Yang Xiu

Yang Xiu (onyomi: Shō Shū) is the son of Yang Biao as well as Yuan Shu's nephew. He was a close friend of Cao Zhi and a talented scholar.

It was often said that though he was considerably talented, his inability to restrain his own talents led to his own downfall.

Role in Games
In Dynasty Warriors, Yang Xiu is a minor Wei generic who mostly appears at the Battle of Mt. Dingjun, often serving directly under Cao Cao or staying near him. Later games might expand his role a little bit and have him appear in other battles as well, such has Chibi or Hefei in Dynasty Warriors 6. He will also make some appearances in the hypothetical route of Wu's story in Dynasty Warriors 8, serving the Wei army at Shouchun and Jiangxia. He also survives his death in Wu's historical route and fights at Guangling.

In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Yang Xiu is given high intelligence and politics. He is not suited to do battle, however.

Historical Information
Yang Xiu was the son of Yang Biao and hailed from Hongnong in Si Province. His mother was Yuan Shu's sister. Yang Xiu was recommended as Xiaolian during the 200's and became Cao Cao's Master of Records. He gained a high influence within the court due to both his skill in civil and military affairs, as well as him understanding Cao Cao very well. He was also known to be a good poet and amassed a variety of works. Yang Xiu was also a close friend of Cao Zhi and his associates from the Ding family. Since Cao Cao often liked to ask his sons questions about court matters to get their opinions, Yang Xiu helped his friends by listening to the discussions in court beforehand and then giving Cao Zhi the information so that he could impress Cao Cao. Cao Cao eventually found out about this and became furious since Yang Xiu had given away secret state information. Because of this misconduct, which was generally seen as treason, Yang Xiu was executed in 219.

There were several anecdotes that described Yang Xiu playing with the form of chinese characters to create new meanings to them. On one occasion, Cao Cao ordered his servants to build a garden door. When Cao Cao returned, he wrote the word "alive" (活) on the door and left. When his servants did not understand the meaning of it, Yang Xiu combined the word "alive" (活) with "door" (門), creating the word "wide" (闊). Thus, he understood that Cao Cao was indicating that the door was too wide. The servants altered the door and when Cao Cao learned that Yang Xiu was the only one who understood the meaning, he was impressed. This and other anecdotes earned Yang Xiu not only respect, but also dissatisfaction from Cao Cao. Still, Cao Cao eventually said that Yang Xiu was 30 li smarter than him.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms
In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Yang Xiu is described by Mi Heng as the only able member of Cao Cao's staff besides Kong Rong. In chapter 60, he also discussed with Zhang Song about Cao Cao's new book. His historical smartness was what brought upon his end in the novel as well. When Cao Cao campaigned against Liu Bei at Hanzhong, he ordered his servants to bring him soup with some chicken ribs, while constantly muttering the word "chicken rib". Yang Xiu thought that he knew what Cao Cao was trying to say; he interpreted the chicken ribs as a metaphor for retreat, seeing that Hanzhong was already lost. So he told the officers and soldiers to pack their bags and prepare to withdraw. When Cao Cao learned that Yang Xiu had given a false camp-wide signal, he ordered him to be executed.