What do we need to learn from Yang Xiu’s failure?

I think Yang Xiu was killed at his own fault, and everything was due to his bad character. Yang Xiu was born in the "Hongnong Yang Family", a wealthy family. His father was Yang Biao, the Taiwei of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Yang Xiu is very smart, quick-thinking, and has a photographic memory. But in the end, he was not reused by Cao Cao. Instead, he was killed by Cao Cao because he repeatedly showed off his talents. Many people were influenced by "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and believed that Cao Cao killed Yang Xiu because he was jealous of Yang Xiu's talent. In fact, in history, Yang Xiu's death was largely attributed to Yang Xiu's bad words and poor conduct.

The few jokes about Yang Xiu’s display of talent can be said to be well-known to every household. For example, one time, Cao Cao's Prince Wei's palace built a garden. After it was completed, Cao Cao went to inspect it. When he came out, he didn't say anything, but just wrote the word "living" on the door. The craftsmen didn't understand what it meant. Yang Xiu said: "There is a movable character in the door, which is the word 'kuo'. The prime minister thinks the door is too wide." The craftsmen immediately narrowed the door. Cao Cao was very satisfied and asked them how they knew he was thoughts. The craftsmen said: "The chief clerk Yang Xiu told us."

Another time, Saibei paid tribute to Cao Cao with a box of cheese. Cao Cao wrote the words "Yihesu" on the box and put it on the table. Yang Xiu saw it and actually shared the box of cakes with several of his cronies. Cao Cao asked him why he did this. Yang Xiu said, "Isn't this your order? Then he pointed to the words on the box and said, 'One person, one bite.' You asked us to take one bite each. How dare I disobey your will?" Cao Cao praised Yang Xiu and said, "You are so smart." In fact, he was already a little unhappy.

Through these two examples, we can see that Yang Xiu has no great talent for governing the country. His talent is limited to word games such as splitting words and solving puzzles. Moreover, Yang Xiu was too pushy and expressive, which a scheming leader like Cao Cao didn't like.

These trivial matters are nothing and Cao Cao will not take them too seriously, but there is one thing that offends Cao Cao's taboo. Cao Cao was suspicious by nature and was always afraid of someone trying to kill him while he was sleeping. He often said to his attendants: "I have a problem. I like to kill people in my dreams, and I don't know it. Don't come near me after I fall asleep." Me, lest I hurt you." The attendants were dubious. In order to prove his lies, Cao Cao once pretended to be asleep and deliberately kicked the quilt to the ground. An unlucky attendant saw it and hurriedly picked up the quilt to cover Cao Cao. Unexpectedly, Cao Cao jumped up, drew his sword and beheaded the attendant, then fell on the bed and continued to sleep. Afterwards, Cao Cao pretended to have just woken up and asked in surprise: "Who killed my attendant?" His subordinates replied: "You killed it yourself." Cao Cao pretended to be regretful and said: "I have said it many times, I Don't come near me when you sleep, why are you disobedient?" He ordered the attendant to be buried ceremoniously. Now, no one doubted Cao Cao's lies about killing people in his dream. Only Yang Xiu said meaningfully when the attendant was buried: "It was not the king of Wei who was in the dream, but the deceased who died in the dream." Cao Cao knew this, and he hated Yang Xiu very much because of Cao Cao's thoughts. Xiu saw it and said it.

This is the second taboo that Yang Xiu committed. He understood Cao Cao's thoughts very well, not only did he understand, but he also spoke out. A politician like Cao Cao who is good at playing power must not want others to see his inner thoughts. He needs to have a sense of mystery. How can a person carry out conspiracies and tricks when his thoughts are exposed? Yang Xiu's understanding of Cao Cao made Cao Cao feel that this person was dangerous.

What’s more serious is that Yang Xiu also participated in the dispute between Cao Pi and Cao Rui. Cao Pi is Cao Cao's eldest son, but Cao Cao prefers Cao Zhi. Cao Pi and Cao Zhi launched a series of overt and covert battles to compete for the position of the crown prince. Cao Pi wanted to compete for the throne and wanted to discuss countermeasures with his confidant Wu Zhi. However, Cao Cao did not allow his sons to form cliques for personal gain or make friends with foreign ministers. Cao Pi asked his confidant Wu Zhi to hide in a big basket, and ordered people to fill the big basket with silk, hide Wu Zhi, and transport it to the mansion. Unexpectedly, Yang Xiu found out about this, and he ran to Cao Cao to report it. Cao Cao decided to send someone to take a look. When Cao Pi heard about this, he ordered his people to transport only silk and not Wu materials. When someone sent by Cao Cao inspected it, they found that it was full of silk and no one was hiding. Cao Cao was furious and thought Yang Xiu wanted to frame Cao Pi, so he hated him even more.

In order to cultivate the talents of his sons in governing the country, Cao Cao often used national events and current political hot topics as questions to test his sons. Cao Zhi answered fluently every time, but Cao Pi was often speechless.

At first, Cao Cao admired Cao Zhi very much and thought that this child was really a prodigy who knew everything. But as time went by, Cao Cao realized something was wrong. He thought to himself: "I know that Cao Pi and Cao Zhi have different abilities, but the difference cannot be that much. Is Cao Zhi really that smart?" Cao Cao ordered people to investigate, and finally found out the truth. It turns out that Cao Zhi’s answer was prepared by Yang Xiu. Yang Xiu was able to guess what questions Cao Cao was going to take, and together with Cao Zhi, he prepared many questions that Cao Cao might take, and wrote the answers for Cao Zhi to memorize. Cao Cao was very angry when he found out. Out of anger, Yang Xiu and Cao Zhi cheated together and made fun of themselves. Secondly, he was angry that Yang Xiu actually participated in his family's inheritance.

This is the third taboo committed by Yang Xiu, participating in Cao Pi and Cao Zhi's attempt to seize the throne. The selection of successors has always been the most sensitive issue for feudal rulers, and it is also the issue that officials should treat with the most caution. As the saying goes, "there is no closeness between strangers." It is best to leave the ruler's ministers alone, as this can easily lead to disaster. Yang Xiu didn't understand this truth, so it was no wonder that it offended Cao Cao.

The story of Yang Xiu’s last guess at Cao Cao’s thoughts is also very famous. When Cao Cao and Liu Bei fought for Hanzhong, they were unable to advance, and the Shu army would probably laugh at them if they retreated. At dinner, the attendant served a bowl of chicken soup, just as Xiahou Dun entered the tent and asked for the military password. Cao Cao picked up the chicken ribs and muttered to himself: "Weak ribs." Xiahou Dun passed on this command. When Yang Xiu heard that the news was useless, he immediately ordered the whole army to pack up and said that King Wei was going to retreat. After Cao Cao saw it, he asked Yang Xiu why he did this. Yang Xiu said: "It's tasteless to eat, and it's a pity to throw it away. The Lord used this as a metaphor for Hanzhong, saying that it is not suitable to stay in Hanzhong for a long time and that we should withdraw our troops." Now Cao Cao found Yang Xiu. Wrong, this is called "confused the morale of the army". He immediately ordered people to push Yang Xiu out and behead him.

Although Yang Xiu is very knowledgeable, he is only smart and does not have great wisdom. Moreover, he did not know how to behave in the world, and he liked to speculate on the leadership's intentions. He was too public and ended up dying unexpectedly.