If you want to talk about Cao Cao's ability, you can summarize it in one sentence by famous figure critic Xu Shao in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Xu Shao commented on Cao Cao, "Your capable ministers in governing the world, and a traitor in troubled times."
If you evaluate people's abilities, this comment is not low. A person who can be famous and capable in both governance and troubled times can be said to be a very capable, strategic and insightful person. ——This is very appropriate to use it on Cao Cao.
I believe that if Cao Cao is in a peaceful era, it will be no difficult to achieve his career with his wit and cunning!
However, it was precisely because he was in a chaotic world that his wisdom and strategy were exerted, and he wanted to usurp the Liu family's country, but he was concerned about the guidance of the world. It was natural to manipulate Emperor Xian of Han in his palm.
So, from a political perspective, Cao Cao was of course a treacherous minister of the Han Dynasty . Therefore, Liu Bei , Sun Quan , Zhuge Liang , etc., and most descendants, evaluating Cao Cao from this perspective, is naturally a big traitor.
However, if evaluated from the aspects of personal abilities such as military and governance, it will force his opponent to admit that his outstanding abilities are.
Then let’s take a look at how Liu Bei, Sun Quan and Zhuge Liang evaluate Cao Cao.
Let’s talk about Sun Quan’s evaluation of him first. After Cao Cao's son Cao Pi passed away and his grandson Cao Rui ascended the throne, Sun Quan once talked to Cao Cao : What Cao did, it was too bad to kill him, and he thought he was cool, and he was the general of the emperor. It has been rare since ancient times.
said that Cao Cao did things in addition to overdoing the relationship between killing and dividing the closest relationship between his opponents and his enemies, and he was rare since ancient times.
We all know that Han Xin once evaluated Han Gaozu Liu Bang was good at "general". Sun Quan said that Cao Cao had "resigned from the general" and it was rare since ancient times. It can be seen that he admired Cao Cao's ability to lead and command, and even had the meaning of comparing with Liu Bang.
Let’s talk about Zhuge Liang’s evaluation of him. In Zhuge Liang's "The Memorial of the Later", he mentioned: Cao Cao's wisdom is extraordinary and unique, and his use of troops is like Sun and Wu, but he is trapped in Nanyang , dangerous in Wuchao, and dangerous in Qilian. In Liyang, he almost lost to Beishan , died Tongguan , and then he was falsely determined for a while. Moreover, if the minister is weak, he wants to determine it in a way that is not dangerous. This is the three things that he has not solved.
can be seen that Zhuge Liang also had a high evaluation of Cao Cao's military ability, saying that he seemed to be like Sun Wu Wu Qi. And he is smart and tricky, and is better than ordinary people. Comparing himself with Cao Cao, he claimed to be "weak".
——It can be seen that Zhuge Liang admires Cao Cao’s ability very much.
Then how did Liu Bei evaluate Cao Cao? Liu Bei's evaluation is also found in Zhuge Liang's "The Memorial of the Later Master".
immediately followed the first sentence of "The Memorial of the Later", Zhuge Liang said again:
Cao Cao attacked Chang's five times, and failed to defeat the four times, Chaohu failed, and appointed Li Fu and Li Fu posed, appointed Xiahou and Xiahou was defeated, and the late emperor always called him If you are capable, you still have this loss. Besides, how can you win if you are slow? This is the four things that the minister has not understood.
can be seen, and Liu Bei once praised Cao Cao as "enable". However, Cao Cao still suffered many failures in political and military operations, let alone himself who can "under "?
Here, although Prime Minister Zhuge is self-confident, as the prime minister of the dynasty, it is still very objective to call himself and Cao Cao in his official memorial to the Later Lord. It can only be seen that Cao Cao's ability is indeed very powerful.
With Cao Cao's powerful opponent, he gave him such a high evaluation, which shows that Cao Cao deserves to be a traitor in the world! The person who can make his opponent admire is definitely not ordinary people!