Speaking of Cao Cao, we all know that he was a man of influence at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was a powerful official in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it can be said that he was responsible for the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Cao Cao had a very important officia

Speaking of Cao Cao , we all know that he was a man of at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty . He was a powerful official in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it can be said that he was responsible for the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Cao Cao had a very important official position in his life, that is, prime minister. Many people mention Cao Cao and call him Prime Minister Cao , but in fact Cao Cao did not serve as prime minister for long. The longest official position that Cao Cao held was Sikong, and the most important position in his later period was King of Wei.

In 174 AD, the 19-year-old Cao Cao was promoted to the title of Xiaolian and officially entered Luoyang as an official. Xiaolian is an official selection system created during the Western Han Dynasty. The so-called filial piety is to see whether the person is filial. Integrity refers to whether a person is honest and has good conduct. Local governments regularly recommend Xiaolian to the central government, and the central government gives these people official positions based on local recommendations. This system looks good, but there are big loopholes in its implementation. After all, there are no unified selection criteria and it is easy to be manipulated by officials. By the Eastern Han Dynasty, the recommended Xiaolians were basically from wealthy families. The reason why Cao Cao was promoted as Xiaolian is directly related to his grandfather Cao Teng.

Cao Cao's father Cao Song was the adopted son of the eunuch Cao Teng. Cao Teng served four generations of emperors, was made a marquis, and also held the position of Taiwei. It can be said that Cao Teng definitely holds the power. Because of this, Cao Cao had the opportunity to enter Beijing as an official. From this time until the death of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, Cao Cao did a pretty good job as an official and was recognized by both the government and the public. And in the military, he also defeated the Yellow Turban Army , and his military command ability is worthy of recognition. However, Cao Cao did not rise at this time. Cao Cao rose after the death of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty.

After the death of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, the Young Emperor of the Han Dynasty came to the throne, and Dong Zhuo entered the capital. Cao Cao failed to assassinate Dong Zhuo and returned to his hometown to recruit troops. Although Cao Cao's strength continued to increase, he was no different from other princes at first. It was not until 196 that Cao Cao ushered in Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, and a turning point came.

After Cao Cao welcomed Emperor Xian of Han, he took complete control of Emperor Xian of Han. In November of that year, Cao Cao was granted the title of Sikong, a military commander on horseback and on horseback. At this time, Cao Cao began to take over the power and truly took advantage of the emperor to command the princes. Cao Cao has held the position of and in for a very long time.

Cavalry General is an important position for military generals in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Another one that everyone is more familiar with is Cavalry General . These two official positions basically control all military power. The most important thing here is Sikong. Many people have no idea what Sikong does, let alone why Cao Cao can have an overview of the government with this position.

Sikong appeared very early, in the Yao, Shun, and Yu period. Si means management and control. Kong originally meant work, which roughly meant engineering projects or water conservancy. Later, with the development of time, Sikong's rights continued to change, and he slowly began to take charge of land and taxes. In this case, Sikong's power will become greater and greater. After the establishment of the Qin Dynasty , Sikong was replaced by the imperial censor. However, after the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Sikong was restored.

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Sikong, Taiwei, and Situ were even called the Three Dukes, and they held extremely important positions. Since there was no prime minister at that time, Sikong could be said to hold great power. Now you understand why Cao Cao took this official position. In charge of land taxation, you must have great power. With this official position, Cao Cao could completely control the government.

In 208, Cao Cao officially became prime minister. Calling Cao Cao Prime Minister before this must be false. Of course, this happened before the Battle of Red Cliff. That is to say, Cao Cao served as Sikong for a total of 12 years. This position can be said to be the official position that Cao Cao has held for the longest time. The reason why Cao Cao changed from Sikong to Prime Minister has a lot to do with the situation.

Although the position of Sikong can command great power, it is certainly not as powerful as the Prime Minister or the Prime Minister. Otherwise, the Western Han Dynasty would not have abolished the two positions of prime minister and prime minister. After Cao Cao welcomed Emperor Xian of Han, he took complete control of Emperor Xian of Han. Under the circumstances at that time, Cao Cao not only asked Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty to make him Sikong, but even asked Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty to make him king. Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty did not dare to object.The main reason why Cao Cao did not do this was because his strength did not allow it. If you don't have enough strength, you can easily serve as prime minister, and everyone will definitely be unconvinced. Dong Zhuo, who preceded Cao Cao, is the best example. He became Prime Minister for no apparent reason and ended up very miserable.

The situation was different before the Battle of Chibi. Cao Cao unified the entire north at that time, and he occupied two-thirds of the entire world. Cao Cao is fully capable of becoming prime minister. Moreover, being the prime minister at this time can also boost morale. After all, if he is promoted, everyone below him will have the opportunity to be promoted. After the Battle of Chibi , although Cao Cao was defeated, his strength was still there. The entire north is still under Cao Cao's control, and because of this, Cao Cao is qualified to continue to serve as prime minister.

In fact, from the time when Cao Cao became prime minister, many people felt that Cao Cao had evil intentions. You must know that there was no prime minister in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Now that you suddenly hold this official position, there is obviously a problem. Moreover, Dong Zhuo before Cao Cao had served as a prime minister for hundreds of years, and he was ready to force Emperor Xian of Han to abdicate and become emperor himself. If Cao Cao does this, everyone will definitely think that he wants to follow Dong Zhuo's old path.

Cao Cao served as prime minister for a relatively long time. He held the official position of prime minister until his death, which lasted for 12 years. This time seems to be the same as his time as Sikong, but the later period is completely different. 216, Cao Cao was named King of Wei because he previously occupied Hanzhong .

The gap between the king and the prime minister is huge. After all, since the Western Han Dynasty, kings with different surnames have not been allowed. Now that Cao Cao suddenly became king, his intentions were even more obvious. After that, he can find any excuse and become emperor. Later, Cao Cao even gained the rights not to submit to his ministers when performing affairs, not to worship when he received an edict, to use the emperor's crown, chariot uniforms, flags, rituals and music to worship heaven and earth, and to be called a policeman when he came in and out. Except that it is not the title of Emperor, everything else is exactly the same as Emperor. Moreover, the king has his own fiefdom and can set up his own officials. To put it bluntly, it becomes a country. At this time, Cao Cao was really only one step away from becoming emperor.

From this time on, Cao Cao's most important official position was that of King of Wei, and the prime minister became secondary. Looking at it this way, the most important time for Prime Minister Cao Cao was only 8 years.

This is the general status of Cao Cao's official positions, with Sikong being the most important. The prime minister did not have a great influence in Cao Cao's life. However, this title still has a great influence on the interpretation of storytelling and .

Reference:

"Three Kingdoms"