Quote:
Originally Posted by grimlock
Liu Bei was the 'good' (/moral) guy and Cao Cao was the bad guy, but why did Cao Cao win in the end?
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cao cao didn't win (though he was in first place on his deathbed). after a string of shitty cao successors, the sima clan eventually usurped the wei throne and established the short-lived jin dynasty.
but i agree, cao cao was a badass... and if he had 20 more years he would have probably won. liu bei was doomed to fail: couldn't pull the trigger on many key decisions and his sworn bros held him back. and, liu bei did have a shot: after his major surge he got greedy and at the same time was unable to control his greedy bros. it was all downhill after guan yu's fall.
i'll even add that zhuge liang was the smartest, but too much of a playboy (which was conveniently swept under the rug as 3 kingdoms was written in the ming dynasty, ruled by the zhu clan). zhuge liang died with almost 100 recognized grandchildren!