The Tianshi school was officially recognized by ruler Cao Cao in 215, legitimizing Cao Cao's rise to power in return.

It began when the ruler of Wei, Cao Cao, was defeated by Liu Bei and Sun Quan at the Battle of Red Cliffs.

By traditional Chinese historiography, no Three Kingdoms era officially existed, since in a legal sense the Mandate of Heaven was passed legitimately from the Han Emperor Xian to Cao Wei, and then on to the Jìn Dynasty.

Cao Cao, directly to Yuan Shao's south, was engaged in a struggle against Yuan Shu and Liu Biao, who occupied respectively the Huai River basin and middle Yangtze regions.

By 196, when he was received by Cao Cao, most of the smaller contenders for power had either been absorbed by larger ones or destroyed.

This was an extremely important move for Cao Cao following the suggestion from his primary advisor, Xun Yu, commenting that by supporting the authentic emperor, Cao Cao would have the formal legal authority to control the other warlords and force them to comply in order to restore the Han Dynasty.

Cao Cao, whose zone of control was the precursor to the state of Cao Wei, had raised an army in the winter of 189.

In 197, Yuan Shu, who was at odds with Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and Liu Bei, felt assured of victory with his subordinate's conquests, and thus declared himself emperor of the Cheng Dynasty.

Lü Bu's men deserted him, Yuan Shu's forces never arrived as reinforcements, and he was bound by his own subordinates Song Xian and Wei Xu and executed on Cao Cao's order.

Xian was persuaded by Cao Cao ( 155 – 220 CE ), then Governor of Yan Province in modern western Shandong and eastern Henan, to move the capital to Xuchang in 196 CE.

Yuan's power was greatly diminished after Cao defeated him at the Battle of Guandu in 200 CE.

After Cao's defeat at the naval Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 CE, China was divided into three spheres of influence, with Cao Cao dominating the north, Sun Quan ( 182 – 252 CE ) dominating the south, and Liu Bei ( 161 – 223 CE ) dominating the west.

Cao Cao was very pleased and compared Zhang He's surrender to those of Wei Zi ( 微子 ) and Han Xin. ¹

In this statement, Sun Quan commented that he was very pleased with two things that Lu Su had done for him: drafting a plan for him to emerge as one of three major contending powers in China ; and helping him arrive at his resolution to ally with Liu Bei against Cao Cao just before the Battle of Red Cliffs.

Cao Cao was pleased and invited Zhang Xiu and his men to a banquet.

After the entrenchment was completed, Yu finally sought audience with Cao and explained the situation to the latter, who was pleased and lauded the commander for his leadership quality.

When Cao Song went to see his son, Cao Cao behaved normally.

During a casual conversation, Cao Zhang asked his brother if he could see his royal seal.

* Emperor Ming of Wei ( 205-239 ), see Cao Rui

He died as Cao Zhang was en route to see him.

During a casual conversation, Cao Zhang asked his brother if he could see his royal seal.

It recorded an incident where Cao Ren, a cousin and much trusted general of Cao Cao, came from Jing Province to see Cao Cao.

Liu Bang's general Cao Wushang sent a messenger to see Xiang Yu, saying that Liu Bang would become King of Guanzhong in accordance with King Huai II's earlier promise, while Ziying would be appointed as Liu's chancellor.

After riding for another 30 li ( approximately 15km ), Cao finally understood the hidden meaning behind those words and asked Yang to share his insights and see if he got it correct.

* Emperor Ming of Wei ( 205-239 ), see Cao Rui

As Cao Zhen did not have power at the time, he could only bear a furtive displeasure against jokes revolving around his weight, but his muffled wrath would keep accumulate to a point where it nearly broke out into a duel between him and Wu Zhi years later ( see Appraisal section below ).

Cao remained in this position for little more than a year, being dismissed from office in 178 for his distant family ties with the disgraced Empress Song.

In one occasion, the enemy commander, Zhou Yu, left the defense of his main camp to his subordinate, Ling Tong, and led most of the troops to rescue another subject, Gan Ning, who was surrounded by Cao Ren's cavalry in a distant castle.

Xiahou Ba's parents were important figures in Cao Wei ; his father, Xiahou Yuan, had fought alongside his distant cousin and founder of Wei, Cao Cao, since the start of the civil wars and was one of the most trusted of Cao's generals, and Xiahou Ba's mother was a sister-in-law of Cao Cao.

He was also a distant nephew of Cao Cao, though the latter treated him like a son.

According to the Records of Three Kingdoms, Cao Zhen was a distant nephew of Cao Cao.

He had Cao Zhen reside with his future successor Cao Pi and another distant nephew Cao Xiu.

Unfortunately for him, Cao Zhen's distant uncle, Cao Hong, was also a compulsive prankster who never failed to " show concern " on his nephew's size problem.

Three commanderies of the distant Longyou soon defected to Zhuge ; thus, Cao Zhen hurriedly led his troops to Mei ( 郿 ), near Chang ' an and Chencang ( 陈仓 ), in fear Zhuge would attack either city.

A distant nephew of Cao Cao, Cao Xiu was given special attention by the former, who once asserted him befitting the role of a commander.

* Cao Anmin, nephew of Cao Cao

Caught unprepared, Cao Cao lost many troops and several trusted subjects, including his bodyguard Dian Wei, his own eldest son Cao Ang, and beloved nephew Cao An ' man.

On one hand he recommended many other men of calibre to Cao Cao, including Xun You ( his nephew ), Chen Qun, Zhong Yao, Guo Jia and Sima Yi, creating a body of advisors around Cao ; at the same time he participated in several battles and major events of the era, often giving timely advice to his master.

In the novel after his death Cao Cao could not find his body and wept because of this, furthermore he expressed sorrow that Dian Wei who was talented died, while he couldn't feel as much sorrow for his son and nephew who also died in the battle.

He was succeeded by his nephew Cao Cong ( 曹琮 ) since he was without his own heir.

Many of his brother's family managed to escape, and one of them, his nephew Wang Ling, was a Grand Commandant under Cao Cao.