If you want to talk about the valiant soldier of the Three Kingdoms, you have to mention Huang Xu. Cao Cao once compared Zhou Yafu with Huang Xu, which shows the strength of Huang Xu at that time. In The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Huang Xu was killed by the rebel Mengda, but almost all the more powerful first-class military officers in history died of illness, while in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is basically said that they died in battle. Maybe this is to highlight the heroic plot.

As we all know, although Cao Cao is suspicious, he is extremely good at finding and appointing talents, which is why Cao Ying's top talents far surpass those of the other two countries. Huang Xu, as a person who didn't follow Cao Cao when he just started his career, can gain the trust of Cao Cao in the later period, which is very rare. Without real skills, it is impossible for Huang Xu to stand out from the talented Cao Cao. Maybe he is a military commander at the same level as Zhao Zilong.

Huang Xu even defeated the powerful Guan Yu. After this campaign, Cao Cao personally greeted Huang Xu, and Cao Cao listed him as a "five heroes" with Yu Ban and Zhang Liao, showing that he did have some advantages. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao's army and generals are generally weakened images, while Liu Bei's army is generally exaggerated. However, in history, Cao Cao's army was very strong, and the number of troops of Shu and Wu combined was not as large as that of Cao Cao, indicating that Cao Cao's troops were quite large.

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Huang Xu died at the hands of the rebel Mengda, who shot him in the forehead with an arrow and then died. Such a powerful figure died in this way, not to mention the unwillingness of the scholar, even if Cao Cao knew what happened in the spring, he would be angry. In fact, Huang Xu died of illness. The reason for this arrangement is actually to show heroism.