At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty fell into decline, the world fell apart, and the princes of all walks of life dominated one side, and finally formed the trend of the Three Kingdoms. In order to compete for the world and annex opponents, the three kingdoms fought between dragons and tigers, exchanged troops for many years, and staged a wonderful war drama. In the chaos of war, a group of outstanding military talents from each of the three countries stood out and rode the battlefield for their respective lords and princes, and won a decisive battle. Among them, the most well-known representative figure is the Five Tiger Generals of the Shu Han Dynasty.
Among the five tiger generals, Zhang Fei is a very personal character. Among the fierce generals of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu is recognized as a first-class character, but Zhang Fei is the only one who can keep pace with Guan Yu. When the history books mention Guan Yu, they often mention Zhang Fei at the same time, such as the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" mentioned many times, "Guan Zhang is entangled, prepared for the minions", "Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are called the enemies of all people, the tigers of the world", and so on. It can be seen that Zhang Fei's courage does not reduce Guan Yu. However, although Zhang Fei was fierce, he was not invincible in the world, and someone had defeated him.
This person was Cao Hong, the military general of Cao Wei. Cao Hong was not only Cao Cao's brother of the same ethnic group, but also one of Cao Cao's backbone military generals, a confidant of Cao Cao, and a close assistant of Cao Cao who could not be temporarily separated from the world. In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Hong is described as a mediocre man with insufficient wisdom and limited courage, which is very different from real history. Cao Hong in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" is a completely different face, whether in the battles against Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu, or in the battles of Guandu and Hanzhong, Cao Hong has performed well.
Cao Hong's most visible time was the defeat of the fierce general Zhang Fei in the Battle of Hanzhong in The Twenty-three Years of Jian'an. The Chronicle of Emperor Wu of the Three Kingdoms records that at that time, Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei to lead a large army to garrison the Xiajian area, waiting for an opportunity to attack Cao Wei's Wudu and Yinping regions. As a result, he was strongly blocked by Cao Hong. During the battle, Cao Hong led his troops to defeat the Shu army and beheaded the Shu general Wu Lan, completely disrupting the strategic deployment of the Shu Han, and the fierce general Zhang Fei was forced to retreat and withdraw his troops. This was also an extremely rare defeat by the general Zhang Fei.
Cao Hong was not only proficient in the use of soldiers, but his loyalty to Cao Cao was beyond doubt. He saved Cao Cao's life on the battlefield. During Dong Zhuo's rebellion in the early Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao led his troops to fight with Dong Zhuo. At that time, Cao Cao's wings were not strong, his strength was weak, and he was far from being the opponent of Dong Zhuo. In one battle, Cao Cao's army was almost completely destroyed and fled. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records that Cao Cao was so embarrassed that his warhorses were lost, and he ran out of breath with his feet wide open, and the pursuing soldiers roared behind him.
At the critical juncture, Cao Hong arrived, he saw Cao Cao's embarrassment, did not say anything about giving up the war horse to Cao Cao, Cao Cao was still pushing back, Cao Hong shouted urgently: "There is no flood in the world, there must be no king!" Cao Cao was forced to be pumped onto a horse, and Cao Cao went away, and Cao Hong followed behind on foot. As a result, a river was encountered in front of me blocking the way. Cao Cao's eyes widened in a hurry, and cao Hong searched up and down the river, found a boat, and crossed Cao Cao across the river to escape from danger safely.
Cao Hong's hard work for the State of Wei was high, but what was surprising was that Cao Cao had just died, Cao Pi had ascended the throne and sat in the palace, and Cao Hong's good days had come to an end. One year, Cao Hong's protégé violated the law, but Cao Pi seized the handle and made a big fuss, imprisoned Cao Hong, abolished his titles and official positions, and sentenced him to death, and raided his home without property. Cao Pi's excessive actions caused dissatisfaction among Wei Guoqun's subjects, who all believed that Cao Pi had mistreated the heroes. Cao Pi's mother, Empress Bian, personally interceded, and Cao Pi released Cao Hong and deposed him as a commoner.
The reason for Cao Hong's innocent suffering is not explicitly stated in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and wei Luo records that it is because Cao Hong's family was rich and wealthy, with countless gold and silver. Cao Pi had borrowed a hundred silk cloths from Cao Hong, but Cao Hong was reluctant and rejected him, causing Cao Pi to hold a grudge in his heart. Therefore, they will wait for an opportunity to retaliate. If it was really because of this incident, Cao Hongke would become a scrooge who wanted money and did not want his life. Knowing that Cao Pi was the crown prince and would ascend the throne in the future, he was reluctant to give up a batch of silk cloth, so he was not looking for his own death.