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During the Three Kingdoms period, the political situation was turbulent, and various heroes also appeared in a blowout, their lives had ups and downs, and their rise and fall were also between a thought. As we all know, Sima Yi was a man with a very deep city government and good at hiding sharp edges, and he went through four generations of Cao's ancestors and grandchildren, and finally took advantage of the opportunity of Cao Shuang's clique leaving Kyoto to worship Gao Pingling in 249 to launch the famous "Gaopingling Coup" in history. Since then, the Cao regime, which has been operated by generations of people's hearts and minds, has thus fallen into the hands of Sima Shi. However, when Sima Yi staged a coup, why was he able to do it so easily and no one objected?
First of all, the power of the Cao clan was severely weakened. The two Han Dynasties enjoyed the country for more than four hundred years, but the problems of clans, foreign relatives and eunuchs have always plagued its beginnings and ends, especially the struggle between the latter two directly ruined the Han Dynasty. Therefore, after Cao Pi established the State of Wei, he was very careful to limit these three forces. Of course, the struggle between the Cao Pi brothers for the crown prince was also very fierce, leaving a shadow in his heart.
After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, although Cao Pi continued the Han system and divided the clan rooms, he was afraid that these clans would become large and threaten his own lineage. Therefore, in response to this problem, he formulated a series of measures to restrict the freedom of the clan, such as their range of activities is only thirty miles; they cannot move around at will. However, Cao Pi was still not at ease, and in addition to installing people to monitor, he also continued to migrate. In short, to become a clan is to be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Second, reuse the warrior clan. Since Cao Cao began, he changed the glitz formed since the Eastern Han Dynasty, put forward the policy of "meritocracy", boldly used the disciples of the Han Gate, and adopted the method of both fighting and pulling against the shi clan. After Cao Pi became a Han Dynasty, he used the Nine Pins Zhongzheng system created by the scholar Chen Qun to tilt the balance of talent selection to the scholar clan. Under the protection of this system, the power of the warrior clan grew rapidly.
In the face of the rise of the Warrior Clan, Cao Pi was not at ease. Therefore, he chose a part of the clan to restrain them. Of course, Cao Pi did not weaken his wariness of other clans. It can be seen from this that the structure of the Cao Wei regime was that part of the clan competed with the warrior clan, and the emperor mediated in the center. However, whether it was the clan or the warriors, the emperor offended them.
Therefore, after the young Cao Fang succeeded to the throne, the forces on both sides began to stir. Although Cao Shuang's first battle was very smooth, Sima Yi, who suffered setbacks, chose to be patient and waited for the opportunity to make a comeback. Later, Cao Shuang, as the representative of the clan, made a mistake, and the astute Sima Yi immediately stood up and fought back, and won the victory.
It was precisely because of Cao Wei's mistake in this national policy that during Sima Yi's coup d'état, many elders and important ministers chose to support it, such as Gao Rou, Jiang Ji and others. As for the later usurpation of the throne by Sima Shi, these elders did not see it beforehand. Therefore, it can be explained that when Cao Shuang was killed, Jiang Ji stood up against it, and until the Western Jin Dynasty, many people praised Sima Yi's behavior in launching a coup d'état.