In China's ancient feudal society, the status of the emperor is supreme, for this imperial power, countless people struggle for it, in addition to the fierce fighting of foreign families, even within the royal family, there are often staged cannibalistic, father-son court bloody cases.
Everyone in the position of emperor is eager to sit, but how many puppet emperors in ancient history sat and held back, such as the Han Xiandi we know, under the control of a generation of emperor Cao Cao, probably the earliest puppet emperor in ancient history!
What Cao Cao did not expect was that after his descendants became emperors of the State of Wei, in addition to Cao Pi and Cao Rui, the three remaining emperors of the State of Wei were also puppet emperors.
In 249, after Sima Yi's father and son launched the "Gaopingling Rebellion", and the general Cao Shuang was deposed and killed, Sima Shi began to control the Wei state. In 254, Sima Shi deposed the Wei emperor Cao Fang and created Cao Pi's grandson Cao Lin the Prince of Donghai as the fourth emperor of the State of Wei.
Cao Xian (241-260), studious and talented, had the style of his grandfather Cao Pi, and although he was only a 14-year-old teenager when he was proclaimed emperor, he understood very well that he was only a puppet emperor controlled by Sima Shi.
In 255, sima shi personally led an army to quell the rebellion of Yuqiu Jian and Wen Qin, who were loyal to the Cao Wei Dynasty, and died of illness on the way back to the division at the age of forty-eight.
After Sima Shi's death, his brother Sima Zhao inherited the power of the dynasty, and at this time, the Sima family's henchmen were already all over the government and the opposition, and sima Zhao's every move was the leader of Sima Zhao.
Although the little emperor Cao Xian was young, he was also an emperor with great ambitions and determination to restore the glory of his ancestors, but he looked around the court and the opposition, but he could not find any forces to rely on to eradicate the power of the Sima family, and often looked up to the sky and sighed.
In 260, Cao Xian, who couldn't bear it, felt that instead of living in such a humiliating way, it was better to fight with Sima Zhao to the death!
Therefore, Cao Xian wanted to take a desperate risk, and he summoned Wang Ye, The King of Shizhong, and Wang Jing of Shangshu, and asked them to organize a force to revolt and kill Sima Zhao.
The three men knew that this was a pebble hitting a stone, and they were busy advising Cao Xian not to be impulsive, but Cao Xian did not listen, and was so angry that he threw the edict in front of them and said, "It is a decisive decision!" If you are afraid of death, you don't have to die evil! ”。
When Cao Xian entered the palace to warn Empress Guo, Wang Shen and Wang Ye immediately ran out and sent the edict to Sima Zhao.
On the seventh day of the first month of May in the fifth year of Ganlu (260), Cao Xian put on his armor and gathered dozens of court honor guards in the palace, as well as dozens of palace attendants and eunuchs, and rushed out of the southern part of the palace, where he encountered the armored soldiers led by Jia Chong, a central defender sent by Sima Zhao after receiving the news.
Cao Xian's rabble-rousers, where the opponents of the regular army, after seeing the situation, were frightened and retreated, Cao Xian was anxious, shouting: "I am the Son of Heaven, who dares to stop me!" ”
After Cao Xian finished speaking, he held a sword in his hand and slashed left and right, where did the generals on Sima Zhao's side see the emperor personally slash and kill, they did not know what to do, they all dodged, the situation was already unfavorable to Jia Chong's side.
Crown Prince Chengji asked Jia Chong, "The matter is urgent, Zhonghu Army, what do you say to do?" ”
Jia Chong replied, "If the skin does not exist, the hair will be attached!" Sima Gong raised you people precisely for today. Today's events, there is nothing to ask! ”
Cheng Ji thought about it a little, and with an iron spear on his horse, he stabbed at Cao Ji, who, as a young emperor in the palace, where was Cheng Ji's opponent, was immediately stabbed by the spear from the chest, and the blood splashed on the palace wall, and he was immediately killed. In this way, Cao Xi ended his life at the age of 20 in a noble and humiliating way.
When Sima Zhao heard that Emperor Cao Xian had been stabbed to death in public by his own men, he was also frightened and panicked. He did not expect that the emperor would die in the conflict, and if Cao Xi had only been cut off his arm or captured, this farce would have been easier to deal with than being killed.
Because, Cao Xian's death would make Sima Zhao bear the charge of "killing the king". Although Sima Zhao wanted to replace Cao Wei as emperor himself, he was still willing to ascend the throne in the way of "Zen Concession".
Seeing that the Sima Dynasty was about to be established, but at this critical time, there was such a vicious event that caused great moral lethality to the Sima clan, so Sima Zhao must quickly dilute and eliminate the bad influence in order to gain the approval of the clan and the people of the world.
Therefore, Sima Zhao immediately ran to the palace, cried at Cao Xi's corpse, and then began to handle the funeral of the emperor's "death".
Sima Zhao was in dire need of the support of the Great Clan, so he repeatedly sent people to summon Shang Shuzuo's servant Chen Tai, who was impatient with the urging and had to go to see Sima Zhao.
As soon as Sima Zhao saw Chen Tai, he asked for countermeasures, and Chen Tai calmly replied: "The unique one who cuts Jia Chong can thank the world." ”
Chen Tai meant to use Jia Chong as a scapegoat and kill him to calm the world's anger. However, Jia Chong was Sima Zhao's right and left arm, so he was reluctant to kill Jia Chong.
In the end, Sima Zhao, in order to appease the anger of the people, decided to kill Cheng Ji, the executor of the executioner, and Cheng Ji was not convinced, ran shirtless to the roof, and scolded Sima Zhao, but was shot by the soldiers from below with arrows. Later, the three clans of Chengji were also cursed.
The death of Cao Xian was a major twist in the process of Sima Zhao's abolition of Wei's self-reliance, and the ambition of the Sima family to usurp the throne was exposed to the world, and the famous idiom was born.
Sima Zhao's heart is well known to passers-by.
Although Cao Xian did not succeed, under the threat of political humiliation and death, he did not have weakness, humiliation and concessions, but dared to face it head-on, rose up to fight, and regarded death as a homecoming. Among the groups of puppet emperors who had similar encounters in ancient China, it was really rare.
In order to live out the dignity of the emperor and the nobility of human nature, Cao Xi did not hesitate to fight against the cruel fate at the cost of his life. With his heroic death, he won the dignity of the emperor and the respect of the world. So-called:
"Rather than stealing life, it is better to die noblely."
This article is referenced from: "The Three Hundred and Fifty Emperors of China", "The Origin of Jiangshan: The Founding Story of the Chinese Dynasty"