Cao Cao

Cao Cao (pronunciation^ⓘ; [tsʰǎʊ tsʰáʊ]; Chinese: 曹操; c. 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde, was a Chinese statesman, warlord, and poet who rose to power during the end of the Han dynasty (c. 184–220), ultimately taking effective control of the Han central government. He laid the foundation for the state of Cao Wei (220–265), established by his son and successor Cao Pi, who ended the Eastern Han dynasty and inaugurated the Three Kingdoms period (220–280). Beginning in his own lifetime, a corpus of legends developed around Cao Cao which built upon his talent, his cruelty, and his perceived eccentricities.

Cao Cao began his career as an official under the Han government and held various appointments including that of a district security chief in the capital and the chancellor of a principality. He rose to prominence in the 190s during which he recruited his own followers, formed his own army, and set up a base in Yan Province (covering parts of present-day Henan and Shandong). In 196, he received Emperor Xian, the figurehead Han sovereign who was previously held hostage by other warlords such as Dong Zhuo, Li Jue, and Guo Si. After he established the new imperial capital in Xuchang, Emperor Xian and the central government came under his direct control, but he still paid nominal allegiance to the emperor. Throughout the 190s, Cao Cao actively waged wars in central China against rival warlords such as Lü Bu, Yuan Shu, and Zhang Xiu, eliminating all of them. Following his triumph over the warlord Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guandu in 200, Cao Cao launched a series of campaigns against Yuan Shao's sons and allies over the following seven years, defeated them, and unified much of northern China under his control. In 208, shortly after Emperor Xian appointed him as Imperial Chancellor, he embarked on an expedition to gain a foothold in southern China, but was defeated by the allied forces of the warlords Sun Quan, Liu Bei, and Liu Qi at the decisive Battle of Red Cliffs.

His subsequent attempts over the following years to annex the lands south of the Yangtze River never proved successful. In 211, he defeated a coalition of northwestern warlords led by Ma Chao and Han Sui at the Battle of Tong Pass. Five years later, he seized Hanzhong from the warlord Zhang Lu, but lost it to Liu Bei by 219. In the meantime, he also received many honours from Emperor Xian. In 213, he was created Duke of Wei and granted a fief covering parts of present-day Hebei and Henan. In 216, he was elevated to the status of a vassal king under the title "King of Wei" and awarded numerous ceremonial privileges, of which some used to be reserved exclusively for emperors. Cao Cao died in Luoyang in March 220 and was succeeded by his son Cao Pi who accepted the abdication of Emperor Xian in November 220 and established the state of Cao Wei to replace the Eastern Han dynasty— an event commonly seen as an usurpation. This marked the transition from the Eastern Han dynasty to the Six Dynasties period. After taking the throne, Cao Pi granted his father the posthumous title "Emperor Wu" ("Martial Emperor") and the temple name "Taizu" ("Grand Ancestor").

Apart from being lauded as a brilliant political and military leader, Cao Cao is celebrated for his poems. Opinions of him have remained divided from as early as the Jin dynasty (266–420) that came immediately after the Three Kingdoms period. There were some who praised him for his achieve­ments in poetry and his career, but there were also others who condemned him for his cruelty, cunning, and allegedly traitorous ways. In traditional Chinese culture, Cao Cao is stereotypically portrayed as a sly, power-hungry, and treacherous tyrant who serves as a nemesis to Liu Bei, often depicted in contraposition as a hero trying to revive the declining Han dynasty.

The authoritative historical source on Cao Cao's life is his official biography in the Records of the Three Kingdoms written by Chen Shou in the third century. His sources for his work on the Wei portion of his book (魏志; Wei Zhi) included the Dongguan Ji (東觀記; now lost), the Book of Wei, and possibly other records. Chen Shou worked in the history bureau and had access to a variety of sources, but followed the traditional method of incorporating information into a single synthesis without citing his sources, so it is not clear how broad a pool of documentation he drew upon.

In the fifth century, Pei Songzhi annotated the Sanguozhi by incorporating information from other sources to Chen Shou's original work and adding his personal commentary, as well as commentary from other historians.

One of the major sources for information on Cao Cao's life employed by Pei Songzhi was the official history of the Wei dynasty, the Book of Wei, largely composed during the Wei dynasty itself by Wang Chen, Xun Yi, and Ruan Ji. It was completed by Wang Chen and presented to the court during the opening years of the succeeding Western Jin dynasty. This work is understandably typically very favourable to Cao Cao as the founding figure of the dynasty under which the initial compilation was performed.

As a counterpoint, another significant source for Cao Cao's life as cited by Pei Songzhi was the Cao Man zhuan (曹瞞傳), an anonymous collection of anecdotes said to have been compiled by a person from Eastern Wu, a rival kingdom to Cao Cao's own. This work is overall very hostile to Cao Cao, depicting him as cruel and untrustworthy, although not every anecdote is negative. Cao Man zhuan has been characterised as "hostile propaganda", and certain contents as "slanderous". Such a work cannot be considered a reliable source, but informs an exaggerated perspective contraposed to the glowing portrait painted by his own dynasty's official history.