Sima Yi (司馬懿), courtesy name Zhongda, a native of Wen County, Hanoi (present-day Jiaozuo, Henan), was born in 179 AD and died of illness in 251 AD, and his father Sima Fang served as a Beijing official such as Luoyang Ling and Jing Zhaoyin at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and was relatively close to Cao Cao, who praised and recommended Cao Cao many times, so he has always been more trusted and valued by Cao Cao. Sima Yi had an older brother and six younger brothers, and the eight brothers were collectively known as "Sima Bada". Compared with many young talents in the same period, Sima Yi's career path seems to be somewhat atmospheric and late, and Sima Yi was already 29 years old when he entered the shi, and his early career path was not smooth.
However, starting from the 40-year-old assistant Cao Pi, Sima Yi began the second half of his own general life, Sima Yi served a total of four generations of the Cao family, and all his life he resisted Western Shu, according to Eastern Wu, Ping liaodong, Xiu Shui, and Push Juntun, and his status soared all the way, and the official to Taifu and the general government became a heavy minister and powerful minister of the Cao Wei clique.
Three horses in the same groove, Sima Shi Dai Wei
It can be said that sima yi in the later period was equivalent to Cao Cao to the eastern Han court in the later period. Sima Yi was a veritable lord of "Lao Ji Fu Qi, determined to be in a thousand miles", who launched a coup d'état at the age of 70, eliminated his biggest political enemy Cao Shuang, and exterminated his three clans, thus completely seizing the cao clan's power in the dynasty and overseeing the government, and his prestige was far superior to that of Cao Fang, the small emperor of the Wei state at that time. However, unlike Cao Cao's "blackmailing the Son of Heaven to order the princes", Sima Yi's ultimate goal was to achieve the goal of seizing power.
Unfortunately, Sima Yi was unable to fulfill his ambitions in person. Due to his advanced age, sima Yi died of illness in Luoyang two years after the removal of Cao Shuang. However, at this time, Sima Shi had already fallen into power, and after Sima Yi's death, his sons Sima Shi and Sima Zhao successively took charge of the imperial government, these two were even fiercer than Sima Yi, and the emperor of Cao Wei was toyed with by them, and in just ten years, first his brother Sima Shi deposed Cao Fang, who intended to "seize power", and established Cao Fang, who was only 13 years old, as emperor; his younger brother Sima Zhao was more direct, facing Cao Zhao, who came to "recruit" himself, Sima Zhao directly chose to "kill" him and establish Cao Yi as emperor. At this time, the power of the Sima clique had reached its peak, and it was only a matter of time before he was proclaimed emperor.
Although Sima Zhao's reputation was not very good under the title of "Emperor Of Qi", during his reign, the State of Wei destroyed Western Shu and captured Liu Chan, the Duke of Anle who was "Le Bu Si Shu"; defeated the invasion of Fu Zhuge Birthday, the Taifu of the State of Wu; and suppressed the rebellion of Zhong Hui and Jiang Wei, laying the most solid foundation for Sima Shi's future unification of the world. In 265, Sima Zhao fell ill and died, and his son Sima Yan took the throne. In December of the same year, Sima Yan used the same methods used by Cao Wei to force the Wei Emperor Cao Huan to take the throne. At this point, Sima Shi completely robbed the Cao Wei clique and established his own political power.
Among the three generations of Sima Yi's grandchildren, Sima Yi's ability was undoubtedly the strongest one, and the one who made the most important contribution. However, since he already had the intention of seizing the throne, and the Sima family eventually replaced Cao Wei, Sima Yi was also considered a great talent, so why did he not dare to do it in his prime, that is, when Cao Cao was still alive? Was it that he did not have the heart to seize power at that time, or was there another reason? Let's find out today.
Cao Sikong was suspicious, and it was not easy to take care of his life
Sima Yi, born in the Sima family of the "famous men of Hanoi" during the Eastern Han Dynasty, has been reading through the history of the scriptures since childhood, full of literary talent, and has great ambitions. At the age of 22, Cao Cao, who was still Sikong at the time, wanted to recruit him to serve in his own palace, but the Sima family had been Han chen for generations, and in the face of Cao Sikong, who controlled the Han family's Jiangshan, Sima Yi refused Cao Cao's conquest, after all, in the eyes of the world, Cao Cao was a "usurper of Han and a traitor", and Sima Yi probably did not want the famous Hanoi "Sima Shi" to be contaminated with the insult of "Han thief and lackey".
But the more important reason is that although there were already many famous people who changed to Cao Sikong's men at that time, Sima Yi knew in his heart that Cao Sikong was always wary of them, Yang Xiu was an example, don't look at him young age to become the master book, but he was too sharp, he only learned in his chest, always liked to speculate on Cao Sikong's thoughts, and foolishly participated in Cao Sikong's family affairs, Sima Yi could expect that Yang Xiu's end should be very tragic. Moreover, once he entered the Sikong Mansion, Sima Yi would inevitably become a pawn for Cao Cao to contain Sima Fang and the entire Sima clan. So Sima Yi fraudulently refused Cao Sikong's signs, and at this moment, he only wanted to be alone in this chaotic world and share the heavenly wealth with his family.
But later, Cao Sikong became Cao Cheng Xiang, the power was even greater, he once again issued an order to sign Sima Yi to do things for him, at this time Sima Yi was 29 years old, watching the year of the establishment but achieving nothing, the family's fierce wife Zhang Chunhua nagged in his ear every day, making him very annoyed. Moreover, Cao Chengxiang said this time that if Sima Yi did not go again, or pretended to be ill like last time, not only would he be unlucky, but also a large family of people would also be unlucky.
In desperation, Sima Yi could only go to work in xiangfu, who made Cao Cheng xiang the most powerful person in the world at that time? Under Cao Chengxiang's arrangement, Sima Yi became a literary officer, an official position in charge of education first, equivalent to the current director of education. In addition, Cao Cao also asked Sima Yi to follow his son Cao Pi, that is, during this time, he laid the groundwork for Sima Yi to move toward glory under Cao Pi in the future.
Sima Yi was naturally also a thoughtful assistant to Cao Pi, hoping that in the future, when he sat in the position of Cao Cheng Xiang, he could also follow The Flying Yellow Tengda. However, at this time, Cao Cheng was still wary of Sima Yi, and he often warned Cao Pi that Sima Yi was not the kind of person who was willing to be a subordinate, and Guo Jia once said to Cao Cao that Sima Yi had the image of a wolf and was not an idle person, and instructed Cao Pi that his attitude toward Sima Yi should be, "Use it and prevent it." Sima Yi knew that Cao Cao had always been in the local area, so he decided to clip his tail and be a man, and the most important thing for him now was to live!
As a result, he could only assist Shizi more conscientiously, and work selflessly and forgetfully. However, he has always adhered to his bottom line and not participated in Cao Cao's family affairs, and in such a chaotic world, survival is the most important. To say that Cao Pi was really good to Sima Yi and said a lot of good things about him in front of Cao Cao, gradually, Cao Cheng seemed to have a slight reduction in his suspicion of Sima Yi, and began to slowly pay attention to him, but Sima Yi himself was more careful than ever.
The King of Wei asked Sima Yi to accompany him, but he did not pay much attention to his opinion
At the age of 37, Sima Yi attacked Zhang Lu with Cao Cao, who had already ascended the throne of Wei, and captured Hanzhong. At that time, Liu Bei had just gained territory in Yizhou, and Sima Yi analyzed that the local people's hearts and minds must not have completely surrendered to Liu Bei, so he suggested that Cao Cao take advantage of the victory to attack Liu Bei all the way south to solve this big trouble. But Cao Cao was already 60 years old at the time, and it was not known whether people would become easier to satisfy when they got old or for other reasons, he did not take Sima Yi's advice and missed the best opportunity to weaken Liu Bei's power. Liu Bei, who was given a chance to breathe, captured Hanzhong four years later and killed Cao Cao's general Xiahou Miaocai, causing Cao Cao to lose his commander of the Western Route Army.
Later, Cao Cao personally led his troops to avenge Xiahou Yuan, fighting back and forth for several months, Liu Bei's side could not hold out, Cao Cao did not have any good way to defeat the enemy and win, Sima Yi had the idea of giving advice, but he thought about it or forget it, but when he thought about it, Cao Cao was irritable, if he accidentally offended him for a while and was punished, wouldn't he be wronged? By the way, this time to avenge Cao Cao also brought Yang Xiu, Yang Xiu is a person who understands, sees that Cao Cao has the intention of retiring, but he is not smart enough, and told many people his ideas, which made the King of Wei very unhappy, and Yang Xiu's road has become narrower and narrower.
Another time, after Cao Cao defeated Zhang Lu, he took Sima Yi to fight Sun Quan. What does Sun Quan say? There are indeed two brushes in the governance of the country, but leading the soldiers is really too bad. Before bringing 100,000 people to Hefei, he was beaten by Zhang Liao's 7,000 people, and this time he encountered Cao Cao, who personally commanded the army, and was even more defeated, writing a letter to Cao Cao to declare himself a vassal, and saying that the mandate of heaven was attributed to the King of Wei and should be called emperor. Sima Yi also took the opportunity to persuade Cao Cao to claim the title of emperor, but Cao Cao did not listen, and later Sima Yi realized that in Cao Cheng's heart, he had always regarded himself as a Han chen.
Of course, not all of Sima Yi's suggestions Cao Cao did not listen. Sima Yi had proposed to Cao Cao the method of "Tun Tian" in order to solve the problem of grain and grass, so that there would be no shortage of grain and grass when fighting in the future, and then borrow the head of the cangguan to appease the soldiers, after all, not every cangguan could lend his head to Cao Cao like Wang Gao. Cao Cao attached great importance to this proposal and immediately implemented it, which was also the first time that Sima Yi was affirmed here in Cao Cao.
Soon after, Guan Yu attacked Fancheng, and Cao Cao had always liked Guan Yu very much, and even had some fears. Therefore, after Guan Yu flooded the Seventh Army, Yu Ban was captured, and Pound was killed, Cao Cao panicked and wanted to move the capital to avoid the front. At this time, Sima Yi proposed that Eastern Wu could restrain Guan Yu, after all, Liu Bei had borrowed Jingzhou for so many years and had not returned sun quan. Cao Cao followed Sima Yi's advice and sent envoys to ally with Eastern Wu, and then Lü Meng sneaked into The Police, and Guan Yu was defeated and captured, and was soon killed by Sun Quan. At this point, not only did Liu Bei lose a major general, but he also succeeded in temporarily disintegrating Sun Liu's alliance. At this time, Sima Yi was gradually participating in Cao Wei's strategic activities.
The official positions given to Sima Yi by the King of Wei were all civilian officials
Sima Yi was a military man, but under Cao Cao,he had always been a civilian official. At the beginning, Cao Cao gave him a literary official position, which was introduced earlier, that is, a cultural worker, and this official position was not even qualified to participate in military discussions. Later, Cao Cao made him a lang official like Huangmen Shilang and Yilang, and he did not have the opportunity to touch the military plane. Later, Yang Xiu, because he and Cao Zhi drunk and drove at night, broke into Sima Men and scolded Cao Cao's Yellow Bearded Cao Zhang, Cao Cao killed him in a rage, and let Sima Yi take his place as the main bookkeeper, Sima Yi had the opportunity to participate in military affairs, but he still had a long way to go if he wanted to touch the military power.
In addition, from the time when Cao Cao was a sikong, the generals appointed in charge of military power were the people who followed him all the way to fight the world, and most of them were mainly clan relatives. As we all know, Cao Cao only changed his surname to Cao later, and his real surname was Xiahou, so in addition to the "Five Sons and Good Generals", the "Eight Tiger Riders" were all cao and Xiahou people, and the military power was also in the hands of these people, and the fierce pounds and the like were only assigned to the ban to fight and be a pioneer, just like the "famous men of Hanoi" Sima family, which was originally a clan of Han Chen. I want to lead the army, unless I wait until the King of Wei is no longer alive.
The King of Wei was gone, and Cao Pi became his father
But fortunately, Sima Yi was younger than Cao Cao, and Cao Cao could not survive Sima Yi and took a step forward. It should be mentioned here that Cao Cao's funeral was fully responsible for Sima Yi, and the coffin was also personally escorted to Yecheng by him. After Cao Cao's death, Cao Pi inherited the throne and made Sima Yi the Head of the Imperial Household, thinking that there was a chance to turn around, but in the end he still paid by mistake.
There is a saying that Cao Pi is still really trusting and very important to Sima Yi. However, after that, his personality became more and more like his father, perhaps influenced by Cao Cao's words "Sima Yi is not willing to be a subject", he gradually developed a jealous heart for Sima Yi, after all, he knew that Sima Yi's military talent was not bad, so they always sent Sima Yi to stay in the capital when they sent troops to fight. The capital is impregnable, there is nothing to stay in, and there are still generals Cao Hong and Xu Chu who have not been on the battlefield much, but are still full of deterrence, what is there to worry about.
Even though he knew in his heart that Cao Pi was defending himself, Sima Yi still worked diligently for Cao Pi, after all, at that time, Cao Pi was already called emperor, his majesty, and the position given to Sima Yi was not low, and he should not complain. However, Cao Pi's health had always been bad, he always coughed up blood, and after only six years on the throne, he returned to heaven, and before he died, he asked Sima Yi to come with Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, and Chen Qun to go to the collapse to tell him about the aftermath. This seems to show that he still values Sima Yi, but his true intentions are not so.
Cao Pi left, but his son still pressed me
Cao Pi's son was named Cao Rui (曹叡), the son of Lady Zhen, and this was the next monarch that Sima Yi would serve. Before Cao Pi died, he instructed Cao Rui: "I have chosen four important ministers for you to assist the government, and three of them are important ministers, and you must not doubt them." After listening to this sentence, everyone seems to be able to understand that it is obvious that there are four ministers, but Cao Pi asked Cao Rui to beware of one, who to watch out for? Two surnames Cao? Or will it only serve as a manager of Chen Changwen? Therefore, the only person the old Cao family has been wary of for three generations can only be Sima Yi!
Although this made Sima Yi somewhat uncomfortable, life had to go on. Cao Rui did not seem to care about Cao Pi's dying instructions, and at that time, Sun Quan took advantage of Cao Pi's recent death and brought troops to fight Jiangxia County. So His Majesty xin gave Sima Yi a chance to lead the army against Sun Quan, and he was also angry, and he won a big victory the first time he led the army alone. His Majesty was very happy, he was promoted to Sima Yi as a general on horseback, I finally had the military power, and then later, Cao Zhen, who assisted sima Yi in the government, fell ill and died, and His Majesty also gave Cao Zhen's military power to Sima Yi, and appointed him as the governor of Dadu, mainly responsible for fighting with Wolong Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi was also angry, and the victory rate was higher than that of Kong Ming.
However, Cao Rui was always on guard against Sima Yi, and he ostensibly delegated power, but in fact he had already taken all the rights inside and outside the government and the opposition into his own hands, not only giving Sima Yi some warnings and threats from time to time, but also using the clans to restrain him. Moreover, although Sima Yi had been leading troops abroad for many years, all his family members remained in Xuchang. At this time, he still did not dare to rebel. But Sima Yi was really able to live, and Cao Rui was shorter than Cao Pi, Sima Yi lived for 73 years, survived three generations of the Cao family, and the late Cao Wei did wither, even a clumsy disciple like Cao Shuang could take power, until this time, Sima Yi dared to break out and seize the Cao family's world.
Therefore, it is not difficult to see that Sima Yi had few opportunities to rebel under Cao Pi and Cao Rui, let alone under Cao Cao's rule. On the one hand, at that time, There were countless strategists and generals under Cao Cao, and Sima Yi dared to confront Cao Cao with what capital, coupled with Cao Cao's own extreme distrust of Sima Yi, Sima Yi was cautious and still worried about the life of his whole family, so how could he have the courage to try to rebel? At that time, Sima Yi could only cover up his sharp edge and let himself live in peace, so why did he have any extra thoughts to consider other things?!