Yilang is one of the Lang officials under Guangluxun, and he is in charge of dealing with advisers, and there is nothing ordinary about it. After Cao Cao became a councilor, although his official position was idle, he was not discouraged, but actively prepared to organize his strategy for governing the country and the current opinions on the court into a fold and handed it over, Cao Cao's statement in the book was very sincere, but it was a pity that Emperor Ling of Han was unmoved.

Later, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty asked the three dukes to report the local officials whose political performance was too poor and the people complained, and demanded that they be removed immediately. But the high-ranking officials of the imperial court all shielded the bad guys and accepted bribes, so there were many local bullies and were not reported, and the weak groups were oppressed and framed, Cao Cao was very indignant about such a political situation, but he himself could not do anything.

There was a large-scale disaster that year, and the imperial court therefore discussed the gains and losses of the government, and at this time Cao Cao once again wrote a sincere statement that the three dukes protected the powerful. The emperor had some sense, criticized the Three Princes, rehabilitated those who were reported by the Three Princes, and appointed them as councilors. But after that, the political situation became more and more chaotic, there were more and more powerful and traitorous people, and the situation was irreparable, and Cao Cao himself was a little discouraged, so he did not continue to make suggestions. (Note 1)

In the first year of Zhongping (184), the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun were surrounded by the Yellow Turban Army in Changshe, the imperial court urgently worshiped Cao Cao as a cavalry captain, and led reinforcements to support Huangfu Song and others. Later, Cao Cao, Huangfu Song and others jointly attacked the Yellow Turban Army in the Yingchuan area and won a great victory, and Cao Cao was promoted to the prime minister of Jinan.

At this time, Cao Cao's reputation for integrity and severity had long since spread, and at that time, as soon as he ordered it, local officials, large and small, began to flee. After Cao Cao took office, he vigorously rectified and dismissed eight-tenths of the officials at once, which greatly reduced the phenomenon of local corruption and perversion of the law. But this has been of no use to the overall situation of the Han Dynasty at that time, Cao Cao also deeply understood this, and later the imperial court recruited him again as the Taishou of Dongjun, and the disheartened Cao Cao returned to the township on the grounds of illness, studied in spring and summer, hunted in autumn and winter, and lived in seclusion temporarily.

At this time, Cao Cao was not the only one who was disappointed in the imperial court, at that time, Wang Fen, the assassin of Jizhou, united with Nanyang Xu You, Peiguo Zhou Jing and other local tycoons to depose Emperor Ling and establish the Marquis of Hefei, hoping to eliminate the eunuch forces and reverse the government in one fell swoop. They also once wooed Cao Cao, but Cao Cao refused.

Cao Cao said to them: "The abolition of the emperor is the most inauspicious thing in the world. In ancient times, some people weighed the importance and calculated the success or failure before implementing it, as was the case with Yi Yin and Huo Guang. Both men were loyal, and with their position as prime ministers, by virtue of their power in power, and with the same wishes of the people, they were able to carry out their plans and accomplish great things. Now, you only see how easy it was at the beginning, but not the difficulties that you have now. Isn't it dangerous to use such extraordinary means to achieve your goal? ”

As a result, Wang Fen died, and Xu You fled.

Later, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty became seriously ill, and the confrontation between the eunuch group and the relatives and scholars led by He Jin became increasingly serious. In order to consolidate his rule and weaken the military power of the great general He Jin, Emperor Ling set up the eight captains of the West Garden at the suggestion of the eunuchs, with the eunuch Jian Shuo as the commander, and Cao Cao was appointed as the military captain of the eight captains because of his family background, and it has been more than ten years since Cao Cao killed Jian Tu.

In the choice of the two major forces, Cao Cao did not take an obvious side because of his own background, but leaned to the side of the scholars.

Jian Shuo's power is getting bigger and bigger, and he has even gained the power to control the country's soldiers and horses, and his status is still above He Jin. After the death of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, he also entrusted his youngest son Liu Xie to Jian Shuo, and his intentions were self-evident, which also further intensified the internal struggle in the imperial court. After He Jin killed Jian Shuo, he was ready to further kill all the eunuchs, but unfortunately he was stopped by the Empress Dowager He.

In order to deter Empress Dowager He, He Jin followed Yuan Shao's suggestion to transfer Dong Zhuo to lead troops into Beijing, Cao Cao heard the news, he was very disdainful, thinking that it was enough to deal with a mere eunuch and a prison official, where else did he need to mobilize any army? He Jin and others are so enthusiastic that they leak the news like this, and it seems that they will fail.

He Jin was finally killed by the eunuchs who learned the news, and although Yuan Shao and others immediately led troops to kill all the eunuchs, due to serious infighting within the imperial court, the fruits of victory were picked by the external warlord Dong Zhuo. After Dong Zhuo took charge of the government, he acted recklessly, although Dong Zhuo said that Cao Cao was the captain of the Xiaocai and wanted to conspire with him, but Cao Cao knew that Dong Zhuo was a tiger and wolf, so Cao Cao changed his name and escaped from Luoyang.

Although Cao Cao was quite naughty when he was young, he had a wide range of interests, and he hunted both civil and military aspects. On the one hand, he is very fond of martial arts, and has made a small success in martial arts since he was a child, and even assassinated Zhang Rang with this, on the other hand, he is well-read, especially fond of the art of war, and has copied the ancient art of war, as well as the annotation of "Sun Tzu's Art of War" "Wei Wu Note Sun Tzu" works handed down.

Cao Cao was already a scholar and martial artist when he was young, and he was successful in both civil and military affairs. He showed quite good political talent when he served as the northern lieutenant of Luoyang and the minister of Jinan, and also showed excellent military talent in the crusade against the Yellow Turban Uprising, but it is a pity that the Han Dynasty in that period was already a general of the building, although Cao Cao was very loyal to the Han Dynasty and he was also very capable, but it was irretrievable by his own strength, and Dong Zhuo almost destroyed the last glimmer of hope of the Han Dynasty after entering Beijing.

For Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, if the eunuchs are not normal people, then Dong Zhuo is not a person at all. The entire Xiliang Army Legion is a group of beasts, Dong Zhuo is the tiger who eats people, and his subordinates are jackals and lackeys. After Dong Zhuo came to Luoyang, he gradually controlled the power of the country's soldiers and horses, and was good at government affairs. He completely ignored the authority of the imperial court and the dignity of the imperial family, regarded the laws and etiquette as nothing, and abolished the emperor without authorization.

In addition, Dong Zhuo also ** harem, whether it was the maids in the palace or the concubines of the first emperor, they were forcibly possessed by Dong Zhuo. What's even more unbearable, Dong Zhuo also likes to put on a big banquet, and at the banquet he takes pleasure in killing, cutting off hands, broken feet, and gouging out eyes are all small meanings, and even Dong Zhuo will order people to hang others upside down, wrap cloth strips around the whole body, and then apply ointment to burn people alive, the cruelty of the picture is unimaginable, and the cruelty of the means is unbelievable. After Dong Zhuo entered Beijing, he did so many evils, it was difficult to write, the depth of evil, and the abyss was difficult to reach.

At this time, people with lofty ideals in the world took opposing Dong as their own responsibility, and Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Cao Cao and others also tried their best to escape from Dong Zhuo's clutches.

The demon king has come, the stage has been set up, who will save the sky, this is the time for the warriors to appear!

Note 1: Most of the records in this part are from the Book of Wei, with Cao Wei as orthodox and Cao Cao as the orthodox, and the position is very clear.