>>719248708
Completely serious, people were claiming to have seen his ghost doing stuff in the centuries after his death. That’s how the legend really got started. Granted, being famous in that locality probably helped people recognize the supernatural events as his ghost and not some other ghost, but still, a man’s legacy depends far more on his posthumous actions than the actions of his own lifetime. Hell, just look at Zhou Yu’s legacy.
>>719250206
Chen Gong wasn’t really all that principled. He was implicated in a plot against Lü Bi’s life but Lü Bu didn’t investigate it because he depended on Chen Gong too much. Also despite Gao Shun’s famed loyalty, Lü Bu’s downfall was precisely because he failed to maintain the loyalty of his subordinate officers, who surrendered the city and opened the gates on him. One story tells that when Lü Bu angrily asked out loud why his officers would betray him, the response was that he kept seducing their wives.
>>719249490
It wasn’t a diplomatic mission. Cao Song had de facto retired to private life and fled to Xu province on his own, completely unrelated to his son’s rise to power in Yan province. Also Tao Qian and Cao Cao were already at war, mostly due to Cao Cao being an ally of Yuan Shao and Tao Qian an ally of Gongsun Zan. In fact Cao Cao’s first invasion of Xu province was before Cao Song was killed. But then Tao Qian decided to be an idiot and escalate the war by adding a personal element, which led to the second invasion.
