Guo Tu was a strategist under Yuan Shao at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and after Yuan Shao's death, he served his eldest son Yuan Tan, who was later killed by Cao Cao along with Yuan Tan. Although Guo Tu was not famous, looking at what he did in his life, it was enough to make posterity stunned, to warn Yuan Shao, to make Yuan Shao ignore the good words of frustration, and then indirectly forced Zhang Gao to go, yuan shao after his death to provoke the relationship between the Yuan family and brothers, so that Yuan Tan Yuan Shang fraternal, Cao Cao fisherman profited.
The failure of Yuan Shao's side, Guo Tu had to bear considerable responsibility, so some people believed that Guo Tu was an undercover agent sent by Cao Cao. So, why did Guo Tu do this, how could he get Yuan Shao's trust, and was he an undercover agent of the legendary Cao Cao's side?
One. Guo Tu is short-sighted, intriguing, and does not know how to serve the country.
Although Guo Tu is a strategist, he is actually a person who has no macroscopic thinking, is short-sighted, and has no strategy or wisdom. His so-called mind was all about how to exclude his colleagues and flatter his lord. If in a relatively peaceful and stable background, this may make his life step by step, step by step. However, the Three Kingdoms period was a typical era of war and chaos, and how to help the protagonist accurately strike the enemy and strengthen his own power was the most critical. Guo Tu is short-sighted, selfish, and only thinks about his personal career, but ignores the life and death of the entire Yuan family, making himself a ridiculous victim.
Two. Yuan Shao was self-conscious, liked to listen to the words of the horse, and refused to be loyal to his ears.
Compared with other monarchs in the Three Kingdoms period, Yuan Shao was self-conscious, good at great achievements, and had no opinion in his heart. The good policies proposed by Tian Feng and others did not follow Yuan Shao's temperament, and Guo Tu was good at sneaking and patting horses, coaxing Yuan Shao to be very happy. Over time, Yuan Shao gradually became estranged from Tian Feng, but instead greatly appreciated a villain like Guo Tu, which is the so-called "pro-villain, far-reaching sage". Later, in order to consolidate his position, Guo Tu conspired with other virtuous generals, resulting in Tian Feng being killed, and generals like Zhang Gaolan who could fight good battles also defected to Cao Cao. Until the day Yuan Shao died of illness, he did not understand that his advantage was being dismantled step by step by Guo Tu. Guo Tu was a great hidden danger to the Yuan family and should be eradicated as soon as possible, but unfortunately he was not only not removed, but later put into Yuan Tan's account until the Yuan family was completely defeated.
Three. Yuan Tan, like Yuan Shao, was ignorant and listened to Guo Tu's rumors.
After Yuan Shao died of illness, with the strong military strength of the three brothers of the Yuan family, it was difficult for Cao Cao to compete with them, and if the three brothers of the Yuan family were in the same heart, perhaps it would be Cao Cao who would fail. Cao Cao's adviser Guo Jia saw that the three brothers of the Yuan family were not compatible, and advised Cao Cao to stay still and wait for the other side to kill each other before sending troops to attack. Sure enough, there was infighting between the Yuan brothers, and a lot of responsibility for infighting was on Guo Tu.
Guo Tu instigated Yuan Tan to send a sword and axeman to assassinate Yuan Shang, and Yuan Tan, despite the persuasion of other strategists, sent a sword and axeman to ambush Yuan Shang, but yuan Shang recognized it and led 50,000 troops to attack Yuan Tan, and Yuan Tan was defeated. At this time, Guo Tu again entered the rumors, persuading Yuan Tan to surrender to Cao Cao and use Cao Cao's hand to destroy Yuan Shang, and Yuan Tan continued to resign himself. In this way, the strong fortress of the three brothers of the Yuan family was easily destroyed. Then Yuan Tan rebelled against Cao Cao and was trapped by Cao's army in Nanpi City, Yuan Tan wanted to surrender, cao Cao thought he was capricious and did not accept his surrender. At this time, Guo Tu further entered the rumor: "In the coming day, the people will be the first, and the army will follow them, and fight with Cao Cao to the death." "Let the common people as the vanguard, with weapons to fight with the Cao army, resulting in countless deaths and injuries of the people, Yuan Tan and Guo Tu were also killed in the rebellion, the ending is lamentable."
Four. There is no evidence that Guo Tu was an undercover agent on Cao Cao's side.
The idea that Guo Tu was sent undercover by Cao Cao is actually just a tone of ridicule in later generations. Neither the Romance of the Three Kingdoms nor any other historical sources prove that Guo Tu was a member of Cao Cao's side. He is just a villain who is good at intrigue but has no city government, and just happens to follow two incompetent masters in a row to make him "shine".
Zhuge Liang wrote in the "Table of Renunciation": "Pro-virtuous subjects, far lesser people, this ancestor of the Han Dynasty so Xinglong also; Pro-villain, far sage, after which Han so fell into decadence also. It shows the great harm of the traitors and villains to the country, if a country is like a, the villain is like an ant digging a hole, although the ant nest is small, but if it is not paid attention to, if it is not prevented as soon as possible, the of a thousand miles will eventually collapse, and Yuan Shao's side is a typical example.