Cao Pi's father left a relatively thick family foundation, but how to obtain Cao Cao's entire legacy is a huge test for Cao Pi. The pattern that Cao Cao painstakingly created was to allow his son to smoothly take over the Great Han Dynasty and usurp the orthodoxy of the dynasty and establish himself as emperor.
Usurpation is different from the general change of dynasty, which has the basis of public opinion that the last tyrant is absurd and unreasonable, and the rebels have great righteousness and courage to create rebellion. However, Emperor Xian of Han was an honest boy who never did anything tyrannical, and even if the Eastern Han Dynasty issued some bad government, it was also an order issued by the careerists who "blackmailed the son of heaven to order the princes", and had nothing to do with the puppet emperor. Therefore, Cao Pi could not directly kill Emperor Xian of Han and take the throne from his hands, but could only use "routines" to coerce Emperor Xian of Han to make concessions and pass the throne to himself in a justified manner.
In the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" "Cao Pi deposed the emperor and usurped Yan Liu", it is not difficult for us to find that Cao Pi was completely bottomless. Usurpation is different from seizure, what is needed is the heart of the city government rather than violent means, before the usurpation of the throne there is almost no precedent for success, although Wang Mang usurped the Western Han Dynasty, but let outsiders seize the handle and become the target of everyone.
Therefore, what Cao Pi wants to take is a brand new road, which is really crossing the river by feeling the stones.
Following the routine of successive emperors gaining legitimacy, Cao Pi first wanted to engage in a set of auspicious omens of the left green dragon and the right white tiger to prove the legitimacy of his "royal power and heavenly right". However, the common people have accumulated historical experience in the long-term change of dynasty, what heaven has descended on Xiangrui? Fool the ghost to go! Therefore, Xiangrui alone is far from enough, the set of "Great Chu Xing Chen Sheng King" has long become an outdated trick, which of the princes who want to stand on their own in the Three Kingdoms era has not pretended to be a ghost?
Cao Pi took a different path and played a word game, disassembling the word "Wei" into "ghosts on the side, connected by commissions, contemporary Han, unspeakable." Since, before this, the emperor had never used a similar routine, this trick worked quite well. Immediately after, this drama was not very easy to perform, because Cao Pi had to face the orthodox emperor Han Xiandi. Zen Ren, it was necessary to have Emperor Xian of Han personally participate in the ceremony and willingly utter the Zen Ren Declaration in a public environment, at least on the surface.
The effect that Cao Pi dreamed of was that Emperor Xian of Han suffered a stroke and was paralyzed, and his mouth was crooked and he had high hopes for himself, allowing him to take over the ruling power for the happiness of Li Min. On this occasion, Cao Pi shirked it, and in the end, he had to take over the burden with the support of the group of courtiers. Trying to get Emperor Han Xiandi to suffer a stroke and hemiplegia was undoubtedly quite difficult, and it was almost impossible to complete the task at the level of toxicology at that time. Therefore, we can only coerce Li to induce Emperor Xiandi of Han to participate in this Zen drama.
In order to let Emperor Han Xiandi play, Cao Pi invited the assistant director and dragon set actor Hua Xin to let him do the "ideological work" of Emperor Han Xiandi. In film and television works, the assistant director is often thankless, and the work is heavier than that of the director, but he cannot get much fame and fortune. Hua Xin is undoubtedly the best assistant director who solves problems for the main public, and it is also the best dragon set in this play. Hua Xin nailed himself to the pillar of shame and carried the black cauldron for his master to coerce Emperor Xian of Han.
Hua Xin came to Emperor Xian of Han, who at this time was no longer the emperor who was at the mercy of his courtiers, but a middle-aged puppet emperor with thoughts and opinions. Hua Xin first told Emperor Xian of Han the story of Yao Shun Chan Rang, told him the preciousness of the ancient Zen concession system, and hoped that he would emulate Emperor Yao. Emperor Xian of Han was more conservative and refused to let go. Therefore, Hua Xin took a step forward and coerced Emperor Xian of Han to persuade him to recognize the current affairs as Junjie, otherwise he would be afraid of accidents.
How could Emperor Xian of Han be threatened by such a figure? I'm going to whisk my sleeves away. Wang Lang saw that things were about to develop to the point of being out of control, and quickly signaled Hua Xin to force Emperor Xian of Han to obey at all costs. Therefore, Hua Xinyi grabbed Liu Xie's dragon robe and said, "Your Majesty, in the end Zen is not Zen, you still have to leave a happy word." Of course, the reality is much more cruel than the author's description, and from the four words of "according to the sword to the emperor", it can be seen that the Han Xian Emperor at that time has become the fish on the sword, ready to be slaughtered.
Hua Xin was not a fool, he naturally knew that this was the dirtiest and most tiring job, and he would definitely be nailed to the pillar of shame by future generations. In the future, when some people evaluate how the Great Wei regime is, they will definitely pull themselves out and whip corpses. However, Hua Xin bravely took on everything. In the whole Zen incident and even the changes in the pattern of the Three Kingdoms, whether it is Cao Pi or Liu Bei's performance is hypocritical, the most outstanding performance in the whole event is the actor and deputy director Hua Xin of the Dragon Set, because his performance is the most real and does not mix any water.
Emperor Xian of Han was threatened with his life and had to surrender his imperial power. After Cao Pi heard that Liu Xie was willing to give up the throne, he thought that he could do it without any performance experience, and he was overjoyed and wanted to take over the throne logically. However, the screenwriter Sima Yi stepped forward and told Cao Pi that it was not yet time, although the edict of Emperor Xian of Han was delivered to the doorstep, but the King of Wei, as the general director, must "show humility to the heavens and the defamation of the world".
Lo and behold, how can it be said that the screenwriter is often the most talented of the whole crew? Only the screenwriter has analyzed the script most thoroughly, and understands that if he closes it at this time, it will definitely make the world "slander". Any political action must take into account the public opinion work behind it. If you don't make a push, people in the world will inevitably chew their tongues. A word awakened the dreamer, Cao Pi hurriedly according to Sima Yi's words, saying that his virtue was not enough, how could he take over the orthodoxy of the dynasty? Therefore, it is still "don't ask for the great sage, but take the throne of heaven."
The male lead actor Han Xiandi only wanted to end this farce as soon as possible, so he gave in again. Sima Yi's point was remembered by Cao Pi, so this time he still refused to easily accept the imperial power that was close at hand, but instead consulted with the strategist Jia Xu. Jia Xu, the field manager and service Ofe, was worried that he had no role in this big drama, and quickly created a new stage for the actors.
Jia Xu put all the contents of the black box operation on the table: in a huge Zen concession ceremony, Liu Xie, the emperor of Han Xian, held his own heirloom treasure to Cao Pi's hand, and the two pushed me like a Red Envelope for the New Year, and finally, Cao Pi put on a face of "You also saw, this Jiangshan Sheji is he who had to stuff it into my hands", and sat on the dragon chair with peace of mind.
At this point, this drama has finally come to an end. In particular, the last fold of Zen made the ceremony well received by the northern audience. Except for the southern audience, who were "true love fans" of Emperor Xiandi of Han and were somewhat reactionary, the play was a great success.
However, Cao Pi's performance in this folding scene is still not very mature, perhaps because Cao Pi is the first director in history to successfully direct the Zen Rang drama, so it will expose flaws such as frivolity and irritability. If it were not for Sima Yi, Jia Xu and other staff members who stood up in time to help the director, I am afraid that Cao Pi would become the next Wang Mang and fall into the hands of others.
Sima Yi and Jia Xu were one screenwriter and the other was a field worker, and neither of them went to the front of the stage, so their work was quite clean. Although they occasionally made cameo appearances in the Dragon Suit, the appearances of these two men played a decisive role at key moments. However, the two exposed their extremely clever "Zen concession" skills in this drama, which also pushed them to the cusp of the storm.
If Cao Cao was the chief director, he would definitely doubt whether Sima Yi and Jia Xu would one day ascend to the throne as directors and seize their own Jiangshan Sheji. Sima Yi and Jia Xu were also well aware of this suspicion by the lord, so Jia Xu chose to withdraw from the political arena and retire after his achievements; Sima Yi forged ahead, firmly tied to the political interests of the Cao family, and relied on years of accumulated experience to help his descendants lay a foundation for the family.
In fact, in essence, Sima Yi's father and son are the most successful experts in "Zen Ranging". It can be said that the two dramas of the Wei Dynasty Han dynasty and the Jin Dynasty Wei Dynasty are dominated by these two generations. Compared with the scheming Sima Yi, Cao Pi's boy is still a little tender. After becoming emperor, when Cao Pi said to Wen Wuqun like a show off, "The matter of Shunyu, the knowledge of Shunyu", he had already exposed the essence of his thief.
The Zen concessions after Yao Shunyu were mostly tricks to usurp imperial power, and the so-called "Zen concessions" were just a pretext, and the people of the world knew this. Therefore, "Shunyu's things" can not be said, whoever says it will appear unqualified, and Cao Pi's immaturity is fully displayed here.
In addition, Cao Pi was far from his father's vision and wrist, if this thing happened to Cao Cao, after the "Zen Rang" long ago, Sima Yi and Jia Xu, the two "Zen Rang" experts, disappeared, how could these two thick black guys be left behind? History proves that Cao Pi's mistakes were extremely serious, and his negligence toward Sima Yi also led to Cao Wei's usurpation of The Jiangshan by Sima Shi.
After the successful release of this "Zen concession play", the Shu Han region also staged a "self-reliance play" that followed the trend. Liu Xie, the Emperor of Han Xian, took the initiative to abdicate the throne, which is a well-known thing. As a vested interest, Cao Pi naturally will not embarrass the male protagonist Liu Xie.
However, the Shu Han region also has a mature crew, and under the zhang luo of the general director Zhuge Liang, the male protagonist Liu Bei and others, a drama about "self-reliance" was directed.
In this play, Liu Bei cleverly points out the essence of Cao Wei's usurpation of Han and imprisons the deposed emperor Liu Xie, who is living well.
Due to the deletion of the role of Emperor Xian of Han, the male lead actor Liu Bei became the only "Han room orthodox" and had the qualification to inherit the orthodoxy of the Han Dynasty as emperor.
In fact, Liu Bei had long been waiting for Cao Pi and others to direct Chan Rang, and if it were not for Liu Bei, who was not so seated in Shu Han, he would not be qualified to be called emperor when Emperor Xian of Han was alive.
As for Sun Quan, because he lacked a crew and did not have the excuse and blood relationship of the emperor, he could only "think that he was not in Middle-earth" after Shu and Wei established themselves. When Sun Quan was emperor, even the sacrifices and ceremonial guards necessary for the emperor were not fully prepared.
Compared with the serious drama crews of Shu and Wei, Sun Quan's imperial drama can only be regarded as a performance of the Caotai team.
Resources:
【Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"】