In recent years, Guo Jia has been constantly mythologized on the Internet. It is widely believed on the Internet that Guo Jia can be regarded as the first strategist of the Three Kingdoms period. "Guo Jia does not die, And the Crouching Dragon does not come out." That is to say, if Guo Jia was still alive, then perhaps in the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao would have already defeated Sun Liu's allied forces. Before the Battle of Chibi, Liu Bei originally had no place to stand. Once the Battle of Chibi was defeated, Liu Bei would have no way to retreat. That is, it is likely that it was wiped out at that time. Liu Bei was wiped out, and naturally there was nothing wrong with Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang could not play any role, and naturally there was no later depiction of mythology in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
(Guo Jia stills)
So, was Guo Jia really the first strategist of the Three Kingdoms period?
Let's take a look at what kind of contribution Guo Jia has made in his life.
First, inspire morale.
Cao Cao's biggest defeat in the early period was to lose to Zhang Xiu, and his son Cao Ang was also killed. At that time, Yuan Shao also looked at Cao Cao as a tiger, so the hearts of the people in Cao Cao's army fluctuated. At that time, Guo Jia put forward the saying of "ten defeats and ten victories", summarizing ten reasons why Cao Cao was bound to win and Yuan Shao was bound to lose.
Second, choose a strategy.
Guo Jia made several strategic choices for Cao Cao in his lifetime.
One time was when Cao Cao was fighting Lü Bu, because Lü Bu was firmly defending the city and Cao Cao could not attack it for a long time, so Cao Cao wanted to withdraw his army. However, Guo Jia believed that the opportunity could not be missed, and with his encouragement, Cao Cao finally took the city and destroyed Lü Bu.
The second was that Liu Bei betrayed Cao Cao, and Cao Cao wanted to attack Liu Bei, but was worried that Yuan Shao would insert a knife in the back. However, Guo Jia told Cao Cao that Yuan Shao was indecisive and would certainly not insert the knife, so there was no need to worry. Cao Cao was therefore relieved to attack, defeating Liu Bei and capturing Liu Bei's wife.
The third was the Battle of Guandu, after Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao, Guo Jia believed that Guo Jia's two sons would definitely have infighting, and they could ignore it and fight Liu Biao first. Cao Cao adopted this suggestion and first went south to fight Liu Biao, expanding the attack area to the south, preparing for the later Chibi War.
Fourth, after defeating Liu Biao, Guo Jia suggested that Cao Cao turn to attackIng Yuan Shao's two sons and cut the grass and roots with one blow.
In short, due to Guo Jia's various strategic plans for Cao Cao in the early days, Cao Cao has always been on the right path.
(Cao Cao stills)
Third, anticipate the future.
At that time, Sun Ce's momentum was very strong, and Cao Cao was very worried. Guo Jia said that Sun Ce, as a person, blindly flaunted force. Although he opened up a world in Jiangdong, he was likely to have formed a lot of enemies, and he might soon be killed. And the result was that soon after, Sun Ce was really killed.
From the above analysis, we can see that Guo Jia is indeed a very good strategist, he is sober-minded, strategic and decisive, especially he is very familiar with the personality of the characters at that time, as well as their psychology, and therefore makes his own independent judgment. And these judgments are indeed correct.
However, to say that because of these achievements, it is believed that Guo Jia has many gods, in fact, it is impossible to talk about. The suggestions he made were not only made by him at that time, but many people were able to make them. The key is who Cao Cao adopts. Because Cao Cao eventually adopted Guo Jia's, and after adopting Guo Jia's suggestion, he also achieved victory, so Guo Jia's importance was also reflected.
In this sense, in addition to Guo Jiati's suggestions, Cao Cao, as the main general, received the suggestions, which was particularly important. If Cao Cao, like Yuan Shao, did not listen to the opinions of his advisers. Or after listening, indecisive, can not decide, Guo Jia's importance will not be shown.
That is to say, without Cao Cao, Guo Jia might not be anything.
(Sun Ce stills)
So, Guo Jia is not so godly, how did he get canonized?
I think there are a few main points. The first is the Chibi War. In the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao was defeated miserably. And this big war happened to be fought by Cao Cao after Guo Jia's death. Therefore, some people can't help but think that if Guo Jia lived, Cao Cao would definitely not fight like this. Second, Cao Cao praised Guo Jia many times, believing that Guo Jia was the most important person who could achieve great things. After Guo Jiaying's early death, Cao Cao was very sad. Third, Guo Jia could predict that Sun Ce would be killed, which was a completely god-level figure.
However, even these points are actually questionable, and we may wish to do some analysis.
The Battle of Chibi was not fought by Guo Jia, and Cao Cao was defeated. But if Guo Jia is still alive, will Cao Cao be able to win the battle? At that time, Cao Cao's mentality had changed, and even if Guo Jia made more reasonable suggestions, Cao Cao might not adopt them. As long as it is not adopted, it will certainly not win. Besides, when Cao Cao lost to Zhang Xiu, Guo Jia was by Cao Cao's side, so why didn't he give Cao Cao better advice at that time?
Cao Cao praised Guo Jia, of course, there is a good side of Guo Jia, but it is also a performance of Cao Cao's "meritocracy". At the same time, it is also Cao Cao's political means to recruit talents, which is equivalent to the practice of "buying bones with thousands of gold".
Guo Jia was able to predict Sun Ce's death, but it was just a coincidence. Perhaps Guo Jia made other predictions, but they were not successful, so they were not recorded in history.
Therefore, Guo Jia's canonization is just a beautiful imagination of him in the case of "information asymmetry".
(References: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Luo)