🍚 Story 20 : Cao Cao's Shortage of Food

🍚 Story 20 : Cao Cao's Shortage of Food

As mentioned before: Cao Cao's 170,000 soldiers attacked the city of Shouchun. Their daily food consumption was high, and many administrative regions were facing abandoned fields and drought, unable to supply the front lines in time. Cao Cao urged his army to fight quickly, while Li Feng and others remained indoors. After more than a month of fighting between Cao Cao's army and Yuan Shu's army, their food supplies were running out. Cao Cao wrote to Sun Ce, borrowing 100,000 bushels of grain, but this was still insufficient to distribute to his army. Wang Hou, a granary officer under Ren Jun, Cao Cao's grain officer, entered the camp and reported to Cao Cao, "We have many soldiers but little grain; what should we do?" Cao Cao said, "Distribute the grain in small measures to temporarily alleviate the crisis." Hou asked, "What if the soldiers complain?" Cao Cao replied, "I have a plan."

Wang Hou followed Cao Cao's orders and distributed the grain in small measures. Cao Cao secretly sent men to his various camps to gather information. The soldiers all complained loudly, saying, "The Prime Minister is deceiving us!" Cao Cao secretly summoned Wang Hou to his tent and said, "I want to borrow something from you to quell the discontent among the people. Don't be stingy." Wang Hou asked, "What does the Prime Minister wish to use?" Cao Cao replied, "I want to borrow your head to show the people." Wang Hou was terrified and said, "I am innocent!" Cao Cao said, "I know you are innocent; but if I don't kill you, the morale of my army will change. After your death, I will take care of your wife; you don't need to worry." Before Wang Hou could speak again, Cao Cao had already ordered his executioners to drag Wang Hou outside, behead him with a single stroke, and hang his head on a high pole. A notice was posted announcing to the people, "Wang Hou deliberately used a small container to steal government grain, carefully following military law." Only then did the people's resentment begin to subside.

1. Why did Wang Hou lose his life?

2. Was Cao Cao's action correct? Explain in terms of peacetime and chaos.

1. Why did Wang Hou lose his life?

Because his boss, Cao Cao, wanted him as a sacrifice, which he was completely unaware of from the start.

If he had realized it, he would have either refused or fled halfway. He simply didn't understand the gravity of the situation.

When his boss told him beforehand that he had a solution, he should have started to think: perhaps his boss had no solution at all.

2. Was Cao Cao's approach right? Explain in terms of peacetime and chaos.

Cao Cao's approach was extremely evil. He deceived others with lies and used their lives and sacrifices to achieve his own goals. This is incredibly evil. However, he lived in the chaotic era of the late Eastern Han Dynasty. In chaotic times, morality disappears, and law and order vanish. It reverts to the law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak. The world is like a cage where everyone devours each other, and those inside degenerate into trapped beasts. Eras of destruction are always chaotic. Just like the Chu-Han Contention at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the warlord era at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the An Lushan Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, the Huang Chao Rebellion at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the power struggles of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms or the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and the warlord conflicts in the early Republic of China.

Chaotic times produce heroes; heroes, in chaotic times, are bound hand and foot. When the world is in decline, heroes can rise to save it; when the world collapses, heroes will establish a new order amidst the chaos. And the process will be filthy. Looking back, since the Eastern Han Dynasty had the Ten Attendants within and the Taiping Dao without, the world was already in decline. Coupled with the lack of good governance, the world went from decline to collapse. This led to the emergence of heroes like Cao Cao.

In chaotic times, restoring basic order is impossible because of the law of the jungle: the strong prey on the weak. Therefore, circumstances change, and everyone uses their strengths. Moral boundaries become blurred. This is why Liu Bei, a figure from the Three Kingdoms period, received so much attention and recognition. When Cao Cao led his light cavalry in a swift attack on Jingzhou, he chose to flee with the people. By not abandoning the populace, he gained widespread public support.