Preface
In history, there are many jaw-dropping stories, and Emperor Wei Ming sent cotton clothes, but Sima Yi would rather the soldiers freeze to death than give them out, which is undoubtedly one of them.
Cotton clothes meant warmth and hope for survival for soldiers, however, Sima Yi resolutely decided not to distribute them, which caused countless people to speculate and question.
What was the reason behind this seemingly cruel decision, and was his behavior motivated by political considerations or personal selfishness and indifference?
1. Pretending to be faithful
In 208 AD, 19-year-old Sima Yi joined Cao Cao as a literary scholar. The young man was erudite and talented, and he should have been put to good use, but he pretended to be humble and disguised as diligent and loyal in order to paralyze the suspicion of Cao Cao and others.
Sima Yi was born in a famous family, and was familiar with poetry, books, and the art of war since he was a child, and was known as a genius in the world. Cao Cao praised this young talent and took him under his command, hoping to use his talents for his own use.
However, Sima Yi was not in a hurry to show his edge in front of Cao Cao, but deliberately disguised himself as a "straightforward" appearance, always cautious and cautious, for fear of arousing Cao Cao's suspicion.
In the life-and-death decisive battle of the Battle of Chibi, although Sima Yi had a strategy to offer, he chose to remain silent. He was afraid that the advisers around Cao Cao would be jealous of him, which would cause Cao Cao's suspicion. Even if it is such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to display his talents, Sima Yi would rather give it up, but also keep a low profile to pave the way for future plans.
With the formation of a three-point world, Cao Cao became more and more distrustful of the people around him, even the "loyal" Sima Yi, he began to be suspicious. Once, Cao Cao actually dreamed that three horses were eating together, and thought that maybe Sima Yi was the horse who wanted a piece of the pie.
In the face of Cao Cao's suspicion, Sima Yi did not refute, but continued to maintain a taciturn style and never gave Cao Cao any handle. He knew that if he wanted to achieve his goal, he must first gain Cao Pi's trust and lay the foundation for his future support. After Cao Pi ascended the throne, Sima Yi became an important object of his support, and made great contributions to Cao Pi's throne.
2. Make great achievements
In 238 AD, Gongsun Yuan, who was entrenched in Liaodong, rebelled, and Emperor Cao Rong of Wei Ming was shocked. At this time, Sima Yi was already a lieutenant, and he was the highest military commander of the dynasty.
Although Cao Rong trusts him, he is also afraid of Sima Yi's "eagle and wolf" and deep thinking, once he supports the army, it will be very dangerous. However, Sima Yi had already seen through Cao Ei's mind and took the initiative to ask Ying to go north to Liaodong, which immediately made Cao Ei let go of his doubts.
The soldiers under the command of Sima Yi crossed the Liaoshui and attacked Xiangping, the base camp of Gongsun Yuan, and surrounded him. Gongsun Yuan fought three times, but was defeated by Sima Yi. Sima Yi did not give a way to live, built a fortress, and isolated Xiangping City.
A few months later, while Gongsun Yuan was tired, Sima Yi raided his camp again and shot him. In order to prevent future troubles, Sima Yi ordered the slaughter of the city and moved 40,000 households from Liaodong into the Central Plains. In this battle, Sima Yi showed outstanding military talent and made great achievements.
After the Battle of Liaodong, Cao Rong trusted Sima Yi more, but he was also more jealous. Although Cao Yi wanted to crown Sima Yi as a reward for his efforts, he was worried that doing so would fuel Sima Yi's ambitions. In the end, Cao Rong still didn't do this, for fear of giving Sima Yi a chance to be the king.
3. Pretending to be loyal to the conspiracy
After continuous fighting, Sima Yi's soldiers were exhausted. At this time, it was the middle of winter, and Cao Rong sympathized with their hardships and gave them winter clothes as a reward.
However, Sima Yi refused to distribute them all, and even if the soldiers froze to death, he was unmoved. This attracted Cao's attention, but he was kept in the dark, believing that Sima Yi was cherishing what he had given, thus further believing in his loyalty.
As everyone knows, this is exactly Sima Yi's disguise and conspiracy. He deliberately did not distribute winter clothes in order not to leave Cao Ei with the handle of "buying people's hearts", so as not to make Cao Ei suspicious. For 11 years, he was secretly brewing a plan to seize power.
Sima Yi's approach can be described as extremely clever. He knew that Cao Ei was sympathetic to the soldiers and specially gave winter clothes, but he refused to distribute them, so that Cao Ei could think that he was cherishing the items he was given, and he would not leave any handle for himself.
At the same time, this also allowed Sima Yi to establish an image of "iron-faced and selfless" in the hearts of soldiers, and enhanced their reverence and obedience to Sima Yi.
Such disguises and conspiracies made Cao Ei's trust in Sima Yi reach its peak. Cao Yi was completely unaware that Sima Yi was secretly brewing a devastating coup d'état, waiting for the opportunity to seize power from Cao Wei in one fell swoop.
IV. Exhibitionist Ambition
In 249 AD, Cao Rong was critically ill and entrusted his youngest son Cao Fang to Sima Yi, hoping that he could assist Cao Fang in governing Cao Wei. Sima Yi tearfully agreed, but a earth-shaking coup had already brewed in his heart.
After Cao Fang ascended the throne, everything depended on Sima Yi and the general Cao Shuang. However, Cao Shuang has been targeting Sima Yi and depriving him of his military power, making him a prince with no real power.
Sima Yi saw the opportunity and took advantage of Cao Fang and Cao Shuang to go out and launch a coup d'état, taking control of the Luoyang Palace in one fell swoop and forcing Cao Shuang to surrender. Soon, he killed Cao Shuang and his henchmen on charges of treason, and exterminated the clan. In this way, the entire Cao Wei regime fell into the hands of Sima Yi.
Sima Yi's move can be said to have completely exposed his wolf ambitions. For many years, he has been pretending to be loyal, paralyzing Cao Cao, Cao Pi, Cao Rong and others, waiting for the opportunity to seize power in one fell swoop. Now, he finally waited for this opportunity and did not hesitate to launch a coup d'état and take control of the entire Cao Wei regime.
Behind this coup d'état is the result of Sima Yi's years of planning. He skillfully took advantage of the contradictions between Cao Shuang and himself and took the opportunity to launch a coup d'état. As for Cao Fang, the young master, Sima Yi also had a plan, he only used it as a puppet for the time being, waiting for the opportunity to get rid of it.
epilogue
Once a son of heaven and a courtier, Sima Yi survived the three generations of emperors of Cao Wei, but he was always as stable as Mount Tai. He used disguise and conspiracy to skillfully paralyze Cao Cao, Cao Pi, Cao Ei and others, and finally realized the wolf ambition of seizing power.
This magnificent history bears witness to how one conspirator, through patience and wisdom, eventually took control of the entire regime.
It also reminds us of the enormity of the temptation of power and the horror of the dark side of human nature. Let us learn from history, cherish the era of peace, stay away from the temptation of power, and never repeat the mistakes of the past.