Cao Cao: The transformation from a ranger to a traitor

The Zizhi Tongjian makes it clear about the ins and outs of Cao Cao's hat:

Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 58: Cao Cao asked Zhao Shao, "How am I like a man?" "Despise him as a man and do not answer." "Son, the able subject of ruling the world, the adulterous male of the chaotic world." the big joy and go away

Cao Cao's father, Cao Song (曹嵩), was the adopted son of Cao Teng (a eunuch) and had an unreliable life. Some people also say that they are descendants of the Xiahou clan, Cao Cao was very clever and very powerful when he was young, and grew up in such a eunuch family, and it was impossible to do without power. Cao Cao's essence is not bad, relying on his own power to help the weak, and he is quite chivalrous. At the same time, there are debauchery skeletons, unrestrained, neither delving into school nor going to work, doing nothing all day. Therefore, no one at that time thought that he had any ability, and no one looked favorably on him. Only Taiwei QiaoXuan and Nanyang He Yong admired him. Qiao Xuan was a famous courtier at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a very popular subject, Cao Cao and Qiao Xuan had a very good personal relationship, Qiao Xuan once joked with Cao Cao before his death, "After his death, the road has a reason, not to fight wine and only chickens to cross xiang Wo, the car has passed three steps, and the abdominal pain is not strange." Cao Cao later wrote this joke into the "Ancestral Taiwei Bridge Xuanwen" text.

Qiao Xuan and He Yong were both celebrities at that time, creating public opinion propaganda for Cao Cao, and Qiao Xuan even further instructed Cao Cao to make a more famous friendship with Xu Shao Xu Zijian, Xu Shao was a famous critic at that time, and the Xu family brothers held regular monthly Wenqing activities for the Monthly Dan Review. Whoever it is, once commented, is worth a hundred times more and is secular. Cao Cao went to visit Xu Shao and asked him, "How am I doing?" Xu Shao despised Cao Cao's personality and refused to answer. Cao Cao found a loophole to threaten Xu Shao, and Xu Shao had no choice but to utter this timeless saying, "The capable minister who governs the world, the adulterous male who is in turmoil." Cao Cao was overjoyed and left. It can be seen that Cao Cao still likes the hat of the adulterous male.

Cao Cao, who established a reputation, with his family power, was soon promoted to filial piety and was able to enter the official field. Cao Cao, who had just entered the official arena, was ambitious, quite talented, and had excellent achievements, but he responded to the comments of the able rulers of the world. In the first year of Zhongping (184), the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, and the last year of the Eastern Han Dynasty finally ushered in a chaotic era. A generation of adulterous males began to officially enter the stage of Chinese history.