Cao Cao is undoubtedly the top military strategist, politician, and great writer in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. He has made countless achievements in his life, which has made future generations admire him. But at the beginning, Cao Cao could only be regarded as an unknown little figure in the power field and did not have much presence. But such a small person was a passionate young man who was devoted to the country at the beginning.
When the building of Dahan was about to collapse, Cao Cao showed the courage and fearlessness of turning the tide as a small person and supporting the building to fall. The Han Dynasty was about to be destroyed in name only. Everyone was rushing to divide their own interests, without taking into account the dangers of the country. Only him, Cao Cao, who assassinated Dong alone without hesitation, did not care about personal gains and losses, and did not care about life and death, and eliminated the traitors for the country.
but God's will cannot be violated. If the assassination failed, Cao Cao fled in a hurry and escaped by luck under the full pursuit of Dong Zhuo . If it were ordinary people who had already accepted their fate, but Cao Cao did not. His sense of responsibility and mission to the country urged him to stand up for the country, resolutely sent an edict to the princes in the world and called on the coalition forces of the princes to fight against Dong to serve the king.
But how could he know that the so-called princes all have their own ulterior motives and all use the guise of serving the king to make money and gain power for themselves. They simply do not work hard. Only Cao Cao, the cavalry of the three thousand family who were recruited by his entire family, dared to pursue Dong Zhuo's tens of thousands of troops and attempt to save the emperor. However, what awaited him was the siege of tens of thousands of ambushers and the three thousand cavalry were wiped out in an instant. If his subordinates had not tried their best to rescue and break through, there would probably be no Cao Cao in the world.
This battle was the first most painful defeat that Cao Cao experienced since he started the army of . It instantly turned the painstaking efforts he had accumulated for a long time, and the one who defeated him was just a young general under Dong Zhuo.
Is Cao Cao wronged in this battle? injustice! He was originally not defeated, but was once again in desperate situation because of his isolation and helplessness. It was also because of this battle that Cao Cao saw everyone's faces clearly, no longer had hope for the revitalization of the Han Dynasty, and completely gave up. From then on, Cao Cao, a generation of heroes, officially rose up!
has many factors to form this situation, but what kind of complex and bad situation can make Cao Cao both civil and military? It can only be said that the general environment of the Eastern Han Dynasty provided Cao Cao with fertile ground to promote his evil development:
Eastern Han Since the founding of the country, it has been constantly internally flirting and embarking on the road of destruction
Eastern Han Dynasty was established by Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu , but Emperor Guangwu's success is inseparable from the strong support of the aristocratic families at that time. Therefore, since the founding of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the power of the country has basically been under the control of the emperor and the aristocratic families. You can look at the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty. There is only the founding emperor Emperor Guangwu during the period of Liu Xiu. Because Liu Xiu's prestige was very high, others dare not cause trouble, so the power was controlled in the hands of Liu Xiu. However, after Liu Xiu's death, the subsequent kings basically succeeded the throne in childhood, with relatives in foreign power, and the aristocratic families in power, resulting in the fall of power.
Here we have to say Emperor Ling of Han Liu Hong. It can be said that Liu Hong is the starting point for the complete decline of the Eastern Han Dynasty:
Emperor Huan of Han Liu Zhi died young and had no children, so he could only choose one of the descendants of the royal princes. In order to continue to control the court, Empress Dowager Dou, who controlled the Han government at that time, chose Liu Hong, the great-grandson of the cowardly and timid King Xiao of Hejian, and the son of Liu Chang, the son of Jieduting Hou, to ascend to the throne, and was the Emperor Ling.
After Liu Hong ascended the throne, although he was only 13 years old, he had great ambitions and had thought about working hard to eliminate foreign relatives and suppressing the aristocratic families and revitalizing the court, but the reality was far from what Liu Hong could not expect.
At that time, there were three forces in the court to control the government. The first force was the army led by Empress Dowager Dou and her father General Dou Wu . The second force was the ministers led by Taifu Chen Fan , and the third force was the eunuch Cao Jie . Originally, there was a subtle balance between the three forces. However, because Cao Jie once led one thousand Yulin, he once led one thousand Yulin. Military escorted Emperor Ling of Han into Luoyang claiming that the emperor had the merit of obeying the dragon. He was named Chang'an Township Hou hram by Emperor Ling of Han, with a fief of 600 households. He was highly valued by Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, so it caused a joint rebound from the other two forces and planned to destroy Cao Jie, but Cao Jie reacted faster and directly held the emperor and Empress Dowager Dou, forcing Emperor Ling of Han to issue an order to kill him before Dou Wu could react. As a result, Dou Wu died in a confused manner.
seems to have been eliminated in the court, but in fact the balance of the court has been officially broken. Cao Jie took the post of a general as an eunuch, and was in power in the court and the people. The ministers led by the Taifu Chen Fan are basically children of aristocratic families. In order to protect themselves, he actively moved closer to Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong, to show his loyalty. Liu Hong believed that his opportunity to purify the court's principles finally came and was very excited.
After years of planning by Liu Hong and the aristocratic family, the eunuchs led by Cao Jie were finally eliminated. On the surface, Emperor Ling of Han was unified in power, but as time went by, Liu Hong discovered that things were far from as simple as he thought.
With the struggle to eliminate Cao Jie, the children of the aristocratic families gradually controlled the lifeblood of all walks of life, and they were also lip service to the decrees issued by the emperor, which led to the fact that the aristocratic families basically had the final say in all parts of the country, and the emperor became a canary-like existence in the palace.
After a long time, Emperor Ling of Han, Liu Hong's fighting spirit was completely disintegrated and he no longer had his original ambitions. He was greedy for pleasure, arrogant and extravagant, and quickly exhausted the accumulation of the treasury. Then he made a name to make money, set up a Western Garden, and even sold officials publicly for money to enjoy himself. The ten regular attendants in the court were led by , , and the butcher-born , He Jin, , became the general and became the representative of the aristocratic family. The two sides fought hard and the government was completely abandoned. For a time, the whole country was in chaos, corrupt officials were rampant across the country, and the people were in dire straits. They changed their children and ate their bones, exposed in the wild, there was no rooster crowing for thousands of miles, and hunger was everywhere, just like a purgatory on earth.
The chaotic times began. At the beginning, Cao Cao was loyal and loyal to him. There was oppression wherever there was oppression, there was resistance. Han Dynasty completely lost the hearts of the people. The people could not survive. They would long for a savior to lead them out of the darkness and see the light again. This desire mentality became more and more chaotic as the Han Dynasty became more and more chaotic, and it increased with the times. When the critical point of the outbreak of civil chaos, Zhang Jiao from Taiping Dao came into being! He officially rebelled and rebelled with the slogan "The sky is dead, the yellow sky should be established, the year is in Jiazi, and the world is lucky"! It also officially pulled the high-ranking Eastern Han Dynasty from the altar and dragged it into the abyss:
In 184 AD, it was destined to be the starting point for the Eastern Han Dynasty to perish. The Yellow Turban Uprising officially broke out. The people who could not survive had to follow closely with hoes and sickles. In less than two months, the number of the Yellow Turban Army reached one million, sweeping over the eight states of the Han Dynasty and becoming an unprecedented catastrophe.
Seeing that the country was about to collapse, the panicked Emperor Ling of Han Liu Hong believed in the provocation of the ministers of the aristocratic families with selfish interests, and issued an edict to allow officials from all over the country to recruit soldiers and resist the Yellow Turbans. Later, although the Yellow Turbans uprising was quickly suppressed, the country became even more chaotic. Officials from all over the country held their own troops and obeyed the imperial court.
However, Emperor Ling of Han not only did not cheer up after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, but became even more absurd and confusing to enjoy. In Liu Hong's heart, he had no doubt about what the country had developed. As long as it did not affect his own enjoyment, no matter how chaotic the world was. Later, at the suggestion of the clan, Liu Yan, the state pastoral system was restarted and the thirteen states of the state were enfeoffed in the military and political power of the thirteen states of the Han Dynasty. Since then, the situation of warlord separatism at the end of the Han Dynasty has officially formed. The state pastoral pastorals recruited soldiers and waited for the chaos in the world to compete for the Central Plains and dominate the world, and the world was completely in chaos.
In 189 AD, Liu Hong died of illness. His eldest son Liu Bian ascended the throne to the emperor under the support of He Jin and Empress He. He was the young emperor of Han. However, He Jin was a butcher and relied on his sister Empress He's nepotism to become a general. He had no talent, was indecisive in his work, and held heavy troops, but he did not dare to attack the eunuch group led by Zhang Rang, and obeyed Yuan Shao's suggestion, summoned Dong Zhuo of Xiliang to Beijing to serve the king, but was founded in advance by the tenth eunuch. He Jin was set up in the palace road to kill He Jin. Yuan Shao led his troops to attack the palace and killed him as soon as he saw someone. The tenth eunuch hurriedly took the empress dowager, the young emperor Liu Bin and the king of Chenliu Liu Xie fled out of the palace in panic, but was touched by Dong Zhuo who came to serve the king in Xiliang. The tenth eunuch were killed.
Dong Zhuo's Xiliang Army officially entered Luoyang and controlled the government. Dong Zhuo cruelly killed, was debauchery and was indecent, and stayed in the palace overnight. Later, in order to further establish his authority, he poisoned the young emperor Liu Bian and changed the King of Chenliu Liu Xie to the emperor. This is for Emperor Xian of Han. Dong Zhuo himself was appointed as the Grand Tutor, and his swords and shoes were in the palace, and he was not named to worship! From then on, Dong Zhuo was in power in the court and the ministers dared not speak out, and chose to endure, and the one who was the most tolerant was Cao Cao.
Cao Cao was originally a child of the Xiahou family, but because Cao Cao's father was adopted by eunuch Cao Teng adopted son Cao Song , so his surname was Cao. However, because of his reputation after eunuchs, Cao Cao was looked down upon since childhood. In front of the children of the aristocratic families who were furious and angry, he was a minion. In the eyes of Yuan Shao, a son of the Yuan family of the fourth generation and three dukes, he was a follower. But such a person is a person with great ambitions and loyalty to the country.
Originally, Cao Cao, after the eunuch, had almost no chance to enter the Han officialdom, but happened to catch up with the policy of Emperor Ling of Han's public selling of official positions. Cao Cao's father Cao Song used the money left by Cao Teng and his savings for many years to buy a Taiwei's virtual position of 100 million yuan. Cao Cao also joined the ranks of aristocratic families. He entered the officialdom through filial piety and honest . After Cao Song's various places, Cao Cao was promoted and became one of the eight lieutenants of the Xiyuan Army. He was in charge of about 2,000 people under his command. Later, he made many military achievements during the conquest of the Yellow Turban Army and beheaded more than 10,000 Yellow Turban Army. He was named Prime Minister of Jinan by the court for his merits, with a salary of 2,000 stones, which was equivalent to the prefect of a county and had a considerable official position.
At this time, Cao Cao was full of confidence in the future. He had his own ambitions and was determined to expand territory for the Han Dynasty and let the Han Dynasty return to its peak. His greatest wish was that after his death, he would be satisfied with the words "General of the Great Han Dynasty's Conquest for the West" written on the tombstone. Although Emperor Ling of Han later disappointed Cao Cao, the loyal minister's heart was not erased. After Dong Zhuo entered the capital, his evil deeds were so evil that Cao Cao knew very well that he was fighting with Dong Zhuo at this moment was tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg, so he chose to hide and pretend to surrender to Dong Zhuo. After gaining Dong Zhuo's trust, he waited for an opportunity to eliminate the thieves for the country and revitalize the court.
Sure enough, when the time was ripe, Cao Cao got a seven-star sword from Wang Yun. Cao Cao met Dong Zhuo in the name of offering a sword and assassinating Dong alone.You should know that Cao Cao was helpless at this time, and his reputation after the eunuch was even more looked down upon by too many people. Dong Zhuo's mansion was even more heavily guarded. Cao Cao was not very skilled in martial arts and assassinating Dong Zhuo alone. Whether it was successful or not, he would be killed for life. Few people would remember that he admired him. After he died, he might be whipped and uneasy. However, Cao Cao still did this. At this time, Cao Cao was devoted to the Han Dynasty. For the sake of national justice, he did not hesitate, regardless of personal safety, and dared to be the first in the world.
But Cao Cao failed. He used Dong Zhuo's trust, and Cao Cao easily approached Dong Zhuo who was sleeping. Perhaps Dong Zhuo's fate should not be lost. Just when Cao Cao took out his seven-star sword to be stabbed, the sword light reflected from the candlelight shook Dong Zhuo's eyes. Dong Zhuo fought with Qianghu on the border of Xiliang for many years. He had a certain sensitivity to weapons and felt the danger. He sat up at the moment when Cao Cao stabbed him. Cao Cao was shocked. Seeing that the failure of the stabbing was exposed, Cao Cao became wise in a hurry and knelt down, saying that he had obtained a sword to offer to the Grand Master. Out of trust in Cao Cao, and Dong Zhuo had just woken up, his mind was not clear and he was not suspicious.
Cao Cao knew that when Dong Zhuo reacted, he would definitely die and should run away immediately, but he could not show panic. So he used some excuses to ask Dong Zhuo to reward a thousand-mile horse. After saying goodbye, he rode a fast horse and headed straight for the city gate. Not long after, Dong Zhuo reacted at the reminder of his counselor Li Ru that Cao Cao was going to kill him just now. Thunder was furious and sent heavy troops to pursue him, but it was too late. Cao Cao had already escaped. Dong Zhuo had nowhere to vent his anger and massacred all Cao Cao's family in Luoyang. Cao Cao was wanted nationwide.
Cao Cao hid in Tibet, went through a lot of hardships and ran back to his hometown Chenliu, gathered the children of the Cao Xiahou clan and defected to the prefect of Dongjun Zhang Miao , which was considered a place to live.
Later, Dong Zhuoyue became arrogant, oppressing the emperor, killing ministers, poisoning the queen mother, and resenting the gods. Cao Cao, who was determined to serve the country, could he tolerate this situation? So a manifesto to fight against Dong was issued to join forces with the princes to attack Dong Zhuo. In the end, Yuan Shao was the leader of the alliance, and a total of eleven princes formed the alliance against Dong. Strictly speaking, it should be ten princes, because Cao Cao was just the general Fenwu under Zhang Miao, the prefect of Dongjun, and could not be considered a prince.
Under the leadership of Yuan Shao, the coalition of princes advanced into Hulao Pass and fought with Dong Zhuo. In the end, because of the great coalition, Dong Zhuo gave up Luoyang and held Emperor Xian of Han to move the capital Chang'an . The coalition of princes entered Luoyang.
For a moment, the princes' coalition was celebrated and they were forgot about it. These princes had their own thoughts, and few people would think that the emperor was still in Dong Zhuo's hands at this moment, and their strategic goals were not achieved at all. They were all thinking about how to maximize their own interests.
The real blow made Cao Cao completely disappointed and gave up, and gradually turned into evil
Only Cao Cao. He knew that Dong Zhuo retreated in a hurry. If he sent troops to pursue him at this time, he would definitely catch the other party off guard and take back Emperor Xian of Han. Seeing that the princes were already excited, they could not extricate themselves. Because of their eagerness to save people, Cao Cao hurriedly led the three thousand cavalry and family children who had spent all their efforts to pursue Dong Zhuo, but he did not expect that he was defeated by Dong Zhuo's general Xu Rong A 50,000 army ambushed, and the three thousand cavalry were wiped out. Even himself, if it weren't for the desperate efforts of his brother Cao Hong and others, he would probably not have survived!
Cao Cao returned in a shameless manner. After returning to the coalition camp, he saw a group of princes holding banquets, eating, drinking and having fun. He not only did not comfort himself when he almost died, but instead sarcastically.
Cao Cao was completely disappointed at this moment! Is this the so-called coalition of princes? Is this the so-called rescue of the heroes? But where is their performance a little urgent to share your worries? If the princes had caught up in the first pursuit and were chasing Dong Zhuo as the second pursuer, they would have been able to successfully save the emperor.But see what these people have done? Selfish, without ambition, short-sightedness, forgetting righteousness when seeing profit, and having no country or ruler in your heart. Except for the first time, Sun Jian, who is really working hard, who does not care about their own feathers? If the fierce general and the elite army were not brought, how could this be a rescue? Just pretend. In their eyes, the Han Dynasty was already a thing of the past.
I miss him, Cao Cao, and assassinated Dong alone regardless of life and death, ended up being killed by a whole family. Now, in order to save the emperor, the entire army was wiped out, and he almost died. What about the others? Not only did he look down on him, he didn't even have the intention to do his best for the Han Dynasty. The officials in the court only knew how to protect themselves. Who cares about the collapse of the Han Dynasty? Only I have been sacrificing my life again and again, but at this moment I seem so self-indulgent and ignorant of the depth, haha! I miss him Cao Mengde, just a small person. After the eunuch, he only had several generals and only thousands of soldiers and lost all his losses. He was determined to kill the thief but he was unable to return the world. But these powerful and capable people only care about themselves. Where did Cao Mengde get the ability to turn the tide?
The Han Dynasty lost all people's hearts and could no longer be condensed. Since that is the case, why didn't Cao Mengde plan for himself? Plan for the world? The general trend of genius will be together for a long time, and the unity will be together for a long time. Since we cannot win the building to fall, why not push it down and rebuild it? Let the people suffer less? Can you build great achievements yourself? Yes, it should be like this, Cao Cao thought so.
From then on, Cao Cao, who was devoted to serving the country loyally for the Han Dynasty, died, completely turned black, and a generation of heroes officially rose.
After Cao Cao made up his mind and decided, he glanced at the princes present, smiled coldly, and left a sentence "The prince is not worthy of planning!" Then he left, Cao Mengde wanted to create his own era.
The treacherous hero Cao Cao officially made his debut. Weiwu The era of whip
After returning to Dongjun, Cao Cao started from scratch and trained and strengthened himself with the assistance of his family brothers. He also had hundreds of thousands of remaining Yellow Turbans in the neighboring Qingzhou in Yanzhou. In 191 AD, Cao Cao sent troops to Qingzhou to wipe out the Yellow Turbans, and surrendered hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turbans. He eliminated the old, weak, women and children inside, and formed a 30,000 elite army, called it Qingzhou Army . In order to win over Cao Cao, Yuan Shao praised Emperor Xian of Han to grant Cao Cao the prefect of Dongjun. Cao Cao had his own territory and officially embarked on the road of development and growth.
At this time, Emperor Xian of Han in Chang'an had just experienced a turbulent baptism. Situ Wang Yun used a trick to alienate the relationship between Dong Zhuo and his adopted son, Lu Bu, and deceived Dong Zhuo from the army to the siege in the name of Emperor Xian of Han abdication. He was killed by Lu Bu, and Dong Zhuo officially withdrew from the historical stage.
Emperor Xian of Han was young, and Situ Wang Yun was appointed as the Grand Tutor to assist in the government affairs. The general of the Western Liang army stationed outside Li Jue Guo Si heard that Dong Zhuo was killed and was afraid that the court would pursue them, so he took the initiative to surrender. However, unexpectedly, was he rejected by Wang Yun? Not only that, Lu Bu was also sent to lead the army to wipe out Li Jue and Guo Si.
At this critical moment, Li Ju Guo Si followed the advice of his adviser Jia Xu and led a 100,000 troops under his command to counterattack Chang'an. He first defeated Lu Bu, and then besieged Chang'an. In the end, Chang'an was defeated and Wang Yun was killed. Li Ju Guo Si also officially started the beginning of his ministers' mutiny and besieged the emperor. The authority of the Han Dynasty completely disappeared, and the world was completely in chaos.
Li Jue and Guo Si took Emperor Xian of Han to control Chang'an, and four full years passed. In the end, because Li Ju and Guo Si fought for power and profit, Emperor Xian of Han took the opportunity to escape from the palace under the support of his ministers and issued an edict to the princes in the world at the same time. However, Emperor Xian of Han had long lost the emperor's majesty. The princes were busy fighting for territory, and no one paid attention to him. Even Yuan Shao, who was closest to Jizhou, was indifferent.
At this time, Cao Cao, who was in Yanzhou, had already had strong troops and horses after four years of development and occupied the entire Yanzhou. After hearing that Emperor Xian of Han escaped, his eyes flashed with a flash of light. He knew that this was an opportunity and personally led his troops to welcome Emperor Xian of Han to Yanzhou from thousands of miles to build an imperial palace in Xuchang for Emperor Xian of Han to live in.
Although Emperor Xian of Han had long lost the power of the emperor at this time, it was the righteousness. Whoever possessed Emperor Xian of Han would be famous for his leadership. What's more, the prestige of the Han Dynasty for four hundred years was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and had a strong guiding role. Cao Cao used the emperor to order the princes and aspiring people to come to vote, among which Xun Yu Xun You were the most famous, and Cao Cao's strength increased greatly for a while.
In the next ten or twenty years, Cao Cao destroyed Yuan Shao, defeated Yuan Shu , captured Lu Bu, determined Liaodong , destroyed Ma Teng , defeated Zhang Lu , and unified the north. If it weren't for the Battle of Red Cliffs, Cao Cao was too complacent and careless, he would probably be able to unify the world at that time. But despite this, Cao Cao still made indelible contributions to the unification of the north, resisting foreign tribes, and giving the people of the north a stable life. If Cao Cao had not been able to say how long the war in the north would last. In addition, Cao Cao used the emperor to order the princes to suppress the rebellious ministers, and prevented the princes from splitting the nine provinces and returning to the Warring States period, each proclaimed emperor and king.
Someone said that Cao Cao also became king? Didn’t he also use the emperor to command the princes? That's right, but have you ever thought that Cao Cao could be the king and be able to command the princes by wielding the emperor. That was due to the strength of the other party, and that was the strength accumulated by the other party, not obtained by stealing the country. Just as Cao Cao said:
"If there is no one in the world, how many people will be the emperor? How many people will be the king?"
This is true. If Cao Cao had not been the king, the world would only be even more chaotic. Besides, if Cao Cao did not become the king, and the emperor was incompetent, how many of the so-called loyal ministers surrounding Emperor Xian of Han were able to fight and quell the rebellion like Cao Cao? No, the world will only be more chaotic by then, and the people will suffer.
Although the Battle of Chibi was later failed, Cao Cao's side was still the strongest, and neither Shu nor Wu could confront each other. It was only a matter of time before Cao Wei was unified. In this case, all officials advised Cao Cao to be emperor, but Cao Cao was determined. Why?
Firstly, it was because of his loyal ministers to the Han Dynasty. Although the incompetence of the Han Dynasty made him give up, he had a sense of belonging to the Han Dynasty; secondly, Cao Cao was old and he was no longer an emperor at this time, and he could not be the emperor for a few years. Although his country was built by him, in later history books, he would only say that Cao Cao replaced the Han Dynasty as a Han minister, which was a scent of usurping the country. Even if he knew that he was not a usurping the country, it was not nice. In the end, it was because Cao Cao was a Han minister and did not want to ban the imperial power he had once loyal to when he was old. It was his last wish for the Han Dynasty!
It can be said that Cao Cao was truly benevolent and righteous to the Han Dynasty. He paid for the Han Dynasty in the early days without considering life and death. He completely gave up until he realized that the Han Dynasty was unpopular and could not support him. Later, although he used the emperor to command the princes, the Han Dynasty's national destiny lasted for decades, and he was a Han minister until his death. If Emperor Xian of Han was in the hands of others, he would probably have died long ago, and the Han Dynasty would have died long ago!
Later Cao Pi was not something Cao Cao could control. Replacing the old dynasty with the new dynasty was inevitable for the development of the times. If the Han Dynasty could still unite the hearts of the people at that time, Cao Pi would not be able to be the emperor. But the fact is that the hearts of the Han Dynasty were defeated as early as the reign of Emperor Ling of Han, otherwise the Yellow Turban Army would not have been able to develop into one million people in two months. If he could live well, who would have rebelled? Therefore, the Han Dynasty was unpopular at that time, and Cao Pi's proclaimed emperor was inevitable, and it had little to do with Cao Cao. Cao Cao did enough for the Han Dynasty!
