In Fiction
In Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao thinks Yang Xiu is too boastful and overconfident in his cleverness, and eventually kills him after what is known as the "chicken rib" incident. (When Cao Cao's army was at Hanzhong, preparing for battle, Cao Cao was brought some soup with chicken ribs in it and thoughtlessly muttered the word "chicken rib" a few times. Yang immediately thought he knew what Cao implied: he explained that "chicken rib" is a metaphor for "retreat" and told all generals to make the soldiers pack their bags and get ready to retreat. When Cao was alerted that Yang had given a false camp-wide signal, he was immensely angered and executed Yang.)
In an earlier chapter, Yang Xiu was described by Mi Heng as one of the two sole "talented" officials under Cao Cao (the other being Kong Rong, a descendant of Confucius). This however should be taken with a grain of salt, as Mi Heng's expressed opinions on other characters, as well as his own actions and the disaster that befell him because of them, make him appear as a poor judge of character.
Read more about this topic: Yang Xiu (Han Dynasty)
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