When it comes to Cao Cao, the tyrant at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, I believe that most people will think that he has outstanding military and political talents, loves literary creation, and has a decisive and fierce personality. For talent, Cao Cao has always attached great importance to it, when Liu Bei was attached to him, he did not heed the advice of Guo Jia and Cheng Yu to get rid of it; later Guan Yu had no choice but to surrender to him, and he allowed him to return to Liu Bei's side, which shows that he cherished talents quite much.
However, in fact, Cao Cao also regretted it greatly after letting liu Bei and Guan Yu go, and can only say that these two people really had good luck to escape the disaster. In contrast, others are not so lucky. In the decades when Cao Cao was in the limelight and swept the world, many talents, although very good, were still killed by Cao Cao. So, which talents did Cao Cao kill, and what was the reason behind it?
Among the military generals killed by Cao Cao in his lifetime, the most well-known is undoubtedly Lü Bu, who is considered by the people to be the champion of the Three Kingdoms by force. In the third year of Jian'an (198), Cao Cao attacked Xia Pi and captured Lü Bu, who was once invincible, and Lü Bu, who had been reduced to a prisoner of the ranks, persuaded Cao Cao to say in order to protect himself: "Ming Gong is not suffering more than Yu Bu, and now he has been served, and the world is not worried." Ming Gong will step, Ling Bu will ride, then the world is not enough to determine also. ”
In the face of Lü Bu's initiative to surrender, Cao Cao did have some heart, after all, in terms of ability alone, Lü Bu was indeed very brave. However, at this time, Liu Bei reminded Cao Cao in time to think of Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo, who had once been lü Bu's lord. After some deliberation, Cao Cao finally ordered Lü Bu's capriciousness to hang him.
Along with Lü Bu, Chen Gong and Gao Shun were also cursed. Chen Gong was once highly used by Cao Cao for advocating Cao Cao as the assassin of Yanzhou, but he took advantage of Cao Cao's outing to welcome Lü Bu into the throne, and has not abandoned Lü Bu ever since. After Lü Bu's defeat, Chen Gong was bent on death, and Cao Cao treated his old mother, wife and children well after his death. Chen Gong's wisdom and strategy were first-class at that time, and Gao Shun's commanding ability was also extremely excellent, and the trapped camp he led was extremely effective. After Lü Bu's death, Gao Shun, who was loyal to him, refused to surrender and never said a word, and Cao Cao had to endure the pain and kill him.
Whether it was the conquest of Lü Bu or the later struggle with Yuan Shao for hegemony over Guandu, there was always a very important figure behind Cao Cao, that is, Xun Yu. Although this sage, who was compared by Cao Cao to Zhang Liang, a famous minister of the early Han Dynasty, tried his best to assist Cao Cao, his fundamental purpose was to hope that Cao Cao would revive the Han Dynasty. Therefore, when Cao Cao was preparing to enter the Duke of Wei, he clearly expressed his opposition, and thus a rift with Cao Cao. Although the Romance of the Three Kingdoms records that Xun Yu died of anxiety, the Spring and Autumn of the Wei Dynasty states that Cao Cao sent xun yu an empty food box at that time, and Xun Yu immediately committed suicide by drinking poison.
Among the many talents killed by Cao Cao, Yang Xiu may not belong to the most outstanding one, but he must be the one that has been most discussed by later generations. When yang Xiu's death is mentioned, people often immediately think of the famous allusion of "chicken ribs", which is still widely used today. When Cao Cao unsuccessfully conquered Hanzhong, he ordered: "Chicken ribs." At that time, everyone was puzzled, only the master Yang Xiu guessed that Cao Cao's meaning was that Hanzhong was like chicken ribs, and there was no taste at all, but it was a pity to lose it.
There are many stories similar to chicken ribs, all of which reflect Yang Xiu's wit and wisdom, and his ability to guess Cao Cao's intentions. However, in fact, the real reason for Yang Xiu's killing was not that he was wise and jealous and disgusted by Cao Cao, but that he participated in the incomparably dangerous battle to seize the wife. Since the death of Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Ang, the dispute over his heirs has been mainly divided into two factions, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, with Yang Xiu assisting Cao Zhi and helping him pass the test set by Cao Cao many times, which really angered Cao Cao. In the twenty-second year of Jian'an (217), Cao Pi won the Battle of The Concubine and was given the title of Shizi, while Yang Xiu was executed by Cao Cao two years later at the age of forty-five.
In the Battle of Guandu, the reason why Cao Cao was able to defeat the strong with weakness was that Xu You's help was indispensable. Xu You, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had known each other since childhood, and later he defected to Yuan Shao, but his family was arrested for breaking the law. Dissatisfied with this, Xu You surrendered to the enemy and offered Cao Cao a plan to attack the Wuchao granary, which directly turned the tide of the war and helped Cao Cao win the final victory.
However, after the Battle of Guandu, Xu You was extremely inflated, and not only did he directly call Cao Cao's nickname "Ah Qi" on any occasion, but also said that if it were not for himself, Cao Cao would not be able to take the land of Hebei. Later, when Xu You passed by the gate of Yecheng City, he told the people around him that Cao Cao would not have been able to enter the city without himself. In the face of Xu You's several provocations and contempt, Cao Cao finally couldn't bear it anymore and put him in prison and killed him.
Cao Cao loved literature, and the above-mentioned Cao Pi and Cao Zhi were also very accomplished in literature, and their father and son, together with the "Seven Sons of Jian'an", were considered to be representative figures of Jian'an literature. Among the "Seven Sons of Jian'an", Kong Rong, as a descendant of Confucius and a famous scholar at that time, also died at the hands of Cao Cao, and he was killed mainly because he often contradicted Cao Cao on weekdays and was keen to criticize current politics and criticize Cao Cao.
To sum up, some of the talents cao killed were not worth recruiting, such as the capricious Lü Bu; some were rather dead than serving themselves, such as Chen Gong and Gao Shun; some had conflicts with their own ideas or angered themselves, such as Xun Yu, Yang Xiu, Xu You, Kong Rong, and so on. In general, Cao Cao's "cherishing talents" is accurately to cherish talents who are valuable to themselves and do not let themselves be too disgusted, for this kind of person, Cao Cao will vigorously envelop and truly love.