Lü Boshe

Lü Boshe (birth and death dates unknown) was an old acquaintance of Cao Cao, a prominent warlord who rose to power towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty and established the foundation of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period. According to historical sources, Lü Boshe's family were killed by Cao Cao in 189 or 190 when Cao passed by Lü's house on his way home to Chenliu (陳留; around present-day Kaifeng, Henan) after escaping from the capital Luoyang. Cao Cao's motive behind the murders remains ambiguous – one source claimed that he killed Lü Boshe's family in self-defence while two other texts stated that he suspected that Lü's family were plotting to harm him so he killed them for preemptive purposes. This event was dramatised in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, in which Lü Boshe himself also died at the hands of Cao Cao.

There are three accounts of the murders of Lü Boshe's family members.

The Wei Shu (魏書) recorded:

Cao Cao felt that Dong Zhuo was doomed to failure so he refused to accept Dong's appointment and escaped back to his hometown. He was accompanied by a few horsemen and they passed by Chenggao (成臯; around present-day Xingyang, Henan) on the journey. There lived Lü Boshe, an old acquaintance of Cao Cao. Lü Boshe was not at home at that time. His sons and other guests attempted to rob Cao Cao of his horse and personal belongings. Cao Cao personally killed several of them.

The Shiyu (世語) recorded:

Cao Cao passed by Lü Boshe's house. Lü Boshe was out but his five sons were at home. They welcomed Cao Cao like a guest and hosted a banquet for him. Cao Cao was on the run from Dong Zhuo at the time and he suspected that they were plotting to harm him. He killed eight persons that night and fled.

The Zaji (雜記) recorded:

Cao Cao heard the sounds of cooking utensils (probably knives) and suspected that they (Lü Boshe's family) were plotting to harm him, so he killed them that night and fled. Afterwards, he heartrendingly remarked, "I'd rather do wrong to others than allow them to do wrong to me!" (寧我負人，毋人負我！) He then proceeded with his journey.

The incident was dramatised in Chapter 4 of the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong.

In the novel, Lü Boshe was a sworn brother of Cao Cao's father, Cao Song, so Cao Cao regarded him as an uncle. Cao Cao and Chen Gong passed by Lü Boshe's house while they were on their way to Cao's home after Cao escaped from Luoyang following his failed attempt on Dong Zhuo's life. Lü Boshe gave them a warm reception and instructed his family and servants to treat the guests well while he travelled to town to purchase more items for a feast. During their stay in Lü Boshe's house, Cao Cao overheard the sharpening of knives and a conversation among Lü's servants about whether to "kill or to tie up first", and he suspected that Lü was pretending to be hospitable towards him while actually plotting to harm him. He and Chen Gong dashed out and indiscriminately killed everyone in Lü Boshe's household. Later, they discovered that the servants were actually talking about slaughtering a pig for the feast and that they had killed innocent people. It was too late to regret, so Cao Cao and Chen Gong immediately packed their belongings and left the house. Along the way, they met Lü Boshe, who was returning from his errand. When Lü Boshe asked them to stay, Cao Cao asked him, "Who's that behind you?" When Lü Boshe turned around, Cao Cao stabbed him from behind and killed him. Chen Gong was shocked and he questioned Cao Cao, "Just now, you made a genuine mistake when you killed those people. But what about now?". Cao Cao replied, "If Lü Boshe goes home and sees his family members all dead, do you think he'll let us off? If he brings soldiers to pursue us, we'll be in deep trouble." Chen Gong said, "It's a grave sin to kill someone with the intention of doing so." Cao Cao remarked, "I'd rather do wrong to the world than allow the world to do wrong to me." (寧教我負天下人，休教天下人負我) Chen Gong did not respond and he left Cao Cao that night.

The exact words said by Cao Cao after he killed Lü Boshe's family, according to the Zaji account, were altered in Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The most significant change is the replacing of "others" (人; lit. "people") with "world" (天下人; lit. "people under Heaven"). Yi Zhongtian, a Xiamen University professor, speculated that Cao Cao was probably trying to console himself after mistakenly killing Lü Boshe's family by speaking in a regretful tone ("heartrendingly remarked"). Yi believed that Luo had deliberately changed the words in the quote to reflect that Cao Cao had no sense of remorse because "world" carries greater weight than "others", so as to enhance Cao's image as a villain in his novel.