In the examination questions of national civil servants, there was such a multiple-choice question: Who of the following three people is not a figure in the Three Kingdoms period?
A, Cao Cao B, Liu Bei C, Sun Quan
A、曹操
B, Liu Bei
C. Sun Quan
Most candidates think that there is something wrong with this question, after all, Cao Cao is undoubtedly the protagonist in folk (cross talk, storytelling) art, Peking Opera stage, film and television drama or literary works (Romance of the Three Kingdoms). Most candidates are unable to choose the correct answer because of this.
Cao Cao, a veritable second generation official, was born in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, according to the "Three Kingdoms: Emperor Wu Ji":
Emperor Taizu Wu, Pei Guo is also a person. The surname is Cao, the word Mengde, after the Han Xiangguo ginseng. Emperor Huan, Cao Teng served the great Changqiu in the middle of the year, and was named the Marquis of Fei Ting. The adopted son Song heir, the official to Taiwei, can not judge his birth from the end, Song gave birth to the ancestor.
Taizu is Cao Cao's temple number, and the temple number is a name given to the deceased after the emperor's death, when the emperor is enshrined in the Taimiao Temple, the number is first discussed by the ministers, and the person who inherits the emperor's throne is determined to give the deceased. Emperor Wu is Cao Cao's nickname. The nickname is the evaluation of the deceased, Cao Cao chased the north all his life, pacified the heroes in the war, and unified the north, so his nickname was Emperor Wu, referred to as Emperor Wu. A native of Bozhou, Anhui Province. During the period of the Three Kingdoms, Pei (Guo) County belonged to Yanzhou, and it was said that Cao Cao was a native of Peiguo and was an old Cao Teng. After a person dies, people generally hide his name so as not to cause sadness to his relatives, and the emperor, as a venerable, cannot call him by his name. The word is a table number other than a person's name, in ancient times, a man to the age of 20 needed to take the word, in ancient times a person's name had a name, a word, a number of differences. Such as Cao Cao: the name Cao, the word Mengde. Pei Songzhi's commentary: Cao Cao quoted the "Biography of Cao Concealment" compiled by Wu Guo: "Taizu is an auspicious person, and the small character is a concealment". It can be seen that Pei Songzhi is not interested in Cao Cao, Cao Cao is grandfather is Cao Teng, according to the "Book of the Later Han", Cao Teng was a great eunuch when he was Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Cao Teng was a eunuch (eunuch), it was impossible to have children, and during the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was prevalent for eunuchs to adopt sons. Cao Teng was not willing to be lonely, so he adopted Cao Cao's father, Cao Song. Cao Cao was different from a young age. Pei Songzhi's note quoted in "The Biography of Cao Concealment" is more specific and vivid: "Taizu is a flying eagle and a lackey, and he wanders excessively. It is said that he has known how to use tricks since he was a child, which is probably Cao Cao's behavior characteristics when he was a teenager.
Cao Cao started from participating in the suppression of the Yellow Turban when he was young, and after the warlord melee in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, he assassinated Dong Zhuo alone and failed, and then raised troops to crusade against Dong Zhuo. Defeated Lü Bu and Yuan Shu; defeated Yuan Shao with fewer victories in the Battle of Guandu, completely eradicating the power of Yuan Shao's clique in Hebei; Northern Expedition pacified Karasuma in the three counties (Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi and the three counties Karasuma merged and repeatedly entered the fortress and caused harm). After Cao Cao pacified the three counties of Karasuma, the poems flourished, and the "Viewing the Sea" and another five-character quatrain "But the East and West Gates" were created in the year of the pacification of the three counties of Karasuma, which is the work of his hometown when he traveled to the north, and it is also the work of his expedition to the three counties of Karasuma. This was the pinnacle of Cao Cao's life's work.
After Cao Cao pacified the north, he began to chase the Central Plains, once occupied Jingzhou, and in the process of confrontation with Sun Quan and Liu Bei, he encountered a plague in Chibi, and the army was defeated in Chibi. The following year, Jian'an died in Luoyang in the first month of the twenty-fifth year (220 AD) at the age of 66.
Throughout Cao Cao's life, it is roughly bounded by the 12th year of Jian'an, which was the first half of his life, and then the 25th year of Jian'an, when he died, was the second half of his life.
The time of the formation of the Three Kingdoms was 10 months after the death of Cao Cao (the first month of the 25th year of Jian'an), Cao Pi abolished the Han Dynasty in October of the 25th year of Jian'an (220 AD), established himself as the emperor, changed the name of the country to "Wei", changed the Yuan Huang Chu, built the capital Luoyang, and Cao Pi was Emperor Wen of Wei.
Subsequently, in 221 AD, Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor in Chengdu, Sichuan, and established the Shu State, the first year of Liu Bei Zhangwu, the emperor of Shu Zhaolie. A year later, in 222 AD, Sun Quan established Eastern Wu, the first year of Emperor Wu Sun Quan Huangwu.
Therefore, it can be seen that on the day of the formation or establishment of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao had forgotten his past, and the story of the Three Kingdoms period obviously has nothing to do with Cao Cao, so Cao Cao can only be the prime minister of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, not a figure in the Three Kingdoms period.