The death of Yang Xiu is a very famous historical event. The reason why Yang Xiu was killed by Cao Cao is not unrelated to the allusion of "one he crisp".
The allusion of "Yihe Crisp" comes from the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", saying that someone sent Cao Cao a box of puff pastries, and Cao Cao saw it, so he lifted his pen and wrote the three words "Yihe Crisp" on the desk. Yang Xiu saw it, so he picked up the spoon and scooped a spoon and put it in his mouth to eat. The person next to him was shocked and said, This is a crisp that people gave to the prime minister, how can you scoop it up and eat it? Yang Xiu smiled and said, Didn't Xiang Xiang write very clearly? He wrote "One Person, One Bite". The Prime Minister gave the order, how can we not eat? So everyone ate the crisp one by one. Cao Cao came out and saw it and asked whose idea it was? Everyone said it was Yang Xiu's. Cao Cao didn't say anything, and went in silently.
In addition to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there is a similar record in the New Language of the World. But it's not crisp, it's cheese. Someone else gave Cao Cao a box of cheese, Cao Cao scooped up a bite to eat, and then wrote a "he" character on the box. So Yang Xiu told everyone that the meaning of Xiang Xiang was "one bite for each person", so everyone ate one bite at a time.
(Yang Xiu stills)
Whether it is cheese or puff pastry, the two statements are actually the same, but there are a few differences in the details. So, the question is, Cao Cao wrote the word "he", does he really mean "one person and one bite"?
Linked to the fact that Cao Cao once had an allusion to the word "living", I think that Cao Cao should let everyone eat one by one.
The allusion to the word "living" says that Cao Cao asked people to build a door. After the craftsman repaired it, let Cao Cao see it. After Cao Cao read it, he didn't say anything, and wrote a "living" word on the door. Everyone didn't understand Cao Cao's meaning. At this time, Yang Xiu walked by there and saw that everyone was talking, so he said, "Don't you understand this?" Write a "living" word on the "door", which is "wide". The meaning of the minister is that he thinks that this door is too big. So the craftsmen made the door a little smaller. When Cao Cao came to see it again, he seemed very satisfied.
What does this mean? It shows that Cao Cao likes to convey orders by guessing word puzzles. That is, he has such a hobby. Since there is such a hobby, it is perfectly normal to write on the cheese box and express his meaning.
Cao Cao wrote a "living" character on the door, indicating that the door was wider. The characteristic of Cao Cao's anagram is that it combines physical objects and words to express a meaning. And cao cao wrote the word "he", and the meaning expressed by cao cao also happened to be combined with words and physical objects. From this point of view, it is also appropriate for Cao Cao to write a "he" character to convey the meaning of "one person and one bite" cheese.
(Cao Cao stills)
However, it is not over. Since Cao Cao really wanted to express the meaning of "one person and one mouth" when he wrote the word "he", why did Yang Xiu guess correctly, but he was not happy?
You know, Cao Cao wrote this way, the purpose is to give people a guess. If no one else can guess, then his command has not been conveyed. From this point of view, Cao Cao should not be unhappy. But why wasn't he happy?
I think that the reason why Cao Cao was unhappy was not that he was guessed by his mind, but that Yang Xiu guessed his mind. That is to say, if someone else guessed his thoughts, he actually felt that it didn't matter, but when Yang Xiu guessed it, he was very angry.
Why did Yang Xiu guess his mind, he would be very angry? I think there are several reasons.
First, the secretary should not speak out the leader's mind. Yang Xiu was the chief bookkeeper of The Chancellor, also known as Cao Cao's secretary. As a secretary, you can guess the leader's mind. And only by guessing the leader's mind will you understand what the leader needs and do things that will satisfy the leader. However, this conjecture can only be known by oneself, and cannot be said, let alone publicized to the outside world. Once publicized to the outside world, it means that you will speak out the thoughts in the mind of the leader. For example, in the "chicken rib" incident that occurred later, Yang Xiu directly told everyone about the hesitation in Cao Cao's heart, how could Cao Cao be happy?
(Cao Zhi stills)
Second, Yang Xiu should not use his little wisdom to teach Cao Zhi. At that time, Cao Cao was hesitating whether to choose Cao Zhi as the son of the world or cao Pi as the son of the world. So I wanted to test these two children. To test these two children, we must know the real situation of these two children. But every time Cao Cao finished the question, Yang Xiu immediately told Cao Zhi the answer and asked Cao Zhi to do it according to the answer. In this way, Cao Cao could not get the real situation. Therefore, he was very angry at Yang Xiu's little cleverness.
Third, after Cao Cao decided to make Cao Pi his son, he feared that Yang Xiu would instigate Cao Zhi to rebel. As Cao Zhi became more and more debauched, Cao Cao identified Cao Pi as the son of the world. However, when Cao Pi was made the son of the world, trouble arose. Cao Zhi had Yang Xiu around him to provoke, so that Cao Zhi would definitely be dissatisfied. As long as Cao Zhi did not obey, it would inevitably cause Cao Pi cao zhi to fight. Cao Cao did not want to see this, and in order to prevent trouble, he had to kill Yang Xiu in advance to avoid infighting among his sons.
It is also for this reason that, therefore, others guess Cao Cao's mind, maybe he is nothing. But Yang Xiu guessed his mind, and he must have been very angry and wanted to kill Yang Xiu.
(References: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, New Language of the World)