For example, there is a man named Wei Zhong, who turned out to be Cao Cao's subordinate. There was a time when we knew that Cao Cao was not going well, was in adversity, and was in a difficult situation. At that time, many of his subordinates betrayed Cao Cao. Cao Cao was very confident and said, let them go. My people will not be finished. For example, Wei Zhong, he will not betray me. As a result, Wei Zhong also betrayed and ran away. Cao Cao was furious. Cao Cao said, you Wei Zhong, you will also betray me. If you have the ability, you can run to the ends of the earth. If you have the ability, you can go to the Huns in the north. If you have the ability, you can go to Vietnam. As long as you can't run that far, I will I will capture you and never spare you.
Later in the subsequent battle, Wei Zhong was captured. Everyone was worried about Wei Zhong, saying that Cao Cao would definitely kill him. How about Cao Cao? Cao Cao thought for a while, forget it, Wei Zhong is a talent, let him go, he will be an official as he should be. This is Cao Cao's tolerance.
Cao Cao is indeed a very tolerant person. When Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were fighting, Yuan Shao found a scholar named Chen Lin to draft an appeal. What is a proclamation? It is a letter of denunciation, because in ancient warfare, they emphasized that the division should have a reputation, that is, you must have a name for whoever you want to fight. After you have a name, your army will be called the division of justice. Yuan Shao asked Chen Lin to write it. A message. Chen Lin was a penman who wrote a thousand words, eloquently criticizing Cao Cao. Where do you start scolding? It starts with Cao Cao's ancestors. This is actually a very bad thing in Chinese culture. Whenever you scold someone, you will scold someone's parents, and whenever you scold someone, you will scold someone's ancestors for eight generations. Why is this a bad tradition for eight generations of your ancestors? Chen Lin is also the same. Then Yuan Shao was defeated and Chen Lin was made a prisoner. The people below captured Chen Lin and brought her to Cao Cao. Cao Cao said: Chen Lin, when the two armies are fighting, they have to issue such a statement of denunciation. This is normal. However, you scolded her. Forget it if you scold me, why are you scolding my parents? My parents have not offended you, okay? Chen Lin said, I'm sorry, the arrow was on the string and had to be fired. Cao Cao said, OK, OK, forget it, you are also a talented person, so you can still be your penman. Chen Lin became Cao Cao's penholder from now on, so Cao Cao was very tolerant.
6. Strong desire for revenge. But Cao Cao was also a very vindictive person, and almost no one who offended Cao Cao would not retaliate.
At that time, there was a famous scholar named Bian Rang. Bian Rang was a great scholar and a great writer. He wrote very good articles and books, but he looked down on Cao Cao. Because Cao Cao had a bad background, Cao Cao's grandfather was a eunuch, and the Eastern Han Dynasty was ruined by eunuchs, so those scholars, educated people, and scholar-bureaucrats despised and hated eunuchs the most. So Cao Cao's father was the eunuch's adopted son, and Cao Cao was the eunuch's adopted son. They looked down on him, and Bian Rang also looked down on him, and said some insulting words to Cao Cao. So later, after Cao Cao went over and captured that place, he killed Bian Rang without mercy. There were also several intellectuals who were involved in Bian Rang's case. Some of them ran away, but they couldn't escape after they ran away. Then he came back to surrender.
One of them, Huan Shao, surrendered himself to Cao Cao, knelt down, kowtowed, cried bitterly, and begged for mercy. What did Cao Cao say? Hum hum, ho ho ho, cry, get scared, kneel down, beg for mercy, won’t you kill me if you kneel down? Wouldn't you kill if you beg for mercy? Drag him out and kill him. The impact of this incident was so bad that it triggered a rebellion at the time. How could you treat a cultural person like this? How can you treat someone who has offended you like this?
One of them, Chen Gong, left Cao Cao for this reason and was determined to help Lu Bu defeat Cao Cao. Later, after Lu Bu's defeat, Chen Gong became a prisoner. Cao Cao didn't want to kill him yet, so Cao Cao told Chen Gong that as long as you surrender, let bygones be bygones. Because Cao Cao also felt that his previous actions were wrong at this time. He also felt that the prime minister wanted to support the boat and the general had a horse on his forehead, which should have some general demeanor, so he did not kill Chen Gong. Chen Gong refused to surrender, so Cao Cao had no choice but to kill him. Before killing him, Cao Cao asked: Chen Gong's name is Gongtai. He said Gongtai, Gongtai, if you die, what will happen to your mother? Do it? Chen Gong said, I heard that people who rule the world with filial piety will not kill other people's parents. How about my mother is up to you, Duke Cao. Cao Cao said yes, Gongtai, Gongtai, what will happen to your wife and children after you die? Chen Gong said, "I heard that people who rule the world with benevolence will not harm other people's children. How about my wife and children? Please take care of it, Mr. Cao." Ah, Cao Cao said okay, then I will send you on your way. Then he started crying, and while crying, he sent Chen Gong to the execution ground to die, and then brought Chen Gong's family to his home. He treated Chen Gong's family better than before Chen Gong fell out with him.
7. Contradictory personality, open to all rivers.
So Cao Cao is a very complicated person. He is cunning and honest, tender and vicious, tolerant and vengeful. If you only read one story about Cao Cao, and only look at Cao Cao's side, the conclusion you draw is that a blind man touches an elephant, which is not comprehensive. So in our opinion, Cao Cao may be a person with the most complex personality and the most diverse images in Chinese history. He is a man who is both extremely smart and stupid, cunning and treacherous, yet frank and sincere, open-minded yet suspicious, magnanimous yet narrow-minded. It can be said that the demeanor of everyone is the face of a villain; the heroic spirit is the affection of children; the temper of the king of hell is the heart of a bodhisattva. He is such a person, he seems to have many faces on his body, one face appears at one moment, and another face is shown to us at another moment. But please note one thing, no matter which face it is, it belongs to Cao Cao and will not be recognized as belonging to anyone else. Being able to unify such a complex character into one person is an amazing thing in itself. What does it reflect? It reflects Cao Cao's atmosphere. What is atmosphere? The sea is tolerant of all rivers, and tolerance is great. Cao Cao is exactly the one who can tolerate, a very large-capacity person, and all kinds of contradictory things are unified with him.