CV of a talent
But before that, allow me to analyse his one and only failure recorded:
[魏书曰：刘备来奔，以为豫州牧。或谓太祖曰：“备有英雄志，今不早图，后必为患。”太祖以问嘉，嘉曰：“有是。然公提剑起义兵，为百姓除暴，推诚仗信以招俊杰，犹惧其未也。今备有英雄名，以穷归己而害之，是以害贤为名，则智士将自疑，回心择主，公谁与定天下？夫除一人之患，以沮四海之望，安危之机，不可不察！”
太祖笑曰：“君得之矣。”]
太祖笑曰：“君得之矣。”]
[傅子曰：初，刘备来降，太祖以客礼待之，使为豫州牧。嘉言于太祖曰：“备有雄才而甚得众心。张飞、关羽者，皆万人之敌也，为之死用。嘉观之，备终不为人下，其谋未可测也。古人有言：‘一日纵敌，数世之患。’宜早为之所。”
是时，太祖奉天子以号令天下，方招怀英雄以明大信，未得从嘉谋。会太祖使备要击袁术，嘉与程昱俱驾而谏太祖曰：“放备，变作矣！”
时备已去，遂举兵以叛。太祖恨不用嘉之言。]
是时，太祖奉天子以号令天下，方招怀英雄以明大信，未得从嘉谋。会太祖使备要击袁术，嘉与程昱俱驾而谏太祖曰：“放备，变作矣！”
时备已去，遂举兵以叛。太祖恨不用嘉之言。]
[案魏书所云，与傅子正反也。]
Trans:
[From the Book of Wei: When Liu Bei came to pledge his loyalty, he was made the Governor of Yu Province in return. Those around Taizu advised: "Bei is one with ambitions of a hero. If we don't deal with him now, he will be a major threat in the future."
Taizu hence asked Jia and Jia replied: "What they say is true. Yet since my lord is declaring arms in the name of righteousness, destroying evil for the people and inviting men of talent with sincerity should deny any undue fears. Now that Bei has a hero's repute, only harm will ensue if he is left with nothing in the end. If we are to kill him, then upon the basis of having a notoriety in harming the truly able, whoever serving us will end up serving other lords. Who, then will my lord have in pacifying the chaos? To destroy the threat of one man at the expense of a wide reaching repute earned is not prudent, one must decide carefully in the face of potential crisis!"
Taizu smiled: "You are indeed right."]
[From Fuzi: In the beginning, Bei came to pledge his allegiance. Taizu treated him with respect and made him the Governor of Yu Province. Jia advised Taizu: "Bei has the heart of a hero and support from the masses. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are renowned as warriors matching ten of thousand enemies and their undying loyalty is evident. By my own take, Bei will never subject himself under others for long, his shrewdness of mind no one can know. There's a saying: 'A day of freedom for an enemy will only mean countless years of trouble.' Hence it is best to reach a decision swiftly as possible."
At that time, Taizu was commanding all in the Emperor's name and gathering heroes in order to bolster his repute, hence not abiding to Jia's counsel. When Taizu sent Bei to attack Yuan Shu, both Jia and Cheng Yu arrived to together and told Taizu: "Letting Bei go is tantamount to creating trouble!"
By that time, Bei was already gone beyond reach as he managed to raise an army in rebellion. Taizu ended up regretting not listening to Jia.]
[By your lowly vassal's own perception, whatever being said in the Book of Wei is in contrary to whatever being recorded in Fuzi.]
Analysis: The entire part here is basically Pei Songzhi's annotations with his conclusion that both accounts conflicted with each other. But is it truly the case? Let's take a look at how the passages were being phrased. The Book of Wei's account was being written under one single context: The moment where Liu Bei came running and begging so as to speak. You see, everyone was telling Cao Cao to off Liu Bei at that time and Cao Cao had to seek Guo Jia's counsel in response.
The account of Fuzi on the other hand could be seen as Guo Jia advising Cao Cao after Liu Bei was made the Governor. Why am I so sure? Very simple, folks. Would Cao Cao have made Liu Bei the Governor of Yu Province without Guo Jia's assurance? I truly doubt so. Hence, both accounts by my own views do NOT conflict against each other. Guo Jia's advice in the former case was during Liu Bei pledging his allegiance whereas the latter account of Fuzi was only after his promise was assumed to be true.
Simply put, Guo Jia's failure wasn't down to not understanding the real McCoy. Rather, he placed too much trust in Cao Cao and he assumed Cao Cao was able to make the correct decision. You see, there are ways in more than one showing the other person that I don't give a damn. I can say it out loud, I can keep quiet as well. Cao Cao is most likely choosing the latter case. Because whatever being written in history is only all about what we can see in a real person's view and nothing more. Simply put, what we're seeing here is nothing more than actual results, not whatever going on in process.
In fact come to think of it, if the likes of Cheng Yu and Dong Zhao (董昭) can see through everything about Liu Bei, then quite obviously Guo Jia shouldn't be anywhere opposite. There's such a consequence called a serious breach of trust and we all know Guo Jia will never be that dumb.
... To be continued...
b/c now my (laobu's) laptop super laggy liao plus I need to go eat dinner also...
No comments:
Post a Comment