History is the memory of things that have been said and done. —Carl Baker
Cao Cao had five generals under him, namely Zhang Liao, Zhang Gao, Yu Ban, Le Jin, and Xu Huang. When Chen Shou composed the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, he deliberately listed these five people as a legend, and commented: "Taizu Jianzi martial arts, and the good general of the time, the five sons are the first." "This is the origin of the five sons of liangjun." However, a careful reading of the biography of the Five Sons liang general will find that there is actually another person specifically mentioned on this side, although this person is not a member of the five sons of the good general, but in the end it was mentioned by Chen Shou, which shows that his status was also very high at that time, this person was Zhu Ling.
Zhu Ling was originally a general of Yuan Shao, and when Cao Cao was fighting Tao Qian, Yuan Shao sent Zhu Ling to bring three battalions of troops to aid Cao Cao. Zhu Ling's troops also made a lot of achievements as Cao Cao's friendly troops, and yuan shao sent people to recall Zhu Ling afterwards. At that time, Yuan Shao's strength was stronger than Cao Cao's, and Zhu Ling felt that Cao Cao was a person who had achieved great things during his work with Cao Cao, so he took his three battalions of troops and defected to Cao Cao. Zhu Ling was quite popular among the soldiers in the army, so the people sent by Yuan Shao did not recall a single soldier to return.
"At the beginning, Qinghe Zhu Ling was Yuan Shao's general. Taizu's conquest of Tao Qian, Shao envoy Lingtuo three battalions to help Taizu, the battle has merit. Shao sent all the generals to return to their respective places, and the spirit said: "There are many spiritual observers, and there are no Cao Gong, this is the true Lord." Now that it has been encountered, what is the return? "So I couldn't stay." All the soldiers and soldiers who worship them will stay with the spirit. Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Wei XII, Zhang Leyu Zhang Xu Biography
Zhu Linghui's choice of seeing the hero defecting to Cao Cao was indeed no problem, the problem was that Cao Cao did not seem to have much good feelings for Zhu Ling and even once had a jealous heart towards him. According to historical records, Cao Cao sent Yu Ban to Zhu Ling's military camp with a letter of order to relieve Zhu Ling of his military power, and made Zhu Ling obey Yu Ban's orders and make him a general of Yu Ban. Zhu Lingsu knew that the forbidden power was heavy, so he handed over his military power and obediently accepted the orders of others.
Taizu often hated Zhu Ling and wanted to take his camp. With the prohibition of power, the forbidden will ride dozens of horses, the book of orders, and the spirit camp to seize its army, and the spirit and its people will not dare to move; but the spirit is the governor of the forbidden subordinates, and all the people are shocked, and they are afraid of it. Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Wei XII, Zhang Leyu Zhang Xu Biography
Zhu Ling defected to Cao Cao before the Battle of Guandu, and his seniority in following Cao Cao on his southern expedition to the North was even higher than that of Zhang Guo of the Five Sons (Zhang Gao surrendered to Cao Cao during the Battle of Guandu). However, in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, it is recorded: "(Zhu) Linghou became a good general, named Ya Huang, etc., and became a general of the Later Dynasty, and was given the title of Marquis of Tangting." The meaning of this sentence is that Zhu Ling's reputation is lower than that of Xu Huang and others, and he only became a rear general later. So is The ability of Zhu Ling worse than Xu Huang and others? In fact, this was not the case, the truth was that Zhu Ling was deliberately restricted by Cao Cao before he was reduced to the rank of second-rate general.
So why did Cao Cao have such a big opinion of Zhu Ling? Logically speaking, when Cao Cao needed talents the most, Zhu Ling took the initiative to defect to Cao Cao and should be thanked by Cao Cao, but why did Cao Cao do the opposite to Zhu Ling?
In fact, Zhu Ling differed from Xu Huang, Zhang Liao, and Zhang Gao in that his troops were an independent army, and to put it bluntly, his troops only obeyed his orders. We see that Zhu Ling initially brought out three battalions of troops from Yuan Shao and then defected to Cao Cao, and his army behaved as follows: "All the generals and soldiers are muzhi, and they all stay with the spirit." From this sentence, it can be seen that the strength of these three battalions is now completely under the command of Zhu Ling rather than Yuan Shao, and Zhu Ling's generals in name are actually independent small warlords. And Zhu Ling still maintained command of this army after defecting to Cao Cao, so Cao Cao should have a defensive heart for Zhu Ling. Later, after Cao Cao pacified Jizhou, he sent Zhu Ling to garrison Xunan, and at that time Zhu Ling recruited thousands of new recruits, all of whom were from Jizhou. Cao Cao then warned Zhu Ling that he should be lenient with the recruits in Jizhou, otherwise there would be an opportunity to provoke a mutiny. However, Zhu Ling did not listen to Cao Cao's advice and executed Cheng Ang, who was involved in the rebellion, and later reported the matter to Cao Cao in the form of a letter. After Cao Cao received Zhu Ling's letter, instead of rewarding Zhu Ling, he also became suspicious of Zhu Ling's ability to handle it.
Wei Shuyi: Taizu pingji prefecture, sent lingling to send 5,000 new recruits on a thousand horses to guard Xunan. Taizu Zhizhi said: "The new recruits in Jizhou, the number of concessions is lenient, the temporary see is neat, and the meaning is still pitiful." The name of the secretary of state has majesty first, and the good is lenient, otherwise there will be changes. "Ling to Yang Zhai, Zhonglang will Cheng Ang and other fruits reversed, that is, chop Ang, in order to smell."
During Cao Cao's lifetime, Zhu Ling's position had always been under the five sons of Liang, which had a lot to do with the fact that he was jealous of Cao Cao when he held military power. It was only after Cao Pi became emperor that he began to affirm Zhu Ling's merits and made Zhu Ling the Marquis of Gaotang.