Romance of the Three Kingdoms is one of the most famous works to come out of China, however it is not historically accurate. What is a historical description of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, et al.?

by cronos844

For example, one could see Cao Cao as a villain while Liu Bei was the hero, and this is because in the romance Liu Bei is simply the protagonist because he represents carrying on Han. But what is another understand in which we could see Cao Cao as being heroic and Liu Bei being villainess? What were they really like?

docious

Add on-- which (if any) of the central generals that are not real. I.e. Did Lu Bu exist? Guan Yu? Zhang Fei? Sima Yi?