Cao Cao

Where they went

9 related events

1. 1
   AD 200Battle of Guanducommander

   Cao Cao defeated Yuan Shao, the most powerful warlord in the north, at Guandu, opening the way to his unification of northern China.

2. AD 200Guan Yu Crosses Five PassesFictionrelated figure

   A scene from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in which Guan Yu, leaving Cao Cao to rejoin Liu Bei, passes five gates and slays six generals. It is not in the official history.

3. 2
   AD 208Battle of Changbancommander

   Cao Cao’s cavalry, come south into Jing Province, caught the fleeing Liu Bei at Changban in Dangyang. Liu Bei abandoned his family and fled while Zhang Fei cut the bridge and held the rear.

4. 3
   AD 208Battle of Red Cliffscommander

   The allied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei burned the great fleet of Cao Cao, who had come south down the Yangtze, at Red Cliffs. Cao Cao’s bid to unify the realm was stopped, and the three-way division hardened.

5. AD 208Borrowing Arrows with Straw BoatsFictionrelated figure

   A scene from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in which Zhuge Liang gathers a hundred thousand of Cao Cao’s arrows with straw-laden boats. It is not in the official history.

6. AD 208Guan Yu at Huarong RoadFictionrelated figure

   A scene from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in which Guan Yu, remembering past kindness, lets the defeated Cao Cao escape at Huarong Road. It is not in the official history.

7. 4
   AD 219 – AD 220Battle of Fancheng and the Death of Guan Yurelated figure

   Liu Bei’s general Guan Yu besieged Wei-held Fancheng and drowned its relief army, but Wu’s Lü Meng meanwhile seized Jing Province behind him. Guan Yu was captured and killed, and the Shu–Wu alliance broke.

8. 5
   AD 219Battle of Mount Dingjuncommander

   Liu Bei, aiming at Hanzhong, camped on Mount Dingjun, and his general Huang Zhong killed Wei’s Xiahou Yuan when he came to attack. Liu Bei took Hanzhong and became King of Hanzhong.

9. 6
   AD 220Fall of the Han and Founding of Weirelated figure

   Cao Cao’s son Cao Pi received the throne from Emperor Xian and founded Wei. The Han dynasty, which had lasted over four centuries, came to an end and the Three Kingdoms period began.

Related works

People who appear alongside

• Guan YuAD 220

  Liu Bei’s general, who attacked Fancheng in 219 but lost Jingzhou to Wu’s Lü Meng and was captured and killed; later worshipped as Guandi

• Liu BeiAD 161 – AD 223

  Founding emperor of Shu Han (Emperor Zhaolie), who claimed descent from the Han house and became emperor at Chengdu in 221

• Emperor Xian of HanAD 181 – AD 234

  Last emperor of the Eastern Han, controlled by Dong Zhuo and then Cao Cao, who abdicated to Cao Pi in 220

• Zhou YuAD 175 – AD 210

  Sun Quan’s commander, who led the Wu forces that defeated Cao Cao at Red Cliffs in 208

• Sun QuanAD 182 – AD 252

  Founding emperor of Wu (Emperor Da), who allied with Liu Bei to stop Cao Cao at Red Cliffs and became emperor in 229

• Zhuge LiangAD 181 – AD 234

  Chancellor of Shu Han, who proposed the plan to divide the realm in three to Liu Bei in 207 and died of illness on the Wuzhang Plains in 234 during his northern campaigns

• Yuan ShaoAD 202

  The most powerful northern warlord of the late Han, leader of the coalition against Dong Zhuo, defeated by Cao Cao at Guandu in 200

• Zhang FeiAD 221

  Liu Bei’s general from Zhuo Commandery, who held off Cao Cao’s cavalry at the bridge at Changban in 208; murdered by his own men in 221

Themes this person appears in

• Ancient China and India770 BC – AD 220

  From the Hundred Schools of the Warring States to the unified empires of Qin and Han, and from the Buddha to the Maurya and Kushan empires — the millennium that shaped East and South Asian civilisation

• The Three KingdomsAD 184 – AD 280

  From the Yellow Turban Rebellion to the Jin reunification — a century of Wei, Shu and Wu, the age of Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan