The most favored by the author in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the Shu Kingdom, and the author spends a lot of ink to describe the rise, development and defeat of the Shu State. Liu Bei, in history, is actually inferior to Cao Cao, but because he was from the Liu clan, although he was not orthodox, he was favored by the author Luo Guanzhong. Zhuge Liang, in fact, was a sage according to history, and made great contributions to the governance of the country, but in the army's war, his qualifications were mediocre.
Cao Zhen
The author's preference greatly affected the reader, in fact, there is a person in history, his ability is also very strong, his talent is not inferior to Sima Yi, his IQ is also more than Zhuge Liang, and he can defeat Zhao Yun by force, but the author basically did not spend too much ink to describe him, this person is Cao Zhen. Cao Zhen's original name was Qin Zhen, and he was Cao Cao's adopted son. In the beginning, the princes of the world were in various disputes, Cao Cao had always been in a state of Taoguang and obscurity, and at that time, Dong Zhuo could be said to be a monopoly, and it was actually very difficult for Cao Cao to compete with him, and Qin Zhen's father was one of the few people who supported Cao Cao, and later died on the battlefield.
Cao Cao, out of gratitude, adopted Cao Zhen as his child and educated him well. From an early age, he showed his brave side, which was very trusted and appreciated by Cao Cao, and when Cao Cao was alive, he led troops to resist Liu Bei's attacks many times and succeeded. After Cao Cao's death, Cao Zhen was reused by Cao Pi and was given the title of General of Zhenxi, and from then on, he led troops to garrison the western part of the river to resist the enemy's invasion.
Later, there was another war between Cao Pi and Eastern Wu, and Cao Zhen went to support Cao Pi and beat Eastern Wu to pieces. After Cao Pi's death, Cao Rui ascended the throne, Cao Zhen obeyed the orders of the former emperor, and did his best to assist the new emperor Cao Rui, it can be said that he was very loyal to the Cao family, and later Zhuge Liang came to attack, Cao Zhen obeyed the order to lead troops to fight with Zhuge Liang, which fiercely frustrated Zhuge Liang's confidence, and finally Cao Zhen was also very successful.
Although Cao Zhen does not appear in many chapters in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and he has always been obscure, in fact, he is indeed a well-known figure in history, and many people admire him. Although he was highly capable, talented, and had a high status and reputation among courtiers, and he had always been loyal to the Cao family, he was written as a rookie by Luo Guanzhong.