At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, after Cao Cao achieved the unification of the north, but after the defeat at the Battle of Chibi in the south, Cao Cao's main energy was changed from expanding and unifying military wars to consolidating power within the team, and something relatively big happened within Cao Cao's clique, that is, in the seventeenth year of Jian'an (212), Xun Yu, an important strategist of Cao Cao's clique, died of illness, and the historical record is "to worry about it".
Regarding Xun Yu, one of the most accepted views is that he was loyal to the Han Dynasty, opposed Cao Cao's title of king, and did not want Cao Cao to suppress the Han Chamber too much to achieve the purpose of usurping the throne, so Cao Cao used means to let Xun Yu "go offline" in advance.
First of all, Xun Yu opposed not Cao Cao's title of King, but cao Cao's title of Duke of Wei, whose title was equal to or lower than that of The King of The County, and Cao Cao was only crowned King of Wei by Emperor Xian of Han 4 years after Xun Yu's death.
The reason why Cao Cao was the biggest suspect in Xun Yu's death was because Xun Yu had clearly opposed Cao Cao's claim to be the Duke of Wei, and Cao Cao was very unhappy, but after Xun Yu's death, Cao Cao got what he wanted the following year, and Xun Yu's death was indeed related to Cao Cao, after all, he was forced by Cao Cao to stay in the army.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The Biography of Xun Yu (荀彧傳) will enlist Sun Quan and ask yu Laojun to stay in Yu Yu, and to serve as a servant of Guanglu Doctor to hold the festival and join the military of Yu Cheng. Taizu Jun's army went to Shushu, and stayed in Shouchun for illness, and was worried about it, when he was fifty years old.
In the seventeenth year of Jian'an (212), when Cao Cao led an army to conquest Sun Quan, Cao Cao deliberately let Xun Yu go to the labor army, in fact, this did not conform to the habits of Cao Cao's clique, the Xun clan, has always been Xun You with the army to fight more often, Xun Yu has always stayed in the rear.
Take Cao Cao's most crucial battle, the Battle of Guandu, Xun Yu Xun You's uncle and nephew helped Cao Cao a lot, Xun You was on the front line of Guandu, designed the overall plan to kill Yan Liang wen ugly, beheading Yan Liang, Cao Cao adopted Xun Yousheng's strategy of attacking the west from the east, Xuan Wen ugly, Xun You was also trying to eliminate public opinion, and vigorously designed to annihilate the enemy, during the Guandu confrontation, Xun You also proposed a plan to attack Yuan Shao's grain road.
Xun Yu is not to mention, at that time Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were at Guandu, Cao Cao's grain and grass supplies were insufficient, and he already had the meaning of withdrawing his troops, it was Xun Yu who wrote to tell Cao Cao that this retreat was already going, and there was nothing left, which dispelled Cao Cao's idea of withdrawing his army.
It can be said that Xun Yu and Xun You were the greatest contributors to Cao Cao's victory in the Battle of Guandu, and in the seventeenth year of Jian'an (212), although Cao Cao was defeated at Chibi, the situation in Cao Cao's clique was not yet critical enough to require Xun Yu to go to the labor army, and in addition to requisitioning Sun Quan, Cao Cao had the advantage in military strength and did not have the need to let Xun Yu come to the front.
Moreover, Xun Yu fell ill at the front line, and finally became depressed and died in Shouchun, what was he worried about?
"Wei Shi Chunqiu" Taizu fed Yu food, and the hair was an empty vessel, so he drank medicine and died.
Yu died in Shouchun, and the deceased of Shouchun sued Sun Quan, and after Yan Taizu made Yu kill and ambush, Yu did not obey, so he committed suicide. Quan Yilubu yu Shu, Liu Bei heard it, and said, "The old thief does not die, and the calamity is not over."
Regarding Xun Yu's death, there are two other theories circulating, one is that everyone is most familiar with the empty food box, Xun Yu finally had no Han Lu to eat, and committed suicide, and the other is that after Xun Yu's death, some people who fled from Shouchun to Sun Quan, they and Sun Quan said that Xun Yu did not obey Cao Cao's order to kill Empress Fu before committing suicide, Sun Quan told Liu Bei, Liu Bei directly scolded ah.
But I personally think that the second theory is unlikely, after all, it was said by the fugitives and Sun Quan, why these people would flee from Shouchun, if Cao Cao really let Xun Yu kill empress Fu, or just wanted to test Xun Yu, there was no need to say it in front of others, and it was reasonable to say that no one else would know.
Moreover, the news from Sun Quan can still hope to remain objective and fair? In particular, Cao Cao was still fighting Sun Quan, and to put it bluntly, this was not just a reason for Sun Quan and Liu Bei to consolidate their alliance.
Relatively speaking, the possibility of the first kind of Cao Cao forcing Xun Yu to die is relatively large, after all, Xun Yu is the leader of the Xun clan, and also the representative of the Yingchuan Shi clan who fights for Cao Cao, which is extremely influential, if he does not want the balance of status between Cao Cao and the Han room to be broken, then Cao Cao calls Wei Gong, and it is indeed a difficult thing to add Jiu Xi.
However, it is worth mentioning that Xun Yu opposed Cao Cao's claim to the Duke of Wei, whether he was loyal to the Han Dynasty, or whether he was fighting for power, and one of the views of later generations, because Cao Cao issued an edict to seek merit.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In the spring of the fifteenth year of the Book of Emperor Wu, he decreed: Since ancient times, he has been appointed and the king of Zhongxing, and he who cannot taste the wise men and gentlemen who rule the world with him! And his virtuous, once did not go out of Lu Alley, how fortunate to meet? The one who is above does not ask for an ear. Today's decision is not yet decided, and this special request for the best is also urgent.
When Cao Cao issued the order to seek merit, it was after the Battle of Chibi, when Cao Cao completed military adjustment and deployment and deployed the main troops on the eastern front, some people believed that xun yu and Cao Cao later broke up, and one of the reasons was the order to ask for merit.
Because Cao Cao issued an edict to seek meritocracy and recruit the world's talents, he could use a large number of new people who joined Cao Cao's clique to disperse the influence of the Yingchuan Shi clan, and it would inevitably weaken the strength of the Xun clan within the Cao clique, so Xun Yu opposed Cao Cao's title of Duke of Wei, supported the Han chamber, and used the Han room as a patron to consolidate the power in his hands.
We are now unable to understand the real situation at that time, I personally think that excluding Cao Cao has the intention of dividing the internal group, after all, the north has been unified, in the absence of major chaos, Cao Cao's unification of the world is only a matter of time, so Cao Cao, as the "monarch" of Cao Cao's expansion of territory, must be considered for the balance of internal power.
At the time of the "Xun Family Biography", Xun You was the mastermind of Taizu, and he was the commander of the military academy, ShouYi, and the military governor of Hebei. Taizu Zheng Yuan Shangye (袁尚也), Gao Gan) secretly sent troops to attack Yi, yan rebelled against him, and did his best. He was enfeoffed with merit.
In the Yingchuan Clan, the Chen clan and the Xun clan are everyone, the Chen clan does not need to mention much, imagine that you have heard of Chen Qun, and after the Xun clan joined the Cao clique, Xun Yu was in charge of the rear, Xun You accompanied the army to fight, Xun Yan was also once the military governor of Hebei, and Cao Cao also married his daughter Princess Anyang to Xun Yu's eldest son to strengthen the connection between the Cao clan and the Xun clan.
In the fifteenth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao really had to think about it later, so attracting new people and weakening the group that was already powerful inside was a way.
But I think Cao Cao's move is more than this, you must know that the situation at that time was that Cao Cao's Chibi was defeated, and he was unable to regroup a large army to suppress Sun Quan Liu Bei in a short period of time, and the situation of three-legged standing had already emerged, so Cao Cao's order to seek merit was more for the future Cao Wei to establish, in order to attract talents from all over the world.
In the chaotic world, the war not only happened on the battlefield to kill, but also in the war of grabbing talents, without talent, there is not enough room for development, so Cao Cao's move is also to draw salaries from the bottom of the pot and weaken Sun Quan Liu Bei's ability to accumulate talents.
Then again, I don't think that the reason why Xun Yu broke up with Cao Cao for power was that if he were a person who wanted to control the authority, he would not have refused Cao Cao's request to make himself a third duke in the first place.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The biography of Xun Yu (荀彧傳) Taizu wanted to express Yu as the Third Duke, and Yu made Xun You deeply concede, and as for the number of ten, Taizu was stopped.
Moreover, it should be known that after Xun Yu's death, the most influential member of the Xun clan was Xun Yu's nephew Xun You, who did not oppose Cao Cao's claim to the Duke of Wei, and Xun You may have supported it.
Moreover, if Xun Yu wanted to seize power, he should oppose it when the order was issued, so why wait until two years after the edict was issued before standing up against Cao Cao, they are all smart people and should understand the actual choice.
The Spring and Autumn of the Wei Dynasty features Xun You as Shangshu Ling, Liang Mao as the servant, Mao Jiu, Cui Yan, Chang Lin, Xu Yi, and He Kui as Shangshu, and Wang Yue, Du Xian, Wei Qi, and He Qia as servants.
At the beginning of Cao Cao's establishment of the State of Wei, Xun You was Shang Shu Ling, and if Xun Yu had originally been to seize it, there must have been the support of the Xun clan, then after Cao Cao deliberately suppressed Xun Yu, the Xun clan should not have a chance to show their fists in the Wei state.
Moreover, Cao Cao had said such a sentence, that is, he had pacified the world, "Inside and outside Funing, if Wen is also, Gongda is also", if Wen is Xun Yu, Gongda is Xun You, it can be said that Xun Yu is Cao Cao's first hero in unifying the north, but even so, when Cao Wei posthumously awarded meritorious service, Xun You was worthy of the Taimiao Temple.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The Book of the Young Emperor decreed that the former Shangshu Ling Xun was in the court of the Taizu Temple.
Enjoying the Taimiao Temple is the greatest honor for the meritorious man, but Cao Cao personally admitted that Xun Yu's merits are higher than Xun You's, but Xun Yu is not worthy of the honor of the Taimiao Temple, some people say that he is not Wei Chen, so there is no way to enter the Taimiao Temple, then Guo Jia is not Wei Chen, still entered the Taimiao Temple.
Therefore, the main thing is the last period of Xun Yu's life, and Cao Cao is opposed, others support Cao Cao's title of duke, plus Jiu Xi, in preparation for further usurping the Han title of emperor, but Xun Yu is not supportive, Xun Yu's heart is still biased towards the Han room, you can also feel that after Xun Yu's death, the influence of the Han room is getting weaker and weaker, at least when Cao Cao respects the Han room, there is only one person with strength who is called emperor (there are some extremely weak, and only one person who leaves a name in history is not counted as emperor), My personal opinion is that Xun Yu is more likely to part ways with Cao Cao because of his loyalty to the Han Dynasty.
References: Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The Chronicle of Emperor Wu", Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms. The Chronicle of the Young Emperors" Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms. The Biography of Xun Yu", Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms. Xun You Biography", "Xun Family Biography", "Wei Spring and Autumn"