Xun Yu was Cao Cao's top strategist, and the relationship between the two was very good, otherwise he would not have been praised by Cao Cao as:
My Son's Room
。 It can be understood that Cao Cao compared Xun Yu to a talent like Zhang Liang, so why would the two turn against each other when Cao Cao was about to enter the throne as king of Wei? Let me analyze this problem carefully for you.
1、
Politics are different
Xun Yu was the chief strategist of the Cao Wei clique, a man with ideals and ambitions, whose ideal was to help Cao Cao reunite the Han Dynasty and eventually return power to Emperor Xian of Han. Cao Cao naturally thought so at first, otherwise he would not have chosen to attack the powerful Dong Zhuo with his weak soldiers and horses when he was in the Kwantung Alliance, and naturally there was also Sun Jian's help here.
Xun Yu recognized Cao Cao through this incident, believing that Cao Cao was a person worthy of his own help for a lifetime, but Cao Cao's ambitions were getting bigger and bigger, until the seventeenth year of Jian'an, cao Cao wanted to enter the throne and become the king of Wei, and he made a suggestion to the politically sensitive Xun Yu: Don't do this, this is not right. This suggestion is recorded in the Later Han Book of Xun Yu:
The Benxing righteous soldiers are loyal to the country, and they keep the truth of retreating; it is not appropriate for a gentleman to love people with virtue.
2、
The desire for power
At this time, the relationship between Xun Yu and Cao Cao diverged, and after helping the master for twenty years, he found that he was not a like-minded person, or that when Xun Yu and Cao Cao first met, Cao Cao was indeed a person who wanted to revive the Han Dynasty, but what he did not expect was that Cao Cao had changed.
Xun Yu proposed a program for Cao Cao's clique, which is recorded in the Later Han Book Xun Yu Biography:
Serve the Lord to the people's expectations, Da Shun also; Bingzhi Gong also serves Xiongjie, Rough also; Fu Hongyi and even handsome, Great Virtue also.
This sentence has been adhering to a truth, that is, to tell Cao Cao must maintain the Han Dynasty, he has always believed that Cao Cao has this ideal, naturally has this ability, but did not think that Cao Cao ultimately only wants one right, that is, unfettered, as the people of the Great Han naturally obey the emperor of the Great Han, this is a very important point.
So what if Cao Cao had been made the Duke of Wei? What about the establishment of the State of Wei? This became a dialogue between states, but the State of Wei was a vassal state divided from the central state, and Xun Yu naturally did not want such a thing to happen. Therefore, he is now facing a problem, that is, whether to continue to help Cao Cao.
Cao Cao is now full of desire, Xun Yu continues to help him that is to help his enemies, to turn his imaginary opponent into Cao Cao, not to help Cao Cao's own plan can not be carried out, relying on himself to restore the Han Dynasty must be a fool's dream, so now Xun Yu is in a dilemma.
Weighing the pros and cons, he could only choose not to help Cao Cao, nor to help others, but he had been trying to restrain Cao Cao from entering the title of King of Wei.
At this time, Cao Cao was still in a dilemma, and now Cao Cao was not alone like Xun Yu, but a huge interest group, and his own approach was likely to cause a huge impact rebound from his subordinates, so he could only abandon Xun Yu and force him to die.
3、
Xun Yu's death
There are two theories about Xun Yu's death, the first is that he was unable to restrain Cao Cao and died of depression at home, I think this statement is not correct, Xun Yu's death was largely forced to die by Cao Cao, according to historical records:
Cao Cao sent Cheng Yu to give Xun Yu a snack box, and when he opened it, he found that there was nothing inside, and he committed suicide by taking poison on the spot.
My understanding of the second statement is that Xun Yu must die even if he does not die. There are many kinds of understandings of the empty dim sum box, it can be said that Cao Cao told Xun Yu that there was no longer your rice bowl in the imperial court, and you watched and did it yourself. There is also a saying: Shut up, I can give you a way to live, or you will only die.
At this time, Xun Yu had no choice, he only had to choose death in a dilemma, he did not have a little confidence in living, watching the person he once trusted the most become the opposite he least wanted to see, it was better to die. If Cao Cao wanted to become a knight, he had to kill Xun Yu, so there is also a saying: one is willing to die and the other is willing to kill.
To sum up: The relationship between Xun Yu and Cao Cao is very delicate, I believe that Xun Yu will not continue to assist Cao Cao after discovering that Cao Cao has ambitions, Cao Cao had to give up Xun Yu for the benefit of his own group, and we do not know whether Cao Cao forced Xun Yu to die.