Cao Cao

**Aliases** | Cao A’man
 **Title(s)** | Prime Minister
 **Relatives** | Cao Song (Father)
Xiahou Dun (Cousin)

## Personality

He has been referred to as the most ambitious person in the whole world.

Although Cao Cao is a man who suspects everything, he is also a wise man.

Cao Cao has a particular charisma. When one reached the level of charisma like Cao Cao, they will be standing above millions of men, their orders will be the will of heaven, and no one will dare disobey.

Cao Cao is a person who likes beautiful landscape and beautiful women. A man liking beautiful women is a very normal matter, but Old Cao's obsession for possessing beautiful women goes even further than that and that is one of his big weaknesses. When he was young, he was one of Luoyang’s three big playboy, along with Yuan Shao and Xu You. Later, when he had his own home base, he married Madame Bian. Afterwards he drooled for Diaochan. When Old Cao hit Xu Province, some people thought it was because he wanted to obtain Diaochan. And also, when he was at Nanyang. At the battle of Wan Castle, he lost his son Cao Ang, his nephew Cao Anmin, and his general Dian Wei because he drooled with Madame Zou who had just became a widow.

## History

Cao Cao’s father was the adopted son of Cao Teng. Cao Cao’s original name was Xiahou Cao.

He led an expedition against the Yellow Turbans, fought against Dong Zhuo, and saved the Emperor.

Cao Cao didn’t set his sight on the Xu Province just once or twice. The first time he attacked Xu Province, he did it under the guise of his father Cao Song’s death. The then owner of Xu Province was Tao Qian, the old and corrupt. Although Tao Qin was no master of the arts of war, he fought Cao Cao back just by using the wealth of Xu Province.

The reason why Cao Cao was regarded as a mass-murderer is because when Cao Song was murdered in Xu Province, Cao Cao led his army to destroy 3 counties in Xu Province to serve only as a warning to Tao Qian. Those three counties were only small counties, and only held at least 1000 families each; none of them being major nobles.

The second time he attacked Xu Province. After much cultivation, Cao Cao finally fought all the way to Xiapi using his Qing Province soldiers. This was also because Lu Bu dug his own grave by refusing to listen to his advisor, Chen Gong.

## Story

On the White Gate Tower, Cao Cao was holding a celebratory banquet. During which he was repeated insulted by the captured Chen Gong. Hou Cheng then reported that Lu Bu had escaped. Then a worrisome Xiahou Yuan walked in a panic, to inform him of Xiahou De’s disappearance. However, they received a report that Xiahou De requested to return to camp. As they went to meet up with him. They received reports that Lu Bu’s family was missing, and Xiahou De was held captive by the Lu Bu Army.

Xiahou Yuan lost it and roared out, allowing Lu Bu and Liu Mang to hear it. If it wasn’t for Xiahou Yuan’s ‘help’ then boss Cao, having received the news at the perfect moment, could give praise on the outside while secretly covering the location with archers. If that was the case, then they could only get ganged up and killed by Cao’s men. Lu Bu then made his assault.

As Cao Cao fled, the stairs of the city walls were narrow without railing, this one move from Old Cao caused multiple people to be forced aside. Fortunately for the generals, they could still stand steady using their well-trained bodies. But for those civilian court officials, oh did they suffer, this included Chen Gui, who was flattened into a meat patty.

Xiahou Yuan came to his rescue, but wasn’t able to stand up to Lu Bu. Thanks to his armor he was able to survive, and the fact that if Lu Bu killed him he wouldn’t be able to get to Cao Cao, so he was swept to the side. However, the heavily injured Xiahou Yuan refused to give up. Cao Cao then ordered Hou Cheng to help him. Lu Bu knocked Xiahou Yuan unconscious. Before Lu Bu could kill either, the four armies of Song Xian, Wei Xu, Yu Jin, and Xiahou Dun arrived. Lu Bu abandoned Hou Cheng and Xiahou Yuan and walked down the city walls.

Liu Mang seeing them, put down his sword, held his fist up and shouted toward the sky “Generals Song Xian and Wei Xu, now is the best time to revolt!” Yu Jin saw the enemy's tactic to drive a wedge between allies, so he composed himself. However, Cao Cao was already skeptical of others. And now, the level of skepticism increased by one. Adding on to that Xiahou Yuan’s injury and his own previous speculation, Cao Cao immediately “realized.” He immediately thrust his Sword of Heaven in into Hou Cheng’s chest. He then ordered the whole army to annihilate Wei Xu, Song Xian, and the Lu Bu army remnants.

Later, Cao Cao lowered his head and apologized, to Wei Xu and Song Xian. He even forgave Song Xian and Wei Xu of guilt and allowed them to replenish their troops, with Qing Province soldiers. As for Hou Cheng, he ordered his burial; one reserved for honorable officials. They refused despite being swayed by his charisma. He then gave the other to annihilate them all. With less than three thousand soldiers combined, these two men managed to stop Cao Cao’s hundred thousand strong army from exiting Xiapi for a whole ten hours.

Cao Cao recognized Liu Mang, as an individual of profound talent. From using Xiahou De’s banner to the stratagem of sowing dissention, he was able to grasp the timing accurate to perfection. Had it not been Xiahou Dun’s messenger’s arrival at the perfect time, perhaps Cao Cao would have died in Xiapi. He learned his name from captured Lu Bu soldiers.

Cao Chun had obtained information from refugees enroute. He knew that in Kaiyang, Zang Ba had dismissed his troops. The whole population of Kaiyang had already left to take refuge. Thus, in the whole Kaiyang, there was only ten thousand troops who could stand up against the Cao army. He then had a messenger inform Cao Cao.

Cao Cao mustered a force of 100,000 to finally end Lu Bu. Cao Cao, greeted Lu Bu from outside the city. He then introduced himself to Liu Mang, whose stratagem almost cost him his life in Xiapi. Liu Mang claimed to be the younger brother of Emperor Xian. Cao Cao tried to get him to join his camp under the guise of pacifying the world, and returning it to the Han people. Cao Cao also tried to marry him to his daughter. Liu Mang refused his offers, as he immediately saw through his lies, and was engaged to Lu Lingqi. Adding insult to injury, Liu Mang insulted Cao Cao to the point of invoking his murderous wrath, and he ordered his whole army to lay siege to the city.

From Cao Cao’s single command, the whole Cao army, like ants, began to rush toward the city walls. North, south, west and east, all four gates were besieged by 20,000 Cao troops. Waves after waves of Cao troops had dyed the walls red with blood. At the end of the day the casualties would number more than two thousand.

On the third day of the battle, Cao Cao was informed that Chen Deng was leading an army of twenty thousand, and arrived in front of Xiapi’s gates. General Che Zhou requested immediate reinforcements. Cao Cao was intent on killing Lu Bu no matter casualties. After which Cao’s army would go back to Xiapi and attack Guangling.

The next morning the gate to the city was opened, and Lu Bu exited alone. He urged Cao Cao to send out his Ferocious Cavalry, Cao Cao complied. Immediately, all the gates of Kaiyang opened. One by one, horses came running out from within the city as if there was no end. Mounted atop the horses were ferocious soldiers donned in heavy armor, holding long spears. Two horses per man, five thousand horses, total of three thousand cavalries. Lu Bu threw a spear that pierced not only through Cao Chun, but also his horse, pinning them both to the ground. Needless to say Cao Chun was dead.

Cao Cao fainted, leaving Guo Jia in command.

With the battle of Kaiyang over, the war in Xu Province came to an end. The Cao army which consisted of 100,000 soldiers, adding Liu Bei’s forces of 20,000 soldiers would sum up to a total of 120,000. With the lead of Military Counselor Guo Jia and the brave generals such as, Cao Ren, the Xiahou brothers, Yu Jin, Li Dian, Xu Huang and Xu Chu, they had conquered Xu Province, but Lu Bu broke through their siege and escaped.

After the battle, Cao Cao regained consciousness, was informed of the Ferocious Cavalry’s defeat, the death of Cao Chun, and began to weep. Many people sympathized with Cao Cao’s weeping, but Liu Bei saw through his tears. Cao Cao then found out about Li Dian’s death, further adding to his losses.

The Ferocious Cavalry were to be bolstered with their 2,000 reserves in Xu Du. After much bickering over who would become the new commander of the Ferocious Cavalry, Cao Cao choose to personally take command of Ferocious Cavalry.

The next morning, Guo Jia discovered the stirrups left behind on the dead horses of the Lu Bu Army. He informed Cao Cao of them. Realizing the magnificence of them, he resolved to create more cavalry and again challenge Lu Bu.

 After the war, Cao Cao was distressed for losing more than 50,000 out of his 120,000 soldiers. The saddest part was to lose his precious Ferocious Cavalry. Before the battle his elite cavalry consisted of 3000 elite soldiers. After the battle they were left with less than 300 wounded soldiers. Training a single soldier of Ferocious Cavalry was equal to training 10 normal soldiers, which means losing all 3000 riders of Ferocious Cavalry were equal to losing 30,000 infantries. That counted only for the rider’s training without considering the loss of horses and equipment.

## Abilities

His sword, Heaven, was forged with highly refined iron and rated as a superior weapon.

## Relationships

* Dian Wei: Cao Cao refers to Dian Wei as E Lai, the son of Fei Lian, the Chinese god of the wind. And sees him as a man of great strength. Hence, by calling Dian Wei E Lai, Cao Cao was praising him.
* Liu Mang: Because of Liu Mang’s existence, Cao Cao was almost killed by Lu Bu in Xiapi. Without Liu Mang, no one would have insulted him in Kaiyang. Without Liu Mang, it would have been impossible for his Ferocious Cavalry to be annihilated and his senior general Cao Chun and major Li Dian to die. One can see Cao Cao’s hatred for Liu Mang is also very big.
* Liu Ye: Although Liu Ye was very talented, as talented as Guo Jia, Cao Cao never really trusted him. According to Cao Cao’s love for talent, he should’ve had Liu Ye as a confidant. However, he never did. Instead, he gave Liu Ye an official position as the Assistant to the Excellency of Works, in charge of provisions. Had he been in charge of the army provisions, then the position was pretty good, enough to not bring shame as a descendant of Liu Bang. Alas, he wasn’t in charge of the army provisions. Instead, he was in charge of the provisions in the Excellency of Work’s Mansion. In other words, he was the chief housekeeper.
In the original history, Cao Cao gained the most power. When Liu Biao's youngest son Liu Cong offered him the entire Jing Province, he ordered Yu Jin to kill him, his mother Lady Cai, and Cai Mao his uncle through Zhou Yu's plot. In the end, Cao Cao also exterminated the whole of Liu clan in Jing Province. Also there was Liu Ye who worked extremely hard beside Cao Cao, pouring his invention skills to help Cao Cao create the Wei Kingdom. It can be said, he was truly loyal to Cao Cao's cause, however, Cao Cao suspected him and did not give him any promotions even though he helped Cao Cao to win against Yuan Shao, also Cao Pi also suspected him for usurpation. And finally, he was suspected as a usurper by Cao Rui or more known by his title Emperor Ming of Wei and died dishonorably. Because his surname, Liu, and he was regarded by Wei Kingdom as a thorn in their side.
* Lu Boshe: Lu Boshe was an old acquaintance of Cao Cao, pretty much his uncle. Cao Cao killed his family when he stayed at Lu’s place while on fleeing after his failed attempt at killing Dong Zhou. Cao heard the sharpening of knives and suspected that Lu’s family were plotting to harm him so he killed them for preemptive purposes. Cao remarked “I’d rather do wrong to others than allow them to do wrong to me!”
* Chen Gong: Chen Gong, was Cao Cao’s first advisor. Back then, when Chen Gong discarded his official position for him was something that really moved Cao Cao.
* Three Peach Oath Brothers: Cao Cao wasn’t reluctant on killing Liu Bei. But Cao Cao wanted Liu Bei’s Zhang Fei and Guan Yu. Especially Guan Yu, who had outstand martial abilities, familiar with the arts of war and with the spirit of loyalty and self-sacrifice, he was certainly a valiant general. Should he kill Liu Bei right away, then in this lifetime he could forget about trying to rein such a valiant general.