Chapter 4: The Interests of Yan Province
“Second, let’s continue discussing the Yellow Turban Rebellion,” Chen Zhou organized his thoughts and continued, “In fact, the matters between Cao Cao, Zhang Miao, and Tao Qian are all connected to the Yellow Turbans.”
The first point of analysis involved the Yellow Turbans attacking Yan Province, allowing Cao Cao to become the Governor of Yan Province, which Cao Ang fully understood. But now, how was this second point also tied to the Yellow Turbans?
“Could it be that some of the surrendered Yellow Turbans sowed discord?” Cao Ang asked.
“No!”
“Do you remember how many Yellow Turbans surrendered?” Chen Zhou countered with a question.
Of course, Cao Ang remembered and immediately answered, “More than 300,000 soldiers surrendered, with over a million people including women and children.”
“Is that a large number?”
“A large number!”
“Exactly,” Chen Zhou continued his analysis. “A population of a million—how immense is that? Could Yan Province handle such a sudden influx of people?”
Before Cao Ang could respond, Chen Zhou answered his own question: “Obviously not. For Cao Cao to incorporate so many people, he had to tap into Yan Province’s internal resources. This led to conflicts of interest and created extreme imbalances in the distribution of wealth. Zhang Miao and others didn’t want to use their own resources to support Cao Cao’s troops.”
“Exactly!” Cao Ang suddenly realized.
Cao Cao thought back to that time; it was indeed impossible not to touch Yan Province’s resources. Without utilizing them, the surrendered Yellow Turbans from Qingzhou couldn’t have been of any use to him, and rebellion might have erupted instead.
“The first point I mentioned, about Cao Cao using Yan Province’s resources to attack Xu Province, also falls under the category of conflicting interests.”
“The anti-Cao sentiment in Yan Province can be traced back to the surrender of the Yellow Turbans.”
“Cao Cao was a military genius, already quite powerful.”
“After incorporating 300,000 Yellow Turban soldiers, he became even stronger and gained complete control over Yan Province, not only upsetting the distribution of resources but also becoming the dominant force over Yan Province’s interests.”
“The local aristocrats, like Zhang Miao, were subjected to Cao Cao’s authority.”
“Do you think they would accept this willingly?”
“If I were in their shoes, I wouldn’t!” Cao Ang began to understand the pressure Zhang Miao must have felt from Cao Cao at that time.
Pushed to such an extent, even Cao Ang himself would have considered rebellion.
Cao Cao realized that at the time, he had thought becoming the governor meant he could wield power as he wished, without considering Zhang Miao and the others. If he hadn’t overheard Chen Zhou’s analysis, he might never have realized these reasons.
But what’s done is done, and regret was useless now.
“The conflicts of interest didn’t stop there!”
“Not long after Cao Cao incorporated the Yellow Turbans, the rebellion against him began. Were Yan Province’s officials cooperating with Cao Cao?” Chen Zhou asked again.
“Sometimes, but more often, they were just going through the motions,” Cao Ang replied.
“So Cao Cao began to rely heavily on the Yingchuan aristocracy, correct?”
Cao Ang nodded, acknowledging the truth.
Since Yan Province’s aristocrats weren’t cooperating and he couldn’t remove them, it made sense that Cao Cao would rely on those who were willing to work with him.
“In the second year of Chuping (191 AD), Xun Yu brought his nephew Xun You to join Cao Cao.”
“At that time, Cao Cao exclaimed, ‘This is my Zhang Liang!’”
“Later, Xun Yu recommended Xi Zhicai to Cao Cao.”
“In the third year of Chuping, the scholar Zhong Yao also came to join Cao Cao.”
“All of these people were from Yingchuan in Yan Province.”
“Cao Cao’s reliance on the Yingchuan (Ying Prefecture) aristocracy to govern Yan Province naturally weakened the local aristocracy’s influence. This is another aspect of the conflict of interests.”
“The conflict of interests between Cao Cao and the Yan Province aristocracy didn’t happen just once or twice. After multiple incidents, even if Zhang Miao had been Cao Cao’s blood brother, he wouldn’t have tolerated it. Betraying Cao Cao was inevitable. The Yan Province aristocrats had to unite to resist in order to protect their own interests.”
Chen Zhou spoke while looking directly at Cao Ang.
If you translate this into modern terms, Cao Cao’s entry into Yan Province could be likened to shareholders electing Cao Cao as the CEO of Yan Province Corporation. However, Cao Cao, with his skills and abilities, turned Yan Province from a corporation into his own private company.
One by one, the Yan Province shareholders were forced out, and rebellion was their only recourse.
“After hearing your words, sir, I almost feel sympathy for Zhang Miao and the others,” Cao Ang sighed.
Chen Zhou quickly corrected him, “The imperial power has fallen, the Han dynasty is collapsing, warlords are dividing the land, and the world is in chaos. In such a turbulent time, having sympathetic thoughts will only get you killed. This is just the natural course of warlords annexing each other’s territories—there’s no need for sympathy.”
Cao Ang stood and saluted, “Thank you for the reminder, sir.”
Outside, Cao Cao overheard Chen Zhou finishing his second point and felt a swirl of emotions.
If only he had realized these issues earlier, Zhang Miao might not have betrayed him. But he agreed with Chen Zhou: in a time of chaos, sympathy would only lead to disaster. To become a cunning and ruthless leader, one must be merciless.
Zhang Miao was dead, and there was no need to feel sympathy.
“Elder brother, when will we bring him over to our side?” Cao Ren, increasingly impressed with Chen Zhou, believed he was the hope for the Cao family.
“There’s no rush,” said Cao Cao. Being a suspicious man, he wouldn’t officially recruit Chen Zhou until he had thoroughly investigated him.
They quickly quieted down, continuing to eavesdrop on the conversation inside.
“Sir, I still have one more question,” said Cao Ang.
“Go ahead,” replied Chen Zhou.
Cao Ang scratched his head, “As far as I know, Zhang Miao had already clashed with Yuan Shao during the campaign against Dong Zhuo. Yuan Shao’s first request for my father to kill Zhang Miao happened back then. According to your analysis, Zhang Miao had begun to distance himself from my father at that point. However, my father was still a subordinate of Yuan Shao, and Zhang Miao had a falling out with Yuan Shao. Why would he still listen to Yuan Shao and allow my father to take control of Yan Province? To save Yan Province, my father was the best choice, but not the only one. Zhang Miao could have sought help from the court.”
Chen Zhou pretended to be angry, “Did you forget my earlier points so quickly? I already analyzed that Cao Cao was capable, and the Yuan family, with its long lineage of high-ranking officials, was not to be trifled with. As for seeking help from the court, that would have been asking for trouble. Do you really think the court was in any position to save Yan Province?”
The Han court could barely fend for itself.
“I see my mistake!” Cao Ang was seeing Chen Zhou angry for the first time.
“But… your question is also valid,” Chen Zhou paused and added, “Cao Cao was indeed the best choice to resist the Yellow Turbans.”
“When Cao Cao began his campaign against Dong Zhuo, he only had 5,000 men. By the time he became Governor of Yan Province, he had around 7,000 or 8,000.”
“Zhang Miao didn’t block Cao Cao from entering Yan Province because he hoped that Cao Cao and the Yellow Turbans would weaken each other in battle. Ideally, Cao Cao would die at the hands of the Yellow Turbans, following in the footsteps of Liu Dai…”
Chen Zhou paused and then added, “If Cao Cao died and the Yellow Turbans were decimated, Yan Province would be secure, and Zhang Miao could elect a new governor entirely under the control of the Yan Province aristocracy. At the same time, this would weaken Yuan Shao’s power by eliminating a capable military leader like Cao Cao.”
Chen Zhou concluded, “Perhaps Zhang Miao had already wished for Cao Cao’s death.”
“So that’s how it was!” Cao Ang exclaimed, deeply shaken by the revelation.
“Zhang Miao!”
Upon hearing this, Cao Cao trembled with rage, muttering Zhang Miao’s name with hatred.
He wanted nothing more than to drag Zhang Miao out and whip his corpse!
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