Ts'ao Ts'ao (155-220), the most popular hero in Chinese folklore, was also a truly great historical figure whose genius as a general and as a statesman saved North China from chaos when the Han dynasty crumbled at the end of the 2nd century AD.

The origins of Ts'ao Ts'ao are obscure since his father, Ts'ao Sung, was the adopted son of a powerful eunuch, Ts'ao T'eng. This meant that the Ts'ao family was a rich one, but relatively newly rich, and of tainted lineage. An unruly and adventurous youth, Ts'ao was greatly pleased when a famous judge of character predicted that he would be "an able public servant in a world at peace, or a crafty, deceitful hero in a world at war." The world was at war, one of the bloodiest China had ever seen, and Ts'ao Ts'ao threw himself into the battle in 184, helping to quell...