Cao Cao, ancestor of the Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei. Boss Cao officially opened the flagpole in 189 AD and fought against Dong Zhuo. Subsequently, with a lofty strategy, he attracted the think tank Xun Yu to join the team. Subsequently, Cao Cao began to recruit troops and horses to enhance his strength, and by 208 AD, Cao Cao had unified the northern part of the Central Plains, and the three worlds were exclusively occupied! Why was Cao Cao so successful? In fact, in his group, there are too many excellent people, and the one I want to talk about today, "Cao Wei's hidden famous general", many people do not know him.
Although there are no rumors of him in history, there are records of him in the historical records that this person defeated Zhuge Liang twice, and Zhuge Liang's proud disciple Jiang Wei did not have the courage to fight him at all.
Unfortunately, this person died early, otherwise the Cao Wei regime could not have been usurped by Sima Shi, and Sima Yi could only be an office worker forever!
So who is this person? In fact, he was Cao Cao's adopted son, the first commander of Cao Wei's tiger and leopard ride, and later became Cao Wei's Grand Sima And he was Cao Zhen.
First, he became Cao Cao's adopted son and learned cao Cao's ability to lead his troops to fight
Yes, during the Three Kingdoms period, anyone who mixed well would receive a righteous son. For example, before Ding Yuan adopted Lü Bu as a righteous son. Dong Zhuo later adopted Lü Bu as a righteous son, but unfortunately, Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo were killed by their righteous son Lü Bu. But what about Liu Bei? However, he was the first to strike strongly, and directly executed his righteous son Liu Feng.
And Sun Quan? It seems that Liu Bei and Ding Yuan did not come to this set, which may be in view of the allusions of Ding Yuan and Dong Zhuo. Therefore, Sun Quan did not seem to have received a righteous son in his whole life. But what about Cao Cao? Although he did not dare to adopt Lü Bu as a righteous son, he secretly accepted a powerful righteous son, he was Cao Zhen.
In the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, it is recorded that at the beginning of Cao Cao's army, Cao Zhen's father impersonated Cao Cao and was killed by the enemy army. Later, Cao Cao saw that Cao Zhen was very pitiful, so he adopted him as a righteous son and raised him with his son Cao Pi and others.
In the historical records, there is no record of the age when Cao Zhen first entered Cao's camp, but from the point of view that Cao Cao raised him with his son Cao Pi, Cao Zhen was about the same age as Cao Pi. Cao Pi was born in 187 AD, so Cao Zhen should have been born between 185 and 188. That is to say, when Cao Zhen first followed Cao Cao, he was only 4 years old at most.
In 207 AD, Liu Bei and Cao Cao fought a major battle at Changshanpo. At that time, Cao Cao used the tiger and leopard riding to pursue Liu Bei, and according to historical records, the captain of the tiger and leopard riding at that time was likely to be Cao Zhen, because the tiger and leopard rode a total of three leaders, one was Cao Zhen, one was Cao Xiu, and the other was Cao Chun.
If it was Cao Zhen who attacked Liu Bei at Changshanpo at that time, then Cao Zhen was only 22 years old at this time. According to historical records, Cao Zhenli was brave and could shoot a fierce tiger with a sharp arrow. It can be seen that Cao Cao has no reason not to reuse Cao Zhen, not to mention that Cao Zhen is still his own righteous son and is a family member.
In the battles experienced by Cao Cao in his life, Cao Zhen followed him most of the time, and in 218 AD, Cao Zhen followed Cao Cao to participate in the Battle of Hanzhong, and Cao Zhen led Cao Hong, Cao Xiu, and others to resist Zhang Fei and Ma Chao. At Yangping Pass, he dispatched Xu Huang to defeat Liu Bei's general Gao Xiang.
Cao Cao personally led Cao Zhen through the war, and Cao Zhen can be said to have invisibly learned the method of leading soldiers to fight.
Second, become a hidden famous general of Cao Wei, defeat Zhuge Liang twice, and become famous!
In 220 AD, Cao Cao died. At this time, Cao Zhen was already middle-aged, at least about 35 years old. However, Cao Zhen learned a lot of fighting skills from Cao Cao in his early years, and his military techniques and strategies were already the talents of commanders who could stand alone. Therefore, after Cao Pi claimed the title of King of Wei, he directly promoted Cao Zhen to the rank of General of the Four Towns and made him the General of Zhenxi.
Soon after Cao Pixin ascended to the throne, Zhang Jin took Taishou hostage and rebelled at Jiuquan, while Cao Zhen led Fei Yao to disperse the rebels, and after returning to Luoyang, Cao Zhen was promoted to general and commanded the internal and external military.
Cao Pi died in 226, and before his death, he appointed Cao Zhen, Chen Qun, Cao Xiu, and Sima Yi as his ministers.
In 228 AD, Zhuge Liang waved his army on the Northern Expedition, and as expected, Cao Zhen led an army to block the attack, and although Zhuge Liang quickly occupied Nan'an, Tianshui, and An' settlement with a strange plan, Cao Zhen soon understood Zhuge Liang's strategy and ordered Zhang Gao to quickly attack the street pavilion, thus cutting off the Shu army's grain road, and the Shu army could only tie its hands when the grain road was broken.
At the same time, Cao Zhen led the main force to defeat Zhao Yun and Deng Zhi's partial divisions at Jigu. At that time, although Zhao Yun suffered few casualties, this was also the first time in history that he was frustrated.
After the fall of the street pavilion, Zhuge Liang, in order to avoid being besieged, could only move the people into the river and had to withdraw from the battlefield.
After Zhuge Liang led the army to retreat, Cao Zhen also proposed a very prescient strategy. That is to say, he thought that Zhuge Liang would definitely send his troops to Chen Cang at the end of 228 AD and be caught off guard. Therefore, Cao Zhen ordered Hao Zhao, Wang Sheng, and others to build fortifications in Chen Cangcheng to strengthen their defensive capabilities.
Sure enough, at the end of 228 AD, Zhuge Liang led tens of thousands of light troops to attack Chen Cang, but Chen Cangcheng was already guarded by generals, and the fortifications of the city were unbreakable, so Zhuge Liang had to announce his withdrawal after nearly a month of siege.
So, how did Cao Zhen expect that Zhuge Liang would definitely leave the army after the defeat of the army? I think this is inseparable from Cao Zhen's many years of combat experience, as well as the combat and strategy learned from Cao Cao.
After defeating Zhuge Liang twice, Cao Zhen's reputation was greatly shaken! In 230 AD, Cao Zhen was given the title of Grand Sima (大司馬), enjoyed the privilege of ascending to the temple with swords, and entered the dynasty without tending to the throne.
Third, Cao Zhen unfortunately died early, otherwise Sima Yi could only honestly become an office worker!
In 231, Cao Zhen died and was succeeded by his eldest son Cao Shuang.
As mentioned above, before Cao Pi's death, He left Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, Chen Qun, and Sima Yi as his ministers. Chen Qun was Cao Wei's loyal subject, while Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen were both their own, leaving only one Sima Yi.
As early as The time of Cao Cao, Sima Yi had been secretly observed by Cao Cao, but Cao Cao had died. Before his death, Boss Cao warned Cao Pi to appoint Sima Yi cautiously, never to give him real power, to control if he could, and to return to his hometown if he could not control. Therefore, in the Cao Pi era, Sima Yi was basically playing soy sauce.
Although meng da was captured and co-starred with Zhuge Liang in "Empty City Plan", these plots could only be over-addicted, and Cao Wei could not let him get real power. After Cao Pi's death, Cao Rui ascended the throne. Obviously, it would take some time for Cao Rui to fully control Sima Yi, but fortunately, in the previous part of the time, Cao Zhen had also suppressed Sima Yi, and although Sima Yi had ideas, he could only pretend to be crazy and stupid, and did not dare to show the slightest sign.
Unfortunately, in 231 AD, Cao Zhen died. At the time of his death, Cao Zhen was at most 46 years old, definitely less than 50 years old, while Cao Cao lived to be 65 years old, but unfortunately Cao Zhen died early and died before he was 50 years old.
After Cao Zhen's death, Sima Yi began to stir. However, Cao Rui was not stupid, coupled with Cao Shuang's strategy, which made Sima Yi have no perfect grasp and did not dare to act. However, it can be guessed that after Cao Zhen's death, after Sima Yi led his troops against Liaodong, he no longer used troops against Eastern Wu and did not attack Shu Han.
What was Sima Yi planning at that time? Quite simply, in 249 AD, Sima Yi launched the Gaopingling Rebellion, and Sima Yi was definitely secretly "raising 3,000 dead pawns" to prepare for future uprisings.
Sure enough, while Cao Shuang and Cao Fang were worshipping their ancestors, Sima Yi launched a coup d'état and seized cao Wei's power at once.
In fact, Cao Zhen was much younger than Sima Yi, but unfortunately he died early. If you live another 10 years, where will Sima Yi do in the future? And Cao Zhen acted in a low-key manner all his life, although he was a general, but he always shared happiness and hardship with the generals, and when the military expenditure was insufficient, he took his own money to charge the army, but Cao Zhen's comprehensive quality, strategy, and skills in leading soldiers to fight were not known to many people.
This is also why it is said that Cao Zhen is Cao Wei's last "hidden famous general".
Summary: Cao Zhen served as the commander of the Tiger and Panther Horse in his lifetime, defeated the Qiang Hu Army, PingheXi, broke the Eastern Wu Sun Sheng, and repelled Zhuge Liang twice, but like such a person, many officials and friends under the influence of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", thought that he was just a mixed meal. This is really unfair to Cao Zhen. If Cao Zhen had not died early, he would have changed the course of Cao Wei's history. And Sima Yi can only honestly go to work, waiting for retirement salary is Sima Yi's best plan.