A text, "Cao Chong Calls the Elephant", made this child, who died tragically at the age of thirteen, a household name, even more famous than his brother Cao Pi. Even "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" praised it bluntly: "Shao Congcha Qi, born five or six years old, has the wisdom of an adult."
However, at that time, only his teacher, Sima Yi, who had the "appearance of a wolf", sharply pointed out a fatal weakness of Cao Chong. Perhaps, only by truly seeing this weakness can we uncover the cruel truth hidden behind his untimely death.
Brilliant and hated
In 196 AD, Cao Cao's concubine, Mrs. Huan, gave birth to Lin'er, Cao Cao's youngest son, and his eldest brother Cao Pi was nine years older than him.
Cao Chong has been brilliant since he was a child, and he is alert, and whenever he talks to his father, he can always answer fluently, which makes Cao Cao very satisfied.
The most famous "elephant" incident occurred when he was a child. At that time, Sun Quan of Wu State bought an elephant from a foreign country and gave it to Cao Cao, who was both delighted and stunned when he saw this behemoth for the first time.
So, on a whim, I wanted to know how much this clumsy guy weighed? After receiving the decree, the ministers discussed a lot, and some said that they would simply dismember the elephant into thousands of pieces, divide and balance it, and add it up to get its weight.
Cao Cao frowned, dismembered the elephant, can the elephant survive? If the image does not exist, and weighs its weight, will it not put the cart before the horse? Won't it ruin the heavens? For a while, the ministers scratched their ears and cheeks, and they couldn't do it.
At this time, six-year-old Cao Chong stepped forward and said, "Father, my son has a plan to let the elephant know its weight without dying." ”
Cao Cao was stunned, so many capable ministers and strategists couldn't think of a good way, what kind of trick did a yellow-mouthed kid have?
Seeing that Cao Chong was not in a hurry, he ordered someone to put the elephant on a large boat, and the elephant sank and let the boat "draught", so Cao Chong ordered someone to mark the parallel place of the water surface and the boat, and then drive the elephant off the boat.
Then he had a large number of boulders prepared and thrown into the empty hull, and when the mark on the hull was parallel to the water again, he immediately stopped. Finally, weigh the boulders that can be moved one by one, and add them up to get the same weight.
Cao Cao witnessed the whole process of weighing the elephant, and was amazed, and boasted: "My son is very smart!" Children can be taught". So, he let the minister he valued very much be his teacher, and this person was Sima Yi!
Hibernation and clumsy Sima Yi
How endurable is Sima Yi? One thing is enough to illustrate.
At that time, the Han dynasty was in decline and Cao Cao was in power. Someone recommended to Cao Cao that Sima Yi was talented, and Cao Cao wanted to summon him to the palace as a staff member. Sima Yi knew that Cao Cao had the heart of "stealing the country" and didn't want to provoke right and wrong, so he called it sick and did not give it.
Cao Cao was unwilling, and sent people to Sima's mansion to recruit him repeatedly, Sima Yi's heart was crossed, and he simply directed and acted in a big drama and became a "leper patient", this disease was extremely contagious, and it was difficult to cure at that time, so few people bothered him in the mansion.
It wasn't until Cao Cao became the powerful prime minister that Sima Yi was frightened and reluctantly became a literary leader.
However, even if he was appreciated by the Cao family's father and son, Sima Yi was never like Ji Kang later, "when something happened", whether it was Cao Cao asking the ministers about Tao strategy, or Cao Pi consulting political affairs, Sima Yi would never be a "bird", nor would he take the initiative to put his thoughts together with Cao's father and son. During the court, he only kept his duties as a courtier and never competed. So much so that for a while, everyone ignored him, not knowing that there was a Sima Yi above the temple.
As for the counseling of Cao Chong, he did his best, but he deeply understood a truth: that is, the power of Cao Wei would never be handed over to Cao Chong in the future, because according to the rules of the time, anyone who inherited the throne must be established as a successor. Cao Chong is the youngest, not the elder, and the concubine is not a concubine, so even if Cao Chong has the talent of the world, it is impossible for him to inherit the unification.
Cao Cao also knew this very well in his heart, and it was because of this that he dared to let Sima Yi serve as Cao Chong's teacher, anyway, in the future, Chong'er would just be a "rich prince", even if Sima Yi was ambitious, he would not have a chance.
There is a mystery in dying young
As a teacher, the most satisfying thing is undoubtedly that students can learn from themselves, whether it is intelligence or character, but an anecdote that happened to Cao Chong made Sima Yi deeply worried, and when everyone was praising Cao Chong's intelligence and kindness, Sima Yi scolded: "Stupid! It's so stupid! ”
Once, a small official who was looking at the warehouse found Cao Chong crying, saying that he had accidentally broken the prime minister's saddle, and asked the young master to think of a way to make the prime minister exempt from punishment.
Cao Chong thought about it, asked the little official to calm down for a while, go back and wait for the news, he has a way to solve the crisis for him. So, he deliberately made a big hole in his clothes, and ran to Cao Cao to complain crying, saying that his clothes were populated by the rampant plague in recent days. ”
When the little official came to report the damage of the saddle, Cao Cao took the initiative to say: "The plague has been rampant recently, and you are not to blame for the saddle being good, you can do things with peace of mind!" ”
In fact, Cao Cao had already understood the ins and outs of the whole incident through his ears and eyes, and knew that it was Cao Chong's plan. But Cao Cao not only did not expose it, but was benevolent and smart to Cao Chong, after Cao Chong's brothers knew about it, they were very jealous, and their hearts were full of envy, jealousy, and hatred for Cao Chong!
It was only after Sima Yi heard that Cao Chong was in the limelight that he scolded: "Stupid! A real idiot! ”
The "plague" incident is just an appetizer, and what really makes the brothers have a grudge against Cao Chong is probably the following incident.
The Battle of Chibi made Cao Cao defeated, Ma Teng took the opportunity to attack Xuchang, Cao Cao in order to prevent the Xiliang assassins from assassinating, falsely claimed that he wanted to enter Xudu from the south gate, but he entered the city through the west gate. To his surprise, Sima Yi and Cao Chong had been waiting here for a long time, while Cao Pi, who regarded himself as the prince, led several brothers and a group of ministers to wait at the south gate for three days.
Cao Cao then summoned his sons and asked them how they could capture the Assassins. Cao Pi and the other brothers said that they should close the city gate and catch turtles in the urn. Cao Chong didn't think so, but suggested that his father open the city gate and let the thieves escape, as soon as the words fell, Cao Cao laughed: "This son Xiao me!" He praised Cao Chong again.
It is estimated that when Cao Cao praised Cao Chong, Sima Yi, who was on the side, was so angry that he stomped his feet, "Stupid, stupid!" Who made you perform, who made you outstanding, the hidden dragon is in the abyss, don't you understand? Besides, you're not a real dragon yet! ”
Sure enough, his father's favoritism immediately aroused the jealousy of his brothers towards Cao Chong, and not long after, Cao Chong was seriously ill and died, and he was only thirteen years old when he died.
The history books do not clearly record the cause of Cao Chong's death, which is exactly suspicious, and according to the inference, most of them were secretly killed by Cao Pi's brothers.
A teenager, we shouldn't have too many requirements for him, but who let him be born in the emperor's family, in ancient times, especially in a family like the Cao family that controls the lifeblood of the country, it is common to fight openly and secretly, swords and swords, if someone really is good for him, because of this unspoken rule, but unfortunately, as a teacher, Sima Yi may have "other plans" at that time, otherwise he will let Cao Chong lie dormant and silent like him.