Cao Cao in Chinese literature & history books

In one of the four famous masterpieces of classical Chinese literature The Romance of Three Kingdoms, ruler Cao Cao is also portrayed as a tyrannical character. But, according to more factual accounts, such as Shan Guo Zhi ('Records of The Three Kingdoms'), Cao Cao was more a statesman with literary and military skills as well as 'a strategic mind. The Romance of Three Kingdoms, whose author is believed to be Luo Guanzhong, has always been classified as a historical fiction or novel.