In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Xu Shu was highly regarded as the first person to defect to Liu Bei and was deeply involved in military strategy. When he left, Liu Beiyi bid farewell, very reluctantly, and even made the move of cutting down the forest, just because the forest blocked his view of Xu Shu, this classic scene was sad to watch.
Then we can't help but wonder how strong Xu Shu's ability really is, which makes Liu Bei so moved by his departure, why does he not want to submit to Liu Bei again?
In the rendition, Xu Shu showed little skill, once after just following Liu Bei, helping Liu Bei defeat Cao Ren, and once at the Battle of Chibi.
Defeat Cao Ren
Cao Cao often had the intention of taking advantage of Jingzhou, but he did not know how strong Jingzhou's strength really was, so he sent Cao Ren to lead the army to explore the truth. Cao Ren ordered Lü Kuang and Lü Xiang to lead an army of 5,000 to Xinye to attack Liu Bei. After Liu Bei received the news, he immediately consulted with Xu Shu, and at Xu Shu's suggestion, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun each led an army out of the horse and successfully defeated Erlu.
Cao Ren learned of Erlu's defeat and personally led a large army to come and set up an eight-door golden lock array. No one in Liu Bei's army recognized this formation, let alone broken the formation. Fortunately, Xu Shu was well informed and ordered Zhao Yun to attack from the southeast and out of the west, breaking the Cao army. After Cao Jun's defeat and retreat, he came to rob the village again that night, and Xu Shu laid out his pockets in advance and waited for Cao Jun to come in. In the end, Cao Jun was mostly wounded, Cao Ren fled back to Xuchang, and Fancheng was taken by Liu Bei. Xu Shu shocked Cao Cao with this battle, and at Cheng Yu's suggestion, Cao Cao used Xu Shu's mother to lure him to Cao's camp.
Battle of Chibi
During the Battle of Chibi, Xu Shu also followed Cao Cao to the front. In this battle, Zhou Yu showed great power, first using Jiang Gan to steal books, implementing a counter-plan, and removing the commander of the water army under Cao Cao. Then he and Huang Gai staged a bitter meat plan and tricked Cao Cao. Finally, he sent Pang Tong to offer a series of plans and burn Chibi. And Cao Cao, who was a wise man, was actually deceived by Zhou Yu, and the entire Cao camp, Xu Shu, was the only one who saw these schemes clearly.
The original text of the speech: Tong Bai farewell, to the river, is about to get off the boat, suddenly saw a person on the shore, Dao robe bamboo crown, a pull on the Tong Yue: "You are so bold!" Huang Gai used the bitter meat meter, Kan Ze sent a deceitful book, and you came to offer a serial plan: only fear of burning endlessly! If you bring out such a poisonous hand, you have to hide from Cao Cao, and you must also hide it from me! "Frightened, Pang Tong's soul flew away. However, pang Tong was shocked when he heard this, and looked back at his person urgently, but it turned out to be Xu Shu.
However, although Xu Shu saw through Eastern Wu's plan, he had already vowed not to make a plan for Cao Cao, so he did not inform Cao Cao of Eastern Wu's plan, but found an opportunity to leave Chibi.
So since Xu Shu was so powerful and admired Liu Bei as a person, why did he not want to submit to Liu Bei again?
Xu Shu returned to Cao
Xu Shu actually admired Liu Bei very much and wanted to help Liu Bei achieve great things. However, because he was filial piety, Cao Cao took advantage of his weakness and copied his mother's notes to let him go to Xuchang to fulfill his filial piety. Xu Shu was forced to abandon Liu Bei and go to Xuchang, and Liu Bei knew that Xu Shu had gone to fulfill his filial piety and it was not easy to stop it, so there was the scene at the beginning of the article.
Xu Shu's mother was a person who understood great righteousness, and when Cao Cao first asked him to persuade Xu Shu to surrender, she directly refused, believing that Liu Bei was the uncle of the Heavenly Son Emperor and had feelings and righteousness, and Cao Cao's name was Han Xiang, and he was actually a traitor, and she was unwilling to let Xu Shu assist him. After Xu Shu arrived in Xuchang to meet his mother, everything was understood, it was Cao Cao's conspiracy! And Xu Mu was fierce, because she caused Xu Shu to be deceived, lost the reputation of Dayi, became an unfaithful person, and finally chose to commit suicide. Xu Shu was very sad to see his mother die, and vowed not to offer a strategy for Cao Cao.
Goodbye Liu Bei
Zhuge Liang burned Bowangpo and once again defeated the Cao army. Cao Cao was furious, but in order to win the hearts and minds of the people, at the suggestion of Liu Ye, he asked Xu Shu to go and persuade Liu Bei to surrender. After Xu Shu saw Liu Bei, he informed him that Cao Cao was actually pretending to buy people's hearts and minds, and secretly had already come to attack in eight ways, so he asked Liu Bei to prepare for battle and retreat. Liu Bei saw that Xu Shu was so frank, and remembered his original love and wanted to leave Xu Shu behind, but Xu Shu was not willing.
Original text: Xuan De wants to keep Xu Shu. Shu Xie yue: "If so-and-so does not return it, I am afraid that it will make people laugh." Now the old mother is lost, and she holds a grudge all day long. Although he is there, he vows not to set up a conspiracy, and the public has the assistance of the Dragon, and he worries about the great cause. Resignation. XuanDe did not dare to force him to stay.
Xu Shu's words actually also explained the reason why he did not want to submit to Liu Bei anymore.
First, Xu Shu had already turned his back on Liu Bei before, although it was because of his mother, it was excusable, but the facts were a foregone conclusion, and other people who did not know the truth would think that Xu Shu was an unfaithful person. If At this time Xu Shu turned his back on Cao Cao and submitted to Liu Bei again, then his reputation for disloyalty would be further confirmed, and he would completely become a man of two sides and three swords, which would make people laugh.
Second, Xu Shu was a filial piety, and it was precisely for this reason that he left Liu Bei in the first place. At this time, although her mother was dead, after all, she was buried in Xuchang, xushu was in Caoying, and she could still worship from time to time. If he submitted to Liu Bei, it would be difficult to have the opportunity to worship his mother.
Third, before Xu Shu left, he had already recommended Zhuge Liang to Liu Bei, and at this time Zhuge Liang was already assisting Liu Bei. Even without Xu Shu's help, Liu Bei could achieve great things. Therefore, Xu Shu will say that the public has the assistance of the Dragon, and he worries about the great cause.
summary
Based on the above analysis, Xu Shu's ability is very strong, and judging from the performance of the Battle of Chibi, he is more intelligent than Liu Ye, Xun You, Cheng Yu and others in Cao Camp. The reason why he did not want to submit to Liu Bei was that he was afraid of completely carrying the name of infidelity and making the world laugh, but also in order to have more opportunities to worship his mother and fulfill his filial piety. In the final analysis, Xu Shu is a capable person with feelings and righteousness, loyalty and filial piety, and these virtues eventually became his shackles.