He rose to prominence in the 190s during which he recruited his own followers, formed his own army, and set up a base in Yan Province (covering parts of present-day Henan and Shandong).

In 196, he received Emperor Xian, the figurehead Han sovereign who was previously held hostage by other warlords such as Dong Zhuo, Li Jue, and Guo Si.

[3] Such a work cannot be considered a reliable source, but informs an exaggerated perspective contraposed to the glowing portrait painted by his own dynasty's official history.

Other early sources for Pei Songzhi included Yu Huan's privately composed histories Dianlüe (典略; Authoritative Account) and Weilüe, written prior to Chen Shou's own work; and Sima Biao's Annals of the Nine Provinces (九州春秋), also from the 3rd century.

The general Dou Wu and senior minister Chen Fan plotted to get rid of the Ten Attendants, a eunuch faction— their plan failed and they lost their lives.

[B 3] Emperor Ling later issued a decree, ordering the Three Ducal Ministers to report and dismiss commandery and county officials who performed badly in office.

[A 8] The Book of Wei recorded that around the time, corruption had deteriorated to the point where influential officials dominated the imperial court and blatantly abused their powers.

[B 7] Wang Fen (王芬), the Inspector of Ji Province, along with Xu You, Zhou Jing (周旌) and others, plotted to overthrow Emperor Ling and replace him with the Marquis of Hefei (合肥侯).

[A 15] In early 190, several regional officials and warlords formed a coalition army numbering some tens of thousands, and launched a punitive campaign against Dong Zhuo.

Dong Zhuo, alarmed by his losses, ordered his troops to forcefully relocate Luoyang's residents to Chang'an and burn down the imperial capital, leaving behind nothing for the coalition.

He sent his army to collect food, but his numerically inferior forces were able to turn back an attack by Lü Bu that summer using deceptive tactics.

In Luoyang, Emperor Xian came under the protection of Dong Cheng, former bandit Yang Feng, and other petty strongmen who have been characterised as "ragtag gangsters".

[B 14] The tuntian agricultural colonies gave Cao Cao an advantage over his adversaries, allowing him to resettle internally displaced refugees, redevelop abandoned arable lands, shorten his supply lines, reduce the amount of defensive assets tasked to defend farms and granaries, and increase the area and productivity of lands held directly by the state.

In early 198, he led another campaign against Zhang Xiu and besieged him in Rangcheng (穰城; present-day Dengzhou, Henan) but withdrew his forces about two months later.

[A 52] Throughout the period of civil wars during the late Eastern Han dynasty, the Wuhuan tribes in northern China had been taking advantage of the situation to invade You Province, capture and enslave thousands of people living in the area.

In autumn, he sailed along the Huai River to the garrison at Hefei, where he issued an order for local officials to provide relief to the families of soldiers who had died in battle.

He then established an administration in Yang Province and started a tuntian system in Quebei (芍陂; south of present-day Shou County, Anhui).

In late 213, Zhao Qu (趙衢), Yin Feng (尹奉) and several other officials in Liang Province rebelled against Ma Chao and drove him out of Guanzhong.

With aid from Zhang Lu, Ma Chao returned and struck back at his enemies, but was defeated when Xiahou Yuan led reinforcements from Chang'an to assist Zhao Qu and his allies.

Xiahou Yuan later attacked the remnants of the Guanxi Coalition (including Han Sui) and the various tribes in western China and forced them to surrender.

He first sent Zhang He, Zhu Ling and others to lead an army to attack the Di tribes blocking the way in Wudu Commandery (武都郡; around present-day Longnan, Gansu).

[A 72] In the winter of 217, Liu Bei sent Zhang Fei, Ma Chao, Wu Lan (吳蘭) and others to garrison at Xiabian (下辯; northwest of present-day Cheng County, Gansu).

He later led an army from Luoyang to relieve Cao Ren, but turned back before reaching his destination upon receiving news that Xu Huang had defeated Guan Yu and lifted the siege on Fancheng.

His will instructed that he be buried near Ximen Bao's tomb in Ye without gold and jade treasures, and that his subjects on duty at the frontier were to stay in their posts and not attend the funeral as, in his own words, "the country is still unstable".

The tomb, covering an area of 740 square metres, was discovered in December 2008 when workers at a nearby kiln were digging for mud to make bricks.

[B 31] When he met guests, he wore a simple hat and clothes made of raw silk and had a pouch containing a handkerchief and other small items attached to his belt.

He met and sought help from various fangshis, including Zuo Ci, Hua Tuo, Gan Shi (甘始) and Xi Jian (郄儉).

[Z 4] During that period, shuoshu (traditional Chinese storytelling) was very popular among the masses, so folktales and legends about the Three Kingdoms era were widely circulated and narrated.

[B 44] After assuming his first appointment as the Commandant of the North District (北部尉) of the imperial capital Luoyang, he ordered his subordinates to make five-coloured wooden staffs and place them outside the office.

[S 3] This story is the origin of the Chinese idiom "thinking of plums to quench one's thirst" (望梅止渴; wàng méi zhǐ kě), which means to use one's imagination to satisfy one's craving for something.