"Sima Zhao's heart is known to passers-by", this is a historical allusion known to women and children, which probably means Sima Zhao's ambition to usurp power and establish himself, and even passers-by are very clear. To this end, Sima Zhao also sent people to kill the Cao Wei emperor Cao Huan, who was blocking him. In the case of Sima Zhaojun, it was an incident that occurred in the capital Luoyang in May of the fifth year (June 260) of the Fifth Year of Cao Wei Ganlu during the Three Kingdoms Period. At that time, the Cao Wei emperor Cao Xi was preparing to personally lead an army against Sima Zhao, but because of the betrayal of Wang Shen, Wang Ye and others, the plan was leaked in advance. Therefore, Sima Zhao immediately made a decision and sent his close associate Jia Chong to block Cao Huan.
Although Sima Zhao may not have ordered the removal of Cao Fu, the final result was that Jia Chong instructed the warrior Cheng Ji to kill Cao Ji in Nanque. In the view of many historians, Sima Zhao's assassination marked the complete failure of the Cao clique's efforts to restore imperial power since Cao Fang, prompting Sima To further grasp the power of Cao Wei.
Of course, in ancient history, the killing of the monarch was a very serious incident, which caused Sima Zhao to bear great pressure, and even Sima Zhao's uncle Sima Fu demanded that Sima Zhao severely punish the murderer. As for Chen Qun's son Chen Tai, he was also very dissatisfied with Sima Zhao's killing of the emperor. So, the question is, after Cao Huan was killed, how did Sima Zhao clean up the aftermath and calm the anger of the people?
One
First of all, Sima Zhao slaughtered the donkey and pushed out the brothers Cheng Li and Cheng Ji as a scapegoat. On the seventh day of the fifth month of the fifth year of Ganlu (June 2, 260), the Wei emperor Cao Xian, because he found that Sima Shi's power was getting stronger and stronger, was not willing to sit still and decided to depose Sima Zhao,but because Wang Shen and Wang Ye leaked secrets, Sima Zhao was able to prepare. When Cao Huan heard the news, he led the servants in the palace to attack Sima Zhao's residence. The journey reached the Southern Que and was blocked by jia chong, the central defender. At that time, Cheng Ji served as the prince of sheren and was also in the army.
The two sides clashed, and Cao Fu angrily swung his sword to kill. Jia Chong's soldiers saw the emperor rushing forward, after all, they were timid, cowering and did not dare to move forward. Jia Chong's subordinates and Crown Prince Chengji saw him and asked, "The matter is urgent, what do you say to do?" Jia Chong said sharply, "Sima Zhao is raising you on weekdays!" Do you still need to ask more?" Cheng Ji heard that he used Ge to assassinate Cao Xian, and the blade pierced Cao Xian's body and came out from the back. Cao Died. According to the "Biography of the End of Wei", Cheng Ji's brother Cheng Qi and Cheng Ji attacked and killed Cao Ji together.
Although Jia Chong is the mastermind behind it, the real perpetrator is the Chengji brothers. Moreover, Jia Chong was a minister of the Three Kingdoms from Cao Wei to the Western Jin Dynasty, and the son of Shi Jia Kui of Cao Wei's Yu Prefecture. Because he came from Cao Wei's family lineage, Jia Chong became the object of Sima Zhao's solicitation. On this basis, Sima Zhao was naturally unwilling to give up Jia Chong, otherwise it would lead to Sima Zhao facing a situation of internal and external troubles. Therefore, the Chengji brothers replaced Jia Chong.
Two
Twenty days later (June 21), Sima Zhao was outraged by the crowd, especially his own uncle Sima Fu, who had a disagreement with him. Therefore, Sima Zhao ordered the capture and murder of the Chengji brothers, once to shirk the guilt. In addition, according to historical records such as the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Chronicle of Emperor Wen of Jin, Sima Zhao went to the imperial court and requested the relatives of Chengji to exterminate the three clans of Chengji with the permission of Empress Guo. However, according to the "Biography of Xun Xun of jin", Cheng Ji's brother Cheng Li "tortured him to death" and did not have any relatives. In any case, Cheng Ji himself eventually acted as an executor and scapegoat for Sima Zhaojun.
In this regard, in the author's opinion, because the Chengji brothers were only scapegoats, Sima Zhao only got rid of them, but still could not completely quell the killing of the monarch. Therefore, Sima Zhao moved out of Empress Guo. Empress Dowager Guo issued an edict saying that Cao Xian was doing something wrong and wanted to kill Sima Zhao several times. Empress Guo wanted to depose Cao Xian several times, but it was because of Sima Zhao's protection that he continued to be emperor. Now I didn't expect that he would do such a ridiculous thing and personally kill Sima Zhao. Such a dimwitted monarch should be deposed as a commoner.
As early as 249 AD, when Sima Yi launched the Gaopingling Rebellion, Empress Guo fell to the Sima Yi family, such as when Sima Shi deposed the emperor Cao Fang, and gained the support of Empress Guo. Now, Empress Guo continued to help Sima Zhao, prompting them to be deeply bound. Through Empress Guo's edict, Cao Xian's image was naturally smeared, and Sima Zhao's act of killing the former was somewhat reasonable.
Three
At the same time, Sima Zhao falsely demanded that Empress Guo make Cao Xian the king, and no matter how bad it was, she should also make a duke and not be deposed as a shuren. In this regard, in the view of many historians, Sima Zhao's move is to make Empress Guo an evil person and a good person himself, thus saving his reputation.
Of course, even if Sima Zhao did this, the people and the civil and military officials were actually not convinced. Therefore, after Sima Zhao changed Cao Wan's position as emperor, he began to eliminate the Shu Han. In the face of huge criticism, Sima Zhao wanted to offset the negative evaluation by making meritorious achievements. In August 263, Sima Zhao mobilized an army of 180,000 and officially launched the Battle of Wei and Shu. In November of the same year, Deng Ai led more than 10,000 people from Yinping across the dangerous mountains to Jiangyou, broke the Shu army at Mianzhu, killed Zhuge Zhan, and passed the first rank to Luoyang. He marched on Luo County, and the Shu lord Liu Chan surrendered.
After the fall of the Shu Han Dynasty, Cao Huan ordered Sima Zhao to take charge of the imperial government as Xiangguo, so he sent a new post to remove the titles of Shizhong (侍中), Dadu Governor (大都督), and Lu Shangshu (錄尚書). Sima Zhao made Deng Ai a lieutenant and Zhong Hui a Situ. Zhong Hui secretly plotted rebellion, so he secretly sent emissaries to frame Deng Ai. In the first month of the fifth year of Jing Yuan (264), Deng Ai was summoned to Beijing by a carriage transporting prisoners. In the fourth year of the first year, Sima Zhao threatened the Wei emperor Cao Huan to march west and garrison Chang'an. Soon after, Zhong Hui rebelled in Shu, and the overseer Wei Wan and the right general Hu Lie attacked Zhong Hui and killed him. Deng Ai and his son Deng Zhong, who had not yet seen Sima Zhao, were killed by Wei Wan's tian xu on the way, and Deng Ai's sons who were still in Luoyang were all killed.
Four
Thus, after the destruction of the Shu Han Dynasty, Sima Zhao, with his great military achievements, had already come out of the haze of killing emperor Cao Xian. Moreover, by eliminating the two generals Deng Ai and Zhong Hui, Sima Zhao strengthened his control over Cao Wei's generals. By this time, Sima Zhao actually had the ability and conditions to become emperor. However, on August 265 (September 6, 265), Sima Zhao died of illness at the age of 55 and was buried in Chongyang Mausoleum. It is likely that because of physical reasons, Sima Zhao did not forcibly claim the title of emperor, which was a more rational choice.
In September 265, Sima Zhao was posthumously honored as King Wen and buried at Chongyang Mausoleum. Soon after, Sima Zhao's son Sima Yan was proclaimed emperor of Wei, with the state name Jin and the historical title of Western Jin; Sima Zhao was posthumously honored as Emperor Wen and taizu. In summary, although the killing of Cao Xian put Sima Zhao under great pressure, as Sima Yi's son, Sima Zhao not only resolved the crisis with his calm handling, but also laid a good foundation for the Western Jin Dynasty to replace Cao Wei.