preface
In 197 AD, in order to expand the territory, Cao Cao began to use troops against Zhang Xiu, who was occupying the Wancheng city of Nanyang, the ending was unexpected, Zhang Xiu surrendered without a fight, Zhang Xiu's surrender was very strange, why did he surrender to Cao Cao without moving a soldier, there is no clear record in the history books, and it is not easy to speculate, but you can first take a look at why Zhang Xiu is in Wancheng?
Zhang Xiu was the nephew of the Western Liang warlord Zhang Ji, after Dong Zhuo's death, the Western Liang army was leaderless and had no one to fight, Zhang Ji led the army to Jingzhou to attack Liu Biao in order to survive, mainly because Zhang Ji had no grain to eat, and wanted to grab some grain to survive, as a result Zhang Ji died, so his nephew Zhang Xiu took over Zhang Ji's army, in order to survive, Liu Biao took the initiative to recruit Zhang Xiu and make peace with it, Liu Biao provided the city and grain, Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao allied with Liu Biao to defend the north of Jingzhou, Zhang Xiu originally had no base area, With another army, he was worried about how to solve the grain problem, and now that Liu Biao had solved it for him, Zhang Xiu naturally couldn't ask for it.
Although Zhang Xiu agreed, but there was still a terrier in his heart, his uncle died in battle in Yongcheng, in other words, Liu Xiu was Zhang Xiu's uncle-killer, but this is no longer important, Zhang Xiu for political interests and his own survival, can only temporarily attach to Liu Biao, from the 192 years of Zhang Xiu's alliance with Liu Biao, Zhang Xiu has been defending northern Xinjiang for Liu Biao town for 5 years in Wancheng, if Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao cooperate happily, in the face of Cao Cao's attack, Zhang Xiu should resist.
First, the role of Jia Xu
At that time, Cao Cao had already blackmailed Tianzi to order the princes, nominally representing the orthodox court of the Han Dynasty, although the force was not the strongest, it was also the most capable force in the entire Central Plains, it was reasonable to say that Zhang Xiu's surrender to Cao Cao was normal, because holding the thigh was still good, although Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and other forces were stronger than Cao Cao who threatened the Tianzi to make the princes, but as long as the vision was unique, people who saw the situation clearly would know that Cao Cao was a very promising force, Zhang Xiu obviously did not have this vision, but Jia Xu had.
At this time, Jia Xu had already turned to Zhang Xiu, and judging by Jia Xiu's consistent style, he would definitely plan the future for Zhang Xiu, including this surrender, from the perspective of Jia Xu's later plot for Zhang Xiu, basically every time Zhang Xiu encountered a major event, there was Jia Xu's figure in it.
Therefore, zhang Xiu surrendered to Cao Cao without a fight in 197, which looked very much like Jia Xu's trickery, and it was a fraudulent surrender, the purpose of which was to attack Cao Cao.
Jia Xu was a very intelligent person during the Three Kingdoms period, although he was the last to join Cao Cao as one of his five great strategists, but from the perspective of Jia Xu's life, he was best at two things:
First, Jia Xu knows very much about human nature and can see through the minds of others. For example, Jia Xu left Duan Simmer because he saw through Duan Simmer's suspicious nature, and saw through Duan Simmer's jealousy of himself, so he found an excuse to leave Duan Simmer and turned to Zhang Xiu.
Second, Jia Xu is good at strange strategies, and he has no exhaustive strategies. For example, Jia Xu persuaded Zhang Xiu to ask Zhang Xiu to pursue Cao Cao again after the failure of the first pursuit, and sure enough, Zhang Xiu fought a big victory, in addition, Jia Xu's plan that appeared in the history books did not fail.
Therefore, Zhang Xiu's surrender to Cao Cao must have been approved by Jia Xu, because Zhang Xiu's surrender also marked Jia Xu's surrender, there was no reason why Jia Xu did not consider the risks and future prospects for his surrender, judging by Jia Xu's personality, he must have participated in Zhang Xiu's surrender, and it may even be that Jia Xu took the initiative to plan. In the case of Jia Xu's final advice to Zhang Xiu to turn to Cao Cao, he was very able to see the situation and seize the opportunity, even if Zhang Xiu killed Cao Cao's eldest son, nephew and love general Dianwei, it still did not prevent Zhang Xiu from surrendering to Cao Cao, sometimes politics was really interesting, Zhang Xiu dared to turn to people who had a vendetta against him, and Cao Cao actually had the ambition to accept the enemy who killed his son.
Second, the impact of Cao Cao's marriage to Zhang Xiu's aunt on the whole thing
During the Three Kingdoms period, it was very normal to marry a woman, and the status of women at that time was also very low, especially the status of women who were defeated or surrendered in the war was even lower, the history books did not record what the conditions for Zhang Xiu's surrender to Cao Cao were, since Zhang Xiu surrendered to Cao Cao, according to the reason, Zhang Xiu's aunt should also belong to Cao Cao's subordinates, but women are not casually able to show their faces, Zhang Xiu's aunt is a widow, and does not participate in zhang Xiujun's political events, there is no reason to be discovered by Cao Cao, If Cao Cao knew that Zhang Xiu had a very beautiful aunt, the only reason was that Zhang Xiu took the initiative to tell Cao Cao, or intentionally or unintentionally let Cao Cao discover that he had a beautiful aunt.
Other words
Zhang Xiu may have deliberately used his extremely beautiful aunt as bait to lure Cao Cao, lure Cao Cao into making mistakes with a deceptive surrender + beauty meter, and then caught Cao Cao off guard for another year
If zhang xiu really surrendered to Cao Cao, would he turn against Cao Cao for a woman? Is surrender a child's play? Although this woman is Zhang Xiu's aunt, but in fact the status is very low, there is no Cao Cao accepted Zhang Xiu's aunt to make Zhang Xiu feel insulted, cao cao at that time was 43 years old, Zhang Xiu should be younger than Cao Cao, Cao Cao's aunt who married Zhang Xiu should be a tall branch on the climb, why would Zhang Xiu, who was born in Xiliang, rebel against Cao Cao because of this? This is something that doesn't make sense in the event itself.
We must look at this problem from the perspective of that era, Cao Cao married a widow This tradition has a long history, politicians can marry relatives can conclude political marriages, this was an unwritten rule at that time, Cao Cao married Zhang Xiu's aunt can form a political marriage with Zhang Xiu, how is it insulting to Zhang Xiu? Cao Cao had also married He Jin's daughter-in-law as a concubine before this, along with He Jin's grandson He Yan, which was a very normal thing, why did it trigger Zhang Xiu's rebellion?
According to the "Fu Zi" record, Zhang Xiu's rebellion was because Cao Cao used a lot of money to bribe Zhang Xiu's fierce general Hu Che'er, which made Zhang Xiu feel insecure and thought that Cao Cao wanted to attack himself, so Zhang Xiu simply attacked first, taking advantage of Cao Cao's lack of preparation to launch a surprise attack, this reason should not be established, if Cao Cao really wanted to buy Hu Che'er, then he should be alert to Zhang Xiu's, moreover, Zhang Xiu's mobilization of the army was actually applied to Cao Cao, Cao Cao agreed, but from Zhang Xiu sneaked up on Cao Cao, the eldest son Cao Ang, nephew Cao Anmin, Judging from the fact that Ai General Dianwei was all killed in battle, Cao Cao was not defensive at all, and was completely blinded. So looking back, Cao Cao accepted Zhang Xiu's aunt, and no matter how it looks, it looks like Zhang Xiu deliberately set a trap to lure Cao Cao into being deceived.
Third, the real reason for Zhang Xiu's rebellion
The fundamental reason why Zhang Xiu's surrender was a fraudulent surrender is that Zhang Xiu's surrender is very unreasonable.
Zhang Xiu because of Jia Xu's joining, so many of Zhang Xiu's behaviors have Jia Xu's advice, at the same time, Jia Xu will also consider the future of himself and Zhang Xiu, as for Liu Biao, obviously Jia Xu knows what kind of person Liu Biao is, Liu Biao is just a person with no ambition, no future, and only wants to keep his own acre and three fields, Liu Biao cannot be relied on, then Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu will have to find someone who will be reliable in the future, this person can only be Cao Cao.
That is to say, the fundamental reason for Zhang Xiu's fraudulent surrender of Cao Cao was not to attack Cao Cao, but to increase the chips for surrendering to Cao Cao. This is similar to what no one cherishes for free things, if a person with weak ability surrenders to Cao Cao, it will obviously not be valued, if a group with weak combat effectiveness surrenders to Cao Cao, it will not be reused, Zhang Xiu will not be reused if he surrenders to Cao Cao very smoothly, without moving a soldier or a pawn, he will not be looked up to by Cao Cao, such as Zhang Lu, when Cao Cao fought in Hanzhong, Zhang Lu wanted to surrender, but a man named Yan Pu stopped it, Yan Pu said, "If you are forced to surrender to Cao Cao, you will not be reused", why? The reason is that if you have no ability, you will not be used heavily if you surrender to Cao Cao, which is the truth.
Therefore, Zhang Xiu caught Cao Cao by surprise by fraudulent surrender, and also killed Cao Cao's eldest son, nephew and Dianwei, it is possible that Zhang Xiu did not know them, or it is possible that Zhang Xiu did this on purpose, these are not important, because Jia Xu has seen through Cao Cao and knows how to gain Cao Cao's trust and reuse, and on the eve of the Battle of Guandu, Jia Xu persuaded Zhang Xiu to surrender to Cao Cao again, this time it is very different from the last time, because this time it is really surrender, and it is a person who surrenders with enemies.
This time the surrender, so that Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu not only got a rich return, and Cao Cao showed great generosity, but also with Zhang Xiu to form a son and daughter family, this is a great honor for Zhang Xiu, when Zhang Xiu was named a general of Yang Wu, a few years later Zhang Xiu's food was 2,000 households, surpassing all the civilian generals under Cao Cao, ranking first, to know that cao Cao's most trusted Xiahou Huan at that time had only 1800 households in the same period of time, no one would have thought that the reward of a general was so thick, this is all jia Xu's credit, Therefore, Zhang Xiu's two surrenders, in fact, the final investment has obtained a rich return, although the risk is a little larger.
summary
Zhang Xiu's two surrenders, the first was a surrender, in order to show Cao Cao that he was a capable person, and at the same time gave Cao Cao a chance to show his strength, which is called throwing stones to ask for directions, and Zhang Xiu's patience is quite good, under Jia Xu's planning, it took several years to finally achieve the goal, it is not easy, Jia Xu This person lived for 77 years, and he was in a high position but in Cao Wei was able to die well, indicating that his original choice was correct.
The surrender of Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu is actually very much like long-term investment, showing the ability to --- show influence--- expand strength, and finally obtain huge returns, although there is some debate about the cause of Zhang Xiu's death in history, some people say that Zhang Xiu was killed by Cao Pi, in fact, Cao Pi has neither a criminal motive, nor a benefit, but also a problem, so Cao Pi can not kill Zhang Xiu, nor can he commit a crime.
If you look at it this way, history is actually very interesting, and many things are not what you and I see on the surface, but there are many secrets hidden under the surface, at least Zhang Xiu's surrender is one of them.