In the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao's side, there are two items are the most not lacking, one is a woman, the second is a counselor, weak water three thousand, do not see which scoop he drinks alone, especially who he loves, can be described as "the beauty of the world is loved", but also often like the new and tired of the old. However, many of his advisers, everyone will know that Guo Jia, who is "a brilliant strategist and a strange man of the world", has always been his favorite, and at first he talked at first sight, and later he was even more "walking in the same car, sitting at the same table", and when he went there, he took it with him, and on major military strategic issues, he basically obeyed his words, and this trust and love can be said to be envious of others in the Three Kingdoms and even in the future.
So the problem is, located in the Central Plains, Cao Cao's subordinates can be described as full of talents, there are many strategists, not to mention the men behind the tyrants, Zhuge Liang's uncles and nephews of the Xun clan - Xun Yu and Xun You, there are "his strategy is wonderful, no less than two Xun" to help Cao Cao specifically manipulate the Tianzi to make the princes Dong Zhao and Mao Jie, there are chen Qun and Zhong Xuan and other people who are scheming and calculating, there are Cheng Yu who accurately predicted the direction of Liu Sun's alliance, there are the world's first poisoners - Jia Xu, who have made strange changes, and there are Liu Ye, Jiang Ji, Man Pet, Yang Xiu, Gao Rou, Tian Yu, Lü Qian and others. These people are also all unparalleled in wisdom, but why does Cao Cao, who cherishes talent and loves talent, love Guo Jia alone?
Looking at this public case first, a fire in the Battle of Chibi by Liu Sun's coalition army burned Cao Cao's dream of unifying the world to ashes, and Cao Cao said this sentence after defeat: "If Feng Xiaoxiao is here, why is he lonely?" Guo Jia, who died on the way to the Northern Expedition to Karasuma, was once again pushed out of the sky by Cao Cao, which is enough to explain Cao Cao's exclusive love for Guo Jia.
But the problem is, at this time, Guo Jia has died, Cao Cao's other advisers are still ah, and now in the face of this great defeat, you Cao Cao said so, what do they think in their hearts? While elevating Guo Jia, is this also a disguised scolding of other people for being wine bags? The things of this world are the first in Wen Wu and the second in Wu Wu. They all say that their peers are wrongdoers, what do you make others think about Guo Jia? In fact, not all talented people are open-minded, compassionate, and united.
In fact, the literati have become more and more fighting, and their intensity will not belong to the king's harem to compete for favors, Yuan Shao also has a group of top strategists under him, how to make a chicken feather, it is not because that group of people have been thinking about how to fight with each other all day long. Even under Liu Bei's command, when there were not many strategists and the cake was not large, when he was seeking Xichuan, Pang Tong felt that "Kong Ming was afraid that I had taken Xichuan and became a meritorious person, and deliberately blocked this book."
The unchanging human nature of the ages determines that if the number of strategists is small, the style is more consistent, it is better to say, just like the small warlord Zhang Xiu, the wise opinion he can hear in addition to Jia Xu? But in Cao Cao's camp, Guo Jia has always been an alternative. In the protracted battle with Lü Bu, Cao Cao's side was already sleepy and tired, and everyone suggested withdrawing, but he roared flatly, No! Persistence is victory, and also put forward a specific and feasible proposal - "to break the Surabaya to drown", Cao Cao immediately saw a bright eye, the remaining chips immediately studded, the final result everyone knows, win hemp. In fact, many of Guo Jia's decisions are like this, everyone feels that they want to go east, Cao Cao will look at him, but he said categorically, to the west, to the west, not only can say why to the west, but also tell you how to go west, the key is still, in the end, he really gave it to him.
Victory after victory, Guo Jia's status in Cao Cao's heart is getting higher and higher. But the question is, what would Cao Cao's other advisers think? Their hearts are absolutely uncomfortable, and in fact, that's exactly what happened. In the Han Dynasty Shilin where the taste evaluation style is prevalent, a bad review of a newcomer is not bad, more serious than a bad review of the new store on Taobao. Guo Jia's public opinion reputation is not very good. After leaving Yuan Shao, he was hidden by the snow for 7 years, if it were not for the sudden death of Cao Cao's most trusted strategist Xi Zhicai, Cao Cao repeatedly asked Xun Yu to recommend another one for him, and Guo Jia, who was extremely talented but from a humble origin, really did not have the opportunity to become Cao Cao's guest.
A very obvious problem, in the circle culture prevailed, the party took care of each other, competed to praise and promote the late Han Dynasty, Guo Jia was a maverick outlier, it was difficult to pee into a pot with celebrities from the scholar clan, and even with his achievements, it became more and more obvious. This contradiction gradually became public, and the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms once recorded: "In the beginning, Chen Qunfei Jia did not rule and prosecute, and several courts sued Jia, and Jia Yi was self-assured. Taizu became more and more important, but the group was able to hold right, and he was also pleased. Chen Qun and these people have written to impeach Guo Jia many times. You must know that the impeachment and private discussion are different, the supervision department officially wrote a letter of impeachment, Cao Cao can not avoid it, it is necessary to stand up and take a stand. These are still written many times, but Guo Jia's performance is "jiayi self-confidence", which can already convey a very clear and clear message, that is, Guo Jia not only disagrees with their three views and looks at each other unfavorably, but these people try to drive away Guo Jia through various means.
However, Cao Cao thought, "This is an extraordinary person, and it is not appropriate to restrain it with common sense", and tried to protect Guo Jia several times and three times. In this case, what feelings will Guo Jia have for Cao Cao? I'm afraid that this will be even deeper than the grace of knowing the encounter, can he still do his best to contribute his wisdom and strategy to serve Cao Cao? In fact, the more Cao Cao loved Guo Jia, the more their interests would be more and more consistent, because of Guo Jia's status as an "orphan subject", the envy he suffered from all directions would be more and more, bigger and bigger. This determined that his room for maneuver would become smaller and smaller, and he could only get closer and closer to Cao Cao until he was completely tied to Cao Cao. Cao Cao once thought that Guo Jia was younger than him, and he revealed the idea of "entrusting future affairs". If Cao Cao really died and Guo Jia was still alive, how would those who had been "suppressed" by Guo Jia for a long time act? In the Cao Pi era, the "Nine Pins Zhongzheng System" was developed by Chen Qun, who had repeatedly impeached Guo Jia.
Cao Cao's lifelong insistence on "meritocracy" is not only his personal experience, but also a kind of helplessness, because he wants to avoid a question, that is, the so-called "morality" and "evaluation", which are firmly held in the hands of the scholars, and do not allow others to touch it. It's not these people who made it. But Cao Cao knew that decent people can often do things step by step, but it is difficult to win by surprise, and it is even more difficult to create new things. And people with strong creativity are often deviant people, so is he himself, so is Guo Jia, the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" did not record what Guo Jia's "incurable inspection" was, and later some people examined it out that it was alcoholism, lust, and drug addiction. It can be said that in addition to the addiction to medicine, the other two, Cao Cao himself estimated that he did not let go, because Cao Cao knew that "the period of surplus and contraction, not only in the heavens, but also in the blessings of Yangyi, can get eternal years." "Life is short, we must live a few more years to make a contribution." But guo jia, who strives to protect Guo Jia's "misconduct", is not it also indirectly endorsing the legitimacy of his own similar behavior?
Guo Jia's last clever calculation before his death was after the Battle of Guandu, where should Cao Cao's camp go? Guo Jia's suggestion was to quickly send troops to conquer the Karasuma Department of the three counties in the north, and for this reason, he also specially dug two channels at Pingyu and Quanzhou at the suggestion of Dong Zhao to facilitate transportation. The history books record: The Gong General Zhengzhi, chiseled a canal, and entered the Water Of The River from Huhu, known as the Pingyu Canal; and from the mouth of the Lu River, the Quanzhou Canal was known as the Quanzhou Canal to open up to the sea. But this plan was unanimously questioned by almost all the strategists. At this time, Guo Jia, who was "well-informed and calculated, and achieved things", played a role in determining what he said, so why should he fight? How to go and play? The doubts and worries of the crowd, Liu Bei encouraged Liu Biao to take the opportunity to sneak up on Xu Du. Guo Jiadu replied and judged.
It was once again adopted by Cao Cao's force, but it is strange that Guo Jia died of illness on the expedition, and later Cao Cao won the victory and returned, but ordered a thorough investigation of those who had advised him not to go north, and rewarded him. On the one hand, although this can reflect Cao Cao's broad-mindedness, on the other hand, it is not a gesture of favor to the huge opposition group of scholars, this northern expedition, the great shine is Zhang Liao, if carefully analyzed, he and Guo Jia, to some extent, there are actually some similarities.
Unlike all the "strategists" from the celebrity group of the Shi Clan Group, Guo Jia's kind can be said to be a miracle, without their prominent family and lineage, and there is no kind of powerful personal relationship to hitchhike. It can be said that whether in the Wenchen or among the martial generals, in addition to his own family, the Xia Hou clan and the Cao clan, Cao Cao all advocated the selection of talents in the cold door. The military general is still good to say - the five sons of liang generals, as well as Dianwei, Xu Chu and other people are like this, these people are naturally grateful for Cao Cao's kindness, but what about the civilian ministers and strategists? In the era when there was no imperial examination, the Non-Scholars were really a problem, the family was not well born, basically did not have the conditions to study and worship, and could not go on outings to many celebrities to get the opportunity to show their faces. A large number of scholars can be used, who not only claim to be shareholders, but also expand their own equity step by step.
After Guo Jia's death, Cao Cao could no longer find such an orphan with the ability to oppose the heavens like Guo Jia, perhaps this was the reason why Cao Cao missed Guo Jia.
Author: Xiao Yunan, our special guest author