Speaking of the top strategists in the Three Kingdoms, in addition to Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi and others in the middle and late periods, the "Five Great Strategists" under Cao Cao's account in the early period also possessed the ability to be no less than Zhuge Liang and others, and Xun Yu, who was later called "the head of the Five Great Strategists", has always been a focus of discussion by the world, and there are many opinions about his cause of death, so what is the real cause of his death?
Life of Xun Yu
Xun Yu (荀彧), courtesy name Wenruo, was a representative of the Xun family of the Yingchuan family at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, known as "Wang Zuozhicai" in his early years, and the official to guard the palace order, and later Dong Zhuo rebelled, Xun Yu abandoned the official to Jizhou, was honored by Yuan Shao as a guest, and later defected to Cao Cao, formulating strategies for Cao Cao to "take root in the world to control the world" and "welcome the son of heaven" to help Cao Cao unify the entire northern region.
In 212, Cao Cao wanted to make himself a duke and crown Jiu Xi, but Xun Yu stood in the perspective of the Han Dynasty, remembering Liu Bang's "Covenant of the White Horse", dissuading Cao Cao from doing so, and Cao Cao was therefore "unable to calm his heart", and Xun Yu died in Shouchun in the same year.
The cause of Xun Yu's death
"Xun Yu stays in Shouchun to worry about it."
Chen Shou recorded in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms that Xun Yu was ill and stayed in Shouchun and died of depression, and although the root of the depression Chen Shou did not say, it must be because of the contradiction between himself and Cao Cao in the same year, Xun Yu was not only worried about himself, but also worried about the fate of the Han Dynasty, and eventually died of depression.
However, the "Spring and Autumn of the Wei Dynasty" and the "Book of Later Han" record that after Xun Yu fell ill in Shouchun, Cao Cao ordered someone to bring an empty gift box to visit Xun Yu, and Xun Yu saw the empty gift box and understood the subtext of Cao Cao's intention that he was useless, so he committed suicide and died.
The "Spring and Autumn of the Emperor" records another story:
"Xun Yu died in Shouchun, and Shouchun, who knew the inside story, was afraid of being implicated, so he fled to Sun Quan, telling Sun Quan that Cao Cao had let Xun Yu kill Empress Fu, but Yu did not comply, so he committed suicide."
Judging from all these historical records, Xun Yu's greatest possibility is suicide, and the root cause of suicide is a disagreement with Cao Cao on the matter of sealing the King of Wei, Cao Cao can no longer tolerate Xun Yu, Xun Yu's end can only die, and suicide may be the most decent way to die.