Cao Xiu saw that after the emperor of Shu finished speaking, he wanted to let the soldiers push him out and behead him, he couldn't help but be anxious, and hurriedly said in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, please wait a moment, listen to what I say." ”

Liu Hou waved his hand to stop the soldiers from continuing to take Cao Xiu out, and said, "Oh? If General Cao has any last words before he died, please feel free to say it, I will definitely have someone pass your last words back to Wei and tell your family. ”

Cao Xiu said: "Your Majesty, the criminal minister does not want to say his last words, the criminal minister does not want to die, please ask Your Majesty to be merciful and forgive the criminal minister's life." Now that his life is at stake, Cao Xiu no longer calls himself "so-and-so" and "general", and directly calls himself a "criminal minister".

Liu Hou's eyes lit up, this guy was willing to beg for mercy, looking at his performance at the beginning, he thought he was a "tough guy", but now he has changed so quickly, it's really unexpected.

According to his original assumption, it was too difficult for this person to persuade him to surrender, so he simply did not persuade him to surrender, and forced him directly to death, it would be best if he was willing to surrender, and if he refused to surrender, there was no need to waste time and energy on him.

Cao Xiu is different from Bu Qi at the beginning, Bu Qi is just a courtier of Eastern Wu, and even if he kills the Sun family in the future, he will not have any hatred with himself. But Cao Xiu is different, his surname is Cao, and he will inevitably kill the Cao family in the future, so he is likely to have a blood feud with himself.

Accepting a person who has a family enmity with him and a hatred of the country as a subordinate is undoubtedly a great test for himself. Therefore, now Cao Xiu said that he was willing to surrender, but Liu Hou hesitated.

"Forgive you? Then please give me a reason to forgive you. You have led your troops to fight against our army three or four times, and you and your soldiers don't know how many Han soldiers you have killed, and your hands are covered with the blood of Han soldiers. The whole army is very hostile to you, may I ask General Cao, in such a situation, what reason can I spare your life? ”

"Your Majesty, you just said, 'People are born in the rivers and lakes without their own help', the criminal minister was a general of the pseudo-Wei before, and he just obeyed orders, not that the criminal minister wanted to go against the heavenly army. In the minds of the guilty ministers, the Han is the orthodoxy of the world, and His Majesty is the co-lord of the world to whom the destiny of heaven belongs. ”

When Liu Hou heard Cao Xiu's words, he felt very disappointed. originally thought that this Cao Xiu was a tough guy who regarded death as his home and was extremely loyal, but now he seems to be just a person who is greedy for life and afraid of death. When his life was in danger, he not only surrendered to the enemy easily, but even cheekily slapped the enemy's ass.

Can such a person use it? Who doesn't want their subordinates to be loyal, mighty, and rich and unleashed manly husbands. This kind of greedy and death-fearing person can betray his old master today because of the threat of death, and tomorrow he may betray himself for other reasons.

Can such a person be used with confidence? Liu Hou couldn't make up his mind for a while, and saw that Cao Xiu was begging for mercy again, so he waved his hand and asked the soldiers to take him down temporarily, and find a tent to settle down first. Cao Xiu saw that the Emperor of Shu had no intention of killing him for the time being, so he breathed a sigh of relief and obediently followed the soldiers.

After Cao Xiu left, Liu Hou began to consult several strategists around him, asking them to tell them what they thought of this Cao Xiu and how it was more appropriate to deal with him.

This time, Sima Yi didn't dare to speak, because when it came to the handling of the generals of Wei, no matter what he said, he might not be pleased. If he suggested killing Cao Xiu, he would probably be said to be vicious and disregarding his old feelings, and his former friends and colleagues were now in trouble, not only did he not help, but he also fell into the trap. Who will dare to be friends with him in the future, and who will rest assured of this colleague?

If he advocates letting him go and accepting his surrender, he may be suspected of abolishing the public for personal reasons, because he cares about the old feelings, and disregards the interests of the Han and the emperor, or even safety. What's more, it will give people the suspicion that he deliberately showed favor to Cao Xiu, and took the opportunity to win him over, so that he would form a political alliance with him in the future, and then

In order to prevent these inexplicable speculations from happening to him, Sima Yi simply did not say a word and looked coldly at the arguments of the other strategists.

Guo Youzhi thought that Cao Xiu's surrender should be accepted, and he said: "Your Majesty, as an emperor, you should have a mind as broad as the sea, and be able to accept all kinds of talents for Your Majesty's use. Cao Xiu is indeed a celebrity, for so many years, he has led the troops to fight in Cao Ying, which can be described as brilliant, and he has also been praised by Cao Mengde as 'my family's thousand-mile horse', which shows that he does have real materials.

This time, he guarded Runan City, and at first he fought well, and also made our vine armor army suffer a big loss. If it weren't for the fact that we had firearms and hot air balloons, it would not be easy to capture Runan City. It's a pity if such a talent is killed. ”

Deng Zhi put forward the opposite opinion: "Your Majesty, by all means, Cao Xiu is a member of the Cao clan, when Meng De was there, he was very kind to him, Cao Pi and him are childhood sweethearts1, the relationship between the two is deep, and it is not easy for Your Majesty to recover his heart."

In addition, this man is of despicable character, he is a greedy man who is afraid of death, and when he hears that His Majesty wants to kill him, he is soft and apostatious, how can such a disloyal and unrighteous person take on a heavy responsibility. Weichen believes that it is not a pity for this kind of person to die, and it is better to cut the grass and eradicate the roots as soon as possible. ”

Guo Youzhi said: "Lord Deng's words are wrong, the monarch should pay attention to talent rather than virtue. No matter how noble the morality of a talented person is, he will not be able to do anything. What are the people who can't do it for? Besides, what Lord Deng just said was self-contradictory.

At the beginning, Master Deng said that Cao Xiu had a close relationship with Cao Cao and Cao Pi, father and son, and his relationship was very strong, and he was afraid that he would not be able to truly return to his heart. Later, he said that he was greedy for life and afraid of death, and would defect once he was threatened with death. If the second article is true, then wouldn't the first one not be worried? ”

When everyone heard this, yes, if he is really a greedy person who is afraid of death, there is no need to be afraid that he will have his old master in his heart, pretending to surrender but secretly waiting for an opportunity to rebel again. As long as he wasn't bent on recovering Cao Wei's glory, then other things would be easy to do.

As long as the little emperor can always maintain his current prestige, as long as the Han Dynasty can continue to prosper, then his shortcomings of greed for life and fear of death are not shortcomings. Because under such a general trend of the world, he was not given a chance to rebel again, and people like him, as long as they were not in danger, would not show their greed for life and fear of death.

The Han Dynasty has been prosperous for a long time, and the emperor is powerful all over the world, in this case, let alone him, even some heroes with great ambitions may not dare to come out to make trouble. The so-called current situation creates heroes, without that current situation, many "heroic" characters will be buried in the peaceful and prosperous era.

And with the current situation in the world, the re-emergence of the Han Dynasty is almost inevitable, the little emperor is still young, and his body has always been strong, and there is no problem in ruling for another few decades. The prestige of the current little emperor is not small, and when he unifies the Central Plains in the future, his prestige can simply catch up with Emperor Xiaowu (Emperor Liu Che of the Han Dynasty) and Emperor Guangwu (Liu Xiu).

At that time, any ghostly monster will be so overwhelmed by his might that it can't raise its head. At that time, were you still afraid that he would be able to turn over the waves with just one Cao general?