In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, there are several characters that are liked by later generations, Cao Cao counts as one, and Sima Yi also counts as one. Many people are curious that under the three generations of monarchs cao cao, cao pi, and cao rui, they can not show their intentions of rebellion, and then when the young lord Cao Fang, they began to grasp the power, and only began to usurp the throne when their son Sima Zhao. Is Sima Yi really so tolerant? Today, we will talk about why Sima Yi is so tolerant.
I. The Cao Cao period
Cao Cao was a very sincere man, daring to act boldly, and his military ability and ability to command his subordinates were very powerful. We can look at Cao Cao's battle record, fighting Dong Zhuo, fighting Lü Bu, fighting Yuan Shao, Zheng Wuhuan and other large and small battles, and winning forty-three battles. And if we look at Sima Yi's record of quelling the rebellion against Meng Da and repelling Zhuge Liang, we fought four battles. In terms of ability, Cao Cao was able to directly pinch Sima Yi to death.
During The Period of Cao Cao, Sima Yi was well aware that Cao Cao had many capable people around him, and Guo Jia, Xun Yu, and Jia Xu were all top strategists and courtiers. Therefore, at this time, Sima Yi can be said to be an ordinary strategist around Cao Cao. There was no possibility of any rebellion, and his greatest wish was to keep his family. The Sima family represented by Sima Yi was also a family family, and after Xun Yu's death, Sima Yi slowly took over Xun Yu's position, which was the normal rise and fall of the family clan.
Sima Yi at cao cao's time had no military power or administrative power, and Cao Cao did not use him very much at all. Therefore, Sima Yi simply did not have the strength to oppose, nor could he have thought of reversing.
2. The Cao Pi period
A large part of the reason why Sima Yi was able to get up quickly was because he stood in the right line. He sided with Cao Pi when he was fighting with Cao Zhi, so when Cao Pi won the throne, Cao Pi began the Nine Pins Zhongzheng system, narrowing the scope of elected officials to the family clan. To put it bluntly, it is that Cao Pi relied on the support of the shijia clan to win the battle with Cao Zhi and dare to usurp the throne as emperor, so he later gave back to the shijia clan Jiupin Zhongzheng system.
The Sima family represented by Sima Yi began to expand at this time, constantly supporting Sima Yi's actions, and Sima Yi and the Sima family were symbiotic and coexisting. At this time, Sima Yi may have thought more about expanding the family's power than plotting rebellion. Because he knew very well that Cao Pi was a vicious person, and he was born in the army and killed decisively, as long as he did not oppose, Cao Pi would allow the Sima family to expand.
3. The Cao Rui period
Cao Rui was a wise lord, very intelligent, and very capable of ruling over the people below. Although he did not belong to the military like Cao Cao and Cao Pi, he was better at practicing benevolent government than Cao Cao and Cao Pi. Therefore, during Cao Rui's reign, although the entire Cao Clan Jiangshan was not as indestructible as in Cao Cao's time, at least there were not too many dissatisfied people, and many people were still grateful to Cao Rui.
At this time, Sima Yi's family power was already stable, and although he was not a powerful courtier in the imperial court, he still had a good position. A considerable number of people supported him, and the army also cultivated a considerable number of its own cronies because it had to deal with Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition.
It is only said that at this time, the Cao Wei court, although the Sima family was very strong, but the influence of the Cao clan was still there, and Cao Rui was smart, as long as Sima Yi had any movements, Cao Rui could immediately know. If Sima Yi had an antipathy at this time, there might be, but more often he wanted to be a powerful minister, the kind of powerful minister who was above ten thousand people under one person.
4. Cao Fang's period
Cao Fang was a young lord, and Cao Rui died too early, leaving a child to manage the country. At this time, there was no strong empress dowager or Cao Clan clan to protect, only Cao Shuang and Sima Yi assisted the young lord. Although Cao Shuang had some ability, after becoming an assistant minister, he was a little blind and proud. At that time, the entire Cao clan was very impetuous, so that both the family clan and the ministers who originally supported the Cao clan had opinions about the Cao clan.
At this time, Sima Yi was already very powerful. He already had a considerable number of followers in the court and in the army. As the strength grew, he saw higher power. After all, he watched Cao Cao call himself the King of Wei and watched Cao Pi usurp the throne as emperor, and he knew that the emperor's throne was inhabited by a capable person. And the current emperor's position is like a big peach that no one cares about, as long as Sima Yi stretches out his hand, it is very likely to reach it.
Therefore, Sima Yi took advantage of Cao Shuang's departure from the capital with Cao's clan relatives and defected with some of his entourage. In fact, if Sima Yi rebelled, Cao Shuang reacted in time, insisted on fighting to the end, and let the generals outside raise troops to serve the king. Although it may cause chaos in the world, at least Sima Yi did not take power so easily.
5. The Sima family usurped the throne
After Sima Yi gained power over Cao Wei, he did not actually usurp the throne. Instead, he eradicated dissidents and finally allowed his son to usurp the throne. It's like Cao Cao planting a tree and Cao Pi picking fruit. Perhaps, in Sima Yi's heart, there was a psychology similar to that of Sun Quan and Cao Cao at that time, that is, taking people's salaries, not robbing other people's rivers and mountains, and not letting people in the world scold. And his own son grabbed this country, then there is nothing to say.
Therefore, when Sima Yi was in Cao Cao, Cao Pi, and Cao Rui, he probably only wanted to protect the family and strengthen the family's power, and never thought of usurping the throne. In the Cao Fang period, it was because the Cao clan relatives were too weak to control Sima Yi, the big tiger, that the tiger had the heart to usurp the throne.
To sum up with a sentence said by Emperor Liang in the Langya list: When sitting in this seat, people's hearts will change sooner or later.