At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Sima Yi was born into a family of official eunuchs. He was intelligent and courageous since he was a child, a man of great thought and great ambition. During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao considered him a rare talent, let him use it for himself, and also made him a teacher of the crown prince Cao Pi and assisted Cao Pi.
After Cao Pi's son Cao Rui ascended the throne, he still reused Sima Yi. Sima Yi, who was not willing to live under the people and had a disobedience to Cao Wei, always performed his duties and loyalty to the imperial court when Cao Rui was in power. Before his death, Cao Rui asked Sima Yi and Cao Shuang to assist the crown prince Cao Fang.
During Cao Fang's reign, Sima Yi staged a coup d'état to eliminate Cao Shuang and many of his henchmen, and later designed to get rid of the powerful minister Wang Ling and his cohorts, thereby expanding his own power and overshadowing the Cao Wei regime. Sima Yi only acted boldly at this time to lay the foundation for usurping Wei, was it because he had been secretly tolerant before because he was very jealous of Cao Shi? In fact, this was determined by the political environment at the time.
First, he was appreciated by Cao Cao
Sima Yi was talented when he was young, and Cao Cao's younger brother Cao Hong, who was not good at writing, wanted to ask Sima Yi to help him with the work of copywriting. Sima Yi disdained being Cao Hong's subordinate, so he lied that he had wind paralysis and could not help. After Cao Hong heard this, he felt that Sima Yi was pretending to be ill to prevaricate himself, and he was a little unhappy, so he told his brother Cao Cao about this matter.
After Cao Cao learned of this, he felt that he should make full use of such a rare talent as Sima Yi, so he personally sent someone to ask Sima Yi to help him do things, and if he did not want to, he would use force to make him commit the crime.
Sima Yi was intimidated by Cao Cao's authority, so he obediently obeyed his orders and went to Cao Cao's hands to do things.
He was successively assigned by Cao Cao to hold many important positions.
Sima Yi and Cao Pi were in frequent contact, and Cao Pi wanted to be Cao Cao's successor, and his competition with his brothers was fierce, and Sima Yi often advised Cao Pi.
Cao Cao also made the erudite Sima Yi his teacher.
In the gradual contact, the sharp-eyed Cao Cao discovered that Sima Yi was a man with deep ambitions, and sooner or later he would not be willing to be subordinated, vaguely worried that this person would pose a threat to the Cao regime, and reminded Cao Pi to be careful not to be too close to this person. but
Cao Pi trusted Sima Yi very much and said many good things to him in front of Cao Cao.
After Sima Yi knew Cao Cao's thoughts, in order to make Cao Cao no longer doubt himself, he became more cautious and cautious, and usually paid special attention to his words and deeds. Conscientious in his official duties, working hard, and showing great loyalty, Cao Cao gradually dispelled his guard against him.
Second, it was reused by Cao Rui
After Cao Pi succeeded to the throne, he promoted Sima Yi several times and raised his salary, and he told Sima Yi that he was promoted to let him share his worries. During Cao Pi's campaign against Eastern Wu, he trusted Sima Yi to guard Xuchang.
Before Cao Pi's death, Cao Rui was selected to succeed him, and Sima Yi and four others were appointed as auxiliary ministers.
From beginning to end, Cao Pi regarded Sima Yi as his right and left hands, obeyed him, and entrusted him with heavy responsibilities. Before dying, he told Cao Rui that he could rest assured and boldly rely on Sima Yi and four other ministers to control government affairs.
Cao Rui was brilliant from an early age, diligent and studious, with a strong and resolute personality, and was very popular with his grandfather Cao Cao. He knew that Cao Cao was wary of Sima Yi, and he also knew that Sima Yi was deep, strategic, and disobedient, but he was deeply hidden.
Sima Yi was always cautious and cautious, did not dare to show the fox's tail, and did things under Cao Rui, and also showed great respect and loyalty.
During Cao Rui's reign, he relied heavily on Sima Yi,
In the war against Wei launched by Sun Quan, Sima Yi defeated Sun Quan and his general Zhuge Jin and others, killed countless enemies, and finally won a complete victory, and was promoted to the rank of grand general of the Hussars.
Among the four auxiliary ministers, Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu were members of the Cao family, and Cao Rui was a relative of one heart, and the general Chen Qun was also loyal to the Cao Wei court, and all three of them had a higher status than Sima Yi. Manchu ministers of culture and military affairs all submitted to the Cao Wei regime.
Even if Sima Yi had the heart to rebel, he must have a legitimate reason to act, otherwise he would be nameless and would be attacked by the masses.
During the Three Kingdoms period, the Shu army had Zhuge Liang, who was superior in wisdom, and Eastern Wu had the governor Lu Xun, and The military talent of Cao Rui's subordinates that could match the military talents of these two great gods was Sima Yi.
If Cao Rui wanted to kill Sima Yi, he only needed to give another order, but he also had to use Sima Yi's talents to compete with Western Shu and Eastern Wu, so he had to keep Sima Yi.
The wise and divine Cao Rui had a shorter life than his father Cao Pi, and died of illness in his thirties, and before he died, he entrusted Sima Yi and Cao Shuang with his loneliness, and he took Sima Yi's hand, sincerely hoping that he could wholeheartedly assist the young crown prince Cao Fang with Cao Shuang, and Sima Yi was also in awe of this Ming Jun, and vowed that he would live up to his trust.
Third, grasp the power
After Cao Fang came to power, Cao Shuang, as a minister of the Imperial Household, monopolized power and let his cronies take power in the dprk.
However, in the war against the Shu army and Eastern Wu, he insisted on taking command of the Wei army, causing the Wei army to suffer a big defeat, and the officers and soldiers and the people were killed and wounded countless times, and the ministers of the DPRK and The Chinese were not accustomed to what Cao Shuang had done, and complained to Sima Yi about their dissatisfaction with Cao Shuang and his henchmen.
Sima Yi later launched the Gaopingling Rebellion, and executed Cao Shuang and his henchmen for treason.
Wang Ling, who was then the Sikong of the Imperial Dynasty, plotted to depose Cao Fang and wanted Cao Biao, the King of Chu, to become emperor.
Sima Yi led an army against Wang Ling, and finally Wang Ling committed suicide, and Cao Biao, the king of Chu, committed suicide. At this time, Sima Yi was already extremely prestigious in the dprk, with great power in his hands, under one person and above ten thousand people.
Cao Fang made Sima Yi the Prince of Xiangguo and also marquis for his descendants. However, the elderly Sima Yi resigned from cao fang's reward for himself.
Sima Yi eventually died of illness. Although Sima Yi did not directly establish the Jin Dynasty, everything he did paved the way for Sima Zhao to usurp Wei and establish the Jin Dynasty.
summary
From a young age, Sima Yi was brilliant and talented, so he was used by Cao Cao, who was discerning and good at using people. Cao Cao not only promoted Sima Yi, but also put him in charge of educating and accompanying the crown prince Cao Pi, who received great assistance from Sima Yi and had a good relationship with Sima Yi.
During the seven years of Cao Pi's reign, Sima Yi fully exerted his superior political and military talents to assist Cao Pi in his crusade against Eastern Wu, and after Cao Pi's death, Sima Yi defeated the invading Sun Quan and his generals, and was promoted to the rank of general of hussars.
After Cao Pi's death, Sima Yi was reused by Cao Rui, and Cao Rui, who died young, gave Sima Yi a heavy trust on his deathbed, hoping that he would assist the crown prince Cao Fang. During Cao Fang's reign, Sima Yi survived a long time and killed many of the Cao family's powerful subjects, and eliminated Cao Shuang, who was in charge of power, and Wang Ling, who wanted to usurp the throne.
During his lifetime, Sima Yi assisted the four lords of Cao Wei, during which the power of the Cao family went from strong to weak, and eventually Sima Yi became powerful and opposition after eliminating various unfavorable power groups, and there was no one who could threaten him. Before his death, he laid a solid foundation for his descendants to usurp Wei and establish the Jin Dynasty.