Part Two of the Series of Mysterious Cases of the Three Kingdoms in the Late Han Dynasty Who is the Traitor - Cao Cao and the Change of Yanzhou (Part 1) 1. The Change of Yanzhou In the first year of Xingping, Cao Cao, the governor of Yanzhou, made his second expedition to Xuzhou. Cao Cao's army continued the great victory of the first Eastern Expedition. They conquered Langye Kingdom and Donghai County among the five counties in Xuzhou successively, and directed their troops towards Xiapi, the capital of Xuzhou. Under the fierce offensive of Cao Jun, the elderly Xuzhou Mu Tao Qian was ready to abandon Xuzhou and flee south to his hometown, Danyang County in Yangzhou, to spend the rest of his life. However, things in the world are ever-changing, the sky has unforeseen circumstances, and people have misfortunes and misfortunes. Cao Cao would never have imagined that just when he was satisfied with his great achievements, news came from Yanzhou, his rear area: His closest comrades and comrades-in-arms, Zhang Miao and Chen Gong, had "betrayed" He himself, turned against him and introduced the "hungry wolf" Lu Bu, who had been wandering around Guandong without a foothold, into Yanzhou. This incident is known as the "Yanzhou Incident" in history. Losing Yanzhou as a base would undoubtedly be a fatal blow to Cao Cao. Historians of all ages seem to be deeply confused about the causes and consequences of this sudden Yanzhou Incident, and cannot give a good explanation. They didn't understand why Zhang Miao, Chen Gong and others wanted to "betray" Cao Cao. Let’s first look at why traditional historians are confused. The initiator of the Yanzhou Incident is said to be Chen Gong, who was the first to persuade Zhang Miao to launch the incident. There are not many existing historical records about Chen Gong. Yu Zhi's "Dian Lue" said that he was "upright and strong, rarely connected with famous people in the country." Later, he died resolutely in Baimen Tower, which was indeed worthy of the title. The four-character comment "upright and strong". Death can be regarded as one of the most thorough tests for people. There are only two possibilities for a person not to be afraid of death: one is that the person is deeply tired of the world; the other is that the person has some kind of strong spiritual support. This kind of spiritual support Powerful enough to make him completely defy death, legendary martyrs always fall into the latter category. Chen Gong certainly didn't feel world-weary. The relationship between Chen Gong and Cao Cao is also worth mentioning. In the third year of Chuping, Liu Dai, the former governor of Yanzhou, died in battle while suppressing the Yellow Turban Army. It was Chen Gong who took the initiative to propose to Cao Cao that he would lobby the county officials in Yanzhou to support Cao Cao as the shepherd of Yanzhou. Cao Cao obtained the initial base area of ??Yanzhou and became a prince, and Chen Gong was indispensable. The leader of the Yanzhou Revolution was Zhang Miao. When Zhang Miao was young, he was famous for his chivalry and his willingness to "relieve the poor and relieve emergencies" without hesitation at the expense of his entire family. Many scholars were willing to join him. Zheng Tai, a veteran celebrity in the empire, commented that he was "an elder from Dongping who can't sit in the hall without looking into the hall". The relationship between Zhang Miao and Cao Cao is also unusual. When Cao Cao went to Xuzhou for the first time, he told his family: "If I can't come back, you can rely on Meng Zhuo (Zhang Miao's nickname is Meng Zhuo)." Cao Cao later returned safely and met Zhang Miao. People "wept at each other", which shows the depth of friendship. Another key member of the Yanzhou Revolution was Zhang Miao's younger brother Zhang Chao. In the existing historical materials, we cannot see any direct evaluation of Zhang Chao. However, to understand a person's character, you do not necessarily have to start with direct materials. Another simple and effective method is to understand what kind of friends he has or what kind of enemies he has. A fox is surrounded by dog ??friends, and a gentleman is surrounded by gentlemen. Liu Bei is a hero, and his enemy Cao Cao is even more heroic; Zhuge Liang is a man of great talent and strategy, and his enemy Sima Yi is no less generous. Zhang Chao served as the prefect of Guangling in his early years. During his tenure, he entrusted all the affairs of the county to his meritorious Cao Zang Hong. There is no doubt that Zang Hong was a moral model for scholars in that era. Therefore, "The Book of the Later Han" and "The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" spared no effort in pen and ink to write a biography of such a small hero, and highly praised him. Therefore, we also expect to see Zhang Chao's moral character. Before the Yanzhou Incident, the personal conduct of each of Chen Gong, Zhang Miao, and Zhang Chao was enough to serve as a model for the empire. No one here is a despicable villain with a "rebellion behind his head". Several other minor figures who are known to have participated in the incident, such as Xu Si, Wang Kai, etc., are also well-known in the circles of scholar-bureaucrats. It was these few gentlemen who led the Yanzhou Revolution. Why do they do this? Traditional historians were unable to find the evidence they wanted to find from the personal resumes of several "traitors". The history of the "traitors" is upright and unblemished. Since no internal cause could be found, historians naturally turned their attention to external causes.

Therefore, the "Zhang Miao Biography" appended to "Three Kingdoms: Lu Bu's Biography" explains this incident this way: Yuan Shao was so complacent and "arrogant" as soon as he became the leader of the Kwantung Alliance that Zhang Miao justly scolded Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao held a grudge for this. Later, Yuan Shao asked his younger brother Cao Cao (Cao Cao was indeed Yuan Shao's younger brother at that time, this statement does not detract from it) to kill Zhang Miao. Cao Cao expressed his refusal with a bunch of high-sounding principles. However, Zhang Miao believed that Cao Cao was Yuan Shao's younger brother after all and would one day kill him for Yuan Shao, so he was always suspicious and restless. Later, Lu Bu escaped from Yuan Shao, and when passing by Chen Liu, Zhang Miao formed a deep friendship with him. The two parted and "swore an oath on their hands." It is said that the friendship between the two made Yuan Shao, who had a grudge against Lu Bu, very unhappy again. This further increased Zhang Miao's insecurity. It happened that Chen Gong came to lobby, so the two hit it off and sparked a brilliant relationship. "Book of the Later Han: Biography of Lu Bu" says roughly the same thing. However, this explanation seems quite far-fetched no matter how you look at it. As a veteran politician, Yuan Shao must be rational when killing people. Zhang Miao was a local official (prefect Chenliu) and enjoyed a high reputation among the imperial literati. Unless it was due to some irresistible political factors, it was impossible for Yuan Shao to blame him just because Zhang Miao He had murderous intentions towards Zhang Miao once. As for Zhang Miao's friendship with Lu Bu, it would have nothing to do with Yuan Shao. Because the friends made by others are his enemies, Yuan Shao, so they must be killed. Then there are too many people in this world that Yuan Shao must kill. What's more, Zhang Miao and Yuan Shao have actually been old friends for many years. They were both members of the "Benchu ??Friends" group of scholar-bureaucrats (the "Benzu Friends" included Yuan Shao, Zhang Miao, He Yong, and Wu Ziqing). , Xu Shao, Wu Fu and others, these people are all members of the scholar-bureaucrats who are famous in the empire). Cao Cao also said to Yuan Shao: "Meng Zhuo, as a relative and friend, we should accept right and wrong. The world is undecided today, and it is not appropriate to endanger each other." also.". The word "relatives and friends" shows the closeness of the early relationship between Zhang Miao, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. Taking a step back, even if we reluctantly agree with Zhang Miao's reason and motivation for launching the Yanzhou Revolution, what are the reasons and motivations for other people to participate in this matter? You must know that this change involved far more than the few people listed above. The change in Yanzhou was actually almost equivalent to the "defection" of the entire scholar-bureaucrats in Yanzhou - this can be seen from the fact that all the cities in Yanzhou responded to this point, and only three cities insisted on this for Cao Cao. See it. When Sima Guang compiled "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", he was obviously not satisfied with the explanations given by traditional history books such as "Book of the Later Han" and "Three Kingdoms", so he rummaged through relevant historical materials in an attempt to get a more accurate and reasonable explanation. . God paid off, and finally found this one for him: Yuan Shao's "Report on Crusade against Cao Cao" published in the fifth year of Jian'an said: "Therefore, the Jiujiang prefect yielded to the side. He is a handsome man and is well-known in the world. He speaks outright and does not flatter others. The head was killed by Xiao Xuan, and his wife and children suffered the consequences of death. Since the scholars were angry and the people's resentment was heavy, one man raised his arms and raised the voice of the whole state, so he defeated Xu Fang, seized the land from Lu Bu, and wandered to the east. There is nothing to rely on." Accordingly, Sima Guang explained the Yanzhou Incident in his "Zizhi Tongjian": The former Jiujiang governor Chen Liuren, Bian Rang, once ridiculed Cao Cao, and Cao Cao killed him when he heard about it. He lost his wife and children. Bian Rang was a man who had always been talented and famous. His death made the scholar-bureaucrats in Yanzhou fearful. Chen Gong had an upright and heroic character, but was also uneasy about himself privately, so he conspired with the middlemen Xu Bang, Wang Kai and Zhang Miao's younger brother Zhang Chao to betray Cao Cao. Since Sima Guang, the causal relationship between Bian Rang's death and the Yanzhou Incident has been basically established. This statement is widely circulated. However, what is regrettable is that although the explanations in "Book of the Later Han" and "Three Kingdoms" are far-fetched, the statement in "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" is completely untrustworthy. (This issue was discussed in the previous chapter "The Empire's Last Solo Dance - The Death of Kong Rong". For the completeness of the article, I will talk about it again here.) Because Bian Rang simply died after the Yanzhou Incident. There are two pieces of evidence to support this conclusion, and they are ironclad evidence: First, the "Book of the Later Han·Bian Rang Biography" clearly records: "In the early years of Ping Dynasty, the royal family was in chaos. Such insulting words. During the Jian'an period, if any of his fellow villagers tried to make concessions to Yu Cao, Cao would be killed if he reported it to the county. "It was written clearly in black and white. Bian Rang died during the Jian'an period, several years later than the Yanzhou Incident.

Second, as support for the first piece of evidence: After Kong Rong integrated into the Xu capital (Kong Rong joined Xu as early as the first year of Jian'an), he recommended Bian Rang to Cao Cao, saying: "(Bian Rang) is Jiuzhou A quilt is not enough, but a blanket is more than enough." It is impossible for Kong Rong to recommend a dead man to Cao Cao. Since the explanations in "Book of the Later Han" and "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms" are too reluctant, and the new discoveries in "Zi Zhi Tong Jian" are completely untrustworthy, what is the real cause of the Yanzhou Incident? However, is it true that the inside story of the Yanzhou Incident will never be known to future generations? As Mr. Lu Simian said, can it only be "discredited"? In my opinion, that's probably not the case either. History is just a kind of history. What future generations read when they read history is not actually history itself, the true face of history, but just some clues left behind by that period of history as it passed away. You can touch the melon by following the vine, or you may not touch the melon, and you may touch a few caterpillars in the middle. To speculate on the true nature of history by reading these clues in history is actually to follow the clues. As for whether you can touch the melon and how big the melon can be, it depends on each person's different ways of touching it. My touch is more honest. I am used to starting from the root of the melon vine and working my way up. Therefore, before we formally talk about the inside story of the Yanzhou Incident, we may have to go back and talk about the grudges between Cao Cao and Tao Qian. There are the roots of the Yanzhou Incident. 2. Death of Cao Song In the eyes of the ancients, the revenge for killing one's father cannot be overthrown by Dai Tian. Especially Han Confucianism. Han Confucians advocated loyalty and filial piety to govern the country, so during the Han Dynasty, those who avenged their parents and brothers and assassinated others would not be punished by law in many cases. On the contrary, these avengers could always be forgiven, and they could also gain the unanimous opinion of the empire. With recognition and praise, those who are more lucky will get the opportunity to become an official. It is said that Cao Cao and Tao Qian also had a grudge for killing their father. Regarding this grudge, the "Book of the Later Han·Biography of Tao Qian" records this: "In the early days, Cao Cao's father Song took refuge in Langye. Shi Qian's general was guarding Yinping. The soldiers wanted Song's treasure, so they attacked and killed him. In the fourth year of Chuping, Cao Cao attacked and killed Song. Qian. ．In the first year of Xingping, Cao Cao's death was also recorded in "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty". : "In the first year of Xingping, the former Taiwei Cao Song and his son (Cao) De entered Mount Tai from Langye. Shao sent troops to meet them, but before they arrived, Tao Qiansu, the shepherd of Xuzhou, blamed Song Zicao for attacking them several times. Then he sent Qingqi to pursue Song and De and kill them in the county." I think everyone should have seen the problem: it is also written by Fan Ye, but the death time of Cao Song is not consistent. "The Biography of Tao Qian" believes that Cao Song died four years before Chuping, while "The Biography of Yingshao" clearly records that Cao Song died in the first year of Xingping. Among these two records, one of which contains different records about Cao Song's death time is bound to be false. In any case, Cao Song can only die once. Whether Cao Song was killed by Tao Qian or not is irrelevant to this article, but the time of Cao Song's death must be given a clear answer. In the autumn of the fourth year of Ping Dynasty, Cao Cao campaigned against Tao Qian for the first time. The following year, in the summer of the first year of Ping Dynasty, Cao Cao campaigned against Tao Qian for the second time. Judging from the records in "The Biography of Tao Qian", Cao Song died before Cao Cao's two campaigns against Tao Qian. Judging from the records in "The Biography of Ying Shao", Cao Song died between Cao Cao's first eastern expedition against Tao Qian and his second eastern expedition against Tao Qian. Therefore, according to the "Biography of Tao Qian", Cao Song's death can be regarded as This was the reason for Cao Cao's two campaigns against Tao Qian; and according to "Ying Shao Zhuan", Cao Song's death could only be regarded as the reason for Cao Cao's second campaign. From this, it can be inferred that the first campaign clearly had other intentions. Fan Ye obviously caused such a contradiction due to his own momentary omission. So, which account is true? Of course, Cao Cao's biography "Three Kingdoms, Book of Wei, Chronicle of Emperor Wu" cannot avoid the issue of Cao Song's death. It is recorded as follows: "In the spring of the first year of Xingping, Taizu returned from Xuzhou (the first Eastern Expedition). At the beginning, after his great-grandfather Cao Song resigned from office, he returned to Qiao. During Dong Zhuo's rebellion, he took refuge in Langxie and was killed by Tao Qian. Therefore, Taizu was determined to take revenge on the Eastern Expedition, and sent Xun Yu and Cheng Yu to defend Yin City (the Second Eastern Expedition). ． It is the blueprint for Chen Shou's "Three Kingdoms: Wei Shu". People at that time and later did not have a good evaluation of Wang Shen. They thought that this person's historical quality was quite despicable, and he did not hesitate to distort historical facts, and was protected by Cao Wei. Based on this speculation, in the official "Book of Wei", Cao Song's death should be placed before the first Eastern Expedition, as the reason for Cao Cao's two campaigns against Tao Qian.

However, Chen Shou probably disagreed with this, so he narrated Cao Song's death in the gap between Cao Cao's two eastern expeditions, and added a vague word "chu" to make the time of Cao Song's death appear ambiguous: readers It can be considered that Cao Song died before Cao Cao's first Eastern Expedition, or that Cao Song died between the two Eastern Expeditions. Chen Shou naturally had his own difficulties in doing this. Chen Shou entered the Jin Dynasty to write history, so he had to protect the Western Jin Dynasty. The Western Jin Dynasty inherited the establishment of Cao Wei, so it was inevitable to protect Cao Wei. However, Chen Shou was also a very cunning guy in writing history. For example: On the surface, he recognized the orthodoxy of Cao Wei, called Cao Cao's biography "The Chronicles of Emperor Wu", and called Liu Bei's biography "The Biography of the First Master", downgrading the Kingdom of Shu by one level, but he also did a lot of other things in other places. A small move to secretly safeguard the orthodox status of Shu in his mind. Therefore, he called the wives of Liu Bei and Liu Chan "Queens" in the biography of the concubines of the Shu Kingdom "The Biography of the Two Concubines", and they were on the same level as the concubines of Cao Wei. In contrast, Sun Quan's wives can only be called "madam". Chen Shou's complicated attitude towards Cao Wei led him to adopt the above-mentioned vague narrative method on the issue of Cao Song's death. Fan Ye has entered the Southern Dynasty, and his dislike of Cao Cao is much stronger than Chen Shou, but the loose political environment also allows him to express his dislike of Cao Cao freely. We can fully understand this by looking at his sentences in "The Chronicles of Emperor Xiaoxian": "In the winter of November, Cao Cao was the commander of the army, and he was the commander of the army, and all the officials listened to him." "In the autumn of the ninth year, In the eighth month of Wuyin, Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shang, pacified Jizhou, and took the post of Jizhou's pastor. "Self-reliance" and "Self-leadership" are enough to express his attitude towards Cao Cao. Combined with Chen Shou's small tricks in Cao Cao's biography, we can completely believe that the records in "Book of the Later Han·Ying Shao Biography" are the truth of the matter, and "Book of the Later Han·Biography of Tao Qian" is just a small plot by Fan Ye. Just a small oversight. Fan Ye has no need and will not speak for Cao Cao at all. And we noticed: "Book of the Later Han·Ying Shao Biography" mentioned that the reason why Tao Qian killed Cao Song was "because he blamed Song Zicao and struck him several times", but before Cao Cao's first expedition to the east, we could not see him at all. Any record of Cao Cao attacking Tao Qian. Judging from the logic of the war, Cao Song should have died between the two Eastern Expeditions. First, Cao Cao achieved great success in his first eastern expedition. The reason why he retreated was because he ran out of food and grass. However, in the spring of the first year of Xingping, Cao Cao withdrew his army, and in the summer of the same year, Cao Cao sent out his army again. This time of dispatching troops is very unreasonable. Since the troops withdrew in the spring because of the lack of food and grass, and now the autumn harvest has not yet arrived, Yanzhou certainly has no food and grass, and Xuzhou naturally has no autumn harvest in the wild for Cao Cao to harvest. It is obviously irrational to choose this time to send troops. Cao Cao was familiar with the art of war, but he committed such a taboo as a military strategist. One possible explanation is that during this period, something happened that made Cao Cao crazy and made him lose his mind. This made him desperate and rashly sent troops to Xuzhou again. Secondly, it is different from the first Eastern Expedition. According to the records of "Three Kingdoms·Wei Shu·Wudi Ji": "Taizu defeated it and then attacked Xiangbi, killing too many people." During the Second Eastern Expedition, , Cao Cao carried out a massive massacre in Xuzhou, and "the Surabaya River stopped flowing." This crazy behavior showed that Cao Cao was obviously stimulated. This thing that drove Cao Cao crazy, this excitement that made Cao Cao crazy, I think it was the death of Cao Song. The reason why I work so hard to solve the specific time of Cao Song's death is actually to bring out another important issue: since Cao Song died between the two Eastern Expeditions, then he cannot be regarded as Cao Cao's first Eastern Expedition. reasons. In this case, it is necessary to ask: What was the reason for Cao Cao's first eastern expedition? The answer to this question is very important for our understanding of the Yanzhou Incident. 3. New Scholars Alliance In the fourth year of Chuping, it has been four years since the establishment of the Kanto Alliance, which the imperial scholar-bureaucrats had high hopes for. However, the reality left them quite disappointed. Not only did the establishment of the alliance fail to achieve the originally propagated purpose of saving and reviving the empire, on the contrary, the various princes in the alliance successfully realized the theoretical legitimacy of their de facto separatism with the help of the alliance. To a certain extent, the alliance actually He is acting as the last gravedigger of the empire. Accompanying the extreme disappointment with the Kwantung Alliance were new efforts and attempts by the scholar-bureaucrats to save the empire.

However, the limitations of their own strength and the weakness of their characters prevented the scholar-officials from breaking out of the old-fashioned circle of alliance to save the country, even if they saw the living lessons of the Kwantung Alliance. In the fourth year of Chuping, in Xuzhou, with Tao Qian as the initiator, a group of state and county officials and well-known scholar-bureaucrats from the empire organized and established a new alliance. The slogan of this alliance was to raise troops to the west to welcome Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty and return the capital to Luoyang, also known as King Qin. In order to distinguish it from the previous Guandong Alliance chaired by Yuan Shao, I named this new alliance the "New Scholars Alliance". Different from the motivations of the previous Kanto Alliance when it was established, I completely believe in the original intention of this new alliance when it was established, and I believe that they did not sell dogs on their own. There is only one reason why I trust it: Tao Qian, the founder of the alliance, is already sixty-two years old this year. Even if this old man had once had the ambition to conquer the Central Plains and rule the roost, he has almost spent all his ambitions now. For Tao Qian, death is something that can happen anytime and anywhere. A dying old man made such efforts to save a dying empire. I have no reason not to trust his original intentions. I think this reason is completely sufficient. The New Scholars Alliance unanimously elected Zhu Jun, a famous general who was extremely loyal to the empire, as its leader. The emergence of the new alliance resulted from the deep disappointment of the scholar-bureaucrats with the original Kanto Alliance. Therefore, the emergence of the new alliance naturally means damage to the original Kanto Alliance. This kind of damage can be divided into two aspects: moral damage and substantive damage. From a moral perspective, the emergence of the new alliance itself means the Kwantung Alliance's great loss of support and inaction (or even counteraction). Undoubtedly, this was a loud slap in the face to the Guandong Alliance, especially a heavy cold slap to the alliance leader Yuan Shao. The emergence of the new alliance will put the Guandong Alliance, especially its leader Yuan Shao, in an awkward position in the political life of the empire. The new alliance's election of Zhu Jun as its leader was a direct challenge to Yuan Shao's status among the imperial literati. As for the actual damage, we only need to look at the following list of members of the New Scholars Alliance to understand clearly: The initiator, Tao Qian, the governor of Xuzhou, members of the Xuzhou Department, Langxie Xiangyinde, Donghai Xiang Liu Kui, Pengcheng Xiang Ji Lian, a member of the Qingzhou Department, Beihai Prime Minister Kong Rong, a member of the Yuzhou Department, Pei Xiang Yuan Zhong, Runan Prefect Xu Miao, a member of the Yanzhou Department, Taishan Prefect Ying Shao, other famous people, former Yangzhou Governor Zhou Qian, former Jiujiang Prefect Fu Qian, Dr. Zheng Xuan, Xuzhou is Tao Qian’s own territory, not to mention the members of the Xuzhou Department (interestingly, Xiapi State and Guangling County among the five counties in Xuzhou did not appear on the list, which is a sign that the elderly Tao Qian did not realize his centralized rule in Xuzhou) Kong Rong of Qingzhou was an old pro-Han faction, and he had long been dissatisfied with the Kwantung Alliance's lack of diligence even though it was an alliance, so it was natural for him to join the new alliance. The key lies in these members of the Yuzhou and Yanzhou departments. Yanzhou is Cao Cao's territory, and Yuzhou can be regarded as the territory owned by Yuan Shao and Cao Cao at the moment - Peiguo is Cao Cao's hometown, and Cao Cao has strong clan power there; Runan is Yuan Shao's hometown, and the Yuan family is in There are many disciples here and the forces are intricately connected. The three counties of Yanyu (Peiguo, Runan County, and Taishan County) joined Tao Qian's new alliance, which was undoubtedly a direct damage to the power and territory of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao. "Three Kingdoms·Wei Shu·Wudi Ji" has a record of this kind of damage: It is said that before Cao Cao's first eastward expedition to Xuzhou, Tao Qian first invaded Cao Cao's Yanzhou: "Taking Taishan Hua and Fei, Skip Ren City." This is obviously a false record. The real situation should be: Taishan County joined the New Scholars Alliance, so the sphere of influence of the New Scholars Alliance headed by Tao Qian expanded to Huaxian, Feixian and other places in Taishan. Cao Cao was very angry about this. It was precisely because the New Scholars Alliance directly damaged Cao Cao's interests in Yanzhou that in the autumn of the same year when the New Alliance was established, Cao Cao led his army to begin his first eastern expedition against Xuzhou. Since the New Scholars Alliance also caused great damage to Yuan Shao, the leader of the Guandong Alliance, Yuan Shao fully supported Cao Cao's Eastern Expedition and sent his own general Zhu Ling to lead three battalions to support Cao Cao. But what made Yuan Shao a bit dumbfounded was that after Zhu Ling met Cao Cao, he felt that Cao Cao, the second boss, was much better than the big boss Yuan Shao, so he simply changed jobs without returning to Hebei. But this is obviously not the most fundamental reason for this war. This war was actually the inevitable consequence of the split among the scholar-bureaucrats of the empire. The old alliance headed by Yuan Shao has long lost interest in saving the empire. On the contrary, the remaining bricks and tiles that fell during the collapse of the empire have become their targets.

However, the new alliance headed by Tao Qian still holds the last hope for the revival of the empire. Their interests are so conflicting and incompatible that this war is inevitable. It is no accident that history chose Cao Cao to carry out this war. The New Scholars Alliance not only took away one of his counties in Yanzhou, but Yanzhou was also the necessary place for the New Scholars Alliance's plan to raise troops from Xuzhou to welcome the emperor back to Luoyang. Cao Cao was the first to bear the brunt and faced most of the pressure brought by the New Scholars Alliance. And now as Yuan Shao's cavalry, he was neither willing nor possible to fall to the New Scholars Alliance. Although he was once the most active anti-Dong element in the Kanto Alliance. ——The sun and the moon have changed, and the years have passed by. There is a huge difference between the Cao Cao now and the Cao Cao who was when the rebel army was launched to attack Dong Zhuo. At that time, Cao Cao had nothing, no territory, no reputation, and his official position was still a no-name "Fenwu General" who was "working" for the time being. At that time, Cao Cao was jumping up and down, crying and clamoring to attack Dong Zhuo, because he needed to use that war to accumulate political capital. Now Cao Cao is already the governor of Yanzhou and a vassal of a separate state. The crusade against the Chang'an generals had lost its appeal to Cao Cao and had lost any substantive meaning. Things don't end there. The complexity of the background of Cao Cao's first expedition to Xuzhou will still far exceed our imagination. Also regarding the New Scholars Alliance as a thorn in the flesh, in addition to the Guandong Alliance, there was also the Chang'an Central Government governed by Chang'an generals such as Li Jue and Guo Si. ——The purpose of the establishment of the New Alliance is to spare no effort to attack the central government of Chang'an, which is governed by the generals of Chang'an. In order to disintegrate this emerging alliance, Chang'an also took some measures: One measure: adopting the strategy of Shangshu Ling Jia Xu and Taiwei Zhou Zhong, in the name of the imperial court, recruiting Zhu Jun, the leader of the New Scholars Alliance unanimously recommended, into the court. Without the leader Zhu Jun, the New Scholars Alliance immediately lost its appeal throughout the empire, and the situation suddenly became much smaller. Measure two: issued an edict in the name of the imperial court. The specific spirit of the edict was to order various local states and counties to stop their troops. The historical book that records this edict is "Wu Shu" (not "Three Kingdoms·Wu Shu", the same below), the official history of the state of Wu at that time. However, "Wu Shu" believes that this edict was issued by Cao Cao to Tao Qian. The reason why Cao Cao issued this edict was that he felt that Tao Qian's power was too strong, and tried to use this edict to achieve the purpose of getting Tao Qian to disband his armed forces so that he could conquer Xuzhou eastward. Pei Songzhi believed that Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was in Chang'an at that time, so "the order to stop the army could not come from the Cao family", and denied the record in "Book of Wu". Pei Songzhi said that the edict could not have been issued by Cao Cao. This judgment is reasonable, but it does not deny the existence of the edict. Although this edict could not be signed by Cao Cao himself, it was entirely possible that it was issued by the central government of Chang'an. There are two reasons: First, Wei Yao, who wrote "Wu Shu", has quite good historical records. Because this man was unwilling to write the "Ji" for Sun He, the father of Sun Hao, the last faint king of the Wu Kingdom, Sun Hao later found an excuse to kill him - Sun He was not an emperor, but was just Sun Quan's deposed prince. Qualified to be included in the "Ji" in the history books. Out of trust in Wei Yao, I don’t think he was so shameless as to forge an edict of more than 200 words and an echo of Tao Qian’s response of more than 300 words, and he even managed to forge it. So orderly. Secondly, since Chang'an has taken the first step to get rid of Zhu Jun, of course it will also take further measures to destroy this new alliance. The purpose of issuing such an edict just when the new alliance is preparing to raise troops is the same as that of Chang'an. The pertinence is clear at a glance. This brings us to another question: Wei Yao certainly knew that Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was not in Cao Cao's hands in the fourth year of Chuping. This is basic historical common sense. If Wei Yao could even get it wrong that Cao Cao did not take the emperor to Xu County until the summer of the first year of Jian'an, then it is difficult for us to imagine how he could make up for it in the history museum of the state of Wu. Therefore, Wei Yao recorded this: "The murder of Mr. Cao on Mount Tai was attributed to (Tao) Qian. He wanted to attack Qian but was afraid of his strength, so he ordered the prefectures and counties to stop their troops for a while. The edict said..." I'm afraid I can't use a typo. to explain this type of reasons. There must be something hidden here.