Xun Yu was Cao Cao's chief strategist and hero in unifying the north, and also recommended a large number of talents for him, including the famous Guo Jia. Xun Yu was also deeply trusted by Cao Cao and was called "my son's room" by Cao Cao. However, he was later abandoned because he opposed Cao Cao's entry into the Duke of Guoguo, and died not long after.
Xun Yu objected to Cao Cao's claim to the title of Duke of Wei because he helped Cao Cao to support the Han Dynasty, not to change the dynasty. Then, since Cao Cao had this sign, it was normal for him to oppose it, after all, it violated Xun Yu's original intention and ideals.
Xun Yu (荀彧) was a descendant of Xun Zi (荀子), whose grandfather Xun Shu (荀淑) was famous as the Divine Prince. There were also many officials in the family, and Xun Yu also made a palace order later, but he was not a big official, but in charge of the emperor's pen, ink, paper and other items. Not long after, there was turmoil in the Han Dynasty, and Dong Zhuo deposed the Young Emperor Liu Xie, established Emperor Liu Xie, and made himself a Xiangguo. So Xun Yu abandoned the official and returned to his hometown, after which he defected to Yuan Shao, but he always thought that he could not achieve great things, so he defected to Cao Cao.
Cao Cao attached great importance to him, and also compared him to Zifang, that is, Zhang Liang, the founding hero of the Han Dynasty, which shows that he has high expectations for him. However, objectively speaking, Xun Yu did not fail Cao Cao, although he did not lead the troops to fight, but he has been advising Cao Cao, and his credit is indeed not small.
However, there is some controversy about Xun Yu's death, on the one hand, it is said that he was depressed after being excluded. On the other hand, at that time, Cao Cao gave food to Xun Yu, who opened the food vessel and saw that there was nothing in it, so he was forced to take poison and commit suicide.
Xun Yu followed Cao Cao for a long time and belonged to his concubines, but in the later period, he began to oppose Cao Cao, which puzzled many people. Some people think that his opposition to Cao Cao is not for the sake of righteousness, because for a strategist like Xun Yu, it is impossible not to know Cao Cao's ambitions, and it is forgivable to say that a military general without political acumen is not clear, but the strategist is different, so it is impossible to think that such a reason is untenable.
This is not the case. After all, Cao Cao did not use the guise of changing dynasties, and he did not necessarily want to overthrow the Han Dynasty in the early days. Otherwise, he really wouldn't be able to woo so many talents.
Just like Liu Bei, Liu Bei did not always preach in the early days that he wanted to support the Han Room, after king Jing of Zhongshan. Liu Bei also relied on this in the early days of attracting talents.
Therefore, Cao Cao's ambitions are big, but it does not mean that he will be fully revealed from the beginning. Then later, Cao Cao's ambitions became more and more ambitious, and Xun Yu had contradictions with Cao Cao on fundamental issues, which was very normal.
For Cao Cao, Xun Yu thought in his heart about the Great Han Dynasty and was separated from himself, so he couldn't stay, he didn't have to get rid of him, but at least Xun Yu wanted to break away from Cao Cao's core group.