In the process of the founding of the Han Dynasty, there was one person who was indispensable, that is, Xiao He. In the process of Liu Bang's foreign conquest, he relied on Xiao Hezhen to guard the rear and recommended the general Han Xin to finally unify the world.
Xiao He treated Liu Bang, which can be said to be respectful and respectful. Even later, Liu Bang suspected Xiao He many times and put Xiao He in prison, and he did not dare to have any complaints. However, after Liu Bang's son Liu Ying, the Emperor Hui of Han, ascended the throne, Xiao He was different. Although Xiao He died two years after Liu Ying took the throne, before he died, he even played a routine with Liu Ying.
Hearing that Xiao He was seriously ill, the young emperor Liu Ying could not sit still. He personally came to Xiang mansion to greet Xiao He's illness. He then asked the question he cared about most: "Who will take your place after you die?" ”
Xiangguo is the most important official position, and a good Xiangguo is of great significance to the stability of a political regime. Liu Ying is young and inexperienced, and it is natural to care about this issue. As a responsible minister, it is natural to know everything and say everything. Think about how 400 years later, before Zhuge Liang's death, when Liu Chan's emissaries asked this question, he first arranged for the first successor, Jiang Wan, and then arranged for the second successor, Fei Yi, and finally died.
Faced with the same problem, Xiao He actually reacted differently. Obviously, he was going to die, and he still wanted to kick the ball back to Liu Ying and say, "Zhichen is like the lord." ”
I don't know what Liu Ying thought at that time, anyway, I felt quite speechless when I saw it. Liu Ying was calm and tentatively asked, "How is Cao Shen?" ”
Xiao He nodded and said, "The emperor has chosen the right one, I have no regrets when I die!" ”
I once doubted that if Liu Ying said that it was someone else, Xiao He would not say the same thing, after all, this sentence can be said to be omnipotent, as long as Liu Ying's chosen person is not too outrageous, Xiao He's words are no problem.
Of course, we don't have to be so extreme, because Xiao He's heart may also agree with Cao Shan as a person who is Xiangguo. Then the question arises: if Xiao He thinks that Cao Shan is the right person, why not say it directly, but wait for Liu Ying to say it herself?
For this problem, Sima Qian gave a clear explanation. Because this record is to confirm his previous sentence: "He Su is not compatible with Cao San." This means that Xiao He and Cao Shan have always had a bad relationship.
But we know that Xiao He and Cao Shan were the first elders to follow Liu Bang, and they were all fellow countrymen with Liu Bang. At the end of the Qin Dynasty, when there was chaos, their hometown of Pei County also showed signs of revolt, and everyone decided to support Liu Bang, who was the "great king" in the mountains, but the Pei County Order stopped Liu Bang outside the city. At this time, it was Xiao He and Cao Shan who escaped from the city and helped Liu Bang to make plans and occupy Pei County.
It can be said that under the circumstances at that time, two people risked death to go out of the city, which can also be regarded as a life and death together. We often say that no friendship in the world is as good as comradeship. In the same way, Xiao He and Cao Shen should have a very good relationship, why is the relationship in the end so bad?
From The uprising of Liu Bang to the death of Xiao He, there was not much intersection between the two people during this period.
After Liu Bang was crowned King of Han, Ming Xiu Zhan Dao, Secret Chen Cang, and Dong Chu competed with Xiang Yu for the world. From this time on, Xiao He made logistical supplies for Liu Bang in Guanzhong, and Cao Zan led his troops on the expedition, and the two could not see each other. Later, Liu Bang unified the world, and Made Liu Fei, the eldest son of Shu, the King of Qi, and Cao San, went to the State of Qi to be the Minister of State, and was also not on the side with Xiao He.
From the "History" we can see that there is not much intersection between the two, the most noteworthy of which is the dispute between the heroes and heroines at the establishment of the Han Dynasty.
In the fifth year of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang killed Xiang Yu, unified the world, and began to discuss the reward of merit. At the time of the marquis, everyone competed to say that they should be ranked first, and they have been arguing for more than a year. In the end, what was surprising was that Liu Bang actually named Xiao He as the first.
Many heroes were dissatisfied, saying: "We are stubborn on the battlefield, born into death, and fought dozens or even hundreds of battles." Xiao He had never even been on the battlefield, holding a pen in the rear and pointing out the country with his lips, why did he rank first? ”
Liu Bang gave a very vivid example: "When hunting, we all bring hunting dogs. It is the hounds who jump out to hunt the prey, but it is the hunters who command the hounds. You have conquered many cities and pools, but you are also so capable, like hunting dogs, you are called gong dogs; People Xiao He is commanding you in the rear, equivalent to hunters, so you are a meritorious person. Besides, you either followed me alone, or you brought two or three family members to follow me, and dozens of people from Xiao He's whole family came to join me. ”
Liu Bang's words made everyone dumbfounded. However, everyone may not be really convinced, it is likely that they are just afraid of Liu Bang's majesty.
Sure enough, after the matter of the reward was decided, everyone began to argue about the order of the reports when they went to the dynasty. This time, many heroes knew that they had no ability to compete with Xiao He, so they jointly pushed one person to compete for the first place, and this person was Cao Shan.
In terms of relationships, Cao Gan was one of the few who could be as close to Liu Bang as Xiao He was, because he was also the first to defect to Liu Bang. Moreover, among all the martial generals, Cao San's merit was the greatest, enough to compete with Xiao He. Therefore, they decided to hold this "single seedling" and compete with Xiao He for the first place.
Liu Bang's heart had already set the first candidate, that is, Xiao He. Therefore, no matter how hard the heroes worked, they would not be able to compete with him. A person surnamed E said, "Although Cao San's ability to attack the city is a temporary achievement." The emperor and Xiang Yu confronted each other for five years, and Xiao He did logistics in the rear for five years. Although the emperor is often unhappy, but with Xiao He's logistical support, he can make a comeback again and again, which is the work of all generations! ”
In this way, the warriors once again lost to Xiao He.
From the existing literature content alone, we can speculate that if it were not for their own personality incompatibility, then Xiao He and Cao Shen might have formed a bond in the process of competing for merit. Guo Degang said that "it is the naked hatred between peers" because there is a conflict of interest between the two sides.
However, in the process of striving for merit, Xiao He is the victor, he should be the object of hatred, how can he still have an opinion on Cao Gan? No one knows, maybe it is Suspect Cao Ginseng hindering himself. Until his death, Xiao He was unwilling to take the initiative to recommend Cao Shan to succeed Xiangguo, and he had to wait until Liu Ying showed his heart that he only agreed.
In contrast, it is the loser Cao San, who seems to be more generous. So, how does Cao Gan do Xiangguo? We'll cover it in the next episode.