Cao Cao was the greatest military strategist of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, far from being comparable to Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang
For example, Cao Cao set out from Wancheng to pursue Liu Bei, and in order to catch up, he even abandoned his baggage and only led the light cavalry forward. When he arrived in Xiangyang, he found that Liu Bei had already run, so he personally led 5,000 elite cavalry and ran more than 300 miles in one day and one night, which is probably the limit of the light cavalry's long-distance attack.
So, Cao Cao caught up with Liu Bei on the longboard and captured Liu Bei's baggage. If it weren't for Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang and a few other people who ran fast, they wouldn't even want their families, and they would be served by Cao Cao!
From Xiangyang to Changbanpo, there are now 170 kilometers, and 5,000 cavalry can arrive in one day and one night. When Cao Cao Cao arrived, he meant that Cao Cao was good at using cavalry and was good at launching blitzkrieg.
Reading "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty", I feel that the author Fan Ye dislikes Cao Cao very much, and often has derogatory remarks. Yuan Shao and Liu Biao can be passed on independently, and even Dong Zhuo, Lu Bu, Yuan Shu, Liu Yan, and Lu Bu can be passed on independently, but Cao Cao did not have a single biography.
Of course, there is also an explanation, the first "Three Kingdoms" already has Cao Cao's book in it, and the later "Book of the Later Han" is inconvenient to set up a biography for Emperor Wei Wu, which is reasonable.
However, it is also true that Fan Ye, a native of Nanyang, belittled Cao Cao, such as killing Yuan Shao and killing 80,000 people, which is not recorded in the "Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms", but recorded in the "Book of the Later Han".
However, in the biographies of Yuan Shao and Liu Biao in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, there is a saying everywhere that "Cao Cao is good at using soldiers".
Cao Cao used soldiers like a god, this is a fact, and it is also recognized by everyone. Throughout the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao fought from beginning to end, and cleaned up Lu Bu, Zhang Xiu, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Zhang Lu, Han Sui, Ma Chao, Liu Cong, Wuhuan and other forces.
It can be said that in the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao fought the most big battles, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu couldn't compare, Liu Bei and Sun Quan couldn't compare, and Lu Bu and Ma Chao couldn't compare!
It's just that Cao Cao lost the crucial Battle of Chibi and the Battle of Hanzhong, and finally failed to dominate the world.