Cao Cao, a famous historical figure, has been commenting on it for thousands of years.
Chen Shou, the author of the History of the Three Kingdoms, commented at the end of the Ji of Emperor Wudi that "suppression is a strange man and a peerless hero", Lu Xun commented that "Cao Cao is a very capable man, at least a hero", Chairman Mao once commented that "Cao Cao is a great politician, strategist and poet", and Mr. Yi Zhongtian made detailed comments in Yi Zhongtian Pinsan. Treacherous, cunning, frank and sincere; Open-minded and suspicious; Generous and narrow-minded
It can be said that everyone has a demeanor and a villain's face; Heroic, children's feelings; Yan has a temper and a bodhisattva heart. "From these evaluations, at least we can see that Cao Cao is indeed a hero, but he is also a very complicated person.
Cao Cao's real name is Xiahou, and his father Cao Song is Xiahou Rui's second son. Because Xiahou Rui was an honest official and couldn't afford a family, he adopted Cao Song to his friend Cao Teng, a big eunuch.
Cao Chi, the father of Cao Ren and Cao Chun, is Cao Teng's nephew, while Cao Bao and Cao Teng, the fathers of Cao Chi, are brothers, so Cao Ren, Cao Chun and Cao Cao are half-cousins. And Xia's parents and Cao Song are brothers, so Cao Cao and these two men are real cousins.
Wenzhi martial arts, Wencheng martial arts.
Cao Cao was born in 155, Pei county (now Bozhou, Anhui province).
When I was a teenager, I was bohemian, like flying eagles and running dogs, like reading and hunting.
Therefore, Cao Cao's reputation is very bad, and he is even more despised because he is the adopted son of the eunuch.
However, only Qiu and Nanyang celebrity He Qing attached great importance to Cao Cao. When Cao Cao went to Qiao Xuan to play at the age of 20, Qiao Xuan said to him, "The world will be chaotic, and those who are not destined can't help. Those who can be safe depend on you!" Cao Cao was promoted to filial piety at the age of 20. After entering the official career, he was not afraid of powerful people and rectified the bad atmosphere in officialdom and among the people.
Dong Zhuo made an insurrection, and Cao Cao advocated the militia and began to spread like wildfire.
In A.D. 196, Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty welcomed Xu County.
Later, in the name of the son of heaven, he began to conquer various warlords and local forces, and defeated and destroyed them successively. Zhang Xiu, Lu Bu, Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao, Wu Wan, Liu Biao, Ma Chao, Han Sui and Zhang Lu defeated Yuan Shao in the battle of Guandu in 200 years, which laid a solid foundation for northern hegemony.
In the first month of AD 220, Cao Cao died in Luoyang.
Qin Shihuang, Han Wudi, Emperor Taizong, Song Taizu and Genghis Khan, who are famous for their martial arts in history, are not so talented. Xiao Gang, Xiao Yi, Li Yu and Evonne made great achievements in literature and art, but they were in a mess in governing the country.
Throughout Cao Cao's life, Wen Tao's martial arts, which is outstanding in the history of China, is unique in the history of China and even in the history of the world.
Under the corrupt regime at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the north of Luoyang, killing the uncle of the popular eunuch Jian Shuo, which shocked the capital. Under Lang's appointment, he wrote a letter to vindicate Dou Wu and Chen Fan. During his tenure in Jinan, at the beginning of his tenure, he dismissed eight county magistrates and county heads in more than a dozen counties. "Prostitution is forbidden, traitors flee, and county boundaries are in awe"; When Dong Zhuo made an insurrection, Cao Cao was the first to fight against Dong Zhuo. When Dong Zhuo plundered the son of heaven, burned the imperial palace and fled to Chang 'an in the west, Cao Cao, alone with 5,000 troops, dared to pursue Dong Zhuo to the west, despite the fact that various allied forces refused to March. When they were displaced and had no food and clothing, the governors of all walks of life stood by and watched, but Cao Cao welcomed FengTianzi to Xu County, and the emperor's officials were saved from famine.
I'm afraid this is not the work of treacherous court officials, but what Xu Shao said is "a capable minister who can rule the world."
From the Yellow Scarf Uprising in 184 to the year 208, the north continued for more than 20 years with war and turmoil, economic depression and poor people.
In AD 196, Cao Cao appointed Zao Zuo, Ren Jun, Han Hao and others to start land reclamation, and distributed land and farm tools to a large number of landless farmers, and collected land rent in proportion. Later, he vigorously reclaimed land and built water conservancy projects in all parts of the north, and agricultural production in the north was greatly restored.
When Cao Cao conquered Zhang Xiu, he strictly ordered troops, horses and soldiers not to trample on farmland, otherwise they would be beheaded and finally broke the order.
Others, such as tax exemption for people in war-torn places for a long time, and supporting the elderly and disabled orphans with * * * money, can be regarded as the earliest national social security policies, and some of them have not been realized today after 1800 years.
These measures of Cao Cao greatly restored the northern economy, and people began to live and work in peace and contentment.
Meritocracy is the best way to appoint people according to their abilities.
In the development of Han dynasty, the procurator system evolved into a privileged channel for aristocratic families to monopolize official career. Political and moral fraud has become common, and the influence of aristocratic families has expanded to the emergence of Yuan Shaojia's "four generations and three publics". The absurdity of talent appointment has resulted in "teaching scholars without knowing books;" Filial piety, father separation; The cold is as white as mud, and the highest soldier is as timid as a chicken.
Living in this era, Cao Cao is well aware of its disadvantages and harm, and the phenomenon of misnaming is extremely serious.
Cao Cao is a far-sighted politician, and he can't understand the importance of white people to achieve their hegemony. Therefore, from the eighth year of Jian 'an to the twenty-second year of Jian 'an, Cao Cao successively issued four imperial edicts, namely, on the function, seeking talents, seeking talents, not abandoning shortcomings, and seeking talents without grasping conduct.
Throughout the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao had the most talents in all fields.
So many people came to defect, and Cao Cao didn't confuse the good with the bad.
But to truly understand the advantages and disadvantages of each talent and be really good at understanding others. As Chen Shou's "History of the Three Kingdoms" said, "The official materials are based on their devices, and they are melodramatic, and they don't forget the past." Cao Cao's servants dare not deny it, even those who don't like him. Hong Mai's Rong Zhai Essays is a book that is very unfriendly to Cao Cao, but Hong Mai also highly praised Cao Cao's employing people, and Hong Mai evaluated Cao Cao's employing people.
Therefore, Cao Cao's account is full of talents, counselors are like clouds, and valiant soldiers are like clouds. Advisers include Yu Xun, Guo Jia, Xun You, Cheng Yu, Jia Xu, Sima Yi, Ye Liu, Chen Qun, Jiang Ji, Man Chong, Zhong You, Dong Zhao, Mao Jie and Cui Yan. And the military commanders are brave in the three armed forces and take the lead.
The arrival of these talents, in addition to Cao Cao's personal charm and bright career prospects, is largely due to the fact that these vain and pedantic talent policies have truly achieved meritocracy and eclecticism.
In addition to the Cao family, some people come here, some people give up high and seek low, and some people hate their families. No matter what, Cao Cao will promise them.
Cheng Yu, Ye Liu, Man Chong, Mao Jie, Li Dian, Le Jin and Yu Jin all admired Cao Cao's fame and came to defect, corporal Cao Cao and Li Xian; Yu Xun, Guo Jia, Jia Xu and Pound all came from the enemy camp, while Yu Xun and Guo Jia defected to Cao Cao when Yuan Shao's power was in full swing. Cao Cao was treated with courtesy and entrusted with an important task. Zhu Ling was a guest under Yuan Shao's account, and later stayed to help Cao Cao. At that time, Yuan Qiang and Cao Cao were in a weak position. Zhang Liao, Huang Xu and Zhang He were all enemies, and Cao Cao was honest with others. Even for those Cao who came to surrender after the mutiny, they forgot the past and trusted as before.
Xia Houdun, Chu Xu, Dian Wei and Li Dian were brave and invincible, so Cao Cao was appointed as the pioneer. Coss, Zhang Liao, Huang Xu, Zhang He and others are both wise and brave, so Cao Cao let them lead the troops alone and defend one side; Yu Xun is knowledgeable and decent, so Cao Cao asked him to preside over the administrative work of the court. Guo Jia, Xun You and Jia Xu are resourceful, serving as military staff officers and participating in military decision-making; Mao Jie and Cui Yan are honest and in charge of personnel work; Ren Jun, Zhao Zuo, Han Hao, hard-working, serious and responsible, responsible for land reclamation.
Cao Cao's family supports Cao Cao even more.
In A.D. 190, when the Kanto Allied Forces crusaded against Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao pursued Dong Zhuo who fled to the Western Heaven, and was ambushed by Dong Zhuo's general Xu Rong, who was defeated. Cao Cao's mount was injured because Cao Hong gave him the horse, and Cao Cao was able to survive. At the most critical moment, Cao Hong said to Cao Cao, "There can be no floods and no public affairs." This is how much appreciation and admiration, you can lay down your life to protect each other, which shows Cao Hong's recognition and support for Cao Cao, which is enough to see that Cao Cao is not a traitor as the novelist said.
Imagine if Cao Cao was a political careerist who struggled for personal interests, and Cao Hong was a rich man, with fertile land, beautiful houses and Song Dynasty * * *, how happy he would be, with both economic and political status. Will he have nothing to do with a treacherous, cruel, bad-behaved careerist who even laid down his life for the other side?
Romantic poet, unruly
It is with so many talents that Cao Cao has time to show his talents in the field of literature.
Cao Cao's extensive reading in his childhood laid a solid foundation for his future literary talent, and his bohemian character greatly promoted him to become a generation of poets.
Jian 'an literature, the first to promote Cao Sanzi, Jian 'an Qizi, but in fact the literary leader is Cao Cao.
Cao Pi and Cao Zhi are sons. Influenced by their father's literati temperament, they were educated in literature since childhood, which can be said to be like Cao Cao.
Other subordinate groups such as Chen Lin, Ruan Yu, RoyceWong, Kong Rong, Serina Liu, Xu Gan, Angelababy, etc. are all aides of Cao Cao and are deeply influenced by Cao Cao.
Cao Cao's position as a literary leader not only benefits from the relationship between superiors and subordinates, but also stands out from the crowd with his unique four-character poem level.
Cao Cao has a literati temperament, which he knows. In the history of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao was one of the most interesting people in life. Liu Bei's hobbies are weaving straw sandals and sleeping mats. Sun Quan likes shooting tigers, hunting and drinking. Zhuge Liang could still breathe in the mountains before he came out. After he came out of the mountain, he was exhausted in his prime and probably had no time to play.
On the other hand, Cao Cao liked hunting with Xia when he was a teenager. "Reading in autumn, winter and summer, shooting in winter and spring" ("Let the county magistrate know himself"), even if he is in a high position as prime minister, he still sees Cao Cao building a bronze sparrow terrace and calling literati to compose poems. This kind of leisure and elegance can best reflect the mind and feelings of leaders.
Looking at the Sea is China's earliest landscape poem. "The trip to the sun and the moon, if out of its territory; If the star and Han are brilliant, if it is unexpected, "it is a grand mind and momentum that dominates the world and embraces the universe;" "Short songs written in the tense moment in Battle of Red Cliffs can best reflect Cao Cao's unique romantic poet feelings as a strategist and politician." The Duke of Zhou vomits food, and the world belongs to his heart "reveals the desire of a generation of sages for talents;" Although the tortoise is long-lived, "an old horse crouches tiger, aiming at a thousand miles;" The martyr's later years were full of courage. "Cao Cao's ambition in his later years and Cao Zhi's heroism were set off vividly. 54-year-old Cao Cao personally led 5000 cavalry to chase Liu Bei.
These excellent four-character poems by Cao Cao inherited the tradition of The Book of Songs, inspired Tao Yuanming and injected new vitality into the rigid four-character poem style.
Cao Cao's Yuefu poems are also excellent, inheriting the tradition of Han Yuefu, which not only reflects the reality, but also has deep feelings. The language is simple and straightforward, so Zhong Rong said in "Poetry" that "Cao Gong is very sad."
What needs to be pointed out in particular is that in Cao Cao's Howe Li Xing, "Bones are exposed in the wild, and there are no crows thousands of miles away.
It is a true reflection of the sufferings of the lower classes, and it comes from the hand of an official's son, which is enough to show his compassion for the people in the world and his heart of helping the poor. This is probably one of the reasons why he vigorously cultivated land and calmed people's livelihood.
Thanks to Cao Cao's advocacy, Ye Group became famous for a while and became one of the famous literati groups in the history of China. "Three Caos" and "Seven Scholars of Jian 'an" naturally stood out in history.
Apart from being unique in the field of literature, Cao Cao is also accomplished in music and calligraphy.
Zhang Hua of the Western Jin Dynasty combined Huan Tan, Cai Yong and Cao Cao, three famous musicians in the late Han Dynasty, in natural history, which shows that Cao Cao was really good at music. Similarly, in this book, Zhang Hua thinks that Cao Cao is a calligrapher at the end of the Han Dynasty, second only to Zhang Zhi, Zhang Chang, Cui Yuan and Cui Wei. They are all great calligraphers. Historians' comments on Cao Cao's calligraphy are "Wei Zhu's pen and ink are outstanding" and "his calligraphy and painting are outstanding and elegant".
Cao Cao's personal martial arts is very strong, and he is good at dancing halberds. Cao Cao is also good at engineering construction, brewing wine and studying food culture, and he is the author of Four Seasons Food System.
Unity of knowledge and action, a generation of famous soldiers
There was chaos in the world at the end of the Han Dynasty, and it was natural to rely on military power to wipe out the four seas, which Cao Cao profoundly and soberly realized.
Cao Cao loves reading, and he always keeps fighting, especially the art of war. This spirit and interest first cultivated him into an outstanding military theorist in theory.
Cao Cao interpreted the ancient art of war. According to historical records, Cao Cao annotated three volumes of Taigong Yin Fu, Sima Fa Zhu, Sun Tzu's Brief Explanation, Sun Tzu's Notes and Sun Tzu's Art of War, and even wrote innovative ideas into the book, namely, Continued Art of War Volume II and Sun Tzu's Art of War Volume XIII (namely, Meng De).
The Art of War is a classic of China's military science. From its appearance to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao was the first to annotate it, and its explanation was very authoritative, which became a model for annotating it in past dynasties.
On the battlefield, Cao Cao is also a veritable excellent military commander. The big battles are Yanzhou's battle to destroy the Yellow Scarf Army, Yanzhou's battle to defend Xuzhou and Yuan Shu, Xuzhou's battle to attack Tao Qian, Yanzhou's battle to return to Yuan Dynasty to repel Lu Bu, Xiapi's battle to destroy Lu Bu, Xuzhou's battle to attack Liu Bei, Guandu's battle, Cangting's battle, Bailangshan's battle and Tongguan's battle. The small battles are Baima Yanjin's battle.
As the supreme commander, Cao Cao attaches great importance to the role of military staff, and the military staff under his account are also excellent. Yu Xun is knowledgeable, Cheng Yu, Jia Xu and Xun You are resourceful, Guo Jia is decisive and ingenious, and Cao Cao knows how to make good use of people and assign them to corresponding posts to give full play to their strengths.
When attacking Zhang Xiu, there was Xun You's expected enemy first; Yu Xun and Guo Jiaxian attacked Xiapi. In the battle of Guandu, Yu Xun wrote to Cao Cao to analyze the situation and stabilize the morale, Guo Jia analyzed the situation of the enemy and made decisions, and Liu Ye first presented the drawings of the trebuchet; When attacking Jingzhou, Yu Xun made a strategic deployment, and Jia Xu foresaw the Sun-Liu alliance in advance; In the battle of Tongguan, Jia Xu was distracted; In the Battle of Fancheng, Dong Zhao, Ye Liu and Sima Yi all played an extremely important role.
In addition, Cao Cao also attaches great importance to training and selecting elite soldiers who can fight independently, as evidenced by "Eight * * *" (Xia Houdun, Xia, Coss, Cao Hong, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, Cao Chun,) and "Five Talents" (Yu Ban, Le Jin, Zhang Liao, Huang Xu and Zhang He).
The Forbidden City was defeated, and the military discipline was strict and the martial arts were not chaotic. Yanjin fought Yuan Jun with a small number of troops. After Battle of Red Cliffs, Coss led a newly defeated army to resist Zhou Yu and Liu Bei in Nanjun and Xiangyang. Zhang Liao and Lejin defeated Sun Quan's10,000,000 troops with 7,000 men in the Battle of Hefei; In the battle of Tongguan in Huang Xu, Pu Banjin cut off the rear road of Xiliang Army at night, rescued Fancheng and defeated Guan Yu's main force. Zhang He's battle in Hanzhong saved the day, and Wei Jun avoided a crushing defeat. The battle of Jieting cut off the throat of the Shu army and forced Zhuge Liang to retreat. Wait, these are great achievements in the history of the Three Kingdoms.
Cao Cao in history is such a figure, but Cao Cao in life may be even stranger.
Cao Cao is a fat man with a round face. He is neither tall nor handsome.
According to Shi Shuo Xin Yu, the Xiongnu emissary met Cao Cao, and Cao Cao felt that his short appearance was "not far from the country", so Cui Yan, who looks handsome, pretended to meet the Xiongnu emissary, dressed as a waiter and stood by Hu's bed with a sword. After the interview, Cao Cao sent someone to ask the messenger what he thought of Wang Wei. As a result, the Xiongnu messenger said that Wang Wei was "very elegant", but there was a sword at the bedside.
Cao Cao is an affectionate person. Wherever he goes, he is kind. Romantic at best, lewd at worst, promiscuous at worst. Of course, there is no standard, it depends on how to use words. One more thing, Cao Cao is a poet with rich emotions and excessive love for beauty, which is understandable for poets. Li Bai, Bai Juyi, Wang Shifu, Ji Xiaolan and many other literati are romantic talents, not to mention that Cao Cao is a powerful figure with more emperors than emperors. Which emperor is not a palace and six hospitals; As for family ties, it can be seen from Cao Cao's will that Cao Cao's original Ding Furen was at odds with Cao Cao because of Cao Ang's death and went back to her family. When Cao Cao was dying, she remembered her life story best, but what made him angry was his original wife. I'm afraid this infatuation is completely unexpected.
In addition to attaching importance to agriculture, there is also a typical example of Cao Cao's love for the people.
As we all know, Liu Bei likes to take people with him when he runs away. I didn't know that Cao Cao still had people.
After the Battle of White Horse, Cao Cao retreated westward along the Yellow River. In order to avoid Yuan Shao's massacre in Baima, Cao Cao took the people to the southwest. At this time, Wen Chou and Liu Bei led the troops in pursuit, and their strength was ten times that of Cao Cao. Cao Cao took his own guard of six or seven hundred men behind the house and let the people go first. On the other hand, when Liu Bei retreated from Fancheng to Jiangling, he also took hundreds of thousands of people, followed by five thousand Cao Jun, and Liu Beijun lost ten or twenty thousand. Liu Bei fled with Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang, and had no time to take care of the people. To some extent, Liu Bei took the opportunity to win people's hearts, and Cao Cao was sincere for the people.
Besides reading, reciting poems, dealing with government affairs and hunting, Cao Cao also likes crossword puzzles and drinking, and his life is full of fun.
Don't be afraid of powerful people, fly to blame.
As for the stigma in history, there are nothing more than three reasons. First, Cao Cao usurped the Han Dynasty, second, Cao Cao was cunning, and third, Cao Cao "held the emperor to make the princes". Let me clarify here.
The first point is about usurping Han, whether the world is Han or Wei, Liu's world or Cao Shi's world. It doesn't really matter. From the establishment of the Qin Dynasty to the demise of the Qing Dynasty, China was an absolute monarchy, and there was no difference in the nature of the political system, so it didn't matter who was the emperor; After all, Cao Cao and Cao Pi are many times stronger than those incompetent emperors in the late Han Dynasty, and they can bring peace and happiness to the people all over the world. Such a monarch is beneficial to the people. Since ancient times, it is natural for dynasties to change. Why is it illegal for Cao Wei to replace Liu Han? According to this principle, the legitimacy of all new dynasties is questionable. Finally, Cao Cao spent his whole life defending the Han Dynasty, and did not claim to be the emperor.
Therefore, the usurpation of the throne in the Han Dynasty is purely slander by some interest groups, and there is no need for moral criticism.
The second point is cunning, and all is fair in war. Cao Cao is in troubled times. If he wants to engage in political and military struggle, he has to use some strategies, but the difference between strategy and intrigue is only verbal expression. People in China always pay attention to praise and criticism. The enemy's use of ingenuity is cunning and insidious, and his own cleverness is ingenious. This kind of differential expression based on selfishness seems to be hard to convince. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms is an amplification of Cao Cao's treachery, which is not credible.
So cunning is worth discussing.
The third point is "holding the emperor to make the princes", which is not credible when Cao Cao's political enemies attack him; Cao Cao's own side said that "Feng Tianzi made him disobey the minister", and judging from what Cao Cao did, the degree of service was even greater; Liu Bei, who flaunted the revival of the Han Dynasty, finally usurped the title of emperor. Isn't it a great irony to say that others "hold the emperor to make the princes"? Therefore, this article needs no discussion and can be understood.
Of course, these reasons for attacking Cao Cao are all on the table. What really attacked Cao Cao was his talent policy and reform measures, which infringed on many interest groups.
At the same time, it is also a major feature of China politics. Attacking an opponent must first dress up as a moral defender, stand at the commanding heights of morality, and arbitrarily exaggerate and expand the mistakes and disgraces of the enemy. Even if their hearts are dirtier than the enemy's, the reason for the attack is definitely the cry of human justice, which makes the world feel that they are noble, spotless and pure, without any selfishness, and their greatness is one inch higher than Mount Everest.
To sum up, besides being a strategist, politician and writer, Cao Cao should also be a good leader and father. A large number of top talents are willing to follow him to display their ambitions and cultivate three sons, one is an excellent politician Emperor Cao Pi, the other is an excellent poet Cao Zhi, and the other is a famous Cao Zhang.
In the CCTV large-scale documentary "A General History of China", Mr. Shen Bojun, director of Sichuan Institute of Three Kingdoms Culture, gave Cao Cao an evaluation of outstanding people, which was Ban Gu's evaluation of Emperor Wu, and which was Chen Shou's evaluation of Cao Cao, and Mr. Wu's evaluation of both showed high evaluation.
The significance of a hero's existence is, first of all, his great contribution to society. Secondly, his glorious image will become the spiritual motivation and life mentor for future generations to broaden their horizons, set their ambitions and meet with inspiration.
I firmly believe that Cao Cao is such a person.
A great man, while constantly improving his ideological strength, has higher wisdom and strategy, broader mind and tolerance, and greater feelings of helping the world; Little people should at least learn to be free and easy, live more optimistically, learn the spirit of seeking truth and being pragmatic, and live more truly.