At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms period was an era of talents, the princes of all sides fought for many years, you sang and I appeared, in countless wars of all sizes, the doormen and strategists gathered under the military valves gave advice to them behind their backs, and played a decisive role in the victory or defeat of the war. Because of a wonderful "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", we are familiar with Zhuge Liang, who coexists with wisdom and dashing, and believe that he is the most intelligent strategist in the history of the Three Kingdoms. But historians believe that the wisest strategist in the history of the Three Kingdoms should be a man named Jia Xu. What is the basis for the experts' claims? Let's reveal it with Xiaobian.
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As a strategist in a troubled world, the greatest embodiment of his value is whether his plan can be adopted and how effective it will be after adoption. Jia Xu was a native of Wuwei, Gansu. History: Full of ingenuity and exhaustive strategy.
The reason why a person can be ingenious and exhaustive is because he can see the laws and results of the development of things that are easy to be ignored by others with a calm and objective mentality.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, Dong Zhuo rebelled and was killed in the third year of Chuping (192). His generals were scattered. Among them, Li Dai, Guo Feng and others also planned to disband the team and flee back to their hometown. At this time, Jia Xu came out and said: If the two generals flee alone, a small pavilion chief on the road can take you down, and then fall for a crime of rebellion against the party in vain. You might as well gather Dong Gong's old forces and attack Luoyang under the banner of avenging Dong Gong. It is good to become successful, but it is not too late to escape.
Li Dai, Guo Feng and others listened, yes, such a simple truth, how come we did not expect it? So several people re-recruited Dong Zhuo's old troops, and indeed reoccupied Luoyang, the capital of the Han Dynasty at that time.
Of course, some scholars believe that Jia Xu is afraid that the world will not be chaotic, so that Luoyang, which was already slightly stable, has once again fallen into war. But as a strategist in a chaotic world, Jia Xu's plan was successful from the perspective of results.
Li Dai, Guo Feng, and others regained power because of Jia Xu's schemes, and naturally praised Jia Xu. But what was surprising was that Jia Xu refused their titles and rewards, perhaps he saw that Li, Guo and others were not good generals, and the days of power must also be the tail of the rats, which could not grow.
Later, Li, Guo and others started infighting, and were killed by each of them. However, Jia Xu did not collude with them and commit adultery during the time when Li and Guo were in power.
After several twists and turns, Jia Xu later surrendered to The Gate of Zhang Xiu in Wancheng. Once Cao Cao led troops to recruit Zhang Xiu, and with the help of Jia Xu's strategizing, Cao Cao did not take advantage. So Cao Cao withdrew. Zhang Xiu saw the Cao army retreating, felt that the opportunity was rare, and immediately led his troops to prepare for the pursuit. Jia Xu hurriedly stopped and said: The lord should not chase, and the pursuit will be defeated.
Zhang Xiu said: Cao Jun retreated, the soldiers were decadent, at this time do not chase, let alone when.
Therefore, despite the dissuasion, the whole army rushed to pursue, and sure enough, it was defeated. At this time, Jia Xu stepped forward again and said: The lord chases again, and the chase will win.
Zhang Xiu was suspicious of the letter, led the troops to pursue again, and indeed returned with a great victory. At this moment, he did not understand, and took Jia Xu's hand and said: First, I chased the retreating soldiers with ShengBing, and the gentleman said that he would be defeated, and then he asked me to chase after the victorious soldiers with defeated soldiers, saying that they would win. And the result is exactly as the gentleman said, why is this?
Jia Xu laughed and said: In fact, there is nothing, Cao Cao used his troops to deceive, if he withdraws his troops, he must first make full preparations, and the lord will definitely suffer losses in pursuit. However, after Cao Jun's victory, he thought that the lord would not dare to pursue him again, so he relaxed his vigilance, and then he could defeat him if he pursued him again.
This alone can prove that Jia Xu absolutely does not live up to the evaluation of "full of ingenuity and exhaustive strategies".
Later, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao threw olive branches at Zhang Xiu in the Battle of Guandu in order to win the third party's power. Jia Xu carefully analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of Both Yuan Shao and Cao Cao for Zhang Xiu, and believed that although Yuan Shao's forces in all aspects were strong, they were certainly not Cao Cao's opponents in the end. He persuaded Zhang Xiu to marry Cao Cao and reject Yuan Shao. Cao Cao's defeat of Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guandu once again proved that Jia Xu was definitely a clever strategist who could objectively and impartially grasp the law of the development of things.
After the victory at Guandu, Cao Cao's strength increased greatly, and in the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208), he occupied Jingzhou, and he wrote to Sun Quan with great pride: "There are 800,000 sailors in Jinzhi, and Fang and the general will hunt Wu.
Cao Cao acted in a high-profile manner, and Jia Xu saw a hidden crisis in it. He dissuaded Cao Cao, saying that the Ming Dynasty had destroyed Yuan Shao and taken Liu Chun to occupy Jingzhou, and his prestige was far away, and now it was time to praise the officials and appease the people. As for Eastern Wu, there is no need to work hard to mobilize the masses, and when the time comes, they will naturally surrender.
However, Cao Cao did not take this correct advice, but continued to send troops to attack Eastern Wu, which eventually led to a major defeat at the Battle of Chibi.
In the sixteenth year of Jian'an (211), ten allied armies led by Han Sui and Ma Chao gathered more than 100,000 people and horses to defend Tongguan against Cao. Cao Cao asked Jia Xu for a plan, and Jia Xu said: Alienate them. Cao Cao gladly accepted, and personally wrote a letter to separate Ma Chao and Han Sui. Then, while Ma and Han were suspicious of each other, Cao Cao attacked decisively and defeated the combined forces of Ma and Han.
Since then, Jia Xu has been more appreciated and trusted by Cao Cao.
Since ancient times, peace-loving Chinese have hated war, but sometimes they have to face war for the sake of truth and justice. As for the strategists in the whirlpool of war, whether their plans are just or not may be understandable.
Finally, let's talk about Jia Xu, who was first worshipped by Cao Cao as the Governor of Jinwu, the Marquis of Ting, and the Pastor of Ji Prefecture. Later, Cao Pi ascended the throne, and he also worshiped Jia As a lieutenant and became the Marquis of Weishou. According to historical records, when the high-powered Jia Xu chose in-laws for his children, he did not climb the power and attach himself to the nobility, but married the ordinary people at that time.
In the fourth year of the Huang Dynasty (223), Jia Xu died at the age of seventy-seven, one of the few strategists in the Three Kingdoms to enjoy a good death. This is probably one of the reasons why some historians think he was the wisest strategist of the Three Kingdoms.
Citations: Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Chen Shou/Pei Songzhi Publisher: Zhonghua Bookstore Published: 2006-9
Wenlan Hairun Studio Editor-in-Chief Wen Xiucai, this article is written: Special History Writer: Mei Lichang