As the old saying goes, "Good birds choose good trees to perch." ”
It doesn't matter who Pound was once in his old ministry, what matters is Who Ma Chao and Cao Cao are better suited to be Pound's lords.
Pound was once Ma Chao's father, a member of the general under Comrade Ma Teng, Pound was familiar with the art of war, brave and strategic, excellent in martial arts, loyal and reliable, and won Ma Teng's trust.
When Pound served under Ma Teng, he made a lot of military achievements for Ma Teng's birth and death, but Pound did not get the attention of one person, this person was Ma Chao. After Ma Teng defected to Cao Cao, Pound was included in the command of Ma Chao, who was arrogant, self-righteous, brave and less resourceful, a general, but not a handsome talent.
In "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Ma Chao is not only portrayed as a brave and good warrior, but also portrayed as a loyal and righteous filial piety. According to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ma Chao sent an army against Cao Cao because his father, his brothers and clansmen were killed by Cao Cao. In order to avenge his family, Ma Chaocai united with Han Sui to send troops to fight Cao.
But in fact, it was just the opposite, it was Ma Chao's recklessness for a while and sending troops against Cao Cao, which led to Cao Cao killing Ma Teng's family.
According to the Zizhi Tongjian Han Ji Fifty-Eight:
In March of the sixteenth year, Zhong Xuan, a lieutenant of the Cao Dispatch Division, begs Zhang Lu and ordered the general Xiahou Yuan and other generals from Hedong to meet with him. Cangcao belonged to Gao Rou and said: "When the soldiers go west, Han Sui and Ma Chao suspect that they are attacking themselves, and they will fan each other." It is advisable to first summon the three auxiliaries, the three auxiliaries Gou Ping, and the Hanzhong can be passed on to determine the same'. ”
It can be seen that at that time, Ma Chao and others mistakenly judged the whereabouts of Cao Jun and thought that Cao Cao had come to attack themselves, so they took the initiative to attack Cao Cao.
However, Ma Chao "forgot" that his father had already defected to Cao Cao earlier.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ma Teng was ordered to enter Beijing and later participated in the plan to assassinate Cao Cao and was killed. However, the real Ma Teng, because of his disagreement with Han Sui, in order to consolidate his position in Xiliang, took the initiative to request "returning Gyeonggi" to gain the support of the imperial court, and Cao Cao was also happy to accept Ma Teng's embrace at this time. In the name of Emperor Xian of Han, Ma Teng was awarded the title of "Partial General, Marquis of Fengdu Ting, and Lingteng Buqu", and even Ma Chao's younger brothers Ma Xiu and Ma Tie were also knighted, and only one of the Ma family left Ma Chao did not enter Beijing, and the rest of the clan members all entered Beijing as officials.
In the sixteenth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao attacked Hanzhong, and Ma Chao and Han Sui mistakenly believed that Cao Cao was coming to attack Xiliang, so they attacked Cao Jun first. Later, Cao Cao personally went out on a campaign and defeated Ma Chao and Han Sui. After returning to Beijing the following year, the Ma Teng family in Beijing was executed.
In order to set off Ma Chao's loyalty and filial piety, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms reversed the time when Ma Teng was killed, creating a just reason for Ma Chao to attack Cao Cao. In fact, the war between Ma Chao and Cao Cao was more of a war of turf between warlords. In order to compete for territory, Ma Chao even disregarded the safety of his father and clan in the hands of Cao Cao, such a Ma Chao did not deserve the fame of loyalty and filial piety.
Pound was originally Ma Teng's subordinate, so he was dissatisfied with Ma Chao, but he could not do anything about Ma Chao.
In the seventeenth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao commanded tens of thousands of troops to attack Ma Chao. Cao Cao's troops traveled far and wide, and their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced, while Ma Chao's troops had the advantage of time and place. According to common sense, Ma Chao should not have been defeated at the hands of Cao Cao, but Ma Chao was arrogant and arrogant, did not listen to the advice of Han Sui and Pound, and attacked Cao Cao, only to break into the trap set by Cao Cao and flee in defeat.
In the nineteenth year of Jian'an, Pound followed Ma Chao to Hanzhong and was subordinate to Zhang Lumen. Zhang Lu is a personal master, but not a hero, Zhang Lu has no ambition to conquer the world, nor does he have a meritocracy mind. Zhang Lu always distrusted Ma Chao and Pound, and Zhang Lu was jealous of Ma Chao and Pound's force, so he deliberately separated Ma Chao and Pound, and played small tricks to provoke the relationship between Ma Chao and Pound.
Pound, who surrendered to Zhang Lu, was like a sheathed sword, losing the sharp light of the past.
Twenty years after Jian'an, Cao Cao pointed his sword at Hanzhong, and Zhang Lu, who had no intention of fighting, surrendered to Cao Cao. Since Cao Cao killed Ma Teng, it was impossible for Ma Chao to follow Zhang Lu to surrender to Cao Cao, so Ma Chao privately sent a "cover letter" to Liu Bei, hoping that Liu Bei would accept him.
When Ma Chao decided to defect to Liu Bei, Pound was not by Ma Chao's side, and Ma Chao did not dare to write a letter to discuss with Pound, in case the letter was robbed, Zhang Lu would definitely send someone to arrest Ma Chao and present it to Cao Cao, so Ma Chao abandoned Pound De under duress and defected to Liu Bei alone.
In fact, in my opinion, Ma Chao did not want to pull Pound together to join Liu Bei, who is willing to find a competitor for himself?
We all know that only Ma Chao and Ma Dai defected to Liu Bei, and did not bring other generals with them. He went to Liu Bei's side to become a general of Pingxi, while Pound De stayed in Zhang Lu's territory, which can be said to be a life hanging in the balance, and Ma Chao did not care about Pound De's feelings at all. From this point, it can also be seen that Ma Chao does not regard Pound as a confidant at all, but is just a chess piece that can be discarded at any time.
After Pang De followed Zhang Lu to surrender to Cao Cao, Cao Cao personally hosted a banquet to receive Pound, and worshipped Pound as a general of Liyi, and also gave the "Closing Gate Pavilion" to Pound, plus three hundred households, and Pound's family could live in Xuchang forever and be raised by the state.
"Taizu Ding Hanzhong, De descended with the crowd. Taizu Suwen Qixiao Yong, General Bai Liyi, Marquis of Fengguanmen Pavilion, Yi Sanhu. ”
Obviously, he was a demoted general and had not made any achievements, but Cao Cao was also a knight, a general, a land reward, and a salary increase, and the treatment that Pound could not enjoy under Ma Teng, Ma Chao's father and son Cao Cao gave all at once.
From the beginning of Pound's pursuit of Ma Teng to the process of joining Cao Ying, Pound de did not owe the Ma family father and son, but Ma Teng and Ma Chao did not regard Pound as a confidant, and Ma Chao still completely disregarded Pound's life and death at a critical moment and decisively abandoned. Although Pound is brave and fierce, it does not mean that he is stupid, and after seeing Ma Chao's true face, it is not difficult to understand why he swore allegiance to Cao Cao to the death.
When encountering a master like Cao Cao, what reason did Pound have to defect to Ma Chao? At this time, Pound, who changed the boss, should not think about how to follow the old master, but how to make achievements to be worthy of the treatment given to him by Cao Cao. In particular, his family members were still in Cao Cao's hands.
Therefore, we will see that after Guan Yu flooded the Seventh Army, the Pound who obviously had a previous crime, but preferred to die.
When Guan Yu attacked Xiangfan, Cao Cao sent Yu Chu to lead reinforcements, and Pound volunteered to be the vanguard.
At that time, Ma Chao and Pang De's brother Pang Rou were both officials in Shu Han. Yu Ban suspected that Pound had two hearts and spoke to Cao Cao. Cao Cao therefore wanted to change generals. After Pound asked why, he prostrated his head and bled, saying:
"Because my sister-in-law was not virtuous, I killed her after I was drunk, so my relationship with my brother Pang Rou had long been severed; Ma Chao was brave and unscrupulous, and the soldiers were defeated." I have done his own thing with him, and the great righteousness has been severed. I am now grateful for the king's kindness to me and want to repay the favor before I ask to go out on the expedition, and I have no second thoughts. "
Cao Cao agreed to his request to go on expedition.
Pound had people build a coffin and let people carry them on the march. On the battlefield, he fought Against Guan Yu, which made Guan Yu, who had always been proud, praise him. After heavy rain, Guan Yu used the waters of the Xiang River to defeat Cao Jun and capture Ban and Pound. Yu Ban, who had followed Cao Cao for thirty years, surrendered. Pound, on the other hand, was heroic and unyielding, and calmly and righteously.
After Pound was killed by Guan Yu, Cao Cao was so grief-stricken that he crowned Pound's two sons as Marquis. Emperor Cao Pi of Wei succeeded to the throne and gave Him the title of Marquis of Pang Dezhuang in recognition of his loyalty and courage, and also gave his son Pang Hui and four other titles as Marquis of Guannei, each with a hundred households.