The most representative chaotic era in Chinese history is none other than the Three Kingdoms of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Heroes in the Three Kingdoms period were born, and due to the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in the four famous works, everyone is familiar with the characters in it.
Cao Cao, known as "the capable minister of ruling the world, the adulterous male of the chaotic world" is a typical representative of this. After defeating Yuan Shao, Cao Cao completely unified the north, laying a solid foundation for the later establishment of the State of Wei. To be able to achieve such results, it is inseparable from the civilian and military generals around him. The generals were represented by Xiahou Huan, Zhang Liao, Xu Chu and others, and the strategists were Guo Jia, Xun Yu, Cheng Yu and others as typical.
Among the many courtiers, there was one person who repeatedly challenged Cao Cao's bottom line because of his arrogance, and eventually incurred the disaster of killing himself, and he was the master bookkeeper Yang Xiu. After killing Yang Xiu, his father Yang Biao, in a conversation with Cao Cao, said a famous saying that has been passed down through the ages.
1. The sons of the world compete for the throne
After his defeat at the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao decided to temporarily return to the north to recuperate. He was getting older, and choosing who would inherit his hegemony became a headache for him. Cao Cao had five sons, the eldest son Cao Ang was killed in the Battle of Wancheng in the early years, and now the eldest son is Cao Pi, the second son Cao Zhi, and Cao Zhang and Cao Chong.
Cao Cao's allusion to the elephant is well known, Cao Cao was very fond of this clever young son, but a generation of prodigies died prematurely, and Cao Cao could only find someone else to be the son of the world after being sad. Cao Zhang, a warrior with no city in mind and no political strategy, was filtered out by Cao Cao early. Only Cao Pi and Cao Zhi are the most powerful candidates, and the Shizi dispute is mainly between the two.
Cao Pi is steady, ambitious but not revealing, and is a suitable candidate. But Cao Cao preferred the brilliant Cao Zhi. Cao Zhi's talent is known all over the world, and he has written masterpieces such as "Roselle Endowment" and "White Horse Chapter". Cao Cao and his two sons were called "Three Caos", and their father and son were famous poets in the Jian'an period, and the Jian'an wind bone also originated from them.
Although Cao Pi also has a certain talent, he is dwarfed by his younger brother Cao Zhi. The descendant Xie Lingyun once said a sentence: "There is only one stone in the world, and Cao Zijian monopolizes the eight buckets." "Fully expounds Cao Zhi's literary level."
Although Cao Zhi was talented, his political vision was not as good as Cao Pi's. The two men fought openly and secretly for a long time, and each had a group of supporters. Cao Cao was well aware of the matter, and he also deliberately considered the two to see who was the most suitable candidate.
At that time, Sima Yi, Jia Kui and others were on the same side as Cao Pi, while Yang Xiu was on Cao Zhi's side. The two teams of men and horses used all their strength and vowed to help their lord win the position of the son of the world. And Yang Xiu's final tragic end seemed to be doomed at this time. It was taboo for courtiers to interfere in royal family affairs, especially for suspicious people like Cao Cao, who hated it.
2. Death of Yang Xiu
According to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Yang Xiu eventually died at the hands of Cao Cao. However, what led to his death was not the "chicken ribs" in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but Yang Xiu's bad words about Cao Zhang when he was drinking with Cao Zhi, and Cao Cao was greatly angered when he heard it, and was executed for the crime of "revealing his words before and after and handing over the princes".
Yang Xiu's life was arrogant and arrogant, relying on his own wisdom and unobstructed mouth, and he had already aroused great dissatisfaction from Cao Cao before this. Cao Cao once ordered people to build the gate of the Xiangguo Mansion, and after the successful construction, he personally came to inspect it, wrote a "living" character on the door and left. Everyone on the left and right did not know what he meant, only Yang Xiu answered.
"The prime minister added a movable word inside the door, which is too wide, and it is better to trim it a little narrower!" Yang Xiu smiled and squinted to answer the doubts of the crowd. This matter later reached Cao Cao's ears, and although he smiled and praised Yang Xiu's cleverness, he was angry in his heart about Yang Xiu guessing his own thoughts.
What pushed Yang Xiu into the game of death was his "chicken rib" theory. At that time, Yang Xiu was the main Bo to follow Cao Cao's march, and when the soldiers asked Cao Cao for the password at night, the latter was eating chicken ribs, so he directly came out of the "chicken ribs" password. When it reached Yang Xiu's ear, he laughed and told everyone to pack their bags.
When everyone was looking at each other, Yang Xiu told everyone the answer. "Chicken ribs, tasteless to eat, it is a pity to abandon it." The situation of the prime minister at this time is like this chicken rib, which means to withdraw the army! Everyone suddenly realized that they had returned to the tent to pack their bags. When Cao Cao went out to inspect the camp, he saw everyone sorting out their clothes, and the reason was that he hated Yang Xiu even more.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms adapts this event as a booster that led to Yang Xiu's death, but in real history, Yang Xiu was not executed for it. Instead, in the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, that is, in 219 AD, he was beheaded by order of Cao Cao, and Yang Xiu was only forty-five years old when he died.
Third, lick the love of calves
After Yang Xiu's death, his father Yang Biao was overly sad and became increasingly emaciated. But as a subordinate of Cao Cao, he still had to go to the court every day. Although Yang Biao's official Bai Taiwei was not as powerful as Cao Cao, he also had his own power.
Even so, Yang Biao did not dare to easily offend Cao Cao, he knew that Cao Cao was suspicious by nature, so he was more cautious in front of the latter. In an unexpected encounter, Cao Cao deliberately tested Yang Biao, and deliberately asked him why he had lost so much weight recently.
This was Cao Cao's temptation to see if he had a grudge against Cao Cao, who executed his son, and Yang Biao knew it. Then his answer became a famous sentence throughout the ages, and he replied without humility: "Shame on the foresight of the Japanese Kou, and cherish the love of the old cow licking calf." This sentence means that he hates himself for not having the foresight of Kim Il-seop and not educating Yang Xiu well, but he still has a heart for his son who loves his son like an old cow licking a child.
When Cao Cao heard his words, he was suddenly a little ashamed, and even a little regretful of killing Yang Xiu, watching a father lose his son, this kind of pain he had experienced before. But Cao Cao did not show this emotion, but only symbolically appeased Yang Biao and left, but since then he has never tried Yang Biao again.
4. Summary
Yang Xiu's death was not because he had repeatedly disgusted Cao Cao, but because he was involved in the Shizi controversy and was too aggressive. Yang Xiu did not expect that sooner or later this kind of personality would bring him the misfortune of killing himself. Cao Cao has always been the most taboo for others to interfere in his family affairs, so Yang Xiu's death is inseparable from his deep involvement in the political vortex of the Cao family.
Yang Biao is old, but he must experience the pain of white-haired people sending black-haired people. As a father, this ordeal is undoubtedly exhausting. And his answer to Cao Cao's sentence also created an idiom "old cow lick calf", expressing the love of parents for their children.
The above content is based on some chapters of the historical material "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", if you are interested in other anecdotes of Yang Xiu, you can read other related historical materials. I believe that everyone will have a different opinion on this matter, which is also the unique charm of history. Interested friends can click on the attention, thank you for your support.