Cao Cao in my mind

At the end of the Han Dynasty, a man named Xu Zijiang said something to Cao Cao after meeting him, to the effect of: If you were born in peace, Times, you may become a capable minister, but if you are born in troubled times, you may become a treacherous hero. From then on, "A capable minister in times of trouble is a traitor in troubled times" has become the most classic saying to evaluate Cao Cao. Regardless of whether this statement is accurate or not, we can see that Cao Cao was a very complex person.

Cao Cao was flesh and blood, rational and wild, capable of cheating and ruthlessness, but also honest and kind. He was tolerant, narrow-minded, heroic, and indiscriminate in killing. He had ordered the princes to take advantage of the emperor, but he refused to depose the Han emperor and replace him for the rest of his life.

Cao Cao has made great achievements in military, political and cultural aspects. His great literary talents, eloquent military strategies, and resourcefulness made him leave a strong mark in the history of the war-torn Three Kingdoms.

Military: Soldiers act in deceitful ways

"Three Kingdoms" writes that Cao Cao personally commanded more than 30 battles in his life, most of which were victorious. On the battlefield, Cao Cao vividly demonstrated the deceitful tactics of his soldiers:

In the battle with Lu Bu, Cao Cao sometimes faked his death to lure Lu Bu to attack, and sometimes used old and young women and children as suspects. In the end, Lu Bu was killed in Baimen Tower.

To defeat Yuan Shao, Cao Cao used his troops quickly and burned Wuchao before Yuan Shaode's reinforcements arrived. When dealing with Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang in the future, he adopted Guo Jia's strategy and waited patiently, and finally the two Yuans split. Without spending a single soldier, they waited for the two Yuan heads sent by Gongsun Kang.

Through the above facts, we can see that Cao Cao's military tactics are indeed very good, and are not as embarrassing as written in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". In the battle of Changbanpo, in order to highlight the invincibility of Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei, Cao Cao was written as a foil. In fact, anyone with a discerning eye can tell at a glance that Cao Cao won a complete victory, but Liu Bei just did not annihilate his entire army.

Among Cao Cao's few defeats, the most famous is the Battle of Chibi. But in good conscience, Cao Cao had the upper hand in the first half of the Battle of Chibi, and it was absolute. Regarding the final defeat, Cao Cao may have won too many battles in his life, which made him believe in himself too much.

Generally speaking, Cao Cao is one of the few military strategists with extraordinary talents in the history of our country.

Literature: majestic, generous and sad

I have to say about Cao Cao's literary achievements. He is the first of the seven sons of Jian'an and a very high achievement.

Cao Cao's poems are particularly famous, and most of them reflect the social turmoil in the late Han Dynasty and the poor life of the people. For example, "The armor is infested with famine lice, and all the surnames die. White nectar is in the wild, and there are no roosters for thousands of miles." It truly reflects the social conditions of the late Han Dynasty and is known as the "Record of the Late Han Dynasty" .

Another song, "The Turtle Lives Longevity," eulogizes the irresistible objective laws of nature. "Guan Cang Sea" describes the lushness of everything between the mountains and the sea and the rustling autumn wind.

Character: Suspicion and generosity

Cao Cao's suspicion has always been "praised" by later generations. It is no wonder that Cao Cao can be remembered for this. "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" writes in one chapter that Cao Cao told the people around him that he was good at killing people at night and told them not to disturb him, and he killed a person that night. In fact, Cao Cao did not kill people at night. It was because he was attracted by the people around him. Shacai did this deliberately. It has to be said that Cao Cao's suspicious character is very serious.

On the contrary, Cao Cao is sometimes very tolerant to others. For example, Zhang Xiu once killed Cao Cao's son and favorite general, but gave him a feast when Zhang Xiu came to surrender; Chen Lin once helped Yuan Shao write an article that wiped out all eight generations of Cao Cao's ancestors, scolding Cao Cao, but Chen Lin still remained He was reused under Cao Cao. This kind of tolerance towards people may be the reason why Cao Cao later had so many talents.

Employment: meritocracy

Liu Bei has the "Five Tiger Generals" under his command. The reason why these five tiger generals are listed is because there are too few people, so as to cover up talents. There is a lack of military personnel; only Gan Ning, Zhou Yu, and Lu Su are famous among Sun Quan's subordinates in the Eastern Wu Dynasty. In contrast, no matter what time period, Cao Cao's men are like clouds of fierce generals.

In Cao Cao's approach to employing people, there are only four words: "Use talents only." Regardless of whether they are from a bad reputation or from a poor family, as long as they are capable, Cao Cao will entrust them with important tasks. Specifically, Cao Cao's men included people from his own tribe (Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xiahou Dun), some whom he had never met before (Dian Wei, Xu Chu), some who were discovered in the battle formation (Li Dian, Yu Jin), and some who were strangers to him (Dian Wei, Xu Chu). Those who were captured from prisoners of war (Zhang Liao, Xu Huang), and others who have not been recorded in history (Chen Qiao, Man Chong). These people were promoted by Cao Cao's wisdom and were able to make contributions.

Cao Cao is also good at taking advantage of each other's strengths. In this way, Chu and Dian Wei are armed, loyal and law-abiding. Cao Cao calls them his tigers in peacetime, and rescues them as vanguards in wars. Wenpin was originally Liu Biao's subordinate. The general was very prestigious in the Jiangnan area, so Cao Cao ordered him to guard Jiangxia and resist Sun Quan.

Compared with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao did not have the strong support of Yuan Shao's huge family lineage; compared with Sun Quan, he did not have the great foundation left by his father and brother; compared with Liu Bei, he did not have the long imperial genealogy to show his face. .

And his success is built on his own talents!

Cao Cao died of illness in Luoyang. He spent his whole life fighting in the north and south, leading his descendants to follow him.

This is Cao Cao in my mind