Mi Heng was recommended to Cao Cao when the latter, to expand his influence, needed someone to lobby Liu Biao. But Mi was slighted. Mi took his anger out on almost all of Cao Cao's subordinates（下属） .

One day, at a banquet（宴会） in honor of distinguished guests, Cao bid Mi to work as a drummer, just to insult him for fun. Mi came dressed in rag（破布，碎屑） , and when asked why he simply stripped off what was on him to proudly stand nude before the public. Guests shut their eyes in embarrassment. To rebut（反驳，揭露） the angry blame by Cao Cao. Mi said. "You said I'm shameless? Not me but someone who has misled his majesty. Let people vies my clean conscience." "If you're clean," Cao roared, "Who's dirty?" "You!" Mi sneered."Your eyes are dirty for being unable to tell good men from bad, your mouth is dirty because you do not read, your ears are dirty because you refuse to listen to advice, you know nothing about history because of your dirty body, and you tolerate nobody because of the dirt in your belly."

Cao, infuriated（激怒的） , ordered him to the battle front, hoping the enemy's sword would kill him.