What kind of person is Cao Cao?

1. Have profound and correct political insights.

When Dong Zhuo occupied Luoyang, the imperial capital, Cao Cao knew that he could only assassinate Dong Zhuo and do it himself. Regardless of whether he succeeded or not, it would be the first shot of his own political career. After the assassination failed, he fled to Chenliu to recruit troops and wait for the opportunity. Later, Yuan Shao summoned 18 princes to attack Dong Zhuo. Cao Cao knew that he was going and had to go. First of all, he was already one of the princes. Secondly, it was everyone's responsibility to attack the national traitor Dong Zhuo.

Seeing that the princes from all walks of life had different intentions, they gave up decisively when they knew that it would not work. After Dong Zhuo was killed by Lu Bu, Cao Cao welcomed back the emperor from the hands of Li Jue and Guo Si, and used the emperor to command the princes and occupy the political heights, which was justifiable.

Cao Cao also used political skills to control people's hearts, such as cutting off his hair in the fields, getting the enemy's subordinates to kill him, not caring about communicating with Yuan Shao, etc. He also knew to maintain a balance and never kill when it was time to kill. He gave up his righteousness for Xiaoren and had the conditions and comprehensive qualities of an outstanding politician.

2. Have a strong ability to know people.

During the turbulent Three Kingdoms period, he was thirsty for talents and relied on talents. Talent comes first, regardless of virtue. He has four major characteristics in employing people: First, he knows people well and appoints them according to their talents. Second: Be sincere and trustworthy, and do not doubt the people you employ. Third: Orders and prohibitions should be followed, and rewards and punishments should be clear. Fourth: Be as open-minded as possible, and think of the wise when you see them. With abundant talents, are you still worried about the uncertainty of the country?

3. Cao Cao has extraordinary courage, courage, strategy and talent.

The famous "Dan Ge Xing" introduces his life. The poem describes Cao Cao's various emotions in his life, hoping that a large number of talents can be used by him and his ambition to pacify the world. Cao Cao lived a frugal life, and his family property was not as good as Cao Hong's. Of course, he cared about the world, and the world belonged to him. He still cared about his family property. How courageous he was!

4. Cao Cao also has shortcomings, which makes his image more real.

Cao Cao’s biggest shortcoming is that he is too suspicious. After Cao Cao failed to assassinate Dong Zhuo and stayed at Lü Boxhe's house, he saw someone sharpening a knife and suspected that Lü Boxhe's family wanted to harm him, so he killed eight members of Lü Boxhe's family. After seeing this, Chen Gong sighed: "Meng De has too much heart and accidentally kills a good person!" , when they were escaping, Cao Cao deliberately killed Lu Boshe himself in order to eradicate the roots. Chen Gong severely criticized Cao Cao: "Killing Lu Boshe knowingly is a great injustice!" But Cao Cao declared brazenly: "I would rather let me bear the consequences. People in the world, please don’t teach me to let anyone in the world betray me!" Cao Cao had a headache and no one could cure it, so he went to Hua Tuo.

After diagnosis, Hua Tuo said that in order to cure the disease, he needed to split Cao Cao’s head with a sharp ax and take out the cancer in his brain. Cao Cao was shocked and confused after hearing this, so Hua Tuo told the story of Guan Yu and ridiculed him. Cao Cao is timid. However, Cao Cao became suspicious again, fearing that Hua Tuo and Guan Yu had friendship and would assassinate him, so he killed Hua Tuo.

Extended information:

Cao Cao’s literary achievements are mainly reflected in his poetry, and his prose is also very distinctive. There are more than 20 of Cao Cao's poems in existence today, all of which are in Yuefu style. Content can generally be divided into three categories. One type is related to current affairs, the other type is mainly about expressing ideals, and the other type is poems about immortals.

Works that are somewhat related to current affairs include "Xing Dew Xing", "Xing Hao Li", "Bitter Cold Xing", "Stepping out of Xiamen Xing", etc., expressing one's political ambitions and reflecting the suffering life of the people in the late Han Dynasty. , majestic, generous and sad. The two poems "Xing Dew Xing" and "Artemisia Xing Li Xing" were written in the early years of Jian'an.

In terms of artistic style, Cao Cao's poems are simple and unadorned, without any decoration. They win with deep emotions and majestic charm. The mood of the poem is characterized by generosity and sadness. Generous and sad, this is originally the common theme of Jian'an literature, but in Cao Cao's poems, it is the most typical and prominent.

In terms of poetry genre, Cao Cao's Yuefu poems did not copy the conventions of Han Yuefu, but developed. For example, "Xing Dew Xing" and "Hao Li Xing" are both elegy in Han Yuefu, but he used old titles to express brand-new content. Cao Cao initiated the tradition of using Yuefu to write about current affairs, which had a profound influence.

Reference: Baidu Encyclopedia—Cao Cao