(5) A Painful Choice
In the blink of an eye, by the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dong Zhuo was already 52 years old.
The hero has aged, no longer possessing the heroic spirit of his youth.
Just as Dong Zhuo was shedding blood on the battlefield, performing a tragic heroic epic, the unruly Cao Cao grew up and became even more unscrupulous.
Young Cao Cao, serving under his father's power, partnered with Yuan Shao and spent his days committing all sorts of evil. One day, the two young ruffians went out and saw a family hosting a wedding. Guess what these two guys did? Under the cover of night, they carried knives, jumped into the family's courtyard, and kidnapped the bride.
After committing their misdeed against the bride, they hurriedly made their escape, but Yuan Shao, panicking, ran headfirst into a thicket of briars. As the Buddhist scripture says, the suffering of life is like being among thorns: if the mind does not move, there is no pain; if the mind moves, one is inevitably pricked. Yuan Shao, falling into the thorny bushes, felt this truth vividly. While staying still in the thorns, he was fine; the moment he moved, the thorns pricked him, and tears ran down his face.
This was utterly tragic. Seeing that people were about to catch up, what could they do?
In a panic, young Cao Cao shouted, "Help! The villains who assaulted the bride are here!"
Hearing the shout, Yuan Shao panicked, afraid of being caught and beaten to death, and with a sudden “whoosh,” he emerged from the thorns. When the pursuers arrived, the two rascals had already climbed over the wall and disappeared.
For some reason, this story was not included in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" but is recorded in the older "Shishuo Xinyu." The author tells this story to demonstrate young Cao Cao's extraordinary wit, but what we see is Cao Cao's utterly disgraceful behavior.
Thus, a thorny dilemma presents itself.
Here are two people: one comes from a humble background, roams the world as a young hero, serves his country without seeking reward, treats his soldiers with care, takes no share of the rewards, and shares generously with his subordinates—the iron-blooded soldier; the other is morally corrupt, lawless, openly breaks into homes with a knife, and violently abducts brides—the second-generation scion, a spoiled delinquent.
If you had to choose between these two, which one would you pick?
If you did not know that the first was Dong Zhuo and the second was Cao Cao, the choice would be undoubtedly obvious.But now that you know, your choices will likely become difficult and painful.
The pain of choosing stems from our obscure understanding of human nature.
Usually, our understanding of human nature tends to lean toward the bright side. We believe that human nature leans toward goodness, is radiant, and altruistic. Dong Zhuo thought this way, which is why he, as a young wanderer, did not hesitate to kill the family's only plowing ox to entertain friends. For the sake of the country and the people, he offered his efforts and sacrifices without expecting reward or harboring regrets. This inclination toward goodness brought him success in life, earned him the recognition of the court, and granted him power.
The power of the empire is not subject to any supervision, only requiring accountability upward. For Dong Zhuo, when he discovered that power could bring him many pleasures, he suddenly lost psychological balance, having previously expended so much due to his ignorance of power without any reward.
At this point, Dong Zhuo realized he had been deceived; others had cheated him, causing him to bleed and sacrifice, while the deceivers thrived under the wings of power, enjoying life as they pleased. Why? Why should he, Dong Zhuo, be the one to give, while others enjoy?
Once this thought takes hold, there is no turning back.
Afterward, Dong Zhuo no longer displayed the chivalrous bravery of his youth, especially when, at the age of 52, he was defeated by the Yellow Turban Army, punished by the court, and stripped of all his positions. His psyche became even more unbalanced.
I, who have shed so much blood and made so many sacrifices, have never even received a word of fair recognition from you people. Just a small failure, and you strip me of my office. If I foolishly serve you again, throwing my life away for nothing, I will no longer bear the surname Dong!
The dark forces within human nature firmly grasped Dong Zhuo. This legendary young hero of his youth was rapidly turning into his opposite.
Looking at Cao Cao, however, he was a master of human nature. He knew that human nature has both a good side and an evil side. The good side needs to be upheld, while the temptation of the evil side is emphasized as much as necessary—it is not exaggerated. A person who experiences intense temptations in their youth, who understands what these temptations are, will not be easily swayed by them as an adult.
The more impoverished a person is in childhood, the less they have tasted the pleasures of power, the easier they are to be tempted when they reach adulthood.On the contrary, once you have tasted these temptations, the pleasure brought to you by dark allurements will decrease, which objectively increases your ability to resist temptation.
But this principle, you cannot talk about it too much, nor can you explain it too clearly or thoroughly. If you explain it too clearly, young children might use it as a reason to neglect their studies and insist on experiencing temptation first, so what would one do then?
Not to mention ordinary people, even Liu Bei, also known as Liu Xuande, with big ears. When Dong Zhuo was rampaging the battlefield at the age of 36, Liu Bei was already 7 years old. This little thing, whose hands hung past his knees, pointed to the big tree at his doorstep and said, 'When I become emperor in the future, I will use this tree as my canopy...'
Even the 7-year-old Liu Bei knew how delightful the taste of being an emperor was. And you hope the adult Dong Zhuo could resist such temptation—how is that even possible?
