The officials who have watched the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" all know that Cao Cao Mengde, the head of cao Mengde and his subjects during the Three Kingdoms period, who was a great traitor and a great hero, threatened the son of heaven to order the princes, and was one step away from the position of the emperor, which was really within reach and touched, and such a big person who turned his hand over the cloud and covered his hand for rain could replace Emperor Han Xian and establish himself as a court. Moreover, as a famous military, politician, and thinker during the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao also had the ability, conditions, and opportunities to achieve his hegemony. Moreover, in order to control Emperor Xian of Han, he did not hesitate to sacrifice his own daughter-in-law and let her marry the incompetent Emperor Xian of Han, but he did not become emperor from the time he achieved hegemony to his death.
Stills of Cao Cao in Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Throughout Cao Cao's history, he spent his life on horseback, he put the Han Emperor Xiandi under house arrest, and controlled the military and political power of the ten states under the heavens. If it was to assist the Han chamber, it would be understandable, but Cao Cao acted on behalf of the Son of Heaven in disobedience, so he fell under the name of a traitorous minister of the Han chamber. Since Cao Cao had the ambition of being the first in the world, why didn't he replace him? Moreover, at this time, the Han court had long since lost the opportunity to resist, nor did it have the strength, it wanted soldiers without soldiers, it wanted power and no power, and the whole shelf was empty. But Cao Cao, a man with very great ambitions, did not seek power and usurp the throne until his death, he refused to become emperor, and even married his precious daughter to Emperor Xian of Han and honored her as empress. Speaking of this, many people will wonder, since it is a step away, why not replace it, in fact, it is not Cao Cao who does not do it, but does not dare. On this issue, it can be judged from three aspects.
Cao Cao asked for a sage order
First, judging from the historical situation at that time, the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty were in the most chaotic and turbulent period in the world. First, He Jin engaged in a sharp and complicated court struggle with the ten permanent attendants of the eunuch group. It can be said that you Fang Dou stopped me from appearing, and then it was Dong Zhuo's dictatorship, which made the Han Room even more turbulent. Although Wang Yun and Lü Bu killed Dong Zhuo, the decline of the Han Dynasty, coupled with the lack of successors to the royal family, and Wang Yun was a straw bale with little ability to govern, for a time, pushing the Han Dynasty to the brink of collapse.
Statue of Cao Cao
At the moment of Guan Jian, Cao Cao, who saw the opportunity, welcomed Emperor Xian of Han to Xuchang, Henan, and Emperor Xiandi of Han ended his life of hunger and hunger. However, Cao Cao greeted Emperor Xian of Han, and Emperor Xiandi's mood was still uneasy, and he did not know what this Cao Emperor would bring him in the future. Of course, he did not know at this time that Cao Cao was greeting him, not because he wanted to support the Han Room, but because he wanted to have greater power, and Cao Cao set his sights on the whole world.
Cao Cao's son Cao Pi
Speaking fairly and objectively, Cao Cao, who came from a family of officials and eunuchs, was not a clumsy disciple, and he had the ambition of a great bird since he was a child. Cao Cao had ideals, saying that he had ambitions, in short, he was not willing to fall behind people. The chaotic and turbulent situation at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty made Cao Cao feel that a good opportunity to grasp history was coming. He naturally understood that in order to develop and expand his own power, he must be justified, and there is a signboard selling dog meat with a sheep's head. At that time, when Emperor Xian of Han was under house arrest by Guo Feng and others, Cao Cao successfully rescued Emperor Xian of Han. We know that Cao Cao's move was not really benevolent, and it was intended to control Emperor Xiandi of Han to "blackmail the Son of Heaven to order the princes", so in Xuchang, Cao Cao had some respect for Emperor Xiandi of Han on the surface, and still let him continue to be emperor, but he just needed to act according to his will.
Why did Cao Cao not dare to become emperor when he "blackmailed the Son of Heaven to order the princes"?
Portrait of Liu Xie, Emperor Xian of Han
From this point of view, Cao Cao wanted to replace Emperor Xian of Han with ease. When his son Cao Pi came to power, it was different, since he had the cruel intention of assassinating his own brother Cao Zhi, a puppet emperor was naturally nothing, and the first thing he did was to force Emperor Xian of Han to abdicate. Cao Pi took over from his father and wanted to be emperor impatiently, he certainly did not have Cao Cao's vision and talent. Cao Cao's vision should see far-reaching, there are barbarians in the north, and there is a powerful situation formed by the three major forces of Liu Bei, Sun Quan, and Cao Cao, Cao Cao will not be in a hurry to be liu Bei, and Sun Quan of Eastern Wu will be willing to be the lord of one side. Therefore, if he is not in a moment, and if he has not achieved the unification of the world, he will not be in a hurry to become an emperor.
The image of Guan Yu became a symbol of loyalty
Second, Cao Cao "blackmailed the Son of Heaven to order the princes" and was not anxious to be the emperor in the eyes of the discerning people, Cao Cao was just covering his ears and stealing the bell. However, we know that Cao Cao wants to be the co-lord of the world, and he has to work hard to eliminate the separatist forces from all sides. However, in the crusade against the hostile forces, it is clear and righteous, and the teachers are famous. "Kuangfu Han Room" is a very good golden signboard, if you rush to take the Han Emperor and replace it, it will not get the support of the people of the world, on the contrary, it will also attract more opposition forces. In this way, there would be no advantage in heaven and time, and Cao Cao's wish would be difficult to realize.
BorrowEd from Liu Bei in Jingzhou, painting
It is the so-called lesson of the past, the teacher of the future generation. Cao Cao, as a man who understands, certainly understands this truth. When Dong Zhuo controlled the government, although he was inferior to Cao Cao in strength, he also belonged to one of the few powerful big men at that time. However, Dong Zhuo, who was also too powerful, went a little too far, causing the old ministers of the Han Dynasty and those newly rising princes to be extremely dissatisfied, so they attacked and killed him. Since welcoming Emperor Xian of Han to Xuchang, although Cao Cao's strength was already very large, he hurriedly replaced Emperor Xian of Han, and those old ministers of the Han Room rose up to attack him, and once he was in an embarrassing position of isolation, then his ideal of unifying the world would encounter more resistance, so the clever Cao Cao did not dare to act recklessly.
Cao Pi takes advantage of the chaos to take zhen (painting)
Third, clear the way. Cao Cao was a very scheming man, who looked at the world while trying to clear the stumbling blocks on his way to becoming emperor. At that time, many princes did not recognize Liu Xie, the emperor of the Han Dynasty, which is why the warlords of the Eastern Han Dynasty fell into a scuffle. Emperor Xian of Han was established by Dong Zhuo, and some princes did not recognize it, so a situation of welcoming new lords appeared. At that time, the descendants of the Han royal family also included Liu Biao of Jingzhou, Liu Zhang of Yizhou, Liu Xuan of Yangzhou, Liu Dai of Yanzhou, and even distant relatives like Liu Bei, who were separated by several generations, tried to use the sign of blood to seize the world. Therefore, emperor Xian of Han was welcomed by Dong Zhuo and there was opposition. However, after Dong Zhuo welcomed Emperor Xian of Han, Yuan Shao of Hebei tried to establish Liu Yu as a puppet emperor. The opportunistic Cao Cao naturally refused to miss the opportunity, so he hurriedly welcomed Emperor Xian of Han to Xuchang.
Yuan Shao
Cao Cao welcomed Emperor Xian of Han to Xuchang and began to clean up the stumbling blocks, and while he looked at the world, he cleaned and attacked the old courtiers of the Han Dynasty. Avoid the day when Emperor Xian of Han will be able to resist. Even Emperor Xian's concubines and empresses were brutally murdered by Cao Cao. Cao Cao even sacrificed his daughter's marital happiness to marry the Han Xian Emperor, so that the purpose was to monitor the young emperor's every move through his daughter, so that the Han Xian Emperor became an isolated island in Xudu, and even if he wanted to resist, he could not get any assistance, which was exactly what Cao Cao was happy to see. In this way, even if Cao Cao did not replace the emperor, he was exercising the power and prestige of the emperor, only to wait for one day when all the conditions were ripe and tore off the mask.
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This article was first published on Li Shuwei's original today's headline platform, Li Shuwei published "Seventy Years of Diplomacy in the Late Qing Dynasty", "Late Qing Dynasty Officialdom Foreign Adults", "Young People's Journey", "Late Qing Dynasty Republic of China Sentient Beings Painting", "Micro History" series and so on. Please indicate the source of the reprint.