Although Cao Cao had a mixed reputation, he was very capable, and when Dong Zhuo was holding Emperor Xian of Han hostage and causing chaos, he went to assassinate Dong Zhuo alone in order to eliminate the scourge for the Han Dynasty, and although he failed, he won him a good reputation, which made him willing to follow him when he rebelled against Dong Zhuo.
In the early days, Cao Cao could be regarded as a loyal subject, he had the idea of supporting the Han Room, but in the process of his fight against the world, because Jiangshan was laid by him, and most of the people in Cao Cao's camp were his and listened to him, which made Cao Cao easily replace Emperor Xian of Han, so Cao Cao's inner thoughts changed, he had his own mind to be an emperor, and Cao Cao also changed from a loyal subject of the Han Room in his own mouth to a Han thief who "threatened the Son of Heaven to order the princes" in other people.
Despite this, Cao Cao's Jiangshan was built by him little by little, but the Jiangshan he built existed for only 45 years, and was stolen by his subordinates, Sima Yi, and his descendants.
Sima Yi and Cao Cao were both very talented people, and their sons were also very good, in terms of numbers, Cao Cao had 25 sons and Sima Yi only had 9, which Cao Cao had the advantage, but why didn't any of Cao Cao's sons stand up to help Cao Fang keep Cao Wei's country?
First, several of Cao Cao's best sons have died.
Cao Cao had 25 sons, 5 of whom were particularly outstanding, namely Cao Ang, Cao Pi, Cao Zhang, Cao Zhi, and Cao Chong.
When Cao Ang followed Cao Cao around in the campaign, because Cao Cao forcibly occupied Zhang Xiu's aunt, which angered Zhang Xiu, who had just surrendered to Cao Cao, he led his troops to attack Cao Ying, and Cao Ang died in battle to save Cao Cao. Cao Cao's favorite youngest son, Cao Chong, was very intelligent and kind, and Cao Cao also had the heart to let him take over his throne, but died prematurely due to illness. Cao Zhang was a general who was killed by Cao Pi because he had heavy troops and posed a threat to Cao Pi.
Cao Zhi was a great talent, very talented, and had competed with Cao Pi for the throne, so after becoming emperor, Cao Pi took extra care of him, not only did not give Cao Zhi any power, but also suppressed and guarded Against Cao Zhi everywhere, which made Cao Zhi's life full of unhappiness, so people died early. Cao Pi was the founding prince of Cao Wei, very talented and accomplished, but his untimely death gave Sima Yi an opportunity.
In addition to these 5, Cao Cao also had 8 sons who were Early Xue, these 8 people were Cao Xiong, Cao Shuo, Cao Zhi, Cao Shang, Cao Qin, Cao Cheng, Cao Jing, and Cao Zhi, because they had not yet grown up and died, so when Sima Yi usurped the throne, they had no choice but to help anything.
When Sima Yi launched the Gaopingling Rebellion, it was in 249 AD, when Cao Shuang took Emperor Cao Fang to Gaopingling to worship his ancestors, which allowed Sima Yi, who was pretending to be ill, to seize the opportunity to use the three thousand dead soldiers he had raised to launch a coup d'état and take control of the Cao Wei regime. Cao Shuang, who had a heavy army, chose to compromise and was eventually killed by Sima Yi, and the young emperor Cao Fang became a puppet of the Sima family, and eventually in the hands of Sima Yan, they replaced Cao Wei and established the Western Jin Dynasty.
When Sima Yi launched the Gaopingling Rebellion, Cao Cao also had six other sons who died before this, namely Cao Gong who died in 235 AD, Cao Xuan who died in 240 AD, Cao Zhen who died in 218 AD, Cao Jun who died in 219 AD, and Cao Hui and Cao Mao who died in 241 AD.
In this way, when Sima Yi launched the Gaopingling Rebellion, only 6 of Cao Cao's 25 sons were still alive, and it was theoretically possible to stop Sima Yi: Cao Zhao, the King of Pengcheng, Cao Yu the King of Yan, Cao Lin the King of Pei, Cao Jun the Prince of Chenliu, Cao Gan the King of Zhao, and Cao Biao the King of Chu.
Second, their strength was relatively weak, and they could not stop Sima Yi
Cao Cao had 25 sons, and although most of them were crowned kings, they were not given much strength given the lessons of the Han Dynasty. The fall of the Han Dynasty was due to the decline of the Han Dynasty, the strength of the princes was too strong, resulting in the princes supporting the army and respecting themselves, they attacked each other in order to compete for the world, which made the world chaotic, and the Han room survived in the chaos of the princes, and the Han Xiandi also became a puppet, and finally replaced by Cao Pi.
In order to learn the lessons of the Han Dynasty and avoid the cao clan's descendants from being too powerful and threatening the imperial power, Cao Wei did not give them much real power when he was crowned prince. During The Cao Cao period, Cao Zhi and others also competed with Cao Pi for the throne, which made Cao Pi very uneasy about them, so after he became emperor, he also constantly suppressed and weakened the princes. After Cao Rui succeeded to the throne, he also inherited Cao Pi's consistent style and continued to weaken the princes, which made the princes powerless to oppose Sima Yi.
Third, Cao Cao's remaining sons were weak and were not opponents of Sima Yi and his sons Sima Shi and Sima Zhao.
Cao Cao's sons were very good, but only five or six people such as Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, and most of the other sons were relatively mediocre, and Sima Yi's own talents were very good, and their two sons Sima Shi and Sima Zhao were even more dragons and phoenixes among the people, and they could be better, which was incomparable to Cao Cao's remaining sons, so they did not have the strength and ability to confront Sima Yi, Sima Shi, and Sima Zhao, and confronting Sima Yi was a dead end.
Cao Biao, the King of Chu among Cao Cao's remaining 6 sons, plotted with Taiwei Wang Ling to regain power after Sima Yi's reactionary Gao Pingling rebellion, but was discovered by Sima Yi and executed. After Sima Yi took power, some of Cao Wei's generals were dissatisfied and rebelled against Sima Yi, but they were all defeated by Sima Yi, while Cao Cao's other 5 sons, in order to protect themselves, did not resist Sima Yi, so they were not persecuted by Sima Yi.