Records of the Three Kingdoms
Cao Cao, courtesy name Mengde, was from Qiao in Pei. As commandant of the north of Luoyang he beat to death a eunuch’s kinsman who broke the curfew. When Dong Zhuo seized power, Cao Cao spent his family’s wealth to raise troops, later absorbed the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans, and became the best organized force in the north.
In 196 he brought Emperor Xian to Xu. That gave him a legal standing Yuan Shao did not have. At Guandu he burned Yuan Shao’s supplies at Wuchao, and the north followed. He then campaigned against the Wuhuan. In 208 he came south against Liu Biao. Liu Cong surrendered. Cao Cao nearly unified the realm, and at Red Cliffs the allied armies of Sun and Liu burned his fleet.
After Red Cliffs he consolidated the north, became Duke of Wei and then King of Wei, and used rites close to an emperor’s. He never took the imperial title himself. He died at Luoyang in the first month of 220. Within a year Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian to abdicate. Cao Cao left yuefu poems and the orders to employ men for talent. Chen Shou calls him a man beyond the ordinary, a hero beyond his age.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The novel adds the attempt to stab Dong Zhuo, the killing of a concubine in a dream, and the cutting of his hair in place of his head. Later stages fixed a white face on him. The tag “a capable minister in peace, a treacherous hero in disorder” is a later judgment.
The novel’s Cao Cao is suspicious, a poet, a patron of talent, and the man who kills Lü Boshe, kills Yang Xiu, and presses Xun Yu to death. Red Cliffs becomes a chain of plots, a beaten body, and a borrowed east wind. Guandu keeps the burned grain and adds more duels in front of the lines.
Reference: Wikipedia · Cao Cao