He Yan is he Jin's grandson. He Jin plotted against the Ten Constant Attendants, and after the matter was revealed, he was instead killed by the Ten Constant Attendants. He Jin's entire family was also killed in the ensuing chaos in Luoyang, and He Yan's mother was later taken in by Cao Cao and became Cao Cao's concubine.
From Cao Cao's point of view, he had also participated in He Jin's plan to kill the Ten Constant Attendants, and after He Jin's death, Dong Zhuo entered the capital, and he saw that it was impossible for the imperial court to restore order again, so he ran back to Yanzhou to recruit an army. Therefore, he took in He Yan's mother and son, which is also a good thing, why did the family stay behind.
Cao Cao actually did a lot of things. Another example is Wang Ling, who is Wang Yun's nephew. Wang Yun used a plan to kill Dong Zhuo, but he did not restore the Han Dynasty court to peace. Li Daiguo led his army into Guanzhong and besieged Chang'an, and the army in Chang'an City, which originally belonged to Dong Zhuo's subordinates, defected to Li Daoguo and opened the city gates, and Chang'an was breached. At the time of the chaos of the army, Lü Bu led a small number of loyalists to break through. When Lü Bu left, he asked Wang Yun to flee with him, but Wang Yun refused and wanted to stay behind to protect Emperor Xian of Han. After Lü Bu left, Li Daiguo controlled the imperial court in Chang'an, Wang Yun was eventually forced to commit suicide, Wang Yun's family was also cursed, and only Wang Ling and his brother Wang Chen escaped. Later, Wang Ling was blamed for his sins, and Cao Cao protected him.
He Yan, like Qin Lang, was their stepfather. Cao Cao was also very kind to He Yan and Qin Lang, like his own son, and let them grow up under his own protection. Qin Lang's personality is more cautious and low-key, while He Yan's personality is more flamboyant, very famous, and his temperament should be somewhat similar to Cao Zhi. Cao Cao had a Wenqing side in his personality, and he admired this literary and artistic style, so he married one of his daughters to He Yan to show his grace.
Cao Cao was good to He Yan, He Yan was a little fluttery, did not know how many pounds he had, liked to compare with Cao Cao's own son, and things such as clothing were compared with Cao Cao's crown prince Cao Pi. For Cao Cao, this is nothing, but for Cao Pi, it is inevitable that He Yan will feel that He Yan is a dog, pampered and arrogant, and does not know the high and low. Therefore, Cao Pi was very disgusted with He Yan.
After Cao Cao's death, Cao Pi succeeded to the throne, and soon afterwards he became emperor. Cao Pi originally hated He Yan, plus He Yan was also lustful, and naturally he was not good for the princess, so Cao Pi did not let He Yan become an official. After Cao Pi's death, Cao Rui succeeded to the throne. He Yan began to serve as a number of scattered officials, but did not have any real power. Moreover, during the Cao Rui period, the famous flashy case occurred, and He Yan and Xiahou Xuan, Zhuge Shi, Sima Shi and other famous scholars of the time were implicated, and only Sima Shi was less affected because he had Sima Yi's protection. Since Cao Cao's death, He Yan has no one to protect him, and he is naturally more affected.
Therefore, He Yan was really reused in the Cao Shuang period. This reason is not difficult to understand. Cao Shuang's father, Cao Zhen, was also raised by Cao Cao as his own son, and Cao Zhen also grew up with Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, Cao Cao's own sons. But Cao Zhen was much older than He Yan, but by reckoning, He Yan should be older than Cao Shuang. Otherwise, he would not have been able to marry until Cao Cao died.
After Cao Shuang assisted the government, He Yan and Huan Fan were his masterminds, especially the move of Empress Guo to Yongning Palace, that is, not allowing the empress dowager to continue to listen to the government, resulting in a situation in which Cao Shuang actually had the final say, which was also the idea given by He Yan. This can also be regarded as He Yan taking the opportunity to retaliate against Cao Pi and Cao Rui's previous attitude towards himself. Cao Shuang also gave He Yan the title of official, first making him the emperor's close minister Scattered Horse Changshi, and soon promoted to Shangshu and Shizhong in charge of the election, and his power was relatively large.
In the change of Gao Pingling, Cao Shuang's own decision-making mistakes, gave up the opportunity to resist, and chose to surrender, resulting in the collapse of the entire Cao Shuang group, and He Yan was naturally not spared. It should be said that this time is the key moment to test a person's character. Previously, He Yan and Xiahou Xuan and others talked about Lao Zhuang and were pioneers of Wei and Jin metaphysics. But at the moment when he faced an important political test, he Yan's celebrity aura instantly collapsed.
Sima Yi obviously also saw through He Yan himself was weak, and the previous dog fighting and flying was actually just to cover up his inner weakness. Therefore, Sima Yi made a mistake and deliberately let He Yan participate in the investigation and handling of the Cao Shuang Group's case. He Yan had thought that at this time, he would behave positively and desperately implicate more people, hoping to make Sima Yi satisfied, so as to give himself a chance to survive. But when he had finished all this, Sima Yi was still not satisfied, thinking that there was one less family. Only then did He Yan understand that he also had to die, and he was also cursed along with the rest of the Cao Shuang Group.
He Yan's wife, Princess Jinxiang, had a son at the time, who was only five or six years old. He Yan's mother was still alive at this time, and she and Cao Cao's son were given the title of King of Pei, and she was also known as the Princess of Pei. Therefore, after He Yan's death, Princess Pei took He Yan's son into the palace of King Pei, and Sima Yi sent someone into the palace to search, and she had no choice but to slap her own face at the people sent by Sima Yi and plead for a way to give this child a way to live. The emissary told Sima Yi about this situation, and Sima Yi looked at the face of King Pei, and finally raised his noble hand and let the child have a way to live.
Sima Yi's father and son until Sima Yan, because of the usurpation of Cao's imperial power, had always been very suspicious of Cao. Before Sima Yi's death, he took the opportunity of Wang Ling's rebellion and gathered all the Cao clans in the capital to live in order to monitor, in fact, it was collective house arrest, for fear that they would resist. Because as a clan, if they take the initiative to resist, the appeal will be much greater than that of Wang Ling, Wu Qiujian, Zhuge Zhi and Wen Qin. In particular, some of the fame and ability are even more so that the Sima clan tried every means to fabricate charges and kill them, in order to avoid future troubles.
He Yan is Cao's horse, considered a close relative, not to mention that he is deeply involved in the Cao Shuang Group, even if he is not involved, I am afraid it will be difficult to escape death. This is just a matter of looking at Ji Kang's results. Ji Kang did not take the initiative to resist, but non-violent non-cooperation, passive avoidance, and eventually it was still difficult to escape death. After Cao Zhi's son Cao Zhi entered the Jin Dynasty, he angered Sima Yan simply because he wrote to the King of Qi, and Cao Zhi died of fear. At this time, it was already 288 AD, and Sima Shi had been usurping Wei for 23 years, and he was still so suspicious of Cao Shi, not to mention that after the gaopingling rebellion, Sima Yi had just taken control of the situation in Cao Wei.