in construction, conspiracy, Kuang Bi, and lifting people. In terms of strategy, he formulated a blueprint and military line for Cao Cao's planning to unify the north, and revised Cao Cao's strategic policy many times, and the more famous ones are "deeply rooted in the foundation to control the world" and "blackmailing the son of heaven to order the princes".
In terms of tactics, he had defended the three cities of Yanzhou in the face of Lü Bu's rebellion, and had a strange plot to restrain Yuan Shao from Guandu and attack Jingzhou strategically; in terms of political talent, he recommended a large number of talents for Cao Cao, such as Zhong Xuan, Guo Jia, Xia Zhicai, Xu You, Chen Qun, and Du Xun. It is no exaggeration to say that Xun Yu was Cao Cao's chief strategist in unifying the north, ju Zhiwei, a veritable "Talent of Wang Zuo".
However, it is such a brilliant genius, but in the end ended up in an "empty box to kill themselves", why is all this?
When Cao Cao first saw Xun Yu, he said: "My son Fang Ye", so posterity often compares Xun Yu to Zhang Liang. Zhang Liang was a Korean prince, Xun Yu was a loyal vassal of the Han Chamber, Zhang Liang accompanied Liu Bang in revenge for Han, and Xun Yu assisted Cao Cao for the Xing Han Chamber. When Liu Bang purged the heroes, Zhang Liangneng retreated with his whole body; when Cao Cao asked the Duke of Wei, Xun Yu died of melancholy. This was because Zhang Liang did not regard Liu as Han, while Xun Yu regarded Cao Cao as Han, liu bang claimed that Han had avenged when he was emperor, and Cao Cao called the Han dynasty difficult to rejoice. The ideals of Zhang Liang and Liu Bang can be said to be indirect unity, while the ideals of Xun Yu and Cao Cao are directly opposed.
Cao Cao gave Xun Yu an empty box, which was a gift instead of food, which, according to common sense, was a kind of temptation to see if you were still sincere to me when you were treated unequally. However, in ancient times, "eating" and "etiquette" were directly linked, so behind this temptation is a kind of humiliation.
Xun Yu was a politician, and politicians had ideals, because Cao Cao called Wei Gong plus Jiu Xi's affair had already violated Xun Yu's ideal of reviving the Han Dynasty, and now he was counting on Xun Yu to abandon his ideals and then go to Cao Cao to show his loyalty, it was impossible, all he could do was to die this silent resistance to save his dignity and uphold his ideals.
If you go deeper, Cao Cao gave Xun Yu an empty box, and Xun Yu committed suicide, because Xun Yu was different from those ministers who were struggling, he was a loyal subject. However, his contradiction is that he wants to be a loyal subject of both the Han Dynasty and Cao Cao, and he does not know that the two are contrary to each other, but the loyal minister is a loyal subject after all, he will not rebel to murder Cao Cao, and he will not sit idly by and watch Cao Cao ask the Duke of Wei, so what else can he do? All he could do was to die in the name of his loyal subject, which belonged to both the Han Dynasty and Cao Cao.
There is a poem commenting on Xun Yu: "The posterity Hugh left Hou Bi, and saw Han Jun without face", reading this, are you also sighing for Xun Yu? This may be a misunderstanding of Xun Yu, even if Cao Cao did not give Xun Yu an empty box, Xun Yu would also die, because he was martyring for his ideals, and eventually became a martyr of the Han Dynasty.