Many people call Lü Bu the first fierce general of the Three Kingdoms, thanks to the exaggerated plot of "Three British Battles Lü Bu" that is not in the main history, so who is the first fierce general of the Three Kingdoms? There is still some controversy.
Who is the first strategist of the Three Kingdoms, in many comments in later generations, directly points to Jia Xu in Cao Ying. On the surface, every choice and decision Jia Xu made saved himself in the chaotic world and maximized his own interests.
I have to say that from my own point of view, I still have a certain competitiveness to become the first strategist of the three countries. After all, compared to Zhuge Liang, who had exhausted his life's energy for Shu Han, and Xun Yu, who was forced to die by Cao Cao, his ending was much better.
But to become the first strategist of the Three Kingdoms, do you really have to evaluate it purely from the perspective of wisdom and end? I don't think so, Zhuge Liang, who bowed to the Shu kingdom, Zhou Yu, who was heroic in the Battle of Chibi, and Guo Jia, who stood up for Cao Cao every time, all had the kind of heroic spirit of making meritorious achievements. And Jia Xu is too mediocre in this regard.
A lieutenant who is "talented but not virtuous"
When Cao Cao was alive, even in the face of the situation of the Three Kingdoms, he still had a great advantage. It is only because there are many Hanchen under the account, and the ultimate life is to think of himself as a minister.
His son Cao Pi was not so generous, and in 220 AD, Cao Pi forced Emperor Liu Xiechan of Han to establish himself as emperor. The first thing he did after he ascended the throne was to promote Jia Xu to the rank of taiwei and ranked third duke.
On the surface, there is nothing wrong with this, because Jia Xu is a very powerful figure, and even many people say that he is beyond Zhuge Liang's existence, believing that he is the first strategist of the Three Kingdoms.
Unexpectedly, this matter reached the ears of Sun Quan of Eastern Wu, and Sun Quan actually looked up to the sky and laughed: "Cao Pi's talent is less than a quarter of Cao Mengde's, and Cao Wei will surely perish!"
There is no doubt that Jia Xu does have superhuman wisdom, meticulous thoughts, and long-term strategic vision, and even has a super insight into human nature. Such a hard role has been reused, why is Sun Quan not afraid at all?
In fact, whether a person can make a contribution is not only based on talent, but also on his own virtue. The reason why Jia Xu was able to stay in Cao Wei's camp was entirely due to Cao Cao's early "meritocracy".
The "Churning Stick" in the Chaotic World
Jia Xu was born in a Han family in Liangzhou, and he did not have any capital to stand out, but in times of chaos, as long as it was gold, there was always a chance to shine.
When Jia Xu was young, he and more than 10 companions were kidnapped by a gang of robbers, and in the face of the robbers who killed people without blinking, he calmly called his maternal grandfather Duan Jiao, a Lieutenant of Han, and let the robbers release him. The robbers, knowing that the man was not a good man, let him go, while all his companions were killed.
This tragedy fully demonstrated Jia Xu's super high wisdom and extraordinary calmness. But he only cares about saving himself, completely ignoring the life and death of his companions, and does not even seem to have this idea, it can be seen that he is completely a selfish egoist, who has nothing to do with himself and hangs high.
Jia Xu is a person who takes everything he does with himself as the starting point. The "chaotic martial arts" that occurred after that showed this characteristic of him vividly.
10 years later, Dong Zhuo, who was "condemned by everyone", was killed by Lü Bu. Situ Wang Yun, who planned this incident, because of his hatred for Dong Zhuo to the bone, threatened to slaughter the people of Liangzhou. Among the Liangzhou officers, Li Dai and Guo Feng, who were Dong Zhuoyu's party, were frightened and fled in a hurry.
On the way to escape, he met Jia Xu, who heard that he was related to Liangzhou, where he was located, so he launched his mind that although he was smart, he did not have to be in the right way, and offered a poisonous plan: instead of passively escaping, it was better to go back to avenge Dong Zhuo, and if he failed, it would not be too late to escape.
The two thieves, Li Dai and Guo Feng, were brave and unscrupulous, and felt that it made sense, so they killed Back to Chang'an, and as a result, they defeated Lü Bu and killed Wang Yun's clan.
After this, Li Dai and Guo Feng, who had already gained power, were exposed in their original forms, which was even worse than Dong Zhuo's brutality. Massacre the people, kidnap the Son of Heaven, and act recklessly. People have been displaced, and there have even been tragedies of cannibalism. All this is due to the talented and virtuous Jia Xu.
An extremely intelligent person like Jia Xu had already seen through that Li Dai and Guo Feng would inevitably have no good end, and naturally knew that this place should not stay for a long time. The design enabled Emperor Xiandi of Han to get rid of the control of the second thief and turn to his fellow villager Zhang Xiu.
How could Zhang Xiu be targeted by the powerful Cao Cao and surrendered without a fight. As a result, Cao Cao deceived people too much and occupied Zhang Xiu's aunt, so Jia Xuxian secretly attacked Cao Cao and killed Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Ang, nephew Cao Anmin, and ai general Dianwei.
Strategizing but "willing to be a vase"
Later, seeing that Cao Cao had gained power, Zhang Xiu was once again unable to protect himself, so Jia Xu offered another plan: "Cao Cao and Zhang Xiu have a feud with heaven, but Cao Cao has ambitions for the world, and if you contribute your power and military strength to him, you will certainly be able to save your and my lives."
Afterwards, as Jia Xu expected, Cao Cao warmly received them, completely ignoring the previous suspicions. But in the end, Zhang Xiu's fate was completely different from Jia Xu's, and it was clear that Jia Xu's plan was only for himself.
Zhang Xiu eventually killed Cao Cao's family and beloved general, and was threatened by Cao Pi's language several times, and chose to commit suicide. And Jia Xu was able to enjoy the glory in Cao Cao's camp because of Cao Cao's meritocracy at that time.
Although Jia Xu was deeply appreciated by Cao Cao, he never took the initiative to contribute to Cao Cao, nor did he communicate with other Cao Cao's subordinates, and chose Mingzhe to protect himself. Because he knew that when Cao Cao was unified, it would be the day he would settle accounts after the autumn.
Even in Cao Cao's heartbroken Battle of Chibi, he also saw through but did not say broken, and chose to watch Cao Cao's defeat. Cao Cao cried out bitterly after the great defeat: "If Guo Jiaguo Fengxiao was there, would I Cao Cao'an fall into such a field?" Although Jia Xu's ability was far superior to Guo Jia's, he did not have Guo Jia's loyalty to Cao Cao.
In the battle between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, Jia Xu once again showed his long-term vision. He saw through that Cao Zhi, who lived in a dream, only knew how to talk about his poetry and distant places, so he chose the cao pi camp that was as tough as Cao Cao.
In the end, Jia Xu got the position of Tai Wei and became a winner in life. However, among those important ministers who had made great contributions to Cao Wei, he was bound to be difficult to convince the public, who had always done nothing. And Sun Quan, the king of Wu, had already anticipated this, and seeing that Jia Xu, who was a golden rooster but had become a lieutenant, was undoubtedly a great gift to his opponent.
After 45 years, the Cao Wei regime was seized by the Sima family, and sure enough, as Sun Quan expected, Sun Quan's State of Wu actually had eight more years of life than Cao Wei.
brief summary:
Jia Xu's inaction during Cao Cao's lifetime was completely different from Xu Shu's "not giving a plan for Cao Ying", and even more different from Xun Yu's negative response after seeing through Cao Cao's true face as a han thief. He simply did not have collectivist spirit and dedication.
Therefore, it is understandable why Sun Quan looks up to the sky and smiles. He laughed not only at Cao Pi's immaturity, but also at the fact that the two generations of father and son could not see through this sleek human essence, and even laughed at Cao Cao's former "meritocracy", but was eventually eaten by the moths he raised.