This is the last chapter of "Cracking the Biggest Abduction Case of the Three Kingdoms". In the first two chapters, we talked about Xiahou Bo, an important general in the early days of Liu Bei's clique, who was most likely the younger brother of Cao Cao's general Xiahou Yuan and Zhang Fei's father-in-law.
In addition, we also talk about Zhang Fei's strange behavior in the fifth year of Jian'an (200 AD)—instead of following Liu Bei north to join Yuan Shao, he ran in the opposite direction to Chenxian and "kidnapped" Xiahou Yuan's niece. The abduction process is very strange and deserves further analysis. The author continues to expand his imagination and try to crack the final inside story of this story.
Xiahou Yuan conspired with Zhang Fei to plan the "abduction incident"?
In the five years of abduction in Jian'an, we mentioned three very strange details in the previous chapter: First, the niece of the Xiahou family, a large family in Chenxian County, and the niece of Taishou (Xiahou Yuan was already a Yingchuan Taishou, a lieutenant of the Xingdu Military Academy), actually had to cut firewood personally? Second, Zhang Fei "happened to pass by" in Chenxian County and ran into important family members of the enemy camp; third, the Xiahou family ignored the kidnapping and was only made public forty-nine years later (Xiahou Yuan's son Xiahou Ba, who fled to Shu Han).
These details are puzzling, if xiahou yuan's niece is contacted, it is likely that it is xiahou Bo's daughter, the incident is too coincidental.
In February of the same year, Xiahou Bo was defeated and captured at the Battle of Xuzhou, and was likely to die of his wounds or commit suicide. Then it happened that Zhang Fei "kidnapped" Xiahou Bo's daughter, and Zhang Fei left Liu Bei alone and ran to Tan County, which was diametrically opposite to liu Bei's northward escape. The whole incident seems to be That Zhang Fei followed Xiahou Bo's will and went to Xiahou Bo's hometown to find someone.
What is even more bizarre is that the whole "kidnapping" incident was unusually smooth: Xiahou Yuan's niece went out of the city alone for "reasonable reasons (to chop wood)", and "accidentally" encountered the enemy's number one fierce general, Zhang Fei, and was successfully "abducted". The tacit understanding of the two sides is incredible even after more than 1800 years.
Therefore, it is likely that the kidnapping was tacitly approved by the Xiahou family, and secret and thorough arrangements were made internally. One day in the fifth year of Jian'an, the Xiahou family accurately grasped the time, sent Xiahou Bo's daughter outside the city on time and on time, and handed over to Xiahou Bo's colleague and close friend (most likely) Zhang Fei, who was "temporarily passing through the local area".
This incident is only recorded in the Wei Liu: "In the fifth year of Jian'an, Shi (Xiahou) Bacong's sister was thirteen or fourteen, in this county, traveling to collect trees, which was obtained by Zhang Fei. ”
Wei Luo is a long-lost history book, only part of which has been cited in books such as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which records many anecdotes about the characters of the Three Kingdoms, but has a large element of hearsay. For example, "Liu Chan was lost in the war at an early age, and was not found until Liu Bei became the king of Hanzhong", the record completely contradicts the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The characteristic of "Wei Luo" is that the account of the state of Wei is very valuable, but the rumors of the state of Wu and the state of Shu are quite biased.
Regarding the abduction of Xiahou Yuan's niece, the "Wei Luo" should record the rumors of the real existence of the Wei state at that time, and it was not denied by the Xiahou family (otherwise the author of the "Wei Luo" was in the local area and would have been beaten by the Cao family and the Xiahou family long ago). But the rumor itself, it is likely to be the "smoke bomb" released by the Xiahou family, which only retains part of the authenticity, but hides the core of the story - that is, the Xiahou family was directly involved in the planning of the "kidnapping case", and the core host may be Xiahou Yuan!
Reunion and Farewell: The Brotherhood of Xiahou Bo and Xiahou Yuan
Zhang Fei's wife, Xiahou Yuan's niece, was an important relative that Xiahou Yuan cared about very much. The Wei Luo (魏略) says: "Shi Yan and Yu were in chaos (between 184 and 188), yuan was starving, abandoning his young son, and living to the death of his brother and orphan daughter. In order to raise his brother's orphan daughter, Xiahou Yuan even gave up his young son. All this reflects the deep affection between Xiahou Yuan and his brother. This younger brother, which we have argued, is likely to be Liu Bei's general Xiahou Bo (see the first two chapters).
Between 187 and 188 AD (before and after the birth of his daughter), Xiahou Bo once fled his hometown ("death" is interpreted as a flight according to the Commentaries on the Interpretation of Texts). In 189 AD, Xiahou Yuan followed Cao Cao's army and began to become a general of Cao Cao's clique.
During this period (between about 187-199), Xiahou Bo joined Liu Bei's clique by chance and became an important general. Xiahou Bo's time of following Liu Bei was roughly only two possibilities.
The first possibility is that Xiahou Bo joined Liu Bei during his tenure as a lieutenant of Anxi County (188), Xiami County, Gaotang County, or Pingyuan Xiang (191). Liu Bei served as an official several times and resigned several times, and Xiahou Bo, like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, was probably a small number of people who closely followed Liu Bei, so they established a deep friendship with each other.
The second possibility, Xiahou Bo's first defection was Tao Qian. In 194, Liu Bei rescued Xuzhou, and the following year succeeded him as The Mu of Xuzhou after Tao Qian's death, and Xiahou Bo was included in Liu Bei's command as a General of Xuzhou.
In 196, Lü Bu secretly attacked Xuzhou, Liu Bei was driven to Xiao pei, and in 198 he was attacked by Lü Bu again, triggering Cao Cao's attack on Lü Bu in conjunction with Liu Bei, and eventually Lü Bu was defeated in the same year. During this period, Xiahou Bo should have been following Liu Bei and gained full trust.
Around 197, Liu Bei went to Xuchang to meet Cao Cao and was given the title of "Yuzhou Mu". After the elimination of Lü Bu in 198, Liu Bei was even given the title of General of the Left and lived in Xuchang for only one year. At this time, including Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and Xiahou Bo, it is likely that they were also in Xuchang. Therefore, Xiahou Bo should have been reunited with his brother Xiahou Yuan during this period.
These things are completely undocumented in the history books and can only rely on our reasoning. Since the history books do not deny it, we can use our imagination.
After Xiahou Bo and Xiahou Yuan reunited, how to relive the brotherhood, we have no way of knowing. All we know is that Liu Bei participated in Dong Cheng's "Yidai Zhao" conspiracy in 199 in an attempt to overthrow Cao Cao. In the same year, Under the pretext of rebelling against Yuan Shu, Liu Bei led his army back to Xuzhou and killed the Xuzhou assassin Shi Che. In this blatant act against Cao Cao, Xiahou Bo, as a distant relative of Cao Cao, followed Liu Bei and did not abandon him.
In February of 200 (the fifth year of Jian'an), Cao Cao sent a large army to attack Xuzhou, defeating Liu Bei in a field battle and capturing Xiahou Bo. This incident is the only record of Xiahou Bo in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Judging from the results, Xiahou Bo was fierce and ji, and it was likely that he would die of his injuries or die unyieldingly.
At this time, Xiahou Yuan, as Cao Cao's general (Yingchuan Taishou (颍川太守, a lieutenant of the Xing governor military academy), probably met Xiahou Bo for the last time. We have no way of knowing the details of the tips between the Xiahou brothers, but only by imagination. But shortly thereafter, there was an incident in which "Zhang Fei kidnapped Xiahou Bo's daughter". From various indications, we can boldly infer that Xiahou Bo probably entrusted some things to Zhang Fei and Xiahou Yuan before his death.
Before Xiahou Bo died, what did he entrust to Xiahou Yuan and Zhang Fei?
Xiahou Bo, as a relative of Cao Cao, sided with the anti-Cao Cao camp and was clearly recorded in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which was extremely strange.
We need to note that Xiahou Bo's escape from Yuxian was between 187 and 188 AD, when Cao Cao was in hiding at his home in Yuxian (he only received He Jin's conscription in 188 and served as a lieutenant in the military academy). Cao Cao's second son, Cao Pi, was born almost the same year (187) as Xiahou Bo's daughter.
Theoretically, the Xiahou family and the Cao family were blood relatives, and no matter what major incident Xiahou Bo committed, Cao Cao, who was in the same county, should be sheltered. Moreover, Cao Cao, as the adopted grandson of Cao Teng, the chief attendant, should have been a role in calling the wind and rain in Yu County at that time. However, Xiahou Bo had to abandon his infant daughter (even before he was born) and flee alone.
Considering xiahou yuan's family, around 188 AD, they even suffered a tragic situation of "Yan and Yu chaos, Yuan was starving, abandoning his young son, and living to death his brother and orphan daughter". Xiahou Yuan himself may have suffered a serious injury, resulting in a difficult life.
Then the biggest possibility is that Xiahou Bo offended Cao Cao!
Then, a lot of things that have happened in the five years of Jian'an make logical sense.
It was precisely because Xiahou Bo had offended Cao Cao (and was very serious), so during the honeymoon period between Liu Bei and Cao Cao, Xiahou Bo did not take advantage of his kinship to defect to Cao Cao, but continued to be loyal to Liu Bei. At the same time, Liu Bei boldly appointed a relative of Cao Cao as the leading general, and there was a good reason.
Chen Deng once said to Liu Bei: "Now that I want to make Junhe step by 100,000 horses, I can help the people and become the cause of the five hegemons, and I can cut the land and guard the territory, and the book merit is in the bamboo." "When facing Cao Cao, Xuzhou had a considerable number of soldiers and horses, and Liu Bei had at least tens of thousands of troops available under his command. On the one hand, Liu Bei used Guan Yu to hold on to Xia Pi, and on the other hand, Zhang Fei and Xiahou Bo as generals to meet Cao Cao. Xiahou Bo's position in Liu Bei's army may even exceed xiahou Yuan's position in Cao's camp at that time.
After Xiahou Bo was defeated and captured, he did not intend to surrender because he knew that he and Cao Cao would not deal with him. However, in this way, Xiahou Bo's offense against Cao Cao would only deepen. Therefore, Xiahou Bo would definitely consider his daughter's future and future, and even if he had Xiahou Yuan's protection, he might not be able to maintain a long-term future.
Therefore, Xiahou Bo probably entrusted his daughter to Zhang Fei before the war began, hoping that her daughter would be free from the influence of Cao Cao's forces. Subsequently, xiahou Bo probably also made a final entrustment with Xiahou Yuan when he was captured, hoping to get the support of his brother.
Speaking of Zhang Fei, can both Xiahou Bo and Xiahou Yuan agree with this person's personality? From the perspective of interpretation, Zhang Fei seems to be a rude and reckless man, and it is difficult for us to understand this sense of identity. However, in historical facts, Zhang Fei has the style of a "famous man". The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms once said: "Yu is kind to the pawns and proud of the scholars, and fei loves and respects the gentleman and does not sympathize with the villain." This shows that Zhang Fei and the scholar can talk about it, and there is also a record in history that "Zhang Fei is good at calligraphy". Xiahou Yuan's epigraph "Miaocai" is by no means a simple warrior who does not understand literature and ink, and there is a high probability of interest intersecting with Zhang Fei.
Judging from these factors, the friendship between the Xiahou brothers and Zhang Fei may have been unusually deep (Liu Bei was likely to have had close contacts during his stay in Xuchang, such as Guan Yu and Xu Huang), and it has not been recorded in the history books. All this also provided a sufficient and reasonable background for Xiahou Yuan and Zhang Fei to conspire to jointly plan the "kidnapping incident on the outskirts of Chenxian County".
We'll stop here today about this story. Most of the story is a bold imagination of the blank space in the history books, there is no real evidence, but it cannot be denied by the history books. However, the real history of the Three Kingdoms is certainly a hundred times richer than the history books and interpretations. These places, where history has not been recorded, would be too boring to allow it to continue blank.
The article is purely a personal imagination, welcome criticism and correction. (Author: Tao Mujian)