How did Cao Cao recruit people in his early days?

There were many kinds of soldiers at that time.

Most of the early troops were loyal ministers of the Han Dynasty. As the state apparatus of the Han Dynasty was destroyed and the decrees became invalid, these troops fell into the hands of generals and became private forces. Dong Zhuo, Sun Jian, Yuan Shao and their troops when they started fighting were loyalists. When Cao Cao became a vassal, he accepted the position of Yanzhou secretariat and accepted Yanzhou loyal subjects. Chen Gong, Bao Xin and Zhang Miao are all people who have mastered these loyal subjects. They support Cao Cao and belong to cooperation. Later, Zhang Miao in Chen Gong greeted Lu Bu, and these people became Lu Bu's troops.

After the warlord scuffle began, many troops belonged to local militia groups. Because there was no food to eat or they were afraid that their food would be taken away by others, they attached themselves to the big landlords and formed small armed forces. Cheng Yu and Chen Deng under Cao Cao are representatives of local forces. They support these people and naturally formed soldiers.

Secondly, there are scattered civilian armed forces, or officers of the former Han Dynasty, or representatives of local strongmen. In order to safeguard their own interests, support the big warlords and take part in the war, Yu Jin, Le Jin, Li Dian and Chu Xu all belonged to Hao Xia and took the military route. They chose the support of warlords and joined Cao Cao's clique.

Cao Cao's men are basically big landlords and local armed forces. They mainly adopt a cooperative attitude. Big landlords need to be armed to protect their own interests, and armed generals need food to feed their own troops. Once an agreement is reached, they can cooperate.

In the early days, Cao Cao was a general of Yuan Shao and a former general of Han Dynasty. Later, with the support of local strongmen, small armed forces gathered in various places, and Cao Cao provided them with food, organized his own forces, and protected local landlords, thus developing.