"I would rather let the world down than teach the world to let me down" is Cao Cao's classic saying, which embodies his philosophy of life and principles of life. Because when he said this, he was not self-aggrandizing. He was not yet developed at the time, and he was even a fugitive whose life was in danger.

Cao Cao failed to assassinate Dong Zhuo and fled, which made Dong Zhuo very angry. Then he ordered that documents be circulated throughout the country, portraits of Cao Cao be posted at various checkpoints, and high rewards were offered. Anyone who captured Cao Cao would be rewarded with a thousand pieces of gold and be granted a title of ten thousand households. Anyone who harbored Cao Cao would be punished with the same crime. At that time, Cao Cao was in a very dangerous situation.

Sure enough, when he passed through Zhongmu County shortly after escaping, he was captured by the guarding sergeant and handed over to the county magistrate. Perhaps Cao Cao's life should not have been cut off. The county magistrate's name was Chen Gong, and he was a righteous man. He had long been dissatisfied with Dong Zhuo's harm to the Han Dynasty, but he had no way to serve the country. He greatly appreciated Cao Cao's assassination of Dong Zhuo and fled with Cao Cao without hesitation.

While fleeing, the two passed by the house of Lu Boshe, Cao Cao's father's sworn brother, and went to stay for a night. Lu Boshe went to another village to sell wine to entertain them. Cao Cao was suspicious and was afraid that he would sue the officials, so he paid special attention to it. Suddenly I heard someone outside sharpening a knife and whispering: "How about we tie him up and kill him?" He immediately called Chen Gong, and the two of them killed Lu Boshe's family with knives. It wasn't until the backyard that they saw a pig tied to the crime scene and waiting to be killed. Only then did they realize that they had killed a good person by mistake, and the two of them fled quickly. Not far away, he happened to meet Lu Boshe coming back from selling wine on a donkey. When he saw that the two of them were about to leave, he quickly asked him to stay. He said that he had killed a pig at home and they would drink and rest for the night. Cao Cao said he was coping, but suddenly attacked and killed Lu Boshe with a knife. .

I accidentally killed someone else’s whole family because of my carelessness, but this is intentional homicide. Chen Gong was surprised and asked why, but Cao Cao said that he was afraid that he would be reported to the government if he was left alive, so he simply killed them all. When Chen Gong was very angry and accused him of cruelty and injustice, Cao Cao said his wise saying that has been passed down through the ages: "I would rather let the people of the world betray me than teach the people of the world to betray me."

The assassination of Dong Zhuo failed, and he was afraid of being assassinated by others. After mistakenly killing Lu Boxe's family, he deliberately killed Lu Boxe himself in order to cover up the mistake. This exposed a major thought for Cao Cao, who lived in troubled times. If you can't protect yourself, how can you fight for the world? For ordinary people, it is understandable to be more suspicious when fleeing, but it can only be more vigilant. Cao Cao is different. He must not have any doubts in his heart. He doesn't care how many people he kills to eliminate the doubts in his heart. He has no self-blame at all and only puts himself first.

Cao Cao is a successful person in troubled times, which is related to his state of mind. Maybe this is the case in troubled times.