When Liu Bei disappeared or even thought he was dead, Guan Yu called Cao Gong. In fact, he had the idea of surrendering to Cao Cao from the bottom of his heart, but the time of surrendering to Cao Cao was still relatively short, so Guan Yu was embarrassed to directly say that he had taken refuge in Cao Cao, because in this case, Guan Yu's personal establishment had collapsed, and the glorious image he had created over the years disappeared instantly.
Image is something we all know, once lost, it may be something that can't be recovered for a lifetime. Therefore, Guan Yu's idea at that time was that Liu Bei could take refuge in Cao Cao when he died, but he could not take refuge in Cao Cao unconditionally. As the saying goes, good birds choose wood to live in. What's more, Guan Yu, a warrior general, is a great hero of China?
If he takes refuge in Cao Cao too soon, he will belittle himself. This is not a wise man. Therefore, Guan Yu, who was familiar with the Spring and Autumn Period at that time, knew the pros and cons of doing so. Naturally, he will not surrender to Cao Cao soon, but will seek Liu Bei with the help of Cao Cao's strength, or work for Cao Cao as a surrenderer. This is actually a relationship between the name of a great man and Cao Cao's vanity.
We can see that Cao Cao is very clever. He knows that what is needed to subdue a military commander is what he likes. Simply put, it is to create all the things that these military commanders like to impress their hearts. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the relationship between the master and his civil and military ministers was actually a bit like the relationship between lovers today. At that time, if the master wanted to recover a military commander, he had to give him many good things according to his hobbies, such as gold, silver and jewels, or beautiful women.
Cao Cao was like this at that time. He knew that Guan Yu's hobbies were very limited. After Guan Yu got the Dragon Crescent Moon Blade, he was basically familiar with the operation of this weapon and would not easily use other weapons. So at that time, Cao Cao started with mounts and beautiful women. He first gave Guan Yu the red hare that Lu Bu once rode, and finally gave Guan Yu the story of Diusim. It is clearly recorded in history that Guan Yu likes red hare very much because it is Guan Yu's enemy.
And the story of diusim and Guan Yu didn't last long. After midnight, Diusim's story has been killed by Guan Yu. There is only one historical truth, and maybe we can't find it. But from these traces, we can all see that Cao Cao's love offensive is very beneficial to Guan Yu. When Cao Cao and Yuan Shao fought in the back, Guan Yu actually appeared as a soldier of Cao Cao. One of the most famous battles was that Guan Yu killed Yan Liang and Wen Chou on the battlefield.
Unfortunately, the next situation has changed a lot. As a result, Guan Yu found the trace of Liu Bei in Yuan Shao's camp. A butterfly effect in this period of history made Guan Yu unable to serve Cao Cao any more, and later history was also called Guan Yu's passing five passes and slaying six generals. In fact, if the historical Liu Bei disappeared in the battle of Xuzhou or reappeared a few years later, Guan Yu must be Cao Cao's favorite.