History of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Chapter 395: The Country Can Be Lost, but Zhigao Must Die

[The country can be lost, but Zhigao must die]

There is another classic example: Cao Cao killed Wang Hu. When Cao Cao was fighting Yuan Shu, the army was short of food. Cao Cao privately instructed the grain officer Wang Hu to withhold military rations and replace inferior goods with good ones to temporarily tide over the difficulties. As a result, the soldiers mutinied. Cao Cao, who was ruthless and loved his soldiers like his own sons, was furious when he "heard" about it, so he ordered Wang Hu to be beheaded in public, and the army's morale was appeased.

When you are a manager or a team leader, you are managing people, not machines. How can you strictly follow a pre-written program code (rules and regulations)? People are complex, living individuals with emotions, tempers, and personalities.

Looking at the plum to quench thirst, cutting hair in lieu of head, killing the chicken to scare the monkey, riding the tiger to drive away the wolves, two peaches to kill three warriors, three smiles and one cry (Huarong Road), seven captures and seven releases... these are the skills that managers should really learn, instead of holding a book of rules and regulations and a set of behavioral norms and strictly implementing them.

Many people have studied Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan in Romance of the Three Kingdoms as three successful entrepreneurial groups, and extracted various management ideas as a guide for corporate management and team building. Which of these three is impartial? Which one follows the rules and sticks to the old rules?
So what methods did Xu Zhixun use to improve his reputation in the Huainan Group?

The method adopted by Xu Zhixun is very simple, which can be summed up in one sentence: to improve oneself by belittling others.

He bullied and insulted the civil and military officials in every way so that they would know who was the boss who held the power of life and death; he had no respect for the nominal ruler of Huainan, Yang Wei, and constantly challenged Yang's authority so that everyone would know that Yang was just a puppet of Xu.

Xu Zhixun tried his best to convey to the outside world the information that Xu Wen wanted to hide the most: Yang Wei was Emperor Xian of Han, and the Xu father and son were Cao Cao.

On one occasion, Yang Wei entertained his ministers with wine and entertainment. During the banquet, actors and musicians performed songs and dances to help with the drinking. Xu Zhixun suddenly proposed to watch a play with Yang Wei, with Xu Zhixun playing the leading role of the general and Yang Wei playing the general's servant. So, Xu Zhixun rode a horse in fine clothes, majestically walking in front, while Yang Wei, wearing rags and holding a broken straw hat, followed Xu Zhixun servilely. Xu Zhixun used the excuse of "script requirements" to insult and humiliate Yang Wei in public, and then laughed loudly.

Another time, Yang Wei and hundreds of officials went to the Chanzhi Temple in the east of Yangzhou City to appreciate flowers. During the banquet, Xu Zhixun deliberately got drunk and insulted Yang Wei directly, using vulgar and obscene words. He even threatened Yang Wei with death, which frightened Yang Wei so much that he burst into tears on the spot. All the civil and military officials present trembled, bowed their heads and remained silent, and no one dared to speak.

When returning from Chanzhi Temple, the attendants took advantage of Xu Zhixun's inattention and hurriedly carried Yang Wei onto a small boat to escape as quickly as possible. When Xu Zhixun discovered this, he also boarded a small boat and ordered a quick chase, racing against Yang Wei. As a result, Xu Zhixun failed to catch up, so he flew into a rage and killed one of Yang Wei's attendants on the spot by shooting him in the head with a sledgehammer.

Another time, Xu Zhixun and Yang Wei were on the same boat. As soon as Yang Wei landed, Xu Zhixun took out a slingshot from his arms with a wicked smile, and said, "Go—" A bullet hit Yang Wei's back hard. Xu Zhixun laughed "Haha".

Poems as proof:

"The dragon coils around the pillar in my dream, who told the falcon to come on stage and watch.

"Sanlang is drunk when he returns to the turbid river, and tries his hand at the king with his projectiles."

It was Xu Zhixun's daily task to publicly humiliate Yang Wei. He had to repeatedly prove to the civil and military officials that the Xu family was powerful and the Yang family was weak and incompetent. "Xu Wen is Zhu Wen and Cao Cao" was a fact that he had to repeat every day, every month, and every year.

In addition to being rude to Yang Wei, Xu Zhixun was even more mean and ungrateful to the civil and military officials. He often showed his fangs to the officials, making them afraid of his power and succumbing to his power. Li Decheng, a veteran of the Huainan Group, had dozens of singing girls at home, and Xu Zhixun asked him for them. Li Decheng sent someone to deliver an apology letter, which said, "These singing girls in my family are very old. Some of them have already given birth to children. They are all middle-aged women. How can they be qualified to serve the nobles? Wait for me to find a few young and beautiful girls for you when I have time."

Xu Zhixun was furious. He was not really coveting these old singing girls, but he wanted this kind of unchangeable "rule": Look, even the veteran and meritorious general Li Decheng is afraid of me, and he will give me whatever I say I want.

Therefore, Li Decheng's polite refusal made Xu Zhixun furious, and he immediately threatened Li Decheng's envoy: "Look, I will kill Li Decheng one day, and even bring his original wife here!"

It was not just Li Decheng. Xu Zhixun also killed his own brother, Xu Zhigao.

Xu Zhixun was very afraid of this adopted brother, and thought he was the biggest threat to his inheritance of the family business. Xu Wen liked this adopted son very much, and Xu Zhixun was very worried that his father would have a brain cramp one day and pass the family business to Xu Zhigao, so he became more and more dissatisfied with this adopted brother. The delicate relationship between Xu Wen and his adopted son Xu Zhigao will be described in detail later.

It is a common practice for a biological son to want to kill his godson who is better and older than himself. However, the real reason why Xu Zhixun wanted to kill Xu Zhigao was that Xu Zhigao missed his banquet.

Once, Xu Zhixun called all his brothers together for a drink, but Xu Zhigao was unable to attend the banquet for some reason. Xu Zhixun was furious and said, "This stinky beggar, you don't want to drink wine, do you want to eat swords?" Just because Xu Zhigao came from a humble background, Xu Zhixun always looked down on him. He thought Xu Zhigao was like a stray cat or dog picked up by his father, so he often called him "beggar."

Only Xu Wen's fourth son, Xu Zhijian, was loyal and honest. He treated Xu Zhigao as his own brother and treated him with great respect.

Not long after, Xu Zhixun set up a Hongmen Banquet, ambushed the swordsmen in advance, agreed on a secret signal, and then invited Xu Zhigao to the banquet, deciding to fight during the banquet. After Xu Zhigao sat down, the honest Xu Zhijian secretly stepped hard on Xu Zhigao's foot.

Xu Zhigao immediately understood, so he said he wanted to go to the bathroom. After going out, he rode his horse as fast as he could, fleeing from the place of trouble.

After learning that Xu Zhigao had escaped, Xu Zhixun gave his sword to his trusted general Diao Yanneng, and asked him to chase Xu Zhigao at full speed, and kill him without mercy after catching up with him!

Diao Yanneng followed the order and ran with the sword in hand, and indeed caught up with Xu Zhigao. Just when Xu Zhigao was horrified, Diao Yanneng just raised the sword from a distance to Xu Zhigao, signaling him to see whose sword it was. Neither of them spoke, and everything was said without words.

Afterwards, Diao Yanneng returned empty-handed and told Xu Zhixun that he did not catch up.

On another occasion, also at the Hongmen Banquet, Diao Yanneng was responsible for pouring wine for the guests. When pouring wine for Xu Zhigao, Diao Yanneng secretly "spoke to Liezu (Xu Zhigao) with his hand, and Liezu understood and quickly got up and left."

According to historical records, Xu Zhixun tried to kill Xu Zhigao many times, and Xu Zhijian, Diao Yanneng and others also played golden supporting roles many times, each time giving Xu Zhixun hints at the most critical moment to help Xu Zhigao escape danger.

(End of this chapter)