Cao Cao's nickname is Ah Qi, which is not recorded in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. This statement was first mentioned in Pei Songzhi's note quoting the Cao Concealment:
Taizu a gilli, small characters Ah Qi.
In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Aqi basically became a synonym for Cao Cao. Looking for the origin of Cao Aqi, I probably saw two theories.
The first theory is that Cao Cao's nickname is Ah Qi, which means cute. The "Biography of Cao Cao" should be written by Wu people with the intention of scandalizing Cao Cao; the second theory is that Cao Cao was raised by the Xiahou family, but Cao Song was afraid that the children would be returned, so every time Xiao Cao Cao was mentioned, the family would always say that cao cao was hidden, and over time, xiao Cao Cao was called ah cao.
The second theory, personally feels too ridiculous, can not be discussed, Cao Cao's grandfather Cao Teng was a constant attendant, the power tilted to the opposition, the Book of Later Han also helped him establish a biography. Cao Song was also a lieutenant, how could he be worried about the child being asked to go back?
Can the first argument hold? To some extent. The Biography of Cao Qi, which is not recorded in the Sui Shu Jing Zhi, can be seen as belonging to the Wild History at that time. In the Old Book of Tang, it is recorded that the "Biography of Cao Qi" was written by Wu Ren, and the author is unknown. The Northern Tang Dynasty Book Copy also put the "Biography of Cao Cao" in the music department, advocating that Cao Cao often interact with The Advocate, and also accepted the Bian clan from the Advocate Woman as a concubine, so it was included in the category of Advocate Excellence. Basically, the history and historians do not adopt the "Biography of Cao Cai".
Looking at the record of the "Biography of Cao Cao", the Cao Cao presented in it is a relatively lively, naughty and humane Cao Cao. Like how Cao Cao teased and disciplined his uncle, so that his father no longer believed his uncle's small report of beating him. There is also Cao Cao, after he became the Commander of the North Gate, he was not afraid of the strong and strong, and killed Zhongchang's uncle Shuo Shuo with a stick.
Judging from these stories, it is not necessary to say that "Cao Concealed Biography" denigrated Cao Cao, but from the perspective of the way of writing, "Cao Concealment Biography" is like writing celebrity gossip, which feels like everyone reading Next Weekly today.
Only in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" of Cao Cao, only the image of the adulterous male remains, and this hidden word represents Cao Cao's suspicious personality, so as to make a plan, so Ah Qiao means deception. Like the sixty-first time in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Sun Quan's suicide note to retire the old man", he directly called Cao Cao an old secret, and belittled Cao Cao as an unwelcome adulterer.
So in the future, don't call Cao Cao Cao Ah Hidden, we can respectfully call him Wei Taizu, or call him Meng De like a friend.