Most people who have seen the Three Kingdoms should be more interested in Cao Cao, so let's talk about Cao Cao today
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a descendant named Cao Teng. Cao Teng was a eunuch who served as an official in the Hanshun Emperor and the Han Huan Emperor, and his power was not small. Because he was a eunuch, Cao Teng had no descendants, so he adopted an adopted son and named him Cao Song.
Under the protection of his adoptive father, Cao Song's journey during the reign of Emperor Ling of Han was smooth. Cao Song rose all the way through the ranks by relying on his family wealth, and finally became a lieutenant and became the third duke. Cao Song gave birth to five sons, the eldest son was Cao Cao, born in 155 AD, Cao Cao appeared intelligent and clever from an early age, did not study very seriously when he was young, and was as bohemian as many noble children at that time. At that time, Qiao Xuan, who was known for his knowledge of people, said that the world was going to be in chaos, and no very talented person could be pacified, and Cao Cao was such a person. Xu Shao said to Cao Cao, you are a person who will become a traitor in a peaceful and prosperous world, and if you are in a troubled world, you will become a hero.
When Cao Cao was twenty years old, because of the children of the family, he was raised to filial piety and began to become an official. One is because of his powerful background, and the other is that Cao Cao does not want to get used to the wicked, so during his time as an official, many wicked people were obeyed by him. During this period, Cao Cao also offended many people, because there was a powerful backstage, and no one dared to move Cao Cao openly.
When Cao Cao was thirty years old, the famous Yellow Turban Army Rebellion broke out, and Cao Cao was worshipped as a cavalry lieutenant, and followed the general Huangfu Song to attack the rebel army in Yingchuan. Although he was put on battle for the first time, Cao Cao showed his talent for commanding troops, made battle merits, and was named Jinan Xiang.
Cao Cao first embarked on the career because of his illustrious family lineage, and this time because of military merit. During the appointment of Jinan Xiang, Cao Cao was as jealous as ever, and he killed the underworld forces. At that time, the Eastern Han Dynasty was already defeated, and Cao Cao also saw through this, and although the imperial court promoted him to the rank of Eastern Commandery Taishou, he still resigned and went home to study Taoguang and raise obscurity. Although he was not an official, Cao Cao's status as a nobleman still shone brightly, and when Emperor Hanling set up the eighth captain of the West Garden, he made Cao Cao a military captain.
When Cao Cao was thirty-five years old, Emperor Ling of Han died and Emperor Shao of Han succeeded to the throne. In order to kill the eunuchs, the general He Jin followed Yuan Shao's advice and summoned local warlords into Beijing. But the matter was not confidential enough, the eunuchs killed He Jin first, and Yuan Shao and others killed the eunuchs, at this time Dong Zhuo entered Beijing. Dong Zhuo was so domineering, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao couldn't get used to him, so they left the capital with their feet in front of their feet. Cao Cao fled to his hometown of Chen Liu, knowing very well that in such troubled times, he needed his own army to succeed. So he scattered his family wealth and recruited troops, intending to find a suitable opportunity to fight Dong Zhuo.
Dong Zhuo was becoming more and more excessive, and he deposed Emperor Shao of Han and established Liu Xie the Prince of Chen as Emperor of Han. With Dong Zhuo's perverse actions, the warlords of the world decided that they could not bear it, and they elected Yuan Shao, the Taishou of Bohai, as the leader of the alliance, and together they raised troops against Dong Zhuo, and Cao Cao's army also joined the coalition. Unable to resist the powerful firepower of the coalition forces, Dong Zhuo moved the capital from Luoyang to Chang'an, forcing Emperor Xian of Han and his ministers to go together.
Western Liang was Dong Zhuo's place of fortune, and the allied forces were afraid that they would be hurt if they continued to advance westward, so they accepted it if they wanted to see good. Only Cao Cao did not think so, he thought that Dong Zhuo was angry now, and the coalition should destroy Dong Zhuo Kuang's Han family, but the other warlords did not want to deal with Cao Cao.
Cao Cao saw through that these people were all here to make a profit, and none of them really wanted to assist the Han family, and when they were angry, they took their own men and horses to chase Dong Zhuo. As a result, it can be imagined that Dong Zhuo's general Xu Rong killed Cao Cao and lost his armor, and if his cousin Cao Hong had not arrived in time, Cao Cao would have been on the battlefield. The anti-Dong coalition was soon disbanded, and Yuan Shao subsequently invaded Jizhou, becoming the most powerful warlord. At that time, Cao Cao defeated many rebel army teams in Dongjun, one is that everyone is a nobleman, and the friendship of a teenager, and then everyone may help each other in the future, under Yuan Shao's recommendation, Cao Cao became the Taishou of Dongjun.
When Cao Cao was thirty-eight years old, the Yellow Turban Army invaded Yanzhou, Yanzhou assassinated Liu Dai and died in battle, and Yanzhou Bao Xin and others welcomed Cao Cao into Yanzhou. After Cao Cao became the pastor of Yanzhou, he cleaned up the Yellow Turban Army and suffered more than 300,000 soldiers and a population of more than one million. Cao Cao selected some elites from among these people, known as the Qingzhou soldiers, and from then on, Cao Cao had his own base and his own main army.
At this time, Cao Cao, although he was changing shotguns for cannons, his family was not strong, not to mention that he was not as rich as Yuan Shao, even a warlord of the same size as him, there were several of them. At this time, Cao Cao already knew what he wanted, and he began a crusade against warlords other than Yuan Shao. Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shu, Tao Qian, the Black Mountain Army and the Xiongnu Army successively, etc., which were basically not too wounded, but in the process of fighting Lü Bu, it was more difficult, and several times even dangerous. The battle lasted two years, when his father Cao Song was killed by his men on his way to Cao Cao's office. Under this name, Cao Cao sent his army south to capture Xuzhou. Unexpectedly, the wind ahead was smooth, and the backyard was on fire. Chen Gong and Zhang Qiao, who remained in the rear, were dissatisfied with Cao Cao, and they took this opportunity to welcome Lü Bu, who was wandering outside, to Yanzhou. Lü Bu was a fierce general, Chen Gong was resourceful, and there was not much time, except for Xun Yu, Cheng Yu, and Xiahou Wei, who held Zhencheng and Fan and Dong'a counties of Dong County, Yanzhou fell into Lü Bu's hands.
Hearing that the old nest was about to be taken down, Cao Cao was anxious, and hurriedly put down Xuzhou, which was about to reach his mouth, and turned back to seize Yanzhou. Cao Cao and Lü Bu fought fiercely, during which a locust plague was rampant, and both sides truceed because of lack of military food. At this time, his old friend Yuan Shao sent someone to respond, not to save the soldiers, but to hope that Cao Cao would go to him.
At that time, Cao Cao was already a little irritable, and planned to move his family to Yuan Shao's Yecheng as a hostage, and he would be his younger brother. Cheng Yu stopped Cao Cao in time, you just encountered a little difficulty now, if you are subject to Yuan Shao, it will be difficult to come out in the future, Cao Cao only then cheered up and wanted to fight with Lü Bu.
When Cao Cao was forty-one years old, he finally defeated Lü Bu once and for all and recaptured Yanzhou. In the same year, because of the chaos in the Western Liang army after Dong Zhuo's death, and his subordinates Li Wei and Guo Xian fought each other, Emperor Xian of Han took the opportunity to flee from Chang'an to Luoyang, anxious for various warlords to come to the rescue.
When Cao Cao was forty-one years old, he finally defeated Lü Bu once and for all and recaptured Yanzhou. In the same year, because of the chaos in the Western Liang army after Dong Zhuo's death, and his subordinates Li Wei and Guo Xian fought each other, Emperor Xian of Han took the opportunity to flee from Chang'an to Luoyang, anxious for various warlords to come to the rescue.
When Cao Cao was forty-two years old, he took Emperor Han Xian, the son of Tian, into his hands, and fixed the capital at Xu County, and Emperor Han Xian made him a general of the Sikong plus Che Rider, and Cao Cao began his career as a prince of the Son of Heaven. With the Son of Heaven in hand, it does not mean that everything is fine, although this is a golden signboard, but it cannot be regarded as a divine skill protective body, not only a big man like Yuan Shao does not listen to the call, but many small warlords do not give face, such as Zhang Xiu. It doesn't matter, if you are not convinced, I will beat you until you are convinced. It took Cao Cao three years to defeat Zhang Xiu, run off Yuan Shu, cripple Li Wei, and kill Lü Bu. To the south initially controlled Xuzhou, and to the north one foot had already stretched out across the Yellow River.
In 199, the forty-fifth year of Cao Cao's forty-fifth year, the conflict between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao intensified, and in December of the same year, Cao Cao personally led troops stationed in Guandu to prepare for a decisive battle with Yuan Shao. Before completely turning his face with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao did a lot of preparations, all of which were deployed against Yuan Shao's forces. Another thing that Cao Cao did not deploy, that is, Zhang Xiu listened to Jia Xu's advice and led his subordinates to come to surrender, which made Cao Cao less worried. Speaking of worries, although there was no constraint from Zhang Xiu, there was also Liu Bei who made Cao Cao very relieved. In 200 AD, before Cao Cao fought a decisive battle with Yuan Shao, Liu Bei killed Cao Cao's henchman Xuzhou Shi Che and occupied Xuzhou himself. Cao Cao was very decisive, and before starting a war with Yuan Shao, he sent troops to capture Xuzhou with lightning speed, and Liu Bei had to defect to Yuan Shao, which allowed Cao Cao to concentrate on dealing with Yuan Shao.
At this time, Yuan Shao was already a behemoth, he occupied the land of the four prefectures of Youzhou, Jizhou, Qingzhou and Hezhou, with more than 100,000 horses under his command, and the rear was stable and had enough food, which was definitely enough for Cao Cao to drink a few pots. Of course, he is not fighting for the number of people in this matter, and everyone is familiar with the process of the battle of Guandu, so let's talk about it briefly.
From the very beginning of the war, Cao Cao fell behind, and it was a very inferior kind. So much so that even after Cao Cao killed Yuan Shao's generals Yan Liang and Wen Qiu, he still focused on defense. Although the defense was not good-looking, it could still survive, that is, this lack of food and grass was too difficult, and later Cao Cao could not survive, and wrote to Xun Yu in the rear, saying that he did not want to fight this battle and wanted to withdraw his troops home.
Xun Yu hurriedly wrote back to Cao Cao to cheer up, your current situation is very difficult, but it is also very critical, you have been fighting against it with one-tenth of the other party's strength, it has been half a year. Now not only are you uncomfortable, Yuan Shao is also awkward, at this time, it depends on who first shows the flaws, and then insists on persisting, the victory must belong to you. Sure enough, as Xun Yu expected, Yuan Shao's adviser Xu Yu came to Cao Cao and offered to burn Yuan Shao's Wuchao grain and grass camp. Yuan Shao's last breath did not continue, the army collapsed, and Cao Cao won a great victory. Two years later, Yuan Shao fell ill and died, and several of his sons began infighting, and Cao Cao took the opportunity to encroach on the land that originally belonged to Yuan Shao little by little. In addition to Yuan Shao's territory, the others' Cao Cao did not let go.
In the three years from the age of fifty to fifty-three, Cao Cao has not been idle. First, he defeated several of Yuan Shao's sons, successively took Jizhou, Qingzhou, Youzhou and Hezhou, and later followed in the footsteps of Yuan Shao's sons to conquer Wuhuan in the north, making the three counties of Wuhuan in the northeast submit to the Cao family.
When Cao Cao was fifty-four years old, he abolished the three-prince system of the Eastern Han Dynasty and appointed himself prime minister. This year, Cao Cao had no rivals in the north, so he set his sights on the south, Jingzhou. Before Cao Cao's army pressed the border, Liu Biao of Jingzhou fell ill and died, and Liu Biao's son Liu Wei obediently surrendered Jingzhou, and Liu Bei, who was a guest at Liu Biao, after being defeated by Cao Cao, took Zhuge Liang and others across Jiangdong to join Sun Quan. It was not easy to go south, and Cao Cao did not want to trouble himself again, so he planned to clean up Jiangdong in one pot. But this time, he was no longer invincible, and the Battle of Chibi paid tribute to the Battle of Guandu, but now Cao Cao played the role of Yuan Shao.
On the one hand, Cao Cao's army was northerners and was not accustomed to the climate in the south, and many soldiers and horses were sick. On the other hand, Sun Quan and Liu Bei shared the same enemy, and Zhou Yu used a deception to set a fire in Chibi, burning Cao Jun's seven secrets to smoke, and had to withdraw to the north in a crushing defeat.
After the Battle of Chibi, Sun Quan and Liu Bei divided Jingzhou, and Liu Bei took Shu with another bang. From then on, Cao Cao lived in the north, Sun Quan was in the southeast, and Liu Bei was in the southwest, and a three-legged triumph was formed. But then again, the thickest and strongest of these three families is still Cao Chengxiang.
After returning to the north, Cao Cao seriously reflected on his life, and he opened his doors to recruit talents, with the aim of dominating the world. After three years of recuperation, when Cao Cao was fifty-seven years old, Cao Cao began to use troops against the western Guanzhong generation in the name of fighting Zhang Lu in Hanzhong. At that time, Western Guanzhong was controlled by Ma Chao, Han Sui and others, who supported their own troops and were regarded as an independent alliance, and Cao Cao made great efforts this time, spending two years to pacify Hanzhong and Liangzhou. The west would no longer pose a threat to Cao Cao, and he would be relieved to boldly deal with Sun Quan and Liu Bei.
When Cao Cao was fifty-nine years old, the old man personally led 400,000 horses and again went south to attack Sun Quan. At this time, Sun Quan had grown into a climate, and he personally led 70,000 horses to fight against Cao Cao. The two armies stalemated at Puxukou for more than a month, but Cao Cao's water army still had difficulty gaining the upper hand, coupled with the spring rainy season, the river flooded, Cao Cao saw that he could not win, so he had to withdraw his army and return north.
Although he did not achieve success, Cao Cao was promoted after his return, and he was first made the Duke of Wei, added Jiuxi, and established the Wei state, and the fief was ten counties of Jizhou, and the state was all in Yecheng, and his own officials could be set up within the Wei state.
Three years later, Cao Cao was promoted to the rank of King of Wei, nominally a courtier of the Han Dynasty, but the treatment was no different from that of the emperor. However, Cao Cao was still the same Cao Cao who conquered the four directions of the year, and at the age of sixty-one, he personally led an army of 100,000 to attack Zhang Lu of Hanzhong, and Zhang Lu was Cao Cao's opponent, and soon surrendered Hanzhong to him. The reason why Cao Cao fought Hanzhong this time was very simple, at that time Liu Bei had already taken Yizhou, Hanzhong was the gateway to the north of Yizhou, it was Liu Bei's place of contention, and Cao Cao wanted to strike first.
But Liu Bei was not Zhang Lu, he was the man who had defeated Cao Cao, and after Cao Cao's main forces withdrew from Hanzhong, Liu Bei launched a fierce attack on Hanzhong. Cao Cao attached great importance to Hanzhong and personally sat in Chang'an and commanded the army to deal with Liu Bei. In the end, it was Liu Bei who excelled and abruptly took Hanzhong from Cao Cao's mouth. This year, Cao Cao was sixty-five years old.
In the same year that Cao Cao lost Hanzhong, Liu Bei's general Guan Yu sent troops to attack Cao Cao's Xiangyang and Fancheng, which were Cao Cao's gateways to the south, and after Cao Cao sent generals successively, he finally personally sat in Luoyang to command the rescue of Fancheng, and in the end, Fancheng was saved.
Soon after, Sun Quan sent people to capture Jingzhou and kill Guan Yu, and Cao Cao made Sun Quan a Mu of Jingzhou plus a hussar general. Sun Quan also returned the favor, sent people to pay tribute to Cao Cao, and persuaded him to depose Emperor Xian of Han and become emperor himself.
Cao Cao took this letter and showed it to everyone, and said with a smile, Sun Quan, this kid, is going to put me on the stove and bake it. Seeing the boss ridiculing like this, his subordinates also took the opportunity to say that the lord should really think about becoming an emperor. Cao Cao pondered for a long time, if the Mandate of Heaven is really here, I should still be the King of Zhou Wenwang.
In 220 BC, Cao Cao died of illness at the age of sixty-six.
In the same year, Cao Cao's son Cao Pi deposed Emperor Xian of Han and became emperor himself, posthumously crowning Cao Cao Emperor Wu.
In my opinion, Cao Cao can be called the hero of troubled times! For thousands of years, Cao Cao has been praised as a hero of the day, saying that he is the first-class politician, military strategist, and literary scholar in Chinese history. Those who destroy it call them traitors and traitors. What do you think of that