As a fierce general under Cao Cao, Xu Chu has always supported Cao Cao since he led the crowd to cao cao, and has accompanied Cao Cao until the last moment of his life. Xu Chu not only fought bravely, but also saved Cao Cao's life several times, so he was not only deeply trusted by Cao Cao, but even the two generations of kings of Cao Pi and Cao Rui were also favored by him. However, Xu Yi, the son of Xu Chu, was executed because Zhong would kill Li Wei when he was with Zhong Hui, and why was this?
In the winter of the third year of Jingyuan (262), Sima Zhao appointed Zhong Hui as the general of Zhenxi, the false festival, and the military governor of Guanzhong. In the autumn of the following year, the State of Wei sent troops to cut down Shu, of which Zhong Hui was the main general, commanding 100,000 troops from Xiegu and Luogu, while Deng Ai and Zhuge Xu each commanded 30,000 troops to contain and block Jiang Wei's retreat.
As the main force to destroy Shu, Zhong Hui took Xu Yi, the son of Xu Chu, as the vanguard and ordered him to open the way for the army. As a result, when Zhong Hui crossed a bridge, but because the bridge suddenly broke a hole, the horse's hoof fell into the hole, Zhong Hui was furious about this, and did not care about the merits of Xu Yi's father Xu Chu, and beheaded Xu Yi.
As for the reason why Zhong Hui killed Xu Yi, it is actually not difficult to understand. It should be known that the erudite and intelligent Zhong Hui, although with the trust of Sima Shi and Sima Zhao, was able to often intervene in the affairs of the imperial court, but in the early years he only played the role of a staff member, and the Battle of Shu was the first time he led troops.
Although Zhong Hui has long been famous, for the lieutenant generals, they are not convinced by this, but a truly majestic and powerful commander with great merit. Therefore, the first time zhong hui of the army was in need of establishing his own prestige, and as a result, Xu Yi just bumped into the muzzle of the gun and became the "chicken" that killed the chicken and the monkey.
So, why did Zhong Hui take Xu Yi to open the knife? Personally, I think it may stem from the following reasons:
1. Xu Yi has enough weight. Since Zhong Hui wanted to establish his power by killing people, the person he killed must not be a person with no name, otherwise he would not be able to play the effect of Li Wei at all, and Xu Yi undoubtedly met this condition.
Judging from the few records of Xu Yi in the historical records, Xu Yi's own talent should be extremely limited, his status is not high, and his merits are not too great, but his father Xu Chu is really powerful. Xu Chu, the general of the Official To Wu Wei and the Marquis of Muxiang, not only commanded the forbidden army of the court for a long time, but also the three generations of Cao Cao, Cao Pi, and Cao Rui, and had a very high status within Cao Wei and was also famous in the army, so he killed Xu Yi to establish a prestige, and the weight was heavy enough.
2. Xu Yi does not belong to his own faction. As we all know, since the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui, Sima Shi began to rise rapidly, and even after the "Gaopingling Rebellion", he fully seized military and political power. However, it is precisely because Xu Chu himself is deeply trusted by the Cao clan that it is difficult for Xu Yi to integrate into the Sima faction, and Xu Yi has always been difficult to be reused, which may also be related to this.
At the same time, Zhong Hui was originally valued for Sima Shi's appreciation, and he who had long served as Sima Shi's aide was deeply favored by Sima Shi and Sima Zhao, and on the issue of Cutting Shu, when all the courtiers expressed opposition, it was Zhong Hui who firmly supported Sima Zhao's decision, so Zhong Hui was undoubtedly Sima Zhao's concubine. For Sima Shi, Cao's old subjects were originally the target of suppression, so Zhong Hui's killing of Xu Yi was in sima s interests, and naturally would not cause adverse results.
3. Xu Yi has less involvement with the DPRK. The reason why Xu Chu was able to be favored by Cao Cao, Cao Pi, and Cao Rui was that in addition to his loyalty, it was more important that he could always abide by his duties. For example, after the "Battle of Hanzhong", Cao Cao returned to Luoyang, and Cao Ren came from Jingzhou to make a pilgrimage, when Cao Cao was still in the palace, Cao Ren saw Xu Chu standing outside the palace, so he invited him to the side room to chat and wait. It should be known that Cao Ren was a clan general whom Cao Cao greatly trusted, and as a result, Xu Chu thought that the internal ministers should not have close contact with the foreign ministers, and directly said that "the king of Wei is coming out soon", so he turned around and returned to the palace.
Although Xu Chu's personality could enable him to win the trust of the king, this style of conduct also brought about a major drawback, that is, the relationship with the court was shallow, not only could not talk about personal relations, but may even offend many people. It is precisely because of this that Xu Yi can be said to have no background in the DPRK, and killing him will not cause the courtiers to attack him.
In summary, it is precisely because Xu Yi does not belong to the Sima faction, and because of his father's relationship, he has a certain influence in the military, plus he will not involve too many forces in the DPRK, resulting in Xu Yi becoming a qualified target for killing people. More importantly, Xu Yi did violate the military law, and killing him was also justified, which led to Xu Yi becoming the unlucky egg that Zhong would use to establish his power.