Cao Chong,also spelled Cangshu, was one of Cao Cao's 25 sons. Cao Chong has been clever and clever since he was a child, different, has a quick wit, is good at thinking, and is deeply loved by Cao Cao. The primary school Chinese textbook has the story of "Cao Chong called an elephant", which fully explains the high intelligence of Cao Chong, but why did Cao Chong only live to the age of 13 and die? Was his death a medical death or a political murder?
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Chong died of illness at the age of thirteen. There are many opinions on this statement, and most people do not agree with this reason. One of the most recognized reasons is that Cao Chong's death is an inevitable product of politics.
Cao Chong was the son of Lady Huan, not a concubine, not a long-lived, talented person since childhood, and his wisdom made all of Cao Cao's sons marvel at themselves. Although Cao Chong "has the wisdom of an adult", he does not know how to hide wisdom, that is, he has no political consciousness, and he shows intelligence beyond all his brothers. Cao Cao also did not shy away from expressing his love for Cao Chong to the crowd. In this regard, he praised Cao Chong in front of the group of courtiers, and the heart of the courtiers was tacit, and Cao Cao deliberately passed the throne to Cao Chong. This is also doomed to die.
If Cao Chong still does not know how to hide himself and protect himself, it can be understood, after all, Cao Chong is still too young. However, if Cao Cao, who was a man of great talent, had not publicly expressed the meaning of being located in Cao Chong, or if Cao Cao had taught Cao Chong not to show his outstanding talents in front of his brothers earlier, and to protect Cao Chong from becoming a successor when he grew up, then Cao Chong might not have died.
After Cao Ang's death in battle, Cao Pi became the eldest son and was the most qualified to inherit Cao Cao's inheritance. In the face of Cao Chong's outstanding performance of intelligence, Cao Pi, Cao Zhang and other brothers were very incompetent. Cao Cao's public praise made Cao Pi have a major sense of crisis. Cao Pi himself was a vicious, narrow-minded, and extremely ambitious man, and he was bound to win the position of the son of the world at all costs, and for the sake of his position of the son of the world, the things of brotherhood were also done.
Cao Chong's death, the most recognized method of death, is that Cao Chong's intelligence threatened Cao Pi's position as the son of the world, so he used Lady Huan's life to threaten Cao Chong, and Cao Chong, out of filial piety, was forced to eat the poison that Cao Pi gave him. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Chong was killed by Cao Pi with a poisonous snake. Cao Pi was jealous of Cao Chong's ingenuity, so he chose to release a poisonous snake to poison Cao Chong. However, while Cao Pi poisoned Cao Chong with a snake, he let the poisonous rat bite himself, so that he could eliminate his suspicions. Because with Cao Cao's wisdom, he would definitely think that after Cao Chong's death, only Cao Pi would get the greatest benefits, so in order to avoid suffering from disasters, Cao Pi made this bitter trick make cao difficult to decide in times of grief.
In the end, it was Cao Chong himself who killed himself, although Cao Pi did not have Cao Chong's resourcefulness, but Cao Pi's ambition was big enough, his heart was fierce enough, and his way of dealing with people was far above all his brothers. Cao Chong's death really should be blamed on himself, even if he has the wisdom of heaven and man, he must not frequently make a splash and sell his goodness. Cao Cao loved him very much, but did not protect him well. Cao Cao had always fantasized that his sons would live in harmony and brothers would support each other, but he ignored that since freedom, the struggle for power and family property was itself a cruel competition.
"This is my misfortune, and Ru Cao's luck is also" Three Kingdoms Chronicle of Wei Shu
This is a sentence that Cao Cao said to Cao Pi after Cao Chong's death. This means that Cao Chong's death is my misfortune, but it is your good fortune for Cao Pi. This sentence seems to confirm Cao Pi's claim that Cao Chong killed him. Therefore, Cao Chong's death was broken in his own extreme intelligence. The wisdom that the royal family wants is not a talent like Cao Chong, but more importantly, a person like Cao Pi who can see through the world's trials, be patient and introverted, and have political vision, so Sima Yi will assist Cao Pi.