Since ancient times, if a monarch wants to achieve great things, he must rely on the support of many outstanding people. And these assistants, while assisting the monarch on the road to success, also realized their ambitions and demonstrated their own value. This is the source of motivation for wise people to actively contribute wisdom and even speak out. A wise monarch is well aware of this, and therefore usually motivates his subordinates to actively express their opinions and choose from them. Even if some of the suggestions are not exactly what they want, they will be rewarded for their courage because they understand that "good advice is better than action". Taking Qin Xiaogong as an example, although Shang Ying's imperial way was not what he wanted, he still gave Shang Ying the opportunity to speak again, and finally Shang Ying persuaded Qin Xiaogong to implement the law change with his domineering arguments. However, during the Three Kingdoms period, there was an unusual phenomenon, and some ministers suffered misfortunes because of their advice. The minister knew that if he had not made such a plan or had made a mistake in his judgment, he might have been able to save his life.
This strange incident happened to Yuan Shao, and the minister's name was Tian Feng.
Tian Feng, whose name is Yuan Hao, showed excellent strategy and strategy when he was young, and he was well-informed and well-known in the local area. He served in the Taiwei Mansion, and was later promoted to Maocai, and eventually rose to the position of Servant Yushi. Seeing that the eunuchs controlled the government and the virtuous people were persecuted, he resolutely resigned and returned to his hometown. Later, Yuan Shao rebelled and invited Tian Feng to join him with humble words and generous gifts. Tian Feng was determined to save the country because he was concerned about the Han family, so he agreed to Yuan Shao.
The strange incident happened when Yuan Shao planned to crusade against Cao Cao and attack Xu Du.
Tian Feng suggested: "Cao Cao is good at using the art of war, unpredictable, although the army is insufficient, but not to be underestimated. We should adopt protracted tactics, take advantage of the dangers of mountains and rivers to hold on, rely on the strength of the people of the four states, form heroes externally, repair agriculture and military affairs internally, select elite troops to attack separately, and constantly harass the enemy army. and they will be exhausted, and the people will not be at peace. We were left unworked and the enemy was trapped, and we could easily win in less than two years. Now give up the odds of victory on the temple, you have to bet on a battle, if you can't win, I am afraid that it will be too late to regret it. However, Yuan Shao did not accept it, and Tian Feng once again spoke sincerely, but Yuan Shao was angry, thinking that he disturbed the morale of the army, so Tian Feng was imprisoned. As a result, as Tian Feng expected, Yuan Shao was defeated in the Battle of Guandu. The generals who fled back all believed that if they listened to Tian Feng's words, they might not have suffered such a big defeat. Someone in prison told Tian Feng: "You will be reused." Tian Feng said: "If our army wins, I may be able to save my life, but now that I am defeated, I am afraid that I will not be able to escape death." ”
As expected, Yuan Shao killed Tian Feng for fear of laughing at him.
This is really a bizarre thing! Tian Feng had an insight into the situation and put forward a good plan, but he ended up like this. Foreseeing a mistake may save a life, but foreseeing a right one can lose one's head.
So, what is this idea? The "Acts of the Sages" records that after Cao Cao won the battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao fled back to Hebei and said: "If Yuan Shao adopts Tian Feng's plan, the outcome is not yet known." This shows that Tian Feng's strategy is not useless, at least not a bad idea.
There are records that Tian Feng was framed by Feng Ji and others, and because Feng Ji and others were jealous of Tian Feng's talent, they slandered him in front of Yuan Shao many times. After the defeat in the battle of Guandu, Feng Ji said to Yuan Shao again: "When Tian Feng heard that the general had returned from defeat, he clapped his hands and laughed, and was happy with his prophecy. This aroused Yuan Shao's idea of killing Tian Feng. There are often traitors around the faint king, this is true. But the crux of the matter is that the soil for the survival of traitors is the faint king. If Ming Jun is in power, how can traitorous ministers gain a foothold? Therefore, this kind of bizarre thing can only happen to a "faint king" like Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao himself once said: "When the scholars of Jizhou heard that I had lost the battle, they would forgive me and continue to support me, only Tian Feng stopped me before the battle, his opinion was different from everyone, and I was ashamed to see him again." "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" also recorded that Yuan Shao thought that "he was really seen as a joke by Tian Feng". If you believe it only because of the words of others, you might as well check whether this is true, and think about how Feng Ji learned about Tian Feng's words, and everything can be revealed. The point is that Yuan Shao's stupidity led to this bizarre incident.