Cao Cao's Ten Lectures

Chapter 2 Current Situation and Destiny: The "Traitor" born in response to the catastrophe

A peasant uprising destroyed a powerful dynasty; a stillborn coup attracted a barbaric army;All of this led to the tigers in the troubled times finding their own stage and performing the style of their own era.

The coming of the era of the chaos of demons

During the reign of Emperor Xian of the Eastern Han Dynasty (189-220), there was a folk song widely circulated among the people.

He Qingqing, the thousand miles of grass; it will not grow in ten days.

In the lyrics, "Thousand Licao" and "Ten Ribu" together are Dong Zhuo's name, and "He Qingqing" and "Unable to Live" deeply express the extreme hatred of the people at that time for Dong Zhuo, the power minister of the country, and hope that he will die as soon as possible. .This ballad is the basic evaluation of Dong Zhuo's whole life by the people of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it also reflects Dong Zhuo's negative influence on politics and society in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty from the side.Who is Dong Zhuo?Why did people at that time hate him so much?What role did he play in the development of history at that time?
According to the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Biography of Dong Zhuo": "Dong Zhuo, courtesy name Zhongying, was born in Lintao, Longxi. His nature was rough and resourceful. He seldom traveled among the Qiang, and he was all associated with the handsome. Those who came from here, Zhuo killed cattle and feasted with them. He was handsome and impressed, and returned to his relatives and gathered more than a thousand heads of miscellaneous animals to leave them. He was famous for being a hero, and he was a state soldier and horse rafter. He often guarded Under the plug. Zhuo's arms are extraordinary, with double belts and two tendons, and he shoots left and right, which is feared by the Qiang Hu. At the end of Emperor Heng, he took the sons of Liangjia from the six counties as the Yulin army, and Zhang Huan from Zhonglang was the Sima of the Ji army, and they attacked Hanyang together. He rebelled against the Qiang, defeated them, paid homage to the Langzhong, and gave nine thousand horses. Zhuo said: "If you don't have it, you will be yourself, and if you have it, you will be a scholar." It is all divided among the officials and soldiers, and there is nothing left."

From this narration of Dong Zhuo’s background, we can see that Dong Zhuo lived in the northwest border, and the wind and sand had sharpened him into an extraordinary courage, a vigorous martial spirit, and super martial arts. Along with admiration, one has to have three points of fear.However, he has a lofty prestige in the hearts of both the Qiang people and the Han people, and this prestige is established by boldness and loyalty.Dong Zhuo was not born in a wealthy family, and he needed to work hard to survive.However, when a Qiang friend came to his home, he did not hesitate to slaughter the cattle to entertain his friends. As a result, one of his cattle was exchanged for thousands of cattle and sheep in return.Later, Dong Zhuo joined the army and attacked the Qiang people who betrayed the imperial court. He was rewarded for his military merits. He did not keep his faults for himself, but gave the rewards to the soldiers. The nine thousand horses were distributed among himself without hesitation. Soldiers who were born and died, thus further establishing their own prestige.

Dong Zhuo's fortune-telling experience, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and even in the entire ancient Chinese society, represented the efforts and process of a typical uneducated lower-class people squeezed into the ruling group.Under the circumstance that the nobles monopolize all the superior resources in society, generally speaking, if the people with little or no knowledge at the lower level want to strive to the top, there are two ways. , and then only enter the central decision-making body when there is an opportunity; the other is to self-mutilate, go to the emperor's side as an eunuch, and become the emperor's cronies, thereby influencing the central decision-making, and making himself rich and noble.

For the Eastern Han regime, an aristocratic regime established from the beginning with the support of big bureaucratic landlords, it was both appointed and guarded against "real power figures" like Dong Zhuo who had reached the upper class of society through military exploits.However, people like Dong Zhuo who have managed to jump into the upper class of society have to use some means to protect their own interests for the sake of themselves, their families, and the interests of the group they belong to.That is to say, there is an opposition between the lower and upper classes of the entire society. This opposition exists not only in the lower and upper classes of ordinary society, but also in the form of a "well-organized" feudal hierarchical order, and in peasants like Chen Sheng and Wu Guang. Uprising to resolve the contradictions between each other; at the same time, this opposition also exists in the game between the "upstarts" who have moved from the bottom to the top and the original aristocracy, which is manifested as various struggles within the ruling group.

For a military general like Dong Zhuo who came from a lowly background, possessed strong strength and was not influenced by orthodox feudal traditional culture, the Eastern Han regime had always been skeptical of his "loyalty", and once tried to eliminate this possible "scourge".At this time, although Dong Zhuo had no intention of resisting the central government, he still had the idea of ​​supporting himself and protecting himself. How to use the army to bargain with the central government and how to let the army seek the maximum benefit for him was already in his mind. The initial sprout in his mind, he is waiting for his own opportunity.

Just when Dong Zhuo was playing tricks, playing tricks on the central government, and bargaining with the central government, an unexpected storm of struggle gave Dong Zhuo a godsend opportunity.On May 189, 5 A.D., Emperor Ling of Han died, and Emperor Shao came to the throne. Since Emperor Shao was young, the power was actually controlled by the Queen Mother He. The Queen Mother reused her brother He Jin and appointed him as a general.He Jin, who was under the control of the eunuchs, conspired with Yuan Shao, the school captain of Sili, in an attempt to kill the eunuch group that had controlled the central government for a long time.However, because the eunuchs have held the central power for a long time and possessed strong strength, He Jin, who felt that his strength was insufficient, decided to use "external force" to resolve the struggle of the power groups within the central regime. The army jumped into the sight of General He Jin, and a secret order asked Dong Zhuo, who had a bad heart, to lead the army to help resolve the internal struggle of the central government.

However, before Dong Zhuo's soldiers arrived, He Jin was tricked into the palace by the ten servants and died. Yuan Shu set the palace on fire, and several eunuchs ran to the suburbs with the young emperor and Chenliu king Liu Xie. There was chaos, and Dong Zhuo led the battle-tested 400-step cavalry to the capital. Once Pandora's box was opened, no one could control the final outcome. village".

No one knows what the real Dong Zhuo thinks in his heart. His behavior after entering Beijing shows both the shrewdness of an ambitious man and the ignorance of a nouveau riche; The revenge mentality of dissatisfaction and massacres, and the intention and behavior of sneaking into the upper echelons of society, feeling that they lack confidence and trying to integrate into the upper class;All of these made his actions after entering Beijing full of contradictions, making him elusive and unbearable.And the "outrageous behavior" of such a "social bottom class" among the upper class of society not only aroused the dissatisfaction of the upper class, but also made the common people suffer, and finally triggered the crisis of the whole society, thus ending the Han Dynasty's influence on the whole country. Control, after 400 years of unification, China has entered an era where demons dance wildly, thus providing new opportunities and challenges for the romantic figures of the era.

The relatives and eunuchs died together, leaving only orphans and widows, which created a temporary power vacuum in the central government. Dong Zhuo, who had accumulated rich experience in the long-term military struggle, seized this opportunity in time and finally established himself in the central government. The status of the "boss" in China has also made the central government slip from the "boss" to the bottom of society.

Dong Zhuo's initial series of methods were quite scheming.He realized the truth that "power grows out of the barrel of a gun", and the first thing he did was to make himself bigger and stronger.At that time, there were four military forces in the central government, including the leaderless He Jinyu Department, the Dingyuan Group who also came from Bingzhou to be in charge of the security of the capital, and the Eighth Battalion of Xiyuan and Dong Zhuo's Xiliang Army controlled by the aristocratic family Yuan Shao.In contrast, the "foreign monk" Dong Zhuo did not have an advantage.In order to get ahead, Dong Zhuo ordered his troops to sneak out of Luoyang every four or five days at night, and then marched into Luoyang in a mighty manner the next morning.All the people in Luoyang, including the court officials, were intimidated by Dong Zhuo's strength and did not dare to deviate in the slightest.Then he used Wu Kuang, a subordinate of He Jin who was killed, to suspect that He Jin's younger brother He Miao had colluded with the eunuch and thus caused He Jin's murder, and instigated Wu Kuang to join forces with his younger brother Dong Min to attack and kill He Miao.After He Miao's death, Dong Zhuo reaped the benefits of being a fisherman and incorporated He Jin and He Miao's troops without a single soldier.Immediately afterwards, he used the red rabbit horse as a bait to instigate Lu Bu, who was greedy for fame and wealth, to kill his boss Ding Yuan and take the troops guarding the capital into his pocket. In this way, Dong Zhuo finally became the largest military group in the capital.

Compared with the huge central government, Dong Zhuo realized that it was not enough to possess only "wu" and his foundation was not solid. Therefore, he used both civil and military to establish his prestige.When he first arrived in Luoyang, Dong Zhuo did not "appoint people on their own merits" but "appoint people on their merits" when it came to appointing talents.

At the beginning of his administration, he rehabilitated Chen Fan and Dou Wu, the leaders of the Qingliu Party who were killed by eunuchs during Emperor Huan's reign. He not only restored all the titles of Chen Fan and others, but also promoted their descendants. Such as Zhou Bi, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Wu Qiong, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Zheng Gongye, Minister of the Ministry of Officials, He Ying, the Chief History, and Wu Chushi, Sikong Wu, etc.In the process of appointing people on merit, Dong Zhuo's mentality of "thirsty for talents" is also "unique".Cai Yong, a great writer in the dynasty, was also recruited by Dong Zhuo. Cai Yong, who had gone through hardships, did not want to get involved in politics anymore, so he politely refused.Dong Zhuo threatened Cai Yong: "If you don't obey orders, I will kill your whole family." As a result, Cai Yong obediently reported to work the next day.Dong Zhuo was overjoyed, appointed him as a sacrificial wine, respected him very much, and later promoted him continuously.According to historical records, within three days, Cai Yong visited the "Three Terraces", from the official to the court attendant.And the confidantes who followed Dong Zhuo to Beijing were only military generals at the rank of colonel and lieutenant at first.

As the power position gradually consolidated, Dong Zhuo's series of "bad governance" also began to be exposed.The first thing he did was to abolish the elders and establish the younger ones, and replace them with the little emperor he liked, but this process was a bit silly.He first discussed it with Yuan Shao, another powerful military leader, but Yuan Shao, who came from a wealthy family, didn't buy Dong Zhuo's account and refused straight away.After Dong Zhuo heard this, he revealed his vicious look, and angrily shouted at Yuan Shao with his sword: "I value you on purpose, but I didn't expect you to be so ignorant. If you don't kill you today, you will always be a disaster in the future!" Tit for tat, Dong Zhuo did not dare to act rashly.

At a meeting, Dong Zhuo unscrupulously proposed to emulate the story of Shang Dynasty Yi Yin's release of Taijia, Huo Guang's abolition of Changyi, abolishing the young emperor, and changing Liu Xie, the king of Chenliu, as the emperor.The officials at the scene dared not speak out, but Shang Shu Lu Zhi foolishly raised objections in person, but was kicked out by Dong Zhuo.Afterwards, Dong Zhuo abolished Emperor Shao and demoted him as King Hongnong; he also made Liu Xie, king of Chenliu, the emperor of Han Xian.

Dong Zhuo simply didn't do anything and kept going. He killed the young emperor Liu Bian, poisoned the Queen Mother He, and asked Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty to make himself a Taiwei.Through the replacement and handling of the highest-level personnel of the central government, the entire Eastern Han government was almost completely controlled by Dong Zhuo: the emperor's abolition, appointment and dismissal of courtiers, and major policy formulation were all decided by Dong Zhuo.At this time, Dong Zhuo, whose ambition was extremely inflated, was already defiant.Everyone in the world knows that Cao Cao "coerced the emperor to command the princes", but they don't know that Cao Cao learned this trick from Dong Zhuo.

A low-ranking member of society like Dong Zhuo broke into the central government, seized high positions, and blatantly abolished the emperor. This gave local forces an excuse to challenge the central authority, disobey the central management, and even break away from the central administration and stand on their own.Out of various purposes, local princes from all walks of life started the activities of "Qing King's Side".

While facing foreign aggression, Dong Zhuo did some stupid things again, which finally caused a fire in the backyard and could no longer stand in Luoyang.In order to please his soldiers, Dong Zhuo even allowed them to rush into the mansions of officials big and small, steal wealth, and rape noble women, which is called "searching the prison". A group of scholar-bureaucrats that Dong Zhuo had drawn before all began to renounce their virtues.However, once the army indulged, it was out of control. Dong Zhuo's army itself was a barbaric army dominated by Kanxi Qiang people who refused to obey discipline. It started from looting houses and houses of noble bureaucrats and eating rich families.After a long time, people flocked to see who was not pleasing to the eye, who was richer, and whose daughter was more beautiful, in the name of "searching the prison". Dong Taiwei has endless resentment.

When Boss Dong allowed the army to maintain his loyalty by tarnishing his own reputation, he did another stupid thing, which made his reputation completely rotten among scholars.After the abolition of the elders and the establishment of the younger ones, although Dong Zhuo is already "the emperor is in his hands and ten thousand people are under him", he can be said to be the "supreme leader" of the country without a name, but he was born as a martial artist in Liangzhou, not a noble family, and lacks the same official title A matching family background was a big problem in the later Han Dynasty, who were proud of the scholar family at that time.This has a great impact on Dong Zhuo's prestige, and Dong Zhuo also understands the reason, but ancestors are destined to die after birth. According to the customs at that time, if the lower class wanted to improve their status, they could only marry with famous families.Dong Zhuo carefully selected, and finally found a partner - the widow of the late Du Liao General Huangfugui, a beautiful woman with both talent and appearance.The widow of Huangfugui is the daughter of the Ma family in Fufeng. The Ma family of Fufeng is "Qing De Yi Shi", and the Huangfu family of Anding is "Civil and Military Talented". It also has a closer relationship with Huangfu's family, and its prestige in the world, especially in Liangzhou, its hometown, will inevitably be greatly improved accordingly.Besides, marrying a widow was not shameful at that time. Later, the monarchs of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Quan all had such records, so Dong Zhuo had a wishful thinking.However, when Dong Zhuo went to marry his wife in a big way, Mrs. Ma knelt down and refused.Dong Zhuo was furious, drew his steel saber out of its sheath, and surrounded the weak woman in public, with a look of "you can't do it, you can't do it" virtue.Who knew that this weak woman had much more backbone than the intellectuals at the time, so she stood up and yelled at Dong Zhuo as "the seed of Qiang Hu, poisoning the world".The scolding hit Dong Zhuo's sore spot, he was furious immediately, he raised his knife and hacked Mrs. Ma to death.This made the scholars at that time even more chilling, and began to brew a conspiracy to get rid of Dong Zhuo.

In the first year of Chuping, that is, in 190 A.D., more than 10 people, including Yizhou governor Han Fu, Yanzhou governor Liu Dai, Yuzhou governor Kong Bo, Nanyang prefect Zhang Zi and Yuan Shao, all raised their troops against Dong Zhuo. The wave of Dong Zhuo's struggle, the central government began to lose control of the local government, and at the same time, many officials in the court hated Dong Zhuo deeply, and wanted to go quickly, and the conspiracy to get rid of Dong Zhuo was one after another, and the local government refused to accept the central government , the central government fell into internal friction, a more turbulent era, an era of demons dancing wildly has finally arrived.

The Political Steps of the "Little People"
Just when the world was in chaos, heroes were rising together, and history entered a world where demons danced wildly, a small person who was regarded as a "treacherous hero" by later generations was gradually rising and came to the fore. This is Cao Cao.

As for Cao Cao, because he had controlled the power of the late Han Dynasty for a long time, the last emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Han Xiandi, did nothing, and because his son Cao Pi, a big literary ruffian, staged a farce of "abdication" as soon as he came to power, which was completely over. With the 400-year rule of the Han Dynasty and the over-exaggerated rendering of later novels, people always look at this historical figure with "tinted glasses" and always associate "treacherous" and "insidious" with him. synonymous with traitor".But is this really the case with Cao Cao in history?
There is a sharp contrast between the Cao Cao in history and the Cao Cao in the eyes of the world. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, when demons danced wildly, chasing the Central Plains, and competing to establish their own small kingdoms, he has been working hard to maintain the Han Dynasty. I can't see him as a "traitor" at all. On the contrary, he stepped onto the political stage of the late Eastern Han Dynasty as a staunch defender of the Han regime, a loyal, righteous and unscrupulous courtier.

Cao Cao was able to get involved in politics thanks to his "good grandfather".As for Cao Cao's family background, it is actually quite vague.According to the records of "Three Kingdoms", Cao Cao's distant ancestors can be traced back to the Yellow Emperor, and even Cao Shen, one of the founding heroes of the Western Han Dynasty, was also his ancestor. From this point of view, Cao Cao's family background is not insignificant; He was also relatively humble. His original surname was Xiahou, but his father Cao Song adopted him as the adopted son of the great eunuch Cao Teng, so he changed his surname to Cao.As the descendants of eunuchs, they had no status in the Eastern Han Dynasty, a dynasty that valued aristocratic families, but the Eastern Han Dynasty was also an era when eunuchs and relatives took turns in power, formed cliques, and wantonly expanded their own strength.Eunuch Cao Teng, as a eunuch leader who served four generations of emperors, his descendants could easily enter the bureaucratic class and enter the political arena.

No matter what kind of family background Cao Cao has, and no matter what relationship he has entered the political arena, Cao Cao's behavior in the early days is still remarkable.Loyalty like a hound, cunning like a fox, and flight like a mouse constituted the whole of his youthful political life.

In 175, the 20-year-old Cao Cao was promoted to Xiaolian and awarded Luoyang Beiwei.At that time, there were many powerful people in Luoyang, and eunuchs and clans relied on their power to run amok and run amok.At night, they even rob houses, bully the weak, and do everything.In view of the chaos in the social order, the newly appointed Cao Cao ordered that nocturnal walking be prohibited, and he made several five-color sticks and hung them around the four gates of Weimen.Once, the uncle of Jian Shuo, the emperor's most trusted eunuch, went out at night and violated the prohibition. Cao Cao caught him and killed him. Cao Cao's spirit of not fearing the powerful made no one around him dare to break the law. The whole Luoyang society Law and order improved greatly.The so-called death of the rabbit and the sorrow of the fox, the entire eunuch group hated Cao Cao's "perverse behavior", but this behavior met the needs of the bureaucrats in the struggle against the eunuchs, and there was a "good grandfather" behind him-the head of the eunuch supported him, so the eunuchs There is nothing to do.So they "recommended" Cao Cao in "good faith" to Dunqiu as the order of Dunqiu, so that this "thorn in the eye" left the political center.

Afterwards, Cao Cao's political career had some waves, but his loyalty to the Han regime did not change.Because his brother-in-law Song Qi committed a crime and was killed, Lian Zuo was stripped of his black hat.But soon after, he was reused and worshiped as Yilang.It is estimated that both the Cao family's connections and Cao Cao's own factors are at play.What is Yilang?It's just an admonisher who opens his mouth to talk about mountains but can't implement it and no one takes you seriously.Although Cao Cao climbed up by relying on the nepotism of the eunuchs, he stood on the side of the bureaucrats who fought against the eunuchs. He admired Dou Wu and Taifu Chen Fan who were killed for daring to fight against the eunuchs, and imitated them He wrote many times to expose the crimes of the eunuch group, and wrote articles about his own strategy for governing the country and some suggestions for current politics.At this time, he realized that the emperor and the eunuchs were the same thing, and he was a little frustrated with the Eastern Han regime, so he stopped writing letters and nagging, looking for boredom.

In 184 AD, the Yellow Turban Uprising broke out, which dealt a fatal blow to the Eastern Han regime.There was panic within the ruling group.Under the pressure of external forces, the foreign relatives and eunuchs who vowed to be incompatible finally began to join forces to deal with their own enemies.Cao Cao, who was in a semi-leisure state, was named a riding captain by Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty. He suppressed the Yellow Turban Uprising in the Yingchuan area. As a result, he broke the Yellow Turban and beheaded tens of thousands of people.Because of his military exploits, he was promoted to Prime Minister of Jinan, and Cao Cao's enthusiasm suddenly rose again.

Cao Cao was also very strict in governing the local area. He really wanted to turn Jinan into a "paradise of the emperor's way".There are more than ten counties in Jinan, and the magistrates and officials of each county are mostly attached to the nobles, corrupt and pervert the law, and have no scruples.Cao Cao's previous prime ministers ignored him.When Cao Cao arrived at his post, he vigorously rectified and dismissed eight senior officials at once. Jinan was shaken, and corrupt officials fled one after another.During Cao Cao's tenure as Prime Minister of Jinan, his most powerful move was to destroy the illegally built ancestral halls and change customs.The local King Liu Zhang of Chengyang Jing made great contributions to the country, so he built ancestral halls in his fief and engaged in superstitious activities. Therefore, officials of all sizes in Qingzhou rushed to follow suit, and Jinan was especially powerful, with more than 600 temples.However, some businessmen and some bureaucrats who cheated from the court to obtain official positions from the court searched for the people's fat and anointment, lived in luxury and lust, and the people became increasingly impoverished, but the officials of all dynasties did not dare to stop it.After Cao Cao took office, he destroyed all these "illegal buildings", prohibited officials and people from offering sacrifices at four o'clock, and canceled this kind of squandering of property and immoral behavior.For a time, "politics and religion are popular, and a county is peaceful."However, although Cao Cao was very active in changing customs and changing customs, while the bureaucrats who were used to enjoying their obedience, small reports were delivered to the imperial court one by one, and people continued to sue Cao Cao for his tricks.The so-called "all talk makes gold, accumulates and destroys bones", if there are too many bad words, Cao Cao will become worse and worse in the eyes of the emperor.At this time, Cao Cao felt that he might not be able to survive in the officialdom. He felt that the Han Dynasty was in decline. For the first time, he doubted whether this regime could last for a long time.And the reason why he didn't get killed was because he had Cao Song as his big backer.Therefore, when the imperial court once again ascended and descended secretly and asked him to serve as the prefect of Dongjun for two thousand shi, Cao Cao's fox-like shrewdness was revealed. He resigned from the task, excused himself from illness, and returned to his hometown , reading behind closed doors, and hunting to entertain myself in my spare time.However, Cao Cao did not forget the important affairs of the country. He still cared about his country and nation, and at the same time was waiting for the opportunity.

In 187, Wang Fen, governor of Jizhou, Xu You of Nanyang, Zhou Jing of Peiguo and others plotted to abolish Emperor Ling and invited Cao Cao to fight against Emperor Han, but Cao Cao flatly refused.The reason for Cao Cao's refusal was simple and practical. He said that abolishing the emperor is the most ominous thing in the world.Faced with this kind of thing, people in ancient times would repeatedly weigh the pros and cons before making a decision. Yi Yin in the Shang Tang period and Huo Guang in the Western Han Dynasty both did such things.However, Yi Yin only achieved success by occupying the position of prime minister with utter loyalty to the country, ranking above all officials, and enjoying high prestige.And Huo Guang received the order of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and he himself was a minister of the imperial family. There was the support of the empress dowager in the court, and all the officials in the court had the same idea. Huo Guang's abolishment is also like destroying the dead.However, the few people who are trying to abolish the emperor now only see the successful cases in history and think it is easy, but they do not see the difficulties in reality, nor do they realize that this kind of clique for personal gain and opposition to the imperial court is like the Seven Kingdoms Rebellion in the Western Han Dynasty.If the name is not correct and the words are not right, it will not succeed if the local government fights against the central government.The result of the conspiracy to abolish the establishment was just as Cao Cao predicted, it ended in failure. Xu You absconded in fear of crime, and Wang Fen committed suicide in fear of crime.It can be seen from this that Cao Cao paid great attention to the overall situation. Although he was disappointed with the court, he still hoped to maintain the stability of the court.

In 188, Cao Cao, who was unemployed at home, was appointed as the captain of the Xiyuan Dianjun who guarded the capital Luoyang. The important thing is that the eunuchs and their relatives are having a new round of competition. General He Jin is recruiting manpower, and someone with prestige and experience like Cao Cao is indeed a good helper.Regarding this "second entry into the palace" and having real power in his hands, Cao Cao readily took office.General He Jin held a high position because his younger sister became the empress dowager. In order to allow his relatives headed by him to take charge of the government, He Jin decided to get rid of the eunuch group. Comrades" to discuss.At this time, Yuan Shao gave him an idea, asking him to secretly summon foreign generals to send troops to Beijing to force Empress Dowager He to kill the eunuch.Cao Cao thought the problem was simpler. He just arrested a few leading eunuchs and handed them over to the prison guards to judge their crimes and punish them severely according to the law. Also." The reason why Cao Cao was so straightforward was because he was an official with soldiers from outside, and he had seen the evil intentions of the local forces for fear of chaos in the world.It's a pity that He Jin didn't adopt Cao Cao's insights. Not only did he lose his head, but he also let the ambitious Dong Zhuo turn the central government upside down under the banner of "King Qin".

For Dong Zhuo's "disaster", Cao Cao didn't appreciate it from the bottom of his heart, and of course he didn't plan to fall into Dong Zhuo's arms.However, Cao Cao's side is ruthless, and Dong Zhuo's side is still intentional, and he just wants to force Cao Cao to join the gang.In "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Luo Guanzhong fabricated a story that Cao Cao failed to assassinate Dong Zhuo, so he immediately changed his mouth and presented a knife to honor the grand master. Before Dong Boss was awake, he slipped away on a Xiliang horse. From then on, Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao became life and death rivals .But Zhengshi assassinated Boss Dong was someone else. Dong Zhuo pulled Cao Cao into the gang, but Cao Cao was unwilling, and thus became a wanted criminal by the court.Cao Cao fled all the way, like a bereaved dog, and left a historical legacy, which became one of the important evidence for future generations to attack Cao Cao.

It is said that Cao Cao fled to Lu Boshe's house, a friend of his father's friend.Seeing the old man's son coming from afar, the warm-hearted Boshe's family put Cao Cao to rest, and then they were very busy.Cao Cao, who can rest, woke up from his sleep and heard the sound of "sharpening the knife to pigs and sheep". He thought it was "man for the knife, and I for the fish". Kill the whole family.When he rushed into the kitchen and saw the fat pig yelling, he realized that he had killed the wrong person. He yelled sadly: "I would rather be blamed than others!" Bo She, who was playing wine, simply did not do anything, and sent his family friends to see the King of Hades.This period of history has become an important crime of Cao Cao.However, the existing historical materials have different records. "Book of Wei" said that Bo She's son was greedy for Cao Cao's property and made Cao Cao murderous; , "killed eight people with a sword in his hand and left at night"; "Miscellaneous Notes" records: "Hearing the sound of his food utensils, he thought it was for himself, so he killed them at night." What's the difference between a mouse that runs away when it catches a person?

Judging from Cao Cao's political and military career in the early days, he was loyal to the Han regime and had a thorough understanding of the political situation at that time.To the Han regime, he has the loyalty of a hunting dog, and has launched an unremitting struggle against behaviors that endanger the interests of the regime. He has the bravery of a hunting dog and the shrewdness and cunning of a fox. , have laid a solid foundation for the rise of this troubled hero.

powerful capital
After Cao Cao fled back to his hometown, he actively prepared to attack Dong Zhuo, scattered all his property, and recruited 189 soldiers. "Shi Shuo Xin Yu" records that at this time, he received the first foreign "investment". Chen Liu Xiaolian Wei Zi took out all his property and donated it to Cao Cao's "just cause" against Dong Zhuo. The year is [-] AD.

In the first month of 190, Yuan Shu, Han Fu, Kong Xian, Liu Dai, Wang Kuang, Yuan Shao, Zhang Miao, Qiao Mao, Yuan Yi, and Bao Xin responded to the call to attack Dong Zhuo at the same time, and promoted Yuan Shao as the leader.Cao Cao also excitedly took his little family fortune to see Dong's "Allied Army", and even became a general Fenwu.The war between the coalition forces and Dong Zhuo became a show for both sides. I don't know whether it is because people are getting older and have lost the impulse of their youth, or they are greedy for life and afraid of death because they are used to enjoying the glory and wealth.When this Boss Dong heard that the Kwantung Allied Forces were coming, the first thing he thought of was 36 tricks.On the one hand, Dong Zhuo hijacked Emperor Xiandi of the Han Dynasty and hundreds of thousands of people from Luoyang and moved them to Chang'an, which was relatively dilapidated, to build a rear base for himself; on the other hand, he mobilized the army and made corresponding deployments.In order to completely sever the people's desire to return home and at the same time cut off the supplies of the Kwantung Allied Forces, Dong Zhuo also implemented the policy of "strengthening the walls and clearing the wilderness", setting fires everywhere, and turning the area hundreds of miles around Luoyang into a "no man's land".The Kwantung Allied Forces were not only frightened by the bravery of the Liangzhou Army led by Boss Dong, but also had their own ghosts. More than [-] troops were stationed in Suanzao (now north of Yanjin, Henan), and no one dared to advance to Luoyang.

Cao Cao believed that Dong Zhuo "burned the palace, robbed the emperor, and shook the country", so he should take the opportunity to fight against Dong Zhuo.Going to Xingyang, Henan, he encountered Dong Zhuo's general Xu Rong's army. The battle-hardened Liangzhou army really lived up to its reputation. When the two armies fought, the soldiers recruited by Cao Cao collapsed at the touch of a touch, and most of them were killed or injured.People are unlucky, horses suffer, and the horses under the crotch can't stand this kind of intense exercise, and they die. If Cao Hong, the clan brother, gave up his horse to Cao Cao, it is estimated that this troubled times hero will also "die before he leaves the army". .Cao Cao fled back to Suanzao, and was angry and hated when he saw that the princes from all walks of life would only drink and sing.However, he was still very insightful in his analysis of the situation at the time.He advocated that all the armies occupy important areas, and then divide the troops to Wuguan, the westerner, and besiege Dong Zhuo, thus turning the world around in one fell swoop.Cao Cao spoke eloquently and drew a great blueprint, but the Kwantung Allied Forces, which have their own ghosts, are trying to expand their strength under the banner of begging Dong, and of course they will not join Cao Cao's "thief ship".Cao Cao's hard-earned accumulation of capital was wiped out, and he saw through the faces of the princes, so he had to go to Yangzhou to recruit soldiers and horses.

After the coalition army stationed in Suanzao for a while, the food ran out, and the coalition army disbanded. Soon, there was friction among the various armies, and they fought each other, and chaos began in the Kanto region.This made it easier for Boss Dong, and happily went back to Chang'an to live a good life.It's a pity that the good times didn't last long, the days passed more smoothly, and Dong Zhuo, whose personality became more and more cruel, finally made too many enemies. In the third year of Chuping, he was killed by Situ Wangyun and Lu Bu in Chang'an.Wang Yun was in power, but it was a pity that this Situ was also ambitious and talented, and he neither dismissed nor comforted Dong Zhuo's subordinates.As a result, Dong Zhuo's troops captured Chang'an with Li Cui, Guo Si, etc., killed Wang Yun, drove away Lu Bu, and fought with each other.

When the princes were doing their own things, Cao Cao, who was more ambitious than the sky, managed to recruit more than 189 soldiers. When he reached Longkang, most of the soldiers defected. Go, they burned Cao Cao's camp at night, ready to take advantage of the fire to loot.The terrified Cao Cao started a hand-to-hand fight, with dozens of people at hand, and finally ran out of the camp.In the end, with the help of the brothers, more than 192 people were recruited, and when they arrived in Jianping, more than [-] people were recruited.Since Ding Bing was young, Cao Cao could only fight with the rest of the small Yellow Turban Army to train the team and expand its strength.It can be said that Cao Cao's period of wandering from Luoyang Baotoushu in [-] to [-] was a relatively depressed period.The so-called tiger does not show its power, people think you are a sick cat, but when the tiger is in peace, you can only be a sick cat.

In the third year of Chuping, that is, in 192 AD, Cao Cao's time came and went.The Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army achieved great development, gathered millions of people, and ran across the Yanzhou area, breaking counties and counties.Liu Dai, governor of Yanzhou, was loyal to his duties, but lacked strategy. He did not accept the advice of Bao Xin, Minister of Jibei, to "avoid the front and defeat the sharpest". At that time, Yanzhou had no owner, and people were panicked.Chen Gong, Cao Cao's counselor, saw that the opportunity was not lost, and ran to Yanzhou to brag about Cao Cao.At a time when the Yellow Turban Army was in ruins and officials, big and small, were anxious, someone was willing to be the leader of the first bird. It was undoubtedly a pie in the sky, so the two sides hit it off, and Cao Cao immediately took office as Yanzhou Shepherd.He "set up strange ambush and fought day and night", and after half a year of tug-of-war, he finally defeated the Yellow Turban.With more than [-] soldiers and a population of more than one million, Cao Cao collected his elite and formed an army called "Qingzhou Soldiers". In this way, Cao Cao finally had his own territory and army, and gained a working population of nearly one million. , With the capital to compete in the Central Plains.

Cao Cao suddenly had his own territory and army, and joined forces with Yuan Shao to defeat Yuan Shu in Huainan and Tao Qian in Xuzhou in succession. He couldn't help feeling proud.Seeing the chaos in the world, he decided to take his parents and brothers who had escaped from the war in Hua County, Taishan, to his side. However, this idea sent his family to the [-]th floor of hell, which became a historical mystery and eventually led to a disaster. Nearly [-] people died unexpectedly, which not only fully exposed Cao Cao's murderous side, but also made Cao Cao himself escape death.There have been different opinions about the inside story. One theory is that Cao Cao asked Ying Shao, the prefect of Mount Tai, to escort his father and brothers, but Tao Qian of Xuzhou sent thousands of cavalry to Cao's house first.Cao Song thought it was Ying Shao's men, so he was defenseless. Cao Cao's younger brother Cao De was killed immediately. Cao Song wanted to escape through the crack in the back wall, but he was reluctant to let his concubine go first. Who knew that the concubine was too fat , caught in the crack of the wall, unable to advance or retreat, Cao Song had no choice but to hide in the latrine, and his family was killed.Another theory is that Cao Song collected a lot of family wealth when he was an official, and after seeing Cao Cao's letter, he moved his family and formed a mighty convoy.This large group of people swaggered through the Xuzhou territory. Tao Qian wanted to please Cao Cao. Seeing that Cao Taiwei dared to make such a publicity in troubled times, he didn't even have a thug in the courtyard, so out of good intentions, he sent Captain Zhang Min to lead Escorted by two hundred cavalry.Who knew that Zhang Min and his group would go to Taishan between Hua and Fei to kill Cao Song's family, and take the property and go to Yuan Shu in Huainan.No matter what the argument is, Cao Cao blamed Tao Qian for the death of his father and brother, and led his army to sweep across Xuzhou and conquer five cities. Tao Qian was beaten so tremblingly that he hid in Tancheng and dared not fight.

Just when Cao Cao was killing happily, Zhang Miao, the prefect of Chenliu who had participated in the crusade against Dong Zhuo, and Chen Gong, the general of Cao Cao's department, were deeply dissatisfied with Cao Cao's indiscriminate killing of innocent people, so they betrayed Cao Cao and ran around after escaping from Chang'an. At that time, Lv Buying became the shepherd of Yanzhou, and all the places in Yanzhou responded one after another. Only Juancheng, Fan, and Dong'a counties were under the control of civil and military soldiers loyal to Cao Cao, and the situation was extremely critical.When Cao Cao heard that the backyard was on fire, he hurried back from Xuzhou and fought Lu Bu at Puyang.At the beginning of the war, Cao Cao rushed forward impatiently. The two armies confronted each other. Lu Bu launched a fire attack, and Qingzhou soldiers were defeated. Cao Cao also asked where Cao Cao was. The shrewd Cao Cao came to escape his shell, pointed to a school captain riding a yellow horse and said: That is Cao Cao.While the soldiers were catching the fake Cao Cao, he fled back to the camp in embarrassment.Although Lu Bu was brave, it was a pity that he was not Cao Cao's opponent in terms of strategy. The two armies faced each other.In October of this year, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty worshiped Cao Cao as the shepherd of Yanzhou, making his name justifiable.In this way, Cao Cao raised his troops from Chenliu to drove Lu Bu and Zhang Miao out of Yanzhou in the second year of Xingping. After six years of management, he finally had a very solid base of his own.Thus laying a solid foundation for him to eradicate the heroes.The tiger, which looks like a sick cat, finally showed its sharp claws.

While the feudal lords were vying for each other, the titular Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty took advantage of the fighting between the warlords in Guanzhong to try to return to Luoyang and get rid of the embarrassment of being dependent on others.Suffering hardships and bullying along the way, when they arrived at the dilapidated Luoyang, the group of noble emperors were almost a group of poor and white beggars.The great warlord Yuan Shao once tried to accept the plight of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, but the counselor who was despised by his subordinates changed his mind.However, Cao Cao, who was a little lacking in strength and still somewhat loyal to the Han Dynasty, saw that the signboard of Han Xiandi still had huge use value.So in the first month of 196, Cao Cao's army captured Wuping and sent Cao Hongxi to meet Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, but failed due to military chaos.In February, Cao Cao marched and defeated the armies of Runan, Yingchuan Yellow Turban Army He Yi, Liu Pi, Huang Jun, Baoman, etc., opened a passage connecting Luoyang, had an audience with Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, and presented some items.The impoverished Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty also had milk and was a mother, and he was not stingy with the title of emptiness. First, he worshiped Cao Cao as the general of Jiande; , Feng Wupinghou.Because Luoyang was dilapidated and unable to settle down, and because the princes from all walks of life were staring at him, Cao Cao, who was scruples, forced Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty to move his capital to Xu, the center of his power, and began to coerce the emperor to order the princes to take over the military and political power of the court.

When Cao Cao used the banner of Emperor Han to crusade against the princes of all walks of life, Yuan Shao finally woke up and was ready to grab the fig leaf of "Emperor". This super bad wolf thus began the struggle to wipe out the heroes south of the Central Plains.

In the first month of the spring of 197, Cao Cao attacked Wancheng, and Zhang Xiu began to surrender, but Cao Cao fell in love with the wife of Zhang Xiu's deceased uncle Zhang Ji, and planned to take it for himself, which made Zhang Xiu furious and suddenly turned against him. Fleeing in panic, he not only got arrows in his body, but also killed his eldest son Cao Ang and nephew Cao Anmin in battle.But the tiger is a tiger after all, and after breathing, Cao Cao immediately led his troops to fight back and defeated Zhang Xiu's army.Afterwards, Yuan Shu wanted to proclaim himself emperor, and Cao Cao, who enshrined Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty as the orthodox, was of course unwilling. He sent troops to fight Yuan Shu's army, and beat the "emperor" Yuan into a wolf.But during the battle, Liu Biao, who was entrenched in Jingzhou, and Zhang Xiu, who was in Wancheng, were like two vicious dogs. They took advantage of the fire and robbed them repeatedly, which made Cao Cao very uncomfortable. In March 198, Cao Cao turned around and besieged Zhang Xiu in Dengxian County, Henan Province. He used the tactics of besieging points to fight for aid, and defeated Zhang Liu's coalition forces, so that Liu Biao and Zhang Xiu could keep their duties and never dare to cause trouble again.At this time, Lu Bu, the old enemy who stayed in Xuzhou and defected to Liu Bei, bit his master back, drove Liu Bei to Cao Cao's banner, occupied Xuzhou, and his power gradually became stronger.In order to prevent Lv Bu from becoming bigger, Cao Cao personally conquered Lv Bu, surrounded Lv Bu's lair Xiapi, attacked day and night, and finally dug up the water of Si and Yi to irrigate the city, finally captured his opponent, executed Lv Bu, Chen Gong and others, and made himself a base. There is no tough opponent in the south of the country for the time being.

At this time, Yuan Shao in the north watched Cao Cao's strength continue to expand, and couldn't help but move around, trying to go south to get a piece of the pie. The two major groups of Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were already full of wind and rain, and conflicts were inevitable. In August 199, Cao Cao marched into Liyang, an important military town, and assumed the posture of attacking Yuan Shao and even preparing for a decisive battle.Cao Cao feigned a shot, divided his troops to defend Guandu, and at the same time returned to Xuchang to consolidate the rear.During this period, Cao Cao quickly quelled the court's rebellion against him, and quickly defeated Liu Bei who had fled to Xuzhou in order to make a comeback, eliminated internal and external troubles, and fought Yuan Shao with all his strength.

In 200, the war between the two sides was about to break out. At this time, the overall situation seemed to be unfavorable to Cao Cao.Yuan Shao belonged to an aristocratic family, who had been officials for generations, the so-called four generations and three princes, and his disciples were all over the world. After the disbandment of the "Anti-Dong Alliance", after continuous expansion, it has already owned the four prefectures of Ji, You, Qing, and Bing. , lack of food.However, Cao Cao knew very well that Yuan Shao was small-minded, and that he had talents but could not use them. Moreover, the internal legal system of Yuan Shao's group was not strict, the joys and sorrows were uneven, the ups and downs were centrifugal, and there were many contradictions. The whole was huge but had no explosive power. A powerful team that has been on the battlefield many times, civil servants and military generals have been tested for a long time, the monarch and ministers are of the same heart, and the top and bottom have the same fate.Therefore, when facing Yuan Shao's aggressive offensive, the Cao Cao Group still had the confidence and courage to defeat Yuan Shao. In February 200, Yuan Shao sent Guo Tu, Chunyu Qiong, Yan Liang and others to attack Liu Yanyu Baima, the prefect of Dongjun, while he himself led troops to Liyang. In April, Cao Jun rescued Liu Yan from the north, followed Xun You's strategy, defeated Yuan Shao's army at Baima, beheaded Yan Liang, and broke the siege of Baima.Yuan Shao's army crossed the river to pursue Cao's army. When the two armies met, Cao Cao deliberately discarded his luggage all over the mountains and plains, creating the illusion that Cao's army had escaped. The army was defeated, and the brave general Wen Chou was beheaded.Yan Liang and Wen Chou were both Yuan Shao's brave generals, and they were killed one after another. In August, the joint camps of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao confronted each other for tens of miles. Yuan Shao's army approached Guandu and set up tunnels in the mountains, and Cao Cao responded with tunnels in the mountains.

During the stalemate, Yuan Shao was self-willed and repeatedly rejected a series of suggestions from his advisers to attack Xuchang, go straight to Cao Cao's rear, and strengthen the protection of grain bases.Cao Cao used Xun You's tactics to confront each other head-on, and constantly sent Xu Huang and Shi Huan to burn Yuan Shao's grain transport convoy on the flanks, trying to confuse the opponent.As the internal contradictions of the Yuan Shao Group deepened, Xu You, Yuan Shao's adviser, also ran to Cao Cao's side, informed Cao Cao of Yuan Jun's facts and facts, and suggested that Cao Cao go straight to Yuan Jun's "gate of life"-the Wuchao military food base.Cao Cao led 5000 men on foot and rode under the banner of Yuan Jun, and attacked Chunyu Qiong's troops at night. The soldiers fought desperately, defeated Yuan Shao's army, and killed Chunyu Qiong and other generals.Yuan Shao didn't understand the siege of Wuchao, instead he sent Zhang Tai and Gao Lan to attack the fortified Cao Cao's camp.When Zhang and the second general Gao heard that Chunyu Qiong's troops had been defeated, and Yuan Shao blamed them for their ineffective attack, he led his army to surrender to Cao Cao, and Cao Cao took advantage of the situation to attack aggressively.The grain of Yuan Shao's army was destroyed, the generals died and surrendered, the army's morale was in chaos, and they were about to collapse at the first touch. Yuan Shao, his eldest son Yuan Tan and others fled north in a hurry, and more than 7 Yuan's troops were all wiped out.

Cao Cao defeated his biggest opponent. At this time, he has become the most powerful and famous among the princes, and the most likely to find excuses to attack others. He has become a tiger among wolves, and he can compete with him. Not much anymore.

"Small Cleverness" and "Great Wisdom"

It is not that Cao Cao has lost battles. Except for the well-known and well-known battle at Chibi in 208 AD, which ended in Cao Cao's defeat, Cao Cao suffered a lot of defeats.In the crusade against Sun Quan in the south, Liu Bei in the southwestern corner, Ma Chao in Xiliang, and even when they fought against the brave and foolish Lu Bu and the empty and powerful Zhang Xiu, they were all driven away by others. However, it is like a lost dog.However, after a series of contests, Yuan Shu who is entrenched in Huainan, Yuan Shao who dominates the four prefectures, the fourth generation and the third lord, painstakingly manages Liu Biao of Jingzhou, who is known as "a thousand miles in the fertile field", "the man is Lu Bu, and the horse is the red rabbit". The brave Lu Bu, the Xiliang fierce general Ma Chao and Zhang Xiu who once made Cao Cao frightened, all fell into Cao Cao's hands one by one. Relying on the shadow of his father and brother to dominate the south of the Yangtze River, Liu Bei, who had been attached to Cao Cao's family several times, competed with his cousins ​​for territory in the southwestern sky far away from the emperor.These princes from all walks of life who were in their heyday finally stumbled before Cao Cao, and the only survivors lived in fear under the huge shadow of Cao Cao's power group. tiger.

Compared with those wolf-like princes, in fact, Cao Cao's "capital" in fighting for hegemony is not dominant to a large extent.Cao Cao's biggest "golden signboard" is that his grandfather Cao Teng was a great eunuch. As everyone knows, although this made Cao Cao enter the political arena early, it became his biggest disadvantage.Because the nearly 200-year history of the Eastern Han Dynasty is a history of struggle between eunuchs and foreign relatives, although the result of the struggle often ends in the victory of the eunuchs, but this is only limited to the central government, and the eunuchs also rely on the signboard of "Emperor", but In terms of locality, the eunuch group is not dominant, and the locality is still controlled by various aristocratic families and bureaucratic groups.As the largest group of scholars at that time, the bureaucratic group, always stood on the opposite side of the eunuch group with humble backgrounds. Therefore, Cao Cao's background did not have an advantage for him to eradicate the wolves and dominate the world alone.Judging from Cao Cao's career experience, when the "Anti-Dong League" headed by Yuan Shao was established, there were 200 people, but Cao Cao only gathered [-] troops and made a "General Fenwei". And throw away this poor capital.Even when Cao Cao and Yuan Shao fought for control of the Central Plains in Guandu in [-] AD, the two sides were still a "game" of eagles and rabbits fighting, and even Cao Cao himself lacked confidence.But such a "Cao Aman", who was not born in a noble family and whose career was not smooth sailing, eventually became the overlord of the pack of wolves, could it be that he really relied on some of the "little cleverness" mentioned in "Cao Aman's Biography"?

It cannot be denied that Cao Aman's "little cleverness" is there, and he often uses these tricks, but it is his "big cleverness", his unique vision and strategy that really makes him cut off the heroes.

The first "stepping stone" for Cao Cao to make his career progress steadily was to grab the "golden signboard" of Han Xiandi.Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was not as weak as the posterity imagined. He was favored by Dong Zhuo precisely because of his unusual calmness and wit in the turmoil. From this point of view, Dong Zhuo also seemed to have something wrong with his brain. Ordinary people need a guy like an idiot to support a puppet. The weaker the emperor, the more authoritarian his courtiers can be, but he just abolished the "soft guys" and fostered "good guys". Isn't he courting death?The last emperor of the Han Dynasty always wanted to restore his "ancestral business". Therefore, when Dong Zhuo died and Guanzhong was in chaos, he took the "central government" and tried to return to Luoyang to re-establish the prestige of the central government.However, in July of the first year of Jian'an, when Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty and his party returned to Luoyang in exile, Luoyang was indeed completely destroyed by Dong Zhuo, and it was already in ruins.Hundreds of officials have no place to live, "over the thorns, between the hills and the walls", Luoyang has no food, "the prefectures and counties each have strong soldiers, but they can't lose, the group of officials is hungry, and Shang Shulang and below come out to pick rice, or starve Between Dead Walls".Regarding the tragic situation of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, the princes from all walks of life have different attitudes, some have intentions and powerlessness, and some are powerless and unintentional. Even nobles like Yuan Shao who have accepted the "magnificence of the emperor's grace" for generations are unwilling to find a "curse" to put on their heads. .In a word, the attitude of the princes from all walks of life is to let Han Xiandi and his party fend for themselves, and then enjoy themselves.

These ideas of the princes seem to be clever, but they are actually very naive. They don't understand the three flavors of political struggle at all, and they don't think carefully about the history of imperial power in the Eastern Han Dynasty.Although the emperor is the boss of the world, there is nothing wrong with "under the sky, is it the land of the king, and the shore of the land is the subject of the king", which is not wrong.However, imperial power must be established on the basis of having a strong central government and the prestige of the central government. Once the local government is stronger than the central government, its arms are twisted over its thighs, and the strength of its ministers exceeds that of the monarch, the emperor will become an empty shelf. Courtier.From the perspective of the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty, since Emperor Zhang, the emperor has always been ostracized by his relatives and eunuchs, in name only, and needs to frequently rely on external forces to regain his power.Under such circumstances, the princes were still worried that getting the emperor would undoubtedly be picking up a hot potato, which can be described as simple-minded.But among these schadenfreude spectators, Cao Cao and his clique have always kept a clear head.As early as the third year of Chuping (192), Mao Jie, Cao Cao's counselor, proposed to Cao Cao the strategic suggestion of "following the emperor's orders without ministers, cultivating farming and planting, and raising military resources", which Cao Cao deeply believed.In August of the first year of Jian'an.Cao Cao went to Luoyang to pay homage to Emperor Xian.Then he hijacked Emperor Xian and moved the capital to Xuchang.From then on, Cao Cao gained the advantage of coercing the emperor to make the princes.This was a major political success for Cao Cao.

Cao Cao's second best strategy for success is to farm the fields, save food, and recruit exiles, which truly implements "the soldiers and the people are the foundation of victory."During the Han and Wei Dynasties, social production was severely damaged, and a great famine occurred.Due to the epidemic of plague caused by famine and war, the population of the whole society decreased sharply from more than 4000 million in the early Eastern Han Dynasty. It is estimated that at the end of the Han Dynasty, the population of the whole society was only about 600 million.

The population of the whole society has been greatly reduced, but the princes of all walks of life have set up big banners to pull tiger skins, trying to make their own power groups bigger and stronger.For a group to expand, to survive and strive for strength in a pack of wolves, the most important thing is to need a huge army. Therefore, no matter which power group is desperately "expanding its armies and preparing for war."However, all the groups have overlooked an important issue, that is, "no food, no soldiers", no food and grass, it is impossible to feed the army, and once the war breaks out, "the soldiers and horses have not moved, the food and grass go first", without enough supplies, the army It will also collapse without a fight.These lessons are most vividly expressed in the melee of warlords.When Cao Cao and Lu Bu were competing for Yanzhou, the two sides faced each other for more than 100 days. There was a plague of locusts, and there was no food. In the 200-year battle of Guandu, the decisive battle was imminent, but Cao Cao tossed and turned because of insufficient food, and even prepared to go back home. If the counselor Xun Yu tried his best to stop it, Cao Cao might have returned to the army to stick to Xuchang; Xu You, who had no way out in Yuan Shao's camp, ran to Cao Cao's camp, offered a clever plan to attack Wuchao at night, and burned Yuan Shao's food and grass.As soon as Yuan Jun's food and grass were burned, he was defeated immediately. Yuan Shao, who was entrenched in the land of Yanzhao, finally lost in the army food. In a sense, war is a contest of how to guarantee one's own logistics and military supplies.

Among the major power groups, Cao Cao was the first and the most successful in recruiting exiles, encouraging production, and saving food and grass.In the first year of Jian'an, Cao Cao adopted the suggestion of his subordinate Zaoyi and others, and used the materials seized from breaking through the Yellow Turban to recruit people to farm under Xu.So Cao Cao set up field officials in various states and counties to set up farmland.While setting up farmland, Cao Cao also took various measures to support the self-cultivating peasant economy.In view of the population loss and barren land at that time, Cao Cao successively adopted methods such as recruiting refugees, relocating the population, persuading farming and mulberry, building water conservancy, and checking household registration, etc., to enrich the registered households and restore agricultural production.In addition, Cao Cao also promulgated decrees one after another to restore the normal rent adjustment system and prevent the powerful from annexing small farmers.In the fifth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao promulgated a new expropriation system. In the ninth year of Jian'an, it was clarified: "He collected four liters of land and rented four liters per mu, and the household gave two horses of silk and two catties of cotton. He was not allowed to make money." It solved the food problem of the Cao Cao Group, and more importantly, in the turbulent years, the lives and property of the people were guaranteed, and they could settle down and produce with peace of mind. Because of this, Cao Cao said: "Afterwards, the large fields will be used to enrich the country, destroy the rebels, and control the world." This measure has enabled Cao Cao Group to have a solid economic foundation, which is his second trump card to compete in the world.

In addition to taking correct measures in politics and economy, Cao Cao's biggest "bright spot" lies in his emphasis on talents. It can be said that the struggle and rise and fall among the three countries are actually a battle for talents. Those who use talents prosper, those who lose or abandon talents will decline or perish. This is an iron law.In terms of recruiting and appointing talents, Cao Cao has the most vision, is also the most successful, and the most sincere, so he has become the winner with the biggest harvest.

When Cao Cao and Yuan Shao launched an army to attack Dong Zhuo, Shao asked Cao, "If things don't work out, how can we rely on them?" Cao said, "What do you think?" Shao said, "I occupy the river in the south, and block Yan and Dai in the north. , and the people of the Rong and Di, and went south to fight for the world, can the common people help?" Cao said: "I let the intelligence of the world, and use the way to control it, and I can do anything." Cao said to others: "The king of Tang and Wu , Is it the same as earth? If you rely on risk as a capital, you can’t adapt to change.” This dialogue actually hints at the final outcome of the two people.It is understandable that Cao Cao and Yuan Shao opposed Dong Zhuo's strategy of defeating before winning.It can be said that it is a rainy day, but what Yuan Shao thought was to use the dangerous terrain to fight for the world, while Cao Cao thought of "relying on the intelligence of the world", that is, to give full play to the wisdom of his subordinates and use the enthusiasm of the soldiers to fight for the world.This is what Cao Cao said, and he also did so. In the use of talents, not only did he truly reflect his broad mind, but his eclectic talent strategy also made future generations feel ashamed.

In fact, the size and strength of the territories of Wei, Wu, and Shu in history are directly proportional to the number of talents they recruited.During the Three Kingdoms period, the Heavenly Lord was invigorating, and talents were everywhere, but Liu Bei, who "seeked talents with an open mind", did not make much achievements in recruiting talents except for performing the drama of visiting the thatched cottage. All the talents on the road are collected, so that they can take their positions and contribute to the great cause together.

Cao Cao's methods of recruiting talents are different, and they are more distinctive than Liu Bei's three visits to the thatched cottage.The reason why Gou You, the military adviser, defected to Cao Cao was because he received an extremely sincere invitation letter from Cao Cao, which said: "The world is in chaos today, and it is the time when the wise men are working hard, but I don't think it will be too long, sir, to wait and see and go back to Daoshan. Is it?" In order to avoid Cao Cao's heavy use of him, Ruan Yu, a famous scholar, followed the story of Boyi and Shuqi and spread his hair into the mountains.Cao Cao was still relentless, and at the foot of the mountain, he used a ruthless move of burning the mountain to seek soldiers, and the flames soared into the air, finally forcing Mr. Ruan Li to go out of the mountain to enter the court, and he was able to show his strengths.After Cao Cao heard about Tai Shici's name, he also wanted to recruit it to his account, so he sent someone to send a gift.Tai Shici opened it and saw that there was no word inside. It was just a traditional Chinese medicine named "Danggui".

Cao Cao's most shocking act of seeking talents is the three orders of seeking talents issued by him in 210, 214, and 217 AD as a prime minister.In the Order of Seeking Talents, Cao Cao not only solemnly launched the idea of ​​"meritocracy", but also made great strides to implement this idea to an unconditional level, making "meritocracy" the preferred principle over all other principles .Cao Cao clearly told the world: No matter whether you have "sulphured name", "shame of being laughed at", or even if you have had such evil deeds as Wu Qi's "killing your wife to gain trust" and "not returning your mother after death", as long as you Really capable, will still get my reuse.Cao Cao's Three Ways of Seeking Talents is not only a complete break with the traditional concept of talents, but also a cultural anti-flag that subverts the beliefs of traditional Chinese Confucianism in one fell swoop.

Wu Qi mentioned in Cao Cao's Order of Seeking Talents has always been a figure who has been criticized by future generations.Wu Qi was a native of Wei in the Spring and Autumn Period. Later, he went to the State of Lu to learn Confucianism from Zeng Zi, a student of Confucius.During his studies, his mother passed away. Because he did not finish his studies, he did not go home to guard the tomb. Zeng Zi regarded him as unfilial and kicked him out of the Confucian school. He had to switch to the Legalist school and studied law and military art. He was also quite famous in Lu State.Later, the people of Qi State attacked Lu State, and the king of Lu State wanted to worship Wu Qi as a marshal to resist Qi State.But because Wu Qi married a woman from Qi State, Lu Jun was suspicious.Wu Qi wanted to make a name for himself, so he killed his wife to show that he had nothing to do with Qi.Lu Jun finally worshiped him as the commander in chief, led the army to attack Qi State, and defeated Qi State.Although the State of Lu won the victory, the Lu people, who were deeply influenced by Confucianism, did not agree with Wu Qi's approach.Wu Qi finally moved to Wei, Chu and other countries, made considerable achievements in politics and military affairs, and became one of the famous representatives of Legalism in the Spring and Autumn Period.But after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty "only respected Confucianism", Confucianism ruled the Han Dynasty for nearly 400 years. Confucianism flogged Wu Qi for "not returning after his mother died" and "killing his wife to win trust". Wu Qi has become a "villain", and Cao Cao openly rehabilitated Wu Qi , It is not only a denial of the Confucian concept of talent, but also a subversion of the moral creed of the entire society. This kind of courage was unmatched by anyone at the time.

It is this kind of true "talent-based" spirit that Cao Cao can recruit talents from every corner and every way.Among Cao Cao's talents, generals such as Yu Jin, Le Jin, and Dian Wei were promoted from among the veterans; Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Zhang Tai, Chen Lin, and Jia Xu were selected from among those who surrendered from the enemy; Li Dian was selected from among the local tyrants. , Li Tong, Xu Chu, Zangba, etc., promoted Xun Wenruo, Xun You, Wang Lang, etc. from the small and medium officials of the Eastern Han government, and appointed Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, Liu Hua, etc. from ordinary scholars.These talents are the pillars of the Cao family building, and they have made great contributions to Cao Cao.Cao Cao not only "digged" talents from hostile camps, even his own mortal enemies were willing to accept them sincerely.For example, Zhang Xiu not only killed Cao Cao's eldest son, Cao Ang, but also drove Cao Cao into a panic.But after Zhang Xiu surrendered, he immediately became a marquis; Liu Bei has always been regarded as an ambitious man by the Cao Cao Group, but Liu Bei defected to Cao Cao when he was down. He was also given the signboard of "Uncle Liu Huang".

Under Cao Cao, there are a gathering of literati, counselors, and colorful generals. They are capable of governing the country and the country, and they are the only generals. They are like carp crossing the river.Mr. Hong Mai of the Ming Dynasty, who was extremely disdainful of Cao Cao’s character, made this summary of Cao Cao in his "Rong Zhai Essays": "Xun Yu, Xun You, and Guo Jia are all conspiring with their ministers and helping each other. Acting as an official, dividing the power into a county, no matter how big or small, everyone is worthy of his post. Fearing that the generals in Guanzhong will be harmed, it belongs to the west of Zhong Yao, the captain of Sili. 、Ren Jun established the farmland, and the military country was rich, so he chased the heroes. To restore the benefits of the supervisor, Wei Qi was ordered to guard Guanzhong, and the generals obeyed... Zhang Liao left Sun Quan in Hefei, Guo Huai rejected Shu Kingdom in Yangping, Xu Huang, however, Guan Yu and Fan, both controlled the crowd with a small number, worrying about different aspects. It is no luck that Cao was invincible in Jian'an."

It is precisely because of Cao Cao's accumulation of talents, appointment of talents, and release of water to raise fish that he can rise from the pack of wolves, become the overlord of a generation, and become a tiger that looks down on the pack of wolves.

(End of this chapter)