Compared with Xun Yu, Xun Yu is even more of an amazing guy, as the second person under Cao Cao, Xun Yu's ability is extremely outstanding, not only comprehensive but also has excellent performance in all aspects, even in strategy, so the gap between Guo Jia and Xun Yu is even greater, and it is all-round.

But this is not something unexpected, after all, Xun Yu is Xun Yu, and Guo Jia is just Guo Jia.

【Xun Yu and Guo Jia】

Historically, Xun Yu was an old minister under Cao Cao, and Guo Jia only came to take refuge after Cao Cao moved the capital to Xuchang, but in history, the two had a fair starting point.

As early as the second year of Chuping (191), Xun Yu and Guo Jia had both gone north to take refuge in Yuan Shao, both of them thought that Yuan Shao was not the master of the Ming Dynasty and abandoned him, at this time the two were basically on the same starting line, but their gap was soon widened, and then Xun Yu went south to take refuge in Cao Cao, who had just started, and Guo Jia stayed at home for six years.

And six years of time can change a lot, in the six years Xun Yu accompanied Cao Cao to suppress the Yellow Turban, dealt with Yuan Shu, fought against Lu Bu, accompanied Cao Cao through the most difficult six years of his life, and then Xun Yu persuaded Cao Cao to welcome the Son of Heaven, Cao Cao ushered in a brilliant and entered a period of rapid development, and it was at this time that one of Cao Cao's important strategists, Xi Zhicai, died, Cao Cao looked for his replacement, and Xun Yu recommended Guo Jia to Cao Cao, and Guo Jia became Cao Cao's subordinate.

From the choice of the two after leaving Yuan Shao, the gap between Guo Jia and Xun Yu can already be seen.

At the time of the decisive battle between Cao Cao and Yuan Shaoguandu, Sun Ce in the south was about to move, and Cao Cao was deeply worried about this, at which time Guo Jia reassured Cao Cao and said: "Sun Ce is rash and unprepared, and will definitely die at the hands of the assassins." Later, Sun Ce was indeed killed by the assassins, and Guo Jia's ingenuity was praised by later generations, but Xun Yu was inferior to Guo Jia.

Long before the decisive battle of Guandu, Kong Rong thought that Yuan Shao was invincible, Xun Yu refuted him, and commented on Yuan Shao's subordinates: "Although there are many Shao soldiers, the law is not in order. Tian Feng just committed it, and Xu Yu was greedy and not cured. The trial is specialized and unplanned, and the results are used for their own use, these two people leave the knowledge of the future, if the family violates its law, it must not be indulgent, not indulgent, and it will change. Yan Liang, Wen Chou, a husband's brave ears, but a fowl can fight. ”

Xun Yu's prediction is not only far ahead of Guo Jia, but also has more and more comprehensive predictions. This can no longer be described as a miracle calculation.

On the issue of whether it is south or north, the performance gap between Xun Yu and Guo Jia is even more huge, Guo Jia still persuaded Cao Cao to withdraw from the army to deal with Liu Biao first when Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang brothers were not in harmony, but Xun Yu persuaded Cao Cao not to march into Jingzhou when Yuan Shao was not dead, but to concentrate on dealing with the north.

During the Three Kingdoms, Jingzhou Mu Liu Biao was not enough to attack, but it was more than enough. Sun Jian's crusade against Jingzhou was the closest to success, but the result was the death of Huangquan, Cao Cao's group crusaded against Jingzhou's Nanyang County four times in vain, Sun Ce, Sun Quan's crusade against Jingzhou although some victories, but did not substantially threaten Jingzhou, it is true that Cao Cao's strength was stronger than Liu Biao at that time, but it is unlikely that he will easily capture Jingzhou, under the joint efforts of Liu Biao and Liu Bei, although Cao Cao may not be able to defeat Cao Cao, but Cao Cao is unlikely to end the battle in the short term.

Moreover, after Cao Cao got Nanyang County, Liu Biao's threat to Cao Cao was not as great as before, and Liu Biao's desire to attack was relatively low.

On the contrary, at that time, the Yuan clan controlled the four northern states, and although the forces suffered a great blow after the defeat of Guandu, none of the four states were lost, and the foundation was still there, and it was still Cao Cao's biggest threat at that time.

After Yuan Shao's death, Yuan's strength was actually weakened, Yuan Shao's north and Yuan Tan, Yuan Shang's brothers' north is self-evident, the contradiction between the Yuan brothers is a great opportunity for Cao Cao to go north, and at the same time Jingzhou has not changed, Cao Cao's crusade against Jingzhou at this time may not be able to fight, but after Yuan Shang cleans up Yuan Tan, Cao Cao will have to face a unified north.

Therefore, Guo Jia's macro strategy is still a lot worse, and the gap with Xun Yu, Xun You and others is obvious.

【Comprehensive Gap】

The gap between Guo Jia and Xun Yu is comprehensive, not only in terms of strategy, but also in any other aspect, Guo Jia cannot match Xun Yu.

In terms of status, Xun Yu is the second person in Cao Cao's group, holding a position in the middle, with a very high status, and at the beginning he served as a scholar in the imperial court to help Cao Cao manage the government. After unifying the north, Cao Cao even prepared to seal Xun Yu as the third duke, Xun Yu stubbornly did not accept, and even sent his nephew Xun Yu to Cao Cao to express his determination, Xun Yu refused more than ten times, and Cao Cao gave up. And Guo Jia is Cao Cao's priest of the air force, that is, Cao Cao's staff officer, strategist, the official position basically did not change later, after Guo Jia's death, Cao Cao gave him an increase of 800 households, Guo Jia was considered a thousand households, and Xun Yu already had 2,000 households at that time.

In terms of qualifications, Xun Yu is one of the veterans of Cao Cao's group, and the first to take refuge in Cao Cao's Wenchen mastermind. After Cao Cao became the Taishou of Dongjun, Xun Yu took refuge in Cao Cao, and played a very key role in Cao Cao's six-year difficult start-up period. And Guo Jia was introduced by Xun Yu to Cao Cao in the first year of Jian'an (196), at that time Cao Cao had already gained a firm foothold in Yanzhou, and during that period, Cao Cao moved the capital to Xuchang and had the reputation of the Son of Heaven, and talents from all over the world came, Guo Jia can only be said to be the icing on the cake.

In terms of influence, it is unthinkable that Cao Cao would not have had Xun Yu, but without Guo Jia, it would have little impact (Note 1). At the same time, Xun Yu recommended many talents for Cao Cao, which can be said to be a mobile talent pool, among which Guo Jia was recommended by Xun Yu to Cao Cao.

In terms of ability, Xun Yu guarded the rear for Cao Cao, and he could be in charge of it alone, his political talent was very good, and there was basically no problem in taking care of the rear. During the Battle of Yanzhou, Xun Yu first held the first wave of attacks by Lu Bu, and then Guo Gong, the assassin of Yuzhou, surrounded Cao Cao's base camp under the lure of Lu Bu and others. And Guo Jia was basically a pure strategist at that time, he stayed under Cao Cao for eleven years, except for showing a certain level of strategy, there was no more.

Of course, Xun Yu and Guo Jia were not of the same rank from the beginning, Xun Yu was one of the few top figures in the entire Three Kingdoms era, and Guo Jia's youth was not just purely in age.

Note 1: This aspect is discussed in detail in the next chapter.