Sima Yi won the world after the gaopingling change, but he also trained nearly a million gravediggers for Sima Shi!
In 249, Sima Yi took advantage of Cao Shuang's escort cao fang to leave Luoyang to visit the tombs of Gaoping Mausoleum, and staged a coup d'état and took control of Kyoto. Since then, the military power of Cao Wei has fallen into the hands of Sima Shi, known in history as the Gaopingling Incident. Later historians believe that after this incident, the Confucian Hao clan headed by Sima Yi eliminated the power of the Cao clan headed by Cao Shuang in the dynasty and gradually occupied a dominant position.
The most intriguing thing about this incident is that the Civil and Military Officials of Luoyang were almost one-sided, all acquiescing to Sima Yi's coup d'état and controlling Cao Wei's government. Some of these officials were politically in favor of Sima Yi, unaware that Sima Shi had been deliberately seizing power many years ago, but more were the Confucian Hao clan that had long since fallen to Sima Shi.
So, why would these Confucian Hao clans be willing to be used by Sima Shi? Of course, there are reasons for their consistency of belief, and the main reason is that there must be many stories behind their backs. From some details in the history books, it can be seen that Sima Shi has been deliberately trying to seize Cao's power for decades, and has been taking many ways to win over all the forces that can be co-opted, and one of the important measures is to use the Nine Pins Official Personnel Law.
The Jiupin Guanren Method, also known as the Jiupin Zhongzheng System, originated from Cao Cao and was shaped during the Cao Pi Dynasty, when Sima Yi later completely alienated this system into a tool of Confucian Hao rule. Below, Xiaobian briefly sorted out this process for you.
The warlords of the late Han Dynasty fought in a scuffle, demanding that talents be discovered in an eclectic manner in the principle of employment. Cao Cao was born a landlord of the Shu clan, and he openly pursued the political policy of emphasizing talent over morality, but still used the power of the Confucian Hao clan to enrich himself.
Cao Pi implemented the Nine Pin Zhongzheng system, the Book of Song Enxing Chuan Preface: Cao Wei established the Nine Pin Zhongzheng System, "Gai yi on the merits and disadvantages of talents, not the family of high and inferior." "An important symbol of the development of the Jiupin Zhongzheng system during this period was the establishment of the state Zhongzheng. It was established on the proposal of Sima Yi, who was then powerful in the dynasty. Volume 256 of the Taiping Imperial Records cites the Collection of Emperor Xuan of Jin as having Sima Yi remove the Nine Pins and the Prefecture Placed in the Great Zhongzheng Discussion: "In the case of the Nine Pins, Zhu Zhongzheng failed to anticipate the talents, thinking that the Nine Systems could be removed, and the Prefecture placed the Great Zhongzheng." The original intention of the Cao regime was to bring the power of the Lu clan to evaluate talents according to the mingjiao sect since the Han Dynasty to the central government, but the establishment of the county zhongzheng already had the meaning of compromising with the Confucian Hao clan.
Later, at Sima Yi's suggestion, Dazhongzheng was added, and Cao Xi disagreed, and later Cao Xi and his brother Cao Shuang were killed by Sima Yi. The Grand Zhongzheng generally used officials at the level of the Three Princes and Nine Secretaries of State in the DYNASTY, and from then on this system was completely alienated. But a huge benefit is that it satisfies the needs of many confucian nobles in high positions, so that they can control their human rights. They controlled the system of electing officials at the local and even the central level, and these families gradually transformed into a clan of doormen who could serve as officials for generations. However, the local clans who were in low positions or not in the official positions gradually declined and became the later landlords of the Shu clan.
As Mr. Chen Yinke said, Yuan Shao was the representative of the Confucian Hao clan at the end of the Han Dynasty, and at the Battle of Guandu, the Cao clan won, the Yuan clan was defeated, and the Confucian Hao class had to temporarily endure humiliation. After Cao Cao's death, they found Sima Yi, and Yuan Shao's defeat only indicated that the Confucian Hao clan had suffered a temporary setback. Later, through the hands of Sima Yi, they finally regained power from their own hands.
With the support of the Confucian Hao clan, Sima Yiyin led the Sima clan to a magnificent reversal after many years, which can be said to have won a complete victory in the central government, but what he did not expect was that he also successfully cultivated tens of millions of gravediggers for his descendants and his co-conspirators, that is, the Shu landlord forces scattered in the land of China.
To give you an account, at that time, there were one hundred and seventy-three counties in the Jin Dynasty, and there were more than one thousand counties under its jurisdiction. At that time, the manor economy was prevalent, and both the Gatekeeper clan and the Shu landlords had their own manors and private branches. Suppose there is a large landlord in each county, and a large landlord has hundreds to a thousand private branches, which adds up to nearly a million armed forces. Chairman Mao has said that the masses of the people are the real driving force for the development of history, and these nearly one million armed forces are the decisive force that finally led to the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty.
Philosophy tells us that contradictions are the source and driving force for the development of things. During this period, the peasant revolt fell into a low ebb, and most peasants were imprisoned in various forms in the manors of the Mongol and Shu landlords. Therefore, the main contradiction turned into a contradiction between the Mongol warriors and the Shu landlords. People from the Shu landlord clan gradually found it difficult to rise to high positions, and the whole society continued to solidify. In contrast, the mongols who held power were becoming increasingly decaying and living in luxury. The contradiction between the two is getting bigger and bigger, and as long as there is a suitable time, the contradiction between them will completely explode.
Coincidentally, the opportunity finally came, the outbreak of the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, the participation of the Chinese army and foreign troops, more Sima Yi successfully trained nearly a million local troops, they also successfully became the gravediggers of the Western Jin Dynasty.
If Sima Yi could have anticipated the tragedy that followed, he might not have exterminated Cao Shuang, and perhaps he would have been at ease to be a pure vassal of the State of Wei, let alone dig his own grave.
History is really unpredictable.
Through the fog of history, we should perhaps have some insights. Some things, after our careful design and painstaking pursuit, seem to have achieved victories and achievements, but they have also brought me hidden dangers and helplessness.
In fact, if Sima Yi had not had so much cunning and deceit, and sincerely assisted the Cao regime, perhaps they Sima Yi would not have embarked on such a road of no return, and perhaps they could be like Cao Shuang and be a rich man with peace of mind.