Li Bai's poem says: Penglai's articles are about Jian'an's bones, with small thanks in the middle and clear hair. The Jian'an bone here refers to the literary genre during the Jian'an period of the Han Dynasty, which is historically known as "Jian'an style". From ancient times to the present, historical data have evaluated Cao Cao as a traitor, a despicable villain who deceived the world and tried to steal the country. In Peking Opera, Cao Cao also painted a white face to show his cunning and cunning. Not to mention the duplicity described in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, with a hidden edge hidden in a smile. This is a person who has many negative reviews but has literary achievements that are often ignored. It can be said that the three fathers and sons of the Cao family (Cao Cao, Cao Pi, and Cao Zhi) are the most representative figures of "Jian'an character" except the seven sons of Jian'an. It can also be said that the Cao father and son initiated and prospered Jian'an literature. Cao Cao was also an outstanding politician, military strategist and calligrapher. Let the editor lead you into the late Eastern Han Dynasty when the Three Kingdoms were at odds and the heroes were divided. Let's get to know Cao A'ao again, who laid the foundation for Wei to unify the world.
Outstanding literary achievement. Cao Cao wrote more than 100 poems in his life, among which the well-known representative works include: "Dan Ge Xing", "Duguan Mountain", "Dong Liquor", "Viewing the Sea", etc., which mainly express ideals. There are also military annotations " "Wei Wu's Notes on Sun Tzu" of "The Art of War". Cao Cao's literary works are simple and unpretentious, without rhetoric, and their style is vigorous, vigorous, vigorous and thick. Most of them are mainly about praising ideals. Putting aside Cao Cao's personal behavior and political opinions, from a literary point of view, it is undeniable that Cao Cao made outstanding contributions to the development of Jian'an literature.
Military talent. Speaking of military talent, everyone may laugh at it, does Cao Cao have military talent? Changbanpo was killed by Zhao Yun seven times in and seven out, and the Battle of Chibi was burned to ashes. Can this be regarded as military talent? But... Don't forget, sir, that most of these contents are from "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms". As a literary work similar to a novel, it contains some historical elements, but it is not necessarily true historical facts. It always has a strong personal touch. "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" takes the story of Shu as the main line and has a strong feature of promoting Liu and demoting Cao. Regarding this point, I will publish an article analyzing "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" in the future. In short, we cannot replace real history with stories and legends, and use strong personal colors to influence the historical truth. First, after reading "Three Kingdoms" written by Chen Shou, I did not find any description of the Battle of Chibi. The well-known Battle of Chibi was a large-scale battle that broke out between Wei, Shu and Wu. It is also a classic battle of defeating more with less. Thinking about it, Chen Shou would not ignore such an important event. It can be seen from this that the so-called Battle of Chibi should be a small local firefight. It had no impact on the overall situation, or even caused any ripples. Secondly, Cao Cao was the most strict in running the army. Once while marching through a wheat field, Cao Cao ordered his officers and soldiers not to trample on the wheat field, otherwise they would be beheaded. But his horse was frightened and trampled a wheat field. So he drew his sword and killed himself, but was persuaded by everyone to stop him. He cut off his hair with a sword and said: "Then, I will cut off my hair and replace it with my head." We won't comment on how much acting is involved here, but it can also be seen that military discipline is very strict. Third, among the works left behind by Cao Cao is "Wei Wu Comments on Sun Tzu", which is Cao Cao's commentary on Sun Tzu's Art of War. It can be seen that Cao Cao is familiar with military books and understands military affairs very well.
Political ability. As a tycoon with the dream of stealing the country, political skills are one of the indispensable talents. In the editor's opinion, Cao Cao's most successful point was to coerce the emperor to control the princes. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos. However, the emperor is the legitimate owner of the world. Cao Cao took the initiative to welcome the emperor because he had to comply with the people's will. The people would only think that Cao Cao was a benevolent and righteous man. This is one of the ways to win the hearts of the people. Being known as the emperor and recruiting talented people from all over the world for his own use are the second method, taking advantage of the situation. Issuing political orders through the mouth of the emperor opened the door for his own hegemony. This is the third one, profit. It can be said that the people's support, general trend and interests are all in the bag. In the first year of Jian'an, Cao Cao introduced the farming system, which effectively solved the problem of food and grass for the war. Therefore, Cao Cao said: "Later, with the help of large fields, we can enrich the national supply, destroy the rebellion of the masses, and conquer the world." At the same time, Cao Cao took measures such as recruiting refugees, relocating the population, encouraging farmers to teach farming, building water conservancy projects, and checking household registration to enrich household registration and resume agricultural production. This shows that Cao Cao also did very well in terms of people's livelihood.
Character issues. Cao Cao has always been criticized by people in history, and the most important factor should be determined by his character. First, I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me. After Cao Cao failed to assassinate Dong Zhuo, he escaped in a hurry. On the way to escape, Lu Boshe kindly took him in, but he ended up with a tragic end: his family was ruined and his family was destroyed. Second, he killed Hua Tuo out of suspicion. Cao Cao's headache recurred, and the famous doctor Hua Tuo was invited for diagnosis and treatment. At that time, Hua Tuo's "craniotomy" may have been too shocking. Cao Cao heard that he had scraped bones for Guan Yu to treat poison. This is not bad. Could it be that he assassinated me? Then he killed Hua Tuo. Third, killing someone in a dream. Cao Cao was afraid of being assassinated while sleeping, so he told everyone, "I like killing people in my dreams, so don't come near me while I'm asleep." One day, Cao Cao pretended to be asleep, and when he turned over, the quilt fell to the ground. When one of the servants saw him, he quickly came up to cover him with a quilt. Cao Cao killed him and pretended to be sleepwalking back to bed. The other servants were frightened out of their wits. After waking up, he pretended to be surprised: Who dares to kill my close servant? The other servants told each other, and Cao Cao burst into tears: I told you that I like to kill people in my dreams, but you just don't listen. Burying me with a generous burial is actually taking the opportunity of a generous burial to tell you. It is true that everyone kills people in their dreams. From these people, we can see that Cao Cao was suspicious and intimidating by nature.
From an objective point of view, Cao Cao can be said to be a heroic figure with ambition and corresponding strength. He is familiar with military books and has superb political methods. But from his character, Cao Cao was suspicious by nature. A cunning and changeable terrible villain. These two characteristics coexist in one person, which is really difficult to judge. Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to say that Cao Cao is a traitor of a generation, and only the word traitor can explain Cao Cao.
Do you all agree?