In the Great Purge after the Gaopingling Rebellion, the core figures of Cao Shuang's party were destroyed one after another. In addition to Cao Shuang, they are Cao Xi, Cao Xun, He Yan, Deng Biao, Ding Mi, Bi Rail, Li Sheng, Huan Fan, Zhang Dang and so on.
Among them, Cao Xi and Cao Xun were Cao Shuang's younger brothers, and Zhang Dang was a eunuch, not to mention. The vast majority of other races are from a family. For example, Deng Biao is the Nanyang Deng clan, Ding Mi is the Peiguo Ding clan, Huan Fan is the Long Kang Huan clan, Bi Rail is the Dongping Bi clan, and although the origin of Nanyang Li Sheng is not clear, according to the experience of his father Li Xiu, it may be a descendant of Li Tong, the elder li tong in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
And only He Yan, unlike them, was not from a family, because his grandfather He Jin was from a humble origin. However, despite this, He Yan's behavior style has always been in line with the family. When he was only seven years old, he set aside the land in Cao Cao's mansion, saying that it was the residence of the He family, although their He family was not a high-gate household, but they also showed sensitivity to the door. Coupled with his later academic achievements, his love of talking, etc., he was a family style.
And He Yan also has the dual identity of Cao Cao's adopted son and horse, so it can be regarded as a clan, but this clan is not the real Cao family after all, such as Cao Pi is very disgusted with him, perhaps because Cao Cao loves He Yan too much and is jealous.
In short, although He Yan is not a family, he has a yearning for the family, and his behavior is no different from that of the children of the family; although he is a clan, he is not recognized by the real clan. Therefore, He Yan can be said to be an outlier in Cao Shuang's party.
As early as the early years of Taihe (227 AD) in the early days of Emperor Wei Ming, the custom of young talents traveling together and talking together began to become popular, and the most famous figures among them were He Yan, Xiahou Xuan, Deng Biao, Sima Shi and so on. However, this atmosphere was quickly suppressed by Emperor Wei Mingdi, and the career of these people basically ended in the Ming Emperor's dynasty.
In the first month of 239, Emperor Wei Died, and it was not until 240 that He Yan began to cater to Cao Shuang for his career, thus making rapid progress in official positions, between which He Yan hesitated for more than a year, rather than hugging his thighs immediately after Cao Shuang became the minister of entrustment, indicating that he was not very willing to become Cao Shuang's henchmen, after all, he was a generation higher than Cao Shuang. It's just that He Yan wants to be an official too much, and there is really no way, and as a member of the clan, he certainly can't turn to Sima Yi, so he made this choice.
Wei Shi Chunqiu said that after the gaopingling change, He Yan actively searched for evidence of Cao Shuang's crimes in order to get pardon, although he was still executed by Sima Yi, but this at least showed that He Yan thought in his heart that he and Sima Yi did not have much hatred and had a chance to be forgiven, otherwise there would be no need to struggle. In his heart, he felt that he was different from Ding Mi, who plotted to deprive Sima Yi of his power, Huan Fan, who put Sima Yi in crisis, and Li Sheng, who came to test Sima Yi.
His idea actually has a certain truth, for Sima Yi, He Yan is indeed not the first evil in the Cao Shuang Group, or even in the back, he is just famous, but why does Sima Yi not let him go? I think this is most likely what Sima Shi meant.
Sima Shi was the second most important person in the Sima family, one of the planners of the coup d'état, even Sima Zhao did not have this qualification, plus he mastered the forbidden army and trained three thousand dead soldiers, as a powerful figure, he definitely had decision-making power, so it was easy for him to want He Yan's life. So how did these two men get into a vendetta?
It turned out that although they were all people in the flashy circle in the early years, their relationship was not necessarily very good. He Yan once said: "Only the deep is also able to reach the aspirations of the world, Xiahou Taichu is also; only a few, so it can become the affairs of the world, Sima Ziyuan is also; but the gods are also, not hurried, not to come, I heard his words, did not see his people." ”
This god who had heard his words and had not seen his people was probably speaking of himself, and he felt that he was stronger than Xiahou Xuan and Sima Shi. This definitely made Sima Shi feel dissatisfied. Later, although there was no explicit record that Sima Shi was degraded in the flashy case, he came out too late, and it was actually the Cao Fang period, when he was over thirty years old, which was very abnormal, so Sima Shi was probably also implicated, which made him even more disgusted with the organization of flashy.
In addition, Sima Shi was a pragmatic person in personality, employing people without talking about origin, but only looking at talents, such as Shi Bao. And whether He Yan is nepotism or the kind of style that values nepotism, they are out of place. The same was true of Xiahou Xuan, who had very different means of governing the Forbidden Army during their tenure as Middle Protectors. So in the end, Sima Shi and these old friends parted ways.
Sima Shi was the most ruthless person, and the Book of Jin said that he poisoned his wife, although not necessarily completely credible, but it should not be empty. He also had a thin affection for the second lady, wu, and later divorced his wife in order to marry the taishan sheep clan of the rich family, which showed that he was a mean and unkind person.
In addition, when the Second Rebellion of Huainan, Sima Shi also wanted to lead the troops to fight despite the tumor in his eyes, and the eyeballs flowed out and could be endured, not to mention being so cruel to others.
Sima Shi this person is underestimated in history, in this aspect of concealment and forbearance Sima Shi can be said to have obtained the true inheritance of his father Sima Yi, but the same famous prince is very low-key, which is the same as Sima Yi is a long-term dormant soaring. But anyone who can restrain his desires is ambitious, and Sima Shi is likely to have already had a disobedient heart after the change of Gao Pingling, because he deposed the emperor within a few years of taking power, which was something that even Cao Cao did not dare to do, and it was definitely a big disobedience to the world.
As a foreigner who wanted to usurp the throne, he had to eliminate those who had prestige in the clan, and He Yan was such a person, including Xiahou Xuan later. Coupled with the fact that the relationship between the two sides had already broken down, Sima Shi, who was disgusted, finally raised a butcher knife against the old friend.
The root of He Yan's tragedy is that he did not find his proper position, he was not born in the family, he should not learn the family's set, that era of birth is everything, each class has its own path. It is not that the family is hard to lean on the family, it is impossible to be truly accepted by the other party. Moreover, this has lost the status advantage of the clan. In fact, if he wanted to develop his career, he should take Cao Zhen's route to be more reasonable, that is, the direction of military service.
In addition, cao zhen became Cao Pi's confidant, but He Yan was disgusted by cao pi, which showed that he himself had certain problems, because he did not pay attention to maintaining the relationship with the orthodox sect. As a result, if you want to make achievements in your career, you can only condescend to Cao Shuang's door, and finally embark on the road of no return.
If He Yan took the route of Cao Zhen and was trusted during the Cao Pi period, then it would definitely be used more heavily in the Cao Rui period. After the death of Emperor Wei Ming, he is likely to become a pillar of the imperial court of the chancellor, where is Cao Shuang's turn, then perhaps history will change completely.