However, do you know that there are three deductive versions of Cao Cao's famous story? The author briefly describes it below. Which version should I believe after reading it?
The prologue of this story tells that in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dong Zhuo, the prefect of Hedong, took advantage of the war at the end of the Han Dynasty, the court was weak, occupied the capital, abolished the little emperor, and later established the Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty, hijacked orders and arbitrarily ruled the state affairs.
Cao Cao offered a nod to Dong Zhuo, ready to find an opportunity to assassinate Dong Zhuo, only to be caught by Dong Zhuo's son Lu Bu, and then Cao Cao rode out of the capital, and Dong Zhuo issued a wanted order to Cao Cao, so there were three stories:
First, the self-defense version.
It is said that when Cao Cao escaped, he specially selected several good horses and brought a lot of belongings. He thought there would be more money along the way, so that his escape would be smoother. Unexpectedly, it is these treasures that cause trouble in troubled times.
When Cao Cao fled to Gaoping (now northwest of Xingyang, Henan), he remembered that he had an old friend Lv Boshe here, so he was going to see him.
Unfortunately, Lv Boshe is not at home, but his son Lu Xiao and a group of friends are at home. These young people were insatiable and wanted to rob Cao Cao of his horses and possessions, so Cao Cao personally killed these ungrateful young people.
This story is a version of Self-Defense discovered by wei ren Wang Shen.
Second, the version of imaginary defense.
Another version of this story is that when Cao Cao arrived at Lv Boshe's house on his way to escape, Lao Lu was not at home and his sons were at home. They treated Cao Cao according to the etiquette of both sides.
However, Cao Cao had no reason to suspect that Xiao Lu's attentions were harmful to him, so Cao Cao personally killed five Lv Xiao and three others, with a total of eight lives.
This story is the version of "Virtual Defense" in Wei-Jin Xinyu written by Guo Fa, a Western Jin Dynasty man.
Third, the most popular romantic version.
The last one is the most popular version. The plot is basically the same as the imaginary version. Among them, Cao Cao's suspicion is vividly described. Lv Boshe went out to buy wine to entertain Cao Cao, but Cao Cao heard the sound of sharpening the knife behind the house. Xiao Lu said, "How about tying and killing?"
Cao Cao and Chen Gong, who were traveling with him, drew their swords and took the lead. After killing eight people in a row, they found that Xiao Lu had tied a pig and planned to kill it to entertain them.
This version was adopted by The Romance of Three Kingdoms, and extended to a more infuriating version: Cao Cao knew that he had killed a good man by mistake, and beheaded his uncle Lv Boshe after buying wine, in case he learned that his son had died tragically, and reported to the authorities to kill him.
Moreover, in Chen Gong, I questioned Cao Cao that "it is a great injustice to kill while knowing it!" Later, Cao Cao shouted the famous saying: "I would rather teach me to be negative to the world than to teach the world to be negative to me."
This version can be called the romantic version, which is found in the miscellaneous notes written by Sun Sheng, a native of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Which of the three versions about Cao Cao's killing of the Lv Boshe family is the real version?
It stands to reason that Cao Cao was eager to escape, and there was a wanted order from the court all the way. He should have kept a low profile, how could he take the initiative to kill people with few numbers?
Therefore, the first edition of self-defense should be the most credible, and the third edition of romance is the least credible. Especially that famous saying, Cao Cao shouldn't tell others voluntarily, and the dead people won't tell it, but the author's virtual imagination.
What do you think of this?
This article is quoted from "Those People in the Three Kingdoms"