As mentioned in the previous article, Cao Cao was a natural tyrant, and his potential was highlighted in his youth. Although Cao Cao's personality is contradictory, as a characteristic that a tyrant should have, Cao Cao is not lacking, can flex and stretch, has a fierce heart, and will never let go of those who offend him, but when Cain endures, he can also afford to put it down, shake hands with the enemy, and have the courage to use it with confidence.
Zhang Xiu's example illustrates this point very well. It is said that Zhang Xiu was also famous as a young man, once assassinated Li Sheng, and was revered by the local people as Haojie, and later followed his father Zhang Ji and began his military career, but when attacking Rangcheng, Zhang Ji was seriously injured and died, and Zhang Xiu took over his father's troops.
After that, Zhang Xiu took Wancheng as his base and settled down here, and five years later Zhang Xiu heard of Cao Cao's prestige and planned to defect to Cao Cao. Cao Cao did have the ability, but also worthy of trust, originally this was a beautiful thing, but the bad in Cao Cao this person, especially good that mouthful. Therefore, not unexpectedly, Zhang Ji's widow was accepted, which made Zhang Xiu jealous.
Zhang Xiu therefore wanted to attack and kill Cao Cao, and Cao Cao also saw that Zhang Xiu was angry. To put it bluntly, both of them had the same idea, but Cao Cao did not expect that Zhang Xiu would strike so quickly and launch a sneak attack in the middle of the night. At that time, Cao Cao was caught off guard, resulting in heavy losses, although he escaped with his own life, he lost the lives of Dianwei, Cao Ang, Cao Anmin, etc., the lives of his relatives, and he was in a hurry, and many of his belongings were too late to take away.
Such a vendetta, can not be said to be a deep hatred in the blood sea, the general situation is unsolvable, after the mutual hostility is inevitable, Cao Cao is no exception, so the two began to attack each other, do everything to the extreme, regardless of night attack, surrender, ambush and other tactics, and each other has victory and defeat.
The more Zhang Xiu and Cao Cao fought, the more angry they became, and it was reasonable to say that they could only fight each other in old age, unless one of them fell, it could not be ended. However, although Zhang Xiu is a military general, his brain is also good, and he is not a person with a tendon. When Zhang Xiu attacked Cao Cao for the first time, his anger had already dissipated, and it was not worth fighting.
After that, the counselor Jia Xu made a pertinent suggestion to Zhang Xiu, and it was very much in line with Zhang Xiu's wishes, so he agreed to surrender to Cao Cao. Generally speaking, this situation is rarely acceptable, and for Cao Cao, Zhang Xiu came to vote again, which was indeed very unexpected, but Cao Cao readily agreed after calmly thinking.
Cao Cao's move, the author believes, is indeed the best choice at that time, because Cao Cao's foundation was not stable at that time, there were not many territory and people, and the great cause was not accomplished, and personal grievances were in the slightest. Among them, Zhang Xiu is also a talent, and his adviser Jia Xu is not bad, and Zhang Xiu also has an army under him, and the chips are too high.
Cao Cao did not want to take revenge, but the other party gave too much, and with Cao Cao's character, he would agree to zhang Xiu again, which can be said to be reasonable and unexpected. But most importantly, Cao Cao not only agreed, but also had the stomach to suppress this hatred, the courage to trust Zhang Xiu, and reuse Zhang Xiu, rather than suppressing him after taking him in.
After that, Cao Cao also let his son, Cao Jun, marry Zhang Xiu's daughter, from an enemy to a relative, an important Zhang Xiu without prejudice, and Cao Cao's move was also rewarded beyond imagination. After this, Zhang Xiu followed Cao Cao all the way to the southern expedition to the northern war, and made a lot of merit in the Battle of Guandu.
Later, Zhang Xiu was made a general of the Broken Qiang, but died on the way to Liucheng with Cao Cao to conquer Wuhuan. Of course, Zhang Xiu's death in history, there are also different statements, the author will not elaborate. But I have to say that the reason why Cao Cao was able to succeed and divide the world into three parts has a lot to do with his personality.