The black nest was burned, Chun Yuqiong was killed, Zhang Hao and Gao Yan surrendered to Cao, and after this series of bad news was transmitted back to the camp of the Yuan army, the whole army immediately fried the pan, all of them had no fighting spirit, and immediately collapsed and scattered for their lives.
Yuan Shao was unable to return to the sky, so he had to take the remaining eight hundred guards and cavalry with Yuan Tan, Guo Tu and others, and escaped the Yellow River before he had time to dress properly. Cao Cao sent people to pursue, but did not catch it, but captured more than 70,000 soldiers of the Yuan army who had broken up, and also captured a large number of weights, books, treasures, etc. in Yuan Shao's camp.
Subsequently, Cao Cao did another very cruel deed, killing all the more than 70,000 pawns.
When the Book of Later Han talked about this matter, I don't know whether it was intended to protect or casually, anyway, it was to find a reason for Cao Cao to kill the pawns, saying that these people were "false surrenders" (that is, fraudulent surrenders), and they were killed by Cao Cao. In fact, as long as you think about it a little, you can know that this reason is very far-fetched. At that time, Yuan Shao had already run away, and even the generals Zhang Hao and Gao Yan had surrendered, why did these big-headed soldiers bother to surrender? What do they plot? Is there any difference between being a soldier fighting under Yuan Shao and fighting under Cao Cao? Since Yuan Shao has been completely defeated, can't he still eat with Cao Cao?
In short, if Cao Cao is willing to take him in, they will absolutely thank God and be grateful to Cao Cao, and it is impossible to deceive him.
Since it wasn't these people's problem, then why did Cao Cao kill them?
The massacre of the city in Xuzhou was indeed due to Cao Cao's brutal temperament, but this time, although his behavior was equally cruel, Cao Cao's motives were completely different from those at the beginning - he was out of necessity.
The reason is very simple: these more than 70,000 people, that is, more than 70,000 mouths to eat, Cao Cao is now almost unable to feed his own soldiers, where can there be so much food to feed them?
If the grain in Wuchao had not been burned, I believe that Cao Cao would not have killed them, because these people were elite soldiers with rich combat experience, and they were a strong army.
It's a pity that in order to defeat Yuan Shao, those grains must be burned, and since the grain is burned, then these more than 70,000 pawns are doomed to death.
When Yuan Shao ran away, he was captured by Cao Jun before he could keep up. When the soldiers escorted him to see Cao Cao, he shouted in frustration: "I was captured, not surrendered!" ”
Cao Cao and Fang Shu are also old friends, knowing his skills, and having the intention to recruit him, he said: "We are located in the north and south of the river, and we have not heard from us over the years, but I didn't expect that when we meet again today, we actually arrested you." ”
Frustrated, he smiled bitterly and said, "Yuan Shao made a mistake and humiliated himself, my intelligence and ability cannot be used, and it is natural to be caught." ”
Cao Cao advised him: "There is no plan at the beginning, do not use your strategy, if the decision is undecided today, it is just to seek a great cause with you." ”
Frustrated, he shook his head and said, "My uncle and younger brother have their lives in Yuan Shao's hands. If you value me, it would be my blessing to kill me early. ”
Cao Cao sighed: "If Lonely had gotten you early, there would be nothing to worry about in the world." "Then let go of the frustration and treat it with courtesy.
However, he was eventually reinstated by missing his relatives who remained in Jizhou, and soon tried to escape back, but was arrested again. Cao Cao had no choice but to kill him.
It is worth mentioning that when Cao Jun was clearing the spoils, he copied a batch of letters from Yuan Shao's big account, which were the letters that Xu Du and some officials and generals in the army had secretly communicated with Yuan Shao before.
Many people thought that with these ironclad evidence in their hands, Cao Cao would definitely launch a great purge of these traitors. But to everyone's surprise, Cao Cao actually set fire to all these letters. Then, he said a sentence: "When I faced the powerful Yuan Shao, even I couldn't believe that I could save it, let alone others? ”
Cao Cao's move won the praise of later historians, who praised him for his tolerance and generosity.
In fact, Cao Cao did this not so much out of generosity as out of intrigue. In other words, this is a brilliant trick for Cao Cao to win people's hearts.
The reason is the general trend of the world at that time: although Yuan Shao was defeated, he has not been completely eliminated, and it is difficult to say whether he will make a comeback; And in addition to Yuan Shao, there is Wuhuan in the north, Liu Biao and Sun Ce in the south, Ma Teng and Han Sui in the west, Zhang Lu and Liu Zhang in the southwest, and Liu Bei who is running around... The world is still divided, Cao Cao still has a lot of battles to fight, it is precisely when he is employing people, how can he launch a great purge of himself at this critical moment? That would be tantamount to self-destruction of the Great Wall, and would only make all the enemies around it applaud.
Therefore, no matter how much Cao Cao hated these undetermined traitors in his heart, he had to forcibly make a high gesture of not being blamed in order to appease these people and show his broad mind to the people of the world.
In this way, his old employees can continue to work with peace of mind, and at the same time attract more newcomers who admire his good boss to join. Why not?
Think about it on the other hand, if Yuan Shao is already Cao Cao's last opponent, and the world will be unified after eliminating him, do you guess Cao Cao will burn these ironclad evidence of betrayal? Will these traitors be forgiven with such a tolerant and generous gesture?
I think that with Cao Cao's clear love-hate character, the answer should be no.
Yuan Shao's defeat at Guandu and almost all the army were destroyed, and the counties below Jizhou fell to Cao Cao, just as Cao Cao's situation was critical before, and all the counties below Yuzhou fell to Yuan Shao.
No way, this is human nature - blessed people can share together, and if there are difficulties, you can bear it yourself.
What is even more tragic is that Yuan Shao's boat is about to sink, but the gang under him are still busy fighting in the nest.
When the news of Yuan Shao's defeat reached Yecheng, someone told Tian Feng in prison that he would definitely be able to be reinstated this time, and was even likely to be reused by Yuan Shao. Because Tian Feng had opposed Yuan Shao's troops, but now he really said it, it showed that Tian Feng was very prescient, so of course the boss would reuse him.
However, this is only judged according to normal rationality, and a boss like Yuan Shao does not necessarily have such rationality.
Tian Feng knew Yuan Shao very well.
He smiled bitterly and said, "The Lord is generous on the surface, but jealous in his heart, he will not perceive my loyalty, he will only remember that I have rebelled against him many times." If the battle is won this time, he is happy in his heart, and may even forgive me; But now that he is defeated, he will definitely be resentful and angry, and I don't expect myself to live. ”
Sure enough, as Tian Feng expected, at the same time that he made this pessimistic judgment, Yuan Shao was chatting with his adviser Fengji about Tian Feng, saying: "People from all over Jizhou and others, when they hear that I lost the battle, most people will sympathize with me. Only Tian Feng, who had opposed my sending troops before, was different from others, which made me very ashamed. ”
As soon as Feng Ji heard Yuan Shao's tone, he knew that he was not really guilty, but deeply ashamed of it. So Fengji followed the boss's thoughts and decisively pushed Tian Feng to death, saying: "I heard that Tian Feng clapped his hands and laughed when he learned that the lord was defeated, and he was very happy that the matter was said by him. ”
This statement is pure nonsense and very insidious and vicious. We don't know what personal grudge Fengji has with Tian Feng, but it is enough to see from this sentence alone that Fengji is clearly putting Tian Feng to death - as soon as this remark comes out, Tian Feng is not enough to cut off even if he has a few heads.
Afterwards, Yuan Shao said to the people on the left and right: "I don't need Tian Feng's words, I really laughed at him." It didn't take long for Tian Feng to be killed.
After Tian Feng's death, the infighting in Yuan Shao's camp continued.
This time the unlucky thing is the trial.
His two sons followed Yuan Shao to the front, but they were both captured by Cao Jun and surrendered to Cao Cao. This was originally a matter of no way, the people were willing to send their sons to fight, and once they sent back, they sent two back, which shows that the people are still very loyal, as for the defeat and capture, it is called no eggs under the nest, and no one has a rut. But some people took the opportunity to make a challenge and wanted to kill the trial.
At the head is a military general named Meng Dai. He said to Yuan Shao in private: "The trial is in a high position, authoritarian and arbitrary, and his family members are prosperous, and the fighting power of his subordinates is also very strong. Now, his two sons are on Cao Cao's side, and sooner or later they will surely rebel. ”
This sentence is similar to Fengji's words about framing Tian Feng, both of which are bloody and throat-sealing, and a deadly move.
What's worse, not only Meng Dai wanted to engage in a death trial, but even Guo Tu, Yuan Shao's most trusted strategist, also jumped out to help, and another adviser, Xin Ping, all said in unison that the trial must be reversed.
The three became tigers, and they all mouthed gold, and this time they jumped into the Yellow River and couldn't wash it. Yuan Shao had basically believed their words and wanted to get rid of the trial, but he couldn't make up his mind. So before taking action, he specifically asked Fengji again, wanting to know what he thought about it.
In fact, Yuan Shao's question was not to hear anything beneficial to the trial from Fengji's mouth, but to let Fengji help him make up his mind, because Yuan Shao knew that Fengji and the trial had never been harmonious, and it was absolutely impossible to help the trial match.
However, something unexpected happened at this time. Fengji actually said: "The judge is strong by nature, upright, and often admires the ancient people, although the two sons are on Cao Cao's side, he will have no two hearts, and I hope that the lord will not doubt." ”
When Yuan Shao heard this, he was quite surprised and asked, "Aren't you always disgusted with judging?" ”
Fengji replied: "The dispute with him before was out of a private matter; Now I say this for the sake of the state. ”
Yuan Shao nodded frequently when he heard this, and even claimed to be kind, and immediately dispelled the idea of killing the interrogator.
In this way, under the "impartiality and outspokenness" of the old enemy Fengji, the trial escaped a catastrophe. However, if we really think that Fengji is doing this out of public interest and completely putting aside personal grievances, we are taking things too simply.
In fact, the real motive for Fengji to save his life at a critical moment is still the need for political struggle, rather than what he calls a "national event."
What kind of political struggle?
It's simple: the battle for the throne.
Yuan Shao was the most powerful prince in the world at that time (he had always been before losing to Cao Cao), and his family was so great that he had to consider the issue of heirs. Yuan Shao had three sons: Yuan Tan, Yuan Xi, and Yuan Shang. Among the three sons, who to appoint as the heir, not only Yuan Shao himself has a headache, but these advisers must also choose sides and take precautions.
The situation at that time was that Guo Tu and Xin Ping were on the side of their eldest son Yuan Tan, and although Fengji and Xianping did not obviously choose sides, there were three reasons why they could not choose Yuan Tan: First, Yuan Tan had always hated them, and the specific reasons were not recorded in the history books, and we do not know; Second, Guo Tu and Xin Ping have always been at odds with Fengji and Judge; Third, and most importantly, among the three sons, Yuan Shao liked the youngest son Yuan Shang the most.
Because of these three points, Fengji and the trial match will never choose Yuan Tan, nor is it likely to choose Yuan Xi, but can only choose Yuan Shang. In other words, the two of them are at odds with Guo Tu and Xin Ping, both in private and public.
Because of this, although there are also personal grudges between Fengji and the trial, if Fengji does not try to unite the trial, then he will be completely isolated in this battle for the concubine, and it is easy to be killed by Yuan Tan, Guo Tu, and Xin Ping. That is to say, no matter whether Feng Jinei is reluctant, he must find an opportunity to shake hands with the interrogator and make peace before he can confront Guo Tu and them.
Therefore, when Guo Tu and Xin Ping were bent on putting the trial to death, Fengji could not fall into the hole no matter what, because if he helped Guo and Xin to kill the trial today, it would be equivalent to helping these two people kill themselves tomorrow.
Will Fengji be so stupid?
Of course not. Therefore, when Yuan Shao asked Fengji about the trial, Fengji categorically put aside his past personal grievances and said "fair words" for the interrogator with a selfless attitude. And its real purpose is to take advantage of this rare opportunity to sell a favor, so as to turn enemies into friends in order to deal with the upcoming battle for the conquest.
The trial escaped from death, naturally he was grateful to Fengji, so the two turned into jade since then.
There are no eternal enemies, no eternal friends, only eternal interests. This iron law of the world is common in ancient and modern China and abroad, and it is no exception in the matter of Fengji.
(Excerpted from "The Three Kingdoms Do Not Romance Revolution" by Wang Jueren / by Henan Literature and Art Publishing House/publishing)