During the Three Kingdoms period, there was often a situation in which a few lords took the throne. The monarch was too young or even too young to handle government affairs alone, so the previous monarch left the new monarch with an auxiliary minister. These characters are more famous, such as Zhuge Liang. The following small editor will talk about the four orphan ministers left by Emperor Cao Pi of Wei to Emperor Cao Rui of Wei Ming. What role they played in Cao Wei, and how Cao Rui treated them.
The four orphan ministers left by Cao Pi
Cao Pi died prematurely in his prime, his life expectancy was only forty years, and he stayed on the throne for seven years. Fortune tellers said he would live to be eighty years old, and the result was two days, day and night. Cao Pi's original wife, Zhen Shi, gave birth to a son named Cao Rui, who was the later Emperor Ming of Wei. As a result, Cao Pi and Zhen Shi broke up, cao Pi killed Zhen Shi, and "" was covered with hair to plug the mouth. ''
Cao Pi's relationship with Zhen broke down, and he was not very satisfied with Cao Rui accordingly, and he was never made crown prince. When Cao Pi was too ill to do so, he really couldn't find his concubine, so he finally made Cao Rui the crown prince. Cao Rui's political roots are relatively shallow, and he is not very old, just in his early twenties. Cao Pi then found him four auxiliary ministers, namely Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, Chen Qun, and Sima Yi. The names of the four people are also relatively familiar.
Let's briefly look at these four characters, of which Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu are of the Cao Wei clan; Chen Qun and Sima Yi are the sons of the Shi clan; more importantly, they are relatives and friends of Cao Pi. First of all, let's look at Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen was Cao Cao's adopted son, his father died because of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao adopted him; Cao Xiu was Cao Cao's son, who lost his father at an early age, and was also considered to be half of Cao Cao's adopted son.
Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu have three things in common: first, they are both surnamed Cao, which is almost a nonsense, which can guarantee their loyalty to Cao Wei; second, they are both distant branches of the clan, and they are the sons or adopted sons of Cao Cao, and Cao Zhen is said to have his original surname Qin. While ensuring loyalty, it will not pose too much of a threat to Cao Rui; third, they all have a good relationship with Cao Pi. In the early days, Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu were both in a relationship with Cao Pi.
The other two auxiliary ministers, Chen Qun and Sima Yi, were the most loyal to Cao Pi. During Cao Cao's lifetime, Cao Pi had a very strong opponent, his younger brother Cao Zhi. Cao Cao's attitude between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi was ambiguous, and many people supported Cao Zhi's struggle with Cao Pi. There are a lot of characters behind both sides. Among Cao Pi's wings, there were four more important figures, known as the "Four Friends of Emperor Wen", namely Chen Qun, Sima Yi, Zhu Shuo, and Wu Qian. Very firmly on the side of Cao Pi.
Cao Pi defeated Cao Zhi to become crown prince and emperor again, and the "Four Friends of Emperor Wen" were also reused. When Cao Pi was about to die, he looked for the minister of orphanage, and these old guys were of course the more preferred candidates. One thing that needs to be explained is why only two of the "Four Friends" were selected: Zhu Shuo's records are limited, and he is suspected of dying relatively early, so he did not enter the list of auxiliary ministers; Wu Qian's personality is too poor, and there is a contradiction with Cao Zhen, so he is not considered by Cao Pi.
Cao Rui's attitude towards the Chancellor of the Orphans
Cao Pi believed that Cao Rui needed an auxiliary chancellor and left his four old confidants to Cao Rui, but Cao Rui himself did not think it was needed. In fact, no emperor of a feudal empire probably wanted to be constrained by his vassals. First of all, it should be explained that Cao Rui's attitude toward these auxiliary ministers was still relatively respectful, with Cao Zhen as a great general; Cao Xiu as a great sima ; Chen Qun as Sikong; and Sima Yi as a general on horseback, all of whom were high-ranking and important, and had the power to open the palace. This made Li Yan, the "Minister of Orphans" (in name only) who was far away in shu Han, quite envious.
However, in fact, the influence of the four great orphan ministers on Cao Wei's politics was relatively limited. We look at other regimes or other periods of the Tuoguo Ministers: Zhuge Liang (Shu Han), Zhuge Ke (Eastern Wu), Cao Shuang, and Sima Yi (during the reign of the Young Emperor Cao Fang), and their influence on politics was greater than that of the four Tuoguo ministers left by Cao Pi. Of these four, only Chen Qun was left in the court to record Shang Shushi, and Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, and Sima Yi were more responsible for dealing with the war between Shu Han and Eastern Wu. Most of their weight was in the military power of the border towns, and most of their contributions were in foreign wars.
Cao Wei had four more important fronts, namely the Western Front, the Central Front, the Eastern Front, and the Hebei Region. Among them, the western, central, and eastern fronts are particularly important, because they belong to the main battlefield against the Shu Han and Eastern Wu regimes, and Hebei is secondary. In the early days of Cao Rui's reign, Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, and Sima Yi were responsible for the Western, Eastern, and Central Fronts, respectively. Cao Zhendu oversaw Yongzhou and Liangzhou; Cao Xiudu over Yangzhou; Sima Yi oversaw Jingzhou and Yuzhou. These three figures, or these three townsmen, formed Cao Wei's most important barrier to the outside world.
If we look at the personal biographies of these three figures ("Three Kingdoms Zhi, Wei Shu Cao Zhen Biography", "Cao Xiu Biography", "Jin Shu Xuan Emperor Ji"), during the Cao Rui period, their main manifestations were also in the war. Cao Zhen resisted Zhuge Liang's First Northern Expedition and second Northern Expedition, and launched a large-scale attack on Hanzhong of the Shu Han Dynasty (without success due to rain); Cao Xiu's participation in the "Battle of Shiyang" and "Battle of Shiting" were both battles against Eastern Wu.
Sima Yi had the richest resume, participating in the "Battle of Shiyang"; eliminating Meng Da, who had defected to Shu Han; cooperating with Cao Zhen in attacking Shu Han; resisting Zhuge Liang's Fourth Northern Expedition and Fifth Northern Expedition; and eliminating the rebellious Gongsun Yuan of Liaodong. But it's basically a military contribution. Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, and Sima Yi did not spend much time in the dprk, and only Chen Qun was left in the dprk to exert political influence.
As for the reason for Cao Rui's performance of "favoring one over the other", Xiaobian personally believes that it is out of a kind of jealous psychology. Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, Sima Yi, and Chen Qun were all older of Cao Pi and were deeply trusted by Cao Pi, but they did not have much to do with Cao Rui. Among these four people, Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu were both Cao Shi generals, and their prestige in the army was very high, so they went out to justify the name of the border town and reduce the threat. Although Sima Yi did not lead the army during the Cao Cao period, he was also a military aide, and he had a great weight in the Cao Pi period. In addition, judging from Cao Rui's various performances, he does not seem to have a particular trust in Sima Yi, and the reason is not very clear.
Afterword
Cao Rui is considered to be a young lord on the throne, but after all, it is not a young lord who takes the throne, and the difference between an adult emperor and an emperor of Chong Ling is a world of difference. Therefore, even if Cao Rui made three of the four auxiliary ministers a border town, there was no problem with the normal operation of the Cao Wei regime. Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, and Sima Yi, who were outside, had difficulty interfering in Cao Wei's politics, just as Li Yan, who was placed in Yong'an as a chancellor. Such a personnel arrangement allowed Cao Rui to concentrate his power on himself.
Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, and Chen Qun all died before Cao Rui's death. When Cao Rui was seriously ill and needed to prepare a chancellor for the crown prince Cao Fang, Cao Rui originally did not choose Sima Yi, which is one of the reasons mentioned above that Cao Rui did not seem to trust Sima Yi very much. However, under the strong interference of Sun Zi and Liu Fang, and sima Yi was indeed a senior military and political minister at that time, and did not show any dissent, in the end, Cao Rui still took Sima Yi as a trusted minister, but was held back by Cao Shuang, the son of Cao Zhen. As a result, infighting broke out between the two, and Sima Yi eliminated Cao Shuang and sounded the first death knell against the Cao Wei regime.
References: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Book of Jin