In the history of the Three Kingdoms, many capable generals emerged, and among these capable generals, the highest value of force was Lü Bu, and the highest IQ was usually considered to be Zhuge Liang. However, in addition to the so-called Wolong Phoenix, there is another person who can be called a ghost talent, whose IQ and talent are no less than Zhuge Liang, and this person is Jia Xu, the "ghost strategist" in the Cao Wei camp.
Jia Xu (贾遚), courtesy name Wenhe, was a native of Wuwei Guzang (present-day Liangzhou District). He was an important strategist of the Cao Cao clique, and was called "good and peaceful". The fledgling Jia Xu was a very clever man, and at first he was appointed as a lang official by the imperial court after he raised his filial piety, and then resigned due to illness, and on the way home, he met the rebellious Qiren. After the People of Qi captured Jia Xu, they prepared to bury him alive. At this very critical moment, Jia Xuzhong said to himself: "I am Duan Ying's grandson." Duan Ying was a member of the Wuwei clan, who served important positions such as the Eastern Han Dynasty Lieutenant, and for many years guarded the frontier, and was a fierce character that the people of The Qi people smelled and changed. As soon as the People of Qi heard Jia Xu say Duan Yingwei's name, not only did they not dare to harm him, but instead sent someone to escort him out of the country. In fact, Jia Xu was not Duan Ying's grandson, but just in a hurry to be wise in order to protect himself.
Later, Dong Zhuo, who was also a Western Liang, led his troops into Luoyang and monopolized power, and as a counselor of Dong Zhuo's son-in-law Niu Fu, Jia Xu naturally followed him into Beijing. After Dong Zhuo was killed by Situ Wang Yun, the Western Liang army was leaderless. The old general Dong Zhuo, led by Li Dai, Guo Feng, and Zhang Ji, all wanted to disband the army and take a small road home to escape the disaster. At this time, Jia Xu stood up and said to Li Dai, Guo Feng, and others: "Wen Chang'an zhongzhong wants to do everything possible to curse the people of Liangzhou, and the kings abandon the crowd and go alone, that is, a pavilion can bind the king." It is better to lead the crowd to the west and collect troops to attack Chang'an and avenge Dong Gong. Fortunately, if it is good, it will serve the country to conquer the world; if it is not good, it will not be left later."
Li Dai and Guo Feng listened to Jia Xu's advice and led their troops back to Luoyang, killing Wang Yun and others, while plundering Emperor Xian of Han. At that time, Jia Xu did not care at all whether this method would cause the people of Guanzhong to suffer, and the starting point of his proposal for this method was entirely for his own safety. After this incident, Li and Guo were also quite grateful to Jia Xu, but Jia Xu was well aware that these two were short-sighted, and they both refused to grant themselves high-ranking officials Houlu, and only accepted a small official position. Later, he even stayed away from the Liangzhou Legion in the name of shou filial piety.
After some twists and turns, Jia Xu came to Zhang Xiu's camp. When he was in Zhang Xiu's camp, Jia Xu had twice defeated Cao Cao in the use of troops, leaving a deep impression on Cao Cao. When Cao Cao first attacked Zhang Xiu, he won a very smooth victory. However, because of his lust, he angered Zhang Xiu, and Zhang Xiu decided to surrender and reciprocate. At this time, under jia Xu's careful arrangement, Zhang Xiu decided to lie that the troop movement needed to pass through Cao Ying, and said that the vehicle was overloaded and the armor should be worn on the soldiers. Cao Cao had no doubt that when the troops approached Cao's camp, they gave an order and beat Cao Cao to the ground. In this rebellion, Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Ang and the general Dianwei were killed, and Cao Cao himself was wounded, almost dying.
The second game between Jia Xu and Cao Cao occurred in the spring of the third year of Jian'an, and Cao Cao's third conquest of Zhang Xiu led his army back due to instability in the rear. Zhang Xiu wanted to send someone to chase. Jia Xu hurriedly stopped: "You can't chase, you will lose." Zhang Xiu did not listen, and marched into pursuit of Cao Bing, but he was defeated. At this time, Jia Xu said to Zhang Xiu: "The general can quickly send troops to chase after him, and the pursuit will be victorious." At this time, Zhang Xiu followed Jia Xu's advice and sent troops to pursue, and indeed returned with a big victory. Jia Xu analyzed and learned that when the first army was dispatched, Cao Cao himself would definitely break in the rear, and after repelling Zhang Xiu's army, he would hand over the rear of the army to other generals, so the second pursuit would definitely be successful.
After the two confrontations, Cao Cao already had great admiration for Jia Xu. When Jia Xu persuaded Zhang Xiu to surrender himself again, Cao Cao even said to Jia Xu: "He who makes me believe more than the world, Zi Ye." He was appointed as the Commander of Kingo, the Marquis of Fengduting, and the Military Officer of Sikong. Jia Xu, who was in the Cao Wei camp, ushered in the spring of his political career.
During the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao was not sure of defeating Yuan Shao, and it was Jia Xu who stood up and said to Cao Cao: "Ming Gong, you are wiser than Yuan Shao, braver than Yuan Shao, better than Yuan Shao in employment, and better than Yuan Shao in determination." The fundamental reason why you can't solve the problem for most of the year is because you always want to be foolproof. In fact, if you make a decision on the spot and make a big fuss, you can immediately calm Yuan Shao." Cao Cao listened to Jia Xu's words, synthesized the opinions of all sides, and coupled with the many changes in the war situation that were very favorable to Cao Cao, he quickly adjusted his strategy, seized the opportunity, concentrated his troops, highlighted the siege, and surprised yuan shao to attack Yuan Shao's camp, and finally defeated Yuan Shao and pacified Hebei.
Before the Battle of Chibi, Jia Xu had suggested that Cao Cao should receive Jingzhou as soon as he saw it, and did not need to attack Eastern Wu. Run Jingzhou well, and Eastern Wu will naturally be able to break through without attacking. Unfortunately, Cao Cao did not listen, which led to the fiasco of Chibi. After the fiasco at Chibi, Cao Cao decided to ignore the south first and solve the threat of Liangzhou in the west first, so he sent an army to attack Han Sui and Ma Chao. After several twists and turns, Cao Cao did not get any bargains, so he asked Jia Xu. Jia Xu gave Cao Cao a divisive plan, asking Cao Cao to deliberately tell Han Sui about the old family before the battle, and there were some people who talked and laughed. This made Ma Chao suspicious, and later Cao Cao deliberately wrote a scribbled letter to Han Sui. When Ma Chao saw the letter, he directly turned his face to Han Sui. Cao Cao seized the opportunity and defeated Han Sui and Ma Chao in a battle to take Liangzhou. Later, Han Sui was killed by his generals, Ma Chao defected to Liu Bei, and Cao Cao completely solved the threat from the west.
In his later years, when Cao Cao faced Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, he did not know who to appoint as the son of the world, and asked Jia Xushi. Jia Xu was well aware of Li Chu's question, and if he didn't answer it well, he would be the scourge of death, but as a supporter of Cao Pi, he had to fight for it. So Jia Xu only replied: "I was thinking about Yuan Shao and Liu Biao's father and son", the wise Cao Cao immediately understood, on the spot Yuan Shao and Liu Biao was because of the abolition of Chang Li and Liu Biao, which led to internal turmoil in the group, and finally established Cao Pi as the son of the world. Jia Xu's answer not only saved himself, but also made himself a meritorious contribution in front of the new king, which was really worthy of being a ghost talent.