Cao Cao had noticed that Sima Yi had great ambitions and "eagle eyes on wolves", and his heart was very taboo, reminding Cao Pi to guard against Sima Yi. However, why didn't Cao Cao get rid of this "dangerous element" in advance?
In fact, there are five main reasons for this:
First, Sima Yi gradually emerged in Cao Cao's twilight years, and moreover, he supported Cao Cao's claim to the throne.
Sima Yi was born in 179 AD, and only became a literary scholar at the age of 29 (208 AD), which was not prominent among Cao Cao's ministers until Cao Cao's later years, and his position in the dynasty was not particularly important, which alleviated Cao Cao's worries to some extent.
"Book of Jin and The Chronicle of Emperor Xuan": And Wei Wu is the minister of the xiang, and it is also set aside as a literary book, and the narrator says: "If you repeat the Huan, you will receive it." The emperor took office in fear. Therefore, the envoy traveled with the prince, moved the Yellow Gate Waiter, transferred the Lang and the Eastern Cao genus of the Chancellor, and searched for the main book.
In addition, Sima Yi supported Cao Cao's claim to the throne.
Since Cao Cao "blackmailed the Son of Heaven to order the princes", he manipulated the Han Dynasty, and although he did not claim the title of emperor in his lifetime, he already had the heart to be called emperor.
For a long time, many people were still loyal to the Han Dynasty and opposed Cao Cao's claim to the throne, including Xun Yu, who made a significant contribution to Cao Cao's early development.
In this matter, Sima Yi supported Cao Cao's claim to the throne, which made Cao Cao think that Sima Yi could still serve Cao.
"Jin Shu Xuan Emperor Ji": From the request for Sun Quan, it is broken. The army also returned, the right to send envoys to surrender, the above table was called a subject, Chen said the Mandate of Heaven. Emperor WeiWu said, "Here I want to go to hell with evil!" He replied, "At the end of the Han Dynasty, His Highness is very good at the world and has nine of them to serve him." The title of power is the subject, and the meaning of heaven and man is also. Yu, Xia, Yin, and Zhou do not give in to those who are humble, and fear heaven and know their fate. ”
Second: when Cao Cao was alive, there were stronger clans as foils, and Sima Yi's threat was secondary.
The more wise feudal rulers of ancient times all understood the principle of balance of power, and Cao Cao was naturally no exception.
Although Sima Yi was also one of the threats when Cao Cao was alive, in addition to Sima Yi, there were stronger clans that restrained the Cao family, and with the foil of these clans, Sima Yi's threat was secondary.
In Cao Cao's time, the powerful clans were the Yingchuan Xun clan and the Hongnong Yang clan, the former represented by the famous Xun Yu, and the main representative of the latter was Yang Xiu, who loved to "play smart".
Xun Yu was crucial to Cao Cao's development in the early days of Cao Cao. At that time, people attached great importance to their status and origin, and Cao Cao was born from a lowly background and was not valued by most scholars and clans. It was not until Xun Yu defected to Cao Cao that this situation changed significantly.
The Xun family was a very influential family at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and Xun Yu's joining the Cao Cao clique directly affected the views of the clan and the scholars, and also attracted them to join the Cao Cao clique, which was far more important than Xun Yu itself.
After Xun Yu joined the Cao Cao clique, he recommended a large number of talents such as Zhong Xuan, Xun You, Chen Qun, Du Xian, Xi Zhicai, and Guo Jia for Cao Cao, all of whom became important figures in the Cao Cao clique.
Of course, on the other hand, Xun Yu's great contribution also meant a huge threat, and Cao Cao reused the talents of the Xun family on the one hand, and on the other hand, he was always on guard against them.
Another powerful family clan in Cao Cao's era was the Hongnong Yang clan, and the protagonist Yang Xiu in the 18th lesson of the ninth grade Chinese version, "The Death of Yang Xiu", is one of the main representative figures.
The Hongnong Yang family was no less than the Yuan Shao Yuan family of the "fourth and third dukes". Yang Xiu's mother is the great-granddaughter of Yuan An, the situ of the Yuan family, which shows that the power of the Yang family cannot be underestimated.
Book of the Later Han Dynasty: "Self-Earthquake to Biao, Fourth Taiwei"
And Yang Xiu's father, the lieutenant Yang Biao, often "did not deal with" Cao Cao, and Yang Xiu himself was very intelligent, and his talent often made Cao Cao ashamed of himself.
Yang Xiu died a year before Cao Cao's death, and before Yang Xiu was killed, he had been "pressing" Sima Yi in status, and Yang Xiu, who was "prominent", made Sima Yi "eclipsed".
It was the strong strength and threat of the Xun family and the Yang family that made Sima Yi's threat seem less important.
Third: Sima Yi is a low-key person and will be patient.
Cao Cao's Chancellor's mansion had two "wise men": One was Yang Xiu, who was "sharp and sharp", and the other was Sima Yi, who was "Taoguang yang obscure".
Yang Xiu's cleverness is well known to the world, but "cleverness is mistaken by cleverness", and Yang Xiu, who loves to play smart, eventually died on his own cleverness.
Sima Yi was very good at hiding his sharpness and ambition, and on the surface there seemed to be no threat.
Sima Yi's low-key personality and stoic style allowed him to successfully avoid one crisis after another, and finally survived the three generations of Cao Wei lords, becoming the last laugher in the Three Kingdoms era.
It was this low-key behavior and forbearance that allowed him to reduce the threat in Cao Cao's heart and avoid a disaster.
Fourth: the world is not unified, and talents are still needed.
At the beginning of the founding of most dynasties, those able warlords who had helped the emperor fight the world became a threat to the new dynasty, and they either faced the fate of "rabbit dead dog cooking", such as the Western Han And Ming Dynasties; or they were dismissed from their posts and handed over, such as the Eastern Han and Northern Song Dynasties.
However, due to the limitations of the times, Cao Cao failed to complete the national unification before his death, and the world showed a three-legged trend, especially liu bei clique, which always regarded the overthrow of himself as his mission.
The world has not yet been unified, and the country still needs talents, which is also one of the important reasons why Cao Cao retained Sima Yi.
Fifth: Cao Pi maintenance.
Cao Cao, sensing Sima Yi's ambitions, feared that he would threaten his career and reminded Cao Pi of this.
However, Cao Pi still needed to rely on Sima Yi to advise him, help him seize the position of heir, defend Sima Yi in front of Cao Cao, and help Sima Yi dispel Cao Cao's worries and doubts.
"Jin Shu Xuan Emperor Ji": The emperor is jealous of the inside and wide outside, and the suspicion of multiple powers and changes. Emperor Wucha of Wei had a heroic ambition and a wolf. Want to test it. He summons the messenger forward, and makes him look back, facing backwards and not moving. And he tasted the dream of three horses eating the same trough, very evil. Because the prince Pi said: "Sima Yi is not a human subject, and he will predict the family affairs." Prince Su and Emperor Shan, each of them is blessed, so they are exempted. The emperor was then diligent in his official duties, and forgot to sleep at night, and as for the execution of the mu, all of them were on their feet, and it was Wei Wuyi who was in charge.
Cao Pi's help and protection was also one of the reasons why Cao Cao did not kill Sima Yi.
It can be seen that Cao Cao only let Cao Pi guard against Sima Yi, rather than killing him, which is not only the reason why Sima Yi himself is good at dealing with the world, but also the "foil" and protection of others, and there is also the value needed in front of the situation.
What do you think about this?