Why did Cao Cao kill Yang Xiu? The reason known to the public is that Yang Xiu falsely tested the password "chicken ribs", leaked secrets, and disturbed the hearts of the military.
Stories are stories after all, and many of the stories in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" are deeply read, so most people who love to listen to stories regard it as history. But forget this, the story is the story after all.
Stories often don't stand up to scrutiny.
For example, in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Yang Xiu was beheaded on the hanzhong front.
Cao Cao and Liu Bei fought in Hanzhong in the spring of March 219 to May of The Summer, which means that Yang Xiu should have been beheaded in Hanzhong in the summer of May 219.
However, according to historical records, Cao Cao fell ill and died more than a hundred days after Yang Xiu's death.
In the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, it is recorded that in the summer and May of 219, Cao Cao had led his troops to Chang'an, returned to Luoyang from Chang'an in the winter of October, and died in the spring of 220.
If Cao Cao's death is pushed forward by three months, then Yang Xiu's beheading in the autumn and September of 219 should be in Chang'an.
So why was Yang Xiu killed by Cao Cao?
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao is a jealous man, he is jealous of Yang Xiu's talent, and the "chicken rib" incident is just an excuse for him to kill Yang Xiu, for which Luo Guanzhong also lists a series of stories that Yang Xiu is too high-profile.
For example, Cao Cao went to see the new garden, did not say anything, only wrote a "living" word on the door, everyone was confused, Yang Xiu said: "Adding the word 'living' to the door is a 'wide' word, and the door is too wide." ”
Another time, someone gave Cao Cao a box of crisp candy. Cao Cao wrote the three words "One He Crisp" on the box, everyone did not understand what it meant, Yang Xiu looked at it, opened the box, and distributed the shortbread to everyone to eat. Everyone did not dare to eat, Yang Xiu smiled: "Xiang Xiang personally wrote 'one crisp', and when it is taken apart, it means one person and one bite of crisp!" ”
Another time, Cao Cao and Yang Xiu walked by the cao'e monument, and there were eight characters behind the stele: yellow silk young woman, grandson And usu. After Cao Cao saw it, he did not understand his meaning and asked Yang Xiu, who said that he already knew. Cao Cao stopped him: "Don't say it first, let me think about it again." After riding the horse for more than thirty miles, Cao Cao came up with the dish. Each of them held out their left hands, and both were the four words of "wonderful words". It turns out that yellow silk refers to colored silk, color plus silk is a "absolute" word, young woman is a young girl, young plus girl is a "wonderful" word, grandson, is the meaning of the daughter's son, together is a "good" word, the meaning of the word.
There is also a story about Cao Cao who killed people in a dream: Cao Cao was afraid that someone would murder him, and often ordered his guards to say, "I am good at killing people in my dreams, and whenever I am asleep, you must not come near me!" Once Cao Cao was sleeping in a tent during the day, and the quilt fell to the ground, and the near attendant hurriedly took the cover for him. Cao Cao immediately jumped up and drew his sword to kill him, then went back to bed.
When he got up in the middle of the night, Cao Cao pretended to be surprised and asked, "Who killed my bodyguard?" Everybody tells the truth. Cao Cao wept bitterly and ordered someone to bury his close attendants. People thought that Cao Cao was really killing people in a dream, but Yang Xiu knew his intentions, and when he was buried, he sighed and said, "It's not that Cao Cao was in the dream, it was you in the dream!"
The four stories in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms are all derived from the "New Language of the World", but Luo Guanzhong adapted them and entered the theme of "jealousy and jealousy". In particular, the story of "Killing in a Dream" in which Yang Xiu is buried and sighs is completely fictional.
Yang Xiu is versatile and loves to show off, not low-key enough, which is indeed one of the reasons why he was killed, but if the reason why Cao Cao killed Yang Xiu is completely attributed to the vanity of "jealousy and jealousy", this is too contemptuous of this generation of tyrants.
So what was the reason that finally made Cao Cao move to kill the machine? After all, Yang Xiu was the master of Cao Cao's chancellor's palace, so how could such a heavyweight official be killed at any point?
In fact, this has been given the answer in Chen Shou's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms":
"Taizu was worried about the change from the beginning to the end, and Yang Xiu was quite talented, and the nephew of the Yuan clan was also, so he accused Him of his sins."
Originally, Cao Cao was worried about the disaster after his death, and Yang Xiu was very talented, resourceful, and was the nephew of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, so he fabricated the crime and killed Yang Xiu.
And in the "New Language of the World", it is also recorded:
After planting, arrogance and indulgence are sparse, and the planting is not even repaired, and the cultivation does not dare to kill itself. By the autumn of the twenty-fourth year, gong yixiu leaked his words and teachings before and after the repair, and handed over to the princes, but they were killed. When Xiu was dying, he said to the deceased: "I insist that I will die late." "It means to sit on Cao Zhiye." After the death of Xiu, more than a hundred days later, Taizu Xue, the prince li, so there is the world.
The Later Han Shu Yang Zhen Chuan (Later Han Shu) with the Biography of Xuan Sun Xiu contains:
"Bai Xiu and Marquis Zhi of Linzi were drunk and came out of Sima Men, slandering Marquis Zhang, and Taizu was furious when he heard this, so he took him and killed him. He was forty-five years old. ”
We can pay more attention to a few key words in these three historical materials - "change from the beginning", "quite talented strategy", "Nephew of the Yuan family", "leakage of words", "princes of the customs", "out of Sima Men".
The "change of the beginning" means that Cao Cao feared that there would be disasters when he handed over power after his death.
"Quite talented" means that Yang Xiu is very talented and strategic.
"Nephew of the Yuan clan" means that Yang Xiu is the nephew of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, that is to say, both of them are Yang Xiu's uncles.
"Leaking words" refers to the fact that Yang Xiu once leaked Cao Cao's verbal orders or document instructions.
The "princes of Jiaoguan" refers to the friendship between Yang Xiu and Cao Zhi, who participated in the dispute between Cao Zhi and Cao Pi.
"Coming out of Sima Men" refers to the fact that Yang Xiu once rode out with Cao Zhi from outside the Sima Gate, the main gate of the Wei King's palace. According to the regulations, Sima Men was only allowed to enter and exit cao Cao's own car. Anyone else entering or leaving the palace can only pass through the tucked doors on both sides of the Sima Gate, otherwise it is a felony.
At this point, we can roughly summarize the cause of Yang Xiu's death:
First, Yang Xiu's personality is flawed.
He is talented, high-profile, more than intelligent, and ill-informed.
Second, the influence of Yang Xiu's blood genes.
He was the nephew of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, and his father Yang Biao was also Cao Cao's opponent.
First of all, Yang Biao's ancestors had been enemies of eunuchs for generations, and Cao Cao was after eunuchs. Before Cao Cao blackmailed Tianzi to order the princes, Yang Biao was the first heavy minister of Emperor Xian of Han and was indignant at Cao Cao's behavior without emperor. After Yuan Shu claimed to be emperor in vain, Cao Cao took the opportunity to arrest Yang Biao and prepare to kill him. After being rescued by Kong Rong and others, Yang Biao, under the pretext of spasms in his feet, never stopped walking and refused to participate in all official activities.
Third, Yang Xiu participated in Cao Zhi's conquest of Cao Pi.
Cao Cao feared that after his death, Yang Xiu would become a scourge that would trigger civil unrest. He should have felt that time was running out, so he killed Yang Xiu before he died.
Fourth, Yang Xiu came out of Sima Men after getting drunk, and his eyes were lawless.
This was Cao Cao's pretext for killing Yang Xiu.
In short, Yang Xiu moved Cao Cao's cheese, and he would undoubtedly die.
Once intellectuals violate the interests of the ruling class and oppose them, even the highest moral character can be killed.
If You Heng openly slandered, Kong Rong discussed the government, Xu You was arrogant and self-respecting, Cui Yan opposed to being king, and Cao Cao was killed all.
After Cao Cao killed Yang Xiu, he also wrote a letter to Yang Xiu's father, Yang Biao, the Taiwei Yang Biao, that is, the Book with Yang Biao.
Cao Bai: With the foot of the same sea of righteousness, the foot is not left behind, to the sage to see the auxiliary. Although China is quieter than China, it has not been destroyed outside the country. Nowadays, the army is in a big way, and the people are harassing. The sound of my bells and drums should be kept in the main book. And the power of the sages under the feet to serve the father, whenever he does not share with me, that is, he wants to straighten the rope, and He hates it; he says that he can change it, so he turns to forgiveness. If you repeat the loan, you will be tired of the next door, and you will be punished. Remembering Qing's father's feelings, and mourning with this, may not be unlucky. Today, I will give two collars under the foot brocade, eight silver horn peach sticks, three green felt mattresses, five hundred official silks, 600,000 yuan, four looking at the painting wheel and seven incense cars. Two cows, eight hundred miles of horses, ten pairs of red and gold saddles, and one bell, drove the two people; and left behind a collar of the wrong color Luo Qiu in your room, woven into a amount of boots, and two people with hearts and green clothes, long and left. Although the offering is thin, it is a sign of my will. The bento under the foot is accepted without going back and forth.
Cao Cao's letter was written very politely and friendly on the surface, but in fact it was cold, with killing chance, with threats:
Your son broke the law, I killed him, this is for your own good, you don't have other thoughts; to apologize, I gave you some gifts, sent you, you have to accept, if you refuse my kindness, it is dissatisfaction with my approach, against my fate, you should be very clear.