Cao Cao - Real History of Dynasty Warriors

After beginning as an ordinary politician, Cao Cao managed to trick, connive and kill his way up the ranks. Cao Cao rose from being a minor politician to becoming the most powerful world order in all of China, and it all started with the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Thousands of peasants had risen up and revolted against the ruling Han dynasty because of the unbearable conditions they found themselves in. In order to quell this rebellion, the government decided to increase the power the inspectors Cao Cao was one of the inspectors whose power grew. To be specific, the power they gained was the power to command their own armies. This made it easier for them to fight against the rebels, since they could raise armies of their own. Cao Cao fought successfully against the Yellow Turbans, although he often went into battle with a small force. His skill as a leader made it so he could often beat much larger armies. After Cao Cao defeated a Yellow Turban army, he would always recruit the best of them, so that he could form his own elite unit. With an army at his side and a strong reputation after fighting the rebels, Cao Cao had created a powerful platform to build off of. The Yellow Turban Rebellion was eventually quelled, but the government couldn't take back the power they had given the inspectors, and that fact would eventually be their undoing. Alliance against Dong Zhuo The ruling Han dynasty, now in a weakened state, would finally collapse thanks to the poorly thought out plan of three conspirators. They were Lord Yuan Shao, a powerful noble, He Jin, the Empress' brother, and seasoned general Dong Zhuo. Their plan was for Dong Zhuo to march an army on the imperial capital, Luoyang, and force the Empress to surrender her power. Before their dreams could come to fruition, a coalition of eunuchs assassinated He Jin. This resulted in a battle between Yuan Shao's troops and the eunuchs. Dong Zhuo took this opportunity to clear the palace of any opposition and place his own puppet emperor on the throne. In the chaos, Dong Zhuo had managed to succeed in gaining power. He offered his surviving partner, Yuan Shao, the position of Grand Administrator. But Yuan Shao thought this was below him, instead he thought he would join an alliance of warlords who had banded together against Dong Zhuo. The alliance had many big names, some of the more notable ones were Sun Jian and Cao Cao, although not Lu Bei, since he was still in the north fighting remnants of the Yellow Turban. Cao Cao was one of the few members of the alliance who actually did much against Dong Zhuo. The alliance even came to an end because of the inactivity of his members. Cao Cao and Sun Jian were two of the only useful members of the alliance. Both of them attacked Dong Zhuo and Sun Jian even defeated one of Dong Zhuo's best officers, Lu Bu in battle. But the alliance failed to capitalise on many of these opportunities due to poor communication. In the end, none of the alliance members managed to kill Dong Zhuo. Lu Bu, one of his own generals, is the person who killed him. Their relationship had taken a turn for the worse after an incident when Lu Bu got involved with one of his chambermaids and Dong Zhuo threw a hand axe at him. In the year 192, a man named Li Su stabbed Dong Zhuo and when he desperately called for Lu Bu to help him, he killed him instead, securing the emperor and expanding his territory. In the year 195, Cao Cao fought with Lu Bu several times. In one instance, Cao Cao was with a small force harvesting grain when a large army led by Lu Bu approached. Cao Cao hid his men in the woods and waited for Lu Bu's army to arrive. He then sent out a segment of the force to engage with Lu Bu and when they were locked into battle, he used the remaining soldiers to launch a surprise attack. Even though he was outnumbered, this surprise attack allowed him to overwhelm Lu Bu's forces. Lu Bu fled for his life and took refuge with Liu Bei. The most important part of Cao Cao's rise was securing the emperor and using him as a puppet. He made himself prime minister but had an absolute rule as if he were emperor. Cao Cao now spent his time expanding his territory and becoming more powerful. By 196, he had established himself as a powerful warlord. It was in this year that he met Emperor Zhang and convinced him to move the capital to Zushan. The emperor believed he asked him to do this because Luoyang had been ravaged by war. But really, it was because Zushan was under Cao Cao's military control. Yuan Shao had now become the most powerful warlord in China and Cao Cao planned to try and stay on his good side. To do this, Cao Cao lobbied for Yuan Shao to be awarded the position of Minister of the Works. Yuan Shao refused the position and accused Cao Cao of trying to humiliate him since Minister of the Works was a lower position than the one he already had. In order to try and fix this, Cao Cao offered his own position to Yuan Shao. This seemed to calm things down for now but eventually it would lead to issues between the two. Another major power at the time was Liu Bao, who held all of Jing province. Jing was already a strong province and had grown even stronger over time because refugees from northern wars had fled there. He went to attack Jing and Zhang Jun, who commanded the border territory, surrendered to Cao Cao immediately. The overjoyed Cao Cao put on a banquet to celebrate. Ten days later, Zhang Jun ambushed Cao Cao in the night and forced him to retreat with only a few horsemen. A dozen of his men stayed behind to hold off the attackers so he could escape. One of Zhang Jun's archers struck Cao Cao's horse with an arrow. The horse subsequently threw Cao Cao off its back. Cao Cao's son, Cao Ang, gave up his horse so his father could escape. But as a result, Cao Ang was then caught and killed by Zhang Jun's men. This was one of the most devastating defeats of Cao Cao's life. In 197 and 198, he went back and got his revenge by defeating Zhang Jun. But he never conquered Jing province. Instead, he went on to finally put an end to Liu Bu at Xiapi and executed him there. Uniting Northern China Cao Cao now concentrated on uniting Northern China. The most significant part of this was his battle with Yuan Shao. Yuan was the greatest warlord in China, so defeating him would make Cao Cao stronger than anyone. This war between them came to an end in the Battle of Guandu. Yuan Shao marched on Cao Cao with 100,000 men in the name of freeing the empire. Cao Cao only had 20,000 troops and positioned them at Guandu River. Although Yuan Shao had such an advantage, he couldn't work out how to defeat Cao Cao. At some point during the battle, Cao Cao discovered the location of Yuan Shao's supply depot. Cao Cao ordered a special unit to burn it down and in doing so, won the battle. Yuan Shao became ill and died a short while afterwards. After this victory, he went on to defeat Yuan's sons and subjugated the Northern tribes. He had now conquered all of Northern China and become the most powerful warlord in the country.