Review
In the spring of the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208 AD), Cao Cao, who had already become an official, clutched the gradually cold little hand of his younger son and lay on the sickbed, which was his most beloved young son, Cao Chong, who had left behind the good story of "calling an elephant".
Cao Chong's young man was wise and benevolent, and once made Cao Cao move his heart to establish an heir, but now in the face of illness, this once invincible leader of the chaotic world can only watch the disease take away the life of his son.
Cao Chong did not survive this spring and died at the age of thirteen. Cao Cao was grief-stricken and remorseful, and once said, "I repent of killing Hua Tuo and making this child die." ”
It turned out that not long ago, Cao Cao had already killed Hua Tuo despite Xun Yu's persuasion, and now that his son had died early and there was no one to heal, there was no reason not to regret it.
However, twelve years later, when Cao Cao handed over the throne of Wei and most of the world to his heir Cao Pi, Cao Pi could not help but lament the correctness of his father's decision.
To explore the reasons why Cao Cao insisted on killing Hua Tuo, it is necessary to understand the identity and personality of these two people, and also to explore the characteristics of that chaotic period.
Filial piety is incorruptible, practicing medicine and seeking a career
In the classical novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", Hua Tuo practiced medicine to save people and did not admire the magnates, and after the Battle of Chibi, he also traveled around, once "scraping bones and removing poison" for Guan Yu, and later was suspected by Cao Cao because he wanted to open his skull to heal his wounds, suspecting that he was harming himself for Guan Yu's revenge, and finally Hua Tuo was wrongfully killed in prison.
In fact, the historical Hua Tuo did not live to the Battle of Chibi, and the good story of scraping bones and healing wounds was most likely fabricated, he did not live until Guan Yu died, and the theory of avenging Guan Yu in the speech is naturally nonsense. Hua Tuo's personality traits are also different from those in the rendition.
Hua Tuo grew up in Qiao County, the hometown of medicinal materials, and has been interested in practicing medicine since he was a child, but in fact, his initial dream was to become an official.
From Hua Tuo's name and words, we can figure out his original ideals and family expectations of him. Warren, literalization. Tuo, with the meaning of carrying the society, meta-transformation, is to create the heavens and the earth, and has done something.
The name is generally given by the father and brother elders in the family, and it can be seen that Hua Tuo's family expected him to be an official and contribute to the society.
The table characters are generally taken by himself or a friend after he becomes an adult, and Hua Tuo uses the yuan as a table character, which also expresses his ideal of being an official and benefiting one party.
Unfortunately, Hua Tuo's adolescence was in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the emperor fainted, power was repeatedly exchanged between foreign relatives (the emperor's maternal relatives) and eunuchs (serving the emperor's close subjects, mostly eunuchs), and official corruption prevailed.
At that time, the selection of officials relied on "filial piety and honesty", which simply meant that local officials elected people with good conduct and talent in their jurisdictions to become officials.
Because of the corruption of the officials at that time, most of the "filial piety" that should have been fair and strict became a way for rich and powerful people to buy officials, and Hua Tuo, whose family was in decline, naturally could not be elected.
So he packed his bags, studied medicine, and practiced medicine everywhere, perhaps because what he couldn't get was always in turmoil, and Hua Tuo's heart never let go of his ideal of becoming an official.
In the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, it is recorded, "Ran Ben was a scholar, saw his profession with a doctor, and often repented of himself." This means that Hua Tuo felt that he should have been a scholar, but he became a doctor, so he often regretted it.
Because the society at that time was divided into hierarchies, in order, they were farmers, industrialists, and merchants. At that time, people were very clear and sensitive to their own identity positioning, they would always pay attention to the interests of their own group, the ruler's harsh treatment of the peasants would lead to protests from the peasants, affecting the agricultural harvest, that is, the tax revenue of the country, and disrespectful readers would attract the antipathy of the scholars, which in turn would directly affect the rule.
Therefore, rulers will be more cautious when dealing with people with higher social status, and the world will have more respect for people with higher social status.
However, healers belong to the "fang skill", which was regarded as "unworthy karma" in ancient times, and naturally had no social status. Although Hua Tuo's medical skills were superb and he was once worshipped as a divine doctor, his position was shaking all the time.
His exquisite medical skills and rich experience in practicing medicine made him declare that he could move between many powerful people at that time, and also awakened his mind to become an official, and he hoped that he could be introduced and promoted when he treated these powerful people, so as to realize his ideal of being an official, and at this time, he met Cao Cao.
Employ people with ability, eliminate disadvantages and innovate
Cao Cao is a very controversial historical figure. In the classical novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", he is cruel and selfish, plotting to kill Zhongliang, holding the Son of Heaven hostage, is a Traitor of han, is a big villain, and the book also uses Cao Cao's killing of Hua Tuo to describe Cao Cao's suspiciousness and cruelty.
In fact, compared with the warlords who divided the side in the same period, Cao Cao in history was not a "traitor" at all, but a person with good personal character, who established order in the chaotic world and recruited talents in an eclectic manner.
He vigorously developed tuntian in the areas under his jurisdiction, stabilized the people's livelihood, and when foreign tribes invaded, he led troops to pacify the border chaos and stabilize the border people. Even the great men have commented that Cao Cao is not a traitor, Cao Cao is a hero.
In addition to Cao Cao's incurable cephalosis, another reason why Hua Tuo was able to reach Cao Cao's side was that Cao Cao had an eclectic selection system for officials.
Cao Cao once issued an edict to recruit talents regardless of character but only ability, in such an era of sudden changes and wars, Cao Cao believed that those who could break the enemy and win victory and make the people free from the suffering of freezing and starvation were more worthy of being recruited than those who had empty moral character and sat down to discuss the Tao.
Perhaps it was this noble and unequal, eclectic order to seek merit that ignited Hua Tuo's ideal of becoming an official in the world, which made him quickly active around Cao Cao, specifically to heal Cao Cao's head.
However, Hua Tuocheng also has medical skills, and defeats are also medical skills. Because he was quite effective in treating Cao Cao, Cao Cao allowed him to heal himself alone, and did not promote Hua Tuo to be an official.
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records that Hua Tuo once said such a sentence, "This is difficult to continue, and the constant attack and rule can prolong the years." The general meaning is that if you want to cure the disease, Hua Tuo must become an official.
Cao Cao was an extremely decisive man, and he could never allow anyone to threaten and contain himself.
The history books once recorded that Cao Cao had a crush on Bian in the Qinglou, that is, the mother of Cao Pi Cao Zhi and others, originally Cao Cao just wanted to make love to the Bian clan, but because Xiahou Huan ridiculed him from the side, he did not dare to take the Bian clan home, so Cao Cao announced on the spot that he would marry Lady Bian.
From this incident, it can be seen that Cao Cao can allow others to give him advice, but he will never allow others to make decisions for him.
Nowadays, Hua Tuo wants to make cao cao the master and make himself an official on the pretext of treating the disease, which is undoubtedly touching Cao Cao's reverse scales. Although Cao Cao did not agree to Hua Tuo's request to become an official or punish Hua Tuo, the seeds of suspicion and estrangement had been sown.
The death of a divine healer, a wise act
According to historical records, one day Hua Tuo did not go to Cao Cao for medical treatment on time, but went home on leave on the grounds that his wife was seriously ill, Cao Cao heard about this and sent an emissary to Visit Hua Tuo's home, but found that Hua Tuo's wife was intact and not sick.
This incident ignited the fuse of Cao Cao's outbreak, and soon after, Cao Cao threw Hua Tuo into prison, and Cao Cao's relative Xun Yu and others believed that Hua Tuo's medical skills were great, and persuaded Cao Cao not to kill Hua Tuo, but Cao Cao, just like when he married Lady Bian, decided that things would never change, and decided to kill Hua Tuo, and a generation of divine doctors died in this way.
There are very few historical records, and now we have no way of knowing why Hua Tuo suddenly did not say goodbye, because Cao Cao could not meet his desire to become an official, so he retired, or whether there were other reasons.
However, the reason why Cao Cao killed Hua Tuo is clearly stated in both the Interpretation and the History. We can analyze which of these two statements makes more sense.
In order to cure Cao Cao's head, Cao Cao decided to open his skull, and Cao Cao believed that Hua Tuo was plotting to kill him, so he was suspicious and put Hua Tuo to death.
As the leader of the chaotic world, Cao Cao's suspicious personality is also reasonable, but Hua Tuo, as a divine doctor who declared the world at that time, also helped Cao Cao alleviate his illness many times, and also created many new healing methods, and Cao Cao is unlikely to kill because Hua Tuo proposed a new healing method.
Moreover, Hua Tuo practiced medicine to help the world, and the number of people who had been healed was innumerable, even if he had treated Guan Yu, it was unlikely that he would avenge Cao Cao for Guan Yu, so the reason why Cao Cao killed Hua Lun in the rendition was not very valid.
The reason given in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is that Cao Cao believed that "Lun can cure this, and the villain will recuperate from my illness and want to be self-respecting." Roughly speaking, Hua Tuo was just an insignificant little person, but he wanted to use his illness to intimidate Cao Cao and promote himself.
It can be seen that Cao Cao killed Hua Tuo for two reasons, one is that Hua Tuo is just a healer, a small person, and killing him is not important, and the other is that Hua Tuo wants to blackmail himself for personal gain. Combined with the social status of the healer at that time and Cao Cao's personality, it seems to make sense.
Comparing the two versions of the reason, Hua Tuo's death seems to be because he wanted to be an official, and also violated Cao Cao's bottom line, and Cao Cao killed Hua Tuo because of Hua Tuo's behavior and Cao Cao's own character.
In fact, there is another reason for Hua Tuo's death. At that time, the world was divided, cao Cao in order to recruit talents, although several times issued eclectic recruitment orders, the sages can be like clouds, but he has not been able to implement the new policy, because the social shortcomings at that time can not be eliminated in a short period of time, hastily implement the new policy, the implementation of reforms, not only can not achieve results, but also may lead to the subversion of the regime.
Cao Cao knew very well that to rule the world was not only to establish morality, but also to establish prestige. By killing Hua Tuo Liwei, he wanted to tell the people of the world that the only way to kill himself was to seek his own deeds in his position and rely on merit to blackmail the king.
In this way, when Cao Cao died and his son Cao Pi succeeded to the throne, the officials were clear and clear, and the monarchs and subjects were single-minded, so naturally they had to sincerely sigh that what their father had done was a wise move.