First answer the first question: Why did Cao Cao humbly curry favor with Guan Yu?
My answer is: Cao Cao really "likes" Guan Yu.
As we all know, Guan Yu was known as a "righteous jeopardy" and "martial saint", a famous general during the Three Kingdoms period, and made outstanding contributions to the establishment of the Shu Han regime. He is famous not only now, but even then. For example, Cheng Yu and Guo Jia once described Guan Yu as "ten thousand enemies".
Cao Cao was a meritocratic man, and he recruited a large number of talents. In Guan Yu, there is the quality that Cao Cao admires the most, that is, "loyalty and righteousness". Therefore, after Cao Cao caught Guan Yu, he gave him all kinds of "bribes", one would send gold and silver jewelry, and the other would send beautiful women. Guan Yu was unmoved. Cao Cao then made Guan Yu the General of Wei and marquis of Hanshouting and sent him a red rabbit horse. Guan Yu was still unmoved. Because in Guan Yu's mind, Liu Bei's status was unshakable.
Guan Yu helped Cao Cao kill Yan Liang and relieve the "Siege of the White Horse", so he did not quit and went to find his good brother Liu Bei.
At this time, Zhang Liao told Cao Cao that Guan Yu could not be spared, otherwise he would be a tiger breeder and the consequences would be unimaginable, so he asked to capture Guan Yu. Cao Cao immediately refused:
"Each has its own master, do not chase after him."
Cao Cao would rather keep Guan Yu, a formidable enemy, than kill him. Cao Cao's love for Guan Yu can be seen.
Speaking of this, some people may have doubts: Cao Cao's fierce generals are like clouds, why does he especially love Guan Yu?
Xu Chu, Zhang Liao, Xiahou Yuan, Xiahou Huan, and Cao Ren, although they were all fierce generals of a generation, they could not compare with Guan Yu, that is, Guan Yu was extremely "loyal".
To sum up, Guan Yu was a very "scarce" warrior, so Cao Cao would humbly curry favor with him.
Answer the second question: Why did Cao Cao never look for Zhuge Liang from beginning to end?
I have the following three statements.
First, Cao Cao did not lack a Zhuge Liang.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang is an outstanding military figure, a politician, and a rare talent. However, zhuge liang in the history of Zhuge Liang, his military ability is actually average, and his most outstanding ability lies in governing the country. For this, Chen Shou's evaluation of Zhuge Liang is very objective:
"The rule of law is long, the plot is short, and the work of the people is better than that of the general."
But we must know that Cao Cao's advisers are very numerous. Speaking of Xun Yu, his ability to govern internal affairs is very strong, comparable to Zhuge Liang. In addition, Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, and Xun You were also very great strategists. Since this was the case, there was no need for Cao Cao to go to Zhuge Liang again.
Second, before Zhuge Liang left the mountain, Cao Cao probably hadn't heard of him.
According to the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Biography of Zhuge Liang", Zhuge Liang lived in seclusion in Longzhong for many years, called himself "Mr. Wolong", liked to sing "Liang Fu Yin", and often compared himself to Guan Zhong and Le Yi, and few people knew about him at that time. Liu Bei also knew about the existence of Zhuge Liang because of Xu Shu, so he would "three Gu Maolu". I think that perhaps no one recommended Zhuge Liang to Cao Cao, so Cao Cao did not know that Zhuge Liang existed.
Third, the Tao is different and does not conspire with each other.
Cao Cao, whose name was Han Xiang, was actually a "Han thief", and his goal was to unify the world and stand on his own behalf of Han. And Zhuge Liang's ambition is to "restore the Han Room and return to the old capital". That is to say, Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang had different ambitions, and they had no possibility of cooperation. They all know this.
Fourth, after Zhuge Liang followed Liu Bei, Cao Cao could not go to him again.
During the Three Kingdoms period, each camp had a number of courtiers and military generals. After Zhuge Liang arrived at Liu Bei's camp, he wholeheartedly assisted and had no second thoughts. At this time, cao Cao, even if he knew that he had missed a talent like Zhuge Liang, it would be impossible to go to him again, otherwise he would definitely be scolded. And even if Cao Cao found Zhuge Liang, would Zhuge Liang abandon Liu Bei and follow him? The answer is indisputable.
Finally, thank you all for reading, welcome to follow me!