Cao Song 曹嵩

In Chapter 1 of the Romance, introducing Cao Cao, the Chief Commandant of Cavalry who blocks the defeated troops of Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao, the text states that Cao Cao's father Cao Song was originally of the Xiahou family but took the surname Cao when he became the adopted son of the Regular Palace Attendant Cao Teng. When young Cao Cao's uncle, seeing his dissolute ways, keeps reporting him to Cao Song, Cao Cao deliberately falls down in front of his uncle and pretends to have suffered a stroke. Cao Song, hurrying over on hearing the alarmed uncle's report, finds his son perfectly well and asks whether he has already recovered from the stroke his uncle spoke of; Cao Cao answers that he never had any such illness, and that he has merely been slandered because his uncle dislikes him. Cao Song believes him and from then on pays no heed to the uncle's words, so Cao Cao is free to live as dissolutely as he pleases. Romance, Ch. 1 §36–38

In Chapter 5, where Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan join Cao Cao, the text explains that the two were originally Cao Cao's kinsmen of the same generation, and that they were of the same clan because Cao Song had originally been a son of the Xiahou family who was adopted into the Cao family. Romance, Ch. 5 §4–5

In Chapter 10 Cao Cao sends Ying Shao, Administrator of Taishan, to Langya Commandery to bring his father Cao Song to him. Cao Song, who had fled the disorder from Chenliu and was living in hiding in Langya, receives the letter and sets out for Yan Province with his younger brother Cao De, more than forty members of the household old and young, over a hundred attendants and over a hundred carts. Tao Qian of Xu Province, who had long wished to befriend Cao Cao but had had no occasion to do so, learns that Cao Cao's father is passing through, goes out beyond his border to welcome him, feasts him for two days, and when he leaves sees him off outside the city walls and has the Commandant Zhang Kai escort him with 500 soldiers. When the party reaches the area between Hua and Fei, they are caught in a heavy rain at the turn from late summer to early autumn and lodge in an old temple. Romance, Ch. 10 §27–28

Zhang Kai, originally a remnant of the Yellow Turbans, gathers his soldiers, who are grumbling at being soaked by the rain, and plots to kill Cao Song's family at the third watch, seize their wealth, and go into the mountains as bandits. That night Cao De, going out with a sword in hand, is run through with a spear and killed, while Cao Song, taking one concubine with him, flees behind the abbot's quarters and tries to climb over the wall; when the concubine is too fat to get over, he hides with her in the privy and is killed by the rioting soldiers. Ying Shao escapes and goes to take refuge with Yuan Shao, while Zhang Kai, having killed Cao Song's entire household and seized their wealth, sets fire to the temple and flees to Huainan. Romance, Ch. 10 §29–31

On hearing the news, Cao Cao wails and falls to the ground, then, declaring that Tao Qian let his troops kill his father and that he cannot live under the same sky with him, sends his army against Xu Province. Chen Gong tries to dissuade him, saying that the harm done to his honored father was Zhang Kai's evil deed and not Tao Qian's crime, but Cao Cao does not listen. In Cao Cao's central army stand two white banners with the four large characters "Avenge the wrong and wash away the grievance," and Cao Cao, dressed in white mourning clothes, berates Tao Qian in front of the battle lines. Tao Qian explains that he had entrusted the escort to Zhang Kai because he wished to form good relations with Cao Cao, and that this happened because the bandit's heart had not changed, so it was not his fault. In Chapter 11, Mi Zhu, brought by Kong Rong, tells Liu Bei in detail how Zhang Kai killed Cao Song and asks for help. Romance, Ch. 10 §33 · 35–38Romance, Ch. 11 §19

In Chapter 22, the proclamation that the secretary Chen Lin writes at Yuan Shao's command denounces Cao Cao's grandfather, the Regular Palace Attendant Cao Teng, and then attacks his father Cao Song as a beggar child taken in and raised as an adopted son, who borrowed office with bribes, carted gold and jade by the cartload to the gates of the powerful, and stole a seat among the Three Excellencies. Romance, Ch. 22 §10 · 12