The author of this article is the depths of dusk, and the editor-in-chief is Sasha, if reprinted, please be sure to indicate
【Sasha Lecture Hall No. 437】 (Lecture 167 of the Historical Series)
Xu You was a key figure in the early and middle period of the Three Kingdoms period, determining the outcome of the Battle of Guandu. This is a talented, but arrogant and greedy villain. In the end, because of his unique personality, he was killed by Cao Cao. Listen to Sasha.
He was originally a staff officer under Yuan Shao's account, and he gave Yuan Shao a lot of strange strategies. At the most tense moment of confrontation at the Battle of Guandu, Xu You, who resented Yuan Shao because his family had been arrested for breaking the law, threw himself into Cao Cao's tent overnight, and brought key information such as Wuchao's grain storage and Yuan Jun's password, which made a great contribution to Cao Cao's successful sneak attack on Wuchao and defeat Yuan Shao. However, Xu You, who was a seller of glory, did not take long to be satisfied, and soon after Cao Cao pacified Jizhou, he repeatedly vomited wild words because of his self-esteem, and was eventually executed because someone denounced him.
Some people think that Cao Cao is crossing the river and demolishing the bridge to unload and kill the donkey, and he has no tolerance for others, just because of a few arrogant words, he hurts the killer, and he does not want to think about the previous merits of others. In fact, was Cao Cao really Xu You, who killed because of his small qi strength? Cao Cao's generation of great men, no matter how big their hearts and minds are second to none in the Three Kingdoms era, otherwise he would not have achieved the great cause of unifying most of China. If nothing else, even Zhang Xiu, who had surrendered first and then rebelled, and was carrying several blood debts of his old Cao family, Cao Cao could not remember his previous suspicions, could it be that Xu You's few small wild words old Cao could not tolerate? In fact, Xu You's death was more due to political considerations and some of his own reasons, rather than just because of his arrogant behavior.
According to historical records, Xu Youzi was a distant son, and when he was a teenager, he entered the political arena of the Eastern Han Dynasty as an official, befriended Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others, and participated in many political activities. After Dong Zhuo's chaos in Beijing, Xu You followed Yuan Shao to Jizhou and became his adviser, and during the war between Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zhan, he urged Yuan Shao to form an alliance with Cao Cao, sparing the worries of fighting on both sides; later, when Yuan Cao's two armies confronted Guandu, he also offered a plan to raid Xuchang on light horses and cut off Cao Cao's back road... It should be said that Xu You is still a very talented person, he knows how to advance and retreat, the situation is accurately judged, and he is quite strategic. However, Xu You's talent level is limited to this, he ultimately lacks political vision and foresight, everything he does is more from the perspective of his own interests, and his character is not good.
Many people do not know that in fact, as early as the first year of the Han Ling Emperor Zhongping, that is, in 184 AD, Xu You had done something similar to Dong Zhuo's "change of emperor". He conspired with Shi Wangfen of Jizhou and Zhou Jing, the Duke of Peiguo, and others to depose Emperor Ling and establish the Marquis of Hefei instead, and also persuaded Cao Cao to participate in the uprising (Cao Cao did not agree). After the matter was revealed, Wang Fen and others committed suicide in fear of crime, and Xu You fled the jianghu on the charge of treason, hiding from the pursuit of the imperial court... Only later Emperor Ling fell ill and died, He Jinli was the regent of the Young Emperor, the Ten Constant Attendants were in the Palace, and Dong Zhuo entered the capital... The Eastern Han Dynasty court was like a drama stage, the big dramas on the stage were one after another, and the forces on all sides were vying for power and profit, where was there time to pay attention to Xu You, a small person who fled abroad? Xu You also took this opportunity to take off his title of "Imperial Court Prisoner" and throw himself into Yuan Shao's command as a counselor, otherwise this hat would crush him forever.
In fact, under Yuan Shao's command, Xu You was still relatively important, and his status was similar to that of Frustrated Zhi, Tian Feng, Feng Ji and others, and he was also a member of the highest decision-making level. Xu You was well aware of the location and garrison of Wuchao, which was the top military secret of The Yuan Shao Clique, which showed that he was indeed involved in the highest core affairs within the clique. However, while Xu You received Yuan Shao's salary, he also connived with his family to break the law in Yuan Shao's territory and enrich himself with embezzled money. After the illegal acts of his family were discovered and arrested by the iron-faced selfless interrogation, Xu You was not angry in his heart, and felt that his colleagues did not give him face. Coupled with the fact that the strategy he offered was not adopted by Yuan Shao, Xu You felt that he had fallen out of favor in front of the lord. Therefore, he hurriedly turned to Cao Cao with the information he knew in Yuan Shao's army, hoping to exchange his position under Cao Cao...
To put it bluntly, all Xu Yousuo has been doing is speculation, and this time he really invested in the right person. Xu You's arrival caused Cao Cao to fall back, and the intelligence he brought allowed Cao Cao to reverse the victory in the guandu confrontation that was not originally dominant. With the burning of wuchao's grain and grass, Yuan Shao's army, which was originally superior in military strength and logistics, also quickly collapsed, and fled back to Jizhou in a hurry. What should Xu You do at this time? The smartest thing to do was to work under Cao Cao's account, give him advice, and use his family's influence in the north to do his due job for Cao Cao to conquer the four northern states. At the same time, Xu You must also maintain a humble person and a sleek way of acting, after all, in the eyes of Hebei people, the word "traitor" is engraved on his brain. Although he did not dare to accuse him of doing things that betrayed the lord and sought glory in front of his face, he would definitely poke him in the back and scold him in private.
However, Xu You felt that Cao Cao could defeat Yuan Shao and take Jizhou, all because of him Xu You. In his eyes, there is no concept of the word "low-key", but on the contrary, he is becoming more and more contemptuous and arrogant, and even for his master Cao Cao, Xu You does not shy away from his attitude, often calling him by his nickname in public... Although Cao Cao was quite angry about this, he did not reach the point of getting rid of it, and felt that Xu You was just a Confucian who loved to speak wildly, and he did not bother with him before he had merit. However, Xu You continued to condone his family's corruption and pervert the law, unceremoniously solicited benefits for his own family, and in the family's sphere of influence, there was a tendency to encroach on local power, and even had a tendency to support the army and respect themselves, which was difficult for Cao Cao to tolerate. Yes, Lao Cao had already killed Xu You, but he was afraid of being accused of "harming the sages" and "killing heroes", so this matter was difficult for him to handle. Cao Cao had been waiting for opportunities and reasons, and finally waited until someone reported Xu You, which was equivalent to giving Lao Cao a step down, and he could mercilessly kill Xu You.
Xu You, who started by speculation, eventually died in his own speculative moves. In fact, the word speculation is not a derogatory term, and people with a little fame in the Three Kingdoms era have more or less played the trick of speculation. The key is that speculation also needs to grasp and judge the situation, otherwise it will be finished sooner or later, and Xu You just does not understand this. At the time of guandu stalemate, Xu You's use value was infinite, and after the battle of Guandu, his value was significantly reduced. At this time, Xu You was obviously overestimating himself, overestimating his old relationship with Cao Cao, overestimating his role under Cao Cao's command, and overestimating his previous great achievements... For a politician, it doesn't matter how much credit you've done before, what matters is how much value you can create for him now. Once the danger you bring is greater than the value you can create, then he will not hesitate to get rid of you. Unfortunately, Xu You, who was on the verge of death, still did not understand this layer of powerful relations, he did not understand why he had made such a great merit in the first place, Cao Cao welcomed him so much, and even left a good story in history of "greeting each other backwards", but the final result was like this...
Before the Battle of Guandu, Xun Yu had commented on the strategists under Yuan Shao, which gave Xu You an evaluation of "greed and ignorance", which probably meant that Xu You was greedy for profits, and although he had certain talents, he was not wise enough to do things. Judging from what happened later, the description of these four words is very appropriate, Xu You is really greedy, greedy for fame, greedy for money, empty of some talents, but do not know the measure at all. To put it bluntly, Xu You is keen on speculation, but he is not a successful speculator, not even a speculator, at best a "speculative clown". For a man like him, the end of being in a different place is inevitable, and the problem is only sooner or later...
PS: According to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Xu You clashed with Cao Cao's chief bodyguard, Xu Chu, and was killed by the latter in anger. Of course, this is only the plot of the novel, and in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", it is only mentioned that someone denounced Xu You's behavior, but it does not indicate who it is. However, the sentence that Xu Chu said in the book: "I am waiting for thousands of lives and deaths, fighting in blood, and seizing the city, and Ru'an dares to boast!" However, it is a good representation of the patience of the upper and lower levels of the old Cao Army (including Cao Cao himself) for Xu You, the "wild man of gong", which has reached its limit.
Therefore, after Learning of Xu You's murder, Cao Cao in the rendition did not punish Xu Chu, but only verbally "deeply condemned" him, which was completely tacit. After that, Cao Cao also buried Xu You with the courtesy of public hospitality, and wept bitterly at Xu You's funeral, nagging about old feelings in the past, saying that he would not forget the merits made in the previous Battle of Guandu, etc. Of course, Cao Cao's purpose was only to take this opportunity to hype up again in front of the people of the world, to express his regret for the loss of talents, in order to win people's hearts. To put it bluntly, it's a political show...