Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei

Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei (July 18, 155 AD to March 15, 220 AD,{sys:(year(now)-155)}} years ago), whose name was Meng De, and whose nickname was Aman and Jili, was born in Qiao, Pei State (now Bozhou, Anhui Province) and Han nationality. He was an outstanding politician, strategist, litterateur and poet in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Since childhood, he has been vigilant and courageous. His father, Cao Song, was the adopted son of eunuch Cao Teng. In the third year of Xiping, Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty (174), Cao Cao was elected as a Lang based on filial piety and served as a lieutenant in northern Luoyang. As soon as he entered his official career, he faced head-to-head with the eunuch group to which his ancestors belonged. In the first year of Zhongping (184), he served as a commander and participated in the suppression of the Yellow Turban Uprising. Successor to Jinan. Four years later, he resigned and returned to his hometown because he refused to cater to the powerful. The following year, he was ordered to serve as a commander of the army, regained military power, and rushed to Luoyang.

Build a foundation

In the sixth year of Zhongping, Dong Zhuo entered the dictatorship of the dynasty. Cao Cao refused to be courted by him and gathered 5,000 troops, just like the tyrants in various places. The following year, he participated in the discussion of Dong's coalition army, served as General Fenwu, and supported Yuan Shao as the leader of the alliance. More than 100,000 coalition troops waited and saw no progress. Cao Cao's army advanced alone, but he was defeated and returned, so he decided to develop independently. In the third year of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty (192), he was embraced as the pastor of Yanzhou by Prime Minister Bao Xin of Jibei. After applying both hard and soft measures, he reduced the Qingzhou Yellow Napkin Army to more than 300,000, and selected his elites and made them "Qingzhou soldiers", which became an important force in the later conquest. After Cao Cao established a foothold in Yanzhou, Yuan Shu, who was entrenched in Nanyang, expanded northward, colluding with Gongsun Zan, Cao Cao judged the situation and still followed Yuan Shao on the surface to win support. He first defeated Gongsun Zan and then forced Yuan Shu to defeat Huaibei.

In the autumn of the fourth year of Chuping, Cao Cao hastily attacked Xuzhou in the name of avenging his father's death. He led the army to massacre tens of thousands of people. After running out of food, he returned to Yanzhou in the spring of the following year. In the summer, troops were sent to Xuzhou again, but most of Yanzhou was occupied by Lu Bu and others. After hard work, the lost territory was recovered. Adopt Xun Yu's policy of "consolidating the foundation to control the world", learn lessons, and consolidate the base areas of Yan and Henan prefectures. In the first year of Jian 'an (196), he led his army to Luoyang, close to Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. He was appointed as General of Feudal Virtue and General of Zhendong, served as Lieutenant of Si Li, Record Shangshu, and participated in the government. Soon, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was forced to move the capital to Xu (now Xuchang, Henan), coerced the emperor to order the vassals, and appointed himself as a general to take charge of the military and political affairs. In Xu County and along the transportation lines, we will open up farmland to strengthen troops and reduce people's taxes. In the following three years, he used the strategy of division, disintegration and division to defeat Zhang Xiu one after another, captured and killed Lu Bu, and then competed with Yuan Shao, who had a large army and a vast territory.

Lay the hegemony

In order to avoid being attacked before and after fighting Yuan Shao in the future, Cao Cao decided to destroy Liu Bei, who had an unstable foothold in Xuzhou. All the generals of the time were afraid that Yuan Shao would take the opportunity to attack Xudu. Cao Cao was confident about this and said, "Liu Bei is an outstanding person. If you don't attack today, you will definitely have future problems. Although Yuan Shao has great ambitions, he will not move until he sees things late." So he marched, and broke Liu Bei with lightning speed, and Liu Bei fled to Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao was the most powerful force in the north at that time, and it was also the most powerful enemy of Cao Cao to unify the north. When Yuan Shao led his troops 100,000 into Tuen Liyang, Cao Cao first solved the white horse siege with the method of attacking the east and the west, and then retreated to Yanjin South to defeat the pursuers.

In August of the fifth year of Jian 'an, Yuan Shao's army marched in camps, dozens of miles from east to west, forming a camp around the sand pile and advancing towards Guandu. Cao Cao divided his troops to defend the camp and waited for an opportunity to act. The Yuan army launched a fierce attack on the Cao camp. First, they made high oars and raised soil mountains, and shot arrows into the Cao camp from above. Then, they dug tunnels to attack the Cao camp from underground, but Cao Cao defeated them with corresponding methods. The two armies, one attacking and one defending, held a stalemate for nearly two months. After a long battle, Cao Cao was in an extremely difficult situation.

In October, Yuan Shao transported more than 10,000 carts of grain and grass from Hebei, and sent generals Chunyu Qiong and others with more than 10,000 people to guard them and camp them in Wuchao, 40 miles away from Yuan Shao's camp. Just then, Yuan Shao's adviser Xu You came to join Cao Cao and offered a plan to let Cao Cao launch a sneak attack on Wuchao. Cao Cao was overjoyed and personally led 5,000 elite infantry and cavalry to sneak attack Wuchao from the path at night. Cao Cao's army arrived at Wuchao and ordered fires to be set on all sides. The Yuan army was in chaos, and Chunyu Qiong refused to defend the camp. When Yuan Shao heard this, he hurriedly sent troops to rescue him. Cao Cao saw him around and around, saying,'The rebels are a little closer, please divide your troops to resist them.' Cao Cao said angrily: "If the thief is behind him, it is white!" The soldiers fought desperately, so they defeated them, killed Qiong and others, and burned all their food and fodder. When Yuan Shao heard that Cao Cao had attacked Wuchao, he thought it was a good opportunity to break through Cao Cao's camp. Therefore, he sent very few reinforcements and surrounded Cao Cao's camp with heavy troops. But before Cao Cao's camp was defeated, news of Wuchao's defeat came. Yuan's army was scattered, and general Zhang He and others surrendered to Cao Cao. Yuan Shao abandoned his army and fled back north of the Yellow River. So Cao's army won a complete victory, beheaded more than 70,000 troops, and obtained all the Yuan army's baggage, books, and treasures. Cao Cao counted Yuan Shao's letters and got the letters written to Yuan Shao by his subordinates. He burned them all and said: "When Yuan Shao is strong, I still can't protect myself, let alone everyone!¡»

In the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao defeated his greatest enemy, Yuan Shao, and it was the trend of the times for him to unify the north.

Then he took advantage of the victory and went north, annexed Ji, Qing, and Binzhou, and attacked Youzhou. Twelve years later, Cao's army was blocked by the Bohai Sea, and Cao Cao pretended to advance slowly, leading his army out of Lucerne, climbing the rugged trail directly to Liucheng, defeating the remnants of the Yuan family and the King of Wuhuan who colluded with it, and unified northern China.

Three Heroes for Hegemony

In June of the 13th year of Jian'an, Cao Cao abolished the three princes, restored the prime minister system, and appointed himself prime minister of the Han Dynasty.

In the same year, he sent troops south and captured Jingzhou easily. He also led his elite cavalry to pursue day and night, defeated Liu Bei in Changban (now Dangyang, Hubei), and went straight to Jiangling in an attempt to occupy Jiangdong.

As Cao Cao's advance threatened the rule of Sun Quan, Marquis of Wu, Sun Quan ordered General Zhou Yu to lead 30,000 troops to join forces with Liu Bei to resist Cao Cao.

Cao Cao traveled east from Jiangling to Chibi (now West Chiji Mountain, Wuchang County, Hubei Province) and met with the allied forces of Sun and Liu, so he faced each other across the river.

Zhou Yu used the trick of fraudulent surrender, ordered the general Huang Gai to lead ten small warships, loaded with firewood, filled with ointment, pretending to surrender, and advanced to the north shore. When they were two miles away from Cao Ying, each ship ignited together, and then with the help of the wind, they rushed straight towards the Cao army. The Cao army was defeated and the boat was burned. Cao Cao led his army to withdraw to Jiangling by land from Huarong Road. Then the army withdrew to the north.

After the defeat of Chibi, Cao Cao took some measures to stabilize the interior, defeat political opponents in the court who forced military power, and committed themselves to consolidating the north while simultaneously controlling the water. In sixteen years, the Battle of Weinan was successfully carried out, occupying Guanzhong. He turned east and competed with Sun Quan for the land of Jianghuai. In 20 years, he won the Battle of Hefei and contained Sun Quan's offensive. From then on, Cao Wei's advantages in Huainan gradually took shape.

The emperor of the Han Dynasty conferred Cao Cao the title of Duke of Wei, added Jiuxi, built Wei, and fixed the capital of the country in Ye City. Emperor Xian also allowed him to "pay homage without name and go to the palace with sword," as in the story of Xiao He, the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty.

In March of the 20th year of Jian 'an, Cao Cao saw that Liu Bei had captured Yizhou and was bound to attack Hanzhong. So he took the lead and led an army of 100,000 to personally attack Zhanglu in Hanzhong. In November, Zhang Lu surrendered to Cao Cao, and Hanzhong became the property of Cao Cao.

After Cao Cao's main force withdrew from Hanzhong, Liu Bei then launched an attack on Hanzhong. In the 23rd year of Jian'an, Liu Bei personally led the army into Yangpingguan, and Xia Houyuan and others confronted Liu Bei. In July, Cao Cao personally led the army to Guanzhong and sat in Chang'an so that he could command the battle situation of Hanzhong at any time. In the first month of the 24th year of Jian'an, Liu Bei advanced against the mountain and garrisoned the army in Dingjun Mountain. Xia Houyuan sent troops to compete with Liu Bei for the terrain, but was killed by Huang Zhong, and Cao's army was defeated. After that, Cao Cao personally led the army to capture Hanzhong, but Liu Bei did not stand up, so Cao gave up Hanzhong.

In the summer of the twenty-first year of Jian 'an, the emperor of the Han Dynasty conferred Cao Cao the title of King of Wei, with a city of 30,000 households, ranking above the princes. He was still a Han minister in name, but in fact he was an emperor.

In July of the 24th year of Jian'an, when Cao Cao had just withdrawn from Hanzhong, General Liu Bei Guan Yu launched an attack from Jingzhou to his southeast defense line, Xiang and Fan. When Cao Cao heard this, he immediately sent his general Yu Jian to lead his troops to save Fancheng. In August, Guan Yu took the opportunity of the flood to break through the forbidden center and lead the seven armies. The birds were banned, and he killed Pang De and took advantage of the momentum to march and surround Fancheng. At that time, there were only a few thousand Cao troops in Fancheng, and the city was flooded. The water was only a few feet away from the city tower. Cao Ren led his army to defend Fancheng. Cao Cao sent Xu Huang to lead the army to save Fancheng. In October, Cao Cao rushed from Guanzhong to Luoyang and personally commanded the rescue of Fancheng.

Sun Quan was reluctant to let Guan Yu's power develop because Guan Yu was in the upper reaches of the river. Moreover, he had long wanted to attack Jingzhou, so he connected with Cao Cao and prepared to use General Lu Meng to launch a sneak attack on Jiangling, an important place in Jingzhou. After receiving the letter, Cao Cao informed Cao Ren of the news and ordered him to continue holding on. He also sent 12th battalions to reinforce Xu Huang and ordered him to counterattack Guan Yu. Soon, Lu Meng successfully attacked Jiangling. Guan Yu withdrew his troops and was captured and killed by Sun Quan's troops on the way.

Cao Cao then asked Sun Quan to be appointed General of the Hussars and Shepherd of Jingzhou. Sun Quan sent an envoy to pay tribute to Cao Cao, and advised Cao Cao to replace the Han Dynasty and call himself Emperor of Wei. Cao Cao showed Sun Quan's letter to all the ministers inside and outside, saying,"You want to sit on my stove! "Cao Cao's ministers took the opportunity to persuade Cao Cao. Cao Cao himself did not want to abolish Emperor Xian and become self-reliant. He said: "If the destiny lies in me, I will become King Wen of Zhou."¡»

In the first month of the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an (220), Cao Cao returned to Luoyang. That month, he died of illness in Luoyang at the age of 66. In October of this year, Cao Pi, King of Wei, replaced the Han Dynasty and established himself as the emperor, the country name Wei, and the temple name Taizu.

Portrait of Cao Cao, Emperor Wei Wu

In terms of politics and military affairs, Cao Cao eliminated many separatist forces, unified most of northern China, and implemented a series of policies to restore economic production and social order, laying the foundation for Cao Wei's founding.

After his death, Cao Cao was buried in Gaoling (now Anfeng Township, Anyang County, Henan Province, which was archaeologically confirmed on December 27, 2009). After the establishment of Cao Wei, Cao Cao was posthumously honored as "Emperor Wu", with the temple name "Taizu" and the historical name of Emperor Wei Wu.

On December 27, 2009, the Henan Province Cultural Relics Bureau announced the discovery of Cao Cao's tomb.

On December 27, 2009, the Henan Province Cultural Relics Bureau announced the discovery of Cao Cao's tomb.

"Gehu halberd often used by King Wu of Wei"