The Legend of Cao Cao,Struggling to survive between the cracks
History of Three Kingdoms 117(Special Chapter - Review of Cao Cao's Life 2)
Without his father's protection, Cao Cao also seemed a little less unrestrained and careless than before.
A year later, Emperor Ling(汉灵帝,reign 167-189AD) died, and Dong Zhuo董卓, a warlord from the northwest Liangzhou, took advantage of the conflicts between the consort kin and the eunuchs, led his troops into the capital, Luoyang洛阳, and took control of the imperial government. He elected Cao Cao to the position of Commandant of Elite Cavalry骁骑校尉, but Cao Cao did not want to work for Dong Zhuo, so he quietly slipped out of Luoyang and tried to escape back to his hometown.
Halfway there, Cao Cao was captured by local officials in ZhongMou中牟 county and was escorted to the county courthouse. At this time, Dong Zhuo's official document of pursuing Cao Cao was issued just in time, and once escorted back to the capital, Cao Cao was doomed to die.
It was at this moment of crisis that Cao Cao met the first benefactor in his life. This man was a minor official in Zhongmou County, and he requested the magistrate to release Cao Cao from prison, believing that the world was about to be in chaos and that it would be inappropriate to detain a person of outstanding ability.
After escaping from death, Cao Cao did not rush back to his hometown, but joined his old friend, Zhang Miao张邈, the Commanderial Governor of Chenliu陈留, and recruited 5,000 soldiers with the financial support of Wei Zi卫兹, a native of Chenliu.
In December 189 AD, Cao Cao and Zhang Miao were the first to raise the banner of the crusade against Dong Zhuo in ChenLiu. A month later, Qiao Mao乔瑁, the Commanderial Governor of Dongjun东郡, also called on the lords of the country to rise up to save the emperor, with 11 forces responding, including Cao Cao's good friend Yuan Shao袁绍 and his half-brother, Yuan Shu袁术. All of them gathered in SuanZao酸枣,they elected Yuan Shao as their alliance leader, with Cao Cao also joining in,appointing himself as the General of Rising Martial奋武将军.
But Cao Cao soon realized that this so-called alliance army was actually just a scattered mass. On the surface, everyone was shouting slogans about killing the traitor Dong Zhuo and saving the emperor, but in reality they were just trying to save their own strength, each with their own agenda. Except for Cao Cao himself and the mighty general Sun Jian孙坚,who was under Yuan Shu, no one cared about the so-called emperor,and no one wants to fight against Dong Zhuo.
With no choice but to lead his army westward alone, Cao Cao was defeated by Xu Rong徐荣, a fierce general under Dong Zhuo's command, at Xingyang荥阳, he himself was hit by an arrow, and his army was almost wiped out.
After this defeat, Cao Cao was deeply disappointed. He learns the hard way that he has witnessed the hypocrisy of human nature and realizes that only by growing his own power can he be qualified to survive in this chaotic world.
He broke away from the allied forces and took his most trusted general, Xiahou Dun夏侯惇,went to Danyang丹阳 Commandery of Yangzhou扬州 in the southeast, where he recruited 4,000 men.
Cao Cao, who had received a replenishment of his troops, was full of joy and ready to return to the Central Plains to do something great. But no sooner had he reached Longkang龙亢 than the soldiers from Danyang mutinied. The mutineers set Cao Cao's tent on fire during the night, nearly burning him alive.
Cao Cao has an obvious strong point: the more desperate the situation is, the more powerful he is, and the more determined he is not to give in to any danger. With the fighting skills he practiced since he was young, Cao Cao killed dozens of men with his sword, and only after the remaining rebels were scared into fleeing did Cao Cao manage to get out of his tent.
When the rebellion was over, Cao Cao counted his men and found that only about 500 of his 4,000 recruits remained. Cao Cao had no choice but to recruit from around,only got 1000 men in the end.
Looking at his poor 1,000 soldiers, Cao Cao realized that he was in fact in dire straits, without even a city to hold. After much struggle, Cao Cao decides to go back to He’Nei Commandery and attach himself to Yuan Shao,before finding a new way to build his career.
Cao Cao is looking down on Yuan Shao because he thinks that Yuan Shao always likes to plan all sorts of things, but is always hesitant. But except for Yuan Shao, it's probably that won't be any other powerful warlords willing to take Cao Cao in.
A dozen years later,after defeated Yuan Shao's sons, Cao Cao knelt before Yuan Shao's grave and wept bitterly. Leaving along the factor of political showmanship, I'm afraid that in Cao Cao's heart, it was hard not to feel a little bit of true emotion for his former big brother.
At that moment, I think Yuan Shao's grassy mound touched the softest spot in Cao Cao's heart. Hero's ambitions, achievements of thousands years, in the end isn't covered in that pile of earth only?
In terms of strategic vision and political acumen, throughout the Three Kingdoms era, I am afraid no one dares to easily say that he can match Cao Cao.
When Cao Cao was at home, Wang Fen王芬, the provincial governor of Jizhou冀州, wanted to abolish the mediocre Emperor Ling and choose someone else as emperor instead. Cao Cao's childhood friend, Xu You许攸, who later betrayed Yuan Shao by telling Cao Cao about the location of Yuan Shao's provisions, tried to bring Cao Cao in the abolishing thing, but Cao Cao flatly rejected him.
Cao Cao's reasoning is simple, “How big a deal it is to abolish the emperor! It requires a very powerful minister, and a lot of planning to pull it off, so how big a risk is it? Those who have done this before have either ended up badly or with a bad reputation, so what are you, Wang Fen, just a provincial governor? This doesn't sound like a good idea!” As it turns out, Wang Fen was indeed predicted by Cao Cao and ended up committing suicide.
After the death of Emperor Ling of Han, his eldest son Liu Bian刘辩 succeeded to the throne. Yuan Shao advised He Jin何进, the General-in-Chief with the Maximum power at the time, to conspire to summon Dong Zhuo to the capital, but Cao Cao predicted that this was bound to fail. As expected, He Jin was killed by the eunuchs,Dong Zhuo soon took over the reins of power, deposing Liu Bian and replacing him with Liu Xie刘协, another son of Emperor Ling, and plunging the imperial city of Luoyang into chaos.
After that, Dong Zhuo thought highly of Cao Cao, and wanted to make Cao Cao work for him, and gave Cao Cao a promotion, but Cao Cao didn't even think about it, risking his life, leaving his family behind, fleeing out of Luoyang without looking back. Cao Cao knew better than anyone that a warlord like Dong Zhuo without the support of the powerful clans could not last long.
While Cao Cao was temporarily staying in He'nei, Yuan Shao also plotted with Han Fu韩馥, the then provincial governor of Jizhou, to support Liu Yu刘虞, a member of the royal clan who was the provincial governor of Youzhou幽州, as emperor, but was explicitly rejected by Cao Cao, who was present at the time. Afterward, Yuan Shao again sent someone to seek Cao Cao's advice, but this time Cao Cao chose to be indifferent.
The reason he resolutely refused to be a strategist for Yuan Shao was because Cao Cao knew in his heart that talking to someone who wasn't on the same level as himself was like talking to a cow. “If you can't even see the value of Emperor Xian of Han(the current Emperor), sooner or later you will regret it, Yuan Shao."
At the end of 191 A.D., a peasant rebel army,named Black Mountain Army, of 110,000 men attacked Dongjun东郡, a commandery In Yanzhou,and the then Commanderial Governor of Dongjun was unable to fend off the rebels and had to ask Yuan Shao for help.
At this time, Yuan Shao had just seized Jizhou from Han Fu, his foundation was unstable, and he was concentrating his efforts against his strong enemy Gongsun Zan公孙瓒 in the north, so he really had no time to look south, so he sent Cao Cao to lead his army across the Yellow River to rescue Dongjun.
Thus, in a very inconspicuous corner such as Dongjun, a shabby little company, carrying the name of Yuan Shao's branch, has officially opened for business. The company's general manager is named Cao Cao, a middle-aged man who has only a few thousand soldiers under his command and is already 37 years old.