During the Three Kingdoms period, the change of power of the Wei Dynasty Han and the Jin Dynasty Wei Dynasty has always been a hot topic in history, and Sima Shi replaced Cao Wei when Cao Wei was in decline to achieve another change in Jiangshan.
On the road of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Sima family not only had to fight against the Cao Wei clan in the court, but also had to solve the obstruction of local external forces.
As we all know, the change of Gaopingling was an important turning point in the Sima family's control of the Cao Wei regime, but the node that really cleared the local forces of obstruction for the Sima family's usurpation of power was the three military rebellions launched in Huainan in the nine years after the Gaopingling rebellion. The process was extremely difficult, and the Sima family went through three generations and four generations from making a fortune to taking power to seizing power, and these three military struggles alone damaged the two generations of core leaders before and after the Sima family.
The change of Gao Pingling in the film and television drama. Source/Screenshot of the TV series Tiger Howling Dragon Yin
Why did all three rebellions take place in Huainan?
During the Cao Wei period, four major governors were set up in the territory of the State of Wei, in charge of the four major regions of the frontier, namely the Governor of Yangzhou in the south, the Governor of Jingzhou in the central part, the Governor of Hebei in the north, and the Governor of Yongliang in the west.
After Sima Yi launched the Gaopingling Rebellion, only Huainan, which was under the jurisdiction of the Governor of Yangzhou, rebelled more than once, and the reason for this needed to be pondered, and the core of this was that the Sima family had not had an impact on the power of huainan.
In the areas under the jurisdiction of the four governors, since Sima Yi led the army to eliminate the Gongsun clan regime in Liaodong, Liaodong in the northeastern region had become the rear of the Wei state and had no substantial impact on the country. In the central Jingzhou region and the western Yongliang region, Sima Yi served for many years as the governor of Jingzhou and the governor of Yongliang, and in the process of opposing the Shu Han regime and eliminating the Gongsun clan of Liaodong, Sima Yi had an important influence on the personnel control and political trends in the central, western and northern regions, which can be said to be full of Sima Clan's cronies. However, years of fighting on the northern front of the Western Front left the Sima family missing an important southern region, and the Huainan region became a vacuum of power for the Sima family, a place they had never touched before.
Here, the Sima family was the weakest, so all three rebellions occurred in Huainan. At the same time, the contradiction between the four top military commanders in Huainan and the Sima family was the direct cause of the three rebellions in Huainan.
Then let's introduce the four core military commanders in the Huainan region of the three rebellions in Huainan.
Schematic diagram of the three rebellions in Huainan. Source of base map / Tan Qijun's Historical Atlas of China
Four local military leaders in the three rebellions in Huainan
The three rebellions in Huainan were caused by four military commanders, Wang Ling, Yiqiu Jian, Wen Qin, and Zhuge Shi, all of whom had inextricable and delicate relationships with the Sima family and the Cao Wei clan.
As a core member of the Cao Wei clan, Cao Shuang, together with Sima Yi, served as Cao Rui's only assistant chancellor, and he had already seen the sima family's disobedience and was constantly thinking about how to dissolve Sima Shi's power. In the end, he set his sights on the Huainan region, which Sima Shi had never touched, but what he did not know was that during the Gaopingling Rebellion, he credulously trusted Sima Yi and had already sent a wave of welfare for Sima Yi to seize power, and when he tried to break up Sima Shi's local power to install leaders in Huainan, he mistakenly sent an assist to the Sima family.
The governor of Yangzhou, the highest governor of Huainan, was first appointed by Cao Xiu, a member of the clan, and later by a Manchu of Han origin. Since the return of Man Yuzheng, the post of Governor of Yangzhou had fallen into the hands of Wang Ling. Wang Ling was seven years older than Sima Yi, and he was an old senior and veteran cadre who had already come out as an official in Cao Cao's time, and he had a certain political reputation and political capital. However, Cao Shuang, who was bent on bringing Cao Wei's clan back to power, did not allow the rise of local vassals in the Huainan region. Therefore, he wanted to send his henchmen to Huainan and gradually infiltrate Huainan's political situation to regain Huainan back into the hands of the clan.
Wang Ling in film and television dramas. Source/Screenshot of the TV series Tiger Howling Dragon Yin
So he sent Wen Qin to serve as the gatekeeper of Huainan and the Taishou of Lujiang, and Wang Ling naturally knew that Wen Qin was specially sent by Cao Shuang to contain himself in the Huainan region, and at this time, the political situation in the Huainan region began to become more complicated. Not only that, Cao Shuang, who was not assured of Wen Qin alone, sent Zhuge Birthday forward. Zhuge Shi was a man with a vague political stance, although he initiated the third rebellion in Huainan, but before that, Zhuge Shi and various forces had a good relationship: on the one hand, Zhuge Shi was sent by Cao Shuang to contain Wang Ling; on the other hand, Zhuge Shi was related to Wang Ling and Sima Yi. In the second rebellion, Yuqiu Jian was different from the other three, he himself was friendly with Sima Yi, and was a subordinate of Sima Yi when he pacified Liaodong, and his rebellion was only because the Sima family deposed the emperor and trampled on the bottom line of his courtiers, in order to defend the Cao Wei regime.
It can be seen from this that the four military commanders in the Huainan region were either old cadres with high political qualifications, or Cao Shuang's cronies, or Cao Wei's hardcore loyalists, in short, none of them were in line with the Sima family.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the Huainan region gradually developed into a base camp against the power of the Sima family.
Wang Ling of Huainan rebelled first
After the Gaopingling Rebellion, Sima Yi took control of the military and political power of the Wei state, and in order to strengthen the control of various localities, Sima Yi oversaw the division of powers over the original localities, and promoted Wang Ling, the governor of Yangzhou, who was responsible for guarding Shouchun, to the position of lieutenant. Wang Ling and his nephew Ling Huyu, worried that the Wei emperor Cao Fang was too young to take power, intended to depose Cao Fang and establish Cao Biao the Prince of Chu instead, sending Ling Huyu to contact Cao Biao. Judging from the situation at that time, compared with Sima Yi, Wang Ling seemed to be the one with more ill intentions. Although the Wei emperor Cao Fang was young, he was not at fault, and Wang Ling, in order to ensure his own power, supported Cao Biao as the new emperor, which was a decision that made an extreme political mistake. If he wanted to fight with Sima Yi for power and profit, he could have pointed the finger at Sima Yi and blamed him for the change of Gao Pingling, but he mistakenly supported the establishment of a new monarch, resulting in him being extremely passive politically.
In 251 (the third year of Jiaping), Wang Ling saw that Eastern Wu was having military operations in Tushui, so he took the opportunity to write to the imperial court to cut down Wu, taking the opportunity to raise an army against Sima Yi. However, the letter did not get a response, and at this time, something even more unsmooth happened, the nephew Ling Huyu, who had been in contact with Cao Biao, died suddenly, which led to Wang Ling's plans being completely confused, he rushed to the hospital, and told Shi Huanghua of Yanzhou about the plan to resist Sima Yi, hoping to get support, but Huang Hua directly exposed it to Sima Yi. After Sima Yi grasped the conclusive evidence, he directly led the army to fight, and Wang Ling was already overwhelmed after the army suppressed the territory. Sima Yi understood Wang Ling's character, so he used the pardon letter to trick him into surrendering, writing to him that he could forgive his sins, and the old and dazed Wang Ling actually believed it to be true, and really sent his troops down to ask for surrender, and offered his official seal and festival, and then ordered someone to tie himself up and wait for the release. When he arrived at Sima Yi's military camp, he found that he would inevitably die, so he committed suicide on the way to Luoyang. Wang Shu, Ling Huyu and others were exterminated of the Three Tribes, and Cao Biao was also given death.
In this way, the first Huainan rebellion was resolved under the suppression of Sima Yi, and this rebellion was not without an impact on the Sima family. In June of the year after the suppression of the rebellion, Sima Yi, who had been pretending to be ill all his life, was really seriously ill, and dreamed in his dream that Jia Kui and Wang Ling were doing the work, and he died soon after.
Wang Yun's film and television image. Source/Screenshot of the 94 version of the TV series "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"
Huainan Yiqiu Jian's second rebellion
Compared with the first and third rebellions, the Huainan Second Rebellion can be described as the most loyal rebellion. The leader of this rebellion, Yiqiu Jian, was a subordinate of Sima Yi and had no shallow friendship with Sima Yi, and he himself could not have started this war, so his rebellion was the most loyal of the three rebellions in Huainan, which was different from the other two rebellions for personal gain.
Portrait of Yuqiu Jian. Source/Network
In 254 (the first year of the First Year of the First Century), Li Feng, Xiahou Xuan, Zhang Ji, and others attempted to overthrow Sima Shi, but the plan was revealed, and Li Feng, Xiahou Xuan, and Zhang Ji were all killed. Cao Fang was deeply upset with The killing of Li Feng and others, which caused Sima Shi to be dissatisfied, and a few months later he forcibly deposed Cao Fang and made Cao Fang emperor. The murder of Li Feng and others and the deposing of Cao Fang made the Zhendong general Yuqiu Jian and Yangzhou Assassin Shi Wenqin, who were stationed in Shouchun at the time, very bitter.
Yuqiu Jian had served as a subordinate of Sima Yi, but he was initially appointed by Emperor Cao Pi of Wei as the eldest son of Cao Rui. With Cao Rui's succession to the throne, with the friendship of the monarchs and courtiers in the former Eastern Palace period, Yiqiu Jian gradually achieved the position of Luoyang Diannong Zhonglang General. Later, Cao Rui appointed him the Assassin of Jingzhou, and he remained rooted in the Wei-Wu border and guarded the border for the state. Cao Fang, as the legal heir personally designated by the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui, was like Cao Rui in the eyes of Yu QiuJian, the lord of his reward for Cao Wei's kindness, and all he needed to do was to guard Cao Wei's Jiangshan. However, Sima Shi forcibly deposed Cao Fang on trumped-up charges. For the loyal Yuqiu Jian, he could not sit idly by and ignore Sima Shi's wanton behavior, so he rose up to resist.
On the eve of the war, Yuqiu Jian sent someone to contact Zhuge Zhi, who was then the assassin of Yuzhou, believing that Zhuge Zhi was a loyal minister of Cao Wei like himself, hoping that he could help himself and Kuang Fu Sheji. However, Zhuge Zhi's political composition was too complicated, he was himself a minister sent by Cao Shuang to restrict Wang Ling, and he was also related to Sima Shi (Zhuge Shi's daughter was married to Sima Yi's fifth son Sima Ling), and Zhuge Shi's relationship with Wen Qin was extremely discordant. Out of the idea of preserving strength, Zhuge Shi, after weighing it up repeatedly, decided to take sides with the Sima family and beheaded Yuqiu Jian's envoys.
In 255 (the second year of the First Century), Yuqiu Jian and Wen Qin had no choice but to quickly raise an army, and the Empress Dowager Jiao raised an army to attack Sima Shi at Shouchun. As a civilian official, Yuqiu Jian was naturally outstanding in literary style, and his "Table of Guilty Sima Shi" released before the crusade against Sima Shi was very lethal, accurately grasping Sima Shi's weaknesses, and even directly causing Sima Shi's death. In the text, Yiqiu Jian pointed the spearhead directly at Sima Shi. This article is very long, but the core content is the following paragraph -
Yi has great merit, written by Hai Nei, according to the classical discussion, abolished the teacher and took Hou as his brother. Brother Zhao, loyal and generous, happy and good, has the degree of a gentleman of the high world, loyal to the country, not with the teacher. Ministers, such as the head of the house, can counsel the holy bow on behalf of the teacher. Tai Wei Fu, loyal and filial piety, is suitable for favor, and is given the title of Bao Fu. The escort army is scattered and often serves, loyal to the public and relatives, when the official is called able, far away to meet the public opinion, has the merit of the guard, can be the leader of the middle.
This means: "You Sima family, your father Sima Yi is a good person, your brother Sima Zhao is a good person, your uncle Sima Fu is a good person, your brother Sima Wang is also a good person, but your Sima Shi is a rebellious thief."
Sima Shi in film and television dramas. Source/Screenshot of the TV series Tiger Howling Dragon Yin
In this way, This article by Yiqiu Jian provoked unity within the Sima clan, so that Sima Shi, who had just been seriously injured in the eye, had no choice, and he could only hold the sick body and personally go to the front. He sent Shi Wangji of Jingzhou to lead an army to confront the rebels and preemptively occupy Nanton. Later, he met with the leaders of Zhuge Zhi, Hu Zun, and Deng Ai. At this time, Deng Ai was stationed in Tun Lejia, and Yuqiu Jian, seeing that Deng Ai's soldiers were weak, sent Wen Qin to attack. When Wen Qin arrived, he found that Sima Shi had led a large army to arrive, and he quickly retreated. However, the bravery of Wen Qin's son Wen Yi frightened Sima Shi for a while, causing Sima Shi's eyes to burst, and he could only endure the pain to command the army to fight.
At this time, Yin Damu, who had spoken for Cao Shuang during the Gaopingling Rebellion, saw that Sima Shi had only one eye left, and looked forward to avenging Cao Shuang in his heart, and took the initiative to ask Sima Shi to surrender and flee Wen Qin. Yin Damu shouted at Wen Qin, "If the Prince of He can't bear it for a few days!" Yin Damu meant that Sima Shi was already seriously injured and would die soon, hoping that if they could hold out for a few more days, they would definitely be able to eliminate Sima Shi. However, Yin Damu, who indirectly led to Cao Shuang's murder by passing on cao Shuang's message during the Gaopingling Rebellion, was at this time disloyal and filial piety in the hearts of these ministers, and they did not believe his words at all. Instead, Wen Qin wanted to shoot Yin Damu with his bow. Immediately after, Sima Shi's army attacked, Wen Qin fled in a hurry, and the team had collapsed. Hearing of Wen Qin's defeat, Yuqiu Jian retreated overnight, and the generals scattered. In the end, Yuqiu Jian and Wen Qin all surrendered.
The second Huainan rebellion had the same result as the first rebellion, and was once again put down by the Sima family. However, like sima Yi's death after the first rebellion, the second rebellion in Huainan also completed the corresponding historical mission in a sense. Sima Shi, who had only been in power for four years, died in Huainan shortly after due to the harshness of the war, and was succeeded by his younger brother Sima Zhao.
The third rebellion of Zhuge Zhi in Huainan
During the second rebellion, Zhuge Shi, instead of helping Yuqiu Jian, killed the emissaries and was the first to rush into Shouchun City in the process of counterinsurgency. After this stand, Zhuge Shi was appreciated by the Sima family, was given the title of Marquis of Gaoping, and was appointed as the general of the Eastern Expedition, still managing the Huainan region.
However, after he became the supreme leader of the southeast region, Zhuge Shi's ambitions gradually became apparent, and he bought people's hearts and minds in the local area and raised thousands of dead soldiers. A year later, under the pretext that Eastern Wu wanted to attack, he asked the imperial court to send reinforcements. Such an excuse was familiar to the Sima family, and Wang Ling said the same request that year. Sima Zhao had to be wary of Zhuge Shi and decisively sent Jia Chong to test Zhuge Shi's intentions. After Jia Chong returned, he persuaded Sima Zhaozhao to enter the dynasty and took the opportunity to force Zhuge Tou to rebel. Sure enough, in 257 (the second year of Ganlu), after receiving the edict to enter the dynasty, Zhuge Zhi immediately rebelled, killed the Yangzhou assassin Shi Leqiu, who was also in Shouchun, mobilized 150,000 Huainan soldiers and nearly a year's grain to guard Shouchun, and sent Zhuge Liang, the younger son of Wu Program, to Eastern Wu to ask for reinforcements. The third rebel side in Huainan involved more than 400,000 troops, making it the largest battle between the three kingdoms.
Zhuge Zhi, who witnessed two rounds of rebellion, had a fairly full strategic plan when he started his army. The reason why he gave up the garrison outside the city and insisted on staying inside Shouchun City was because he understood the weather in Shouchun.
Shouxian Ancient City Gate. Photography / Jiangcheng Canghai Linzi, source / Figureworm creative
Every rainy season in Shouchun will inevitably cause Huaishui to flood, and the flood will directly flood under Shouchun City. When Sima Zhao besieged the city, it was the most flooded season of the Huai River every year, and Zhuge Zhi was bent on luring Sima Zhao to besiege the city. Sure enough, Sima Zhao really adopted a siege strategy. Perhaps it was providential, or it could be that Cao Wei's qi had been exhausted, and since Sima Zhao came to Shouchun City, not a single drop of rain had fallen (and the attack of the army, drought for more than a year). With the passage of time, the morale in Shouchun City became lower and lower, and there was turmoil within Zhuge Birthday first, Zhuge Birthday killed Wen Qin, who was not accustomed to it, sima Zhao took advantage of Zhuge Birthday's self-chaos to forcefully attack the city, and soon conquered the city, and Zhuge Birthday was destroyed by the three tribes. However, what is even more paradoxical is that on the day the city was destroyed, Huainan, which had been in drought for nearly a year, began to rain heavily, and Sima Zhao's siege was all washed away (the city fell, it was heavy rain, and the siege was destroyed).
Who would have thought that Shouchun, which does not drop a drop in the rainy season, will rain heavily in February. At this point, all three rebellions in Huainan were suppressed.
Looking back at the three rebellions, although the leading forces of the three rebellions were all against the Sima clan, there were great contradictions within them, so that they did not form a unified and powerful force from beginning to end, and were eventually broken by the Sima clan. Since then, the local support for Cao Wei has been eradicated, and the power of the Sima family has been greatly expanded, providing political convenience for the Sima family to change dynasties.
Emperor Cao of Wei rebelled
At this time, people were thinking that Sima Zhao should be like Cao Cao before him, sealing the duke, adding jiu xi, entering the position of Xiang Guo, and then calmly changing the country. However, Sima Zhao still resigned, still waiting for the opportunity. He waited and watched the movements of the government and the opposition, hoping to make final changes after the overall situation had been decided.
At this time, Sima Zhao could sit still, but Emperor Cao of Wei could not sit still, he could not watch the Sima family eat away at the whales bit by bit, he could not sit still, he had to make a final counterattack.
Cao Xian film and television image. Source/Screenshot of the 94th edition of Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The last emperor was not as weak and incompetent as we think, he was talented. Later, the famous Zhong Hui once commented on Cao Xian - "Only with Chen Si, Wu Taizu". It means that Cao Fuwen is comparable to Cao Zhi, and Wu can be compared to Cao Cao. Facts have proved that at the end of Sima Shi's imminent seizure of power, this young Tianzi broke out the last remnants and brilliance of the Cao family!
When Cao Xi succeeded to the throne, all government affairs had already been returned to the Sima family. Unable to change the existing political situation, he thought about it and sacrificed his last killing move, that is, to fight with the Sima family! Tearing the last skin of the face, openly leading the army to fight, if Sima Zhao compromised, then it was inevitable to back some power; if there was no compromise, then he would fight with Sima Zhao's life, and the big deal was death. But once Sima Zhao chose to kill the king, then the world of the Sima family would not be stable. Therefore, after making such a determination, Cao Xi confronted Sima Zhao with the belief that he would die.
On the night of the Fifth Son of May 260, Cao Xian ordered his henchmen Li Zhao and Jiao Bo to order troops at Lingyuntai to gather their own meagre army and prepare to launch a decisive counterattack. And this feat also left an allusion to the "Yuntai Battle" for future generations. Before the army began, Cao Xian gathered Wang Shen, Wang Ye, and Wang Jing, announced his plan to them, and uttered the timeless saying that "Sima Zhao's heart is known to passers-by."
Cao Xian said that famous quote. Source/Screenshot of the 94th edition of Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Wang Shen and Wang Ye were all die-hard loyalists of the Sima family, and Cao Xian knew this, but his purpose was to ask them to report to Sima Zhao, make this matter public, and let Sima Zhao not come to power.
Sure enough, after Cao Xian left, Wang Shen and Wang Ye hurriedly reported to Sima Zhao, and Sima Zhao also began to make secret preparations. At dawn, Cao Xian personally led hundreds of people and rushed to Sima Zhao's mansion with great fanfare. Sima Zhao had already taken precautions and ordered his younger brother Sima Ling to lead his troops to meet the battle. Cao Xian shouted loudly, and Sima Ling's troops fled. Sima Zhao, seeing the situation, hurriedly sent his close associate Jia Chong to resist, but Cao Xian was a pioneer, and ordinary soldiers did not dare to go forward to fight when they saw the emperor so bravely competing for the lead. Under such circumstances, Jia Chong's subordinates would immediately scatter and flee. At this time, the prince Sheren Chengji just bumped into the muzzle of the gun, and asked Jia Chong in a panic what to do, and Jia Chong said the famous words: "Animal breeding Ru and so on, it is today." Today's things, don't ask any questions! "Meaning, today's events, there is nothing to ask.
After Cheng Ji listened, he directly stabbed the emperor to death with a spear. Maybe he thinks he has made a great achievement, and the glory and wealth are just around the corner, but he did not know until he died that his end was destined to be a scapegoat. Twenty days later, Sima Zhao hunted down and killed Cheng Ji to shirk his guilt because of the anger of the crowd, and whether or not he later connected his relatives, Cheng Ji himself eventually acted as sima Zhao's executor and scapegoat.
Cheng Ji's stab made him the first courtier in Chinese history to kill the emperor with his own hands. This kind of act of openly killing the monarch above the temple and in full view of everyone was the first time since the Qin unified the world, and this kind of behavior had a very bad impact on the imperial power politics of more than a thousand years. Cao Xian's seemingly pebble-hitting move ultimately failed to save Cao Wei's sheji, but it disrupted Sima Zhao's plans, leaving him with regrets that he did not succeed in usurping the throne as emperor.
From this point of view, Cao Xian is also successful. The three generations of Sima Shi's ancestors and grandsons quelled three rebellions that shook the foundation of their rule, internally resolved the rather courageous Wei Emperor Cao Huan, completely grasped state power, and also won the support of the Hao class, and finally realized the ultimate ambition of dynastic change.