The most famous Tsao is Tsao Cao (153-219 AD), one of the most well-known and controversial figures in Chinese history. He served as Prime Minister and practical ruler for the last emperor of the Han dynasty (206BC-220 AD). The dynasty almost collapsed by a revolt instigated by a Taoist cult known as the “yellow turbans” but Tsao Cao restored the central government and its emperor. After the revolt, he lost almost all respect for the Han emperor and decreed that his own son would be the new emperor upon his death. Although he saved many lives by providing the masses with a stable and lawful government, the ruling class disdained him because of his disloyalty to the Han dynasty and disregard of Confucian morality. Consequently, he was portrayed in a famous novel, the Stories of Three Kingdoms, as manipulative, conspiring, and disloyal. This image has perpetuated in Chinese opera, television and movie adaptations of the novel.
Tsao Cao was born in Shandong province to a noble family whose lineage included high officials of the Han dynasty. For example, one ancestor was a Prime Minister for the first emperor of Han dynasty. His father was the minister of Justice. He was described as a very intelligent, calculating, and capable young man with little regard for rules or mores. He was a master of the martial arts and an avid student of military strategy. He counted The Art of War by Sun Tzu as one of his favorite books which was an uncommon sentiment in a culture heavily influenced by Confucius.
Through family connections he was appointed county commissioner at the young age of 23. At this time, the revolt of “yellow turbans” had spread throughout the country. Tsao Cao assembled a small army of young men from his county and under his command defeated several groups of “yellow turbans”. The government appointed him head of the ten counties he cleared of the revolt.
A few years later, a powerful general, Tong Zua, killed the Han emperor and installed the dead emperor’s baby brother as emperor. The general made himself the Prime Minister and practical ruler. Since most refused to recognize the new emperor and central government, warlords were the real law. Tsao Cao took this opportunity to expand his territory to the whole province and became a respectable warlord.
After Tong Zua was killed in mutiny and the capital fell to chaos, Tsao Cao recognized the value of the puppet emperor as a means to authenticate his power and award noble titles to those loyal to him. He took the child emperor under his wing and restored order to the capital while other warlords were occupied with infighting. His military genius, respect of law, and skillful exploitation of the Han emperor enabled him to defeat of most of the warlords and control two-thirds of China. In his famous battle against the most powerful warlord Yuan Shau, ruler of four provinces, Tsao Cao, with less than a hundred thousand soldiers, broke down the enemy’s army of more than a quarter million soldiers by disrupting the supply line.
His goal to rule all of China, however, was crushed by a coalition of southern and western warlords at the battle of Chi-Bee, a city by the Yangtze River in Hubei province. His army was simply not equipped to win. His huge army of a half million, mostly consisting northerners not acclimated to the hot and humid southern weather, suffered from illness and disease of the region. His soldiers and great cavalry were not familiar with river warfare and bolted hundreds of boats together to provide easy access and stay for soldiers and horses. These boats were difficult to maneuver and easy targets. After the defeat, Tsao Cao reluctantly settled for ruling provinces north of Yangtze River while two warlords ruled the rest, thus forming the Three Kingdoms.
During his reign, Tsao Cao implemented a controversial rule. He removed morality as a prerequisite for government officials. Relying on his own experiences of faking morality, he believed that reputations of high morality could not be authenticated. In his mind, ability was much easier to prove and demonstrate and therefore was of greater importance. This rule ran counter to Confucianism, which teaches that morality is the fabric of society.
Among Tsao Cao’s other talents was writing poetry. Here are a few samples of his sentimentality:
Drink wine and sing my favorite song
Life may not be long
Like the morning dew
The future will be more bitter than fun
...........................
The old champion horse resting in the room
His mind racing to the moon
The aged revolutionary convalescing in his bed
His brain plotting for his platoon
A well known story demonstrates Tsao Pa’s treachery and Tsao Chih’s ingenuity. After becoming emperor, one of Tsao Pa’s first acts was to summon his brother and archrival to his palace chambers to find a way to punish him. Tsao Pa hatched a trap to charge his brother with lying to the emperor, a serious crime punishable by death.
Sitting in his throne, he scorned his younger brother’s intellect and ordered him to write a poem with a description of the chamber within the time of a seven step walk to the emperor. A dish of cooked soybeans, a favorite snack of the new emperor, just had been served. While walking the seven steps, Tsao Chih formed this famous poem:
Tsao Pa felt a little ashamed of his own behavior and forgave him but remained suspicious of his brother’s intentions. During the next few months, he invented charges against Tsao Chih’s influential friends in order to execute them. In subsequent years, the emperor ordered Tsao Chih to move far and often to prevent him from establishing a base and forbid contact with any relatives. Constantly on the move and lonely, he was often anxious and died at the young age of forty-one.
Bean pods fuel the cooking fire
Beans in the pot cry out in pain
“Our root is the same”
“Must you be so quick to fry?”