I. The Reincarnation of Cao Cao and Sima Yi
It is said that history is reincarnated. In fact, it is also right to think about it, for example, how was the Han Dynasty established? It was because Han Xin rejected Pu Tong's "Three Kingdoms Proposal" and chose to help Liu Bang destroy Xiang Yu. It was not expected that after 400 years of reincarnation, the Han Dynasty actually perished in Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period.
Cao Cao first "blackmailed the Heavenly Son to order the princes", then claimed the title of king, and finally passed the throne to Cao Pi. As soon as Cao Pi came to power, he forced Emperor Xian of Han to hand over the emperor's jade seal. So much so that this "history of the Three Kingdoms" was written into a short story called "The Case of Sima Ma Ma, the Haunting Of YinSi". (From "Yu Shi Mingyan")
Liu Bang became Emperor Xian of Han in seconds. Cao Cao was a reborn of Han Xin, who specially bullied Emperor Xian of Han to avenge his wrongful killing in his previous life!
King Yingbu of Jiujiang reincarnated as Sun Quan and established the State of Wu.
Peng Yue, who first surrendered to Liu Bang, was reincarnated as Liu Bei, called Emperor Xichuan, and carried the banner of the Han Dynasty to make a final effort.
As for the protagonist Sima Mao, he reincarnated as Sima Yi, and at the behest of the eldest brother of the King of Yan, he learned from Cao Cao's good example and laid the foundation for the three points to return to Jin.
Look, here comes another cycle. So-called: Cao Cao has a car in front of him, and Sima Yi has a rut behind him. Therefore, Cao Cao and Sima Yi became the classic figures of the two famous villains in the Three Kingdoms period. They are often compared to each other and receive various criticisms together.
Why are they being compared?
For example, Shi Le once said: When the eldest husband behaves in a down-to-earth manner, like the sun and the moon, he cannot be like Cao Mengde and Sima Zhongda's father and son, cheating him on orphans and widows, and charmingly taking over the world.
Obviously, Cao Cao and Sima Yi, the first common evidence of guilt is: bullying orphans and widows, appearing to be not great enough husbands.
Li Shimin also compared Cao Cao and Sima Yi to each other, and said more. For example, he called Cao Cao "a trace of non-subjectage" and said that Sima Yi was "an unfinished subject".
At the same time, Li Shimin also made a sharp complaint about Cao Cao's military talent, saying that Cao Cao "has more than one wisdom and is not enough to multiply." Because it was always Cao Cao's elder brother who commanded a soldier to fight, he actually did not cultivate a Cao Wei god of war in his whole life. Therefore, Cao Cao was more than enough to be a general in charge of the army, but if he wanted to be promoted to a higher level, he would be more tender when he became the emperor's eldest brother.
Sima Yi was even more ruthless, "the way of a good general, lost in Sihu". Li Shimin's sentence specifically refers to Sima Yi's performance in the face of Zhuge Liang. It is believed that Sima Yi was perfectly tortured and killed by Zhuge Liang, and his IQ was directly dropped, and he even lost his qualification to be a general.
In short, the reason why people are accustomed to comparing Cao Cao and Sima Yi is nothing more than three reasons.
First, head and tail!
Cao Cao can be said to be a key figure in creating the pattern of the Three Kingdoms. There is not much to say about specific achievements, in short, "without Cao Cao, there would be no Three Kingdoms", which is a historical conclusion.
Sima Yi can be called the terminator of the Three Kingdoms. Sima Yi did not come out, and the Three Kingdoms would not end. This is also the historical conclusion!
Second, do the same thing!
Cao Cao bullied Emperor Xian of Han, killed Concubine Dong, imprisoned empress, and openly declared himself "King Wen of Zhou". Everything was prepared for Cao Pi's usurper.
Sima Yi was also like this, after the change of GaoPingling, Sima Yi broke his promise and stole the power of Cao Wei, thus confirming the saying of "three horses nibbling on the groove", opening the history of the Sima family and "eating" Cao Wei raw.
Third, the same is the leader.
There is no need to say more about this. No matter who, even if they hate these two, they can't deny the talents of Cao Cao and Sima Yi, and if they are placed in historical coordinates, they are all leaders.
Three, three aspects of comparison
However, Cao Cao and Sima Yi are often compared. But what is strange is that Sima Yi and Zhuge Liang are on a par with each other, and the probability of comparison is higher. And Cao Cao's comparative reference points more to Liu Bei!
That is to say, Cao Cao and Sima Yi are on a par with each other, and they have the meaning of "pulling hard and pulling"! Not as good as Cao Cao vs Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang vs Sima Yi, so recognized. Why? So-called, the bell must also be tied to the ringer, which must start from the three aspects mentioned above.
First, the difference between entrepreneurship and speculation
The greatest achievement of Cao Cao's history is to unify the north and give the people in the war and chaos the space and time to recuperate. No one can erase this.
And the most important thing is that Cao Cao is relying on himself to fight the world. Both, Cao Cao is an entrepreneur! Since Dong Zhuo's rebellion, the Han Dynasty has fallen apart, and the princes have fought their own battles and eliminated each other. Cao Cao was initially not favored, and as a result, in the Battle of Guandu, he killed the strongest Yuan Shao in one fell swoop.
This is actually why Li Shimin looked down on Cao Cao. Because Li Shimin, like Yang Jian and Yang Guang of the previous dynasty, was a representative of the Guanlong clique and recognized by the mainstream, Li Shimin dared to divide power among his subordinates.
Cao Cao had to borrow the name of the Han Dynasty due to his origins. This doomed Cao Cao, who only trusted Xiahou of Cao and did not dare to divide power. In this case, how can he train a military commander-
And Sima Yi is a successful person who stands on the shoulders of Cao Wei, that is to say, Sima Yi is essentially a cunning and arrogant, that is, an opportunist. Without Cao Cao's entrepreneurial success, how could Sima Yi "occupy the magpie's nest"? Now ask: entrepreneurs and speculators, who has a high pattern? Obviously, the entrepreneur Cao Cao represents a positive energy, and the pattern is far beyond Sima Yi.
This is where the "head and tail" gap lies!
Second, the strength of the opponent is different
The person who really bullied the "orphans and widows" was not Cao Cao, but Sima Yi! No one objected to that, right?
When Cao Cao threatened the princes, Emperor Xian of Han was already an adult. And at that time, there were very strong Han forces, such as Dong Cheng, Kong Rong, Xun Yu and so on. Cao Cao fought against Liu Bei, Sun Quan, Lü Bu, Yuan Shao, and other princes on the one hand, and on the other hand, he also had to guard against the revolt of the Han forces. What's worse is that he has to maintain that balance.
This belongs to dancing on the tip of the knife, which requires great courage and great wisdom. If one doesn't get it right, it will be ruined.
Sima Yi's opponent, on the other hand, was Cao Shuang, a brother who had not experienced any wind and rain.
The strength of the opponent directly determines the height of the successful person. Cao Cao's opponents, which are all human spirits. Even if Sima Yi and Cao Cao's style were the same, it also determined that in terms of height, he could not compete with Cao Cao.
This is where the gap of "doing the same thing" lies.
Third, the achievements are different
Although Cao Cao and Sima Yi are both leaders, in terms of personal achievements, no one dares to say that Sima Yi is stronger than Cao Cao, right? Because from the pattern to the height, it was doomed to Cao Cao's achievements and crushed Sima Yi! And that's not all, Cao Cao's literary achievements.
Therefore, Li Shimin said that Sima Yi directly lost his "qualification as a famous general" in the face of Zhuge Liang, but he did not dare to deny Cao Cao!
Obviously, after comparing these three aspects, the conclusion is already very clear: the two are not in the same grade at all, and Cao Cao is completely crushing Sima Yi!