Cao Ang

  • Guo Jia: Cao Cao’s peerless strategist [Three Kingdoms]

    Among the brilliant minds who shaped the Three Kingdoms era, none captured Cao Cao’s trust – or foresaw the future with such uncanny precision – as Guo Jia, styled Fengxiao.

  • Chapter 16. Lü Bu’s Arrow and Cao Cao’s Desire [Three Kingdoms]

    Chapter 16 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms presents two pivotal events that profoundly altered the balance of power during the late Eastern Han dynasty. One showcases military brilliance and political cunning, while the other reveals the peril of personal indulgence and strategic overreach.

  • Yuan Shu’s invasion of Chen State [Three Kingdoms]

    In the year 197 AD, Yuan Shu, having declared himself Emperor of the short-lived Zhong dynasty, found his ambitions crumbling under a cascade of military defeats, diplomatic failures, and internal decay. Once a powerful warlord controlling the fertile lands of Huai River region, Yuan Shu’s realm rapidly contracted due to betrayals, strategic miscalculations, and…

  • Decision and deployment for the Eastern Campaign Against Lü Bu [Three Kingdoms]

    In the turbulent struggle to unify northern China during the late Eastern Han dynasty, Cao Cao faced two primary threats: Yuan Shao, the dominant warlord of the north, and Lü Bu, the fearsome but unstable warrior who controlled key territories to the southeast. While Yuan Shao commanded vast armies and held sway over four…

  • Cao Cao’s second campaign against Zhang Xiu [Three Kingdoms]

    The year 198 AD saw Cao Cao return to Nanyang Commandery for a second campaign against Zhang Xiu, a conflict defined not by a decisive siege, but by strategic maneuvering, near-disaster, and brilliant counterattacks.

  • The Battle of Wancheng [Three Kingdoms]

    The year 197 AD marked a turning point in Cao Cao’s southern expansion—not through victory, but through a catastrophic defeat born of arrogance and personal folly. His campaign against Zhang Xiu in Nanyang Commandery began with a bloodless surrender but ended in humiliation, death, and strategic reversal. What should have been a swift annexation…

  • Zhang Xiu surrendered to Liu Biao [Three Kingdoms]

    In the turbulent final years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, as warlords carved up the empire, a lesser-known figure emerged in the strategic heartland between the Central Plains and the Yangtze River. Zhang Xiu, a nephew of the fallen warlord Zhang Ji, found himself thrust into leadership after a fateful raid in 196 AD.…

  • Strategist Jia Xu [Three Kingdoms]

    When discussing the greatest strategists of the Three Kingdoms, names like Zhuge Liang, Xun Yu, Guo Jia, Sima Yi, and Jia Xu often rise to the top. While intellectual brilliance was common among them, Jia Xu stands out as the undisputed master of emotional intelligence (EQ)—a skill that allowed him not only to survive…