Jia Xu (147 – August 11, 223), a native of Guzang, Liangzhou (now Liangzhou District, Wuwei City, Gansu). From the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the beginning of the Three Kingdoms, he was a famous strategist and military strategist, and a hero of the founding of Cao Wei. Originally a general of Dong Zhuo, after Dong Zhuo's death, he proposed Li Dao and Guo Yan to counterattack Chang'an. After the failure of Li Dao and others, they became Zhang Xiu's advisers. Zhang Xiu had used his strategy to defeat Cao Cao twice, and before the Battle of Guandu, he persuaded Zhang Xiu to surrender to Cao Cao.

During the Battle of Guandu, Jia Xu advocated a decisive battle with Yuan Shao. Before the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao did not listen to the belief that the people should be appeased rather than mobilized to fight Jiangdong, and as a result, he suffered a serious setback. When Cao Cao and the Guanzhong coalition forces held Weinan, Jia Xu offered a divisive plan to disintegrate Ma Chao and Han Sui, so that Cao Cao pacified Guanzhong in one fell swoop.

In the determination of Cao Cao's heir, Jia Xu used Yuan Shao and Liu Biao as examples, implying that Cao Cao could not abolish the elder and younger, thus secretly helping Cao Pi to become the son. In the first year of the early Huang Dynasty (220), Cao Pi was proclaimed emperor, worshiped him as a lieutenant, and was named the Marquis of Wei Shou. Cao Pi once asked Jia Xu whether he should destroy Shu or Wu first, and Jia Xu suggested that the country should be governed first before using force, but Cao Pi did not listen, and sure enough, Wu returned in vain.

In the fourth year of the early Huang dynasty (223), Jia Xu died at the age of seventy-seven. "Tang Hui Yao" respects him as the head of the eight gentlemen of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. Jia Xu is proficient in the art of war, and is the author of a volume of "The Art of War", and proofreading "The Art of War of Wu Qi".

Jia Xu was not famous when he was young, only Yan Zhong, a famous scholar at that time, thought he was different, saying that he had the wisdom of Zhang Liang and Chen Ping. Jia Xu was investigated for filial piety in his early years, resigned due to illness, returned to his hometown to the west, and met the rebellious Di people on the way, and was captured by the Di people together with dozens of fellow people. Jia Xu said: "I am the grandson of Duan Gong (Duan Cheng), don't hurt me, my family will definitely be ransomed with a lot of money." At that time, Taiwei Duan Cheng, because he had been a border general for a long time, shocked the western soil, so Jia Xu pretended to be Duan Cheng's grandson to scare the people, and the rebel really didn't dare to harm him, and sent him back after making an oath with him, but the rest of the people were killed. Jia Xu has such a talent for improvising things, and there are many things like this.

In September of the first year of the Yonghan Dynasty (189), Dong Zhuo abolished the young emperor of the Han Dynasty, Liu Wei, and renamed Liu Xie, the king of Chenliu, as the emperor. In November, Dong Zhuo was the prime minister, praised and worshipped the nameless, did not enter the court, and went to the palace with his sword. At this time, Jia Xu was promoted to the commander of Pingjin and Jin, and was later promoted to the captain of the school. When Dong Zhuo's son-in-law Zhonglang sent Niu Fu to Shaanxi Province, Jia Xu was in Niu Fu Army. Soon, Niu Fu sent Li Dao, Guo Yan, Jia Xu and others to attack the Kwantung Coalition Army, first to Sun Jian, and then to break his army in Liangdong. Sun Jian led a thousand horsemen to break the siege.

In the third year of Chuping (192), Dong Zhuo was killed, Niu Fu was also dead, and Wang Yun liquidated Dong Zhuo's remaining party. At that time, Li Dao, Guo Yan and others were uneasy and planned to flee separately, but Jia Xu came forward to stop them, saying: "I heard that the city of Chang'an is discussing the plan to kill all the people of Liangzhou, and your Excellency abandons the people of Liangzhou alone, and a pavilion chief can catch you." It is better to lead the troops to the west, collect the soldiers along the way, and then attack Chang'an, avenge the Dong Gong, if you can be lucky to succeed, respect the country (order) to conquer the world, if you can't succeed, it's not too late to escape. This plan was adopted by everyone.

So Li Dao and others spread the rumor that "Wang Yun wants to cleanse the people of this side", contacted the generals of Liangzhou, led the army day and night, rushed to Chang'an, and gathered more than 100,000 people. Li Dao, Fan Chou, Li Meng and others besieged Chang'an City, but they could not overcome it because of the strong defense of the city. Later, the rebel soldiers in the city led the Liangzhou army into the city, and started a street battle with the defender Lu Bu, who was defeated and only led more than 100 horsemen to escape. Li Dao and other soldiers plundered, more than 10,000 people died, and corpses were piled up. Taichang Buddha, Dahonglu Zhou Huan, Chengmen Captain Cui Lie, and Yue Cavalry Captain Wang Qi were killed. Li Dao and others supported troops to Nangong Yemen, coerced Emperor Xian and Situ Wang Yun, and named Li Dao as General Yangwu, Guo Yan as General Yanglie, and Fan Chou as Zhonglang General. Li Dao also killed Si Li's lieutenant Huang Wan, left Feng Yi and Song Yi, right Fufeng Wang Hong, and Situ Wang Yun and his wife. For a time, the capital was bloody and bloody, and the government and the opposition were in chaos.

Later, Jia Xu was Zuo Fengyi. Li Wei and others wanted to make him a marquis for Jia Xu's merits, but Jia Xu said: "This is a life-saving ploy, how can there be any merit?" "Resolutely not. Li Dao and others asked Jia Xu to shoot for Shang Shufu, Jia Xu said: "Shang Shu is the master of hundreds of officials, and he is a role model in the world, and I Jia Xu has always had no reputation and is difficult to convince people." Even if I can be greedy for vanity, what good is it for the country? So he changed his worship to Jia Xu as Shangshu, in charge of selecting talents, and made many contributions to personnel, Li Wei and others were close to Jia Xu but at the same time they were also very jealous of him.

Soon, Jia Xu's mother died, and Jia Xu resigned from his official position and was worshiped as a doctor of Guanglu.

In the second year of Xingping (195), Li Dao, Guo Yan, and Fan Chou raised troops to attack and occupy Chang'an, and jointly controlled the power of the central court. Jia Xu takes responsibility for it every time, so although the three of them are not in harmony, they are okay on the surface. So three points of Chang'an City, each guarding its boundary. In the spring of the same year, Li Wei sent Hu Feng, the cavalry commander, to stab Fan Chou to death, and the contradictions between Li and Guo became increasingly intensified, and they began to exchange troops. Li Wei asked Jia Xu to be the general of Xuanyi to help him. To help Emperor Han Xian escape and protect the ministers, Jia Xu made a lot of contributions. After the two quit the army, Jia Xu returned the ribbon.

At that time, the general Duan Xuan was in the same county as Jia Xu, stationed in Huayin, and Jia Xu went to take refuge in Duan Xuan. Jia Xu has always been well-known and respected by Duan Xu's army, Duan Xuan was afraid that Jia Xu would take away his military power, but he was very polite to Jia Xu on the surface. After Jia Xu saw it, he felt uncomfortable. Nanyang Zhang Xiu and Jia Xu secretly had a relationship, and Zhang Xiu sent someone to meet Jia Xu. When Jia Xu was leaving, someone asked Jia Xu: "Duan Xuan treats you so well, why do you want to leave?" Jia Xu said: "Duan Xuan is suspicious by nature, he is suspicious of me, although the treatment is good, but he cannot be relied on, he will definitely be harmed by him after a long time, and I must be very happy to leave him, and expect me to connect with foreign aid, and I will treat my family well." And Zhang Xiu lacks strategists, and he is also very willing to get me, so that I and my family can be preserved. Jia Xu arrived at Zhang Xiu's place, and Zhang Xiu was really overjoyed and "held a gift to him". And Duan Xuan knew that Jia Xu was leaving, and he really treated his family well.

In the second year of Jian'an (197), under the persuasion of Jia Xu, Zhang Xiutun Bing Wancheng and Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao united. Since then, the two have become Cao Cao's confidants.

In March of the third year of Jian'an (198), Cao Cao marched south against Zhang Xiu and surrounded the city that Zhang Xiu was guarding. Soon, Cao Cao heard that Yuan Shao wanted to take advantage of the attack to capture Xudu, so he immediately retreated from the city. Zhang Xiu led his troops to follow the pursuit, and Liu Biao also sent the Jingzhou army to occupy Anzhong, cut off the retreat of Cao's army, and tried to attack Cao's army with Zhang Xiu. After Cao's army was victorious, they quickly retreated north. Zhang Xiu personally led his troops to pursue, but Jia Xu dissuaded: "Don't chase, you will be defeated." Zhang Xiu didn't listen, forcibly pursued, and was defeated by Cao Cao himself. Jia Xu said to Zhang Xiu at this time: "Hurry up and chase again, you will definitely win." Zhang Xiu said: "I didn't listen to your advice to get to this point, and now I've been defeated, why do you want to chase it again?" Jia Xu said: "The situation has changed, hurry up and chase to make a profit." Zhang Xiu followed Jia Xu's advice, collected stragglers, and then pursued, and actually defeated Cao Cao's rearguard troops.

After the victory, Zhang Xiu asked Jia Xu what was going on, and Jia Xu explained: "This truth is easy to understand. Although the general is good at using soldiers, he is by no means Cao Gong's opponent. Although the Cao army has just withdrawn, but Cao Gong must be the queen in person, although our pursuers are fine, but the generals can't compare to them, and their soldiers are still very morale, so I know that you will be defeated, general. The reason why Cao Cao withdrew his troops before he tried his best must have something wrong in the rear, so after breaking the general's pursuit, he will definitely retreat with all his strength, leaving others to break the queen, although the generals he left behind are powerful, they are not as good as the generals, so I know that the generals can win with defeated troops. Zhang Xiu was greatly impressed.

In the fourth year of Jian'an (199), Yuan Shao sent people to recruit Zhang Xiu and made friends with Jia Xu. Zhang Xiu was about to agree, but Jia Xu rejected Yuan Shao's envoy in front of Zhang Xiu, accurately pointing out that Yuan Shao could not tolerate people, and surrendering to Cao Cao had three advantages: Cao Cao coerced the Son of Heaven to order the princes, which was justifiable; Cao Cao's forces were weaker and he preferred to win over allies; Cao Cao has great ambitions and will definitely be able to ignore his past suspicions. Zhang Xiu followed Jia Xu's advice and led the crowd to submit to Cao Cao. Cao Cao was overjoyed when he heard the news, personally met Jia Xu, held his hand and said: "The person who makes my reputation famous in the world is you!" "Cao Cao worshiped Jia Xu as the ruling Jinwu, sealed the capital of the pavilion, and moved to Jizhou as the pastor. Because Jizhou was occupied by Yuan Shao at that time, Jia Xu stayed in the Sikong military, and at the same time worshiped Zhang Xiu as a general of Yangwu, and asked his son Cao Jun to marry Zhang Xiu's daughter as his wife.

In the fifth year of Jian'an (200 years), Cao Cao and Yuan Shao fought in Guandu. Cao Jun's military rations were exhausted, Cao Cao asked Jia Xu, Jia Xu said: "You are better than Yuan Shao in four aspects: shrewdness, bravery, employment, and determination. Cao Cao praised the good, and later seized the opportunity to sneak attack the black nest and defeated Yuan Shao in one fell swoop. After the pacification of Hebei, Cao Cao led the pastor of Jizhou and reappointed Jia Xu as the doctor of Taizhong.

In the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208), Cao Cao occupied Jingzhou and wanted to take the opportunity to go east along the river. Jia Xu dissuaded, saying that the people should be appeased and wait for the opportunity, but Cao Cao did not comply, and as a result, he was defeated in the Battle of Chibi.

In the sixteenth year of Jian'an (211), the ten coalition forces led by Han Sui and Ma Chao gathered more than 100,000 horses and horses to defend Tongguan against Cao. After Ma Chao was frustrated, he proposed a peace condition for demarcating the river, which was rejected by Cao Cao. Ma Chao came to challenge many times, but Cao Cao couldn't hold on, so Ma Chao couldn't win quickly. In September, he again made a request for the demarcation of land and sent his son as a hostage. Jia Xu thought that he could pretend to agree on the surface and paralyze the other party, but in fact he actively prepared and waited for an opportunity to annihilate the enemy. Cao Cao asked Jia Xu how to break the enemy, and Jia Xu said, "Divide them." Cao Cao used his stratagem and wrote a book to divide Ma Chao and Han Sui, causing them to strife internally. Cao Cao saw that the time was ripe, and took the initiative to launch an attack on the Guanzhong coalition army, and returned with a great victory.

In the twenty-second year of Jian'an (217), when Cao Cao did not establish a prince, Cao Pi was a general with five senses, and Cao Zhicai, the Marquis of Linjiang, was named Fang Sheng, Cao Pi sent someone to ask for advice from Jia Xu, Jia Xu said: "I hope that the general can promote morality, cultivate bearing, practice the responsibilities and obligations of scholars, be diligent, tireless, and do not do things that violate filial piety, and it will be fine." Cao Pi followed his advice and deliberately honed himself. Later, Cao Cao privately asked Jia Xu what he thought of the heir, Jia Xu didn't answer, Cao Cao asked him why he didn't answer, Jia Xu said: "I'm thinking about Yuan Shao and Liu Biao." Cao Cao laughed, so he made Cao Pi the crown prince that year. Jia Xu thought that he was not Cao Cao's former minister, but he had a deep plan, so he was afraid that Cao Cao would be suspicious, so he adopted a self-preservation strategy, kept himself behind closed doors, did not associate with others in private, and his children did not marry the powerful.

In the first year of the early Huang Dynasty (220 years), Cao Pi ascended the throne, in order to repay Jia Xu's kindness, worship Jia Xu as the Tai Lieutenant, enter the Marquis of Wei Shou Township, increase the food by 300, a total of 800 households before and after. He also divided 200 food towns, made his youngest son Jia Wan a liege, and appointed his eldest son Jia Mu as a lieutenant of the horses.

In March of the fourth year of the early Huang dynasty (223), Cao Pi made the first expedition to Eastern Wu, but did not achieve the expected results. At the beginning, Cao Pi asked Ji Jia Xu: "I want to unify the world, which one should Wu and Shu conquer first?" Jia Xu suggested that the country should be governed first before using force, but Cao Pi did not listen, and he returned in vain. On June 11 of the same year, Jia Xu died at the age of seventy-seven.

Many years later, Jia Xu and Wang Lang, Cao Zhen, and Xin Bi enjoyed the temple of Emperor Wen of Wei.