Three Kingdoms Liang General Series of Cao Xiu (Part 1)
Cooking wine on heroes, but also about the characters of the Three Kingdoms.
In the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, there are thirty biographies of the State of Wei, in the order of Cao Cao, Cao Pi, and Cao Rui, the other three emperors are combined as Wei ShuSI, several major concubines are Wei Shu V, and Wei Shu VI to VIII includes the main princes of the late Han Dynasty from Dong Zhuo to Zhang Lu. It was only from the ninth time of Wei Shu that the biography of Cao Wei's main civilian generals really began.
This Wei Shujiu is also known as the Zhu Xiahou Cao Chuan, as the most senior minister, the important figures of the Xiahou clan and the Cao clan are undoubtedly the most core backbone of the middle and early period of Cao Wei. Among them, Xiahou Huan, Cao Ren, and Xiahou Yuan were the commanders of the first generation of eastern, southern, and western fronts, respectively, so they were the most famous. In contrast, the three second-generation commanders of Xiahou Shang, Cao Xiu, and Cao Zhen were slightly less famous due to their preconceived notions and the influence of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Of course, the biggest factor affecting the popularity and evaluation of the characters of the Three Kingdoms is Yanyi, as the second generation of commander-level generals of Cao Wei, they are very capable in the history, and they all have shining moments that are not inferior to those of their predecessors. In the last issue, we just talked about Xiahou Shang, and today we will take a look at the deeds of the next second-generation general of the clan, Cao Xiu.
<h1>One of Cao Xiu's major events was the fall of his family in the middle of the road, and he lived in Jiangdong</h1>
Cao Xiu(?) –228) was a descendant of Cao Cao's clan and Cao Hong's nephew. Cao Xiu is not recorded in the history books of where he was, and many articles are directly written as Pei Guo County, which is actually not accurate. There is no problem with Cao Xiu's origin in Chenxian County, but whether he was born here cannot be determined.
Why did I deliberately emphasize this issue? Because in the land later known as Eastern Wu, the Cao clan also lived there and had a lot of influence, and Cao Xiu was probably born in Yangzhou.
Earlier in the Xiahou and Cao Hong chapters, the author mentioned that after Cao Cao's crushing defeat against Dong Zhuo, he went to Yangzhou to recruit a jiangdong elite army, which is recorded in the Biography of Cao Hong thanks to Cao Hong's friendship with Chen Wen, who was then the assassin of Yangzhou.
Cao Hong's uncle, Cao Xiu's grandfather, cao ding, once served as the Taishou of Wu County, Shang Shu Ling. During Cao Ding's tenure as Shang Shuling, he arranged for Cao Hong to serve as the county magistrate of Jiangxia Puchun County. Jiangxia County is adjacent to Yangzhou, not to mention that Cao Ding still has residual temperature in Wu County, so Cao Hong naturally has the opportunity to befriend Chen Wen.
As for Cao Xiu's father, cao Ding's own son, the history books failed to leave his name, but presumably it was not difficult to find an official and a half-position in the local area. Cao Ding and Cao Hong both served as officials in the south, and the probability of Cao Xiu being born in the south was quite large.
Cao Xiu lost his father when he was a teenager, just when the world was in chaos, the so-called trees fell and scattered, and in the chaotic world, they all tried to flee for their lives, and the clan relatives went to their relatives and friends, leaving only the young Cao Xiu and his mother in the family. Cao Xiu and the only remaining doorman carried his father's coffin, borrowed some money to bury it hastily, and then took his mother to Wu County for refuge, hoping that the old friends of Grandpa Cao Ding Ender could be taken in.
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Xiu's Biography, says: The world is in chaos, and the clans are scattered to the countryside. Hugh was more than ten years old, lost his father, and was buried alone with a guest, taking the old mother with him and crossing the river to Wu.
According to common sense, Cao Xiu's family conditions should be very solid, but after his father's death, there was only one doorman "bearing the funeral and false burial", and he had to cross the Yangtze River to send people to Wu County, which was a bit strange. Combined with the previous historical record, the chaos in the world and the dispersion of clans should not be general, and the death of Cao Xiu's father is likely to be related to the turmoil, otherwise the entire clan would not have scattered and fled for their lives, leaving only Cao Xiu's orphans and widows and Cao Xiu's father who had not yet been buried.
Cao Xiu took his mother and ran to the then Wu Commandery Taishou, and The Taishou took cao Xiu in. This Taishou was very grateful to Cao Ding for his kindness and hung a portrait of Cao Ding in his home to commemorate it. When Cao Xiu saw his grandfather's portrait, he immediately fell to the ground and cried bitterly, and everyone present was moved.
According to the identification of bones in Cao Xiu's tomb found in Mengjin, Luoyang in 2010, Cao Xiu was in his fifties when he died. Combined with Cao Xiu's death in 228, it means that Cao Xiu's father died in the Yellow Turban Rebellion or the unrest that followed. Then when Cao Xiu defected to Cao Cao in 189, it had already passed a few more years.
Cao Xiu's growth experience in Jiangdong in his youth is likely to have become an important factor in his later role as the commander of Cao Wei's eastern front.
<h1>The second major event of Cao Xiu is the thousand miles to cao cao</h1>
The young and self-reliant Cao Xiu was very strong, and the sudden change of family did not crush Cao Xiu, but honed his will.
In the sixth year of Zhongping (189), Cao Cao responded to the Kwantung Alliance's request for Dong and raised an army in Chen. Cao Xiu, who received the news, decided to end his life in Jiangdong and go north. Because the imperial court was in the hands of Dong Zhuo, many places still obeyed the orders of the imperial court. In order to prevent Cao Xiu from being arrested, he changed his name and surname, took the road north through Jingzhou, and traveled thousands of miles to finally see Cao Cao.
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms of Cao Xiu (曹休傳) says: Taizu said: "This is my family's thousand miles of colts." "Let him stop with Emperor Wen and treat him like a son."
Cao Cao was particularly happy to see Cao Xiu and praised everyone: "This is my family's Maxima!" "Let Cao Xiu live with Cao Pi and treat Cao Xiu like his own son."
This account is actually a little bit of a problem. Cao Cao's praise of Cao Xiu as a Maxima is nothing to say, and the suspicious point lies in the record of living with Cao Pi. Cao Pi died in 226 at the age of forty, Cao Xiu died in 228 years old in his fifties (the result of skeletal measurements was 50-60 years old), and the age difference between the two was at least ten years. Cao Pi was born in 187, Chen Liu was still a small doll who learned to speak when he was a soldier, and in the case of early birth and early childbearing in ancient times, Cao Pi and Cao Xiu were almost two generations old, and they really could not live together.
If you really want to say that Cao Xiu was living with Cao Cao's son at that time, it should be with Cao Ang. But after all, Cao Pi was the later emperor, and it was more sensitive to family affairs involving the imperial family, so the historical record became Cao Xiu and Cao Pi growing up together. Cao Pi did have a friend who had grown up playing from childhood to adulthood, and his name was Xiahou Shang.
From then on, Cao Xiu began to follow Cao Cao around, leading a group of tigers and leopards to guard Cao Cao's side.
<h1>Cao Xiu's third major incident - the next defense withdrew Zhang Fei</h1>
Although Cao Xiu had followed Cao Cao around in battle before he was twenty years old, he stayed with Cao Cao all the time and there is no record of leading the army alone. This is not a problem of Cao Xiu's ability, but cao cao's talent is too much, like Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, Xiahou Shang, these juniors, Cao Cao intends to cultivate slowly, wait until the time is ripe enough to send out. This not only avoids unnecessary risks, but also ensures that Cao Pi has enough clan strength to assist after succeeding to the throne, after all, in Cao Cao's experience, the clan brothers are the most loyal people, if these people are very capable, it will be the best of both worlds.
Therefore, when Cao Zhang took Xiahou Shangbei on his expedition to Wuhuan, and Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen followed Cao Hongxi to Hanzhong, you will find that the first official appearance of the four second-generation generals all occurred in 218. This was by no means a coincidence, but rather Cao Cao's intention to complete the era change of Cao Wei's generals during his lifetime.
At the end of the twenty-second year of Jian'an (217), Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Wu Lan and others to lead troops to attack Wudu Commandery in Liangzhou, thus opening the prelude to the Great Battle of Hanzhong between Cao and Liu.
Wudu was west of Hanzhong, and Liu Bei could use Ma Chao to exert influence on Liangzhou. But Cao Cao of course knew that Liu Bei's real target was Hanzhong, so he ordered Xiahou Yuan to stay still in Hanzhong and send Cao Hong to meet the battle.
Cao Xiu was only worshipped as a knight lieutenant before the expedition, and as Cao Hong's staff officer, Cao Zhen also went out on the expedition, and his official position was a partial general, which was much higher than Cao Xiu. But Cao Cao told Cao Xiu: "Although you are only nominally joining the army, in fact you are the commander of this army." Some articles believe that this is cao cao's separate statement to Cao Xiu, and the author does not think so.
Because if Cao Hong had heard about it without Cao Cao's orders, why did Cao Hong believe such a strange thing? Once Cao Hong had objections, there would be major contradictions within the army, and Cao Cao could not do such an inappropriate thing.
In fact, when Cao Hong learned of Cao Cao's orders, he was very happy to let Cao Xiu decide the big plan.
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms of Cao Xiu (曹休傳) says: Taizu said: "Although Ru joined the army, he was actually handsome. When Hong heard of this order, he also entrusted Hugh with it.
The actual situation should be that Cao Cao spoke to Cao Xiu in person, and then to Cao Hong, or simply summoned the main generals to a meeting, to the effect that Cao Hong was nominally the commander of the expedition, and the actual decision-maker was Cao Xiu, but this arrangement needed to be kept secret. As for why it can be passed on to future generations, probably because Cao Xiu performed well and won the battle, there is no need to keep it secret.
From this point, it can be seen that Cao Cao was very attentive to Cao Xiu's cultivation, following Cao Hong as a small cavalry lieutenant, and most of the generals would not know that he was the real decision-maker. In this way, once meritorious, Cao Xiu is naturally the primary meritorious person, and then he can rest assured that he will be left alone; if he is defeated, there will be his uncle Cao Hong in front, and Cao Cao will not disclose this secret.
The deliberate arrangement of Cao Hong as the manager can also prove this. Compared with other clan brothers, Cao Hong, in addition to the loyalty and courage of giving up his war horse to save Cao Cao's life in the early years, was not outstanding in his ability to lead soldiers. At that time, when there were already two out of three worlds, Cao Cao had no need to use Cao Hong as commander to save Wudu. However, if you want to achieve the goal of training Cao Xiu and find a general who is willing to be a green leaf for Cao Xiu, Cao Hong is the best candidate. Because Cao Hong and Cao Xiu had a good relationship, Cao Hong's post as the governor of Puchun County was arranged by Cao Xiu's grandfather Cao Ding, so the relationship between the two was closer than that of other clans. Therefore, Cao Hong will be willing to let Cao Xiu make plans behind the scenes, and he will be at ease as an executor.
In March of the twenty-third year of Jian'an (218), Cao Hong, Cao Zhen, and Cao Xiu led an army to the Wudu Commandery to defend and confront Zhang Fei and Wu Lan.
Liangzhou's population is not large, and a large area of Han and Hu live together, so there are few strong and large cities like the Central Plains, and the troops of both sides are guarding dangerous places and strictly guarding against each other. Soon, Zhang Fei, as the attacking party, took the lead in making a move.
Zhang Fei led his troops to leave Xiawei for Gushan, intending to cut off the rear road of Cao Jun. Cao Hong summoned the generals to a meeting, and everyone expressed different opinions. Cao Xiu also spoke as a member of the army: "If the enemy really wants to cut off our rear road, it should secretly lurk and march." The fact that they are now making a big splash shows that they do not have enough troops to accomplish such a task. Therefore, we should take advantage of the opportunity of the dispersion of the enemy army to break through each one and quickly attack Wu Lan first, and zhang Fei can only retreat after Wu Lan breaks through. ”
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Xiu's Biography, contains: "Thieves who are true to the Tao, when ambushing soldiers sneak." Now it is the first momentum, and this can not also be. It is advisable to be ungrouped, to promote Lan, and Lan Break to fly away. "Hong Congzhi, marching into lan, breaking it, flying fruit away."
It is conceivable that the meeting was very interesting: on the surface, the coach Cao Hong took turns to listen to the opinions of the generals, and finally adopted the opinions of Cao Xiu, who joined the army. In fact, Cao Cao had already secretly arranged everything, but the generals did not know it.
As he said before, Cao Hong obeyed Cao Xiu's words and first put Zhang Fei aside according to the plan, no matter how he beat the gong and drum, but instead concentrated his forces to attack Wu Lan. This plan killed Liu Bei's army in a big defeat, and Wu Lan was killed by the pro-Wei Yin Ping people on the way to withdraw his army, and passed on to Cao Cao, while Zhang Fei and Ma Chao fled back to Hanzhong.
In addition, there is a very interesting phenomenon, from the relevant biographies of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" clearly recorded Cao Hong as the commander of this battle, but the "Biography of Cao Hong" does not mention anything about the battle of the lower debate. As the commander of the winning side, the battle achievements that should have been written in the biography were not written in this biography, which is a spectacle. As for the reason, it is clear that the main credit should go to Cao Xiu, who joined the army. Perhaps Chen Shou thought that this matter was not honorable for Cao Hong, so he did not write it in, but instead recorded it in detail in Cao Xiu's biography.
However, the author believes that cao hong can give power to his nephew without scrambling, and Cao Hong can also be called Cao Xiu's good uncle.
For Cao Xiu, in the face of the battle-hardened famous general Zhang Fei was able to calmly deal with it and break Liu Bei's army in a calculated way, this battle of inferiority proved his ability, and also used this victory to open the stage of Cao Wei's second-generation generals.
In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Cao Cao finally withdrew from Hanzhong and returned to Chang'an. Although Hanzhong was still lost, Cao Xiu's credit was indelible, and Cao Cao appointed him as the leader of the middle army, and was directly promoted from a knight lieutenant to a senior general who commanded the forbidden army directly.
Cao Xiu defeated Zhang Fei in his first command, and what did he do after that? The next issue will continue to be introduced to you. Interested friends, please click to pay attention to it, your support is my greatest motivation for continuous creation, thank you!