Cao Cao's father was named Cao Song (曹嵩), and he was the adopted son of the Eastern Han eunuch Cao Teng. Cao Teng was given the title of "Marquis of Feiting" for his meritorious service to Emperor Huan of Han. Cao Teng recommended many famous scholars, such as Zhang Wen, who had been Dong Zhuo, Sun Jian, Tao Qian and other bosses, Chen Liuyufang, Bian Shao, Nanyang Yangu, Hongnong Zhang, Yingchuan Tangxi and so on. There are more Chen Liu and Yingchuan people in Cao Cao's account, like the Xun Yu family and the Chen Qun family are all Yingchuan people. This is not unrelated to the foundation laid by Cao Teng.
It can be said that the foundation of the Cao family is in Cao Teng.
After Cao Teng's death, his adopted son Cao Song attacked the knighthood. Cao Song served as a lieutenant colonel, HongxuQing, and Dasi Nong, ranking among the ninth secretary, which can be described as a high position of authority, which further strengthened the strength of the Cao family, and later Cao Song was also promoted to the rank of lieutenant.
Cao Cao grew up with a golden key, a father who was a lieutenant, a large and powerful Cao family that went straight to the emperor, according to the reason, Cao Cao is like a fish, smooth sailing, if you have seen Cao Cao's "Let the County Self-Ming Ben Zhi Ling", you will find that Cao Cao's youth time is extremely depressed.
He mentioned this sentence in the "Order of Letting the County Self-Ming Ben Zhi Ling":
Therefore, when he returned to his hometown at four o'clock, he built a fine house in the fifty miles of the east, wanted to study in autumn and summer, shoot hunting in winter and spring, and sought the land below, and wanted to cover himself with muddy water, and to avoid the hope of guests.
In this passage, Cao Cao planned his life after becoming an official, that is, to live in seclusion in the fifty miles of the Eastern Province. Of course, this is only Cao Cao's point of view at one stage.
Later, he served as a lieutenant in the military academy, an institution set up by the Han Ling Emperor to consolidate his rule, which was commanded by the eunuch Jian Shuo. Jian Shuo served as a lieutenant in the military academy, and the Han Ling Emperor made himself a supreme general.
Both Yuan Shao and Cao Cao served as lieutenants, and Chun Yuqiong, who was killed during Cao Cao's surprise attack on Wuchao, also served as a lieutenant during the great battle between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao.
Cao Cao's ability to serve as a lieutenant here also fully shows that the status of the Cao family in the heart of the Han Ling Emperor is a trustworthy family, why did Cao Cao feel so depressed in his youth?
Let's first look at the contemporary figure - Cui Lie.
Cui Lie was a famous scholar in Jizhou, and he held the position of court lieutenant at that time, and the court lieutenant was one of the nine secretaries and one of the high-ranking officials. He bought situ, one of the three dukes, through Mrs. Cheng's connections, and spent five million.
At that time, the Han Ling Emperor still regretted selling cheaply, and he felt that this official could sell for ten million and collect five million less.
After Cui Lie became a high-ranking official, he asked his son Cui Jun what the outside world said about him.
Cui Jun said this:
Adults rarely have the title of English, and the successive secretaries are kept, and the commentators are not said to be the three dukes. And now that he has ascended to his throne, the world is disappointed.
The gist is that before you became the Third Duke, everyone felt that you should be the Third Duke with your fame and talent, but when you became the Third Duke, everyone in the world was disappointed.
Cui Lie was puzzled and asked his son why he was like this.
His son went on to say that the commentators hated his copper-smelly ears. Because Cui Lie was disgraced for buying officials.
Cui Lie was about to beat his son, and as a result, his son fled, Cui Lie chased while scolding, Lao Tzu beat his son, do you dare to hide?
When his son said a word, Cui Lie was ashamed.
Shun's father, the small staff suffers, and the big staff goes, not filial piety.
Cui Lie did such a thing wrong in his life, even if he later worked against Dong Zhuo, and finally guarded Chang'an and died in battle, he was also criticized. There is such a sentence in the children's enlightenment textbook "Qionglin for Kindergarten": Cui Lie bought officials with money, and everyone hated his copper smell; Qin Sister-in-law did not dare to look at her uncle and said that she was afraid of his excess gold.
It is equivalent to nailing Cui Lie to the column of shame of history and it is impossible to come down again.
This is the custom of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Han Ling Emperor openly sold knights and officials, but the people and celebrities in the group of celebrities had a contemptuous mentality towards those involved in selling officials.
Cao Cao's father's position as a taiwei was also bought, and he donated 100 million yuan to Xiyuan to get this taiwei position, which was originally a great si nong.
Coincidentally, Cui Lie's position as a lieutenant had just been removed from his post, and his successor was Cao Song.
In November, Tai Wei Cui Lie resigned, and Cao Song, the Grand Si Nong, was made a lieutenant. - Zizhi Tongjian, Han Ji, Han Dynasty Fifty
Do you think that Cui Lie, as a celebrity in the world, was ridiculed by the people of the world after he was ranked as a high-ranking official by buying an official, so will the people of the official world who Cao Song spent 100 million yuan to buy laugh?
Although the officials are different, from the perspective of the price gap, Cao Song's reputation is definitely not as good as Cui Lie.
Cui Lie is despised, what do you think Cao Song will be evaluated? Cui Liehao is also a celebrity.
In addition, Cao Teng was a eunuch and was not appreciated by celebrities.
Although the father and grandfather were high and powerful, their reputation could not really stand up, that is, the status of the Cao Cao family was very high, but people were not welcome in their hearts, which was particularly evident in Cao Cao's later political career.
For example, at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the famous scholar and the great Confucian Bian Rang in Cao Cao pacified the Yanzhou Yellow Turban Army, mocked it after leading the Yanzhou Assassination History, Cao Cao commanded Sima Yi after controlling the Han Xiandi, Sima Yi said that he was ill and could not leave the mountain, until Cao Cao unified the north, he issued a death order to Sima Yi, either out of the mountain, or imprisoned, this is the mountain.
Kong Rong's accusations against Cao Cao, Yang Xiu was killed by Cao Cao, (the specific reason is why Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo did not dare to kill Yang Biao?) Because they can't afford to provoke the forces behind Yang Biao) These are actually caused by the celebrities looking down on Cao Cao from the bottom of their hearts.
Cao Cao longed to be on the side of the celebrity. This can be seen from the later struggle with eunuchs on He Jin's side, including fighting Dong Zhuo to the death, almost dying, and forcing Xu Zi to evaluate himself.
This is a conflict between ideals and reality, Cao Cao is a young man with lofty ideals, but his origin restricts him, so in the "Let the County Self-Ming Ben Zhi Order", it is said: Want to guard a county, be a good politician, in order to establish an honor, so that the world knows it.
That is, he wants to govern one side, establish a reputation, let the people of the world know their good name, and reverse the bad reputation accumulated by his father. Therefore, he governed the localities very strictly, and when he was the minister of state of Jinan, he did not buy officials like his father and became very upright and clean. Eight county officials were evacuated, more than six hundred ancestral temples were destroyed, and the worship of ghosts and gods was strictly prohibited.
After this battle, Cao Cao was discouraged and had the idea of returning to hiding. Because he found that no matter how hard he tried, he was labeled as a family, until he later proposed "meritocracy" when he came to power, which was actually a breakthrough in helplessness.