Comment on Cao Cao's talk on how to treat characters in literary works

Cao Cao, a treacherous man in troubled times

As the saying goes: there are three points in the world, and they will be combined for a long time, and they will be divided for a long time. This period must be an era of war and heroes, and the Three Kingdoms is such a historical era. When it comes to the Three Kingdoms, people will immediately think of many historical figures, such as Cao Cao, Guan Yu and Zhuge Liang, and the most controversial one is Cao Cao. Some people think highly of Cao Cao, while others think that Cao Cao is a man with poor character. So what kind of monarch is Cao Cao? Let's go into the heart of this troubled person.

Cao Cao, a nickname aunt, whose real name is Xiahou, changed his surname to Cao because his father Song was the adopted son of Cao Teng, a regular servant of Zhong Chang. Cao Cao was born in a eunuch family since childhood. Raised filial piety at the age of sixteen, and later became an official under the blade of a general. After He Jin was punished, he pretended that Dong Zhuo was looking for an opportunity to assassinate him and didn't want things to come out. After fleeing hastily, he borrowed his father's fortune to recruit soldiers and gather grass for food in his hometown, and began his conquest. First, he won the initiative by "seizing the emperor to make the princes", and then he conquered everywhere, destroyed Lu Bu, fought Zhang Xiu, destroyed Yuan Shu and forced Liu Bei. The battle of Guandu wiped out Yuan Shao in one fell swoop and finally unified the north.

In Luo Guanzhong's works, Cao Cao is an insidious, controlling, cruel, jealous and wily old fox, which really damages his image. In my opinion, Cao Cao is the best of the three countries. If Cao Cao is really like the image depicted in The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, why are there generals like Zhang Liao and Xia Houdun among Cao Cao's generals? How can he defeat Yuan Shao and unify the North? Obviously, the above description of Cao Cao is only one-sided. So what kind of person is Cao Cao from the perspective of objective history?

First, Cao Cao is a man of foresight and resourcefulness. In the article "Let the county know its meaning", Cao Cao once expressed his willingness, and Xu Shao of Runan commented that Cao Cao was "an effective minister in managing the world and a traitor in troubled times". In other words, Cao Cao, who was born in peacetime, is bound to rank among the three fairs and become an excellent courtier to assist the emperor, but he was born in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. In this war-torn era, Cao Cao has been entrusted with the historical mission of ending this chaotic war, so Cao Cao's fate is to become a generation of adulterers. He has been aware of this since he was a child, so he has been making friends with heroes and recruiting wise men, which has to be said that Cao Cao is very shrewd and far-sighted.

Second, Cao Cao is a very talented and wise man who makes good use of talents. No one can deny this. In literature, Cao Cao and Cao Zhi's father and son are writers of the same generation as the "seven sons of Jian 'an", and many of Cao Cao's poems and songs are still widely circulated. Militarily, Cao Cao commanded the war very well and was strict in running the army. He once "cut his hair and rushed to the front" and won the hearts of the people. Politically, Cao Cao once put forward the policy of "cultivating farmland", which allowed soldiers to farm while guarding the site, which not only increased food, but also exercised their health. This kind of army horse later became the main force of Wei. Cao Cao is very good at employing people. Chen Lin wrote a letter to Cao Cao when he was an accountant under Yuan Shao. In his letter, he cursed Cao Cao for being heartless, even the ancestors of the eighteenth generation were heartless. Later, Cao Cao captured Chen Lin and mentioned it. Cao Cao said, "I don't blame you for writing that letter, just scold me." Why do you scold my ancestors? " Then a faint smile, still let Chen Lin do his master book; There is also Xu You, who also defected from Yuan Shao. When Cao Cao heard that Xu You was coming, he took it out barefoot. Is it hard to say that Cao Cao is jealous of talents? However, the death of Yu Xun was indeed a great failure of Cao Cao. Cao Cao attached great importance to and respected his advisers all his life. Yu Xun is the most ideal counselor in Cao Cao's mind, and he has done many great things for Cao Cao. Cao Cao's hegemonic blueprint was designed by Yu Xun. However, Cao Cao's ambition broke out in his later period, and the cruel nature of the king was revealed. He used the Wang Wei incident to kill Yu Xun, which is the cruel performance of Cao Cao.

Thirdly, Cao Cao is a lovely, positive and caring optimist. For example, when Cao Cao made a will before he died, most people entrusted him with the inheritance of property, but Cao Cao was very strange. He entrusted all the courtiers, and he was preoccupied with family affairs, thinking about his wife and children all the time. Cao Cao is a good man and husband at this point. It is true that he is optimistic. Throughout Cao Cao's life, he seldom cried and laughed most of the time. No matter sneer, smirk, smirk and laughter can be found in Cao Cao, but he only cried three times, once for his father, once for Dian Wei and the last time for Guo Jia. These three people are very representative in Cao Cao's life. Father represents his relatives, Dian Wei represents his military commanders, and Guo Jia represents all his convincing advisers. This is also Cao Cao's concern for others.

Fourth, Cao Cao is a man who corrects his mistakes and knows how to admit his mistakes. He has done many great things and made many mistakes in his life, but in dealing with problems, his performance is the first of all heroes in the Three Kingdoms. In the victory, he was not greedy for credit, and all the credit was given to his subordinates, with clear rewards and punishments; When he is defeated, he will not put the blame on others. He will start from himself to find the reasons, find his own mistakes in command, and do self-review. On the eve of the Wuwan War, Cao Cao convened an emergency meeting to study whether to invade Wuwan, and the soldiers argued endlessly about their words. Finally, with the strong support of Guo Jia, Cao Cao led a Qingqi surprise attack on Wuwan, destroying Yuan's figurehead, but Cao Cao also suffered heavy casualties. After returning to Xudu, Cao Cao ordered all those who did not support the attack on Umaru to be brought in. These people thought that Cao Cao would punish them, but when it came to the military account, Cao Cao rewarded them and made a review of himself, saying: "Although our army won the battle of Wuwan, the generals suffered heavy casualties, which is very reasonable." Cao Cao's courage to admit his mistake is evident.

Fifth, Cao Cao is a cautious but suspicious person, sometimes unreasonable and arbitrary. One of his famous sayings confirmed this point: "It's better to call everyone in the world to bear the burden than to call everyone in the world to bear the burden", which completely exposed Cao Cao's nature and ambition of dominating the Central Plains. Cao Cao's caution in fighting is second only to Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi, but his caution is different. He is so cautious that he doubts everything. In this respect, Cao Cao suffered a lot and even almost died. Zhou Yu took advantage of this shortcoming of Cao Cao and his suspicion to kill Cai Mao and Zhang Yun when Jiang Gan wrote a letter, so that Cao Cao lost in Battle of Red Cliffs and never dared to fight Jiangdong again. Then there is the imperial doctor Hua Tuo, who was originally bent on saving the world, but was mistaken for murder by Cao Cao. As a result, Cao Cao's suspicion harmed Hua Tuo and himself.

Cao Cao is also deeply involved in drama. The black ink on his face represents his treachery, but the white seals on both sides also affirm his contribution to history as a "hero". This is Cao Cao. No matter what people say about him, he always goes his own way. He, a hero in troubled times-Cao Cao.