#History Talk#In the first decade of the Cao Wei Dynasty (249), Cao Shuang, an auxiliary minister of power and opposition, accompanied the young emperor Cao Fang to the Gaoping Mausoleum outside Luoyang City to sweep the tomb of the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Ying. Taking advantage of Cao Shuang's divine opportunity to go out, Fu Sima Yi, who had been ostracized and pretending to be ill and dormant, suddenly took control of the capital. Subsequently, Sima Yi betrayed his promises, and after Cao Shuang's surrender, he ignored Luoshui's oath and destroyed the three tribes, and from then on completely controlled Cao Wei's military and political power, known in history as the "Change of Gaopingling".
In this major event that determined the trend of Cao Wei and even the entire world, there was an important figure worth mentioning, that is, Jiang Ji, who was regarded as a confidant by Cao Cao and later received three generations of power in the Cao family. Although he took over Cao Ren's soldiers and horses after his death and replaced Sima Yi as imperial lieutenant, he was not well known. Apparently, Jiang Ji was an important minister of the Cao Wei regime, but he helped Sima Yi persuade Cao Shuang to surrender during the Gaopingling Revolution, which eventually led indirectly to Cao Wei's demise.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Jiang Ji was born in Ping'a County, Jiujiang County, which is today's Huaiyuan County, Anhui Province, and in his youth, he served as a planner of Jiujiang County and a driver in Yangzhou. After the Battle of Chibi, Cao Cao, who had suffered a major defeat, hurriedly retreated north, while Sun Quan took the opportunity to send troops to attack Hefei, a heavily garrisoned city. At that time, Cao Cao was obviously unable to rescue Hefei, and seeing that Sun Quan was about to succeed, Jiang Ji stepped forward, writing that Cao Cao had sent an army of 40,000 to support, and asked three messengers to go to Hefei with letters to inform the defenders in the city.
Subsequently, as Jiang Ji expected, two of the three messengers were captured by Eastern Wu, and the false news fabricated by Jiang Ji was believed by Sun Quanxin. Therefore, Sun Quan quickly withdrew his troops, and Hefei turned the corner. The following year, Cao Cao summoned Jiang Ji, who had been instrumental in protecting Hefei, and asked him whether he should move the people of Huainan to the Central Plains to prevent them from becoming productive forces in Eastern Wu after the fall of Huainan. Jiang Ji objected to this, arguing that the people were relocated and that forcing them to move would cause them fear and unease.
In the end, Cao Cao did not follow Jiang Ji's advice, and as a result, more than 100,000 people in the Jianghuai region fled into Eastern Wu out of fear. In order to hide his embarrassment, Cao Cao, who stole the chicken and lost the rice, had to laugh at Jiang Ji and say, "If you want to avoid thieves, you will drive them away." Subsequently, he made Jiang Ji the Taishou of Danyang, and soon returned him to the familiar post of Yangzhou Bie. For Jiang Ji, Cao Cao can be said to have great trust, and once someone impeached him for rebellion, Cao Cao confidently said: "Jiang Jining has this matter!" I don't know about this. This will be foolish and confused, and it will lead to the ears of vain. ”
In the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an (219), Guan Yu launched the Northern Expedition, which soon achieved amazing results, and for a time Cao Cao even planned to move Emperor Xian of Han to avoid his advance. As soon as this remark came out, Sima Yi and Jiang Ji resolutely opposed it, and they jointly advocated that Sun Quan should be united to deal with Guan Yu. Cao Cao acted according to the plan, and sure enough, Guan Yu was defeated and died after suffering a sneak attack from Eastern Wu, and the siege of Xiangfan was completely lifted. The following year, Cao Cao died of illness, and his son Cao Pi established Cao Wei as emperor of the Han dynasty, and Jiang Ji officials worshipped and rode as constant attendants.
In the third year of the early Huang dynasty (222), Cao Pi attacked Wu in a big way, and Jiang Ji attacked Huixukou with the general Cao Ren. Coming to the front, Jiang Ji first feigned an attack on Xianxi and successfully induced the Eastern Wu general Zhu Huan (朱桓), who was stationed at Puxukou, to support Xianxi , and then Cao Ren was able to lead the main force to directly storm the weakened Huixukou. In order to gain a greater advantage, Cao Ren set his sights on a small sandbar next to the mouth of Puxu, but Jiang Ji believed that the Eastern Wu warships were still stationed upstream, and attacking the sandbar downstream at this time was "for the sake of hell from the inside, and the way to peril."
Cao Ren insisted on attacking despite Jiang Ji's advice, but he suffered a major defeat, and he died depressed soon after. After Cao Ren's death, Cao Pi appointed Jiang Ji as the general of Eastern Zhonglang, putting him in charge of taking over Cao Ren's soldiers and horses, and when he returned to the dynasty, he was made Shangshu. After Cao Pi's death, his son Cao Ying succeeded him, and Jiang Ji was made Marquis of Guannei. Later, Cao Xiu suffered a rash defeat at the Battle of Shiting, and Jiang Ji, who had previously advised him but was not taken seriously, was promoted to the rank of Zhongguan.
Not long after, Jiang Ji spoke out again, persuading Cao Ying to select and appoint more wise ministers in the dynasty and not to rely too much on the close attendants around him. Cao Ying praised Jiang Ji and made him a general of the escort army and a constant attendant of the scattered horses. Later, despite Jiang Ji's dissuasion, Cao Ying insisted that Tian Yu and other generals lead an army to attack Sun Yuan, the Duke of Liaodong, but his efforts were as futile as Jiang Ji expected. After Cao Ying's death, the seven-year-old King of Qi Cao Fang succeeded to the throne, and the general Cao Shuang and the imperial lieutenant Sima Yi jointly assisted him.
Squeezed out by Cao Shuang, Sima Yi was ostensibly promoted to taifu but lost real power, and his original post as imperial lieutenant was taken over by Jiang Ji. After Cao Shuang's dictatorship, his powerful Ding Yao, Deng Wei and others often changed the law indiscriminately, which was dissatisfied with Jiang Ji, who had a straight personality, so he secretly plotted with Sima Yi to eradicate Cao Shuang.