Cao Cao s dream of being a general of the expedition to the west .

In the spring of the fifteenth year of Jian'an (210), Cao Cao, who was a very popular minister, recalled the past and said his childhood dream-".He wanted to make meritorious contributions to the country, and wanted to be the general of the expedition to the west, and then inscribed the tomb and said'The tomb of Cao Hou, the general of the Han Dynasty'

Cao Cao's ideal when he was a teenager was to make meritorious contributions to the country, establish a career and become a marquis, and become the general of the Han Dynasty's expedition to the westThe tomb of Cao Hou, the general of the Han Dynasty

Cao Cao, who was nearly in his old age, said this, really not to whitewash his "** behavior, but to tell the truth." The original Cao Cao really wanted to be a loyal minister of the Han Dynasty, but it backfired, and many things in the follow-up development woke up Cao Cao's dream of "General Zhengxi".

The Cao family used Chen Lin's "For Yuan Shao Yuzhou" to say that it is".Ugly", among them".Castration"It means that Cao Cao's grandfather, Cao Teng, is a eunuch. “RedundantRefers to the "son", also known as the "proton", the Eastern Han Dynasty will pledge the son to the other party, if the money is not repaid when it expires, the son will be pledged to the other party as a slave, so the "son" refers to Cao Cao's father Cao Song, he is Cao Teng's son who "bought" back from other people's families (one said to be Xiahou's) and inherited the family business.

In other words, the Cao family can't be a big family, otherwise they wouldn't look for other family "protons", and the Cao family in Peiguo County is not even a local "wealthy family".

Saying this is also corresponding evidence, first of all, Cao Teng did not look for his own family's proton, but found other families; Secondly, there was chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, and some powerful families, such as Xu Chu".At the end of the Han Dynasty, thousands of young people and clans were gathered, and the walls were built to defend the court", and the Li Dian family".The pawn follows the father, has a strong spirit, and has thousands of guests in the Chengshi

The special manor economy of the Eastern Han Dynasty made the family like an independent and self-sufficient economy. These big clans are in the form of clans, and then accept some "guests" and "teenagers" to form a relatively strong clan force.

But Cao Cao's family is more alternative, it does not gather, but disperses, Cao clan people".They scattered to the villagesFor example, the two most powerful branches of the Cao clan, Cao Ren and Cao Hong.

The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Cao Ren contains that Cao Ren's first appearance in Cao Cao's camp has been four years since the beginning of the first period of the First Peace, and four years have passed since the first army was raised in the sixth year of the Middle PeaceThere are more than 1,000 soldiersObviously, in addition to Cao Cao's army, Cao Hong also has other forces.

And Cao Xiu,".The world was in turmoil, and the clans scattered to the villages. He was more than ten years old, lost his father, and was buried alone with a guest, and crossed the river to Wu with his mother。"The world is in turmoil, Cao Xiu's branch did not stay in the family location, Cao Xiu came back, or after hearing that Cao Cao raised volunteers.

In other words, Cao Cao's status as a "sect son" was taken by the Cao clan."TangledSo that the Cao family's performance in the troubled times was not as close as that of other families.

Of course, this is also easier to understand, after all, Cao Teng is a eunuch, and his reputation is really bad, but Cao Teng can bring a lot of monetary benefits, and it does bring a lot of benefits to the Cao family.

Cao Teng

Cao Teng, Cao Cao's grandfather, was a native of Pei Guoqiao (now Bo County, Anhui).

Cao Teng's father is Cao Jie, about Cao Jie, a small story is recorded in the history books. The neighbor lost a pig, forcibly accused Cao Jie's pig of being his own, and hugged it back. After that, the neighbor's pig came back by itself, and the neighbor was ashamed, came to apologize, and returned the Cao family's pig. Cao Jie smiled and accepted it. The township party nobles sighed.

This matter is probably beautification, and it is very likely that the Cao family was bullied by the villagers and couldn't fight back, so Cao Jie was said to be "benevolent".

Cao Jie had four sons, the youngest was Cao Teng, probably because of the pressure of life, Cao Teng was sent to the palace when he was young and became a little eunuch. And because Cao Teng had a "gentle" personality, he was selected to accompany the crown prince to study, and this crown prince was the later Emperor Shun of Han. After Emperor Shun of the Han Dynasty, Cao Teng was promoted to a regular servant and was also a senior eunuch.

The event that really made Cao Teng "in power" was to help Liu Zhi as the emperor, that is, the future Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty.

Here I have to talk about Cao Teng's cleverness.

The Eastern Han Dynasty was actually divided into three forcesRelatives, eunuchs withEmperor

Relatives, whose foundation is the external family, also includes part of the Qingliu, this part of the people by marrying the woman to the emperor, and then control the government. Therefore, if the emperors of the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty wanted to get rid of their relatives, they had to support their own strength, that is, the power of eunuchs.

These three forces are like a triangle, and the combination of two and two can suppress the third party, but the problem is that the power of the eunuch comes from the imperial power, and the imperial power hates to share power, so the eunuch and his relatives are confrontational most of the time.

In the first year of Benchu (146), Cao Teng, who represented the power of eunuchs, chose to support Liu Zhi, the king of Qinghe, with his relative Liang Yi, as Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty. In order to repay the power of the eunuchs, Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty named Cao Teng and other seven people as marquis, and Cao Teng was promoted to the Great Changqiu (the leader of the eunuchs).

Emperor Huan was established, Teng and Changle Taifu Zhou Fu and other seven people, in order to determine the policy, all of them were sealed Pavilion Marquis, Teng was Fei Tinghou, moved to Changqiu, and added a special advance.

Cao Teng's cleverness means that after Cao Teng gained power, he did not reject Qingliu, but eased his relationship with Qingliu. Shi Zai Cao Teng, ".In the province of more than 30 years, the four emperors have never tasted. It is good to enter the virtuous ability, and there is no damage in the end. His recommendations, such as Chen Liuyufang, Bian Shao, Nanyang Yangu, Zhang Wen, Hongnong Zhang Huan, Yingchuan Tang Yudian, etc., are all ministers, but not good

Cao Teng has been in the forbidden for more than 30 years, careful not to offend people casually, and often promotes virtue, so Cao Teng has a better image in the hearts of Qingliu and belongs to a relatively clear eunuch.

Cao Teng's good reputation in the clear stream also provided Cao Cao with a lot of help. For example, Cao Cao's BoleHashigen, Qiao Xuan is a famous man in the Eastern Han Dynasty, successively served as Shaofu, Dahonglu, Sikong, Situ, Taiwei, etc., with outstanding merits, and was an honest official, and was called a famous minister at the time.

That is, under the recommendation of Qiao Xuan, Nanyang Xu Shao will give Cao Cao".The capable minister who rules the world, and the traitor of the troubled timesOtherwise, in terms of Cao Cao's identity after eunuchs, Xu Shao would not necessarily ignore Cao Cao if he relied on his identity.

Qiao Xuan recommended Cao Cao, and the reason is very simple, Qiao Xuan's".Referrer"Chong Hui is to receive the benefits of Cao Teng, and Chong Hui is the declaration when he is Situ".Now as a public, Cao Chang is a servantCao Changzhi is Cao Teng.

Also because of Qiao Xuan's recommendation, Cao Cao was extremely grateful for Qiao Xuan's recommendation. Therefore, in the seventh year of Jian'an (202), Cao Cao wrote a sacrificial text of "Worship to the Late Taiwei Bridge Xuanwen", which was full of gratitude.

However, Qiao Xuan's recommendation also gave Cao Cao the illusion that he was free from the power of "eunuchs" and was a "clear stream".

In the third year of Xiping (174), Cao Cao was promoted to filial piety and was the captain of northern Luoyang.

As soon as Cao Cao took office, he wanted to work hard and move closer to Qingliu, which is recorded in history; “Make five-color sticks, more than 10 pieces on the left and right of the county gate, there are those who violate the ban, do not avoid the strong, and they are all killed

Cao Cao worked hard to create his own "clear stream" character in office, law enforcement does not avoid the strong, whoever violates the law will be punished, and as a result, he will be hooked into a big fish-".Emperor Ling loves the uncle of Xiaohuangmen JianshuoEmperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was fortunate that the uncle of the eunuch Jian Shuo was killed by Cao Cao, and if this matter was to be put on any Qingliu, it must have been done by the eunuchs. But the problem is that Cao Cao himself belongs to the children of eunuchs, and his grandfather Cao Teng is the leader of the eunuchs, so the eunuchs can't do anything about Cao Cao," he saidHowever, it cannot be hurt".Cao Cao can only be separated in the name of promotion,"So it was recommended by the co-author, so it was moved to Dunqiu Order

This incident can be regarded as a wake-up call for Cao Cao.

In the first year of Guanghe (178), the Eastern Han Dynasty harem was in civil strife, Emperor Ling abolished the Song Empress, and the Song family was liquidated. At the same time, Cao Cao's brother-in-law Song Qi was killed by eunuchs, and Cao Cao was implicated and put on leave to go home.

In the third year of Guanghe (180), Cao Cao was recruited by the imperial court and appointed as a councilor. During his tenure, Cao Cao also actively made suggestions, but was not accepted by the emperor.

In the first year of Zhongping (184), the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, Cao Cao was the commander of the cavalry, begging the Yingchuan thieves, and later moved to Jinan. In Jinan, Cao Cao also looked like a cadre.

Moved to Jinan, the state has more than ten counties, and the chief officials are attached to the nobles, and the stolen goods are in disarray, so they are exempted from eight; It is forbidden to break obscenity, the adulterers flee, and the county boundary is solemn.

So the power of the ministers was dictatorship, and the nobles and relatives were arrogant. Taizu can't go against the grain. Count the troubles, fearing that it will be a family disaster, so they beg to stay in the guards.

This was the first change in the young Cao Cao's thinking, but Cao Cao still had expectations for the Han at this time.

In August of the fifth year of Zhongping (188 years), Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty recruited Zhuang Ding to set up an army in the West Garden of Luoyang, Kyoto, and set up eight captains in the West Garden, and the Xiao Huangmen Jian Shuo was in charge of the armies, and was directly ordered by the Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty.

This Xiyuan army is large, and there are two captains among them, one is a military captainCao Cao"., one is a lieutenant of the Chinese military academyYuan Shao。Cao Cao can be among them, and the reason is very simple - the eunuch forces have always thought that Cao Cao was regarded as "their own person" by the eunuch forces, so Cao Cao went home several times, and was called back by the imperial court several times; The other person is Yuan Shao, who belongs to the power of the family.

In the sixth year of Zhongping (189), Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty died, and the Empress Dowager He came to the court. And then".The general He Jin and Yuan Shao conspired to punish the eunuchs, but the queen mother did not listen. "He Jin, a relative, and Yuan Shao, a big family of the family, united to exterminate the eunuch forces, but the Empress Dowager He didn't listen.

Cao Cao himself, because he was born in the power of eunuchs, also objected, and said; "Emasculated officials, ancient and modern should have, but the lord of the world should not be false to the favor of power, so as to this. If you punish their crimes, they should punish the evil, and one jailer is enough, so why call foreign generals one after another? If you want to punish it, it will be revealed, and I will see its defeat

Cao Cao himself also understood that his source was the eunuch force, and if the eunuchs were destroyed, he would probably be liquidated, so he opposed it. But the opposition was invalid, and He Jin summoned Dong Zhuo to Beijing.

Dong Zhuo's entry into Beijing was equivalent to the entry of the Xiliang warlord forces into the capital, the eunuch forces were all wiped out, and Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and others had to run home.

Cao Cao arrivedChen Liupost,".Scatter the wealth, and join the righteous soldiers", and first advocated the volunteers to call on the heroes of the world to crusade against Dong Zhuo. Remember that it was "Chen Liu" and not Cao Cao's hometown of Peiguo County.

The core reason is that Cao Cao still wants to separate from the "eunuch identity" and save the Han Dynasty with the "Han general", rather than the "son of the eunuch".

In the first month of the first year of Chuping (190), the "Eighteen Princes" crusaded against Dong Zhuo, with Yuan Shao as the leader of the alliance and Cao Cao as the general of Xingfenwu.

In the coalition army, because Cao Cao's dream of being a "Han general" was not broken, he actively attacked Dong Zhuo, but the result was not good.

When he went to Bianshui in Xingyang, he met Xu Rong, a Zhuo general, who was unfavorable to the battle, and there were many casualties among the soldiers. Taizu was hit by the arrow, and the horse he rode was created, and he escaped from his brother Hong and Taizu at night.

"The princes listened to my plan, so that Bohai led the people of Hanoi to Mengjin, and the sour jujube generals guarded Chenggao, according to Aocang, Sai Yuyuan, Taigu, and all the risks; So that General Yuan led the army of Nanyang to Dan, analysis, into the Wuguan, to shock the three auxiliaries: all high bases and deep walls, do not fight, benefit for doubtful soldiers, show the situation in the world, to follow the rebellion, can be established. Today's soldiers move with righteousness, hold doubts and do not advance, lose the hope of the world, and steal for the shame of all kings! "

After Cao Cao's defeat, seeing this situation, reality told him that the Qingliu Group and the Eunuch Group were the same, and there was no one who was "clear" and who was "turbid", and after Dong Zhuo entered Beijing, the eunuch forces of the Eastern Han Dynasty had basically perished, and Cao Cao had no support from the eunuch forces, so he lost the basis for cooperation with Qingliu.

Therefore, after Cao Cao led the army back, he no longer cared about the eunuchs and Qingliu, everything was actually spoken, and while the Cao family was summoned, Cao Cao no longer treated Qingliu specially, such as Cao Cao led the Yanzhou Assassin Soon after the clan punished Chen Liu's big clan Bian Rang, which was unimaginable when Cao Cao pursued fame, but Cao Cao did so.

It can also be said that the coalition army's crusade against Dong Zhuo was Cao Cao's last attempt to save the Han Dynasty as a "Great Han General", and it was to cooperate with Yuan Shao and the Lord's Qingliu to restore the Han Dynasty. But Qingliu's performance completely disappointed Cao Cao, and since then, the dream of "General of the Great Han Dynasty Conquering the West" has also been abandoned by Cao Cao.