In the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an (220), a generation of adulterous male Cao Cao died of illness in Luoyang. Curiously, Cao Cao moved his base camp to Yicheng (邺城, in modern Linzhang County, Handan, Hebei Province) after eliminating Yuan Shao's clique. After that, Cao Cao's clique formed political centers: Yecheng, where Cao Cao was located, and Xuchang, where Emperor Xiandi of Han was located. If so, why did Cao Cao die of illness in Luoyang, outside of Yecheng and Xuchang?
Cao Cao died of illness in the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an (220), and the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219) before his death was not friendly to Cao Cao at all. At the beginning of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Liu Bei attacked Hanzhong, and Xiahou Yuan, the first general of the Western Front of cao's army, was killed. Cao Cao personally led troops to rescue Hanzhong, and could not change the result of losing Hanzhong, and the Battle of Hanzhong was also the first time that Liu Bei defeated Cao Cao head-on.
Almost at the same time as the Battle of Hanzhong, Guan Yu's army attacked Fancheng, which cao cao controlled. Cao Ren, the first general of the Cao army defending Fancheng, had his life hanging in the balance, and Cao Cao had to send Yu Ban to lead the Seventh Army to rescue Fancheng. As a result, Guan Yu staged the "Flooded Seventh Army", and the entire army was destroyed. The Battle of Hanzhong and the Flooded Seventh Army annihilated almost half of Cao Cao's main forces, and Cao Cao's rule south of the Yellow River was on the verge of collapse.
Faced with such a dangerous situation, Cao Cao personally went south of the Yellow River to command the rescue operation of Fancheng. Because there were already armed forces around Xuchang under Guan Yu's remote command, Cao Cao had to set up his headquarters in Luoyang. Shortly after arriving in Luoyang, Cao Cao received news that the "Great Wei Wu King" was about to sneak up on his allies, and ordered Xu Huang to lead the newly recruited soldiers to rescue Fancheng.
Because Xu Huang's recruits were not necessarily Guan Yu's opponents, Cao Cao personally led his army into Mopi (mopi) (southeast of present-day Pingdingshan, Henan Province) after Xu Huang sent troops. However, the "Great Wei Wu King" was really "loyal and righteous", and was greatly demoralized by Guan Yu, who stole the family, and was eventually defeated by Xu Huang. Guan Yu then ushered in the tragic end of "walking Maicheng", and Cao Cao returned to the Luoyang headquarters from Mopi after the crisis was over.
It is possible that Guan Yu's "Wei Zhen Huaxia" depleted Cao Cao's last vitality, and Cao Cao fell ill after returning to Luoyang, and he really could not return to Yecheng and Xuchang. In the first month of the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an (220), Cao Cao died of illness in Luoyang at the age of sixty-six.