introduction
Su Shi said in "Xiang Yu Ci on behalf of the Marquis": "Those who come and must not be lost, the time is also, and the one who does not lose is also the opportunity." "There are many things that seem to have a low success rate, but they succeed because they have seized a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and may even turn history." Cao Cao's ability to "blackmail the Son of Heaven to order the princes" was to seize the opportunity when Emperor Xian of Han had nothing to rely on, but 30 years after his death, Sima Shi also seized the opportunity of Cao Wei's hollowness and took the world he had worked so hard to fight for himself.
01
One of the most interesting points in the history of the Three Kingdoms is that Cao, Sun, and Liu divided the world for many years, but in the end the world belonged to Sima Shi. Although Sima Yi was a tyrant of a generation, he was the only figure under Cao Wei who could compete with Zhuge Liang. Although he was deceived by Zhuge Liang's "empty city plan", this did not hide the fact that he had great talent, and more importantly, although he was two years older than Zhuge Liang, he died 17 years later than Zhuge Liang, laying a good foundation for his son.
▲Sima Yi stills
Sima Yi was heavily used for supporting Cao Cao's claim to the throne, and became Cao Pi's confidante because he assisted Cao Pi in his victory over the throne, and Cao Rui was able to suppress him during his reign, and when Cao Fang ascended the throne, he could not suppress this wolf's ambitions. In the first decade of Wei Zheng (249 AD), the emperor and Cao Shuang and his party went to GaopingLing to pay tribute to the former emperor, and there was no one in the capital, Sima Yi took the opportunity to launch the Gaopingling Incident, and single-handedly controlled Cao Wei's military power, and since then Cao Wei has survived in name only. The power of the Sima family grew stronger and stronger after the development of Sima Yi, Sima Shi, and Sima Zhao, and Sima Yan posthumously honored Sima Yi as Emperor Xuan and the temple name Gaozu.
▲Cao Cao Cemetery Palace
In the Gaopingling Incident, it was surprising that Cao Wei's old ministers almost ignored Sima Shi's usurpation of the throne. At this time, Cao Cao had just died 30 years ago, and Cao Pi had just passed away for 12 years, so why did the former Cao Wei old minister acquiesce to Sima Yi's mutiny and not be diligent to the king? In this regard, experts said: It is because the time is too special, and the timing of Sima Yi's launch is also very important. In addition, we divide these people into three categories: Cao Cao's relatives, those promoted by Cao Cao from the Han Gate, and the family clans under Cao Cao's command, and analyze the reasons why they watched Sima Yi usurp Cao Wei's power but were indifferent and watched from the sidelines.
02
The main problem of the Cao clan is that there is no successor. Cao Cao's direct descendants were strictly guarded by Cao Pi and Cao Rui, and when Cao Pi ascended the throne, he established the rule that "the king of the domain must not interfere in politics", and also sent emissaries to monitor their every move, and even changed the fiefdom of the king of the domain every 2 to 3 years. Cao Zhi's chanting of "Originally born from the same root, frying He Tai anxiously" is still in his ears, but Cao Rui has intensified his father's approach, so that most of the talented people in Cao Cao's direct descendants have been persecuted to death by the king, and there is no power in the hands left behind, and it is also powerless to stop Sima Yi.
▲Cao Cao stills
The other part of the population was the descendants of the former Xiahou and Cao clans, that is, the descendants of Cao Cao's relatives. Among these people were many generals in the early years of the State of Wei: Xiahou Huan, Xiahou Yuan, cao ren, and so on. Most of their descendants are not instrumental, and can only rely on their father's yuyin to exchange for an official and a half-position. For example, Xiahou Shu's second son, Xiahou Shu, held many important positions in the State of Wei, but was ridiculed by Wei Yan as "cowardly and unscrupulous", and some people in the COURT also commented that he was "sexually unskilled, but good at governing life", which means that he only likes to do business. In this way, his descendants are even more incompetent.
▲ Three-nation tent
The only exception was Xiahou Xuan, who also had a fairly good relationship with Sima Yi. Unfortunately, in the early years, he returned with Cao Shuang's army to conquer LuoGu and returned with great defeat, and since then his majesty has been swept away, and most of the soldiers under his command are Sima Yi's cronies, and he himself cannot be commanded. Therefore, Sima Yi did not choose to launch a coup d'état during the reign of Cao Pi and even Cao Rui, precisely because there were still some old ministers in Cao Wei's direct lineage at that time. After the death of these old ministers, Sima Shi's coming out was very smooth.
▲Xu Chu stills
Cao Cao's Hanmen generals were also quite numerous, such as Xu Chu, Zhang Liao, Yu Ban, and others, but these people had one thing in common--none of them lived long with Sima Yi. More importantly, after Cao Pi took the throne, he reused the family clan, and it was difficult for the descendants of the cold door to come out in the era when the door valve was in charge, even the descendants of these Cao Wei heroes. If you want to achieve something, you must cooperate with the family family, otherwise you will be in obscurity for a lifetime. Therefore, by the time Sima Yi launched a mutiny, the influence of these people had already declined.
▲ Sima Yi's army
The people of the family clan controlled a great deal of discourse power after Cao Pi usurped the throne, and Cao Pi usurped han with these people, and this part of the people was even more helpful when Cao Pi and Cao Ruituo were alone. The reason why these people remained silent was on the one hand because the Sima clan was originally a member of the great clan, and on the other hand, it was also because Cao Rui's orphan minister Cao Shuang had harmed the interests of too many clans in order to expand his power. He completely controlled the appointment and election of officials, and after taking control of the palace, he was even extravagant and lascivious, and even imprisoned Empress Guo. It can be seen from this that Sima Yi's timing of launching the Gaopingling Incident was quite clever.
epilogue
In the "Mirror Flower Edge", it is said: "Killing trees is also the right time." "Sima Yi's mutiny was entirely opportune, so that everything went very smoothly and was not hindered by any forces. Although Sima Yi died two years after the Gaopingling Incident, this incident laid the foundation for Sima Shi's usurpation of the throne, and cao Wei was devastated from then on, and Cao Wei gradually changed his surname to Sima in the world. It can be seen that the word opportunity is mysterious, and in fact, it is easy to see through current events and find hidden opportunities.
Resources:
"The Words of Xiang Yu on behalf of the Marquis"
"Mirror Flower Edge"