At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and the crowds of heroes chased after the Central Plains. In this context, Cao Cao chose the strategy of blackmailing the Son of Heaven to order the princes. In August of the first year of Jian'an (196), Cao Cao welcomed Emperor Liu Xie of the Han Dynasty. In Xinhai, Emperor Xian of Han made Cao Cao a lieutenant and recorded Shang Shushi. Gengshen, moved to Xu County. In November, Emperor Xian of Han made Cao Cao a sikong and rode a general in the military. Since then, Cao Cao, in the name of Liu Xie, the son of the Han Dynasty, has conquered the four sides, eliminated Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao Lübu, Liu Biao, Ma Chao, Han Sui and other separatist forces internally, surrendered to the Southern Xiongnu, Wuhuan, Xianbei and other forces externally, and implemented a series of measures to restore the national strength of the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as expanding Tuntian, building water conservancy, rewarding nongsang, and attaching importance to handicrafts. All these things undoubtedly gave Cao Cao the strength to dominate the world.
However, for Cao Cao, who died of illness in 220 AD, he was unable to dominate the world until his death, and as for the complete end of the Three Kingdoms era, it was not until 280 AD, that is, the end of the Battle of Jin and Wu. In this regard, in the author's opinion, as far as Cao Cao's life is concerned, there have been two opportunities to dominate the world. Of course, Cao Cao did not succeed in seizing these two opportunities in the end. Among them, the first time because Cao Cao was too impatient and failed, and the other time because Cao Cao was too conservative, but continued to let the opportunity pass in vain.
One
On the one hand, the first chance to dominate the world was naturally the Battle of Chibi in 208 AD. After Cao Cao had pacified the north, after returning to Yecheng in the first month of the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208), he immediately began preparations to use troops to the south. In July of the same year, Cao Cao marched south, and in August, Liu Biao of Jingzhou fell ill and died, and Cai Mao, Zhang Yun, and others supported Liu Qi to succeed him as Jingzhou Pastor. Cao Cao accepted Xun Yu's advice, and first took shortcuts and moved forward lightly, rushing to Wan and Ye. In September, when Cao Cao arrived in Xinye County, Liu Chun surrendered to Cao Cao in Jingzhou and sent people to greet Cao Cao with the runes issued by the imperial court in the past. The news of Cao Cao's southward movement was not known to Liu Bei, who was attached to Liu Biao and Fancheng of Tun Bing, until Cao Jun arrived near Wan, only to find out: And Liu Chun had surrendered to Cao Cao, but did not dare to tell Liu Bei, Liu Bei found out the situation, so he sent a close agent to inquire about Liu Chun, at this time Liu Chun sent Song Zhong to inform Liu Bei, Liu Bei was both horrified and angry, and had to immediately abandon Fan and flee south.
In this regard, in the author's opinion, after the capture of Jingzhou, Cao Cao's strength undoubtedly came to a peak. At that time, Liu Bei and others could only run for their lives, and even self-protection was very difficult, as for Sun Quan in Jiangdong, although he wanted to compete with Cao Cao. However, at this time, Jiangdong, like Jingzhou, already had many civilian and military generals ready to surrender to Cao Cao, or to the Eastern Han court.
Two
Therefore, in 208 AD, Cao Cao had no need to fight a decisive battle with Sun Quan, let alone let Sun Quan and Liu Bei move towards unity, but should fight steadily, first completely destroying Liu Bei, and then gradually encroaching on jiangdong territory after Jingzhou gained a firm foothold. Before the Battle of Chibi broke out, Cao Cao wrote to Sun Quan: "Recently, I was ordered by the Son of Heaven to fight against guilty rebellion, and the military flag pointed south, and Liu Chun surrendered. Now, I command a water army of 800,000 people, and I will hunt with the general in Wudi. Sun Quan showed this letter to his subordinates, and they were all frightened. Therefore, it is very obvious that Cao Cao's strength at that time, coupled with the prestige of the princes who threatened tianzi, prompted Sun Quan's side to show a tendency to divide, that is, although Zhou Yu, Lu Su and others insisted on fighting Cao Cao, Zhang Zhao and others had plans to surrender. However, Cao Cao insisted on launching the decisive battle of the Battle of Chibi, which directly gave Zhou Yu and other main warrior factions the upper hand, and also let himself miss the best opportunity to unify the world, thus breaking out the Battle of Chibi.
According to the introduction, the Battle of Chibi refers to the battle of Sun Quan and Liu Bei in the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208) in the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208) to break Cao Cao's army in the area of Chibi on the Yangtze River (northwest of present-day Chibi City, Hubei Province). This is one of the famous battles in Chinese history in which the less wins more and the weak defeat the strong. In the Battle of Chibi, Sun Liu's combined forces finally attacked Cao's army with fire, Cao Cao returned to the north, and Sun and Liu each captured part of Jingzhou, laying the foundation for the establishment of the Three Kingdoms. Therefore, Cao Cao was too anxious, and in the end, he did not achieve the goal of eliminating Liu Bei and Sun Quan, but gave them the best opportunity to grow their respective forces.
Three
On the other hand, after the pacification of Hanzhong in 215 AD, it was also an opportunity for Cao Cao to unify the world. However, Cao Cao was too conservative and once again missed a good opportunity. In March of the twentieth year of Jian'an (215), Cao Cao saw that Liu Bei had taken Yizhou, and Hanzhong was the gateway to Yizhou, "if there is no Hanzhong, there is no Shu", and Liu Bei is bound to attack Hanzhong. So Cao Cao took the lead and led an army of 100,000 to personally conquer Zhang Lu in Hanzhong. Therefore, it is very obvious that Cao Cao's judgment was very accurate, and his subsequent attack on Zhang Lu in Hanzhong was also a very timely and correct choice. In May of the same year, Cao Cao's army conquered Hechi and beheaded Dou Mao, the king of Hechi, and in July, Cao Cao's army advanced to Yangping Pass (present-day northwest of Mian County, Shaanxi).
Zhang Lu heard that Yangping Pass had fallen and fled to Bazhong. Cao Cao marched into Southern Zheng and obtained the treasures of Zhang Lu's mansion. In November, Zhang Lu surrendered to Cao Cao, and Hanzhong became Cao Cao's possession. After capturing the land of Hanzhong, Sima Yi said to Cao Cao: "Liu Zhang was captured by Liu Zhang, and before the people of Shuzhong could return to him, they raised troops to fight for Jiangling, which was a good time to break Liu. If Chen Bing demonstrated in Hanzhong today, Yizhou (referring to Shudi) would be shaken and uneasy, and if the troops were to be threatened, the Shu soldiers would inevitably disintegrate. Take this opportunity and you'll be able to get it done. Saints cannot violate the time, nor can they lose time. ”
Four
Finally, when capturing the land of Hanzhong, Liu Bei had just defeated Liu Zhang and taken the land of Yizhou. Therefore, at this time, Liu Bei did not have the people in Yizhou to follow, and some forces supporting Yizhou were undoubtedly still in the wait-and-see stage. On this basis, once Cao Cao sent a large army to attack Yizhou, it was likely to make liu Bei difficult to resist. However, Cao Cao said: "People are suffering from dissatisfaction, they have already obtained Long Right, and they still want to get Shu land, which is the lack of people's hearts." Therefore, he did not listen to Sima Yi's plan, that is, he missed the best opportunity to attack Yizhou. In this regard, in 215 AD, Cao Cao's choice was naturally too conservative, that is, because he was worried about the rear's mistakes, he did not dare to give it a go and start a head-on confrontation with Liu Bei. And this obviously gave Liu Bei a chance to breathe.
In 217 AD, after Liu Bei gained a foothold in Yizhou, he instead took the initiative to launch the Battle of Hanzhong. The Battle of Hanzhong was a war between Liu Bei and Cao Cao over Hanzhong during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty. The war was initiated by Liu Bei from the twenty-second year of Jian'an (217) to the end of May of the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), and the war lasted for nearly two years. The commanders of the two warring sides were Liu Bei and Cao Cao. Liu Beifang's generals mainly included Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong, Fazheng, and Huang Quan, and Cao Caofang's generals mainly included Xiahou Yuan, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, Cao Hong, Zhang Gao, Xu Huang, and Guo Huai. After the victory at the Battle of Hanzhong, Liu Bei sat in Hanzhong, The Three Counties of Jingzhou, Yizhou and other places, and reached the peak of his overall strength, thus becoming the King of Hanzhong, which was undoubtedly a heavy blow to Cao Cao. In other words, if in 215 AD, Cao Cao immediately attacked Yizhou, there was a high probability that Liu Bei would be destroyed, and after that, Sun Quan of Jiangdong would naturally be difficult to support.