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Objectively speaking, Cao Cao is indeed a very powerful person, but he is born from a humble background but he is a generation of tyrants, relying on his own talent, courage and power plots, rising in the chaotic world, and posterity has commented on Cao Cao as follows: "The capable minister who governs the world, the adulterous male who is in the chaotic world."
In the first year of Jian'an, that is, in 196 AD, Cao Cao blackmailed Tianzi to order the princes and welcomed Emperor Xian of Han to his stronghold xuchang. Ancient wars have always paid attention to a principle, that is, the name is right, and the teacher is famous. After this, Cao Cao had the "guise" of Emperor Xian of Han available, and it can be said that in the name of the Son of Heaven, he would beat whomever he wanted, and whoever disobeyed would beat him.
In this way, Cao Cao relied on this unique advantage to sweep away the power of the entire Yellow River Valley in one fell swoop, and divided the north to become the largest force from the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms period. Subsequently, Cao Cao's officials worshiped Cheng Xiang, and then established himself as the King of Wei, achieving his own hegemony, and after the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao was defeated and also kept a low profile, resulting in the situation of the Three Kingdoms.
Speaking of this, the problem is that when Cao Cao, who was evaluated by history as "the capable minister of ruling the world and the adulterous male of the chaotic world", his purpose was to achieve hegemony and win the world.
When Cao Cao reached the age of "knowing the Mandate of Heaven", his power could be said to have reached its peak, but he never dared to establish himself as an emperor, which in real history did leave a mystery for future generations.
With the passage of time, successive dynasties have studied Cao Cao as a person, as to why he did not call himself emperor, but after his death, let his son Cao Pi posthumously name him "Emperor Wu", a synthesis of various statements and views, we can summarize the following three points.
First, although Cao Cao had great ambitions and was also very eager to become a deserving emperor, he knew that he could not bear the insult of "chaotic courtiers and thieves". Although Cao Cao's reputation is not good, but it has not yet reached the point of "public indignation" of his own people, assuming that Cao Cao is called emperor, then those who are loyal to the Han Dynasty will absolutely rebel against the water, which Is what Cao Cao does not want to see.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the number of the Han Dynasty will be exhausted, the world will be in chaos, and the masses will rise up. Although it is said to be in a chaotic world, the influence of Confucian culture is still deeply rooted, and the principles, common ethics, and loyalty and filial piety and righteousness still exist.
Although Cao Cao was very advanced in his thinking and possessed great talent and strategy, he could not get rid of the influence of Confucian culture, especially in the areas of power struggles and internal and external wars, he must be justified, find a pretext for himself, and conquer various forces in the name of defending the Han Dynasty, in order to show that he is a righteous teacher.
Cao Cao was very clear about this, if he deposed the orthodox Han Xiandi and established himself, then he would become a sinner referred to by a thousand husbands, and everything would be abandoned, and everyone would rebel and leave, and the most important thing was that if he did this, Cao Cao would certainly be unable to escape the scorn of all generations of dynasties and infamous.
This was absolutely unacceptable to Cao Cao, so he repeatedly stated that he had no intention of establishing himself as emperor, but rather that he wanted to be loyal to the "virtuous generals" who helped han and eliminated thieves.
Second, Cao Cao saw the current situation very clearly, he knew that although his power was the strongest, he could not withstand the rise and attack of the crowds of heroes everywhere, and the most typical counterexample was Yuan Shu's self-reliance as emperor, and the end was very tragic.
Cao Cao had already gained absolute control over the Han Dynasty, and for him, the emperor was just a very useful pawn for himself. But now the situation is like this, Cao Cao's power is limited to the north, Western Shu Liu Bei, Eastern Wu Sun Quan are not idle people, once Cao Cao hastily claimed the title of emperor, he gave Sun Liu and other generations a "guise" to fight against the chaotic courtiers and thieves, and the people of the world will also think that Cao Cao is a traitorous villain, and since then he has lost the hearts of the people, and it is only a matter of time before he loses jiangshan.
In this way, the absolute superiority of Cao Cao's painstaking management of "holding the son of heaven to order the princes" will be shattered by himself, he will be in absolute passivity (morality and morality), and even, it may trigger an unprecedented war, if it really becomes like that, even if Cao Cao has more soldiers and generals, he will not have much chance of winning against the world Haojie with his own strength. Knowing this, would the thoughtful Cao Cao put himself in a place of no return?
Third, Sima Yi once said a sentence: "The wise man is pragmatic, and the fool is fighting for a false name", which is most appropriate to put on Cao Cao, who only values real power and does not look at false names.
For friends who are familiar with history, we all know that Cao Cao is realistic and not true, which is lighter or heavier, fictitious name and real power, can he not be clear, Cao Cao rose in the chaotic world, relying not only on ambition, but also he knows how to weigh the advantages and disadvantages and give up.
The emperor was just a title for him, but Cao Cao, who was not an emperor, could use the edict of the Son of Heaven to order the imperial court to fully carry out his will, and the appointment of officials must have been ordered by Cao Cao, all of which was enough to show that Cao Cao's name was actually an emperor. The fact that there is an emperor is always much stronger than the emperor's false name, and it may even be because of a false name that makes itself doomed, so why should it be used?
Cao Cao's simple sentence: "If, the destiny of heaven is in me, I am willing to be the king of Zhou Wen", a simple sentence, has already expressed Cao Cao's wish of the tyrant, and at the same time broke Cao Cao's will, so that his son called the emperor after his death and posthumously crowned himself emperor. However, as for the truest thoughts in Cao Cao's heart, they have still become confusing after a thousand years of purification, but according to the comments of future generations, everyone thinks that why cao Cao did not want to be emperor before he died?
References for this article: "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms, WeiShu, Biography of Emperor Wu", "Romance of the Three Kingdoms in Vernacular", "Pin Three Kingdoms", "Baidu Encyclopedia Related Terms - Cao Cao, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Why Cao Cao Is Not Called Emperor, Yi Zhongtian on Cao Cao, etc."