In the fourth year of Chuping (193), Cao Cao's father Cao Song led his family to go to Yanzhou to seek refuge with Cao Cao, but was killed by Xuzhou soldiers.

[Two causes]

Historically, there are two completely different theories about the cause of Cao Song's death.

The first theory is based on the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms", which can be supported by the materials of "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty: The Biography of Ying Shao", "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty: The Biography of Cao Teng", and "The Words of the World".

It is mainly said that in the fourth year of Chuping (193), Pi people Que Xuan gathered thousands of people, claiming to be the Son of Heaven, Tao Qian raised troops with him, led the army to capture Hua County and Fei County in Taishan County in the south of Yanzhou, and was attacking Rencheng, Cao Cao led the army to conquer, but conquered more than ten cities of Tao Qian's Xuzhou. Tao Qian complained about Cao Cao because of this.

At that time, Cao Cao's father Cao Song took refuge in Langxie (Langxie County, Xuzhou), and after Cao Cao had a conflict with Tao Qian, the boss of Xuzhou, Cao Song decided to go to Yanzhou to seek refuge with his son. Tao Qian knew that in the future, because of his resentment against Cao Cao, he killed Cao Song in a fit of anger.

The records in these two parts of the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" are as follows: "Xia Pi Que Xuan gathered thousands of people and claimed to be the Son of Heaven; Xuzhou Mu Taoqian raised troops together, took Taishan Hua, Fei, and slightly appointed the city. In the autumn, Taizu conquered Tao Qian, went down to more than ten cities, and did not dare to go out of the city modestly. At the beginning of the "and", the great grandfather Song, after going to the official, returned to the official, Dong Zhuo's rebellion, took refuge in Lang evil, and was harmed by Tao Qian, so Taizu was determined to return to the Eastern Expedition. ”

In the "World Language", it is recorded as "Song is in Taishan Hua County." Taizu ordered Taishan to be sent to Yanzhou, but before the soldiers arrived, Tao Qian secretly sent thousands of horsemen to cover and arrest. The Song family thought it was welcome, not equipment. Humility to the soldiers, kill Taizu brother in the door. Song is afraid, wears the back wall, first out of his concubine, concubine fat, from time to time; Song fled to the toilet, was killed with his concubine, and died behind closed doors. Fearful, abandoned the official and went to Yuan Shao. Later Taizu settled in Jizhou, and he was dead when he died. ”

In the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: The Biography of Ying Shao", it is "in the first year of Xingping, the former captain Cao Song and Zide entered Taishan from Langxie, and Shao sent troops to meet him, but he did not arrive, and Xuzhou Mu Tao Qian complained that Songzi Cao hit it several times, so that the light cavalry chased Song and De, and killed it at the county border. ”

The second theory is mainly based on the "Zizhi Tongjian", which can be supported by the materials of the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: The Biography of Tao Qian" and the "Book of Wu".

Different from the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms", the "Zizhi Tongjian" records that Que Xuan was killed by Tao Qian's army after gathering a crowd to make a rebellion. When Cao Song went to Cao Cao, Tao Qian himself did not do anything to Cao Song, but because Tao Qian's subordinates coveted Cao Song's property, he killed him.

In the "Zizhi Tongjian", it is "the former Taiwei Cao Song took refuge in Langxie, and his son Cao ordered Taishan to guard Shao Yingzhi." Song weighs more than 100 taels, Tao Qian will not guard Yinping, soldiers will take advantage of Song's treasures, cover Song in China, Feijian, kill it, and Shao Zide. ”

"The Book of the Later Han Dynasty: The Biography of Tao Qian" records that "at the beginning, Cao Cao's father Song took refuge in Lang evil, and Shi Qian did not guard Yin Ping, and the soldiers killed Li Song's treasures, so he attacked and killed him." It is basically the same as the record of the "General Guide to Governance".

Wei Yao's "Book of Wu" recorded a little different, thinking that Tao Qian not only did not send troops to kill Cao Song but also sent troops to protect him, but unfortunately on the way because the soldiers coveted Cao Song's money and killed him, which is also the prototype of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" when describing this paragraph. The original text is "Taizu Yingsong, more than 100 taels." Tao Qian sent the commander Zhang Min to ride 200 guards, and killed Song in Taishan Hua and Fei Jian, and took property because of Huainan. Taizu blamed Tao Qian, so he cut it down. ”

[Intentional or greedy for money]

Both the first and second theories agree that Cao Cao's father was killed by the people of Xuzhou while defecting to Yanzhou, and the main disagreement is whether this incident was deliberately done by Tao Qian or whether Tao Qian's subordinates were greedy for money. Therefore, we will call the first theory here as "deliberate theory", and the second theory is also "greedy for money".

The argument for "deliberately speaking" is very strong. We all know that the "Three Kingdoms" has the highest authority in the materials of the history of the Three Kingdoms, and in this case, the "Three Kingdoms" fully supports "deliberately speaking", in addition to being supported by heavyweight historical materials such as "Book of the Later Han Dynasty" and "Shiyu", it can be said that "deliberately speaking" undoubtedly has an advantage over "greed for money" in terms of arguments.

So can "deliberately speaking" be historically justified?

OK.

Historically, Cao Cao and Tao Qian belonged to different camps at that time, Cao Cao was a good friend of Yuan Shao, and Tao Qian was a good partner of Yuan Shu and Gongsun Zhan. Therefore, when Que announced that the Son of Heaven gathered people to revolt, it was not impossible for Tao Qian to cause trouble to the east. Later, Cao Cao fought back against Tao Qian and took away more than ten cities in Xuzhou at once, Tao Qian stole chickens and rice, and it was not incomprehensible that he killed Cao's father Cao Song in anger.

And at that time, Cao Song didn't leave early or late, but at this time, he brushed a sense of existence. Cao Song's words in Xuzhou, for Tao Qian, it is not intended to be a trump card to Cao Cao, in order to deter Cao Cao, Tao Qian will never do anything to Cao Song, but now Cao Song is ready to escape, how can Tao Qian stand it this time, he just lost the battle, lost his territory, and now he still wants to run away with a trump card in his hand, which is absolutely not good.

When Cao Song was about to leave, Tao Qian may have wanted to detain him first, but it may be that Cao Song's resistance was too fierce (or there was a problem with the execution of his subordinates), causing Cao Song and Cao De to become a corpse. Of course, the possibility of Tao Qian directly committing a black hand cannot be ruled out.

But in comparison, the "greed for money" theory is still more reasonable.

For Que Xuan, who claimed to be the Son of Heaven who was in trouble in Xuzhou, it was actually intolerable to Tao Qian, you must know that not long ago, Tao Qian had just sent his subordinate Zhao Yu to pay tribute to Emperor Xian to show his support for the Han family, and was rewarded by Emperor Xian of Han as Xuzhou Mu, at this time, how could Tao Qian join forces with a rebel who dared to call himself the Son of Heaven, could it be that Tao Qian was a vassal to a thief with only a few thousand soldiers and horses? Is it necessary for Tao Qian to use Que Xuan?

"Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" records that after Tao Qian and Que Xuan attacked Xuzhou, Cao Cao counterattacked more than ten cities in Xuzhou, Cao Song lived in Langxie, and there were not many roads in Yanzhou, why didn't Cao Cao take his old father Cao Song away at that time?

It's about the same size. But isn't this a great treasure of activity in the eyes of those generals? With all this money, who needs to be a soldier!

And at that time, Tao Qian had already fallen out with Yuan Shu because of the Yangzhou incident, and he personally had little grudge with Cao Cao, so there was no need to kill Cao Cao's old father and make a mortal enmity with Cao Cao. On the contrary, after Cao Cao established himself in Yanzhou, it was a very reasonable thing for Cao Song to take refuge in his eldest son, and Tao Qian may have sent someone to escort him in order to ease the relationship with Cao Cao, but the probability is not very high.

If Cao Song simply moved to Yanzhou, then the things he brought with him must be indispensable. Think about it, Cao Song spent 100 million to buy the position of the third prince back then, and the people are not bad for money, if they move, hundreds of people will be dragged with their families, and dozens of big cars

Tao Qian is also the lord of a state no matter what, and it is impossible not to have a little political common sense. Killing Cao Song's family and forming a personal vendetta against Cao Cao is not in line with the behavior of a politician at all, Xiang Yu didn't treat Liu Bang's wife and father back then? Tao Qian is unlikely to be so stupid, if he can catch it, he will definitely catch it alive, and even if he can't catch it, he won't kill anyone. On the contrary, the practice of killing people and extorting goods is very much in line with the behavior of those soldiers and ruffians who have no foresight.

Although the "greed for money" theory has not been recognized by the "Three Kingdoms", there is no shortage of historical materials to support it, and the content of Tao Qian's biography in the heavyweight "Zizhi Tongjian" and "Book of the Later Han" and the "Book of Wu" have records in this regard, which are not inferior in terms of evidence.

"Deliberately speaking" is more justified than "greedy for money", but "greedy for money" is more reasonable than "deliberately speaking".

What do you think?

ps: Cao Song's death is still controversial about time in history, and you can also discuss it.