"Cao Cao" is a historical costume drama produced by Radio and Television Media Culture Development Co., Ltd., directed by Hu Mei and starring Zhao Lixin, Sun Hongtao, Gong Jie, Zhang Yujie, Cecilia Han and Ku Kuiji.
The play mainly tells the first half of Cao Cao's unification of the North and the establishment of hegemony in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Young Cao Cao (Zhao Lixin) used heavy codes to eliminate folk customs and bureaucracy in order to save the dangerous Han empire.
But consorts and eunuchs are in power, and governors are in charge of their own affairs. Dong Zhuo (Shi Liming) went to Beijing and relied on the emperor to rebel. Cao Cao assassinated Dong Zhuo, but failed. He fled Zhongmou and was captured by the county magistrate. The county magistrate felt fair and let Cao Cao go. Cao Cao then recruited soldiers and went to Liu Chen to strive for excellence. After failing to find Zhuo, Cao Cao recruited soldiers from his hometown and had to ride hundreds of thousands of people. Knowing that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was in trouble, he adopted Yu Xun, a counselor? It is suggested to welcome Xian Di to Xuchang and build Xuchang into a national capital. In the following decades, Cao Cao used the emperor as an excuse to make him disobey his ministers, enlist Yuan Shu (Ding Kai), capture Lu Bu (windward), destroy Yuan Shao (Sun Hongtao), cut down Liu Biao, expel Wu Wan, surrender Gongsun Kang, suppress Han Sui, remove Ma Teng, beg Liu Bei and strike Sun Quan.
Cao Cao was defeated in Battle of Red Cliffs, which conquered Sun Quan. After that, he set out to consolidate the political situation in northern China. In 220 AD, Cao Cao died with the dream of reunifying China.