"Ning taught me to bear the world's people, Hugh taught the world's people to bear me", this story comes from the fourth time in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", after Cao Cao failed to assassinate Dong Zhuo, he was saved by Chen Gong on the way to escape, and the two defected to his father Cao Song's friend Lü Bohao.
Lü Bohao's family warmly entertained Cao Cao, but Cao Cao, because he heard the grinding of knives on the partition wall, suspected that Lü Bohao's family would harm him, and first attacked to kill all the old and young members of the Lü family, even Lü Bohao, who had just returned from buying wine.
Chen Gong was not accustomed to Cao Cao's behavior and scolded Cao Cao, and Cao Cao said the classic saying at this time: Ning taught me to bear the people of the world, and Hu taught the people of the world to bear me.
The bloody murder of Lü Bohao's entire family in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" undoubtedly exposes Cao Cao's treacherous, suspicious, and cruel character. However, "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a novel after all, and there is a big difference with "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", so how did Cao Cao kill Lü Bohao's family, and why did he kill it?
Interestingly, looking through the text of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there is no Lü Bohao; but this does not mean that Cao Cao did not kill people, because there are three historical sources that talk about this matter. These three historical sources can be roughly summarized into two statements:
According to the "New Sayings of the World" and the "Miscellaneous Sayings of Similarities and Differences", Lü Bohao's family warmly entertained Cao Cao, but because Cao Cao was suspicious, he ended up in trouble and was destroyed.
According to the Book of Wei, Lü Bohao's family had bad intentions and planned to kill people, and Cao Cao was forced to kill people in self-defense.
In the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Luo Guanzhong directly adapted the materials of the "World Language" and "Miscellaneous Records", processing that Lü Bohao was Cao Song's brother-in-law, and after meeting with Cao Cao, he ordered his family to kill pigs for hospitality, ride a donkey to buy wine, Cao Cao heard the sound of sharpening knives next door, suspicious of a dark ghost, so he killed Lü Bohao's family, and even Lü Bohao, who returned from going out, did not let go.
In the face of Chen Gong's doubts, he would rather "Similarities and Differences" than bear me! , adapted as Ning taught me to bear the world's people, Hugh taught the world's people to bear me, and vigorously rendered the villain image of Cao Cao's great treachery and great evil.
In fact, the capture and release of Cao Cao by Chen Palace did not happen at all in history, and the release of Cao Cao was the nameless county order of Zhongmu County, and Chen Gong and Cao Cao met after Cao Cao was welcomed as Yanzhou Pastor, and Cao Cao did not need to account to Chen Gong at all. In terms of Cao Cao's personality, if you kill it, you will kill it, so why bother to defend it.
What's more, "The New Language of the World" and "Miscellaneous Sayings" are similar to today's tabloid media, recording interesting gossip, so Cao Cao kills people, naturally the more explosive the better. Therefore, the author personally believes that the "Book of Wei" refers to the Lü family's uprising and Cao Cao's self-defense and killing people.