Hua Tuo
When Cao Cao starts complaining about splitting headaches in his final days, his subjects recommend Hua Tuo, a physician with remarkable skills, to heal him. Hua Tuo diagnoses Cao Cao's illness to be a form of rheumatism in the skull. He suggests giving Cao Cao a dose of hashish and then splitting open his skull with a sharp axe to extract the pus within. Due to an earlier incident with another physician Ji Ping, who attempted to poison him, Cao Cao is suspicious of any physician. He believes that Hua Tuo intends to kill him to avenge Guan Yu so he orders the physician to be imprisoned. Hua Tuo dies a few days later in prison. Cao Cao dies from his illness not long later.