Mao Zonggang pointed out in his evaluation of Cao Cao in the "Reading the Law of the Three Kingdoms": "The history of the book, the adulterous males followed, and the wisdom is enough to attract talents and deceive the world is like Cao Cao." This sentence does point out the essence of Cao Cao.
The "wisdom" mentioned here also implies deceit, and Cao Cao is deceitful, which is indeed unparalleled in the world. The reason why he can "recruit talents and deceive the world" is that he can". It is precisely by relying on the word "deceitful" that originally crying, laughing and scolding is a leak of people's feelings, but Cao Cao's crying, laughing and scolding have another wonderful use, and his crying, laughing, anger and scolding are all the tricks of the imperial people. Sometimes he also preaches righteousness and behaves magnanimously, but he is also different and has another magic method.
Cao Cao's imperial art is indeed unique.
It is advisable to cry and laugh, and it is advisable to laugh and cry
The fifty-seventh time it is written that after Cao Cao's defeat at the Battle of Chibi, the "three laughs and one cry" on the way to escape portrays his deceitful personality vividly: when he fled to the west of the bird forest, he saw the trees and the mountains and rivers, and he immediately laughed on his back. When asked why, he said, "Laughing at Zhou Yu's lack of strategy, Zhuge Liang is less wise." If I ambush an army here in advance when I use my troops, what if so? Saying that it was still not over, the drums on both sides sounded, the flames soared into the sky, zhao Yun led the oblique stab to kill, the crowd would fight to the death, and Cao Cai escaped.
Fleeing to the South Yiling Road, the people were hungry and sleepy, they could not walk, and the exercise ordered them to rest for a while, and he sat under the sparse forest, laughing on his back. The crowd asked why. Cao said, "After all, Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu are not wise enough. If I use soldiers, I will ambush a puma army and horse in this place, so as to wait for work; even if I lose my life, I will inevitably be seriously injured. He can't see this, and I laugh at it." Just as he was saying, Zhang Fei's army was killed, and when he saw that his horse had slipped away, the generals were able to fight to the death, but most of them were already injured, and they were in a terrible state, and the weather was cold, the road was muddy, and when they reached Huarong Road, there was very little left. Cao Cao, on the other hand, immediately laughed, and when asked why, Cao said, "Everyone says that Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang are resourceful, and from my point of view, they are incompetent people in the end." If the division of a brigade is ambushed here, we will all be tied up and bound. Before he could finish speaking, a cannon sounded, and five hundred school knifemen on both sides swung open, and guan Yunchang, the first general, raised the green dragon sword across the red rabbit horse and intercepted the way. If it weren't for Guan Yun's long feelings for his former kindness, Cao Cao would have moved his head this time. This time when he escaped, Cao Cao's situation was very miserable, this was the time when he should cry bitterly, why did he laugh loudly every time he was in the doomed situation? In fact, these "three laughs" are all strong smiles, and the intention is to destroy the enemy's prestige and strengthen their own ambitions. He laughed at the incompetence of his opponents to show his cleverness, but to strengthen the courage of his soldiers and summon up their courage to escape the difficulties. However, when Cao Cao escaped from the tiger's mouth and was washed with wine by Cao Ren in Nan County, he instead looked up to the sky and mourned. The strategists did not understand this abnormal behavior, so they asked why. sad, he said, I cry Guo Feng Xiao'er! If filial piety is there, I will never make such a big mistake! So he beat his chest and cried, "Mourn, filial piety! Pain, filial piety! Shame on you, filial piety! All the strategists were silently ashamed of themselves. Regarding Cao Cao's crying, Mao Zonggang pointed out its wonderful use to the point: "Cao Cao cried before Dianwei, and then wept Guo Jia, although the crying was the same, but the crying was different, crying Dianwei's cry, so I felt that the generals also: crying Guo Jia's cry, so ashamed of the many strategists." The cry of the former is like a reward, and the cry of the back is like a fight. It is not that the tears of the adulterous male can be used as both paper and can be used as a pole, and the adultery of the adulterous male is really lovely! "It is advisable to cry and laugh, it is advisable to laugh and cry, only the adulterous male can laugh and cry in this way, and the adulterous male is here." And his crying and laughing, and the very human crying and laughing, are his magic tricks.
First give the threat and then the knot of grace
There is a story about Cao Cao's surrender of Zhang Liao: "But it is said that the warriors supported Zhang Liaozhi. Cao Zhi Liao said: 'This man is good and good.' Liao said, "We have met in Puyang City, but how can we forget it?" 'Fuck laughing:
"You remember it too!' Liao Yue 'just a pity', fucking: "What a pity? Liao Yue: "Unfortunately, the fire was not big that day, and it did not burn you as a thief of this country!" Fu Da Fu said: "Defeat will dare to insult me!" Draw your sword in your hand and personally come and kill Zhang Liao. Liao Quan has no fear, and leads the neck to be killed. At this time, Xuan De grabbed his arm, and Yun Chang knelt in front of him. Xuan De said, "Such a person with a pure heart is justified in reuse." Yun Chang said: "A certain Su knows that Wen Yuan is loyal and righteous, and is willing to save his life." Fu threw the sword and laughed: "I also know that Wen Yuan is loyal and righteous, so the ear of the play." 'But he is to release his bondage, to untie his clothes, and to sit on his feet. Liao felt that his intentions had fallen. From this story, we see that Cao Cao changed two faces in a flash: full of murderous anger and full of smiles. This is indeed "to kill, to draw the sword himself, and to disembark and sit still if he does not kill; to be angry is to double his anger, and to love is to be doubled." Adultery is powerful, adultery is out of reach. (Mao Zonggang's pinch).
In fact, Cao Cao's "anger and love" is just a reproduction of the ancient imperial art of "Enwei and Ji", that is, first to exert wei and then to marry. This imperial technique was later learned by Zhang Fei. Zhang Feisheng captured Yan Yan and asked Yan Yan to surrender, and Yan Ling said, "But there is a general with a severed head, and a general without surrender!" "Fly furious, drink left and right chopped."
Yan Yan said, "Thief! Cut it, he will cut it, and he will be angry! Zhang Fei was touched by his heroism, but he personally released his bondage, bowed his head and asked for forgiveness, and strictly felt his grace and righteousness. Zhang Fei's release of Yan Yan and Cao Cao's release of Zhang Liao are indeed the same appearance, and it is not known whether Zhang Fei also learned from Cao Cao. And Cao Cao released Zhang Liao, Zhang Fei released Yan Yan, because Zhang Liao and Yan Yan were loyal and courageous, and this kind of person is worth using. Cao Cao was able to release Zhang Liao because Cao Cao was a traitor; Zhang Fei was able to release Yan Yan because Zhang Fei was a hero. Although there are differences between a hero and a hero, their personalities have something in common: tough men who like to die, and people who are greedy and afraid of death. For example, when Lü Bu was captured by Cao Cao, he both begged Cao Cao for forgiveness and asked Liu Bei to intercede, and despite Lü Bu's pleading, Cao Cao slaughtered him. Cao Cao's release of Zhang Liao was precisely because he was impressed by his heroism. Cao Cao's ability to use Zhang Liao shows that his wisdom and discernment, Zhang Liao, also became a famous general of the State of Wei because of Cao Cao's promotion.
The arrogance of "burning letters"
"Know each other and know yourself, and never lose a battle." This is a law for winning victory in war, and in order to "know each other and know oneself," it is necessary to first understand the situation of the other side, so the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu all tried every means to place traitors in the enemy country. Both Wei and Shu exchanged counter-plots, and the success of these anti-plots was carried out through treacherous spies. Therefore, it is an open secret for each other, you have me, I have you.
"Fortresses are often breached from within", so the discovery and elimination of traitors is highly valued by the commanders of various countries. However, the issue of dealing with spies is a very complex one. If we take it lightly, it is easy to cause mistakes, wrongfully accuse good people, and indulge bad people, which weakens one's own strength and strengthens the enemy's strength.
For dealing with adulterous spies, Cao Cao had a unique method of dealing with them. After he broke Yuan Shao, he seized a large number of letters from his subordinates who had secretly communicated with Yuan Shao, and some people advised him to deal with these people strictly, but he disagreed: "At that time, Yuan Shao was powerful, and he could not protect himself when he was alone, let alone others. He ordered that this great collection of epistles be burned. Why didn't Cao Cao suppress these people strictly and take such a generous measure? This is because Cao Cao had two advantages in doing so: First, it would avoid making mistakes. Now that Cao Cao had a list of letters with his enemies, he already knew these people well and knew how to treat them. In this way, Cao Cao had the initiative over them. He doesn't deal with it now, but he can deal with it slowly later. Moreover, these people have committed adultery with the enemy, and their crimes are light and heavy, and they cannot be generalized, but if they are all suppressed, they will expand the strain and cause internal chaos. Second, do not weaken your own strength. At that time, the world was undecided. At the time of employing people, Cao Cao showed tolerance, which would make these people who had fornicated with the enemy grateful to Dade and possibly repent of their past wrongs. If you compare Cao Cao and Yuan Shao's handling of the problem of treachery, you will feel that Cao Cao's imperial skills are very clever. Xu You intercepted Cao Cao's letter of grain collection, and knowing that his grain had been exhausted, suggested that he divide his troops to attack Xuchang and attack him in two ways. This is the best strategy, and if Shao Shao follows it, he can win a complete victory.
Yuan Shao was furious and subjectively speculated that Xu You "had an old relationship with Cao Cao and wanted to be bribed by him and commit adultery for him." Sip on my ears! "And he was expelled."
Treat subjective suspicion as fact. Give Xu You the hat of "traitor", Xu You is indeed wronged. Throughout the ages, the unjust cases that have appeared have not been caused by subjective speculation! Yuan Shao, on the other hand, treated Xu You as a "traitor" and did not deal with him, but instead expelled him, which really forced him to surrender to Cao Cao. Because Xu You planned the burning of grain for Cao Cao, it contributed to the defeat of The Yuan army. Yuan Shao's rash handling of "traitors" not only wronged good people, but also fell into bad luck himself. Cao Cao's "letter of burning letters" is indeed much wiser than that!
Strict observance of military discipline: "Cutting hair and acting as the head"
The story of "cutting hair and replacing the head" is as follows: In the summer and April of the third year of Jian'an, Cao Cao was on his way out to attack Zhang Xiu, and saw that the wheat was ripe all the way, and the people fled outside because of the arrival of the soldiers, and did not dare to cut the wheat. The people of the village and the officials of the various places said, "I have sent troops to seek rebellion and eliminate harm from the people. When Fang Jin's wheat was ripe, he had no choice but to raise an army, and all the generals and generals, who crossed the wheat field but trampled on it, were all beheaded. The military law is very strict, and the people should not be alarmed. "The horse was on the right track, and suddenly a dove was startled in the field, and the horse's eyes were raw, and it sneaked into the wheat and damaged a large piece of wheat field. The sword is ready to kill itself. The crowd was in emergency care. According to Guo Jia, the Spring and Autumn Period has the idea of "the law does not add supremacy", and Cao Cao cut his own hair with a sword and threw it at him: "The right to cut the hair is to cut the head instead." The messenger sent a message to the three armies, saying: "The beggar is practicing wheat, and he should have beheaded the order, but now he cuts his hair instead." ”
So the three armies were horrified, and they all obeyed the military orders. For Cao Cao's "cutting hair and acting as the head", posterity mostly believes that this is Cao Cao's trick to buy the hearts and minds of the army and the people. There's nothing wrong with that. However, Cao Cao's adoption of such a power change approach is also understandable. I would like to ask: Is it necessary for Cao Cao to kill himself because he violated the law of self-control? In the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, most of the people who divided the territory were acting recklessly, lawlessly, plundering the people to enrich themselves, and who blamed themselves for this, and Cao Cao was able to "cut his hair and replace the head", which was rare and valuable. It shows that Cao Cao's military discipline was strict, and he did not forgive him for breaking the law. In order to win the war and unify the world, Cao Cao not only searched everywhere for talents for his own use, but also tried his best to win the people's support. Because he understood the principle that "the people are the foundation of the state", every time he went out on a campaign, he mostly strictly enforced military discipline to prevent disturbing the people. However, Yuan Shu, who was born in the fourth dynasty and the third duke, did not understand this truth, and his military discipline was unknown, and he plundered the people everywhere. He sent Zhang Xun to lead the Seven Roads army to conquer Xuzhou, but he plundered the future on the road, so Chen Deng regarded Yuan Shu's Seven Roads army as "seven piles of rotten grass" for a reason, and this "seven piles of rotten grass" could not withstand the joint army of Lü Bu and Liu Bei and collapsed in one blow. Compared with Cao Cao and Yuan Shu, isn't it clear who makes good use of soldiers? Yuan Shu could not rule the generals and the people, and it was inevitable that he would be defeated; Cao Cao could rule the generals and love the people, and it was also inevitable that he would go out to win many victories. Cao Cao's mastery of the art of soldiers is indeed superior.
Knighthood bonus
Cao Cao was able to recruit talents and make them serve himself because he had two "magic weapons", one was knighthood and the other was a gift. Because in feudal society, those who are willing to serve their lords are nothing more than fame and profit. And Cao Cao's knighthood bonus just satisfies their desires, so Cao Cao sacrificed these two "magic weapons", and no one was unwilling to return to his command. Of course, the technique of "knighthood and gift" was not original to Cao Cao, and liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, who was born in the pavilion, understood the mystery as early as when he and Xiang Yu were fighting for the world. Chen Ping loved Jin, and he tried his best to satisfy him; Han Xin wanted to be the King of Qi, so he carved the Seal of the King of Qi for him. Therefore, this Wen Yiwu was willing to serve him.
His rival Xiang Yu did not understand this set, and this Western Chu overlord was a bit stingy, reluctant to give people knighthoods, and subordinates were unwilling to contribute to him, which may be one of the reasons. Cao Cao was a well-educated man, familiar with these historical lessons, he was not only good at absorbing, but also able to achieve "blue out of blue is better than blue", he used the "knighthood bonus" far better than his predecessors. For example, his solicitation of Guan Yu fully demonstrated his talent in this regard.
After Cao Cao accepted Guan Yu's "three things" covenant and made him vote, he treated them very generously: giving ten beautiful women; a small feast on three days, a big feast on five days; a mention of gold on the horse, and a mention of silver on the horse. After beheading Yan Liang for meritorious service, he was named the Marquis of Hanshouting, which can be said to be the best he could to win over. However, after Guan Yu learned where his brother Liu Bei was, he immediately sealed the gold seal and left a book not to say: "Although the new grace is thick, the old righteousness is unforgettable." "He has not repaid his grace, and he is willing to take the day of the other day." So after five levels and six generals, they will go away.
Why did Cao Cao's two "magic weapons" of the "knighthood bonus" not work. This is because of the "Taoyuan Knot"
The "righteousness" made Guan Yu "unforgettable", and Cao Cao originally thought that his two "magic weapons" were invincible, and he never expected to be broken by the "righteousness". However, his two magic weapons did not completely fail: first Guan Yu felt his kindness and was willing to repay them, beheading Yan Liang and Wen Ugly, and later fulfilling his promise of "he has more than enough grace to repay, willing to take the other day of the day", and willingly violated the military order on Huarong Road, desperately releasing Cao Cao.