Cao Cao (曹操) (155 AD – 15 March 220 AD) was the last prime minister of the Han dynasty of ancient China. As a central figure of the Three Kingdoms Period, he laid the foundations of what would become the kingdom of Wei (also known as Cáo Wèi) and was posthumously named Emperor Wu of Wei (魏武帝). Cao Cao is the forth issue in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series.