Among the generals of the Three Kingdoms, the twentieth is Zhang Xiu.

…… ……

Zhang Xiu(?) ——207), a native of Wuwei Zuli (now Jingyuan, Gansu). The nephew of the hussar general Zhang Ji. In the late Eastern Han Dynasty, he was a warlord and military strategist who seized Wancheng (now Nanyang, Henan), and one of the heroes of the late Han Dynasty.

At the beginning, he accompanied Zhang Ji on the expedition, and after Zhang Ji's death, he united with Liu Biao.

Later, Cao Cao was surrendered, and because he was dissatisfied with his words and deeds, he raided Cao Cao and made peace with Liu Biao.

On the eve of the Battle of Guandu, he followed Jia Xu's advice to surrender to Cao Cao again, participated in the Battle of Guandu, and became the general of Poqiang and was named the Marquis of Xuanwei. He died on the way to Wuhuan (207) in the Northern Expedition (one said that Cao Pi was forced to die), and he was the Marquis.

…… ……

When Bian Zhang and Han Sui were in rebellion in Liangzhou, Jincheng's 麹 (qū) attacked and killed Zu Li Chang Liu Jun.

Zhang Xiu was a county official at the time, and soon looked for an opportunity to assassinate Lu Sheng, and the people in the county thought that he was very righteous, so Zhang Xiu recruited a young man and became a local hero.

Dong Zhuo was killed, and Zhang Ji, together with Li Yu (què), Guo 汜 (sì) and others attacked Chang'an to avenge Dong Zhuo.

Zhang Xiu followed Zhang Ji and was promoted to General Jianzhong with military merits and was named Marquis Xuanwei.

In 196, Zhang Ji led troops from Guanzhong into the Jingzhou border, attacked the city, and died in the middle of the arrow. Zhang Xiu took over his troops and settled in Wancheng, allied with Liu Biao.

In the second year, Cao Cao's southern expedition and the troops reached Shuishui, and Zhang Xiu led the people to surrender.

Cao Cao took possession of Zhang Ji's widow, and Zhang Xiu hated Cao Cao because of this.

Cao Cao heard that Zhang Xiu was unhappy, so he secretly prepared to kill Zhang Xiu.

As a result, the plan was leaked, Zhang Xiu attacked Cao Cao, Cao Cao was defeated, his eldest son Cao Ang and nephew Cao Anmin were killed, and the fierce general Dian Wei was killed. His aunt was also killed by Zhang Xiu in Cao Cao's camp. Zhang Xiu led his troops in pursuit, but was repelled by Cao Cao, so Zhang Xiu retreated to defend the city and allied with Liu Biao again.

"Fu Zi" said: Cao Cao sent a secret report to Zhang Xiu's favored close Hu Che'er, and after Zhang Xiu heard about it, he suspected that Cao Cao wanted to assassinate him with Hu Che'er.

In 198, Cao Cao again conquered Zhang Xiu and besieged Zhang Xiu in the city.

The soldiers approached the city, and when everything was settled, Yu Ban went to see Cao Cao and reported the situation in detail.

Cao Cao was very happy after inspecting it, and spoke highly of the ban's measures to reorganize the army, saying: "I was made very passive because of the difficulty of wetting the water. The general is able to keep his ranks neat in a chaotic situation and deal with the enemy with impregnable barriers, even if it is a famous general in ancient times! ”

Sure enough, as expected, Zhang Xiu led the cavalry to outflank him, and Cao Cao immediately ordered Yu Ban and others to attack.

This time, due to preparation, Zhang Xiu was quickly repulsed. Cao's army took advantage of the victory to counterattack and captured Nanyang, Zhangling and other places. Zhang Xiu retreated to the city and sent people to Jingzhou again to make peace with Liu Biao.

Afterwards, Cao Cao summed up the lessons of the difficulty of the water and said to the generals: "I accepted Zhang Xiu's surrender, but because I did not obtain their hostages in time, I got to this point. I understand the reason for the failure. Look, I won't lose any more battles in the future! ”

Clearly, Cao Cao failed to find the root cause of his failure.

This defeat was entirely caused by Cao Cao's arrogance and paralysis of the enemy.

Its direct fuse was due to Cao Cao's inappropriate style, which angered Zhang Xiu; The inappropriate measures further made Zhang Xiu suspicious, and finally forced him to rebel.

If Cao Cao could treat others with sincerity, be modest and prudent, and not do things that hurt the feelings of the other party and make the other party feel coerced, such serious consequences would not have occurred at all.

In fact, Cao Cao may not understand this truth, and he has done it in many cases, the problem is that he can't persevere and implement it throughout.

Cao Cao paid a heavy price for this, not only killed and injured many soldiers, lost his eldest son and nephew, but also almost lost his own life.

What is even more tragic is that Cao Cao failed to correctly sum up the lessons and seek the reasons for the failure from the ideological roots, which determined that he would pay a heavier price in the future, and the later defeat of Chibi is a typical example.

After Cao Cao returned to Xudu from Wuyin, he named him the Marquis of Yishou Pavilion according to the merits established before and after the ban. Appointed Dian Wei's son Dian Man as Langzhong.

Later, because he missed Dian Wei, he promoted Dian Man to Sima and kept him by his side. Whenever I pass by Chen Liujiwu, I always have to go to Dian Wei's grave to pay tribute to the prison (pigs, sheep and two animals).

After Cao Pi later became emperor, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and given the title of Marquis of Guannei.

…… ……

When Cao Cao first conquered Zhang Xiu in the south, Nanyang, Zhangling and other counties that had been attached to Cao Cao rebelled and became Zhang Xiu's territory after Cao Cao returned to the north.

Cao Cao sent Cao Hong to attack, but failed to win, so he had to retreat to Yexian.

Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao gained power and led troops to harass them many times.

In order to relieve Zhang Xiu's threat, Cao Cao led his troops to the south again in November of that year. The army came to the shore of the river, Cao Cao solemnly paid tribute to the soldiers who died here during the first southern expedition, sighed and shed tears for it, and could not help himself, and his subordinates saw it, all of them were deeply moved.

Cao Cao did this, on the one hand, because he really missed the fallen soldiers in his heart, and he needed to express and vent them in this way; On the other hand, it is also aimed at arousing the feelings of the officers and men who share the same hatred and hatred for the enemy and improving the combat effectiveness of the troops.

Cao Cao largely achieved his goal, and the battle went fairly smoothly at the beginning.

Cao Cao launched an attack on Deng Ji, the general of Liu Biao, who occupied Huyang, and Xu Chu led a group of strong men to attack the city first, killing tens of thousands of enemies and capturing Deng Ji alive. Cao Cao commended meritorious soldiers and promoted Xu Chu to lieutenant. Then, Cao Cao successfully captured Wuyin. After the situation was generally stable, Cao Cao returned to Xudu in the first month of the third year of Jian'an (198).

In March, Cao Cao prepared three expeditions to embroider Zhang.

The military advisor Xun You dissuaded: "Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao rely on each other and form a relatively powerful force. However, Zhang Xiu was an outsider and lacked a foundation, and the military rations were all supplied by Liu Biao. Once Liu Biao stopped the supply of military rations, the two would inevitably have friction. It's better to hold off on the attack and wait for the right moment. When the time is right, you can lure Zhang Xiu and win him over. On the other hand, if we intensify the attack, the two will inevitably have to rescue each other, and it will be difficult for us to achieve our goal. ”

Cao Cao followed Xun You's advice and did not conquer Zhang Xiu.

Sure enough, the contradiction between Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao deepened day by day, and later Zhang Xiu followed Jia Xu's advice and surrendered to Cao Cao again.

After Zhang Xiu arrived, Cao Cao took Zhang Xiu's hand and attended the banquet together.

He also married Zhang Xiu's daughter for his son Cao Jun (women are always victims of war), and named Zhang Xiu as a general of Yangwu.

…… ……

Zhang Xiu participated in the Battle of Guandu, fought meritoriously, and was promoted to the rank of general of Poqiang.

In 205, Zhang Xiu followed Cao Cao to defeat Yuan Tan in Nanpi, and increased the food euppy again, a total of 2,000 households, at that time, the world's household registration decreased sharply, and only one household was left in ten, and the feudal yi among the generals did not reach 1,000 households, but Zhang Xiu was particularly numerous.

In 207, Zhang Xiu followed Cao Cao to Liucheng to conquer Wuhuan, but died before he arrived, and was named the Marquis of Ding, and his son Zhang Quan succeeded him.

"Wei Luo" said: Cao Pi was dissatisfied with Zhang Xiu because of Cao Ang's death in battle, and said: "If you kill my brother, how can you bear to look at people with an evil face!" Zhang Xiu was uneasy and committed suicide.

Later, Zhang Xiu's son Zhang Quan was killed for conspiracy against Wei, and the state took back his title.

Zhang Xiu married more than 20 wives and concubines in his life, leaving only one son, and was killed by Cao Pi to find fault, sad!