Familiar with history, I believe that many people have heard the story of "a cup of wine to release military power", this happened when the Northern Song Dynasty was just established, the emperor Zhao Kuangyin added a yellow robe and ascended the throne as an emperor. One day, he suddenly feasted on the old brothers who had been fighting with him for many years, and told them that he would give them glory and wealth, and asked them to take the initiative to return to their hometowns, in order to do so because these people had done a great job in the Lord, and he was jealous and did not want to kill them because of jealousy. For nearly a thousand years, this matter has been rumored to be a beautiful talk, and in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang's practice of exhorting his old subjects in his later years set off the matter of "releasing the military power with a cup of wine" to be more "noble". In this way, it is indeed a dangerous thing to do well.
As we all know, courtiers want to have the opportunity to have meritorious service and high lordhood, which generally appears in the chaotic world, so in the most widely known chaotic world in our history, the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, are there any famous ministers who have meritorious service to the lord? How did they end up? Was he forced to leave the court like the founding heroes of the Northern Song Dynasty, or did he die under the butcher's knife of the lord like the old ministers of the Ming Dynasty? Next, let's take stock together.
Fifth place: Sima Yi
Sima Yi (司馬懿), courtesy name Zhongda, was born into the Sima family of the Wang clan in Hanoi. This person was unusually intelligent and ambitious, and originally did not want to be a soldier, and even pretended to be ill to refuse Cao Cao's call. Later, under the threat of Cao Cao, he was forced to leave the army and became a member of Cao Wei's camp. Because in Cao Cao's era, there were many talents among the strategists, and Sima Yi's performance was not particularly prominent, let alone a master of merit. However, even so, he still aroused Cao Cao's jealousy, and according to records, Cao Cao once said to Cao Pi: "Sima Yi is not a human subject, and he will predict Ru's family affairs!" However, Cao Pi did not agree with Cao Cao's views, and not only did he not guard against and suppress Sima Yi, but when he was personally marching, he entrusted Sima Yi with the heavy responsibility of guarding the rear, and before his death, he was selected as a trusted and important minister.
In the Cao Rui period, especially after the death of Sima Cao Zhen, Sima Yi had two meritorious efforts to resist Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, and had pacified Liaodong and raised his status to a higher level, and when Cao Rui died, he once again accepted the heavy responsibility of entrusting himself. After that, although Cao Shuang had exclusive power, he endured for ten years, but after launching the Gaopingling Rebellion, although he was still a vassal, he became the most powerful person in Cao Wei, and even if Tianzi wanted to ask him questions, he had to personally go out of the palace and visit him. Counting that he also quelled the Rebellion in Huainan, made further military achievements, and contributed to tuntian and other affairs over the years, it is not an exaggeration to call him a meritorious lord. Although he was once jealous of the first lord Cao Cao, he ended well- he died at the age of seventy-three.
Fourth place: Lu Xun
Lu Xun, also spelled Boyan, is one of the "Sun Wu Siyingjie" and one of the top pillars of Jiangdong, he has come to defect since Sun Quan took charge, although he has made military achievements such as pacifying Shanyue, but he has not been too brilliant. He really came to prominence during the Battle of Xiangfan. At that time, Sun Quan had agreed to collude with Cao Wei, so Lu Xun asked Guan Yu to relax his vigilance step by step, and finally easily took Jingzhou, which was the culprit for killing Guan Yu. After that, Liu Bei launched the Battle of Yiling, and he was also the one responsible for defeating Liu Bei for Eastern Wu and winning a great victory. In addition to the contest with Shu Han, he also contributed a lot to sun wu and Cao Wei's competition. For example, after the Battle of Yiling, he quickly returned to the army and resisted the invasion of the Wei army; at the Battle of Shiting, he defeated the Wei general Cao Xiu, and so on. It was with these merits that he rose all the way to the rank of Prime Minister.
However, Lu Xun's ending was very lamentable - in his later years, he was involved in a dispute over the conquest of concubines, and had different opinions with Sun Quan, and was reprimanded by Sun Quan several times and died of grief. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records: "The envoys in the power and exhaustion of the dispatch blamed Xun, and the sun was indignant and died, when he was sixty-three years old, and the family had no surplus wealth." ”
Third place: Cao Cao
Cao Cao, the character Meng de, was one of the tyrants at the end of the Han Dynasty, and in the eyes of many people, he was a Han thief, a powerful courtier, a villain who was spurned by people, and had never done anything to the Han Dynasty. In fact, although he blackmailed the Son of Heaven to order the princes, just for his own interests, but when the Son of Heaven was coerced by Li Dai and Guo Feng, he was in a chaotic world, which can be described as precarious. At this time, Cao Cao sent Cao Hong to meet Tianzi, but was blocked by Dong Cheng and Yuan Shu. After that, Cao Cao personally sent troops to fight against the Yellow Turban Army that was blocking the road, so that Tianzi returned to Luoyang safely, and then personally went to Luoyang to protect Tianzi and forced away Yang Feng, Han Xian and others who wanted to hold Tianzi hostage. After that, although he had been expanding his power in the name of the Son of Heaven, he also maintained the dignity of the Han Room outside.
Regarding his behavior, Li Shimin once commented in the article "Sacrifice to Wei Taizu" that "Kuang Zheng's merits are different from previous generations", which means that Cao Cao's merits in supporting the Han Chamber are better than those of Yi Yin, Jiang Shang, and other pioneers; Chairman Mao also said, "The novel says that Cao Cao is a traitor, don't believe it, in fact, Cao Cao is not bad." At that time, Cao Cao represented the righteous side, and Han was in decline. In other words, Cao Cao can also be called the Lord of Meritorious Service, and he not only has the merit of the Lord, but also controls the government and monopolizes power, so his end is not bad - "Gengzi, the king collapsed in Luoyang, the year sixty-six", can also be regarded as a good end.
Second place: Zhou Yu
Zhou Yu, also spelled Gongjin, is one of the "Sun Wu Siyingjie", along with Lu Xun. He had served this force since he was a child, and he contributed greatly to Sun Ce when he pacified the eighty-one counties in Jiangdong. Later, when Sun Ce was assassinated, he began to assist Sun Quan, not only with Sun Quan to eliminate Huang Zu, but also personally commanded the Battle of Chibi, protected Jiangdong, and took part of Jingzhou. After that, he first proposed the idea of detaining Liu Bei and dividing the world with Cao Cao, and then proposed to capture Yizhou and Hanzhong, and planned a road for Sun Quan to dominate. Unfortunately, before he could send an army to Nishikawa, he died young due to overwork and illness, at the age of thirty-six.
Although he served Jiangdong for a short time, at the time of his death, Sun Quan had not yet been declared emperor, but his merits could not be denied, and even Sun Quan once mourned him: "Non-Zhou Gongjin, lonely not emperor also", with this merit leaning on the body, saying that Zhou Yugong is not the main lord. After all, "lifting the masses of Jiangdong, decisively between the two fronts, and competing with the world" is something that Sun Quan is not good at, and when he first took over Jiangdong, Zhou Yu was mainly responsible for foreign wars. Unfortunately, Zhou Yu died too early to make more achievements, but judging by Sun Quan's forcing Lu Xun to die, early death may be his best ending, right?
First place: Zhuge Liang
Zhuge Liang, the character Kong Ming, was Liu Bei's most trusted strategist and the top pillar of the Shu Han Dynasty, not to mention that during Liu Bei's period, he promoted Sun Liu's alliance and contributed to the division of the Three Kingdoms. It is said that during liu chan's period, he was in charge of internal affairs, presided over the Northern Expedition externally, and grasped the military and government, and Liu Chan even bluntly said that "the government is governed by Ge's family, and the sacrifice is widowed", and voluntarily served as a puppet. This situation lasted from Liu Chan's succession to the throne until Zhuge Liang's death, a full eleven years. However, Liu Chan fully trusted Zhuge Liang, never had a jealous heart, and Zhuge Liang did not have the heart to usurp power, and has always been loyal, which is a pair of lucky monarchs. However, Zhuge Liang's ending is still lamentable - during his fifth Northern Expedition, he died of illness in Wuzhangyuan, and failed to realize the great ambition of "reviving the Han Dynasty and returning to the old capital" in his lifetime, which can be described as "dying before he left the division, and the hero was full of tears." ”
All the information in this article comes from books such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Notes on the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms", and the editor guarantees the authenticity of the content, without any innuendo or politics.