In the end, Chen Gong supported Lu Bu against Cao Cao. After Lu Bu's defeat in Xiapi City, Chen Gong was captured together. Cao Cao used Chen Gong's mother, wife and children to threaten Chen Gong to surrender. However, Chen Gong was unmoved and died generously, writing a heroic image of loyalty to the country, affection and righteousness, and impassioned for future generations.
The ideal is beautiful, and the reality is very skinny. Although Chen Gong was beautified by The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in real history, Chen Gong was an out-and-out villain. Let's describe what kind of person Chen Gong is from the real historical records.
Chen Gong and Cao Cao got to know each other because Cao Cao was appointed as the prefect of Dongjun in Yanzhou. Ironically, Cao Cao's Eastern Prefecture was appointed by the court controlled by Dong Zhuo in Yuan Shao's table, which was equivalent to Dong Zhuo's desire to win the hearts and minds of the people, and Chen Gong was from the Eastern Prefecture. As the prefect of the eastern county, Cao Cao is obviously the object of local people's wooing.
Cao Cao's Yanzhou Pastoral was not so much obtained by Chen Gong through diplomatic means as by Cao Cao's ability to fight hard. Diplomacy without strength will never work. Cao Cao defeated the Black Mountain Army for many times in the East County with poison, white collaterals, self-defense and the South Xiongnu Khan Luo Fu.
At that time, the world was not peaceful, and small groups of the Yellow Scarf Army broke out one after another, causing trouble everywhere. For example, Qingzhou Yellow Scarf Army next door to Yanzhou has grown to millions, which not only captured Qingzhou, but also beheaded Liu Dai, Cao Cao's immediate boss in Yanzhou at that time. As Qingzhou Yellow Scarf Army was preparing to invade Yanzhou, Chen Gong joined forces with Yanzhou local tyrants Baoxin through diplomatic means, and elected Cao Cao as Yanzhou shepherd, and reported it to the court.
At that time, in Yanzhou, Cao Cao, the prefect of Dongjun, was the best soldier. Yanzhou gentry wanted peace and had to recommend a strong leader to resist the invasion of the Yellow Scarf Army. Therefore, Cao Cao's choice of Yanzhou Pastoral was his own ability and popular support, not Chen Gong's credit. Chen Gong's so-called diplomacy is just a logical conclusion.
It can be seen from Cao Cao's failure to reuse Chen Gong after he became a shepherd in Yanzhou. Cao Cao didn't value Chen Gong, at least he didn't see that Cao Cao sealed Chen Gong in any history books. When Cao Cao became a shepherd in Yanzhou, he defeated the millions of Qingzhou yellow turban insurrectionary troops who invaded Yanzhou and incorporated tens of thousands of lean Qingzhou soldiers.
As for Chen Gong's betrayal of Cao Cao, the historical reason is that Cao Cao killed Bian Rang and other Yanzhou celebrities. Among these people, Chen Gong is a close friend, so Cao Cao offended some Yanzhou scholars. Chen Gong and Yanzhou satrap Liu Chen and a group of Yanzhou people went to see Lu Bu. When Cao Cao led an army to attack Xuzhou Tao Qian, he launched a mutiny, occupied the city and betrayed Cao Cao.
However, Chen Gong's reason for betraying Cao Cao is untenable. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the gentry dominated the country. The gentry's gate valve played an important role in the local area, occupying local public opinion rights, economic rights, recommending talents and controlling a large population. As a foreign warlord force, Cao Cao has only two choices for local gentry forces, one is to unite them to share interests, and the other is to crack down on them to control their power growth.
Judging from Cao Cao's consistent style, he will not unite with these powerful gates. When Cao Cao was young, he dared to kill Kutu, Jianshuo's uncle, the eunuch in power, and launched it again in the era of the emperor? Is meritorious service the only way? The talent selection system is a gate that will not compromise with the local gentry at all. Chen Gong will not be killed because of a few friends in troubled times, but a group of local people oppose Cao Cao's defeat of the millions of yellow turban insurrectionary army. That's a big event unless it involves their interests and life and death.
Therefore, Chen Gong united a group of people against Cao Cao because Cao Cao's policy in Yanzhou offended the local cremation strongmen and hurt the interests of these forces, which would make these people stand firm and take risks to launch a mutiny against Cao Cao, and Chen Gong was an outstanding representative of these people whose interests were damaged. Although Chen Gong worked for Cao Cao before, in the face of interests, Chen Gong betrayed Cao Cao only as a friend of life and death.
Cao Cao's acts of harming the interests of local scholars in Yanzhou include but are not limited to the following acts:
1, appointing Yanzhou local officials as cronies instead of giving them to Yanzhou cremation; Cao Cao appointed Xia Houdun as the prefect of East County and Cheng Yu as the magistrate of Shouzhang County, but he did not appoint local strongmen as officials and did not give political benefits.
Cao Cao is likely to collect taxes and population from local gentry. Gentry is the largest local landlord, who controls a considerable amount of land and hides the population. At that time, there were wars all the year round, and only these big families had money and people. If Cao Cao wants to maintain the war, he must increase taxes and conscription.
3. Cao Cao killed all local scholars who were disobedient or looked down on themselves, such as Bian Rang.
Because Cao Cao did these things, Chen Gong's betrayal can be echoed. These people only dare to oppose Cao Cao, who is good at fighting, considering the immediate interests, and Chen Gong is the representative and leader of this group of people. Therefore, Chen Gong betrayed Cao Cao only for his own ambition and interests, and there was no national justice. Don't think so highly of Chen Gong.
In addition, as can be seen from Chen Gong's welcome to Lu Bu's fight against Cao Cao, Chen Gong just wanted to use Lu Bu, and Lu Bu was encouraged by Chen Gong to join Zhang Miao. It can also be seen that Chen Gong said to Zhang Miao:
Now there are many talents, and the world is divided. With such a vast territory and so many soldiers, you are under attack from all sides. You can also be called a hero among people, but you are subject to others. Isn't it demeaning? Today, Yanzhou's army is advancing eastward, and the city is empty. Lu Bu is brave and good at fighting, and goes forward bravely. If you welcome him temporarily, * * * will occupy Yanzhou together, sit tight and act on camera, and maybe you can achieve something great!
The purpose of Chen Gong's urging Zhang Miao to join was something important, undoubtedly to occupy Yanzhou and welcome Lu Bu to fight Cao Cao, who was good at fighting. And as can be seen from Chen Gong's words, welcoming Lu Bu is temporary, and he will still be kicked away in the future. Lyu3 bu4 is just a tool for Chen Gong to realize his ideal.
Chen Gong said so and did the same. After the defeat of Lu Bu, Chen Gong colluded with Yuan Shu and Hao Meng to plot the assassination of Lu Bu. Chen Gong did the same for the former Union. What's the difference between this behavior and Lu Bu killing Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo? Fortunately, Lu Bu escaped. If Lu Bu hadn't escaped, it would only be the next Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo. If it's not the villain, what is it?
Chen Gong's plot to assassinate Lu Bu was finally told by Cao Xing. Lyu3 bu4 dare not turn against Chen Gong, because the current foreign enemies and a large number of locals in Chen Gong. At this time, Lu Bu and Chen Gong were just a combination of interests, and there was no loyalty at all. It is because of the existence of Cao Cao that Lu Bu and Chen Gong can barely cooperate. Without Cao Cao, Lu Bu and Chen Gong would even be killed immediately.
Before Cao Cao was about to launch the battle of Xiapi against Lu Bu and Chen Gong, Chen Gong once advised Lu Bu to lead some troops out of the city, while Chen Gong and Seibel guarded Xiapi. Fortunately, Lu Bu did not go out of the city under the persuasion of his wife. If Lu Bu goes out of the city, he will change hands when he goes to Pi City. Chen Gong will definitely abandon Lu Bu and secretly make Yuan Shu fight against Cao Cao.
Lyu3 bu4' s wife once told Lyu3 bu4 that Chen Gong was at odds with Seibel. According to Gao Shun's historical records, he was innocent and dignified, and persuaded Lu Bu many times, and at the same time he was very loyal to Lu Bu. If such a person is at odds with Chen Gong, it can only show that Chen Gong and Seibel are at odds, and Seibel doesn't like what Chen Gong has done.
When Lu Bu tried to surrender to Cao Cao several times, Chen Gong repeatedly prevented Lu Bu from surrendering, because Lu Bu and Cao Cao had no mortal enemies, and Chen Gong was the mastermind who betrayed Cao Cao. Chen Gong still wants to tie Lyu3 bu4 into a grasshopper in the same boat, with a glorious future and a broken one. To put it bluntly, he wanted Lyu3 bu4 to be cannon fodder until the last moment.
In the end, the allied forces of Lu Bu and Chen Gong were defeated by Cao Cao in Xiapi, and Cao Cao killed Lu Bu under the artillery fire of Liu Bei. For Chen Gong, a man who almost let Cao Cao lose his chance in the world because of betrayal, Cao Cao didn't even intend to let Chen Gong go. Although it is recorded in the history books that Cao Cao didn't want to kill Chen Gong, he persuaded Chen Gong to surrender, hoping to use Chen Gong again. In fact, this is just a trick of Cao Cao.
At this time, Cao Cao was not a mature politician. It can be seen from Cao Cao's constant attack on the Tao Qian Massacre in Xuzhou that Cao Cao was still a young man at this time. Politically, slaughter is the most unpopular act. At this time, Cao Cao had taken the son of heaven to make the princes. We must pay attention to the image problem. This massacre has been a great loss of public support. If you kill celebrities again, you will fall into a political disadvantage.
But Cao Cao had to kill Chen Gong. If those who betrayed him didn't kill him, how can we deter him once? If you don't kill Cao Cao, you can't show Cao Cao's prestige, and you can't scare those who have two hearts. If you don't kill Chen Gong, how can you lead the team in the future? Cao Cao would kill Chen Gong in public or in private, but Cao Cao played a trick, that is, he deliberately threatened Chen Gong's old mother and his wife and children, forcing Chen Gong to kill himself voluntarily, instead of saying that he wanted to kill Cao Cao.
Look carefully and you will see that Cao Cao is a cunning man. If Chen Gong died voluntarily, then Chen Gong's death can't be blamed on Cao Cao, because although Chen Gong is a villain, he can represent the interests of a group of Yanzhou people behind him. It is impossible for Cao to kill all the Yanzhou people who betrayed him, but he can only make an example and play a deterrent role. This is why Cao Cao killed Chen Gong.
Chen Gong and Cao Cao stood together and betrayed him, and Lu Bu stood together and betrayed him, constantly wooing people to join him for their own interests, just to fight against Cao Cao. This behavior is different from that of a villain. Although human nature can't be criticized by morality in such troubled times, Chen Gong is definitely not a hero of such behavior.