Cao Pi killed Cao Zhi? Lustful? Tongdahu? Iron Fist? ——Analyze the image of Cao Pi in "The New Language of the World"

Statue of Cao Pi. (IC photo/figure)

As an emperor, what was the level of Cao Pi's governance? As one of the "three Caos" that must be mentioned in the history of literature, at what level is Cao Pi's creation? These are controversial topics that are easy to write at length, and they are all topics that "The New Language of the World" does not care about.

The most interesting thing for the Duan Zi hand is naturally the palace fight.

<h3>The passage in which Cao Pi persecutes his brother in "The New Language of the World"</h3>

The story of how Cao Pi and Cao Zhi fought for the crown prince is not told in "The New Language of the World", but it tells how Cao Pi persecuted his brothers after he became emperor. "You repented" said:

Emperor Wen of Wei was jealous of his brother Xiao Zhuang the Prince of Rencheng. Because he was in Empress Bian's court to play Go and eat dates, Emperor Wen poisoned zhu jujubes. Those who choose to eat will enter, and Wang Fu will realize that he will enter it. Poisoned, the empress dowager asked for water to save it. The emperor destroyed the bottles and cans left and right, and the empress dowager went to the well in vain, and there was no way to draw it. Whiskers, pawns. Fu wanted to harm Dong'a, and the empress dowager said, "Ru has killed me Rencheng, and you must not kill me Dong'a again." ”

King Rencheng was Cao Zhang, the famous Yellow Bearded Er. He and Cao Pi were both born to Empress Bian, Cao Pi Zi Huan, Cao Zhangzi Ziwen, the most undisputed of the Spring and Autumn Overlords is Qi Huan Jinwen, Cao Cao gave his son such a name, pinning his ambitions at that time.

Cao Zhang, the bravest of all Cao Cao's sons, was jealous of him, so he played chess with Cao Zhang in his mother's cabinet, with a plate of dates in his hand, and some of the dates were poisoned by the jujube.

Cao Pi picked a non-poisonous food, and Cao Zhang naturally took it and ate it.

So Cao Zhang was poisoned, and Empress Bian rushed to find water to save him, but Cao Pi had already ordered someone to break the bottles and cans containing water in advance.

The empress rushed to the well barefoot, but the equipment for digging the well water was gone.

After a moment's effort, Cao Zhang died.

Cao Pi again wanted to harm Cao Zhi, the king of Dong'a.

The empress dowager said, "You have already killed my Rencheng King, and you are not allowed to kill my Dong'a King again!" ”

Previous scholars have pointed out that there are flaws in this story:

First, in the history books, Cao Zhang entered Kyoto to see Cao Pi, and suddenly died violently, in May of the fourth year of the Huang Dynasty (223), and the dates were autumn fruits, which were not ripe at this time. - Of course, it can be hard to explain that the brothers did not eat fresh dates, but sun-dried dates.

Second, in the fourth year of the Huang Dynasty, Cao Zhi was the King of Yongqiu, and it was not until the third year of Taihe (229) that he was enfeoffed by his nephew Cao Rui (曹叡) the Emperor of Wei. At that time, Cao Pi was already dead. - Of course, it can also be hard to explain that the titles of characters in the history books are often not rigorous, and it is not surprising to use later more famous titles.

Third, Cao Pi wanted to harm Cao Zhang, why did he have to make such trouble in front of his mother, and risk his life? After all, while playing chess, picking dates, one eye, but put his own life in it. ——If you have to explain, it can only be this section of "The Story of the World", which is a fragment in a long story, and there should be Cao Pi who wants to poison many times, and Cao Zhang is cautious and does not eat the plot.

Of course, a more rational approach to this kind of story is not to explain, just as if it were a paragraph. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms makes it very clear that Cao Zhang was "ill in the mansion". Cao Zhang was not sick and died, and the history books may be secretly lying, but Cao Zhang died in his own residence, and there is no need to lie.

Naturally, there is also a story of Cao Pi persecuting Cao Zhi in the "New Language of the World", "Literature Gate":

Emperor Wen tried to order King Dong'a to compose poems in the seven steps, and those who did not succeed practice Dafa. The response is a poem: "Boiled beans are held as soup, and wet is thought to be juice." The beans are crying in the kettle. Born from the same root, why is it too urgent to fry? "The emperor is deeply ashamed.

The story of the famous seven-step poem of Cao Zhi, the earliest narrative that can be seen so far, is this. Of course, many versions have been derived since. One variation is reduced to four sentences: "Boil the beans and burn the beans, and the beans cry in the kettle." Born from the same root, why is it too urgent to fry? There is also a more complicated story: Cao Pi asked Cao Zhi to give a poem about bullfighting, which required "a hundred steps to make it into forty words." So Cao Zhi rode while riding his horse, while collecting his pen to compose a poem, and in the blink of an eye, the "Bullfighting Poem" was endowed, seeing that there was still surplus in time, and with a spirit of painting snakes and adding enough, he wrote this poem "Xiang Fry He Is Too Anxious".

This version is found in the Taiping Guangji, which is also said to have been copied from the "New Language of the World", which shows that the current "World Sayings" is incomplete, and a lot of content has been lost in the copy. Although this version of the poem uses a hundred steps, Cao Zhi can be on the back of a galloping horse, with one hand holding a sword and the other waving a han, and the riding skills are really good, but it is seen that both literature and martial arts are complete.

The story of the "seven-step poem" is naturally almost certainly false. Cao Zhang is indeed likely to be killed by Cao Pi, Cao Pi did think of killing Cao Zhi, and the story of fratricide is easy to arouse folk empathy, so it is not strange that people have to make up stories based on this theme.

<h3>Cao Pi loves beautiful women</h3>

Another topic of interest to Cao Pi in "The New Language of the World" is lust, especially Cao Cao and Cao Pi's father and son are lustful, and the story of robbing women is even more popular. "You repented" said:

Zhen Houhui was colored, first as Yuan Xi's wife, and was very favored. Cao Gongzhi Tu Ye ye, Ling Zhao Zhen, left and right White: "The five senses of the lang are already gone." "This year, the thief is becoming a slave." ”

Cao Pi's Zhen Hou was virtuous and beautiful. She was originally the wife of Yuan Shao's son Yuan Xi and was very pampered. Cao Cao slaughtered Yecheng and ordered that it be immediately summoned to Zhen.

The people around him reported that "The Five Senses Zhonglang has already taken her away." This title is not quite right, Cao Cao broke the yi, it was the ninth year of Jian'an (204), Cao Pi served as the general of the five senses, but it was the sixteenth year of Jian'an (211).

Cao Cao said: "This year, the thief is becoming a slave. "The fruits of this victory have been taken away by this slave.

The destruction of YeCheng was the most tragic battle in the final stage of Yuan Cao's dispute. This time, Cao Cao did not actually slaughter the city, but the long-term siege of the city led to the starvation of many people, and the military discipline after the city was broken was not very good. Looking at this sentence in this context, Cao Cao seems to be particularly frivolous. Of course, the history books will also say that "light detachment" and "easy" are Cao Cao's personality.

Another story is:

Emperor Wu of Wei collapsed, and Emperor Wen took the people of Emperor Wu's palace to serve himself. And the emperor was sick and sleepy, and Bian Hou came out to see the disease. The empress dowager entered the house and saw the naoshi and was the one who loved her former beloved. The empress dowager asked, "When will the evil come?" Cloud: "The time is passing." Because of the lack of return, he sighed: "Dogs and rats do not eat Ruyu, and they should die!" "Even to the mountain, there is no coming."

Cao Cao died, and Cao Pi took all the women in his father's palace to serve him.

Cao Pi only served as emperor for seven years, and then he also fell seriously ill.

His mother, Mrs. Bian, later visited him, and as soon as she entered the inner chamber, she saw that all the people on duty and serving were acquaintances, and the little fox spirits around her husband had all come to her son.

The empress dowager asked them, "When did you change jobs?" ”

They said, "I came here when I was 'ambushing'. Fu Luo is also a ritual when a person has just swallowed his breath. That is, when Cao Cao died, and when people climbed to the roof with his clothes and shouted "the soul is back", Cao Pi took over these women.

The empress dowager did not go forward, sighing and saying, "Dogs and rats do not eat Ruyu, really damn it!" This is an allusion in the "Left Biography", those who are despised by others, eat what is leftovers, others will not eat. Empress Bian said here that Cao Pi ate what was leftover, and dogs and rats did not eat, which meant that animals and beasts were inferior.

Later, Cao Pi died, and the empress dowager did not cry in the end.

Cao Pi likes beautiful women, and also likes to show off his beauty to people, "Speech Gate" said:

Liu Gonggan was guilty of disrespect, and Emperor Wen asked, "Why is Qing not careful with Wen Xian?" Zhen replied: "The subject is sincere and short, and his majesty is not neglected." ”

Liu Gonggan was Liu Zhen, one of the seven sons of Jian'an.

Liu Zhen committed a crime because of disrespect. Cao Pi asked him, "Why don't you pay attention to the law and discipline?" Liu Zhen replied, "The subject is indeed mediocre and shallow, but the reason for the crime is also because His Majesty's legal net is too tight." ”

So, what is Liu Zhen "disrespectful" for?

It is still related to the daughter-in-law of Yuan Xi and the Zhen clan that Cao Cao also wants.

After Cao Pi became a general in the sixteenth year of Jian'an, Liu Zhen became his literary attendant. Once drunk, Cao Pi asked Zhen to come out to meet him. The other guests quickly bowed their heads, indicating that they were not polite, and I did not dare to look at your woman. This is probably cao Pi's purpose, that is, to see how everyone panics and falls.

Only Liu Zhen remained level-headed, so Cao Pi became angry, arrested Liu Zhen, reduced his death by one degree, and punished him to the ministry of losing labor and grinding stones. This conversation took place when Cao Pi pardoned Liu Zhen again.

Cao Pi was addicted to doing this, and later Zhen's fall out of favor was abolished, Cao Pi's favorite was Guo's ,—— Guo's name was very straightforward, and her father felt, "This is my daughter's middle king." He named his daughter "Queen."

Cao Pi also asked the queen to come out to see the guests, and everyone naturally learned from Liu Zhen's lesson and quickly bowed down, this time Cao Pi said: "Qing Yang looked up to see it." "You can look up and look closely.

It seems that whether you look at it or not is not the point, the point is that I want you to be how you want to be.

<h3>Cao Pi's brother-in-law's habits: promote narrowness and reach</h3>

Watching novels such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", it is easy to feel that Cao Zhi is full of literary brilliance and flying and jumping off, but Cao Pi is a deep and gloomy image. In fact, Cao Pi's sons and sons were very heavy in habits, and this record in the history books was simply everywhere.

Therefore, the story of Cao Pi punishing Cao Zhi for composing poems in seven steps is certainly not credible, but some people say that cao Pi wants to kill Cao Zhi, there are many ways, there is no need to do more, but this logic may not be correct. Because Cao Pi was interested, it was very common for people who did something that followed the rules and regulations seemed to be superfluous.

According to the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, when Liu Bei was in Xuzhou, Cao Cao sent Liu Dai and Wang Zhong to attack him, but was easily defeated by Liu Bei. This matter is true in history, Wang Zhong, this person, there is a past: during the rebellion of Li Daoguo, there was a great famine in the Guanzhong region, and Wang Zhong, who was cornered, ate people.

Later, Wang Zhong submitted to Cao Cao, and Cao Pi knew of his experience, so he asked people to tie Calvary to Wang Zhong's saddle, and everyone watched the joke together.

In a desperate situation, only eaters have a glimmer of life, what should be done at this time? This is a well-known ethical conundrum, the resolute non-eater is admirable, and how to treat the cannibal is easy to lead to fierce debate. But in any case, to tease the cannibals in this situation is too frivolous and cruel.

After all, Wang Zhong is not a big man, if he is replaced by a state minister, Cao Pi will be as unscrupulous as a joke.

In the fifth year of the Huang Dynasty (224), Cao Pi ordered the high-ranking military generals to meet at the residence of his favorite minister Wu Qian. Among the characters present, the general Cao is really fat, the leader of the squadron, Zhu Shuo, is thin, and Wu Qian found an actor to talk about fat and thin.

Cao Zhen thought that he was honorable, and he could not make a joke, and roared angrily at Wu Qian: "Qing wants to meet me with evil in parts?" There was still a coaxing next to him, and Cao Zhen became more and more annoyed, drew his sword and looked at him and said, "Hai dare to take it lightly, I will cut it off." "This burlesque no matter how dare it is, I beheaded him!"

Wu Zhi immediately shrugged back: "Cao Zidan, Ru Fei slaughtered a few meats, Wu Zhi'er did not shake his throat, Tsui Er did not shake his teeth, how dare he be arrogant and arrogant?" "This means that you are not raw meat on the butcher's board, but simply cooked fat oil, which melts in the mouth and is arrogant."

Zhu Shuo and Wu Qian were old acquaintances, when Cao Pi was the crown prince, they were both listed among the "Four Friends", Zhu Shuo got up to try to persuade him, and Wu Qian also yelled at him: "Zhu Shuo, dare to sit badly!" "You give me a good seat, it's not your turn to speak."

So Zhu Shuo's temper also came up, drawing his sword and slashing the ground, making a fuss and dispersing.

This time, although it was Wu Qian who made a fierce fuss in the front, it was also supported by Cao Pi behind it.

Historical evaluations have always said that "Wei Wen Shang Tongda", whether lustful or joked, in addition to the enthusiasm for doing various games, crazy addiction to hunting and the like, in general, can be counted as "Tongda".

Accessibility is not necessarily a bad thing, and it is even a rather moving quality. However, at the same time that Cao Pi was well-versed, his temperament was very narrow, and the power of the imperial power became an unscrupulous humiliation, such as the famous death of anger at the prohibition of vomiting blood, which is a typical case. And the result that eventually led to the "world's lowly observance" is not surprising.

<h3>Chen Shou's evaluation</h3>

At the end of the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Chen Shou commented:

Emperor Wen is talented and talented, and he writes into chapters, is knowledgeable and knowledgeable, and has both talent and ability; if he adds the degree of openness, encourages the sincerity of fairness, and strives for the Tao, and the heart of Ke Guangde, then the sage of the ancients, how far away!

Peeling off the high-level description, you will find that Chen Shou's words are very damaged. A friend translated this sentence as: "Cao Pi can have culture, if it is not a lack of morality, but a good emperor." "It's pretty precise.

Finally, take a look at one of the articles in "The New Language of the World: Wounded Death":

Wang Zhongxuan sounded good donkey. After being buried, Emperor Wen was about to mourn, and Gu Yu said with you: "The king is good donkey, but he can make a sound to send it." "Everyone who goes to the house makes a donkey song.

In the twenty-second year of Jian'an, Wang Zhongxuan, the most accomplished of the seven sons of Jian'an, died.

Cao Pi attended his funeral, and he said to the people who used to play together every day: "The deceased likes to listen to donkeys, and everyone may wish to learn a donkey call to send them off." ”

So the memorial service became donkey mule market.

This story is often told in an appreciative tone, believing that Cao Pi used his unruly behavior to pin his affection for his deceased friends.

In fact, it is true that cao pi does not abide by the etiquette law, but Cao Pi's mentality may not be a prank, and as for how deep the friendship is, I am afraid it is difficult to say.

However, two years later, the twenty-fourth year of Jian'an was an eventful autumn for Cao Wei, and the so-called "when Jian'an was three or eight, it was really a difficult fate."

At that time, Cao Cao's expedition to Hanzhong did not return, Guan Yu flooded the Seven Armies and shook Huaxia, and Cao Wei's capital, Yecheng, underwent a coup d'état, in which many high-ranking cadres and disciples were involved.

Among them were Wang Yue's two sons.

Cao Pi, the crown prince who remained in Yecheng, showed strong adaptability and dispatching ability at this time, suppressed with an iron fist, and quickly quelled the rebellion.

Wang Yue's two sons were executed. Later, Cao Cao heard the news and sighed: "If you are alone, you will not let Zhongxuan have no queen." Cao Cao seemed to be a little softer than Cao Pi.

If he knew after his death, when he met Cao Pi and Wang Cangquanxia, could he make another donkey sound?

(This article is only the author's personal opinion and does not represent the position of this newspaper)

Liu Bo