Cover the confluence of rivers and rivers, and strive to make it bigger; soil and stone are built together, and it is necessary to make it strong. Therefore, great wisdom is foolish. --Li Zhen
In ancient China, there have been many prodigy legends, such as Zhongyong, a five-year-old peasant child, who has never read a book and recognized words, he can write poetry and composition, and has also attracted the praise of local talents; Kong Rong, who is said to be the twentieth grandson of Confucius, knew how to let pears at the age of four, and when he followed his father to participate in the party at the age of ten, he could cope with the difficulties of Chen Yun, the doctor of Taizhong: Chen Yun believed that the prodigy could not necessarily become a capable person, and Kong Rong replied to him: "If you want to be a king, you will be a child" to ironically, and finally Chen Yun also left the table without land. (The story is from "The World Speaks a New Language")
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the sons of Cao Cao, a powerful minister, also had a very sense of accomplishment, and the eldest son Cao Ang's second son Cao Pi was a capable person of both literature and martial arts, and Cao Zhi was able to compose poems in seven steps, and also wrote such a famous passage as "LuoshenFu". Most people think that Cao Chong, one of Cao Cao's 25 sons, is also considered to be the most intelligent, he is also a very famous prodigy in the ancient history of our country, and we know that the name Cao Chong basically comes from the story of Cao Chong calling himself an elephant.
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Sun Quan gave Cao Cao a giant elephant in order to befriend the Wei state in the north. Northerners had never seen such a behemoth before, and they came to watch. After looking at it for a long time, Cao Cao wondered: How heavy is this elephant? Cao Cao published his question, hoping that the chancellor's advisers could answer them. These ministers have contributed their wisdom, some people say that it is possible to build a huge scale, and some people say that it is better to kill the elephant piece by piece. There is no doubt that these plans are not very realistic, and no one can come up with a solution, and Cao Cao's seventh son, Cao Chong, who is only five or six years old, said that he had come up with a solution. He had the elephant herd from the boat and record the depth of the ship's sinking. Cao Chong then used the same boat to have the soldiers put stones on the ship, and stopped putting stones when the two scales reached the same level. After that, you only need to send a person to measure the weight of the elephant and put multiple stones.
From the story of Cao Chong's claim to the elephant, we can also see Cao Chong's early wisdom, and after that, Cao Chong often produced some imaginative and effective methods. Because Cao Chong was so clever, the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records that Cao Cao had the idea of changing the crown prince (Taizu Shu called the group of courtiers and wanted to pass on the meaning of the future). Why didn't the early-witted Cao Chong shine during the Three Kingdoms period? Because in 208, the thirteen-year-old Cao Chong died of a serious illness.
Judging from the situation at that time, Cao Chong's early death was really full of doubts. After Cao Ang's death in 197, Cao Cao made his second son Cao Pi the Crown Prince, and judging from Cao Pi's behavior towards his brother after succeeding to the throne, Cao Pi was undoubtedly a person with a small temperament but a deep desire for power, at that time, the courtiers were full of praise for Cao Chong, Cao Cao also had the idea of Yi Chu, Cao Pi would definitely kill this unstable factor. Cao Cao probably felt that something was wrong, and after Cao Chong's death, he said to Cao Pi, "This is my misfortune, and Ru Cao's luck is also." Because of this matter, many historians believe that Cao Chong did have early wisdom, but there is no great wisdom, and the wise people should choose Mingzhe to protect themselves. For example, Gao Yang, the founding emperor of Northern Qi, deliberately pretended to be crazy in order to avoid the suspicion of his brother Gao Cheng, and did not reveal his own sharp edge until Gao Cheng's death, and gathered all the forces of the Gao family. Although Gao Yang was very tyrannical in the later period of his reign, he was undoubtedly a wise man in terms of his Taoguang cultivation and early contributions.