There are many things that others do, and he can't do. For example, Lai Min and Peng Xi are Kong Rong and You Heng of the Shu Kingdom. However, Zhuge Liang killed Peng Xi without any criticism; Cao Cao did not kill You Heng, but he had to bear the name of eternal infamy. Is it fair? Does it make sense?
It doesn't make sense, but there's a reason.
One of the reasons is that Cao Cao was in the Central Plains, and in the central government, the gathering of warriors attracted worldwide attention, and the situation was also great. Shu Han was the opposite. Therefore, the same thing, in Cao Wei will cause an uproar, in Shu Han there will only be some slight waves.
Moreover, the Shi clan was also hostile to Cao Cao.
Hostility is unfathomable. As we all know, the Shi clan was already the main force of the ruling group at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. They can also become the ruling class in two ways: one is a peaceful transition, and the other is armed struggle. However, Dong Zhuo's entry into Beijing made the former method no longer possible; the Battle of Guandu made the latter way a failure. Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao, aren't they their number one enemies?
In contrast, Cao Cao was even more hateful.
Indeed, Dong Zhuo actually respected and even feared the warrior clan, and his problem was rudeness, barbarism and uncultured. Cao Cao despised the warriors in his bones. Even when his foothold was unstable, he openly killed the famous soldier Bian Rang, who was arrogant and arrogant, and as a result, the Yanzhou scholars were indignant, the Tianxia shi clan was in a common enemy, and his old friend Zhang Mi and his old subordinate Chen Gong also rebelled against Cao Cao.
Yanzhou Mu changed from Cao Cao to Lü Bu, and because of this.
In fact, Cao Cao acted as Yanzhou Mu, and Chen Gong was very powerful. However, after Bian Rang was killed, Chen Gong was determined to oppose Cao to the end. He even preferred to help the brave Lü Bu, and would rather die after being defeated and captured.
Cao Cao couldn't bear it, so he called out to Chen Gong's words and said: Gongtai, it doesn't matter if you die, what can your mother do, what can you do with your wife and children!
Chen Gong did not hesitate. He sighed and said: Those who rule the world with filial piety do not harm other people's relatives, and after the people who govern the world with benevolence are endless, whether the old mother and wife and children are dead or alive, it is all in the Ming Dynasty. After saying that, he walked to the execution ground with his head held high.
Cao Cao sent Chen Gong away with tears in his eyes, and his promise to support his family was fulfilled, but the established route did not change. On the contrary, it was perhaps at that moment that Cao Cao strengthened his belief in establishing a "regime of the Han clan of the Fa", although he had no timetable or road map.
However, the impact is enormous.
In fact, it was Cao Cao who constantly proved to the world that only warlords of non-scholar origin could seize power, and only by setting aside the "Confucian scholar line" represented by Yuan Shao could succeed. This is why Liu Bei and Sun Quan were able to win in the "post-Yuan Shao period", and it was Cao Cao who took the lead and set an example.
This is why the world has become the Three Kingdoms.
Unfortunately, Cao Cao's idea was problematic. For history has proved that for the imperial system, the most appropriate ruling class is the Shu landlords, and the most suitable ideology is not the idea of the legalists. Therefore, the political line after the Sui and Tang dynasties was neither Yuan Shao's "Scholar Confucian" nor Cao Cao's "Shu Jurists", but "Shu Confucians", or the Confluence of the Three Religions of the Shu Landlords plus Confucianism, Taoism, and Interpretation.
However, this can only be achieved after three hundred and sixty-nine years of trial and error in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The scholarly regime represented by the two Jin Dynasties also has a historical inevitability. Cao Cao was both ahead of the curve and made mistakes, how could he not be defeated?
The hostility of the landlord class of the warrior clan was not difficult to understand, because Cao Cao blocked their path and delayed their time. They were sure to pour out their anger on Cao Cao and "demonize" him with bitter hatred.
Moreover, Cao Cao himself also gave people a handle.
Cao Cao's biggest mistake was to create conditions for Cao Pi to become emperor. Imagine if Cao Cao did not claim the title of King of Wei, or even the Duke of Wei or the state of Wei, even if the Cao family had been the prime minister for generations, what would happen?
I'm afraid it will become Zhuge Liang.
In fact, Zhuge Liang and Cao Cao have no shortage of similarities. They were all ministers of the Kaifu Province, all of whom were made county marquises, and they all served as state pastors. If you look at the positions and titles of the two people side by side, they are simply "twins":
Cao Cao: Marquis of Wuping , Xiang Xiang ( 丞相 ) , Ling ji prefecture pastor.
Zhuge Ge: Marquis of Wuxiang, Xiang Xiang, Lingyi Prefecture Pastor.
Cao Cao's only extra was the prince of Wei.
Thus, as Marx had predicted, if the imperial robes had finally fallen on Louis Bonaparte, who had staged a coup d'état modeled on his uncle Napoleon, napoleon's bronze statue would have been pushed down from the top of The Vendôme Column. Similarly, when Cao Pi draped the imperial robe on his body, Cao Cao could only wait to be painted as a big white face.
At the same time, Zhuge Liang also stepped onto the altar.
It is undeniable that Zhuge Liang has too much shining spirit in him. His heart is concerned about the world, he is worried about the country and the people, he bows down to the best of his ability, he is honest and honest, he is modest and prudent, and he leads by example, all of which can be called models for eternity. But Zhuge Liang became a god, but not entirely because of these. The main reason is still typical of social needs. The rulers of the empire need a loyal subject, the common people need a clean official, and the literati need a representative. This is the same reason that Cao Cao became a ghost. Because society needs not only positive models, but also negative models.
In fact, Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang, as historical figures, are only the front and back waves of the Yangtze River; Cao Cao and Zhuge Liang, as literary and folk images, are the positive and negative sides of the same coin. This coin is human nature, half angel, half devil. Since Zhuge Liang was regarded as an angel, Cao Cao had no choice but to be a devil; since Zhuge Liang was a houlang, Cao Cao had no choice but to die on the beach.
However, the long river of history does not care about the front wave and the back wave, it will only go forward along its own riverbed. Therefore, when Su Dongpo stood on the bank of the Yangtze River and thought about the Chibi storm, what he saw was such a picture: the young and handsome Zhou Yu was newly married to Yan'er Xiaoqiao, and he was dressed in civilian clothes to lead the fleet to the west. Lu Fan pointed out, talking and laughing, and Cao Cao's hundreds of thousands of troops vanished.
Of course, this is also a historical opinion and spiritual outlook, but it is not the Three Kingdoms, but the Wei and Jin dynasties. Yes, Su Dongpo's Zhou Yu is more like a famous soldier of Wei and Jin than a general of the Three Kingdoms. Although Zhou Yu knew music very well, just as Cao Cao was a poet, and although Wei and Jin were not far from the Three Kingdoms.
However, the Three Kingdoms are the Three Kingdoms, and the Wei and Jin dynasties are the Wei and Jin. Their zeitgeist is different, as are their style, temperament, charm and style.