Chapter 29 Chapter One

Cao Cao's reputation has always been great from ancient times to the present, to the point where he is well-known and familiar to everyone.It's just that his "fame" often exists as a negative foil for Zhuge Liang, Liu Bei, Guan Yu and other figures of the Three Kingdoms, and he is an out-and-out "bad-faced" treacherous minister. In fact, compared with Zhuge Liang's "perfect man" image - the high-spirited personality power, moral power, wisdom power, and will power, Cao Cao can also be regarded as a "perfect man" in another sense-integrating literature, governance and martial arts. A "perfect person".In terms of the strategy of governing the country, Cao Wei contributed the most to politics and culture during the Three Kingdoms period, while Shu and Wu had little status; in terms of military performance, Cao Cao defeated all the heroes and unified the north. He personally created and laid a solid foundation for the completion of the Wei State; in terms of ingenuity, even Zhuge Liang, the incarnation of wisdom, once frankly admitted that "Cao Cao's wisdom is unique to others" and he is beyond his own; He is a famous military strategist, statesman, and a great writer. He has created many well-known works that have been handed down to this day.A "quasi-emperor" like him who is a politician, military strategist, and writer with outstanding achievements is not only in the Three Kingdoms era, even if you read the long volume of ancient Chinese history, it is difficult to surpass him... However , is such an "all-rounder", after thousands of years of "processing and transformation" by writers and artists, he has become an out-and-out "villain".

When I was young, under the influence of folk literature and art, Cao Cao was also a "thief", "villain" and "traitor" in my heart for a long time.It was not until I came into contact with his poems that I had deep doubts. "Armor is born with lice, all surnames die, bones are exposed in the wild, and no cock crows for a thousand miles. Every living person leaves one, and the thought breaks people's hearts." It is hard to imagine that people with strong sorrow and compassion for the suffering of the people would He is a thief; "Although the tortoise lives long, there is still a time; when the snake rides the fog, it ends up in ashes. The old man has a long-term ambition; the martyr is in his old age, and his ambition is endless." I can't believe it, with such lofty ambitions The author with a high-spirited and enterprising heart will be a villain; look at his "Guan Canghai" again:

Poetry expresses ambition and sings.Without a broad mind, surging passion and the vicissitudes of history, can you write such a majestic and beautiful poem?If Cao Cao is a traitor, I would like to see what kind of a "peerless traitor" he is! In fact, there have been two different images of Cao Cao in history. One is the Cao Cao written by historians represented by Chen Shou's "Three Kingdoms", whose narration, description and comment are more objective, true and fair; Cao Cao, represented by writers and artists, has a thick layer of white powder smeared on his face, playing the role of a thief and a villain.However, the power, influence and effect of the traitor Cao Cao produced by the facial makeup among the people are far greater than the real Cao Cao described by historians.

Cao Cao once changed the course and direction of history with his own power in the Three Kingdoms era, which was full of wars and separatist regimes, and history changed Cao Cao's real image with a potential and profound force. This interactive development snowballed forward. Rolling and rolling until today, and even forming a unique "landscape" in front of our eyes, which is true, false, illusory, strange and unique. What is the real image of Cao Cao?How did the white powder on his face be smeared by later generations?Is it related to him and the "blame" is his own?How does his change to history and history's change to him form an interesting interactive relationship? ...To explore and answer these questions is exactly the purpose and gist of this article.