The translation of The Records of The Three Kingdoms: volume 1(excerpt)

    Cao Cao， the secondary personal named Meng De， was the founder of Wei dynasty and born in Qiao， Pei country. His ancestry root Cao Shen once functioned as the premier of Western Han dynasty. In the times of Emperor Huan， Cao Teng， the palace regular attendant and the minister of Changqiu palace， was honored as Marquis of Feiting. And Cao Teng adopted Cao Song for carrying on the family offspring. Cao Song who could not be reviewed his source was promoted to the highest military officer and gave birth to Cao Cao. Although Cao Cao was sharp-witted and Machiavellian， the temporal people did not overestimate him because of his images of chivalric vogue， libertine and trifler. Only Qaio Xuan in Liang country and He Yong in Nanyang could realize his talent. Qiaoxuan told Cao Cao：“The world will be out of the order that nobody except those talents with ability of administering the state can save. It may be you！” At the age of 20， Cao Cao was recommended as the post of Xiaolian，then promoted to be magistrate of Dunqiu and later summoned to be consultant. He was promoted to be commandant against the “Yellow scarves rebellion” in Yingchuan towards the end of the Guanghe（A.D.178-184）. Afterwards he was appointed the prime minister of Jinan which includes a dozen counties with lots of corrupt officers adulatory to imperial kinsfolk. Hence， he reported to the throne to dismiss most of officers and prohibited excessive sacrifice. The illegal person were frustrated and the whole prefecture returns into the perfect order. Later the imperial court summoned him as the magistrate of Dong prefecture but he refused on the pretext of sickness and returned to hometown. Before long Wang Fen， the feudal province of Ji state， Xu You from Nanyang and Zhou Sheng from Pei gathered to plan the abdication of Emperor Ling and set marquis of Hefei up on the throne. When they roped Cao Cao in， Cao Cao refused and then they failed. It created a disturbance that Bian Zhang and Han Sui in Jincheng prefecture murder the magistrate and rose in rebellion with more than 100 thousands of people. When Cao Cao was nominated as the commander of praetorian， Emperor Ling died and crown price succeeded to the throne. Empress He was governing the country instead of young crown price and she denied the plan that General He Jin and Yuan Shao intended to murder the eunuchs. As a result， He Jin summoned Dong Zhuo to coerce Empress He but He Jin was killed before Dong Zhuos arrival. Then Dong Zhuo deposed Emperor Shao as King Hongnong and upheld Emperor Xian that caused the turmoil of capital. Dong Zhuo wanted to woo Cao Cao by advising the emperor to promote Cao Cao as Commander of Valiant Cavalry so that Cao Cao changed his name and went eastern back in paths. When he went by Zhongmou County after getting out of Hulao pass， the village constable suspected and arrested him. Someone who knew him interceded with the constable to release him. Having known that Dong Zhuo murders the Empress and King Hongnong， Cao Cao in Chenliu used out property to raise troops for crusading Dong Zhuo. Until December of Zhongping 6th year（189）， Cao Cao was ready to dispatches troops in Jiwu. In January of Chuping first year， Yuan Shu， General of Rear， Han Fu， the prefect of Ji state， Kong Zhou， the feudal province of Yu state， Liu Dai， the feudal province of Yan state， Wang Kuang， the prefect of Henei， Yuan shao， the prefect of Bohai， Zhang Miao， the prefect of Chenliu， Qiao Mao， the prefect of Dong prefecture，Yuan Yi， the prefect of Shanyang and Bao Xin， the prime minister of Jibei dispatched hundreds of thousands of troops together which were headed by Yuan shao and they choose Cao Cao as General of Might. In February， Dong Zhuo enforced Emperor Xian to move the capital to Changan city while he stationed in Luoyang and set fire to the palace on account of hearing that allied troops would suppress him. At the time， Yuan Shao troop in Henei. Zhang Miao， Liu Dai， Qiao Mao and Yuan Yi stationed in SuanZao， Yuan Shu stationed in NanYang， Kongzhou stationed in YingChuan， Han Fu stationed in Yi city. They were in fear of being advance troops for Dong Zhuos large and strong army. Cao Cao says “Who hesitates shall be lost！ Our armies which have been gathered and prepared are the crusade against rebellions， if Dong Zhuo knows that rebellions revolt in Shandong he will take advantage of the strategic defense strength emerging from LuoYang area by the power of the royal family and send troops east to control the country. ”

    【作者簡介】魏天昕（1992-），男，汉族，河南驻马店人，武汉工程大学，在读硕士，研究方向：英语笔译。