introduction
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Yellow Turban Army rose up and competed with the masses, and the Central Plains once again lit up the smoke of gunfire. In the hundred years of turmoil, various heroes emerged in an endless stream, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, sun Quan all showed their skills in this championship, and more talents such as Zhou Yu and Zhuge Liang waved Fang Yu and pointed out the country. However, in such a fierce dispute, these heroes have not been able to achieve great achievements, but the Sima family has enjoyed the final fruits of victory, which can be as the "Jin Shu Ruan Book Biography" said, "When there is no hero to make Shuzi famous." ”
01
Sima Yi was originally a vassal of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and then surrendered to Cao Wei's men, and although Sima Yi, who had always been cautious and cautious, had ambitions to become emperor, he did not dare to directly usurp power, so he had to wait for the opportunity to wait, and only after he had survived the death of three generations of cao family rulers did he launch the Gaopingling rebellion, became the actual ruler of Cao Wei, and finally seized the power of Cao Wei. Seeing here, there will definitely be readers who will ask questions, Sima Yi waited until he was 70 years old to dare to rebel, what was he hesitating about?
▲Sima Yi stills
Sima Yi's story is widely circulated, and he has been described in many wild history novels, saying that he was very ambitious as early as his youth. When Cao Cao was alive, he already saw that Sima Yi's existence was a great threat, and the statement that the three horses were in the same slot was even more indicative that Sima Yi wanted to usurp the throne of the Cao family. It is precisely because of these that Sima Yi in his youth was heavily guarded, and in order to protect himself, Sima Yi could only hide his sharp edge and remain patient until the moment when the time was ripe.
▲Cao Cao stills
Coupled with the fact that Cao Cao's advisers were like clouds, Sima Yi's official position was low and his reputation was weak, and he could not be reused by Cao Cao at all, so he had no way to emerge at all. It was Cao Pi who really reused Sima Yi, because in the struggle between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, Sima Yi chose to side with Cao Pi, so he was very trusted and valued by Cao Pi.
02
After Cao Pi succeeded to the throne, Sima Yi rose through the ranks of the official arena and later became a very important figure in Cao Wei's political center system. Although Sima Yi was already in a high position at this time, he was always presiding over some government affairs, and the military power that had been controlled by the descendants of the Cao clan and the descendants of the Xiahou clan did not really fall into his hands.
▲ Cao Pi stills
But Sima Yi's greatest ability is to be able to be patient, and he has hardened himself into the oldest and most powerful person. We all know that the ancient people were limited by the backward eating habits and medical standards of the time, and the average life expectancy of people was very low. However, Sima Yi unexpectedly lived a long life, and Cao Cao, Cao Pi, and Cao Rui all died in front of him one after another, and even the powerful Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu could not live him.
▲A recent photo of the tomb of the Cao Cao family
By the time of The Cao Rui, the talents of the Cao Wei regime were almost exhausted, and the unusable Cao Wei regime had to rely on Sima Yi, the oldest senior, so sima Yi at this time completely controlled the military power of Cao Wei. Cao Cao himself had great talent and great talent, and his subordinates were also masters, so naturally he would not take the little Sima Yi in his eyes; cao Rui was different, he relied heavily on this elder of the Three Dynasties, and even handed over the most important military power to him.
03
As the saying goes, "Accompanying the king is like accompanying the tiger", even if the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui trusted Sima Yi very much, Sima Yi still did not dare to have the slightest trespass, he was still cautious and cautious, his words and deeds were very careful and careful, and he never leaked a single flaw. At that time, Cao Wei lacked talent, and Sima Yi was good at leading troops to fight, so even if Cao Rui was still a little wary of Sima Yi, he had to reuse him.
▲Statue of Sima Yi
More importantly, Cao Rui went underground to reunite with his ancestors at a young age, and he was eventually killed by Sima Yi after a short life. After Cao Rui's death, the throne was left to the young Cao Fang, and the young Cao Fang certainly could not bear the responsibility of handling the affairs of the government, which made the power of the imperial court fall and be controlled by Cao Shuang, the general of the Cao family.
▲ Three-country tent painting
However, Cao Shuang was not a person with worldly talent, and Sima Yi, who was an old and treacherous giant, saw an opportunity in it, so he took retreat as an advance and first showed cao Shuang weakness to reduce his vigilance. Then secretly deployed, taking advantage of the good opportunity for Cao Shuang and Cao Fang to go out to worship the mausoleum, launched the Gaoping Mausoleum Rebellion, and finally successfully seized cao Wei's power.
▲Sima Yi stills (right)
At this time, Sima Yi, who had reached the age of 70, finally dared to reveal his ambitions. Although his heart to become emperor had never stopped beating in the long decades, he knew that if he did not hide his sharp edge and Tao Guang yang obscure, he would have been taken care of by the people of the Cao family. Therefore, he did not act for many years, just to accumulate his strength and patiently wait for the right time to rebel.
epilogue
The Analects mentions that "if you are small, you will be chaotic and big." Although Sima Yi's strategy was not as good as Cao Cao's, he could endure what ordinary people could not tolerate, even if he was trembling and walking on thin ice under the Cao family all day long, he never gave up waiting for the right time, so Sima Yi, who stayed until the age of ancient rarity, finally ushered in his own dawn.
Resources:
"Jin Shu Ruan Book Biography", "Analects", "Jin Shu Xuan Emperor Ji"