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Readers of the novel ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' tend to believe that Liu Bei and his subordinates and his Shu Kingdom were scions of virtue and basically heroic figures all around. Unfortunately, what transpired in history was not as pleasing as the novel depicted (although they are not without some positive traits). It should be noted that the not-so-pleasant look was majorly caused by how the Shu Kingdom had a rather poor history management (as opposed to Wei) so a lot of the kingdom's detailed achievements were not recorded. Even Chen Shou, when writing the historical ''Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms'' had to depend a lot from Wei/Jin-produced history books which were more likely to focus on Shu's enemy while leaving Shu as either a footnote or not painted that positively. See also on the Aftermath section below on how people decided to whitewash the Kingdom of Shu from its faults in the first place. Nevertheless, one striking feature of Liu Bei and most of his subordinates (at least those who joined before he established himself at Shu/ Yizhou) was that they did not belong to influential clans (unlike e.g. Xun Yu). Indeed, as the Battle of Yiling and time depleted these subordinates, officials belonging to the native Yizhou clans began to look out for their own interests first.\\\
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Readers of the novel ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' tend to believe that Liu Bei and his subordinates and his Shu Kingdom were scions of virtue and basically heroic figures all around. Unfortunately, what transpired in history was not as pleasing as the novel depicted (although they are not without some positive traits). It should be noted that the not-so-pleasant look was majorly caused by how the Shu Kingdom had a rather poor history management (as opposed to Wei) so a lot of the kingdom's detailed achievements were not recorded. Even Chen Shou, when writing the historical ''Chronicles ''Chronicles/ Records of the Three Kingdoms'' had to depend a lot from Wei/Jin-produced history books which were more likely to focus on Shu's enemy while leaving Shu as either a footnote or not painted that positively.positively[[note]]Another factor which Chen had to consider was that he was a Jin official, and since Jin's legitimacy was derived from Wei, even if he found material on Shu's victories over Wei, it would be in his interest to leave them out. A general rule of thumb when reading the ''San Guo Zhi'' was that if the record was silent on Shu's activities vis-à-vis Wei, the reader can generally assume that Shu had scored major victories.[[/note]]. See also on the Aftermath section below on how people decided to whitewash the Kingdom of Shu from its faults in the first place. Nevertheless, one striking feature of Liu Bei and most of his subordinates (at least those who joined before he established himself at Shu/ Yizhou) was that they did not belong to influential clans (unlike e.g. Xun Yu). Indeed, as the Battle of Yiling and time depleted these subordinates, officials belonging to the native Yizhou clans began to look out for their own interests first.\\\
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Readers of the novel ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' tend to believe that Liu Bei and his subordinates and his Shu Kingdom were scions of virtue and basically heroic figures all around. Unfortunately, what transpired in history was not as pleasing as the novel depicted (although they are not without some positive traits). It should be noted that the not-so-pleasant look was majorly caused by how the Shu Kingdom had a rather poor history management (as opposed to Wei) so a lot of the kingdom's detailed achievements were not recorded. Even Chen Shou, when writing the historical ''Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms'' had to depend a lot from Wei/Jin-produced history books which were more likely to focus on Shu's enemy while leaving Shu as either a footnote or not painted that positively. See also on the Aftermath section below on how people decided to whitewash the Kingdom of Shu from its faults in the first place.\\\
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Readers of the novel ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' tend to believe that Liu Bei and his subordinates and his Shu Kingdom were scions of virtue and basically heroic figures all around. Unfortunately, what transpired in history was not as pleasing as the novel depicted (although they are not without some positive traits). It should be noted that the not-so-pleasant look was majorly caused by how the Shu Kingdom had a rather poor history management (as opposed to Wei) so a lot of the kingdom's detailed achievements were not recorded. Even Chen Shou, when writing the historical ''Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms'' had to depend a lot from Wei/Jin-produced history books which were more likely to focus on Shu's enemy while leaving Shu as either a footnote or not painted that positively. See also on the Aftermath section below on how people decided to whitewash the Kingdom of Shu from its faults in the first place. Nevertheless, one striking feature of Liu Bei and most of his subordinates (at least those who joined before he established himself at Shu/ Yizhou) was that they did not belong to influential clans (unlike e.g. Xun Yu). Indeed, as the Battle of Yiling and time depleted these subordinates, officials belonging to the native Yizhou clans began to look out for their own interests first.\\\
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Guandu was fought between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao from the first month to the tenth month of 200 CE. This campaign started with Yuan's intent to exterminate Cao and, by extension, weaken Emperor Xian as Cao was then the emperor's firmest supporter. However, due to Yuan's inconvenient stance on Emperor Xian, he could not act decisively against Cao. Cao managed to overcome Yuan's numerical superiority and crushed the attack. With Yuan's spectacular defeat, Cao was able to consolidate the north and northeast of China under his rule. After Guandu and the destruction of Yuan's remnant forces in the following years, these regions of China were largely pacified and was in relative peace for many years. [[note]] After Guandu, it took another defeat at Cangting before Yuan Shao became stricken with disease and died, just like his half-brother Yuan Shu.[[/note]] Another crucial factor in Cao's victory was Liu Biao's neutrality. With his position and military strength, if Liu had sent troops to assist Yuan, the resulting pincer attack would most certainly have crushed Cao. As it turned out, while Liu promised to send troops, in the end he did not do so, and Cao faced Yuan alone.\\\
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Guandu was fought between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao from the first month to the tenth month of 200 CE. This campaign started with Yuan's intent to exterminate Cao and, by extension, weaken Emperor Xian as Cao was then the emperor's firmest supporter. However, due to Yuan's inconvenient stance on Emperor Xian, he could not act decisively against Cao. Cao managed to overcome Yuan's numerical superiority and crushed the attack. With Yuan's spectacular defeat, Cao was able to consolidate the north and northeast of China under his rule. After Guandu and the destruction of Yuan's remnant forces in the following years, these regions of China were largely pacified and was in relative peace for many years. [[note]] After Guandu, it took another defeat at Cangting before Yuan Shao became stricken with disease and died, just like his half-brother Yuan Shu.[[/note]] Another crucial factor in Cao's victory was Liu Biao's neutrality. With his position and military strength, if Liu had sent troops to assist Yuan, the resulting pincer attack would most certainly have crushed Cao. As it turned out, while Liu promised to send troops, in the end he did not do so, so (Liu was facing a rebellion by his nominal subordinate Zhang Xian, who was persuaded to side with Cao), and Cao faced Yuan alone.\\\
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Ironically, once the Three Kingdoms come into being, territorial changes became minimal. Geography played a part; the Qinling Mountains divided Shu and Wei, causing Zhuge Liang's five and Jiang Wei's eleven expeditions to inflict great damage on Shu's economy. The territory between the Huai and Yangtze was a desolate area, where a largely-static frontier between Wei and Wu had formed at the lower Han valley. Wei and Wu fought a total of ''4'' battles over Hefei. [[note]] in 231, 233, 234 and 253 C.E. Before that, Cao Cao and Sun Quan fought there twice, in 208 and 214-15 C.E., the latter battle also known as the Battle of Xiaoyao (Leisure) Ford.[[/note]]
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Ironically, once the Three Kingdoms come into being, territorial changes became minimal. Geography played a part; the Qinling Mountains divided Shu and Wei, causing Zhuge Liang's five and Jiang Wei's eleven expeditions to inflict great damage on Shu's economy.economy[[note]]More damningly, Jiang Wei's expeditions stirred Qiao Zhou (Chen Shou's teacher) into writing his infamous thesis "Chou Guo Lun" (仇国论), which fundamentally undermined the legitimacy of Liu Shan's regime.[[/note]]. The territory between the Huai and Yangtze was a desolate area, where a largely-static frontier between Wei and Wu had formed at the lower Han valley. Wei and Wu fought a total of ''4'' battles over Hefei. [[note]] in 231, 233, 234 and 253 C.E. Before that, Cao Cao and Sun Quan fought there twice, in 208 and 214-15 C.E., the latter battle also known as the Battle of Xiaoyao (Leisure) Ford.[[/note]]
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'''Sima Yi''' clearly bided his time. He served Cao Cao loyally, and gained the trust of Cao Pi, who defended Yi against Cao's suspicions. With the death of Cao Rui in 239 C.E., the stage was set for Sima Yi to slowly maneuver his way to greater power. [[note]]Cao Fang was only seven when he ascended the throne. [[/note]] While Rui mistrusted Yi [[note]]Yi became a co-regent only after officials trusted by Rui persuaded the emperor to do so[[/note]], and Cao Shuang (son of Cao Zhen and the other co-regent for the young Cao Fang) stripped Yi's real power while granting him honorific titles, Shuang was no match for Yi's ruthlessness and cunning. In 249 C.E., 10 years after Rui's death, Sima Yi launched a coup which eventually eliminated Cao Shuang, and Yi himself became regent, complete with the title's powers. Yi himself would pass away in 251 C.E.; his sons Sima Shi and Sima Zhao would continue to tighten their family's grip on power in the years to come. \\\
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'''Sima Yi''' clearly bided his time. He served Cao Cao loyally, and gained the trust of Cao Pi, who defended Yi against Cao's suspicions. With the death of Cao Rui in 239 C.E., the stage was set for Sima Yi to slowly maneuver his way to greater power. [[note]]Cao Fang was only seven when he ascended the throne. [[/note]] While Rui mistrusted Yi [[note]]Yi became a co-regent only after officials trusted by Rui persuaded the emperor to do so[[/note]], and Cao Shuang (son of Cao Zhen and the other co-regent for the young Cao Fang) stripped Yi's real power while granting him honorific titles, Shuang was no match for Yi's ruthlessness and cunning. In 249 C.E., 10 years after Rui's death, Sima Yi launched a coup which eventually eliminated Cao Shuang, and Yi himself became regent, complete with the title's powers. It was noteworthy that Yi himself became known as the Sinosphere's greatest oathbreaker as he had sworn on the waters of the Luo river that he would spare Cao Shuang (he did not). Yi would pass away in 251 C.E.; his sons Sima Shi and Sima Zhao would continue to tighten their family's grip on power in the years to come. Zhao, on his part, did not let his father hog all the dishonour; Cao Mao's regicide on his watch, the first to be committed in public[[note]]Cao had loudly declared his intention to attack Zhao on his way to Zhao's residence[[/note]], meant that he could never be the founder of a new dynasty.\\\
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Because of these turmoils, a lot of people lost faith in the Jin Dynasty and considered it one of the worst dynasties in China. [[note]]Supposedly, even Sima Rui's son Shao, the second emperor of the Eastern Jin, felt ashamed when Wang Dao (a powerful official) narrated to him how the Sima clan rose to power. As recorded in the ''Book of Jin'' (under Sima Yi's biography) and ''Shishuo Xinyu'', after Wang finished his narration, Shao buried his face in his bed and exclaimed, "If what you (Wang) said is true, how could the Jin Dynasty last long?"[[/note]] From there, people began to investigate Jin's origins and found out how the Sima clan usurped power from Cao Wei, and how Cao Wei also usurped power from the Han Dynasty. [[note]]One of the first historians to regard Cao Wei as an illegitimate successor to the Han dynasty was Xi Zuochi (ä¹ å‡¿é½¿), who lived in the Eastern Jin era. Xi served under Huan Wen, a powerful official who had imperial ambitions; Xi's scholarly pursuits were partly a form of advice to Huan not to go ahead with usurpation. While Huan Wen ultimately did not crown himself emperor, his youngest son Huan Xuan did do so about 30 years after his father's death.[[/note]] The Han Dynasty was remembered fondly, and people remembered the one Kingdom that still fought for the Han Dynasty's prestige: Shu-Han. And thus, stories which promote Shu-Han and defame both Cao Wei and Jin began to gain popularity as a response, eventually culminating in a certain Luo Guanzhong penning [[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms an epic novel that sided mostly with Shu-Han, but also became one of the greatest novels in China.]][[note]]Promotion of Shu-Han as the legitimate successor to the Han dynasty gained pace when famed Southern Song philosopher Zhu Xi threw his weight behind the theory in his work which would be compiled by his students into "The String and Mesh of Literature/ZiZhiTongJian" (資治通鑑綱目, ''Zizhi Tongjian Gangmu ''). A noteworthy fact was that the Southern Song faced a similar historical situation as Shu-Han, i.e. a state ruling only parts of China, with a strong foe to the north; the Song had lost the Central Plains to the Jurchen Jin.[[/note]]
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Because of these turmoils, a lot of people lost faith in the Jin Dynasty and considered it one of the worst dynasties in China. [[note]]Supposedly, even Sima Rui's son Shao, the second emperor of the Eastern Jin, felt ashamed when Wang Dao (a powerful official) narrated to him how the Sima clan rose to power. As recorded in the ''Book of Jin'' (under Sima Yi's biography) and ''Shishuo Xinyu'', after Wang finished his narration, Shao buried his face in his bed and exclaimed, "If what you (Wang) said is true, how could the Jin Dynasty last long?"[[/note]] From there, people began to investigate Jin's origins and found out how the Sima clan usurped power from Cao Wei, and how Cao Wei also usurped power from the Han Dynasty. [[note]]One of the first historians to regard Cao Wei as an illegitimate successor to the Han dynasty was Xi Zuochi (ä¹ å‡¿é½¿), who lived in the Eastern Jin era. Xi served under Huan Wen, a powerful official who had imperial ambitions; Xi's scholarly pursuits were partly a form of advice to Huan not to go ahead with usurpation. While Huan Wen ultimately did not crown himself emperor, his youngest son Huan Xuan did do so about 30 years after his father's death.[[/note]] The Han Dynasty was remembered fondly, and people remembered the one Kingdom that still fought for the Han Dynasty's prestige: Shu-Han. And thus, stories which promote Shu-Han and defame both Cao Wei and Jin began to gain popularity as a response, eventually culminating in a certain Luo Guanzhong penning [[Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms an epic novel that sided mostly with Shu-Han, but also became one of the greatest novels in China.]][[note]]Promotion of Shu-Han as the legitimate successor to the Han dynasty gained pace when famed Southern Song philosopher Zhu Xi threw his weight behind the theory in his work which would be compiled by his students into "The String and Mesh of Literature/ZiZhiTongJian" (資治通鑑綱目, ''Zizhi Tongjian Gangmu ''). A noteworthy fact was that the Southern Song faced a similar historical situation as Shu-Han, i.e. a state ruling only parts of China, with a strong foe to the north; the Song had lost the Central Plains to the Jurchen Jin.[[/note]]
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Crosswicking.
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For all its fame, the Three Kingdoms era was very brief, with two kingdoms collapsing within two generations of their founding. The first to fall was Shu, which surrendered to Wei in late 263 C.E. during the reign of Liu Bei's son Liu Shan. Wei itself collapsed a mere two years later when Sima Yan, Prince of Jin and grandson of Sima Yi [[note]]Yan's uncle Shi and father Zhao had been powerful officials in Wei, with Zhao eventually made Duke of Jin while the Wei campaign against Shu was being successfully wrapped up; Zhao was further promoted to Prince of Jin in 264.[[/note]], usurped the throne from the Cao family and established the new state of Jin in early 266 C.E.. The Three Kingdoms period ended in 280 C.E., when Sun Hao, grandson of Sun Quan, surrendered Wu to Sima Yan.
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[[BrieferThanTheyThink For all its fame, the Three Kingdoms era was very brief, brief]], with two kingdoms collapsing within two generations of their founding. The first to fall was Shu, which surrendered to Wei in late 263 C.E. during the reign of Liu Bei's son Liu Shan. Wei itself collapsed a mere two years later when Sima Yan, Prince of Jin and grandson of Sima Yi [[note]]Yan's uncle Shi and father Zhao had been powerful officials in Wei, with Zhao eventually made Duke of Jin while the Wei campaign against Shu was being successfully wrapped up; Zhao was further promoted to Prince of Jin in 264.[[/note]], usurped the throne from the Cao family and established the new state of Jin in early 266 C.E.. The Three Kingdoms period ended in 280 C.E., when Sun Hao, grandson of Sun Quan, surrendered Wu to Sima Yan.
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As if to spite the Sima clan, this unified Jin Dynasty was to be similarly brief. After Sima Yan's death in 290 C.E., his intellectually disabled son proved to be an incompetent ruler; the Rebellion of the Eight Princes would begin in 291 C.E., paving the way for non-Han tribes further north to invade in the early 4th century C.E, culminating in the Disaster of Yongjia in 311, where Luoyang (the capital of Jin) was captured and sacked. From that point, China would be disunited--and ruled in large part by non-Chinese peoples--for nearly 300 years, until reunification by the Sui Dynasty in 589, when Sui defeated Chen.
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As if to spite the Sima clan, this unified Jin Dynasty was to be similarly brief. After Sima Yan's death in 290 C.E., his intellectually disabled son proved to be an incompetent ruler; the Rebellion of the Eight Princes would begin in 291 C.E., (but only leading to epic catastrophe from 300 C.E. onwards), paving the way for non-Han tribes further north to invade in the early 4th century C.E, culminating in the Disaster of Yongjia in 311, where Luoyang (the capital of Jin) was captured and sacked. From that point, China would be disunited--and ruled in large part by non-Chinese peoples--for nearly 300 years, until reunification by the Sui Dynasty in 589, when Sui defeated Chen.
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[[folder:Role of Emperor Xian]]
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[[folder:Monetary War]]
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[[folder:Cao Cao, his family and subordinates in history]]
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One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such an act to be one of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu Bei doing just as much backstabbing, if not more. Liu was not interested in the whole "puppet emperor" thing. His aspiration was to be an emperor in his own right, on his own merits, and based on his Han lineage. Thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His relative lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification. [[note]] Therefore, when the storywriters felt the need to appease a Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show, "This is ''not'' okay, according to Confucius." Hence his vilification in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such an act to be one of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu Bei doing just as much backstabbing, if not more. more: Liu was not interested in the whole "puppet emperor" thing. His aspiration was to be an emperor in his own right, on his own merits, and based on his Han lineage. Thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His relative lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification. [[note]] Therefore, when the storywriters felt the need to appease a Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show, "This is ''not'' okay, according to Confucius." Hence his vilification in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such an act to be one of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification. [[note]] Therefore, when the storywriters felt the need to appease a Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show, "This is ''not'' okay, according to Confucius." Hence his vilification in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such an act to be one of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu Bei doing a lot more backstabbing; just as much backstabbing, if not more. Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted "puppet emperor" thing. His aspiration was to be an emperor in his own right, on his own merits or merits, and based on his lineage of the Han, thus Han lineage. Thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His relative lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification. [[note]] Therefore, when the storywriters felt the need to appease a Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show, "This is ''not'' okay, according to Confucius." Hence his vilification in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such an act to be one of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification. [[note]] Therefore, when the storywriters felt the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is ''not'' okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such an act to be one of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification. [[note]] Therefore, when the storywriters felt the need to appease the a Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This show, "This is ''not'' okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to " Hence his villain role vilification in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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Changed line(s) 118,119 (click to see context) from:
One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such an act to be one of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification. [[note]] Therefore, when the storywriters feel the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is ''not'' okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such an act to be one of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification. [[note]] Therefore, when the storywriters feel felt the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is ''not'' okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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Along with the HistoricalHeroUpgrade Liu Bei and Shu-Han got in the novel ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', Cao Cao and his subordinates got the HistoricalVillainUpgrade. More modern takes on Cao Cao depict him as [[IDidWhatIHadtoDo doing what he had to do.]] Historically he was not as villainous as he was depicted in the novel (no more so than many of his contemporaries whose names ''haven't'' become by-words for "treachery.") But make no mistake that Cao Cao and his subordinates were not flawless saints either. Also look at the Aftermath section on how the idea to vilify the Cao family started in the first place.\\\
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Along with the HistoricalHeroUpgrade Liu Bei and Shu-Han got in the novel ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', Cao Cao and his subordinates got the HistoricalVillainUpgrade. More modern takes on Cao Cao depict him as [[IDidWhatIHadtoDo doing what he had to do.]] Historically he was not as villainous as he was depicted in the novel (no more so than many of his contemporaries whose names ''haven't'' become by-words for "treachery.") "treachery"). But make no mistake that Cao Cao and his subordinates were not flawless saints either. Also look at the Aftermath section on how the idea to vilify the Cao family started in the first place.\\\
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'''Guan Yu''''s military record was spotty, with more defeats than victories being recorded. [[note]]Due to Shu having poor historical recording department compared to Wei and Wu, most of its victories, including Guan Yu's, were often not put together. However, Guan Yu was recorded in ''Records'' as a figure of merit and honor that instilled respect by his allies and enemies alike, and can make his enemies think twice and with care when approaching him (yes, even Cao Cao and Lü Meng spoke as such).[[/note]] Even his Fancheng campaign, which started out well and enjoyed some good luck (an entire enemy army was washed away by a flood), ground to a halt once he went up against competent opposition like Cao Ren and Xu Huang. His worst failure was the loss of Liu Bei's Jing Province holdings to Lü Meng, which cost Liu almost a third of his territory. Guan was also known to be arrogant, looking down on others (even Sun Quan, Liu Bei's primary ally) as his inferiors [[note]]Guan Yu was noted to be very skeptical when Ma Chao first joined Liu Bei, asking Zhuge Liang to whom Ma Chao might be compared. It was only after Zhuge Liang assured him that, while Ma Chao could keep up with the others, he was no match for Guan Yu, that Guan relented. While many detractors would point to this as the height of Guan Yu's arrogance, [[JerkassHasAPoint he is not without a point for being suspicious]] since as noted below, the historical Ma Chao was quite brutal.[[/note]], this serves as his [[FatalFlaw flaw]], balancing out his steadfast honor (shown to Cao Cao during his services to him) and loyalty to Liu Bei. \\\
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'''Guan Yu''''s military record was spotty, with more defeats than victories being recorded. [[note]]Due to Shu having poor historical recording department compared to Wei and Wu, most of its victories, including Guan Yu's, were often not put together. However, Guan Yu was recorded in ''Records'' as a figure of merit and honor that instilled respect by his allies and enemies alike, and can make his enemies think twice and with care when approaching him (yes, even Cao Cao and Lü Meng spoke as such).[[/note]] Even his Fancheng campaign, which started out well and enjoyed some good luck (an entire enemy army was washed away by a flood), ground to a halt once he went up against competent opposition like Cao Ren and Xu Huang. His worst failure was the loss of Liu Bei's Jing Province holdings to Lü Meng, which cost Liu almost a third of his territory. Guan was also known to be arrogant, looking down on others (even Sun Quan, Liu Bei's primary ally) as his inferiors inferiors. [[note]]Guan Yu was noted to be very skeptical when Ma Chao first joined Liu Bei, asking Zhuge Liang to whom Ma Chao might be compared. It was only after Zhuge Liang assured him that, while Ma Chao could keep up with the others, he was no match for Guan Yu, that Guan relented. While many detractors would point to this as the height of Guan Yu's arrogance, [[JerkassHasAPoint he is not without a point for being suspicious]] since as noted below, the historical Ma Chao was quite brutal.[[/note]], this [[/note]] This serves as his [[FatalFlaw flaw]], balancing out his steadfast honor (shown to Cao Cao during his services to him) and loyalty to Liu Bei. \\\
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Changed line(s) 96,97 (click to see context) from:
'''Guan Yu''''s military record was spotty, with more defeats than victories being recorded [[note]]Due to Shu having poor historical recording department compared to Wei and Wu, most of its victories, including Guan Yu's, were often not put together. However, Guan Yu was recorded in ''Records'' as a figure of merit and honor that instilled respect by his allies and enemies alike, and can make his enemies think twice and with care when approaching him (yes, even Cao Cao and Lü Meng spoke as such).[[/note]]. Even his Fancheng campaign, which started out well and enjoyed some good luck (an entire enemy army was washed away by a flood), ground to a halt once he went up against competent opposition like Cao Ren and Xu Huang. His worst failure was the loss of Liu Bei's Jing Province holdings to Lü Meng, which cost Liu almost a third of his territory. Guan was also known to be arrogant, looking down on others (even Sun Quan, Liu Bei's primary ally) as his inferiors [[note]]Guan Yu was noted to be very skeptical when Ma Chao first joined Liu Bei, asking Zhuge Liang to whom Ma Chao might be compared. It was only after Zhuge Liang assured him that, while Ma Chao could keep up with the others, he was no match for Guan Yu, that Guan relented. While many detractors would point to this as the height of Guan Yu's arrogance, [[JerkassHasAPoint he is not without a point for being suspicious]] since as noted below, the historical Ma Chao was quite brutal.[[/note]], this serves as his [[FatalFlaw flaw]], balancing out his steadfast honor (shown to Cao Cao during his services to him) and loyalty to Liu Bei. \\\
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'''Guan Yu''''s military record was spotty, with more defeats than victories being recorded recorded. [[note]]Due to Shu having poor historical recording department compared to Wei and Wu, most of its victories, including Guan Yu's, were often not put together. However, Guan Yu was recorded in ''Records'' as a figure of merit and honor that instilled respect by his allies and enemies alike, and can make his enemies think twice and with care when approaching him (yes, even Cao Cao and Lü Meng spoke as such).[[/note]]. [[/note]] Even his Fancheng campaign, which started out well and enjoyed some good luck (an entire enemy army was washed away by a flood), ground to a halt once he went up against competent opposition like Cao Ren and Xu Huang. His worst failure was the loss of Liu Bei's Jing Province holdings to Lü Meng, which cost Liu almost a third of his territory. Guan was also known to be arrogant, looking down on others (even Sun Quan, Liu Bei's primary ally) as his inferiors [[note]]Guan Yu was noted to be very skeptical when Ma Chao first joined Liu Bei, asking Zhuge Liang to whom Ma Chao might be compared. It was only after Zhuge Liang assured him that, while Ma Chao could keep up with the others, he was no match for Guan Yu, that Guan relented. While many detractors would point to this as the height of Guan Yu's arrogance, [[JerkassHasAPoint he is not without a point for being suspicious]] since as noted below, the historical Ma Chao was quite brutal.[[/note]], this serves as his [[FatalFlaw flaw]], balancing out his steadfast honor (shown to Cao Cao during his services to him) and loyalty to Liu Bei. \\\
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Changed line(s) 96,97 (click to see context) from:
'''Guan Yu''''s military record was spotty, with more defeats than victories being recorded[[note]]Due to Shu having poor historical recording department compared to Wei and Wu, most of its victories, including Guan Yu's, were often not put together. However, Guan Yu was recorded in ''Records'' as a figure of merit and honor that instilled respect by his allies and enemies alike, and can make his enemies think twice and with care when approaching him (yes, even Cao Cao and Lü Meng spoke as such).[[/note]]. Even his Fancheng campaign, which started out well and enjoyed some good luck (an entire enemy army was washed away by a flood), ground to a halt once he went up against competent opposition like Cao Ren and Xu Huang. His worst failure was the loss of Liu Bei's Jing Province holdings to Lü Meng, which cost Liu almost a third of his territory. Guan was also known to be arrogant, looking down on others (even Sun Quan, Liu Bei's primary ally) as his inferiors [[note]]Guan Yu was noted to be very skeptical when Ma Chao first joined Liu Bei, asking Zhuge Liang to whom Ma Chao might be compared. It was only after Zhuge Liang assured him that, while Ma Chao could keep up with the others, he was no match for Guan Yu, that Guan relented. While many detractors would point to this as the height of Guan Yu's arrogance, [[JerkassHasAPoint he is not without a point for being suspicious]] since as noted below, the historical Ma Chao was quite brutal.[[/note]], this serves as his [[FatalFlaw flaw]], balancing out his steadfast honor (shown to Cao Cao during his services to him) and loyalty to Liu Bei. \\\
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'''Guan Yu''''s military record was spotty, with more defeats than victories being recorded[[note]]Due recorded [[note]]Due to Shu having poor historical recording department compared to Wei and Wu, most of its victories, including Guan Yu's, were often not put together. However, Guan Yu was recorded in ''Records'' as a figure of merit and honor that instilled respect by his allies and enemies alike, and can make his enemies think twice and with care when approaching him (yes, even Cao Cao and Lü Meng spoke as such).[[/note]]. Even his Fancheng campaign, which started out well and enjoyed some good luck (an entire enemy army was washed away by a flood), ground to a halt once he went up against competent opposition like Cao Ren and Xu Huang. His worst failure was the loss of Liu Bei's Jing Province holdings to Lü Meng, which cost Liu almost a third of his territory. Guan was also known to be arrogant, looking down on others (even Sun Quan, Liu Bei's primary ally) as his inferiors [[note]]Guan Yu was noted to be very skeptical when Ma Chao first joined Liu Bei, asking Zhuge Liang to whom Ma Chao might be compared. It was only after Zhuge Liang assured him that, while Ma Chao could keep up with the others, he was no match for Guan Yu, that Guan relented. While many detractors would point to this as the height of Guan Yu's arrogance, [[JerkassHasAPoint he is not without a point for being suspicious]] since as noted below, the historical Ma Chao was quite brutal.[[/note]], this serves as his [[FatalFlaw flaw]], balancing out his steadfast honor (shown to Cao Cao during his services to him) and loyalty to Liu Bei. \\\
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One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such an act to be one of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification.[[note]] Therefore, when the storywriters feel the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is ''not'' okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such an act to be one of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification. [[note]] Therefore, when the storywriters feel the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is ''not'' okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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Back when Dong Zhuo was retreating to Changan from Luoyang, Sun Jian entered Luoyang with his troops and managed to fish out the Imperial Seal which had been dropped down a well in the chaos. At the time, Sun Jian was still under Yuan Shu's command, and it was said that Yuan imprisoned Sun Jian's wife to force Sun to cough up the seal. With the seal in hand, along with a prophecy seemingly indicating that he was to become emperor, Yuan crowned himself emperor in 197. This proved to be an utter disaster for him. Firstly, he seemed to assume that because Sun Jian was his subordinate, all Sun Jian's land and resources were as good as his, and he took this for granted. This turned out not to be the case. After Yuan Shu crowned himself emperor, Sun Ce (Sun Jian's son) took the opportunity to break away, on the (not incorrect) premise that Yuan was now a pretender and a traitor. Suddenly bereft of his most powerful ally, Yuan attempted to ally with Lü Bu but this also failed (initially), as Lü Bu proclaimed his loyalty to Emperor Xian. With Cao Cao and Sun Ce beating down on him, Yuan only lasted 2 years and died in 199; Lü Bu eventually jumped ship and allied with Yuan, but was defeated by Cao and also died in 199 (before Yuan), on 7 Feb [[note]]The corresponding date in the Chinese calendar is the ''guiyou'' (24th) day of the 12th month of the 3rd year of the Jian'an era.[[/note]].
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Back when Dong Zhuo was retreating to Changan from Luoyang, Sun Jian entered Luoyang with his troops and managed to fish out the Imperial Seal which had been dropped down a well in the chaos. At the time, Sun Jian was still under Yuan Shu's command, and it was said that Yuan imprisoned Sun Jian's wife to force Sun to cough up the seal. With the seal in hand, along with a prophecy seemingly indicating that he was to become emperor, Yuan crowned himself emperor in 197. This proved to be an utter disaster for him. Firstly, he seemed to assume that because Sun Jian was his subordinate, all Sun Jian's land and resources were as good as his, and he took this for granted. This turned out not to be the case. After Yuan Shu crowned himself emperor, Sun Ce (Sun Jian's son) took the opportunity to break away, on the (not incorrect) premise that Yuan was now a pretender and a traitor. Suddenly bereft of his most powerful ally, Yuan attempted to ally with Lü Bu but this also failed (initially), as Lü Bu proclaimed his loyalty to Emperor Xian. With Cao Cao and Sun Ce beating down on him, Yuan only lasted 2 years and died in 199; Lü Bu eventually jumped ship and allied with Yuan, but was defeated by Cao and also died in 199 (before Yuan), on 7 Feb Feb. [[note]]The corresponding date in the Chinese calendar is the ''guiyou'' (24th) day of the 12th month of the 3rd year of the Jian'an era.[[/note]].
[[/note]]
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The decline of the Eastern Han dynasty was a process lasting more than a century, during which two main factions struggled for supremacy: the ''waiqi'' (consort kin, relatives of the empress/imperial concubines) and the eunuchs. The ''waiqi'' were prominent clans that translated their status to power by [[{{Nepotism}} filling governmental positions with their kin]]. The dowager empress would also become regent in case [[AChildShallLeadThem the emperor was too young to rule]], and the Later Han was ''plagued'' with child emperors[[note]]To highlight just how ridiculously short-lived the Eastern Han emperors were, only ''three'' lived beyond the age of 40: the founder Emperor Guang Wu (died aged 62), his son Emperor Ming (aged 47), and the final Emperor Xian (abdicated at 39, died at 53).[[/note]]. Meanwhile, the eunuchs were close servants whom the emperor personally trusted and turned to whenever he was upset with whoever held the real power at the time, and through this, they accumulated a great deal of influence themselves [[EunuchsAreEvil to the scorn of "proper" officials]].
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The decline of the Eastern Han dynasty was a process lasting more than a century, during which two main factions struggled for supremacy: the ''waiqi'' (consort kin, relatives of the empress/imperial concubines) and the eunuchs. The ''waiqi'' were prominent clans that translated their status to power by [[{{Nepotism}} filling governmental positions with their kin]]. The dowager empress would also become regent in case [[AChildShallLeadThem the emperor was too young to rule]], and the Later Han was ''plagued'' with child emperors[[note]]To emperors. [[note]]To highlight just how ridiculously short-lived the Eastern Han emperors were, only ''three'' lived beyond the age of 40: the founder Emperor Guang Wu (died aged 62), his son Emperor Ming (aged 47), and the final Emperor Xian (abdicated at 39, died at 53).[[/note]]. [[/note]] Meanwhile, the eunuchs were close servants whom the emperor personally trusted and turned to whenever he was upset with whoever held the real power at the time, and through this, they accumulated a great deal of influence themselves [[EunuchsAreEvil to the scorn of "proper" officials]].
Changed line(s) 118,119 (click to see context) from:
One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such an act to be one of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification.[[note]]Therefore, when the storywriters feel the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is ''not'' okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such an act to be one of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification.[[note]]Therefore, [[note]] Therefore, when the storywriters feel the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is ''not'' okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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Changed line(s) 118,119 (click to see context) from:
One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such to be an act of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification.[[note]]Therefore, when the storywriters feel the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is ''not'' okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
to:
One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such to be an act to be one of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification.[[note]]Therefore, when the storywriters feel the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is ''not'' okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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Changed line(s) 118,119 (click to see context) from:
One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such to be an act of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification.[[note]]Therefore, when the storywriters feel the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is NOT okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
to:
One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures.[[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such to be an act of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification.[[note]]Therefore, when the storywriters feel the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is NOT ''not'' okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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Changed line(s) 118,119 (click to see context) from:
One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures. [[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such to be an act of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification.[[note]]Therefore, when the storywriters feel the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is NOT okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
to:
One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way he could get very murder-happy (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures. [[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such to be an act of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification.[[note]]Therefore, when the storywriters feel the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is NOT okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
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Changed line(s) 118,119 (click to see context) from:
One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way, he could get very murder-happy about it (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures. [[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such to be an act of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification.[[note]]Therefore, when the storywriters feel the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is NOT okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
to:
One of the chief reasons on how Cao Cao was nonetheless subjected to HistoricalVillainUpgrade was that while he could be forgiving for the right reasons and fair, if people rubbed him the wrong way, way he could get very murder-happy about it (and unfortunately, a lot of people did). He was recorded to have committed a lot of massacres; if anything, [[HistoricalVillainDowngrade the novel actually omitted a lot of them]], leaving only the [[MisplacedRetribution massacre in Xuzhou/Xu Province]], caused by Cao blaming governor Tao Qian for [[YouKilledMyFather the death of his father Cao Song]], when in reality he slaughtered several cities due to his army being low on food, so thoroughly that the Si river was filled with corpses. [[note]]Even this massacre (in which Cao's men killed over 100,000 people) turned out to benefit Cao further down the line; after Liu Bei took over Xuzhou, Xuzhou's productivity took a big hit due to the population loss from the massacre, contributing to Liu's and Lü Bu's (Lü later occupied Xuzhou) eventual failures. [[/note]] Ultimately, Cao Cao's actions did ''not'' sit well with the teachings of Confucianism (especially the part about installing a puppet emperor while he's controlling them from behind the scenes; many considered such to be an act of unabashed personal ambition - a big no-no in Confucianism [[note]]This is what separated Cao Cao from Liu Bei despite Liu doing a lot more backstabbing; Liu was not interested in the whole 'puppet emperor' thing despite his own aspirations, he wanted to be an emperor on his own merits or his lineage of the Han, thus he became the better candidate to give HistoricalHeroUpgrade according to Confucianism. His lack of massacres certainly made it easier to sell, even if his accomplishments were embellished.[[/note]]), thus fueling his vilification.[[note]]Therefore, when the storywriters feel the need to appease the Confucianism-attuned audience and promote its teaching, Cao Cao became the perfect figure to show 'This is NOT okay, according to Confucius.', which culminated to his villain role in the Confucianism-based ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms''[[/note]]\\\
