Cao Cao's grandfather, Cao Teng, had an official position when Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty was named Fei. It is said that his father Cao Song, whose real name is Xiahou, later became the adopted son of Cao Teng, and changed his surname to inherit the Marquis.
When Cao Cao was young, he was quick-witted, but he was willful, chivalrous, unruly, uneducated and unlearned. Therefore, no one in the society thinks he has any special talents, only Qiao Xuan of Liang thinks he is different. Qiao Xuan said to Cao Cao, "The world will be in chaos. Those who are doomed can't help, but those who are safe are in your hands!" He Qing of Nanyang said to him: "The Han Dynasty will die, and the person who lives in the world must be this person!" Xu Shao, a word general, is famous for knowing people. He once said to Cao Cao, "You are a quiet and capable minister and a hero in troubled times" (according to Biography of Xu Shao in the Later Han Dynasty, Similarities and Differences in Sun Sheng's Miscellaneous Words and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, he was also a traitor in troubled times). )
Cao Cao's life
In A.D. 184, Cao Cao made his mark in the Yellow Scarf Uprising at the end of the Han Dynasty, and was later named as one of the eight captains of Xiyuan, and participated in the war of the world governors against Dong Zhuo. After Dong Zhuo's death, he developed his own power, fought in troubled times, conquered Lu Bu and Yuan Shu, and accepted Zhang Xiu's surrender.
In 10, Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao in Guandu (now northeast of zhongmou county).
In 20 1 year, Yuan Shao's army was defeated again in Cangting (now northeast of guanxian) by the tactic of "flying on all sides".
In February 65438+2007, the northern expedition to Wuhuan County completely eradicated the remnants of Yuan's family and basically unified the Central Plains.
In 208 AD, he became the prime minister of the Eastern Han regime. In July, Cao Cao took Liu Biao south from Jingzhou, and in February, he fought with Sun Liu's allied forces in Chibi and lost.
2 1 1 In July, Cao Cao led his troops to the western expedition and defeated the Guanzhong armies headed by Ma Chao, thus laying the foundation of Wei State.
In 2 12 AD, Yangpingguan was captured, and Hanzhong Zhang Lu was defeated and surrendered. At this point, the trend of tripartite confrontation between the three countries has basically taken shape.
In 2 13, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty sent Lv Chi, an ancient imperial scholar, to canonize Cao Cao as Wang Wei, and set up a bronze sparrow terrace in Yecheng Wei Palace to enjoy the emperor system and gain the supreme power of "worshipping and going to the temple with a sword".
On March/0/5, 220 AD, Cao Cao died in Luoyang at the age of 66. Posthumous title "King of Wu" was buried in Gaoling. Cao Cao never proclaimed himself emperor in his life. After his death, Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor soon after he ascended the throne. Cao Cao and posthumous title were called "Emperor Wu" and the temple name was "Mao", which was historically called.
Cao Cao's achievements
Cao Cao reclaimed land in the north to build water conservancy projects, which solved the problem of insufficient rations and played a certain role in the recovery of agricultural production. Employ talents, attract the middle and lower classes of the landlord class, restrain the strongmen and strengthen centralization. The social economy of the ruling area has been restored and developed. The method of selecting a good soldier includes Sun Tzu's Art of War, The Art of War and Meng De's New Book. Good poems, such as "A Journey in the Great Miles" and "Watching the Sea", express political aspirations and reflect the tragic life of the people at the end of the Han Dynasty. They are magnificent, generous and sad. Prose is also neat. His works include Wei Wudi.
Politically and militarily, Cao Cao eliminated many separatist forces, unified most of northern China, and implemented a series of policies to restore economic production and social order, which laid the foundation for the founding of Cao Wei. In terms of literature, under the impetus of Cao Cao and his son, Jian 'an literature represented by "Three Caos" (Cao Cao, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi) was formed, which was called "Jian 'an Style" in history. His poems are famous for their generosity and tragic, which left a glorious stroke in the history of literature.
After his death, Cao Cao was buried in Nangaoling, Xigaoxue Village, Anfeng Township, Anyang County, Anyang City, Henan Province. It was confirmed by archaeology on February 27th, 2009.
Personal point of view: Although Cao Cao was rated as a lean and treacherous official by many people, he had no other "violation" behavior in his life except "relying on the emperor to make princes" and "overbearing and domineering", and these two behaviors existed in front of many powerful officials, including many "loyal officials" in our eyes-such as Duke Zhou, Huo Guang and Zhuge Liang of Cao Cao's contemporaries! Cao Cao took it as his duty to "secure and level the world" all his life. Even when he was in Battle of Red Cliffs, his heart was only for the Duke of Zhou, not for being an emperor himself (there is a saying in a long song that "Duke of Zhou vomits food, and the world returns to his heart").
In fact, in Cao Cao's life, he never showed the intention of usurping the Han Dynasty. On the contrary, when Cao Cao was young, he revealed: I only wish that the epitaph after death would be "Therefore, Cao, the general of the Han Dynasty, was recruited to the west". In other words, his wish is to become heroes Yuan and Huo Qubing who have made great contributions to the country! Even when Dong Zhuo was authoritarian, Cao Cao remained loyal to the Han Dynasty-he wanted to assassinate Dong Zhuo alone, and after failing, he sent troops to "Jun Qing's side" and so on. All these actions show that Cao Cao was actually loyal to the Han Dynasty in the first half of his life. Until later, due to various factors, his thought of loyalty to the monarch and serving the country changed. Especially when he heard that "Xian Di tied Stuart to the front" (Stuart Wang Yun designed to kill Dong Zhuo, but was unable to quell the remnants of Xiliang rebellion, and Emperor Han Xian personally killed Wang Yun in Chang 'an City to quell the anger of the rebels), he began to be completely disappointed with the big fellow and finally embarked on the road of warlords.
Cao Cao's tough attitude towards foreigners in his life greatly shocked nomadic tribes in northern Xinjiang and safeguarded the dignity and stability of the country. Internally, he reformed the official system, re-used the scholars of poor families, and attacked the local gate forces since the Han Dynasty. At the same time, encourage production and implement the system of reclaiming farmland, so that the withered people's livelihood in the northern region can be quickly restored and developed after the Yellow turban insurrectionary uprising ... From this perspective, Cao Cao is indeed a hero.
At present, our low evaluation of Cao Cao is mostly influenced by The Romance of Three Kingdoms, but this book is not a history book and has a strong personal color (it can be clearly seen in the book that the author regards Shu Han as orthodox), so there are also many criticisms of Cao Wei. Therefore, the evaluation of Cao Cao is too one-sided and even ignores his achievements. ...
Supplementary information: It is unfair to describe Cao Cao as a usurper in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, consorts and eunuchs took turns to take power, and the atmosphere in the ruling and opposition parties was filthy. Stepping into the Jian 'an era, the Eastern Han court was hopeless. In this regard, Sima Guang once commented in "Zi Tongzhi Jian": "At the beginning of Jian 'an, it was everywhere; "Without an inch of land and a nation, this is not the style of China people." In the troubled times when Dong Zhuo was good at abolishing legislation, Ada made his own robes, Huainan Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor and carved his seal, and Yuan Shao wanted to set up another private emperor, Cao Cao always maintained his respect for the imperial court.
As early as five years in Zhong Ping, there was a plot to overthrow Emperor Han Ling and set up a new Lord. At that time, Cao Cao, who negotiated, was rejected by him. When the Allies marched eastward to Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao took the lead in making progress compared with other people's wait-and-see concerns. In the second year of Chuping, Han Fu, Yuan Shao and others wanted to make Liu Yu, a shepherd in Youzhou, emperor, but Cao Cao refused again, and made it clear: "You are in the north, I am in the west." You can listen to the shepherds in the northern Youzhou. I am still loyal to the western emperors. Li urged others to bring disaster to Chang 'an, and when his party fled for their lives, there were indifferent people, people who fish in troubled waters and people who hit people when they were down. Cao Cao was one of the few people who took the initiative to meet Xian Di. In December of the 24th year of Jian 'an, after Wu and Wei cooperated to kill Guan Yu, Sun Quan advised him to be a vassal, but Cao Cao wouldn't listen: "This boy wants to set me on fire!" Although there are cautious tactics of Cao Cao in this series of words and deeds, it cannot be denied objectively that this is a respect for the imperial court.
As for Cao Cao's killing of Dong Cheng (originally a subordinate of Dong Zhuo's son-in-law Niu Fu, according to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the birth standard should be "fish escaping through the net"), Wan Fu and other royalty, after all, he started with the former Cao Cao and fought back, so can he be expected to die happily? Besides, the collapse of the Eastern Han Dynasty was in the hands of consorts and eunuchs, and Cao Cao, who witnessed the chaos in the world, knew it. When Dong Cheng killed Wan Fu, Cao Cao also stipulated that no one in his own "harem" should interfere in the affairs of state, even his son Cao Zhang and others were "father and son at home, and his subjects were his subjects". The talented Cao Zhi is a bohemian who once "opened the Sima Gate" without authorization, and his coachman was immediately executed (Cao Zhi fell out of favor largely because of violating the law and discipline. Cao Pi may have a wicked heart, but Cao Zhi doesn't take being a thief seriously at all. Cao Zhi's wife, dressed luxuriantly, violated her order to advocate frugality, even though her daughter-in-law beheaded her. Looking back, Cao Cao was not a usurper of the Han Dynasty.
Few people deny Cao Cao's military and literary talents, but his achievements are slightly controversial. Compared with military achievements, his achievements are even worse. Looking back at the history before the Three Kingdoms, during the reign of Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the population of China once reached more than 50 million, but by the time of the Three Kingdoms, it had dropped to more than 7 million, even worse than during the Warring States Period, when people were beheaded frequently four or five hundred years ago (there were still more than 10 million). It is impossible to kill so many people, but it is not difficult to starve to death. The root cause is nothing more than natural and man-made disasters. Since Emperor Huan of the Eastern Han Dynasty, droughts, floods, plagues, riots and rebellions of ethnic minorities have continued, and the population and households have been greatly reduced. According to the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, there was a great disaster: "In the spring and March of the ninth year, Li Si and Yuzhou starved to death and even destroyed their households." According to this estimate, about three or four million people starved to death in these two places this year alone; During the period of Emperor Ling of Han Dynasty, "In the first month of Jianning three years, women in Hanoi ate husbands, while men in Henan ate wives", "In February of Guanghe five years, there was a great epidemic." , "light and six years of summer, drought". Other small-scale natural disasters, ethnic minority rebellions or invasions are numerous. Coupled with the Yellow Scarf Uprising in 184 and the subsequent warlord scuffle, the production was completely destroyed. In such troubled times, it is an urgent and primary task to restore normal production order and let the people have plenty of food and clothing.
Among the princes of the Three Kingdoms in the late Han Dynasty, there were many military talents and few internal affairs. Political and economic success or failure will naturally be reflected in the military (on the other hand, it is by no means easy). Most people suffer from it and eventually get stuck in the "rice", and even have no chance to prove whether they are "smart women". The way to resume production is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure, and Cao Cao has done well in both aspects.
The implementation of the reclamation system is actually to ensure reproduction by means of state investment, and the work efficiency is of course higher than that of ordinary yeomen. Therefore, this policy achieved immediate results, and in a short time, it turned this place into a thriving place where "agricultural officers and soldiers, chickens and dogs speak, and buildings belong to each other". It is not too much to call it a great pioneering work. After Cao Cao captured Yecheng, in view of the heavy poll tax at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he changed to household rules and charged landlords (including yeomen and landlords) four liters of land rent per mu, and each household paid two silks and two kilograms of cotton. "He must not be good at making money." Vigorously stop the indiscriminate apportionment of farmers, which is a headache for Mao Dengjiang even after 2000. This policy has greatly reduced the burden on farmers and won unanimous support.
When Cao Cao was alive, he vigorously built water conservancy facilities and achieved fruitful results. For example, the seven gates and three weirs built in Shucheng, Zhou Yu's hometown, can still irrigate 20,000 hectares of fertile land every day until Song Renzong in the Northern Song Dynasty. The seriousness of these "small things" not mentioned in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms can be reflected in the following examples: First, Cao Cao fought two wars in Hanzhong, first defeating Zhang Lu, and then losing to Liu Bei, but due to the recovery of northern vitality, he successfully moved out of Hanzhong Wudu and other places (although he was tempted, he was never intimidated). According to a family of four, this is more than 500 thousand. Think about the fact that when Shu Han surrendered, there were only 280,000 households with 940,000 people, and you will understand what kind of drastic measures Liu Bei took! After all, soldiers and civilians are the foundation of the war of resistance. Second, in May of the 19th year of Jian 'an, Lv Meng reminded Sun Quan that Cao Cao was cultivating land in Anhui (i.e. Lujiang), and if he waited for them to harvest, it would be tantamount to adding wings to the tiger. Therefore, Wu Dong took advantage of the rainy season water army to come and go freely. Sun Quan personally went out to levy such a tiny place in Anhui City. After Monroe and Gan Ning went into battle, they captured the prefect alive and moved tens of thousands of people back to Wu. According to statistics, Sun Ce and Sun Quan called Zhou Yu's hometown, Huainan Shucheng, four times, but without exception, they all returned from looting. Therefore, there is such a funny thing in Zhou Yu's hometown: Cao Wei desperately builds buildings, and Sun Wu desperately destroys and kills people.
After Cao Cao, Cao Pi and Cao Rui were unruly in their personal lives, but they basically followed these policies. Later, Cao Zhen, Zhang He and Sima Yi were able to defeat Zhuge Liang repeatedly in Qishan and other places because they had "deep internal forces" and sufficient material support. Accordingly, Wu Shu's construction in this area is also very lacking. Because of its superior natural conditions, Sichuan already has such a masterpiece as Dujiangyan. It is understandable that there is no need to gild the lily and waste money. Wu Dong was a complete failure: Wu Dong built a lake field and a Pulitang in Danyang twice. In the third year (the first year of Wei Jingyuan), when Yong 'an was first built, countless manpower and material resources were invested. However, due to the failure to carry out construction in dry season, the pier foundation was flooded due to strong winds and waves. As a result, "the soldiers died, or the thieves died, and the people complained." The second reconstruction failed. No wonder later generations want to open canals and build reservoirs in Jiangnan. Although Jiangnan is known as the land of plenty, the agricultural level in the Three Kingdoms period was quite low. Even things that have long been common sense in the north, such as Niu Geng, have not been popularized, and there is no water conservancy construction such as reservoirs and ponds that can be irrigated with water. Its production efficiency can be imagined. In this case, even if there are millions of soldiers, they will starve. How do they compete for hegemony?
If Cao Wei left a rich legacy to future generations, then Shu Han is the capital preservation, and Soochow is the debt. At the same time, Cao Cao also pays great attention to throttling and sets an example. According to historical records, Cao Cao was "elegant and frugal, but not gorgeous, and the harem dress was not gorgeous, and he did not adopt royal shoes, but made up for it with curtains and screens, and took wormwood with warmth, without feuds." To put it simply, clothes are not gaudy, shoes are not carved or embroidered, curtains and screens are patched, and beds and bedding are "tattered". With Cao Cao's vigorous correction, the extravagance since the Eastern Han Dynasty was reversed, and the people in the world were honest, diligent and self-disciplined. Even high-ranking officials and dignitaries dare not be extravagant, and there are even strange things that someone deliberately wears shabby clothes to please Cao Cao. In the 14th year of Jian 'an, Cao Cao, in turn, had to order the correction of this strange unhealthy trend. Cao Cao's will also reflects his consistent frugal style: "The world is not yet stable, and there is no future." They were all taken away after the funeral. Garrison personnel are not allowed to leave the station. There is a division, and each rate is the location. There is nothing hidden in the clothes. "In contrast, Liu Bei and Sun Quan are at a loss in their later years. Introduction to the biography of the Three Kingdoms: "Liu Bei is called the king of Hanzhong, so he built a pavilion, covering more than 400 areas from Chengdu to Baishuiguan." What he did later became a negative textbook for Chen Qun to persuade Cao Rui to abandon extravagance and attack the palace: "Yesterday, Liu Bei went from Chengdu to Baishui, making more biographies, wasting the labor of the people, and Mao knows his tiredness. Later, in the battle of Yiling, Liu Bei's performance was even worse. Sun Quan was even more "crazy", even when he was not old, he was a little confused, so that Zhang Zhao mocked Zhou Wang's "wine pool and meat forest". Later, Sun Quan abolished the stupidity of the prince, which made the princes fall apart and become a laughing stock.
Admittedly, Cao Cao is not perfect. His slaughter in Xuzhou and so on should be condemned. But his success is no accident, worthy of Chen Shou's evaluation of him as "an extraordinary man and an unparalleled leader".