The reason why Sima Yi dared to launch the Gaopingling coup d'état in 249 AD and kill Cao Shuang to usurp power, in fact, there is a less important reason is that the Cao Wei regime has withered away in the later period, especially the generals who fought on the battlefield, such as Zhang Guo, the last famous general of Cao Wei, who died 18 years before the Gaopingling coup, and since then all the famous generals of Cao Cao's era have withered away.
The era of Cao Cao was the era of Cao Wei's founding, and there were many famous generals, including five great strategists (Xun Yu, Xun You, Guo Jia, Cheng Yu, and Jia Xu), five sons of Wu (Yu Ban, Zhang Liao, Le Jin, Xu Huang, and Zhang Gao), as well as Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, Xiahou Huan, Xiahou Yuan, and other Cao clans and Xiahou clan relatives.
If the generals of Cao Cao's era lived to the time of Cao Fang, such as Cao Ren, Xu Huang, Xu Chu and others, would Sima Yi dare to usurp the throne?
Even if the generals of the Cao Cao era can experience Cao Pi and Cao Rui and live to the time of Cao Fang, whether they can continue to be reused by the imperial court is also unknown, even if they are reused, whether they will prevent Sima Yi from usurping the throne and killing Cao Shuang, it is still unknown.
For example, Jiang Ji, who was a courtier in Cao Cao's era, once dissuaded Cao Cao from moving the capital during the Battle of Xiangfan in 219 AD, only need to contact Sun Quan and jointly attack Guan Yu with Sun Quan to lift the siege of Xiangfan, Cao Cao adopted his advice, and finally defeated Guan Yu, Jiang Ji lived until cao Fang's era, or a third of the dynasty's lieutenants.
However, Jiang Ji sided with Sima Yi in the Gaopingling coup and joined forces with Sima Yi to surrender Cao Shuang, so why did Jiang Ji not be loyal to Cao Wei and usurp the throne together with Sima Yi, a thief in the chaotic world?
Because of the power struggle. Although Jiang Ji was a lieutenant, he was still suppressed by Cao Shuang, and it was Cao Shuang's party that was in power at that time, and unless he defected to Cao Shuang, he was either ostracized by Cao Shuang or suppressed by Cao Shuang, and so was Jiang Ji, otherwise he would not have joined forces with Sima Yi against Cao Shuang, but although Jiang Ji was Sima Yi's party, the later development of things was that Sima Yi deceived Jiang Ji.
Originally, Sima Yi promised not to kill Cao Shuang, but only to let Cao Shuang step down and hand over power, and then Sima Yi redistributed power to those who supported him, but when Sima Yi's Gaopingling coup was successful and Cao Shuang surrendered, Sima Yi raised his butcher knife and killed more than 5,000 people in Cao Shuang's party, which created a bad political behavior, and even the elders of the Four Dynasties such as Jiang Ji were deceived by Sima Yi.
Jiang Ji was indeed loyal to Cao Wei, and together with Sima Yi, he opposed Cao Shuang, but only let Cao Shuang step down, and did not want to kill him, and eventually Jiang Ji died of depression shortly after the coup because of Sima Yi's deception, which is the example of Jiang Ji, if Cao Ren, Xu Huang, Xu Chu and others lived to the time of Cao Fang, unless they could still serve in the imperial court, they could do nothing.
Cao Ren was the representative of Cao Ren's clan relatives, and when Cao Cao was alive, he was indeed very loyal, when Sima Yi launched the Gaopingling coup, the ruler of Cao Clan's clan was Cao Shuang, if Cao Ren was there and held great power, Sima Yi would not dare to launch a coup, if Cao Ren did not hold great power, even if Cao Ren was there, Sima Yi would not be afraid of him, and would still launch a coup and kill Cao Shuang.
Xu Huang and Xu Chu are the representatives of the military generals, and they are also very loyal to Cao Cao, in fact, the loyalty of the military generals lies to a large extent in the wisdom of the lord, if the lord is a faint prince, or incompetent, whether the military generals can be loyal, then there are two words, of course, Xu Huang and Xu Chu were very loyal in the era of Cao Cao, even in the later Cao Pi and Cao Rui eras, the same will be the case.
If Xu Huang and Xu Chu could live to the time of Cao Fang and they could hold great power, Sima Yi would still be very jealous of them and would not dare to launch a coup, and if they did not hold great power, even in the world, they would not be of any use, but Sima Yi was very jealous of them, which did not mean that Sima Yi did not dare to launch a coup, unless Sima Yi was sure.
In fact, looking back at the descendants of those generals in Cao Cao's time, when Sima Yi launched the Gaopingling coup, no one dared to stand up against it, first, there was no strength, and it was useless to oppose, and second, the situation developed too fast, Cao Shuang surrendered, and it was useless to oppose. Cao Ren, Xu Huang, and Xu Chu were actually alive in Cao Fang's time, and none of them stood up against it, because they did not have strength.
Among the three people of Cao Ren, Xu Huang, and Xu Chu, the most important and the most special identity is Cao Ren, his attitude is very important, if he can live to the era of Cao Fang, Cao Shuang cannot be an auxiliary minister, Cao Ren may be an auxiliary minister, in that case, Sima Yi simply does not have the courage to launch a coup d'état when Cao Ren is alive, because Cao Ren not only has a brain, but also has experienced hundreds of battles, which is not comparable to Cao Shuang.
At the same time, Cao Ren's identity is very special, he was born a supporter of Cao Wei, if there are other foreign surnames usurpation, Cao Ren will definitely oppose, when Sima Yi launched the Gaopingling coup, in fact, Xiahou Xuan and Xiahou Ba, who were among xiahou's clan relatives, were all there, and held official positions in the local area, especially Xiahou Xuan, who was in a high position and had heavy troops, at that time he was the general of Zhengxi, False Festival, dudu Yongzhou, and Liangzhou military, which was equivalent to the commander of the local military region, but before and after the entire Gaopingling coup, Xiahou Xuan did nothing.
After the coup d'état in Gaopingling, Xiahou Xuan was also transferred by Sima Yi to the court as an official, in order to cut off Xiahou Xuan's military power, but Xiahou Xuan still did nothing, which can only say that Xiahou Xuan's ability, vision, and courage were not as good as those of the older generation of generals, and although he had military power, he did not dare to oppose, this is incapable, so he did not have the ability to be in a high position, nor could he stop anything.
There were two conditions that prevented Sima Yi from launching the Gaopingling coup: one was that a general who was capable and loyal to Cao Wei was willing to oppose Sima Yi; the other was that the general also had military power and courage. Only those who meet these two conditions can prevent Sima Yi from launching the Gaopingling coup, and as for whether Cao Ren, Xu Huang, and Xu Chu can stop Sima Yi if they can survive to Cao Fang's era, it depends on whether these two conditions are there.
If there is, Sima Yi does not dare to oppose, and if not, Sima Yi still opposes, and this is the result
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