In the impression of many people, Cao Cao, who advocated "meritocracy", should be a monarch who promoted the Hanmen Shu clan unusually, and many people even regarded Cao Cao as a "fighter" against the Shi clan gate lord. However, according to historical records, Cao Cao, who advocated "meritocracy", may not be a monarch who promoted the Hanmen Shu clan unusually. What's going on here? This ghost will talk about the family.
The first thing to note is that the "meritocracy" comes from the "Seeking Merit" written by Cao Cao in the fifteenth year of Jian'an (210). In the fifteenth year of Jian'an (210), Cao Cao had already dominated the Central Plains, and even the Battle of Chibi had ended for nearly two years. Generally speaking, the upside of the Hanmen Shu clan will narrow after the formation of the regime. Judging from the promulgation time alone, the effect of "meritocracy" is questionable.
Second, regardless of the probationary system, the nine-rank Zhongzheng system, or the imperial examination system, the real selection of officials must be a political system. But according to historical records, Cao Cao's "meritocracy" is most likely to stay on propaganda slogans. After the promulgation of the "Decree on Seeking Talents", the official selection system of the Cao Cao Group was still based on the inspection system as the core of the "Pawn Selection", and the chief officials in charge of the "Pawn Selection" were Mao Jie and Cui Yan, who were born in the scholar clan.
Because of this, Cao Cao's "meritocracy" actually did not make any major changes in the selection of officials in the Cao Cao group. According to some scholars, 56.5 percent of the officials promoted during Cao Cao's reign were from civilian backgrounds. In contrast, among the officials promoted during the reign of Liu Bei, Zhuge Wuhou, Jiang Wan, and Fei Yi, 66.2% were from civilian backgrounds.
If you look at the core personnel of the group, whether it is the Yingchuan clan headed by Xun Yu in the early stage, or the Wei Wang vassals represented by Hua Xin and Wang Lang in the later period, the senior ministers of the Cao Cao Group have always been the absolute majority of the scholars and the majority of the senior generals, and most of the senior generals are the Cao clan relatives represented by Cao Xiahou. Cao Cao's highest-ranking Hanmen military general Yu Ban, and none of the Hanmen Wenchen.
In contrast, among the core figures of Liu Bei's group (Zhuge , Guan, Zhang, Ma, Huang, Zhao, Pang, Fa, Wei, Li), only Ma Chao is barely regarded as the gate lord of the scholar clan, Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong, Fa Zheng, and Li Yan are exiled scholars, and the rest are from poor families. Even if Sun Quan, who has the inherent impression of "preferential treatment of gate valves", the number of Hanmen officials in the "Three Kingdoms: Book of Wu" is more than that in the "Book of Wei".
To sum up, Cao Cao's "meritocracy" is more like a propaganda slogan to win people's hearts, and I am afraid that it has no effect in actual operation, which can also be seen from the background of Cao Cao's officials recorded in the history books. It can be said that Cao Cao, who is "meritococracy", is not a monarch who unusually promotes the Hanmen Shu clan, at least on the issue of promoting the Hanmen Shu clan, Cao Cao is not as good as Liu Bei, and even inferior to Sun Quan.