1
荀彧字文若,潁川潁陰人也。 祖父淑,字季和,朗陵令。 當漢順、桓之間,知名當世。 有子八人,號曰八龍。 彧父緄,濟南相。 叔父爽,司空。
Xun Yu, courtesy name Wenruo, came from Yingyin in Yingchuan. His grandfather Shu, courtesy name Jihe, had served as magistrate of Langling. Under Emperors Shun and Huan of Han he was already famous in his own day. He fathered eight sons, who were known collectively as the Eight Dragons. Xun Yu’s father, Gun, had been chancellor of the kingdom of Jinan. His uncle Shuang rose to be Minister of Works.
2
〈《續漢書》曰:淑有高才,王暢、李膺皆以爲師,爲朗陵侯相,號稱神君。 張璠《漢紀》曰:淑博學有高行,與李固、李膺同志友善,拔李昭於小吏,友黃叔度於幼童,以賢良方正徵,對策譏切梁氏,出補朗陵侯相,卒官。 八子:儉、緄、靖、燾、詵、爽、肅、旉。 音敷。 爽字慈明,幼好學,年十二,通春秋、論語,耽思經典,不應徵命,積十數年。 董卓秉政,復徵爽,爽欲遁去,吏持之急。 詔下郡,即拜平原相。 行至苑陵,又追拜光祿勳。 視事三日,策拜司空。 爽起自布衣,九十五日而至三公。 淑舊居西豪里,縣令苑康曰昔高陽氏有才子八人,署其里爲高陽里。 靖字叔慈,亦有至德,名幾亞爽,隱居終身。 皇甫謐逸士傳:或問許子將,靖與爽孰賢? 子將曰:「二人皆玉也,慈明外朗,叔慈內潤。」〉
〈The Continued Book of Han records that Shu was a man of exceptional talent whom Wang Chang and Li Ying both acknowledged as their teacher; as chancellor to the Marquis of Langling he earned the sobriquet “Divine Lord.” Zhang Fan’s Han Ji adds that Shu was erudite and principled, aligned in purpose with Li Gu and Li Ying, promoted Li Zhao from the ranks of minor clerks, and took Huang Shudu as a friend while the latter was still a child. Summoned on the “worthy and upright” recommendation, he used his examination answers to excoriate the Liang faction, was posted as chancellor to the Marquis of Langling, and died in that office. His eight sons were named Jian, Gun, Jing, Tao, Shen, Shuang, Su, and Fu. The character is read like the cited text (fu). Shuang, courtesy name Ciming, loved books from boyhood; by twelve he had mastered the Spring and Autumn and the Analects, then lost himself in the classics and ignored repeated calls to serve—for well over a decade. After Dong Zhuo seized the government, Shuang was summoned once more; he tried to slip away, but local officials seized him and would not let him go. An imperial order reached the commandery, and he was at once named chancellor of Pingyuan. He had got only as far as Yuanling when a follow-up appointment made him Superintendent of the Imperial Household. Three days after taking up his duties he received a formal writ naming him Minister of Works. Shuang had begun as a commoner; within ninety-five days he stood among the Three Dukes. Shu had lived in the Xihao ward; Magistrate Yuan Kang, invoking the eight worthy sons of the Gaoyang line in high antiquity, redesignated the neighborhood as Gaoyang Ward. Jing, courtesy name Shuci, was a man of comparable moral stature whose reputation nearly rivaled Shuang’s; he spent his whole life in seclusion. Huangfu Mi’s Biographies of Recluses records that someone once asked Xu Shao: “Between Jing and Shuang, which is the better man?” Xu Shao answered, “Both are flawless as jade—Ciming gleams on the surface, Shuci glows from within.”〉
3
陶謙死,太祖欲遂取徐州,還乃定布。 彧曰:「昔高祖保關中,光武據河內,皆深根固本以制天下,進足以勝敵,退足以堅守,故雖有困敗而終濟大業。 將軍本以兖州首事,平山東之難,百姓無不歸心恱服。 且河、濟,天下之要地也,今雖殘壞,猶易以自保,是亦將軍之關中、河內也,不可以不先定。 今以破李封、薛蘭,若分兵東擊陳宮,宮必不敢西顧,以其閒勒兵收熟麥,約食畜穀,一舉而布可破也。 破布,然後南結揚州,共討袁術,以臨淮、泗。 若舍布而東,多留兵則不足用,少留兵則民皆保城,不得樵採。 布乘虛寇暴,民心益危,唯鄄城、范、衞可全,其餘非己之有,是無兖州也。 若徐州不定,將軍當安所歸乎? 且陶謙雖死,徐州未易亡也。 彼懲往年之敗,將懼而結親,相爲表裏。 今東方皆以收麥,必堅壁清野以待將軍,將軍攻之不拔,略之無獲,不出十日,則十萬之衆未戰而自困耳。 〈臣松之以爲于時徐州未平,兖州又叛,而云十萬之衆,雖是抑抗之言,要非寡弱之稱。 益知官渡之役,不得云兵不滿萬也。〉 前討徐州,威罰實行, 〈《曹瞞傳》云:自京師遭董卓之亂,人民流移東出,多依彭城間。 遇太祖至,坑殺男女數萬口於泗水,水爲不流。 陶謙帥其衆軍武原,太祖不得進。 引軍從泗南攻取慮、睢陵、夏丘諸縣,皆屠之; 雞犬亦盡,墟邑無復行人。〉 其子弟念父兄之恥,必人自爲守,無降心,就能破之,尚不可有也。 夫事固有棄此取彼者,以大易小可也,以安易危可也,權一時之勢,不患本之不固可也。 今三者莫利,願將軍熟慮之。」 太祖乃止。 大收麥,復與布戰,分兵平諸縣。 布敗走,兖州遂平。
After Tao Qian’s death, Cao Cao meant to seize Xuzhou at once and deal with Lü Bu only on his return. Xun Yu replied: “Gaozu held fast to Guanzhong, Guangwu to Henei—each sank deep roots so he could command the empire: strong enough to strike when he advanced, secure enough to endure when he fell back. Setbacks did not keep either from finishing the great work. You began from Yanzhou, crushed the rebellion east of the Taihang, and won the people’s wholehearted allegiance. The Yellow River and the Ji corridor are the empire’s strategic heartland. Ravaged as they are, they still offer you a defensible base—your equivalent of Gaozu’s Guanzhong or Guangwu’s Henei—and you must secure them before anything else. Li Feng and Xue Lan are already broken. Send a column east against Chen Gong and he will not dare glance toward the west; in the breathing space that gives you, march the army in to reap the winter wheat, husband grain, and tighten supplies—then Lü Bu can be crushed in a single blow. Once Lü Bu is gone, you can swing south to win Yangzhou as an ally, join forces against Yuan Shu, and threaten the Huai and Si line. Turn your back on Lü Bu for the east, and you face a cruel choice: leave a large garrison and your field army is enfeebled; leave a small one and every town will bolt its gates, cutting off fuel and forage. Lü Bu will pour through the gap, terrorizing the countryside; public morale will collapse. You might hold Juancheng, Fan, and Wei, but everything beyond would slip from your grasp—you would in effect have lost Yanzhou. If Xuzhou eludes you, my lord, where will you withdraw when the campaign fails? Tao Qian is dead, but Xuzhou will not fall at a touch. Smarting from last year’s defeat, they will cling together in fear—intermarrying, backing one another like skin and bone. The east has already brought in its wheat; your enemies will fortify every wall and strip the countryside bare. You will find cities you cannot storm and fields that yield nothing. Inside ten days an army of a hundred thousand will be starving without having fought a battle. 〈Pei Songzhi observes that Xuzhou was still unconquered and Yanzhou in revolt when this was said; calling the army “a hundred thousand strong” may be rhetorical bravado, but it hardly describes a feeble force. This makes it even plainer that at Guandu one cannot honestly claim you had fewer than ten thousand men under arms.〉 The last time you marched on Xuzhou, terror was no empty threat— 〈The Cao Man Zhuan relates that after the capital convulsed under Dong Zhuo, refugees streamed east and clustered thickly about Pengcheng. When your army arrived, tens of thousands of men, women, and children were driven into the Si and slaughtered until the river ran thick as paste. Tao Qian drew up his forces at Wuyuan and blocked your advance. You then swung south of the Si, stormed Lü, Suiling, and Xiaqiu, and put every county to the sword; not a fowl or cur was left alive, and the wasted towns knew no passer-by.〉 Their sons still nurse the humiliation of fathers and brothers slain before their eyes; each will fight for his own wall and none will think of yielding. Even if you could break them, you could not hope to hold the land. Sometimes one must trade one front for another—swap a lesser prize for a greater, or exchange present danger for lasting security, or bend to the exigency of the hour even when the foundation feels thin. None of those three bargains serves you now, General; weigh them again with care.” With that, Cao Cao abandoned the idea. He reaped the wheat in earnest, renewed the war with Lü Bu, and detached columns to pacify the counties one by one. Lü Bu broke and ran; Yanzhou was his again.
4
自太祖之迎天子也,袁紹內懷不服。 紹旣并河朔,天下畏其彊。 太祖方東憂呂布,南拒張繡,而繡敗太祖軍於宛。 紹益驕,與太祖書,其辭悖慢。 太祖大怒,出入動靜變於常,衆皆謂以失利於張繡故也。 鍾繇以問彧,彧曰:「公之聦明,必不追咎往事,殆有他慮。」 則見太祖問之,太祖乃以紹書示彧,曰:「今將討不義,而力不敵,何如?」 彧曰:「古之成敗者,誠有其才,雖弱必彊,苟非其人,雖彊易弱,劉、項之存亡,足以觀矣。 今與公爭天下者,唯袁紹爾。 紹貌外寬而內忌,任人而疑其心,公明達不拘,唯才所宜,此度勝也。 紹遲重少決,失在後機,公能斷大事,應變無方,此謀勝也。 紹御軍寬緩,法令不立,士卒雖衆,其實難用,公法令旣明,賞罰必行,士卒雖寡,皆爭致死,此武勝也。 紹憑世資,從容飾智,以收名譽,故士之寡能好問者多歸之,公以至仁待人,推誠心不爲虛美,行己謹儉,而與有功者無所恡惜,故天下忠正效實之士咸願爲用,此德勝也。 夫以四勝輔天子,扶義征伐,誰敢不從? 紹之彊其何能爲!」 太祖恱。 彧曰:「不先取呂布,河北亦未易圖也。」 太祖曰:「然。 吾所惑者,又恐紹侵擾關中,亂羌、胡,南誘蜀漢,是我獨以兖、豫抗天下六分之五也。 爲將柰何?」 彧曰:「關中將帥以十數,莫能相一,唯韓遂、馬超最彊。 彼見山東方爭,必各擁衆自保。 今若撫以恩德,遣使連和,相持雖不能久安,比公安定山東,足以不動。 鍾繇可屬以西事。 則公無憂矣。」
Ever since Cao Cao brought the emperor to his side, Yuan Shao had nursed a private resentment. Once Yuan Shao had swallowed the country north of the Yellow River, the empire trembled at his power. Cao Cao was still fretting over Lü Bu to the east and holding Zhang Xiu at bay in the south when Zhang Xiu crushed his army at Wan. Yuan Shao grew bolder by the day; his letter to Cao Cao was insolent and contemptuous. Cao Cao flew into a rage; his whole demeanor changed. Everyone assumed it was the sting of his defeat by Zhang Xiu. Zhong Yao pressed Xun Yu for an explanation. Xun Yu said, “Our lord is too astute to brood over an old reverse; something else is eating at him.” He went straight to Cao Cao and asked. Cao Cao handed him Yuan Shao’s letter and said, “I mean to chastise this traitor, yet I cannot match him in force—what am I to do?” Xun Yu answered, “History shows that the right leader turns weakness into strength and the wrong one squanders even strength. The rise and fall of Liu Bang and Xiang Yu are lesson enough. The only rival left for the empire is Yuan Shao. Yuan Shao seems magnanimous yet envies every able subordinate; he hires talent and then suspects it. You are clear-sighted and easy in manner, placing each man where his gifts fit best—that is the first edge you hold. Yuan Shao is ponderous and hesitant, always a step behind events; you seize the great choices and adapt without a fixed script—that is your second advantage. Yuan Shao’s hosts are numerous but slackly led, with no clear code of discipline; yours are fewer, yet your laws are plain and every reward or punishment is honored, so men vie to die in your service—that is your third edge. Yuan Shao trades on pedigree, strikes a sage pose, and collects flatterers of little real talent. You treat men with genuine kindness, waste no words on hollow praise, live modestly yourself, yet pour out honors on those who earn them—so every honest man of substance wants to serve you. That is your fourth advantage. With those four strengths at your back, upholding the emperor and marching under the banner of justice, who would dare refuse you? What can Yuan Shao’s brute strength accomplish against that?” Cao Cao’s mood brightened. Xun Yu added, “Yet if you do not eliminate Lü Bu first, you will never find an opening in the north.” “True enough,” said Cao Cao. What troubles me is the chance that Yuan Shao will raid Guanzhong, stir the Qiang and northern tribes, and draw Shu and Han into alliance—leaving me to hold Yanzhou and Yuzhou against five-sixths of the empire. How does a commander fight on such terms?” Xun Yu replied, “The warlords of Guanzhong are legion and pull in every direction; only Han Sui and Ma Chao carry real weight. They see the plain east of the mountains still ablaze with war and will cling to their own troops for self-preservation. Treat them generously and send envoys to negotiate a pact; the arrangement may not endure forever, but it will hold until you have pacified the east. Entrust the west to Zhong Yao. Then you need not lose sleep over it.”
5
三年,太祖旣破張繡,東禽呂布,定徐州,遂與袁紹相拒。 孔融謂彧曰:「紹地廣兵彊; 田豐、許攸,智計之士也,爲之謀; 審配、逢紀,盡忠之臣也,任其事; 顏良、文醜,勇冠三軍,統其兵:殆難克乎!」 彧曰:「紹兵雖多而法不整。 田豐剛而犯上,許攸貪而不治。 審配專而無謀,逢紀果而自用,此二人留知後事,若攸家犯其法,必不能縱也,不縱,攸必爲變。 顏良、文醜,一夫之勇耳,可一戰而禽也。」
In the third year of the Jian’an era Cao Cao crushed Zhang Xiu, drove east to capture Lü Bu, secured Xuzhou, and drew up his lines against Yuan Shao. Kong Rong said to Xun Yu, “Yuan Shao commands vast lands and a mighty army; Tian Feng and Xu You are shrewd strategists at his ear; Shen Pei and Feng Ji are loyal ministers who run his administration; Yan Liang and Wen Chou are the bravest captains in his host. Can you possibly break such a power?” Xun Yu answered, “Yuan Shao’s army is large but ill-disciplined. Tian Feng is blunt to the point of insubordination; Xu You is corrupt and undisciplined. Shen Pei is arbitrary and shortsighted; Feng Ji is headstrong and self-willed. Leave them in charge of rear affairs and, should Xu You’s kin break the law, they will show no mercy—and Xu You will turn traitor the moment they do. Yan Liang and Wen Chou are common bravos—you can take them in a single engagement.”
6
五年,與紹連戰。 太祖保官渡,紹圍之。 太祖軍糧方盡,書與彧,議欲還許以引紹。 彧曰:「今軍食雖少,未若楚、漢在滎陽、成皐間也。 是時劉、項莫肯先退,先退者勢屈也。 公以十分居一之衆,畫地而守之,扼其喉而不得進,已半年矣。 情見勢竭,必將有變,此用奇之時,不可失也。」 太祖乃住。 遂以奇兵襲紹別屯,斬其將淳于瓊等,紹退走。 審配以許攸家不法,收其妻子,攸怒叛紹; 顏良、文醜臨陣授首; 田豐以諫見誅:皆如彧所策。
In the fifth year the two sides clashed again and again. Cao Cao stood fast at Guandu while Yuan Shao invested the camp. When grain ran out, Cao Cao wrote to Xun Yu proposing a feigned retreat to Xu to lure Yuan Shao forward. Xun Yu replied, “Short as our supplies are, we are not as desperate as Liu Bang and Xiang Yu were between Xingyang and Chenggao. Neither Liu Bang nor Xiang Yu would be first to break off, for whoever gave ground first lost the initiative. You hold him with a tenth of his numbers, lines drawn in the dust, your grip on his throat unbroken for half a year already. His options are exposed and his momentum spent; a break in the pattern is due. This is the moment for an unexpected stroke—do not throw it away.” Cao Cao held his position. He then sent a flying column against Yuan Shao’s supply depot, cut down Chunyu Qiong and the other defenders, and forced Yuan Shao into retreat. Shen Pei seized Xu You’s family on charges of corruption; Xu You, furious, defected from Yuan Shao; Yan Liang and Wen Chou died on the field; Tian Feng was executed for daring to remonstrate—every turn unfolded as Xun Yu had predicted.
7
六年,太祖就穀東平之安民,糧少,不足與河北相支,欲因紹新破,以其間擊討劉表。 彧曰:「今紹敗,其衆離心,宜乘其困,遂定之; 而背兖、豫,遠師江、漢,若紹收其餘燼,承虛以出人後,則公事去矣。」 太祖復次于河上。 紹病死。 太祖渡河,擊紹子譚、尚,而高幹、郭援侵略河東,關右震動,鍾繇帥馬騰等擊破之。 語在《繇傳》。 八年,太祖錄彧前後功,表封彧爲萬歲亭侯。 〈《彧別傳》載太祖表曰:「臣聞慮爲功首,謀爲賞本,野績不越廟堂,戰多不踰國勳。 是故典阜之錫,不後營丘,蕭何之土,先於平陽。 珍策重計,古今所尚。 侍中守尚書令彧,積德累行,少長無悔,遭世紛擾,懷忠念治。 臣自始舉義兵,周游征伐,與彧勠力同心,左右王略,發言授策,無施不效。 彧之功業,臣由以濟,用披浮雲,顯光日月。 陛下幸許,彧左右機近,忠恪祗順,如履薄冰,研精極銳,以撫庶事。 天下之定,彧之功也。 宜享高爵,以彰元勳。」 彧固辭無野戰之勞,不通太祖表。 太祖與彧書曰:「與君共事已來,立朝廷,君之相爲匡弼,君之相爲舉人,君之相爲建計,君之相爲密謀,亦以多矣。 夫功未必皆野戰也,願君勿讓。」 彧乃受。〉 九年,太祖拔鄴,領冀州牧。 或說太祖「宜復古置九州,則冀州所制者廣大,天下服矣。」 太祖將從之,彧言曰:「若是,則冀州當得河東、馮翊、扶風、西河、幽、并之地,所奪者衆。 前日公破袁尚,禽審配,海內震駭,必人人自恐不得保其土地,守其兵衆也; 今使分屬冀州,將皆動心。 且人多說關右諸將以閉關之計; 今聞此,以爲必以次見奪。 一旦生變,雖有善守者,轉相脅爲非,則袁尚得寬其死,而袁譚懷貳,劉表遂保江、漢之閒,天下未易圖也。 願公急引兵先定河北,然後脩復舊京,南臨荊州,責貢之不入,則天下咸知公意,人人自安。 天下大定,乃議古制,此社稷長久之利也。」 太祖遂寢九州議。
In the sixth year Cao Cao went to forage at Anmin in Dongping. His stores were too thin to sustain a long duel with the north, so he considered exploiting Yuan Shao’s fresh defeat to strike Liu Biao in the interval. Xun Yu objected: “Yuan Shao is broken and his men are losing heart; press the advantage and finish him now; if you turn your back on Yanzhou and Yuzhou and march deep into the Yangzi and Han valleys, Yuan Shao may rally the ashes of his army and slip into your rear—then the whole enterprise is lost.” Cao Cao therefore kept his camps along the Yellow River. Yuan Shao died of illness. Cao Cao crossed the river to attack Yuan Shao’s sons, Tan and Shang, while Gao Gan and Guo Yuan ravaged Hedong and threw the northwest into alarm—until Zhong Yao led Ma Teng and others and broke their power. The account is given in Zhong Yao’s biography. In the eighth year Cao Cao tallied Xun Yu’s services past and present and memorialized the throne to enfeoff him as village marquis of Wansui. 〈The Separate Biography of Xun Yu preserves Cao Cao’s memorial: “I have been taught that foresight crowns success and strategy underpins reward—campaign laurels must not eclipse what is decided at court, nor repeated clashes outweigh service registered to the state. That is why the enfeoffment at Dianfu did not wait on Yingqiu, while the domain granted Xiao He preceded the grant at Pingyang. Honoring wise counsel is a value shared by every age. Your Palace Attendant and acting Supervisor of the Masters of Writing, Xun Yu, has piled virtue upon virtue and kept a blameless course from boyhood to manhood; in these troubled times he has clung to loyalty and longed for good government. Since I first raised my army and rode the circuit of war, Xun Yu and I have pulled together at every turn—he has steadied the royal strategy, and every counsel he gave has borne fruit. I owe the completion of my work to him: he has brushed aside the clouds and let sun and moon shine clear. After Your Majesty came to Xu, he stood at my elbow in the inner government—loyal, diligent, and careful as a man on thin ice, refining every judgment until the machinery of state ran smoothly. The peace of the empire is his doing. He should receive a high noble title so that his founding merit may be plain for all to see.” Xun Yu refused outright, pleading that he had won no laurels in the field, and blocked Cao Cao’s memorial from going forward. Cao Cao wrote to him: “From the day we joined forces to raise this court, you have set me straight, recommended talent, framed strategy, and whispered counsel in the dark—again and again. Not every title is earned with a spear; please do not refuse.” Only then did Xun Yu accept.〉 In the ninth year Cao Cao seized Ye and added the governorship of Ji to his portfolio. Someone urged him to revive the ancient scheme of the Nine Provinces so that Ji would swallow a huge block of territory and awe the empire into submission.” Cao Cao was on the verge of agreeing when Xun Yu said, “If you do that, Ji must absorb Hedong, Fengyi, Fufeng, Xihe, You, and Bing—you would strip away too much from too many. When you crushed Yuan Shang and took Shen Pei alive, the whole country flinched; every warlord began to wonder whether he could still hold his ground or keep his soldiers; and if you now fold those regions into Ji, every commander will take alarm. Besides, rumor already has the northwestern generals talking about sealing the passes; hearing this, they will assume you mean to pick them off one by one. The least disturbance could turn even loyal garrisons mutinous; Yuan Shang would win time to recover, Yuan Tan would grow duplicitous, and Liu Biao would lock himself behind the Yangzi and Han—then the map of empire grows far harder to read. Better to march at once and finish Hebei, restore Luoyang, then turn south toward Jing and call Liu Biao to account for unpaid tribute—the world will understand your purpose, and nerves will steady. Once the empire is truly quiet, you can debate antiquity; that is how altars and grain stay secure for generations.” Cao Cao dropped the Nine Provinces plan.
8
是時荀攸常爲謀主。 彧兄衍以監軍校尉守鄴,都督河北事。 太祖之征袁尚也,高幹密遣兵謀襲鄴,衍逆覺,盡誅之,以功封列侯。 〈《荀氏家傳》曰:衍字休若,彧第三兄。 彧第四兄諶,字友若,事見袁紹傳。 陳羣與孔融論汝、潁人物,羣曰:「荀文若、公達、休若、友若、仲豫,當今並無對。」 衍子紹,位至太僕。 紹子融,字伯雅,與王弼、鍾會俱知名,爲洛陽令,參大將軍軍事,與弼、會論易、老義,傳於世。 諶子閎,字仲茂,爲太子文學掾。 時有甲乙疑論,閎與鍾繇、王朗、袁渙議各不同。 文帝與繇書曰:「袁、王國士,更爲脣齒,荀閎勁悍,往來銳師,真君侯之勍敵,左右之深憂也。」 終黃門侍郎。 閎從孫惲字景文,太子中庶子,亦知名。 與賈充共定音律,又作易集解。 仲豫名恱,朗陵長儉之少子,彧從父兄也。 張璠《漢紀》稱恱清虛沈靜,善於著述。 建安初爲祕書監侍中,被詔刪《漢書》作《漢紀》三十篇,因事以明臧否,致有典要; 其書大行於世。〉 太祖以女妻彧長子惲,後稱安陽公主。 彧及攸並貴重,皆謙冲節儉,祿賜散之宗族知舊,家無餘財。 十二年,復增彧邑千戶,合二千戶。 〈《彧別傳》曰:太祖又表曰:「昔袁紹侵入郊甸,戰於官渡。 時兵少糧盡,圖欲還許,書與彧議,彧不聽臣。 建宜住之便,恢進討之規,更起臣心,易其愚慮,遂摧大逆,覆取其衆。 此彧覩勝敗之機,略不世出也。 及紹破敗,臣糧亦盡,以爲河北未易圖也,欲南討劉表。 彧復止臣,陳其得失,臣用反斾,遂吞凶族,克平四州。 向使臣退於官渡,紹必鼓行而前,有傾覆之形,無克捷之勢。 後若南征,委棄兖、豫,利旣難要,將失本據。 彧之二策,以亡爲存,以禍致福,謀殊功異,臣所不及也。 是以先帝貴指蹤之功,薄搏獲之賞; 古人尚帷幄之規,下攻拔之捷。 前所賞錄,未副彧巍巍之勳,乞重平議,疇其戶邑。」 彧深辭讓,太祖報之曰:「君之策謀,非但所表二事。 前後謙沖,欲慕魯連先生乎? 此聖人達節者所不貴也。 昔介子推有言『竊人之財,猶謂之盜』。 況君密謀安衆,光顯於孤者以百數乎! 以二事相還而復辭之,何取謙亮之多邪!」 太祖欲表彧爲三公,彧使荀攸深讓,至于十數,太祖乃止。〉
By then Xun You had become his principal strategist. Xun Yu’s elder brother Xun Yan, as army-supervising colonel, garrisoned Ye and directed affairs north of the Yellow River. During Cao Cao’s expedition against Yuan Shang, Gao Gan secretly dispatched a strike force against Ye; Xun Yan sniffed out the plot, wiped out the infiltrators, and earned a full marquisate. 〈The family record styles him Xiuruo and names him the third elder brother of Xun Yu. The fourth brother, Xun Chen, courtesy name Youruo, appears in Yuan Shao’s biography. When Chen Qun and Kong Rong compared the worthies of Runan and Yingchuan, Chen Qun declared, “Xun Yu, Xun You, Xun Yan, Xun Chen, and Xun Yue—there is simply no match for them now alive.” Xun Yan’s son Xun Shao rose to be Grand Coachman. Xun Shao’s son Xun Rong, courtesy name Boya, won fame alongside Wang Bi and Zhong Hui, served as magistrate of Luoyang and on the general-in-chief’s staff, and joined Wang and Zhong in explicating the Changes and Laozi—work that long outlived him. Xun Chen’s son Xun Hong, courtesy name Zhongmao, became a literary attendant on the crown prince’s staff. When the court wrangled over the “A and B” ranking lists, Xun Hong, Zhong Yao, Wang Lang, and Yuan Huan each took a different line. Emperor Wen wrote to Zhong Yao, “Yuan Huan and Wang Lang are peers who back each other like lip and teeth; Xun Hong is a tough blade who darts between crack troops—he is a worthy adversary for you, my lord, and a standing headache at your elbow.” He ended his career as a gentleman of the yellow gates. Xun Hong’s grandnephew Xun Yun, courtesy name Jingwen, served as junior mentor to the heir apparent and was likewise celebrated. With Jia Chong he fixed the standard pitches and produced a collected commentary on the Changes. “Zhongyu” was Xun Yue, youngest son of Xun Jian, the magistrate of Langling—Xun Yu’s first cousin once removed. Zhang Fan’s Han Ji describes Xun Yue as spare, contemplative, and reserved, with a gift for authorship. Early in Jian’an he became librarian and palace attendant; ordered to condense the Book of Han, he produced thirty chapters of Han Ji that judged character through narrative and hit the essentials; and the work found a wide readership.〉 Cao Cao married a daughter to Xun Yu’s eldest son, Xun Yun; she was later known as the Princess of Anyang. Xun Yu and Xun You stood high in favor yet lived modestly, channeling stipends and gifts to clan and old friends until neither house held spare coin. In the twelfth year another thousand households were added to Xun Yu’s fief, bringing the total to two thousand. 〈The Separate Biography of Xun Yu adds another memorial: “When Yuan Shao thrust toward the capital approaches and we met at Guandu, my army was starved of men and grain and I meant to pull back to Xu; I wrote to Xun Yu, and he would not let me. He laid out why I should hold my ground, widened the design for a counterstroke, roused my spirit, and cleared my muddled thinking—so the great traitor fell and his army was shattered. That was Xun Yu reading the hinge of fortune; counsel of that order is not met every generation. After Yuan Shao collapsed my own granaries were empty; I thought the north still untamed and meant to turn south against Liu Biao. Xun Yu stopped me again, weighing gain and loss; I reversed my march, swallowed that vicious clan, and brought four provinces to heel. Had I quit Guandu, Yuan Shao would have rolled forward to the drum—my position would have capsized, with no hope of triumph. Had I marched south instead, abandoning Yanzhou and Yuzhou, I would have grasped little profit and lost my footing altogether. Those two decisions of Xun Yu’s turned extinction into survival and disaster into fortune—plans and outcomes beyond my own reach. So the late emperor prized the general who sets the quarry’s path and slighted mere brawlers who seize the game; the ancients ranked tent-bound strategy above the glory of a quick storming. Past grants never matched his towering service; I ask that you reopen the reckoning and enlarge his fief.” Xun Yu refused again. Cao Cao wrote back, “Your counsel is not limited to the two episodes I cited. You keep demurring—are you trying to be another Lu Zhonglian? That is not a model the sage who understands the larger pattern would admire. Jie Zhitui once said, “To seize another man’s goods is still theft.” How much more when you plotted in secret to steady the army and lit my path a hundred times over! I repay two great debts and you still refuse—how much humility is enough?” When Cao Cao tried to nominate Xun Yu for the Three Dukes, Xun Yu had Xun You decline again and again—more than ten rounds—until Cao Cao gave up.〉
9
太祖將伐劉表,問彧策安出,彧曰:「今華夏已平,南土知困矣。 可顯出宛、葉而間行輕進,以掩其不意。」 太祖遂行。 會表病死,太祖直趨宛、葉如彧計,表子琮以州逆降。
As Cao Cao prepared to move against Liu Biao, he asked Xun Yu for the opening gambit. Xun Yu said, “The heartland is quiet; the south already feels the pinch. Feint from Wan and Ye, then slip a light column along hidden tracks and catch them flat-footed.” Cao Cao marched as he proposed. Liu Biao died on the eve of battle; Cao Cao drove straight for Wan and Ye on Xun Yu’s design, and Liu Biao’s son Liu Cong surrendered the province.
10
荀攸字公達,彧從子也。 祖父曇,廣陵太守。 〈《荀氏家傳》曰:曇字元智。 兄昱,字伯脩。 張璠《漢紀》稱昱、曇並傑俊有殊才。 昱與李膺、王暢、杜密等號爲八俊,位至沛相。 攸父彝,州從事。 彝於彧爲從祖兄弟。〉 攸少孤。 及曇卒,故吏張權求守曇墓。 攸年十三,疑之,謂叔父衢曰:「此吏有非常之色,殆將有姦!」 衢寤,乃推問,果殺人亡命。 由是異之。 〈《魏書》曰:攸年七八歲,衢曾醉,誤傷攸耳; 而攸出入遊戲,常避護不欲令衢見。 衢後聞之,乃驚其夙智如此。 荀氏家傳曰:衢子祈,字伯旗,與族父愔俱著名。 祈與孔融論肉刑,愔與孔融論聖人優劣,並在融集。 祈位至濟陰太守; 愔後徵有道,至丞相祭酒。〉
Xun You, courtesy name Gongda, was Xun Yu’s nephew. His grandfather Xun Tan had been governor of Guangling. 〈The family record gives his courtesy name as Yuanzhi. The elder brother was Xun Yu the Elder, style Boxiu—not the minister who shares the name. Zhang Fan’s Han Ji describes Xun Yu the Elder and Xun Tan together as brilliant men of uncommon ability. That Xun Yu the Elder ranked among the Eight Handsome with Li Ying, Wang Chang, and Du Mi, and rose to be chancellor of Pei. Xun You’s father, Xun Yi, served on the provincial staff. Xun Yi and Xun Yu were cousins of the same clan generation, linked through a common great-grandfather.〉 Xun You lost his parents while still a boy. When Xun Tan died, a former clerk named Zhang Quan volunteered to watch the grave. At thirteen Xun You found that odd and told his uncle Xun Qu, “That man’s face is wrong—he is up to something!” Xun Qu woke to the point, interrogated Zhang Quan, and learned he was a fugitive killer. From that day the family knew he was extraordinary. 〈The Book of Wei adds that when Xun You was seven or eight, his uncle Xun Qu once, in his cups, gashed Xun You’s ear; yet whenever the boy went out to play he hid the wound so Xun Qu would not see it. When Xun Qu learned of it later, he marveled at such precocious tact. The family record names Xun Qu’s son Xun Qi, courtesy name Boqi, who stood as famous as his kinsman Xun Yin. Xun Qi argued corporal punishment with Kong Rong; Xun Yin debated the ranking of sages with him—both exchanges survive in Kong Rong’s corpus. Xun Qi became governor of Jiyin; Xun Yin was later summoned as a man “possessing the Way” and rose to libationer to the chancellor.〉
11
何進秉政,徵海內名士攸等二十餘人。 攸到,拜黃門侍郎。 董卓之亂,關東兵起,卓徙都長安。 攸與議郎鄭泰、何顒、侍中种輯、越騎校尉伍瓊等謀曰:「董卓無道,甚於桀紂,天下皆怨之,雖資彊兵,實一匹夫耳。 今直刺殺之以謝百姓,然後據殽、函,輔王命,以號令天下,此桓文之舉也。」 事垂就而覺,收顒、攸繫獄,顒憂懼自殺, 〈張璠《漢紀》曰:顒字伯求,少與郭泰、賈彪等遊學洛陽,泰等與同風好。 顒顯名太學,於是中朝名臣太傅陳蕃、司隷李膺等皆深接之。 及黨事起,顒亦名在其中,乃變名姓亡匿汝南間,所至皆交結其豪桀。 顒旣奇太祖而知荀彧,袁紹慕之,與爲奔走之友。 是時天下士大夫多遇黨難,顒常歲再三私入洛陽,從紹計議,爲諸窮窘之士解釋患禍。 而袁術亦豪俠,與紹爭名。 顒未常造術,術深恨之。 《漢末名士錄》曰:術嘗於衆坐數顒三罪,曰:「王德彌先覺儁老,名德高亮,而伯求踈之,是一罪也。 許子遠凶淫之人,性行不純,而伯求親之,是二罪也。 郭、賈寒窶,無他資業,而伯求肥馬輕裘,光曜道路,是三罪也。」 陶丘洪曰:「王德彌大賢而短於濟時,許子遠雖不純而赴難不憚濡足。 伯求舉善則以德彌爲首,濟難則以子遠爲宗。 且伯求嘗爲虞偉高手刃復仇,義名奮發。 其怨家積財巨萬,文馬百駟,而欲使伯求羸牛疲馬,頓伏道路,此爲披其胷而假仇敵之刃也。」 術意猶不平。 後與南陽宗承會於闕下,術發怒曰:「何伯求,凶德也,吾當殺之。」 承曰:「何生英俊之士,足下善遇之,使延令名於天下。」 術乃止。 後黨禁除解,辟司空府。 每三府掾屬會議,顒策謀有餘,議者皆自以爲不及。 遷北軍中候,董卓以爲長史。 後荀彧爲尚書令,遣人迎叔父司空爽喪,使并置顒尸,而葬之於爽冢傍。〉 攸言語飲食自若,會卓死得免。 〈《魏書》云攸使人說卓得免,與此不同。〉 棄官歸,復辟公府,舉高第,遷任城相,不行。 攸以蜀漢險固,人民殷盛,乃求爲蜀郡太守,道絕不得至,駐荊州。
While He Jin dominated the court, he summoned over twenty luminaries of the empire, Xun You among them. On arrival Xun You was named gentleman of the yellow gates. When Dong Zhuo threw the capital into chaos, coalition armies rose east of Hangu, and Dong Zhuo shifted the court to Chang’an. Xun You joined Gentlemen of Discussion Zheng Tai and He Yong, Palace Attendant Chong Ji, colonel of the Grooms Wu Qiong, and others in a plot: “Dong Zhuo is a tyrant worse than Jie or Zhou; the world hates him; strong as his army looks, he is only one man. Strike him down now to answer the people, seize the Yao–Han passes, restore the emperor’s writ, and command the lords—that is work worthy of Duke Huan or Duke Wen.” The plot nearly succeeded before it leaked; He Yong and Xun You were thrown into prison; He Yong killed himself in terror, 〈Zhang Fan’s Han Ji identifies He Yong, courtesy name Boqiu, who as a youth studied in Luoyang with Guo Tai, Jia Biao, and others of like mind. He Yong’s name rang through the Imperial University, and great ministers at court—Chen Fan, Li Ying, and the rest—courted his friendship. When the partisan proscriptions struck, he was on the lists, changed his name, and fled to Runan, everywhere befriending its stalwarts. He Yong had marked Cao Cao early and knew Xun Yu; Yuan Shao admired him and became his confidant. While most scholars suffered under the proscriptions, He Yong slipped into Luoyang several times a year to scheme with Yuan Shao and shield the hunted from harm. Yuan Shu, swaggering champion in his own right, vied with Yuan Shao for renown. He Yong never paid Yuan Shu a visit, and Yuan Shu nursed a grudge for it. The Late Han roster of worthies records that Yuan Shu once, in company, listed three counts against He Yong: “Wang Demi recognized that venerable talent before anyone else—renown and integrity both high—yet Boqiu shunned him. That is the first fault. Xu You is vicious and lewd by reputation, hardly a man of clean habits, yet Boqiu befriended him. That is the second fault. Guo Tai and Jia Biao lived in threadbare poverty, yet Boqiu paraded fine horses and silken furs down the highway. That is the third fault.” Taoqiu Hong objected: “Wang Demi is a sage too lofty for rough-and-tumble politics; Xu You may be flawed, yet he wades into danger without flinching. When Boqiu praised virtue he put Wang Demi first; when he faced crisis he relied on Xu You. Besides, Boqiu once drew his own blade to avenge Yu Weigao—an act that made his honorable name ring out. That enemy clan sat on fortunes and strings of blooded steeds, yet they would have had He Yong limp along on broken-down draft animals—exposing his heart and handing his enemies the knife.” Yuan Shu remained unsatisfied. Later, beneath the palace gate, he ran into Zong Cheng of Nanyang and snarled, “He Yong is a wicked man—I should cut him down.” Zong Cheng replied, “He Yong is a brilliant man; treat him generously and you will spread his good name across the realm.” Yuan Shu dropped the threat. When the proscription lists were cleared, he received a summons to the Minister of Works. Whenever the three high offices met in council, He Yong’s plans outclassed the rest—every man there knew he fell short. He rose to colonel of the northern camp; Dong Zhuo named him chief clerk. Later Xun Yu, as Supervisor of the Masters of Writing, sent escorts for his uncle Xun Shuang’s hearse, had He Yong’s body laid beside it, and buried both men at the foot of Xun Shuang’s mound.〉 Xun You ate and spoke as calmly as if nothing were wrong; Dong Zhuo died before the sentence could fall, and he walked free. 〈The Book of Wei claims Xun You bought his life by talking Dong Zhuo round—a different story from the one given here.〉 He quit his post and went home, was summoned again to the chancellor’s bureau, graded top of the list for promotion to chancellor of Rencheng—and declined to take it up. Thinking Shu a rich, defensible prize, Xun You asked for the governorship of Shu commandery; the route was blocked, so he never got there and stayed instead in Jing province.
12
太祖迎天子都許,遺攸書曰:「方今天下大亂,智士勞心之時也,而顧觀變蜀漢,不已久乎!」 於是徵攸爲汝南太守,入爲尚書。 太祖素聞攸名,與語大恱,謂荀彧,鍾繇曰:「公達,非常人也,吾得與之計事,天下當何憂哉!」 以爲軍師。 建安三年,從征張繡。 攸言於太祖曰:「繡與劉表相恃爲彊,然繡以遊軍仰食於表,表不能供也,勢必離。 不如緩軍以待之,可誘而致也; 若急之,其勢必相救。」 太祖不從,遂進軍之穰,與戰。 繡急,表果救之。 軍不利。 太祖謂攸曰:「不用君言至是。」 乃設奇兵復戰,大破之。
After Cao Cao brought the emperor to Xu and established his court there, he wrote to Xun You: “The empire is in chaos—this is the hour for men of mind to strain every nerve—yet you watch events from the Shu and Han region as if you had forever to wait!” He thereupon called Xun You to be governor of Runan, then brought him in as a Master of Writing. Cao Cao had long heard of Xun You; one conversation delighted him. He told Xun Yu and Zhong Yao, “Gongda is extraordinary—if I can scheme with him, what is left to fear in the world?” He named him army adviser. In Jian’an 3 he joined the expedition against Zhang Xiu. Xun You told Cao Cao, “Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao lean on each other, but Zhang Xiu’s mobile column lives off Liu Biao’s granaries, which cannot sustain them—they must fall out. Loosen the pressure and wait; you can lure them apart; press too hard and they will cling together for survival.” Cao Cao ignored the advice, marched on Rang, and offered battle. Zhang Xiu buckled; Liu Biao came to his aid as predicted. Cao Cao’s army took a beating. Cao Cao said to Xun You, “I ignored your counsel and landed here.” He then threw in a surprise column, renewed the fight, and routed the enemy.
13
是歲,太祖自宛征呂布, 〈《魏書》曰:議者云表、繡在後而還襲呂布,其危必也。 攸以爲表、繡新破,勢不敢動。 布驍猛,又恃袁術,若從橫淮、泗間,豪傑必應之。 今乘其初叛,衆心未一,往可破也。 太祖曰:「善。」 比行,布以敗劉備,而臧霸等應之。〉 至下邳,布敗退固守,攻之不拔,連戰,士卒疲,太祖欲還。 攸與郭嘉說曰:「呂布勇而無謀,今三戰皆北,其銳氣衰矣。 三軍以將爲主,主衰則軍無奮意。 夫陳宮有智而遲,今及布氣之未復,宮謀之未定,進急攻之,布可拔也。」 乃引沂、泗灌城,城潰,生禽布。
That same year Cao Cao marched from Wan against Lü Bu, 〈The Book of Wei notes that some argued that with Liu Biao and Zhang Xiu at his back, a swing against Lü Bu courted disaster. Xun You held that Liu Biao and Zhang Xiu were too battered to stir. Lü Bu fights like a devil and still has Yuan Shu’s backing; give him room between the Huai and Si and every local chieftain will flock to him. Strike now, while his defection is fresh and his camp still divided, and you can break him. Cao Cao said, “Agreed.” By the time the army moved, Lü Bu had beaten Liu Bei and Zang Ba and others had joined him.〉 At Xiapi Lü Bu fell back into a tight defense; repeated assaults failed and the men flagged; Cao Cao thought of pulling out. Xun You and Guo Jia urged him: “Lü Bu is brave but witless; three defeats in a row have dulled his edge. An army is only as bold as its commander; when the commander flags, the troops lose heart. Chen Gong is clever but slow; hit them before Lü Bu’s nerve returns and Chen Gong’s plans set—then Xiapi falls.” They diverted the Yi and Si into the walls, the ramparts collapsed, and Lü Bu was taken alive.
14
後從救劉延於白馬,攸畫策斬顏良。 語在武紀。 太祖拔白馬還,遣輜重循河而西。 袁紹渡河追,卒與太祖遇。 諸將皆恐,說太祖還保營,攸曰:「此所以禽敵,柰何去之!」 太祖目攸而笑。 遂以輜重餌賊,賊競奔之,陣亂。 乃縱步騎擊,大破之,斬其騎將文醜,太祖遂與紹相拒於官渡。 軍食方盡,攸言於太祖曰:「紹運車旦暮至,其將韓𦳣銳而輕敵,擊可破也。」 〈臣松之案諸書,韓𦳣或作韓猛,或云韓若,未詳孰是。〉 太祖曰:「誰可使?」 攸曰:「徐晃可。」 乃遣晃及史渙邀擊破走之,燒其輜重。 會許攸來降,言紹遣淳于瓊等將萬餘兵迎運糧,將驕卒惰,可要擊也。 衆皆疑。 唯攸與賈詡勸太祖。 太祖乃留攸及曹洪守。 太祖自將攻破之,盡斬瓊等。 紹將張郃、高覽燒攻櫓降,紹遂棄軍走。 郃之來,洪疑不敢受,攸謂洪曰:「郃計不用,怒而來,君何疑?」 乃受之。
Later, in the relief of Liu Yan at Baima, Xun You laid the trap that removed Yan Liang. The full account is in the martial annals. After lifting the siege at Baima, Cao Cao sent his supply wagons down the north bank toward the west. Yuan Shao crossed the river in pursuit and ran headlong into Cao Cao. The generals panicked and begged Cao Cao to fall back to camp; Xun You said, “This is exactly how we bag them—why retreat?” Cao Cao looked at Xun You and laughed. He used the wagons as bait; Yuan Shao’s men swarmed to seize them and their ranks dissolved. Then he unleashed horse and foot, shattered the pursuit force, and killed Wen Chou; after that Cao Cao and Yuan Shao settled into the stalemate at Guandu. When grain ran low, Xun You told Cao Cao, “Yuan Shao’s supply train is almost here; its escort commander, Han Meng, is aggressive and careless—hit him and you break the convoy.” 〈Pei Songzhi notes that the sources spell the commander’s name differently—Han Meng, Han Ruo, or the rare graph in the text—and it is unclear which is right.〉 Cao Cao asked, “Whom shall I send?” Xun You answered, “Xu Huang.” He sent Xu Huang and Shi Huan to intercept the column, drive it off, and put the supplies to the torch. Then Xu You defected with word that Chunyu Qiong was escorting the grain with over ten thousand men—officers cocky, men slack—ripe for an ambush. The staff hesitated. Only Xun You and Jia Xu urged Cao Cao to strike. Cao Cao left Xun You and Cao Hong to hold the main camp. He led the storming party himself, overran the depot, and executed Chunyu Qiong and his officers. Zhang He and Gao Lan fired the siege towers and came over; Yuan Shao abandoned his army and ran. When Zhang He arrived, Cao Hong hesitated; Xun You said, “His advice was spurned—he comes in anger. What is there to fear?” Cao Hong took them in.
15
七年,從討袁譚、尚於黎陽。 明年,太祖方征劉表,譚、尚爭冀州。 譚遣辛毗乞降請救,太祖將許之,以問羣下。 羣下多以爲表彊,宜先平之,譚、尚不足憂也。 攸曰:「天下方有事,而劉表坐保江、漢之閒,其無四方志可知矣。 袁氏據四州之地,帶甲十萬,紹以寬厚得衆,借使二子和睦以守其成業,則天下之難未息也。 今兄弟遘惡,其勢不兩全。 若有所并則力專,力專則難圖也。 及其亂而取之,天下定矣,此時不可失也。」 太祖曰:「善。」 乃許譚和親,遂還擊破尚。 其後譚叛,從斬譚於南皮。 冀州平,太祖表封攸曰:「軍師荀攸,自初佐臣,無征不從,前後克敵,皆攸之謀也。」 於是封陵樹亭侯。 十二年,下令大論功行封,太祖曰:「忠正密謀,撫寧內外,文若是也。 公達其次也。」 增邑四百,并前七百戶, 〈《魏書》曰:太祖自柳城還,過攸舍,稱述攸前後謀謨勞勳,曰:「今天下事略已定矣,孤願與賢士大夫共饗其勞。 昔高祖使張子房自擇邑三萬戶,今孤亦欲君自擇所封焉。」〉 轉爲中軍師。 魏國初建,爲尚書令。
In the seventh year he joined the campaign against Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang at Liyang. The next year, as Cao Cao readied a move on Liu Biao, the Yuan brothers tore Ji province apart. Yuan Tan sent Xin Pi to sue for peace and beg aid; Cao Cao was inclined to agree and polled his advisers. Most argued that Liu Biao was the stronger threat and should be crushed first; the Yuan brothers could wait. Xun You said, “The world is still aflame, yet Liu Biao sits between the Yangzi and Han without lifting a finger—he has no mind to look beyond his borders. The Yuans hold four provinces and a hundred thousand men-at-arms; their father won loyalty with leniency. Had the brothers kept the peace, their power would have plagued you for years. Now they hate each other; neither can survive intact. Let one swallow the other and his power concentrates—then he becomes far harder to break. Strike while they are at each other’s throats and the empire falls into place—do not miss the opening.” Cao Cao said, “Well said.” He granted Yuan Tan a marriage alliance, then wheeled about and shattered Yuan Shang. When Yuan Tan later rebelled, he joined the campaign that took his head at Nanpi. After Ji fell, Cao Cao memorialized rewards: “Army adviser Xun You has marched on every campaign since he joined me; every victory rests on his counsel.” Xun You was enfeoffed as village marquis of Lingshu. In the twelfth year Cao Cao issued a general order on rewards: “Loyal, upright, and discreet in counsel, the man who steadied court and camp was Xun Yu. Gongda comes next after him.” He added four hundred households to the old grant of seven hundred, for a total of eleven hundred, 〈The Book of Wei adds that on his return from Liucheng Cao Cao stopped at Xun You’s door, rehearsed his long service, and said, “The realm is nearly won; I mean to share the feast of labor with every worthy at my side. Gaozu once let Zhang Liang pick a domain of thirty thousand households; I would have you choose your own grant.”〉" He was promoted to central army adviser. When the kingdom of Wei was founded, he became Supervisor of the Masters of Writing.
16
攸深密有智防,自從太祖征伐,常謀謩帷幄,時人及子弟莫知其所言。 〈《魏書》曰:攸姑子辛韜曾問攸說太祖取冀州時事。 攸曰:「佐治爲袁譚乞降,王師自往平之,吾何知焉?」 自是韜及內外莫敢復問軍國事也。〉 太祖每稱曰:「公達外愚內智,外怯內勇,外弱內彊,不伐善,無施勞,智可及,愚不可及,雖顏子、寗武不能過也。」 文帝在東宮,太祖謂曰:「荀公達,人之師表也,汝當盡禮敬之。」 攸曾病,世子問病,獨拜牀下,其見尊異如此。 攸與鍾繇善,繇言:「我每有所行,反覆思惟,自謂無以易; 以咨公達,輒復過人意。」 公達前後凡畫奇策十二,唯繇知之。 繇撰集未就,會薨,故世不得盡聞也。 〈臣松之案:攸亡後十六年,鍾繇乃卒,撰攸奇策,亦有何難? 而年造八十,猶云未就,遂使攸從征機策之謀不傳於世,惜哉!〉 攸從征孫權,道薨。 太祖言則流涕。 〈《魏書》曰:時建安十九年,攸年五十八。 計其年大彧六歲。 《魏書》載太祖令曰:「孤與荀公達周遊二十餘年,無毫毛可非者。」 又曰:「荀公達真賢人也,所謂『溫良恭儉讓以得之』。 孔子稱『晏平仲善與人交,久而敬之』,公達即其人也。」 《傅子》曰:或問近世大賢君子,荅曰:「荀令君之仁,荀軍師之智,斯可謂近世大賢君子矣。 荀令君仁以立德,明以舉賢,行無諂黷,謀能應機。 孟軻稱『五百年而有王者興,其間必有命世者』,其荀令君乎! 太祖稱『荀令君之進善,不進不休,荀軍師之去惡,不去不止』也。」〉
Xun You was guarded and close-mouthed; on every campaign he framed strategy behind the curtain—neither contemporaries nor his own kin knew what he whispered to Cao Cao. 〈The Book of Wei records that his cousin’s son Xin Tao once pressed him for the story of the conquest of Ji. Xun You replied, “Xin Pi begged peace for Yuan Tan, and the royal army marched in to finish it—what is there for me to tell?” After that neither Xin Tao nor anyone else dared ask him about state secrets.〉 Cao Cao often said, “Gongda seems dull yet is brilliant, seems timid yet is bold, seems frail yet is iron; he trumpets no virtue and claims no fatigue. Another man might match his wit—no one could match his deliberate plainness—not Yan Hui nor Ning Wu could top him.” To the crown prince he said, “Xun Gongda is the pattern of a minister; honor him with every courtesy.” When Xun You fell ill, the heir apparent came alone to his bedside and bowed—the mark of exceptional respect. Zhong Yao, his close friend, said, “I chew over every plan until I am sure it cannot be bettered; then I put it to Gongda and he improves it beyond what I imagined.” Gongda devised twelve masterstrokes in all; only Zhong Yao knew the full list. Zhong Yao began to compile them but died before finishing, so posterity never heard the whole tale. 〈Pei Songzhi objects: Zhong Yao outlived Xun You by sixteen years—what stopped him from finishing the record? Yet he lived past eighty still claiming the book unfinished, and so Xun You’s field stratagems were lost to history—what a waste!〉 Xun You joined the expedition against Sun Quan and died en route. Whenever Cao Cao spoke of him afterward, tears came. 〈The Book of Wei dates his death to Jian-an 19, at the age of fifty-eight.) By that reckoning he was six years Xun Yu’s senior. The Book of Wei preserves Cao Cao’s edict: “Gongda and I have ridden the circuit of war together for more than twenty years, and I have never found a flaw in him.” It adds, “Gongda is the genuine article—the kind of man the classics mean when they praise modest virtue. Confucius said Yan Ying won respect the longer men knew him; Gongda was cut from the same cloth.” Fu Xuan records that when someone asked who ranked among the great men of the age, the answer ran: “Xun Yu’s humanity and Xun You’s brilliance—that pair defines the standard. Xun Yu built character on kindness, raised talent with clear judgment, kept his hands clean of sycophancy, and read every crisis aright. Mencius promised a world-shaping sage between each true king—surely he meant men like Xun Yu. The Grand Progenitor praised “Lord Xun the Supervisor’s advancing the good—if it does not advance he does not rest; the army adviser Xun’s removing evil—if it is not gone he does not stop.”〉"
17
長子緝,有攸風,早沒。 次子適嗣,無子,絕。 黃初中,紹封攸孫彪爲陵樹亭侯,邑三百戶,後轉封丘陽亭侯。 正始中,追謚攸曰敬侯。
His eldest son, Xun Ji, showed his father’s quality but died young. The second son, Xun Shi, inherited the title but left no heir, so the house lapsed. Under Huangchu, Cao Pi enfeoffed Xun You’s grandson Xun Biao at Lingshu, three hundred households, later moving the grant to Qiuyang. In Zhengshi he received the posthumous title Marquis Jing.
18
董卓之入洛陽,詡以太尉掾爲平津都尉,遷討虜校尉。 卓壻中郎將牛輔屯陝,詡在輔軍。 卓敗,輔又死,衆恐懼,校尉李傕、郭汜、張濟等欲解散,間行歸鄉里。 詡曰:「聞長安中議欲盡誅涼州人,而諸君棄衆單行,即一亭長能束君矣。 不如率衆而西,所在收兵,以攻長安,爲董公報仇,幸而事濟,奉國家以征天下,若不濟,走未後也。」 衆以爲然。 傕乃西攻長安。 語在卓傳。 〈臣松之以爲傳稱「仁人之言,其利愽哉」! 然則不仁之言,理必反是。 夫仁功難著,而亂源易成,是故有禍機一發而殃流百世者矣。 當是時,元惡旣梟,天地始開,致使厲階重結,大梗殷流,邦國遘殄悴之哀,黎民嬰周餘之酷,豈不由賈詡片言乎? 詡之罪也,一何大哉! 自古兆亂,未有如此之甚。〉 後詡爲左馮翊,傕等欲以功侯之,詡曰:「此救命之計,何功之有!」 固辭不受。 又以爲尚書僕射,詡曰:「尚書僕射,官之師長,天下所望,詡名不素重,非所以服人也。 縱詡昧於榮利,柰國朝何!」 乃更拜詡尚書,典選舉,多所匡濟,傕等親而憚之。 〈《獻帝紀》曰:郭汜、樊稠與傕互相違戾,欲鬬者數矣。 詡輒以道理責之,頗受詡言。 《魏書》曰:詡典選舉,多選舊名以爲令僕,論者以此多詡。〉 會母喪去官,拜光祿大夫。 傕、汜等鬬長安中, 〈《獻帝紀》曰:傕等與詡議,迎天子置其營中。 詡曰:「不可。 脅天子,非義也。」 傕不聽。 張繡謂詡曰:「此中不可久處,君胡不去?」 詡曰:「吾受國恩,義不可背。 卿自行,我不能也。」〉 傕復請詡爲宣義將軍。 〈《獻帝紀》曰:傕時召羌、胡數千人,先以御物繒綵與之,又許以宮人婦女,欲令攻郭汜。 羌、胡數來闚省門,曰:「天子在中邪! 李將軍許我宮人美女,今皆安在?」 帝患之,使詡爲之方計。 詡乃密呼羌、胡大帥飲食之,許以封爵重寶,於是皆引去。 傕由此衰弱。〉 傕等和,出天子,祐護大臣,詡有力焉。 〈《獻帝紀》曰:天子旣東,而李傕來追,王師敗績。 司徒趙溫、太常王偉、衞尉周忠、司隷榮邵皆爲傕所嫌,欲殺之。 詡謂傕曰:「此皆天子大臣,卿柰何害之?」 傕乃止。〉 天子旣出,詡上還印綬。 是時將軍段煨屯華陰, 〈《典略》稱煨在華陰時,脩農事,不虜略。 天子東還,煨迎道貢遺周急。 獻帝紀曰:後以煨爲大鴻臚光祿大夫,建安十四年,以壽終。〉 與詡同郡,遂去傕託煨。 詡素知名,爲煨軍所望。 煨內恐其見奪,而外奉詡禮甚備,詡愈不自安。
When Dong Zhuo seized Luoyang, Jia Xu held a clerkship under the grand commandant, became colonel of Pingjin, then rose to colonel for barbarian suppression. Dong Zhuo’s son-in-law Niu Fu, a general of the household, garrisoned Shan; Jia Xu served on his staff. After Dong Zhuo fell and Niu Fu died as well, the western troops panicked; Li Jue, Guo Si, Zhang Ji, and the other colonels talked of breaking up and slipping home. Jia Xu warned them, “Word from Chang’an is that they mean to slaughter every man from the northwest; if you shed your armies and travel light, a single post captain could arrest you. Better march west in strength, sweep up recruits along the way, and storm Chang’an in Dong Zhuo’s name. If you win, you can still pretend to serve the throne; if you lose, you can run later.” They agreed. Li Jue then drove west on the capital. The story is told in Dong Zhuo’s biography. 〈Pei Songzhi considers: the tradition says “The words of a humane man—how far their benefit reaches!”) Inhumane words must work the opposite harm. Good is slow to show, evil spreads fast—a single spark can curse generations. The arch-traitor was dead and order might have dawned; instead the ladder of violence was rebuilt, the realm choked anew, states ruined, commoners suffering worse than the Zhou survivors—all from one sentence of Jia Xu’s? How vast his guilt. Never has a few words done comparable harm.〉 Later, as administrator of western Fengyi, he refused a marquisate from Li Jue’s clique: “That was a stratagem to stay alive—no merit there.” He declined outright. They tried to name him vice-director of the secretariat; he replied, “That post is the senior model for officials—the whole court watches it. My name carries too little weight to command respect. Even if I care nothing for rank, what of the damage to the state?” They made him a plain Master of Writing in charge of appointments instead; he steadied policy while Li Jue both courted and feared him. 〈The Xian annals note that Guo Si, Fan Chou, and Li Jue quarreled repeatedly and nearly came to blows.) Jia Xu rebuked them on principle until they grudgingly listened. The Book of Wei adds that his appointments favored old-line families, which drew criticism.〉 He resigned for his mother’s mourning, then returned as grand master of splendid horses. When Li Jue and Guo Si tore Chang’an apart, 〈The annals say Li Jue wanted Jia Xu’s backing to park the emperor inside his camp.) Xu said: “It cannot be. Holding the emperor hostage is unjust.” Li Jue ignored him. Zhang Xiu urged him, “We cannot stay here—why not leave?” Jia Xu answered, “The court favored me once; duty forbids me to bolt. Go if you must; I will not.”〉" Li Jue then named him General Who Clarifies Righteousness. 〈The annals relate that Li Jue hired thousands of Qiang and Hu with silks from the palace stores and promises of imperial women if they would strike Guo Si.) The tribesmen kept peering at the palace gate, shouting, “Is the emperor really in there? Li Jue promised us palace girls—where are they?” The emperor, frantic, told Jia Xu to defuse the mob. Jia Xu secretly feasted their chiefs, promised titles and treasure, and sent them home. Li Jue’s power collapsed with them.〉 When the warlords patched a truce, freed the emperor, and shielded his ministers, Jia Xu had a hand in it. 〈The annals add that after the court fled east, Li Jue chased them and broke the escort.) Li Jue marked Zhao Wen, Wang Wei, Zhou Zhong, and Rong Shao for death. Jia Xu told him, “These are the emperor’s ministers—murder them and you seal your infamy.” Li Jue relented.〉 Once the emperor was free, Jia Xu handed back his seals. General Duan Wei was camped at Huayin, 〈The Dianlue says Duan Wei ran orderly farms at Huayin and forbade looting.) When the court moved east, Duan Wei met the column with supplies for the desperate. The Xian annals record that he later became grand herald and died a natural death in Jian-an 14.〉 He was a countryman of Jia Xu’s, so Jia Xu quit Li Jue and placed himself under Duan Wei. Jia Xu’s fame made Duan Wei’s troops admire him. Duan Wei envied his talent yet showered him with courtesy—so Jia Xu grew more uneasy, not less.
19
張繡在南陽,詡陰結繡,繡遣人迎詡。 詡將行,或謂詡曰:「煨待君厚矣,君安去之?」 詡曰:「煨性多疑,有忌詡意,禮雖厚,不可恃,久將爲所圖。 我去必喜,又望吾結大援於外,必厚吾妻子。 繡無謀主,亦願得詡,則家與身必俱全矣。」 詡遂往,繡執子孫禮,煨果善視其家。 詡說繡與劉表連和。 〈《傅子》曰:詡南見劉表,表以客禮待之。 詡曰:「表,平世三公才也; 不見事變,多疑無決,無能爲也。」〉 太祖比征之,一朝引軍退,繡自追之。 詡謂繡曰:「不可追也,追必敗。」 繡不從,進兵交戰,大敗而還。 詡謂繡曰:「促更追之,更戰必勝。」 繡謝曰:「不用公言,以至於此。 今已敗,柰何復追?」 詡曰:「兵勢有變,亟往必利。」 繡信之,遂收散卒赴追,大戰,果以勝還。 問詡曰:「繡以精兵追退軍,而公曰必敗; 退以敗卒擊勝兵,而公曰必剋。 悉如公言,何其反而皆驗也?」 詡曰:「此易知耳。 將軍雖善用兵,非曹公敵也。 軍雖新退,曹公必自斷後; 追兵雖精,將旣不敵,彼士亦銳,故知必敗。 曹公攻將軍無失策,力未盡而退,必國內有故; 已破將軍,必輕軍速進,縱留諸將斷後,諸將雖勇,亦非將軍敵,故雖用敗兵而戰必勝也。」 繡乃服。 是後,太祖拒袁紹於官渡,紹遣人招繡,并與詡書結援。 繡欲許之,詡顯於繡坐上謂紹使曰:「歸謝袁本初,兄弟不能相容,而能容天下國士乎?」 繡驚懼曰:「何至於此!」 竊謂詡曰:「若此,當何歸?」 詡曰:「不如從曹公。」 繡曰:「袁彊曹弱,又與曹爲讎,從之如何?」 詡曰:「此乃所以宜從也。 夫曹公奉天子以令天下,其宜從一也。 紹彊盛,我以少衆從之,必不以我爲重。 曹公衆弱,其得我必喜,其宜從二也。 夫有霸王之志者,固將釋私怨,以明德於四海,其宜從三也。 願將軍無疑!」 繡從之,率衆歸太祖。 太祖見之,喜,執詡手曰:「使我信重於天下者,子也。」 表詡爲執金吾,封都亭侯,遷冀州牧。 冀州未平,留參司空軍事。 袁紹圍太祖於官渡,太祖糧方盡,問詡計焉出,詡曰:「公明勝紹,勇勝紹,用人勝紹,決機勝紹,有此四勝而半年不定者,但顧萬全故也。 必決其機,須臾可定也。」 太祖曰:「善。」 乃并兵出,圍擊紹三十餘里營,破之。 紹軍大潰,河北平。
Zhang Xiu held Nanyang; Jia Xu courted him in secret until Zhang sent escorts to fetch him. Friends asked, “Duan Wei has been generous—how can you just walk away?” Jia Xu answered, “Duan Wei is suspicious by nature. His kindness is a mask; wait long enough and he will move against me. My leaving pleases him, and he will hope I win a powerful patron abroad—so he will pamper my family to show good faith. Zhang Xiu lacks a strategist and wants me; both I and my kin stay safer there.” He went; Zhang Xiu honored him like a teacher, and Duan Wei, as predicted, cared for his family. Jia Xu brokered an alliance between Zhang Xiu and Liu Biao. 〈Fu Xuan notes that Jia Xu called on Liu Biao, who received him as an honored guest.) Jia Xu judged him “a peacetime minister of the highest rank, but he misses the turning of events, dithers in doubt, and will never seize the day.”〉" Cao Cao had raided him repeatedly; one dawn Cao pulled out, and Zhang Xiu gave chase in person. Jia Xu said, “Do not pursue—you will lose.” Zhang Xiu ignored him, attacked, and was routed. Then Jia Xu said, “Strike again at once—you will win.” Zhang Xiu said, “I ignored you and paid for it. We are beaten—how can we chase now?” “The battlefield has shifted; hurry and you profit.” Zhang Xiu trusted him, rallied broken units, struck again, and won. Zhang Xiu asked, “I chased your retreat with elite troops and you foretold defeat; then I hit your victors with my broken men and you promised victory. Both prophecies came true—how?” “Simple logic. You are a fine commander, but no match for Cao Cao. His army had just pulled back, yet he would guard the rear himself; so your pursuers, though elite, faced him in person and lost. Cao Cao had not blundered against you; a retreat with strength left means trouble behind his own lines; having beaten you once he would rush ahead lightly, leaving subordinates to cover his rear—brave men, but not your equal—so even your shattered column could beat them.” Zhang Xiu conceded the point. Later, at Guandu, Yuan Shao wooed Zhang Xiu and wrote Jia Xu offering alliance. Zhang Xiu was ready to agree when Jia Xu told Yuan’s envoy in open court, “Tell Yuan Shao his own brothers cannot share a roof—how will he make room for us?” Zhang Xiu gasped, “You go that far?” he whispered, “Then where do we turn?” “To Cao Cao.” “Yuan Shao is strong, Cao Cao weak, and I have blood on his hands—how can we serve him?” Jia Xu replied, “That is precisely why Cao Cao is the right choice. First, he holds the emperor’s mandate—he speaks with heaven’s authority. Second, Yuan Shao is already mighty; a small contingent from us would be lost in his shadow. Third, Cao Cao is still building his strength—he will welcome us with open arms. A man bent on empire must bury old scores to show the world his magnanimity—Cao Cao is such a man. Have no doubt, General.” Zhang Xiu took the counsel, brought his army in, and surrendered to Cao Cao. Cao Cao received him with joy, seized Jia Xu’s hand, and said, “You are the man who won the world’s trust for me.” He named Jia Xu Bearer of the Mace, enfeoffed him as a metropolitan village marquis, and on paper made him governor of Ji. Ji was still unconquered, so Jia Xu stayed on as military adviser to the minister of works. At Guandu, with grain almost gone, Cao Cao asked Jia Xu for a way out. Jia Xu said, “You outclass Yuan Shao in judgment, courage, use of talent, and speed of decision—yet the stalemate drags on because you insist on risk-free moves. Commit to a decisive stroke and it ends in an instant.” “Good,” said Cao Cao.” He massed his forces, fell on Yuan Shao’s thirty-li line of camps, and shattered it. Yuan Shao’s host melted away and the north was his.
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太祖領冀州牧,徙詡爲太中大夫。 建安十三年,太祖破荊州,欲順江東下。 詡諫曰:「明公昔破袁氏,今收漢南,威名遠著,軍勢旣大; 若乘舊楚之饒,以饗吏士,撫安百姓,使安土樂業,則可不勞衆而江東稽服矣。」 太祖不從,軍遂無利。 〈臣松之以爲詡之此謀,未合當時之宜。 于時韓、馬之徒尚狼顧關右,魏武不得安坐郢都以威懷吳會,亦已明矣。 彼荊州者,孫、劉之所必爭也。 荊人服劉主之雄姿,憚孫權之武略,爲日旣久,誠非曹氏諸將所能抗禦。 故曹仁守江陵,敗不旋踵,何撫安之得行,稽服之可期? 將此旣新平江、漢,威懾揚、越,資劉表水戰之具,藉荊楚檝櫂之手,實震蕩之良會,廓定之大機。 不乘此取吳,將安俟哉? 至於赤壁之敗,蓋有運數。 實由疾疫大興,以損淩厲之鋒,凱風自南,用成焚如之勢。 天實爲之,豈人事哉? 然則魏武之東下,非失筭也。 詡之此規,爲無當矣。 魏武後克平張魯,蜀中一日數十驚,劉備雖斬之而不能止,由不用劉曄之計,以失席卷之會,斤石旣差,悔無所及,即亦此事之類也。 世咸謂劉計爲是,即愈見賈言之非也。〉 太祖後與韓遂、馬超戰於渭南,超等索割地以和,并求任子。 詡以爲可偽許之。 又問詡計策,詡曰:「離之而已。」 太祖曰:「解。」 一承用詡謀。 語在武紀。 卒破遂、超,詡本謀也。
When Cao Cao took the governorship of Ji himself, he moved Jia Xu to grand palace counselor. In Jian-an 13, after conquering Jing, Cao Cao meant to sweep down the Yangzi. Jia Xu urged restraint: “My lord, you have crushed the Yuans and taken the lands south of the Han—your fame and your army are already immense; use Chu’s wealth to feed your troops, calm the people, and let them settle to their plows—then the south can yield without another hard campaign.” Cao Cao refused; the southern expedition came to grief. 〈Pei Songzhi argues that Jia Xu’s advice did not suit the actual situation.) Han Sui and Ma Chao still glared from the northwest; Cao Cao could hardly rule the southeast from a distant capital—that much was plain. Jing was ground Sun Quan and Liu Bei would fight for to the last. The locals admired Liu Bei and feared Sun Quan; they would not bow easily to any general Cao Cao left behind. Cao Ren lost Jiangling almost at once—there was no window for “soothing” or “submission.” They had just taken the middle Yangzi, terrified the southeast, seized Liu Biao’s fleet and Jing’s boatmen—this was the moment to strike east, not to pause. If not then, when? The Red Cliff disaster owed much to fate. Sickness ravaged the army and dulled its edge; a southerly wind completed the fire attack. Heaven intervened as much as human error. So Cao Cao’s eastward march was not a simple blunder. On this point Pei Songzhi finds Jia Xu wrong. The same kind of misjudgment appears later: after Zhang Lu fell, Shu convulsed daily; Liu Bei could not stop the panic even with executions, because Cao Cao ignored Liu Ye’s counsel and missed the chance to roll up Shu in one sweep—once the measure slips, regret is useless. Since posterity praises Liu Ye, it condemns Jia Xu all the more sharply.〉 Later, south of the Wei, Cao Cao faced Han Sui and Ma Chao, who demanded land and royal hostages for peace. Jia Xu advised him to pretend to agree. Asked how, Jia Xu said, “Drive a wedge between them.” “Understood,” said Cao Cao.” He followed the ruse to the letter. The campaign is narrated in the martial annals. Han Sui and Ma Chao were broken—Jia Xu had framed the core strategy.
21
是時,文帝爲五官將,而臨菑侯植才名方盛,各有黨與,有奪宗之議。 文帝使人問詡自固之術,詡曰:「願將軍恢崇德度,躬素士之業,朝夕孜孜,不違子道。 如此而已。」 文帝從之,深自砥礪。 太祖又嘗屏除左右問詡,詡嘿然不對。 太祖曰:「與卿言而不荅,何也?」 詡曰:「屬適有所思,故不即對耳。」 太祖曰:「何思?」 詡曰:「思袁本初、劉景升父子也。」 太祖大笑,於是太子遂定。 詡自以非太祖舊臣,而策謀深長,懼見猜疑,闔門自守,退無私交,男女嫁娶,不結高門,天下之論智計者歸之。
While Cao Pi headed the five offices, Cao Zhi’s literary fame peaked; each brother had a faction and the succession hung in the balance. Cao Pi sent to ask how to secure his position; Jia Xu answered, “Grow in moral stature, live like a humble scholar, work tirelessly, and never stray from a son’s duty. Nothing more than that.” Cao Pi took the lesson to heart and honed himself. Cao Cao once dismissed his attendants and pressed Jia Xu, who sat mute. Cao Cao demanded, “I ask you a question and you say nothing—why?” “I was thinking of something else and could not answer at once.” “Of what?” “Of Yuan Shao and Liu Biao—and how they ruined their heirs.” Cao Cao laughed, and the crown prince was decided. Knowing he was no long-serving insider yet wielded dangerous influence, Jia Xu lived behind closed doors, avoided private ties, and refused grand marriage alliances—while every strategist in the land still sought his ear.
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【評】
The text now turns to the historian’s closing appraisal.
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評曰:荀彧清秀通雅,有王佐之風,然機鑒先識,未能充其志也。 〈世之論者,多譏彧協規魏氏,以傾漢祚; 君臣易位,實彧之由。 雖晚節立異,無救運移; 功旣違義,識亦疚焉。 陳氏此評,蓋亦同乎世識。 臣松之以爲斯言之作,誠未得其遠大者也。 彧豈不知魏武之志氣,非衰漢之貞臣哉? 良以于時王道旣微,橫流已及,雄豪虎視,人懷異心,不有撥亂之資,仗順之略,則漢室之亡忽諸,黔首之類殄矣。 夫欲翼讚時英,一匡屯運,非斯人之與而誰與哉? 是故經綸急病,若救身首,用能動于嶮中,至于大亨,蒼生蒙舟航之接,劉宗延二紀之祚,豈非荀生之本圖,仁恕之遠致乎? 及至霸業旣隆,翦漢迹著,然後亡身殉節,以申素情,全大正於當年,布誠心於百代,可謂任重道遠,志行義立。 謂之未充,其殆誣歟!〉 荀攸、賈詡,庶乎筭無遺策,經達權變,其良、平之亞與! 〈臣松之以爲列傳之體,以事類相從。 張子房青雲之士,誠非陳平之倫。 然漢之謀臣,良、平而已。 若不共列,則餘無所附,故前史合之,蓋其宜也。 魏氏如詡之儔,其比幸多,詡不編程、郭之篇,而與二荀並列; 失其類矣。 且攸、詡之爲人,其猶夜光之與蒸燭乎! 其照雖均,質則異焉。 今荀、賈之評,共同一稱,尤失區別之宜也。〉
Chen Shou writes: Xun Yu combined clarity, grace, and breadth of mind—the bearing of a kingmaker—yet his foresight could not quite match his ideals. 〈Critics charge that Xun Yu helped Wei and thus toppled the Han; they say the usurpation was his doing. His late opposition could not reverse the tide; his service crossed righteousness and his judgment must share the blame. Chen Shou here echoes conventional opinion. Pei Songzhi replies: that verdict sells Xun Yu short. Did Xun Yu not see Cao Cao for what he was—not a loyal servant of a dying dynasty? The royal house was failing, warlords circled like tigers, and every heart turned elsewhere; without someone strong enough to restore order in the name of legitimacy, the Han would have vanished overnight and the common people with it. Who but such a man could steady the age and right the course? He fought the crisis as a man fights for his life, carried the state through danger into stability, gave the people passage through the flood, and bought the Liu house two extra decades—was that not his deepest purpose, the breadth of his humanity? When Wei’s supremacy could no longer be denied, he chose death to keep his honor, showing where he truly stood—duty carried to the end, faithfulness offered to posterity. To call him “unfinished” is almost slander.〉 Xun You and Jia Xu scarcely missed a trick in counsel; in weighing shifting odds they rank near Zhang Liang and Chen Ping. 〈Pei Songzhi notes that grouped chapters pair like with like.) Zhang Liang belongs among the immortals of statecraft—he is not really Chen Ping’s peer. Still, Han’s strategists were Zhang Liang and Chen Ping. Earlier histories paired them because no lesser name fit the chapter. Wei has many men closer to Jia Xu’s mold than the two Xuns; he belongs with Cheng Yu and Guo Jia, not in a chapter with Xun Yu and Xun You— the pairing breaks the pattern. As for Xun You and Jia Xu themselves, one is pearl-light, the other a rush torch. Both give light, but not of the same substance. To praise Xun and Jia with the same phrase blurs a crucial difference.〉