Yang Xiu (175–219), courtesy name Dezu, was an official and adviser serving under the warlord Cao Cao during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Life Yang Xiu was a son of Yang Biao (楊彪) and a grandson of Yang Ci (楊賜). His mother, Lady Yuan (袁氏), was Yuan Shu's sister. Sometime during the 200s, Yang Xiu was nominated as xiaolian and became a Registrar (主簿) under Cao Cao, the Imperial Chancellor. He was said to have been skilled in both civil and military affairs and understood Cao Cao well. Because of this, Yang Xiu became an influential figure in the government. Yang Xiu was a close friend of Cao Cao's son, Cao Zhi, and became involved in the succession struggle between Cao Zhi and his brother Cao Pi. Yang Xiu's close links with Cao Zhi caused him misfortune during Cao Zhi's occasional misbehaviour such as the incident in Ye city, where Cao Zhi drunkenly rode through the gate reserved for only the emperor. But the final blow was when Yang Xiu was discovered to have leaked the council's discussion agenda to Cao Zhi so that his friend could prepare beforehand and impress Cao Cao. Because of this and remembering his connection with Yuan Shu, Cao Cao had Yang Xiu executed. However Cao Pi personally did not dislike Yang Xiu. Cao Pi's favourite sword was a gift from Yang Xiu and Cao Pi regularly kept the sword by his side. Later, after becoming the emperor, Cao Pi remembered that Yang Xiu once said that the sword originally belong to Wang Miao. A nostalgic Cao Pi then searched for Wang Miao's whereabouts and awarded Miao with food and clothes. Yang Xiu's death was commonly related to the story of "chicken ribs", which was mentioned in Pei Songzhi's annotation of the Sanguozhi, and was popularized by the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It was thought that the true reason for Xiu's death was not really because of his relationship with Cao Zhi, but because he correctly guessed Cao Cao's inner thoughts, which was taboo, and carelessly revealed these thoughts to other people, which was even more forbidden. People like Cao Cao always wanted to mystify themselves and have political secrets which could not be arbitrarily shared with anyone. Hence, subordinates like Yang Xiu were considered an imminent threat. Prior to Yang Xiu's death, Cao Cao had written a letter to his