Cao Cao's life was full of controversy and contradictions. Some people praise him as a hero who is famous all over the world, while others scold him as a thief. Zhou Yu once commented on him: "Although Cao is a famous man, he is actually a thief." ”
Although Cao Cao used the name of the Son of Heaven and the power of the princes to approach the throne step by step, he never sat on the throne that was close at hand. Even though Sun Quan had sent someone to Cao Cao to proclaim himself emperor, Cao Cao ignored it.
So, why did Cao Cao fail to become emperor in his lifetime? Is it a lack of ambition, or a lack of courage? In fact, Cao Cao's mental journey was full of twists and turns, and he didn't have the heart to be the emperor at first, even if he had this idea later, he couldn't do anything to betray himself.
Cao Cao's early experiences made him a complex and deep character.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the imperial court was corrupt, the eunuchs were **, and the relatives were hegemonic. Cao Cao was a fledgling and was promoted to filial piety, serving as the lieutenant of northern Luoyang, responsible for managing the security of the northern part of Luoyang City.
As the capital of Luoyang, the royal family and nobles gathered here, and the forces of all parties were intertwined, and Cao Cao was under great pressure.
However, after Cao Cao took office, he strictly enforced the law and discipline, did not avoid the arrogant, and even made five-color sticks and hung them around the county gate to deter all forces.
Cao Cao's move was a clear stream in the turbid Eastern Han Dynasty. Although Cao Cao was willing to save the world, his efforts failed to achieve substantial results due to his weak strength.
Extremely disappointed, Cao Cao returned to his hometown after illness.
It was not until 188 A.D. that he was re-recruited by Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty and served as a military captain. After the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Uprising, Dong Zhuo took the opportunity to ascend to the throne, specializing in court politics, looting property in Luoyang City everywhere, and killing innocents indiscriminately.
The call for crusade against Dong Zhuo in various places became louder and louder, and Cao Cao also escaped from Luoyang and returned to Chenliu to "scatter family wealth and join the righteous soldiers", preparing to crusade against Dong Zhuo.
At that time, Yuan Shao, who had the strongest appeal, was elected as the "leader" of the Dong Alliance, but a group of people gathered in Suojube, shouting loud slogans, but no actual action.
Cao Cao was in a hurry, and with a pitiful number of soldiers and horses, he went to crusade against Dong Zhuo alone. There was a huge disparity in strength between the two sides, Cao Cao was defeated, and he was also shot by a stray arrow, almost losing his life.
After Cao Cao returned to the sour date, he wanted to persuade everyone to send troops to attack Dong again, but people had their own ghosts, and no one took the little Cao Cao in their eyes. Cao Cao realized that these people could not achieve great things, so he simply returned to his hometown.
If ordinary people reach this point, most of them will retreat, but how can Cao Cao be an ordinary person? It's not for nothing that he's called "The Hero". He exudes the spirit of "Xiaoqiang who can't be beaten", and there is no "failure" or "despair" in his dictionary.
He raised a thousand more and did it all over again! Cao Cao relied on this mere 1,000 uneven soldiers and horses, defeated Yu Poison, Bai Huan, Zhenggu, Yu Fuluo and others, and then "set up a strange ambush, day and night battle", defeated the Yellow Turban Army, known as one million, and also obtained more than 300,000 soldiers, Cao Cao collected its elite, formed an army, known as the Qingzhou soldiers.
At this point, Cao Cao has the capital to compete for the world. This is the early Cao Cao, very heroic, his original intention has always been to punish the evil and help the Han family, there is no superfluous idea at all.
However, with the change of political situation, Cao Cao's mentality has also undergone some changes. He began to use the name of the Son of Heaven in order to control more resources and power.
Dong Zhuo's evil is full of evil, and he should have been punished a long time ago. The reason why he can continue to do evil is because he has the strongest army of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty, and his brutal methods make people fearful.
However, Dong Zhuo is actually just a "paper tiger", his vision is narrow, and he is by no means a person who can achieve great things.
Situ Wang Yun had already wanted to get rid of this cruel person, he found his fellow villager Lu Bu, and in a few words, he provoked the relationship between Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu, the fake father and son.
Maybe Lu Bu was already dissatisfied with Dong Zhuo, because Dong Zhuo used him as a guard, and of course Lu Bu would be resentful. Therefore, with Wang Yun's conspiracy, Lu Bu mustered up the courage to kill Dong Zhuo.
However, after these two got rid of Dong Zhuo, the situation became even more chaotic. Although Wang Yun is clever, his qi is too narrow; Lu Bu is brave and unscrupulous, it is conceivable that the Eastern Han Dynasty, which was already crumbling, could not have a bright future in the hands of people like them.
After Dong Zhuo's death, although Wang Yun was temporarily in the limelight, because he did not handle Dong Zhuo's subordinates well, he caused a rebellion by Li Dao and Guo Yan, and was finally killed. Lü Bu fled eastward.
Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was again controlled by Li Dao, but soon Li Dao and Guo Yan had internal strife, forming a new chaos. In this case, he persuaded Yuan Shao to "build a capital in Ye, coerce the Son of Heaven and order the princes, and accumulate troops and horses to beg for ministers".
However, Yuan Shao did not listen to Fu Zhi's advice and missed an important opportunity. This opportunity was seized by Cao Cao without hesitation, he personally went to Luoyang to see Emperor Han Xian, and then under the pretext that Luoyang was dilapidated, he "moved" Emperor Han Xian to Xu County.
With Emperor Han Xian in charge, Xu County naturally became the new political center, Cao Cao had the hole card of Emperor Han Xian, and began to command the Quartet "justifiably", which Yuan Shao did not expect, he just regretted it too late.
However, did Cao Cao intend to replace Emperor Xian of Han? Not really. Cao Cao held Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty hostage, nothing more than to facilitate his own actions, he was disappointed in the royal family a long time ago, a bit of "hate iron does not become steel".
At this time, he still wants to be a hero, turn the tide, and leave his name in history. Cao Cao's psychology at that time, it is not difficult to speculate that if he wanted to be the emperor, he could completely guard the Han Xian Emperor and take the opportunity to replace him; But he didn't, throughout the second half of Cao Cao's life, he has been working hard to unify the whole country, compared to the throne, Cao Cao values the great cause of unification more, this is Cao Cao's pattern!
Cao Cao once said: "If there is no me in the world, I don't know how many people will be the emperor!" ”
Cao Cao made two important decisions in the fifteenth year of Jian'an: first, he put forward the policy of "meritocracy" in employing people, recruiting talents for his own use, waiting for the opportunity to unify the whole country in the future; Secondly, he promulgated the "Decree of the Chronicles" to show his heart to the people of the world.
He explained the reasons for his decision in the fifteenth year of Jian'an, believing that although he had suffered setbacks, he still insisted on making meritorious contributions to the country and gaining fame as a general of Zhengxi.
He said that some people questioned his ambition to usurp the throne, but this was slander, and he just wanted to make meritorious service to the country, so that his epitaph would read "The Tomb of Cao Hou, the General of the Han Dynasty Conquering the West".
He explained that he did it out of concern for the country and his descendants, that he was reluctant to leave the army because it would put the country in danger, and that he was afraid of being murdered.
He said he wanted to reduce the suspicion and slander of the world, while also taking responsibility for his actions.
February**Dynamic Incentive Plan Cao Cao's true thoughts may be because he wants to reunify the world with hard work, but he has been suspected and slandered by the world, even if his heart is strong, there will be grievances.
At the same time, in order to stabilize himself, he also tried to tell those who follow him: What you are doing today is for the world, not for me. Cao Cao is right, if he didn't stand up, what would the world be like in chaos?
These warlords, even the crusade against Dong Zhuo, can cause civil strife, most of them are for their own interests, who is for the common people in the world? Yuan Shao is not the only person who wants to establish himself as the emperor?
This is not Cao Cao elevating himself, what he said is very reasonable, if he does not reunify and recover the local separatist forces, how many "Dong Zhuo" will appear in the future, and how many "Yuan Shao" will appear?
Of course, Cao Cao later jumped to the "King of Wei", and was suspected of imitating Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han Dynasty.
However, does he really not have the heart to be the emperor? Cao Cao said, "If the destiny of heaven is in me, I am willing to be the king of Zhou Wen", what is the intention?
In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao took the initiative to abandon Hanzhong, and Guan Yu followed closely to besiege Fancheng. Seeing this, Sun Quan contacted Cao Cao and sent the general Lü Meng to attack Jiangling, the important place of Jingzhou.
After Lü Meng succeeded, Guan Yu had to withdraw his troops, and was captured and killed by Sun Wu on the way. Cao Cao saw Sun Quan's intentions, but he was unwilling to betray his promise, so he rejected Sun Quan's proposal on the grounds that "if the destiny of heaven is in me, I will be the king of Zhou Wen".
There was a deep meaning behind this response: he implied that he was qualified to become King Wen of Zhou, not only because of his talent, but also because of his contributions. At the same time, he also expressed his thoughts, that is, his son will become "King Wu of Zhou".
In the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao died of illness, Cao Pi succeeded to his throne, proclaimed the emperor on behalf of Han in October of the same year, changed the name of the country to Wei, and posthumously honored Cao Cao as Emperor Taizuwu.