Cao Cao Gave Him the Fastest Horse in China to Make Him Stay. He Rode It Home.

These five words echoed in the spiritual psyche of China for 1,800 years. Imagine, in front of you stands the most powerful warlord of ancient China, and he tells you, you want the fastest horse in the land? Here, you can have it. A mansion? Gold? You want to run my entire army? Have at it. Now, you and I would probably take that deal. But Guan Yu silently looked at the ground and said, I cannot break my oath. In our previous video, we talked about the oath. Let me tell you a story about when this oath was most tested. Sixteen years after the three brothers swore to die on the same day, the world had only gotten worse. The Han Dynasty was dead in everything but name. China had fractured into warring states. Dozens of warlords carving up provinces, fighting over scraps of an empire that no longer existed. And at the top of the wreckage sat one man, Cao Cao. Now, if you know anything about the Three Kingdoms, you know Cao Cao. He's the villain of the story, the tyrant, the man who famously said, I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me. He was brilliant, ruthless, poetic, paranoid. And by the year 200, he controlled the most powerful army in China. Liu Bei's forces had just been shattered, his army scattered, his brothers separated. And Guan Yu, the man who swore never to leave Liu Bei's side, found himself surrounded, outnumbered and captured. Here's what Cao Cao did not do. He did not throw Guan Yu into a cell. He did not torture him. He did not execute him. He did something far more dangerous. He treated him like a brother. Cao Cao gave Guan Yu a mansion. He gave him gold, silk, servants. He appointed him Dangkou Jiangjun, General Who Subdues Rebels, a title with real military authority. He held banquets in his honor. He sent gifts on a schedule. The logic was simple, and Cao Cao was nothing if not logical. If I give this man enough, he'll stay. He'll forget that silly oath. He'll serve me instead. Because who in their right mind would leave all of this? And here's the part that makes this story complicated. Guan Yu actually liked Cao Cao. He respected him. He could see that Cao Cao was a brilliant leader, decisive, bold, capable of vision that most men couldn't touch. In another life, under different circumstances, they might have been real brothers. But Guan Yu had already sworn an oath in a peach garden under the blossoms to two men who had nothing. Now, there's a concept in Chinese philosophy that this entire story is based on. Zhongyi, loyalty and righteousness, bound together as one inseparable virtue. You can't be righteous without being loyal, and you can't be loyal without doing what's right. And the test of Zhongyi is not when it's easy. The test is when staying would be the smart move. When every rational calculation, the gold, the title, the army, the horse tells you, take the deal. Guan Yu did not take the deal. Now, Cao Cao wasn't stupid. He knew something was wrong. Guan Yu accepted every gift, but never settled. He was grateful, but distant, polite, but unreachable. So Cao Cao sent a mutual friend to find out the truth. Zhang Liao was one of Cao Cao's finest generals and a man Guan Yu genuinely respected. Zhang Liao went to Guan Yu's quarters, sat down with him and asked, not as a spy, but as a friend, what are you going to do? Guan Yu's answer is recorded in the Records of the Three Kingdoms, Sanguo Zhi, the historical text, not the novel. This is not fiction. A real man said these words. I know that Lord Cao Cao treats me very generously. However, I have received the kindness of General Liu Bei, and I swore to share life and death with him. I cannot betray him. I will not leave until I have repaid Lord Cao Cao's kindness, but I will leave. Zhang Liao sat with that for a moment. Then he went back to Cao Cao and repeated every word. Cao Cao's response, he didn't rage, he didn't scheme. He said, to serve one's lord and not forget one's roots, that is what makes a man of the world. He respected Guan Yu even more for being honest. Now, Guan Yu had said he would repay the debt before leaving, and he did. Cao Cao was at war with Yuan Shao, his rival for control of Northern China. Yuan Shao's army was led by two fearsome generals, Yan Liang and Wen Chao. Yan Liang, in particular, had been terrorizing Cao Cao's forces. No one could beat him. Guan Yu then rode out. The accounts say he charged straight through enemy lines, didn't slow down, didn't maneuver, didn't wait for support. He spotted Yan Liang's banner in the middle of the army, rode directly to it and killed him. One strike. Then he dismounted, cut off the head, tied it to his saddle and rode back through the entire army. No one stopped him. No one could. The debt was paid. What happened next depends on which version you read. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Seng Guo Yan Yi, the novel written 1,200 years later, Guan Yu rides through five passes and kills six of Cao Cao's generals who try to stop him. It's one of the most famous sequences in Chinese literature. Dramatic, violent. The historical record is quieter, though, and in some ways, more powerful. Guan Yu sealed Cao Cao's gifts in the mansion. Every piece of gold, every bolt of silk. The title returned. He wrote a letter of farewell. Respectful, direct, final. He hung the seal of his general ship on the gate. He left the mansion doors open so everyone could see nothing was taken. And he rode away. But he took one thing with him. Red hair, shi tu, the horse Cao Cao had given him. The fastest horse in China. Some say Cao Cao gave it deliberately, thinking the gift would bind Guan Yu. The horse would be like a chain. Instead, it was the very horse that carried him away. Cao Cao's officers were furious. Let us pursue him. Let us bring him back. They wanted blood. A man leaves their lord's service after all those gifts? That's an insult. Cao Cao said no. He was following his own lord. He is doing what any righteous man would do. Let him go. So Guan Yu rode through the checkpoints, through the territories, through the miles and miles of war-torn countryside to find a man who had no army, no palace, no gold, and no future. Liu Bei had nothing. And Guan Yu chose him anyway. Not because Liu Bei was stronger. Not because he was smarter. Not because the odds were better. But because 20 years earlier, under the peach blossoms, he had made a promise. This is the moment that made Guan Yu immortal. Not a battle. Not a killing. A choice. The choice to walk away from everything a man could want because something older and quieter held him. Now, if you know someone with that kind of loyalty, the kind that doesn't bend even when bending makes sense, share this video with them. They will love the story. Next week, the loyalty that made Guan Yu walk away from a kingdom leads him straight into a flood that drowns 40,000 men. It's the greatest victory of his life, and it's the trap that kills him. While you wait, though, there's a story on your screen about a boy everyone called foolish. He had six fingers and too much faith. He fell in love with a girl who dared to cut one off. What started as a joke became something that outlasted death itself. Click on this thumbnail right now and watch it. Now that you've made it this far and you're still watching this video, here's the secret password, red hair. Start your comment with this word and I'll reply to you. And until next time, zai jian!