In the novel, Cao Cao, as a villain, has not been simplified by the author. Through his own cutting, the author described Cao Cao's words, smiles and other details in detail, and gradually portrayed his treacherous and hypocritical personality characteristics to the fullest. The story unfolded in this section was triggered by Cao Cao's invitation to Liu Bei. Cao Cao took the opportunity of enjoying plum blossoms and drinking wine to test his opponent's plot on the future stage, which just shows that there is also a "generous and wise" side on the other side of his treachery. Cao Cao wanted to inquire about Liu Bei's inner activities at this time to see if he wanted to dominate the world, so he said, "Heroes have ambitions, have good ideas in their bellies, have the opportunity to hide the universe, and have ambitions to control the world." This section is about writing Cao Cao in this respect. After pleading with Dong Zhuo to destroy Lu Bu, he deeply felt that he could be regarded as a contemporary hero: "The only heroes in the world today are the monarch (referring to Liu Bei) and Cao Cao (referring to himself)!" . He sent more than ten people to invite Liu Bei first. He met Liu Bei and said, "What a great thing to do at home!" Pun intended to make Liu Bei "forward-looking" shows Cao Cao's foresight.

In order to dispel Liu Bei's suspicion, he gave a banquet to cook wine with green plums. After drinking the wine, he saw a dragon hanging in the sky. Cao Cao used the topic to play, with the title "The dragon can be big or small, can be raised or hidden", which has profound implications. This is also a pun, which not only implies the respective situation of Cao Liu at that time, but also shows that Cao Cao is good at politics and wily. He laughed at Yuan Shu as a "buried bone" and claimed that he would be captured alive sooner or later, which gave him a sense of pride. He laughed at Yuan Shao's "bullying, being afraid of hard work and being resourceful." Do great things and cherish your body, and see that Xiaoli forgets her life "; He laughed that Liu Biao was a "hollow name"; He laughed at Liu Ce, but in the name of his father; He laughed that Liu Zhang was a "watchdog"; For Liu Beiju's Zhang Xiu, Zhang Lu and Han Sui, he even "clapped his hands and laughed" and said contemptuously that they were "mediocre little people, so why bother?" Cao Cao denied them one by one, which made Liu Bei somewhat overwhelmed. This is a temporary victory of Cao Cao's heroism and treachery. His analysis of those characters is really incisive; His refutation of Liu Bei's examples one by one really shows his great power, far-reaching strategy, extraordinary demeanor and clear attitude. Liu Bei was at the end of the road and refused to be topless. He simply "sued the hero" and took the opportunity to observe whether Liu Bei had the courage to fight for the hero who could compete with him in the future, which really surprised Liu Bei. However, his treachery was finally defeated by Liu Bei's wit, and the mystery disappeared. He thought he was more magnanimous than Xiang Yu and seemed to have no intention of murdering Liu Bei, so when Guan Yu and Zhang Fei came to the rescue, he ordered his men to "frighten Fan Kuai". It can be seen that his "wisdom" is limited. These words and deeds show that he is ambitious and good at playing politics. However, in the end, he failed to defeat the witty Liu Bei, and finally ended in Cao's failure. Liu Bei's "compromise" made him get rid of the shackles of Cao Cao and seek opportunities for development, which eventually became the trend of "three pillars". If Liu Bei had not been like this at that time, he would have been defeated by Cao Cao when he was weak.