The Three Kingdoms is an era of heroes, but the reason why we are so familiar with the heroes of the Three Kingdoms is largely due to the book "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" or the TV series Romance of the Three Kingdoms written by Luo Guanzhong.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu's martial prowess has always been a top-notch presence, and his loyalty has always been praised by people. Therefore, in the face of such a capable person at that time, there were many princes on all sides who wanted to get this fierce general, including Cao Cao.
We all know that Cao Cao is a person who cherishes talents, especially a person like Guan Yu who is strong and very loyal, and he loves him even more deeply. Later, Liu Bei's army defeated Xuzhou, and Guan Yu was captured by Cao Cao. At this time, Cao Cao was bent on recruiting Guan Yu to his subordinates, so he took care of Guan Yu in every way, and gave Guan Yu the red rabbit horse he had taken from Lü Bu at that time to Guan Yu.
Cao Cao almost gave Guan Yu everything that could be sealed and rewarded, which showed how much Cao Cao loved Guan Yu. Although Guan Yu knew that Cao Cao had always been very good to him, he and Liu Bei and Zhang Feiyi would not turn their backs on Liu Bei. Later, after learning of Liu Bei's downfall, he continued to follow Liu Bei and did not want to follow Cao Cao.
In the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208), Cao Cao's determination to unify China grew, and he also decided to attack Jiangdong. At this time, in order to resist Cao Cao's attack, Sun Quan and Liu Bei also formed the Sun Liu Alliance, and in this year, there was also a major battle that laid the foundation for the establishment of the Three Kingdoms, the Battle of Chibi.
Cao Cao was attacked by Zhou Yu and Liu Bei in this battle, resulting in a major defeat. After the defeat, Cao Cao led the remnants to flee to Huarong Province, and on the way through Huarong Road, he also encountered Guan Yu, who had been waiting for a long time.
Guan Yu had previously issued a military order to Zhuge Liang that if Cao Cao's soldiers defeated Huarong Dao, they would behead him, and if they could not, they would behead themselves. However, although a military order was made, Guan Yu still could not give a cruel hand in the face of Cao Cao, who had once had the grace of knowing him. Guan Yu felt that he had not been able to repay Cao Cao's kindness, and after several ideological struggles, he decided to let Cao Cao go and take responsibility alone.
And in real history, did Guan Yu really let Cao Cao go in Huarong Dao? In fact, it is not, in the history book "The Record of the Duke of Shanyang", it is recorded that "the public ships and ships were burned for the sake of preparation, and the army was led back from Huarong Road, and the soldiers were allowed to fill in the grass, and the horses were passed." There is no doubt in the history books that Cao Cao did take Huarong Dao after the defeat of his troops, but there is no such thing as the Guan Yu described in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms who came to Huarong Dao early under zhuge Liang's command to hunt down Cao Cao, let alone Guan Yu released Cao Cao in Huarong Dao.
Then why did Mr. Luo Guanzhong's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" add this plot? There should be two reasons. The first is that Mr. Luo Guanzhong wants to highlight the characteristics of Zhuge Liang's clever calculations; the second is to be able to more shape the image of Guan Yu's loyalty, we also said earlier that Guan Yu is a very loyal person, and adding this plot will not be able to render the characteristics of Guan Yu's loyalty to a greater extent?
We all know that "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" belongs to a novel, and the novel inevitably has a fictional component in it, and sometimes in order to need the plot and more deeply shape the character image, it is necessary to add some fictional plots in it.
However, from this plot, it can also be reflected from the side that Guan Yu's loyal spirit has always been admired and has been praised by posterity.