Cao Cao had many sons, but the one with the highest IQ was recognized as Cao Chong, who showed great wisdom at a young age but died at the age of 13, and his master Sima Yi pointed out the reason, and believed that Cao Chong was smart but mistaken by intelligence.
Cao Cao became the king of Wei from the capital lieutenant, and his descendants were all brilliant, the most prominent of which was Cao Chong; Cao Chong was different from birth, and he was also the last son born to Cao Cao's wife and concubine, so Cao Chong was favored from an early age.
▲ Cao Chong is Cao Cao's youngest son. (Photo/Taken from the encyclopedia entry)
Cao Chong was born in Bozhou, and his mother was Cao Cao's concubine, although he was not a concubine, but Cao Chong once praised Cao Cao with his super high intelligence; Cao Cao once publicly said that such a smart Chong Er has the potential to inherit the great cause of his old husband, and it is heaven's favor that he can get this son!
Cao Cao is really not bragging, all because Cao Chong has already shown adult wisdom at the age when other children play with dirt, and the most famous allusion is "Cao Chong weighs elephants"; Cao Cao wanted to know the weight of the elephant, but did not want to kill the elephant, it was an era without a weighbridge, which stumped the Manchu ministers, seeing that Cao Cao was about to get angry, but Cao Chong stood up.
▲ Cao Chong showed extraordinary wisdom. (Photo/Taken from the encyclopedia entry)
At that time, Cao Chong was only 6 years old, and he actually came up with the idea of weighing elephants on a boat, although it was a bit cumbersome to operate, but he could accurately weigh the elephant, which not only satisfied Cao Cao's wishes, but also resolved the crisis among the ministers, Cao Cao was full of praise for his son, and shouted: "The rank here is far from Wu'er!" ”
Cao Chong was not only intelligent, but also benevolent and generous, he could not bear to see the soldier punished for minor mistakes, whenever Cao Cao punished the wrongdoer, Cao Chong would always persuade his father to reduce the punishment, and later Cao Cao's negligence caused Cao Cao's saddle to be bitten by a rat, and he hurriedly ran to intercede with Cao Chong, and Cao Chong also skillfully defused the soldier's crisis.
Cao Chong's sharpness, coupled with Cao Cao's praise, made the other sons very jealous and even uneasy, although Cao Chong is old, but when he grows up, he is his own threat, among which Cao Pi is the most feared, after all, he is the original candidate to inherit the great cause; Although Cao Chong is brilliant, he is still a child after all, and he did not expect that he would become a thorn in the side of his brothers and sisters, Sima Yi once hinted that he should be low-key, and this genius boy is still difficult to hide.
In the thirteenth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao had a strange illness, and his condition became more and more serious, Cao Cao invited all the famous doctors to helpless, and even prayed for him, hoping that he would survive this calamity safely, Cao Chong still died at the age of 13, Cao Cao instantly turned the world around, and made an exception to hold a marriage for him, according to historical records, Cao Cao wanted to be buried together in Sikong Pingyuan's deceased daughter, Bing Yuan refused as "marrying incivility", and was later buried with Zhen's deceased daughter.
Although Cao Chong failed to succeed in pairing with Bing Yuan's deceased daughter in the end, it can also be seen how doting Cao Cao was for Cao Chong, and the sudden change of "Cao Chong's death" made Cao Cao white overnight. After Cao Chong's death, Cao Cao was very sad, and Cao Pi comforted Cao Cao, and Cao Cao said: "This is my misfortune, and Ru Cao is also very lucky." Cao Cao also repented of killing Hua Tuo because of this. ("Taizu sighed, I regretted killing Hua Tuo.") "Three Kingdoms")
After Cao Chong's death, Sima Yi was also extremely sorry, and as Cao Chong's master, he even requested to guard the tomb for three years; Sima Yi is also extremely intelligent, talking about Cao Chong's untimely death, he also bluntly said: "Chong is not a wise person, it is really foolish", Sima Yi believes that smart people are good at covering up their edges, so as to avoid their own persecution, Cao Chong is unscrupulous to show wisdom, it is really too unintelligent, but at that time Cao Chong was just a child, where did he understand the bad thoughts of adults?
Cao Chong's untimely death is no longer scrupulous, but later generations believe that Cao Cao has many sons, Cao Pi, Cao Zhi and others are not idle, and Cao Cao's family has a big business, who does not want to inherit his father's family business, Cao Pi originally had full certainty, but Cao Chong's performance made him feel uneasy; On the other hand, Cao Cao did not hide his admiration and affection for Cao Chong, and even showed his intention to let him inherit the great cause, which was undoubtedly a warning sign for Cao Pi, so later generations suspected that Cao Pi had drugged Cao Chong.
▲ Historians suspect that Cao Pi drugged Cao Chong. (Photo/Taken from the encyclopedia entry)
Another group of people believes that Cao Chong's death was completely an accident, it was an era of underdeveloped medicine, as long as he contracted a serious illness, it was difficult to heal, just like smallpox in the Qing Dynasty, Cao Chong may have contracted some strange disease and died, the cause of Cao Chong's death has been a mystery for thousands of years, but his super high IQ is beyond doubt.
References: Book of Wei, Records of the Three Kingdoms