Cao Cao, a famous ancient Chinese military figure and military commander of the Han and Wei dynasties, had a rational understanding of war and military issues.
Cao Cao (155–220), courtesy name Mengde, was a native of Pei Guo (沛国谯; present-day Bozhou, Anhui). He took advantage of the opportunity of the powerful support of the various localities at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to start an army, reorganized the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army into qingzhou soldiers, independently developed the armed forces, and dominated the north-south conquest, becoming the dominant force in the power of Wei, Shu, and Wu Dingzu. Cao Cao collected the ideas of various schools of thought, such as bing, fa, Confucianism, and Taoism, and developed them in practice. He "read a wide range of books, was particularly good at the art of war, copied the art of war of various families, called "Receiving The Essentials", and annotated the thirteen articles of "Sun Wu"", "composed more than 100,000 words of his own military book, and all the generals engaged in new books" ("Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Wudi Ji" notes Pei Songzhi's "Miscellaneous Miscellaneous Sayings" and "Book of Wei"). Most of his writings are dead, and his military ideas can be glimpsed from his "Notes on Sun Tzu" and surviving military documents, as well as in historical books such as the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
View of War Cao Cao realized that military struggle cannot be separated from the cooperation of the political situation. It takes enough armed force to save society. We cannot rely only on force and do not pay attention to politics, as Wu Guofucha did in the Spring and Autumn Period; nor can we replace the use of soldiers with "benevolence and righteousness" like Xu Yan, a prince of the Zhou Dynasty. He emphasized that "soldiers move with righteousness" (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Chronicle of Emperor Wu) and "show the situation in the world to go along with the rebellion". In order to win the political initiative in the war, he blackmailed the Son of Heaven to order the princes to raise volunteer soldiers to eliminate the riots and maintain the Han Dynasty; in order to win the hearts and minds of the people, after occupying Hebei, he also issued a decree to suppress the merger of the powerful and powerful, so that "the people are close to each other, and the armored troops are strong." The famous strategist Guo Jia praised him for "leading the world by obeying the law, and winning this righteousness.". He believes that the quality of the economy is related to the success or failure of the war. The army had no weight, grain, and accumulation, and "the way of death", so it absorbed the experience of "the Qin people with the urgency of agriculture and the world, and xiaowu with tun tian to determine the western region" (Pei Song's note in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and Emperor Wu of the Three Kingdoms), and daxing Tun tian achieved the goal of eating enough to strengthen the army.
Cao Cao abandoned the Confucian principle of ruling the army with etiquette, believing that "etiquette cannot govern the army" (Sun Tzu's Note), emphasizing that "I hold the law in the army is also" ("Cao Cao's Collection and Testament"), and paying attention to the rule of law in the army. In view of the lack of leniency in the politics of the late Han Dynasty, he "corrected it with fierceness" in order to make "the system of knowledge from above and below" and "what is entered is courtesy, and what is not the right way is the law" ("Three Kingdoms Chronicles, Guo Jia Biography", Pei Songzhi's annotation quoted "Fu Zi"). He "collected the spells of Shen shen and shang" ("Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Emperor Wuji"), formulated military regulations such as "Military Order", "Infantry Battle Order", "Ship Battle Order", "On the Ability of Officials", "Order for Defeating The Army", etc., in order to maintain the unified command of the army and strengthen the combat effectiveness of the army. In order to ensure the implementation of the laws and regulations, he advocated strict rewards and punishments, rewarding meritorious deeds and punishing crimes according to the law, "Ming Jun is not a minister who has no merit, does not reward those who do not fight; governs peace and virtue, and has the function of rewarding things", and admonishes the generals to "reward merit without punishment, and it is not a state code" (Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Emperor Wuji). It is emphasized that "the generals will go out on the battlefield, and those who lose the army will be punished, and those who lose will be exempted from the official title." (Ibid.) and "Pro-patrol generals, clearly advising rewards and punishments", in public, he himself did not ignore the law. In order to implement the idea of ruling the army by law, he paid special attention to the selection of judicial officials in the army, believing that "the punishment of the husband is also the fate of the people." And those who are in prison in the army may not be their own, but let the three armies die or die, I am very afraid of it. He chooses those who have attained the law and holds the canon. (Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Chronicle of Emperor Wu) Cao Cao selected and employed people and advocated breaking the rules and seeking truth. He believes that "the general will be the national security" ("Sun Tzu's Note"), "today's decision has not yet been decided, this is the urgent need to seek the wise", therefore, advocating "lifting the virtuous do not restrain virtue", "raising the soldiers do not abolish the short" ("Three Kingdoms Chronicles, Emperor Wuji"), only the move. He was promoted to Zhang Liao, Zhang Ao (according to history, it is estimated that Zhang He), xu Huang was equal to the prisoner camp, and they all achieved outstanding military achievements and became famous generals. For the "virtuous" talents who have made mistakes, they are often appointed as before. He also paid attention to gathering the wisdom of the people to guide the war, and listened to and adopted the opinions of the soldiers in major battles such as the battles of Yanzhou, Guandu, Yicheng, Danyang, Weinan, and Xiangfan. In order to make the best of his talents, he advocated the wind of opening up the way of speech, conquered Liucheng Wuhuan victoriously and returned to the division, and also rewarded those who had dissuaded him from going on the expedition.
Strategic Thinking Cao Cao said: "If you want to attack the enemy, you must first plot." Attaching importance to strategy is an important part of Cao Cao's military thinking and an important guarantee for the success of his career. That is why he was able to "turn the weak into the strong, not only in heaven, but also in the hands of others" (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang's Biography). He believed that the use of soldiers "cannot be prayed for, nor can it be sought by things" (Sun Tzu's Note), thus basing his strategic thinking on the basis of simple materialism and dialectics, showing the two characteristics of seeking truth and still changing. He admired Sun Tzu, but asked the generals to command the battle according to his new book, which he had compiled in combination with the actual social conditions and practical combat experience of the time. Seeing goodness became the core of the use of troops, and its marching divisions "set up surprises according to events, defeated the enemy, and changed like gods" (Pei Song's note in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and Emperor Wu). It emphasizes that "soldiers are impermanent," "soldiers are impermanent," and "changes in soldiers are inherently not the same." Only by using troops flexibly and "using deceit as the way" can we win with change. It is also said that "if the risk is used as a capital, it cannot be changed in response to the opportunity" (ibid.). He held that the premise of deceit is to know the other side and know oneself, and only by conducting a comprehensive and comprehensive study on the premise of grasping the deployment of the other side's troops, the strength and weakness of the generals, the dangerous terrain, and the logistical support can we formulate the strategy of "changing due to the enemy' changes" and "following the enemy's gains and contractions." He paid special attention to the changes of odds and realities and virtual realities, and demanded that "the real strike to the virtual" should be used. His war practice also reflects this. For example, in the battle against Wu and Shu, or in the east and in the west, or in the east and in the west, according to the actual situation, the superior forces will be concentrated on one side and form a "realistic" posture. At the same time, the strategy of dispersing and dividing the enemy army is often used to cause it to be "virtual", so as to break through each one. In China's military history, he was known for his "deceit".
Cao Cao's military ideas were highly praised by successive generations of soldiers and scholars. The author of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms commented that Cao Cao "was able to finally be the emperor of the imperial plane, and the one who became a Hongye, but his ming was also the best". His "Notes on Sun Tzu" had a profound influence on the study of soldiers in later generations. However, due to the limitations of history, its military thinking also has idealistic and metaphysical impurities, and although the results of using punishment to eliminate chaos are remarkable, it sometimes emphasizes excessive punishment.