The Wei wu emperor Cao's nickname Ah Qi is not recorded in the main text of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and there is a little supplementary explanation in its commentary. Pei Songzhi's commentary on the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Shu, and Emperor Wu of the Three Kingdoms quotes the Biography of Cao Qi: "Taizu is an auspicious person, and the small characters are a secret. "The Biography of Cao Qi" is not recorded in the "Sui Shu Jing Zhi", which shows that at that time, it belonged to the Miscellaneous Records of Wild History and did not enter the vision of historians. In the Old Book of Tang, it is recorded that the author of the "Biography of Cao Qi" was Wu Renzuo, that is, the work of jiangdong's anonymous family. Because Cao Cao had conquered Jiangdong in the south, the biography of Cao Cao written by the Eastern Wu people naturally had an element of ugliness to a certain extent. In the Tang Dynasty, the "Biography of Cao Cai" is also recorded in the "Beitang Shuqian" volume 112 "Lebu Viii · Advocate You 28", because Cao Cao often interacted with Advocate You, and also accepted the daughter of the Advocate family, Bian Clan, as a concubine, so it was included in the category of Advocate You, which was obviously derogatory to Cao Cao.
From the comprehensive analysis of various materials, Cao Cao's nickname Ah Qi's statement should be a change in the circulation of folk oratorical books, Cao Cao's small characters should be "Aman", indicating the meaning of cuteness, and later because the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" honored Liu and degraded Cao, so the cute "Aman" became a pejorative "A-man". Pei Songzhi's note quotes the "Biography of Cao Cao" to record that Cao Cao's "small character a concealer", using the word "concealment", is the meaning of deception, and Cao Cao's personality is suspicious and easy to use scheming, so changing "full" to "concealing" is very much in line with Cao Cao's character. The 72nd time in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, "Cao A Conceals the Soldiers Retreat from the Valley", directly calling Cao Cao Cao a Secret, which is an obviously disrespectful title. The derogatory term for Cao Cao in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms also includes the term "old concealment". For example, in the 61st "Sun Quan's Suicide Note to Retire from the Old Age", Sun Quan wrote a book to Cao Cao, saying: "If you don't die under your feet, you can't be lonely." "Su Dongpo's "Zhilin" records that the children in the countryside "to talk about the affairs of the Three Kingdoms, liu Xuande was defeated, frequent eyebrows, and there were people who had sniffled." Smell Cao Cao's defeat, that is, sing fast." It shows that during the Tang and Song dynasties, Cao Cao was already an unpopular image of a traitor.
Therefore, folk storytellers and literati recorded in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms scandalized Cao Cao's small character "Aman" as "Ah Qi", which is actually a manifestation of historical orthodoxy. Folk have always believed that Liu Bei was the orthodox Han Dynasty, and Cao Cao was a Han thief, so he wanted to scandalize him, so "Ah Qi" was born.