Yang Xiu, courtesy name Dezu, was the son of Yang Biao, a Taiwei in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. His mother came from the Yuan family of "Four Generations and Three Dukes". During the Jian'an period, Yang Xiu entered the official career through the civil servant audition. Soon, Cao Cao appreciated Yang Xiu's talent and appointed him as the Prime Minister's Registrar. What is the official position of the Registrar? Equivalent to the steward of Cao Cao's family.

When he served as the chief registrar, Yang Xiu did an outstanding job. History records: "At that time, there were many things happening in the military country. General Xiu knew both the outside and the inside, and everything was satisfactory." Since the annual assessment of civil servants achieved full marks, if this continues, it will be easy for Yang Xiu to become a ministerial-level cadre.

But in the end Yang Xiu was killed by Cao Cao!

Why did Cao Cao kill Yang Xiu? In Cao Cao's words, Yang Xiu's crime was "leaking the spirit of the superior leaders' documents and forming cliques for personal gain".

Is this explanation convincing? I think it's too far-fetched.

"Leaking out words and teachings to communicate with the princes" is what Yang Xiu did to assist Cao Zhi when Cao Zhi and Cao Pi fought for the throne. Then, under Cao Pi's subordinates, Sima Yi, Chen Qun, Have Wu Zhi and others ever done such a thing? It was obviously done, otherwise Cao Pi would not have been able to finally inherit Cao Cao's mantle.

Since what Yang Xiu did was no different from Sima Yi, Chen Qun and others, then why did Cao Cao want to kill Yang Xiu? Everyone in the world basically agrees on Yang Xiu's death, that is, Yang Xiu died because he was too clever, that is, his cleverness was mistaken for his cleverness.

Where does Yang Xiu's cleverness lie?

There are two short stories that illustrate Yang Xiu’s intelligence. When Cao Cao and Yang Xiu passed by the stele of Cao E, they saw eight powerful characters engraved on the inscription: "Young woman of yellow silk, grandson Yingjiu". Cao Cao was puzzled by the meaning and asked Yang Xiu on the spot if he could see it. Got the doorway? Yang Xiu said frankly that he understood it, and Cao Cao asked Yang Xiu to write it down and not say it out for the time being. After walking for thirty miles, Cao Cao suddenly guessed the four-word riddle "Excellent Words". The two compared the answers, and Cao Cao found that Yang Xiu's answer was completely consistent.

This story was recorded in "Shishuo Xinyu". Later generations often believed that although Cao Cao had joined the Seventh Son of Jian'an, his talents were thirty miles away from Yang Xiu. In today's terms, It is said that Yang Xiu's talent surpassed Cao Cao by dozens of streets.

The second story is that at the inauguration ceremony of the new house of the Prime Minister's Mansion, Cao Cao inspected the new house and wrote the word "live" on the door of the Prime Minister's Mansion and left. Everyone was puzzled. Yang Xiu pointedly pointed out that "movable type is broad". It turned out that Cao Cao thought the new house was too big.

From these two short stories, we can see that Yang Xiu's IQ coefficient is much higher than Cao Cao. However, is the high IQ the reason why Cao Cao killed Yang Xiu?

Obviously not. Cao Cao killed Yang Xiu because Yang Xiu's personality was too high-profile. In today's terms, he liked to be in the limelight and show off his quick thinking.

Yang Xiu’s biggest failure was that he touched the “hidden rules” red line in the workplace.

What unspoken rules of the workplace did he break?

To put it simply, they are so pushy that the leader loses face.

A few years ago, there was a classic line in the costume TV series "Detective Di Renjie". As Di Renjie's personal bodyguard, Li Yuanfang would ask: "Yuanfang, what do you think about this matter?" ?" Li Yuanfang, who was extremely witty, had already seen the clues, but still replied: "Sir, I think something is fishy."

Li Yuanfang's answers are an art form. He clearly saw the secret but took a roundabout way of answering the leader's questions by "seeing through it without revealing it", and finally revealed the secret through Di Renjie's words.

This not only saves the leader's face, but also does not make the subordinates look stupid and incompetent. However, Yang Xiu's behavior is to "point out even if you see through it." In this way, on the surface, he has won praise from everyone, but in fact, he has disgusted the leaders. Over time, no matter how outstanding employees are, they will not be appreciated by the leaders.

In the end, Yang Xiu’s character collapsed and he died without a burial place. However, Yang Xiu’s father Yang Biao frankly said that he was “unworthy of Rixi (Jin Rixi)’s foresight.” Note, the words are full of Yang Xiu’s fault.