Why is Cao Cao so cunning and cunning that so many people help him and seek refuge with him?

1. Cao Cao is very good at employing people.

Throughout the ages, in terms of "employing people" alone, there are only a few people in Chinese history who can rival Cao Cao, such as Liu Bang, Genghis Khan, and Mao Zedong.

Cao Cao's approach to employing people is a very complex issue that cannot be explained clearly in one or two sentences. "Yi Zhongtian's Appreciation of the Three Kingdoms" uses two chapters, "The Sea Accepts All Rivers" and "The World Returns to its Heart", to specifically talk about Cao Cao's employment methods. If you are interested, you can go and have a look.

The last paragraph of "The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms? Emperor Wu Ji" says: "At the end of the Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and heroes and heroes emerged together, and Yuan Shao looked at the four states, which were extremely powerful. Taizu planned and maneuvered, whipped the inner world, and captured The spells of Shen and Shang are the unique strategies of Han and Bai, and they are all given official materials. Each has his own weapon, and he does not care about his old evils. He can be described as an extraordinary person, a transcendent hero." This passage is Chen Shou's overall evaluation of Cao Cao. It is not difficult to see from this comment that defeating Yuan Shao was the greatest success in Cao Cao's life; and Cao Cao was able to succeed because he was good at strategy and good at employing people. It can be seen that the way of employing people is the core content of Cao Cao's success.

Cao Cao does know how to use people. We can even use these eight sentences to summarize his skills in employing people: first, be sincere and sincere, treat people with emotion; second, treat people with sincerity; third, be open and honest, convince people with reason; fourth, be consistent in words and deeds, and win people with trust. people; fifth, enforce laws and prohibitions, and control people by law; sixth, put yourself in others' shoes and be tolerant; seventh, encourage others and blame yourself, and give credit to others; eighth, reward people according to their merits.

2. Cao Cao is indeed very cunning, but he is very cohesive

Cao Cao is very cunning by nature. The original poster is right about this.

The so-called "less alert, more powerful" is just a euphemistic and polite way of saying it by historians. To put it bluntly, it is cunning. What's more, Cao Cao is a man who leads troops to fight, and his soldiers are not tired of deceit. Tricks are used on the battlefield and power tactics are used in officialdom, but they are commonplace in military and political struggles. There is nothing unusual or shameful about it. Everyone does it. It's just that the enemy is called "cunning and treacherous", while one's own side is called "resourceful" and "victory by surprise". "That's all. The smart thing about Cao Cao is that he knows when to tell lies and when to tell the truth. Respecting the emperor and protecting the Han Dynasty is just buying political stocks and playing the orthodox card. It may be a show, but it is inevitable to be perfunctory. Talking to wise men and counselors is because both parties are smart people. If you try to be clever and petty, you will be easily seen through by the other party and lose trust. That is really "smartness is misled by cleverness", but it is better to tell the truth. Cao Cao is very good at grasping this size. Only in this way can he and the counselors be united and have cohesion.

Cao Cao’s cohesiveness is also due to his affinity; and his affinity is related to his character. Cao Cao is a man of good temperament and is usually very easy-going. He likes to joke and often jokes about serious things. This kind of character is very helpful to his career. It is not good for people who engage in politics to be too serious. Either it makes people feel that the city is too deep and untrustworthy; it also makes people feel that it is inhumane and unapproachable. It is best to be serious and conscientious in doing things, free and easy-going at ordinary times, not giving in on matters of principle, and being careless about trivial matters. You should have the authority and majesty of a leader, but also be humane and have a sense of humor. Such people are the most able to win people's heartfelt love and support. Cao Cao is exactly such a person.

Cao Cao is very profound. Guo Jia said that he is "simple on the outside but wise on the inside." Cao Cao's depth is also reflected in his accuracy in recognizing people and his deep intentions. Cao Cao is very scheming. On the surface, he can shake hands with you and chat with you, and he can laugh and laugh with you, but he is observing you all the time, and he is deeply aware of you. Yuan Shu was so arrogant and Yuan Shao was so arrogant, Cao Cao didn't look down on him, but he looked at Liu Bei who used to sell straw sandals and now relied on others. Although Liu Biao always kept a low profile and pretended to be deaf and mute when he was under his command, Cao Cao saw through it at a glance: "Today's heroes are only the envoys and Cao Er!" Liu Bei was so frightened that he dropped his chopsticks on the spot.

Cao Cao has a mind as big as the sea. It is this ocean's broad mind that attracts many talents to join his camp. According to some statistics, until Cao Cao's death, he had 102 core counselors, middle and important counselors, and subordinates at all levels. Among them, the important ones in the early stage should be Xun Yu, Xun You, Jia Xu, Guo Jia and Cheng Yu.

It is worth noting that almost all of these people took the initiative to defect to Cao Cao. Jia Xu also took Zhang Xiu with him, while Xun Yu and Guo Jia ran away from Yuan Shao.

3. Cao Cao’s political advantage

Another advantage of Cao Cao is that he will be able to recruit talents more advantageously than anyone else. He can use the name of the central government to recruit virtuous people and even recruit traitors. Those who hope to serve the country and contribute to the world can only appear upright and upright if they come to his government. This is one of the reasons why Liu Bei's group and Sun Quan's group must position him as a "Han thief" and distinguish Cao Cao from the Han Dynasty. But in any case, Cao Cao is more convenient than them in this regard. Because serving the emperor is more legitimate than serving the princes, and it is really difficult to distinguish between serving the emperor and serving Cao Cao. At least, Cao Cao could use the emperor's name and the country's salary to promote his talents to positions and titles. The official position belongs to the country, and the talents belong to oneself. Cao Cao made this business a good deal.

4. Cao Cao and Chen Gong in history

The poster said that Chen Gong "ignored him and would rather die than help him." This statement is problematic.

1. Chen Gong served as an official under Cao Cao.

In real history, the acquaintance between Chen Gong and Cao Cao was not dramatic. The idea of ??"catch and release Cao" is all fiction. The annotation of "Three Kingdoms·Book of Wei·Biography of Lu Bu" quotes "Dianlue" as saying: "Chen Gong, whose courtesy name is Gongtai, is from Dongjun. He is upright and strong, and rarely associates with famous people in the country. When the world is in chaos, he begins to follow Tai Ancestor..."

This tells us: When Cao Cao sneaked back to his hometown in the sixth year of Zhongping (189), Chen Gong did not go with him at all (the Lu Boshe incident had nothing to do with Chen Gong) ); it was not until the second year of Chuping (191) when Cao Cao was appointed as the prefect of Dongjun that Chen Gong became his subordinate.

The relationship between Chen Gong and Cao Cao was very good at first. In the third year of Chuping (192), Liu Dai, the governor of Yanzhou, was killed by the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army. Bao Xin, the prime minister of Jibei, and others welcomed Cao Cao to lead the Yanzhou herdsmen, which gave Cao Cao a relatively stable base area and greatly enhanced his strength. This is an important starting point for Cao Cao's career. Chen Gong played a big role in this matter. The annotation of "Wudi Ji" quotes "Shiyu" as follows:

After (Liu) Dai died, Chen Gong said to Taizu: "The state has no owner now, and the king's life is cut off. Please tell the palace, tomorrow The government seeks to pastor them and use them to conquer the world. This is the cause of the overlord. "Gong said goodbye and Zhizhong said: "Today the world is divided and the state has no owner. Caodong County is a talented person who lives in the world. If he welcomes the state to pastoralize it, It will bring peace to the people." Bao Xin and others also said so.

Here, Chen Gong not only actively suggested that Cao Cao take Yanzhou into his hands and establish a "kingdom", but also enthusiastically persuaded Yanzhou officials to welcome Cao Cao, and called Cao Cao "the talent of the world." . At this time, he could be said to be loyal and admired Cao Cao.

2. The split between Chen Gong and Cao Cao

So, how did Chen Gong leave Cao Cao and come to work under Lu Bu? Of course it wasn't because he saw through Cao Cao's traitorous character. At that time, Cao Cao was famous in the world for his initiative to attack Dong Zhuo, and he had not yet blackmailed the emperor to order the princes, so there was no such thing as "usurpation". What's more, the world was in chaos, with heroes rising together, and wise and brave men each acting as their masters, generally not Think about it this way.

The actual situation is: In the first year of Xingping (194), Cao Cao killed the former Jiujiang prefect Bian Rang and his family. "He is upright and heroic, but he also has self-doubt" (Volume 61 of "Zizhi Tongjian")

This means that the "upright and heroic" Chen Gong was attracted to Cao Cao because of Cao Cao's random killing of celebrities. dissatisfaction. At this time, Cao Cao sent troops to Xuzhou to attack Tao Qian for the second time, and sent Chen Gong to garrison Dongjun. Chen Gong took the opportunity to join forces with Zhang Miao, the prefect of Chenliu, to welcome Lu Bu as the shepherd of Yanzhou. For a time, "all counties and counties were involved", and Cao Cao's territory was reduced to Juancheng, Dong'a, and Fan counties, and his situation suddenly deteriorated. Chen Gong's move really made Cao Cao angry.

3. The relationship between Chen Gong and Cao Cao

Looking at the relationship between Chen Gong and Cao Cao, although he was not Cao Cao’s savior, he did make great contributions to Cao Cao; as for Cao Cao, he also Chen Gong valued Chen Gong very much. Even Lv Bu's wife said: "In the past, Cao treated the official as a child" ("Three Kingdoms Wei Shu Lu Bu Biography" annotated Sun Sheng's "Wei Clan Spring and Autumn"); His family is as prosperous as before." ("Three Kingdoms Wei Shu Biography" quoted in "Dianlue" by Yu Guan) As for Chen Gong's later betrayal of Cao Cao, the two had severed their ties of friendship, so it is difficult to blame Cao Cao entirely for taking revenge.

Secondly, from the summer of the first year of Xingping when Chen Gong surrendered to Lu Bu to the winter of the third year of Jian'an (198) when Cao Cao destroyed Lu Bu, the relationship between Chen Gong and Lu Bu was not that close during the four and a half years. , this cannot be entirely blamed on Lu Bu. Indeed, Lu Bu is a capricious and unjust man, and "has no plan but a lot of suspicion" ("Three Kingdoms·Book of Wei·Lu Bu Biography"). Under his hands, no counselor can hope to establish a "fish-and-water" relationship like Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang. The feeling of dependence. However, Chen Gong himself also had problems. According to the "Heroes" cited in the "Biography of Lu Bu", in June of the first year of Jian'an (196), Hao Meng, a general of Lu Bu's army, rebelled against him and attacked him at night, but was killed by Gao Shun and Cao Xing. Afterwards, Cao Xing revealed to Lu Bu that Hao Meng was instigated by Yuan Shu and "Chen Gong was complicit." At that time, "Gong was sitting on his seat, his face was red, and everyone around him was aware of it." It seems that he was indeed involved in this matter. Although he said "General Bu Yigong, don't ask", but from now on Chen Gong will not be very relieved. At the same time, Chen Gong and Gao Shun, another general of Lu Bu, had never been at odds with each other. Under such circumstances, when Lu Bu was trapped in Xiapi and in a critical situation, he could not readily adopt Chen Gong's clever ideas, but hesitated. Although Lu Bu himself was mainly responsible, after all, there was a reason for the incident - because he He didn't dare to entrust his wife to Chen Gong boldly. Therefore, we do not need to regard Chen Gong as being passionate and loyal to Lu Bu, nor do we need to blame Lu Bu too much for being too sorry for Chen Gong.

Once again, after Chen Gong was captured, he was indeed not as soft-headed as Lu Bu, but looked calm and just wanted to die quickly. This is not because he adheres to the principle of justice and never bows to evil forces (in fact, the relationship between Lu Bu and Cao Cao is just a melee between warlords. Lu Bu is really no better than Cao Cao, and Chen Gong has never asked Lu Bu to "report to the country". ", I will make peace with the common people" and other political programs); but because he knew that he could not live up to Cao Cao, and out of the mentality of "a good horse never turns back to eat grass", he did not want to flatter Cao Cao any more, so he said bluntly: "Kill them as soon as they come out, so as to clarify the law of war." ("The Biography of Lu Bu" annotated "Dian Lue") This attitude is indeed a bit more manly than Lu Bu who just wants to live an ignoble existence.

This is Chen Gong in history, a man with brains and personality, a character who has some connections but is obviously different from Chen Gong in "The Romance".

4. Summary:

Cao Cao was very clever in employing people and very cohesive as a person, so talents were willing to take refuge in him; and he "does not obey the emperor's orders" , you can legitimately attract talents in the name of the government.

Cao Cao is indeed cunning, but for politicians, it is not a shortcoming but an advantage; living in troubled times, this is also necessary. Liu Bei and Sun Quan were equally cunning, and because of their weakness, they had to be more cunning than Cao Cao. Aren't Liu Bei's invasion of Yizhou and Sun Quan's treachery and betrayal of Jingzhou both insidious and cunning? This is also something that can't be helped.