Gu Yanwu, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, once summed up the idea of "talking about the wrong country." Speaking of "Qing Talk", we have to trace it back to the popular atmosphere of advocating nothingness and empty talking about nominal reason in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. And the Xiahou Xuan we want to talk about today is a typical representative figure of the "Qing Tan" in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the leader of metaphysics.
Xiahou Xuan was born into a famous family, and it can even be said that the blood of the same ancestor flowed from Cao Cao's body. Pei Songzhi said in the commentary of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, "Song, son of Xiahou and uncle of Xiahou Huan. Cao Cao's grandfather, Cao Teng, was a eunuch, and Cao Teng adopted a child from the Xiahou clan named Cao Song, who was Cao Cao's father. Later, when Cao Cao raised an army against Dong Zhuo and made meritorious achievements, he had been charging for him, and he was born and died, that is, Xiahou Huan, Xiahou Yuan and a number of Xiahou brothers, and Cao and Xiahou still had the habit of intermarriage with each other, and the relationship was extremely close.
Xiahou Xuan was intelligent and talented since childhood, and was known as one of the "Four Cong". At the age of 20, Xiahou Xuan inherited the title of his father Xiahou Shang, and was also appointed as the Yellow Gate Attendant and became the emperor's sidekick, it can be said that he won at the starting line from the beginning of his reincarnation.
The flashy teenager Xiahou Xuan
Just as today's second generation of rich officials like to party, at that time, Xiahou Xuan was also keen to participate in various parties, and He Yan, Deng Biao, and others who organized the party together were all young princes of famous origins like him, He Yan was the grandson of he Jin, a great general at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, his father died early, and later his mother was taken as a concubine by Cao Cao, who was Cao Cao's adopted son, and Deng Biao was a descendant of the famous Eastern Han general Deng Yu.
Xiahou Xuan, He Yan, and Deng Biao can be said to be an iron triangle, all three of them are born after the general door, they all like to sit and talk about it, and even the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" puts them under a catalog. Although they were born in the general door, but in their generation, the tiger wind of the general door has disappeared, and they have begun to play with the literary and artistic flashy style. They don't just eat and drink when they get together, they also like to talk and laugh, talk about reason.
He Yan created a famous "no matter what is noble", "if you are praised by the people, then the famous are also; the nameless, the nameless are also." The saint of Ruofu, whose name is nameless, whose reputation is not honorable, who is nameless, who has no reputation, who is great. What Xiahou Xuan often hangs on his lips is also the kind of "unclear consciousness" remarks such as "heaven and earth are transported by nature, and saints are used by nature."
He Yan and Xiahou Xuan's profound theoretical level and celebrity style attracted a large number of Cao's noble relatives, and the "circle of celebrities" organized by Xiahou Xuan became an important network for the descendants of Cao Wei's heroes to travel with each other, including the Sima Shi and Sima Zhao brothers who had not yet entered the army at that time, and history called such parties "flashy fairs".
If you just talk about philosophical issues, it is enough, but in the "flashy fair", they also evaluate the characters, because of the strong influence of their clans and fathers, the seemingly "small circle" activities, in essence, formed a certain public opinion orientation, affecting the evaluation of local figures and the selection of officials, touching the cheese of "imperial power".
Born into a famous family, talented, and influential, the young Xiahou Xuan was a little fluttery, and even did not give the emperor's face. Once, Xiahou Xuan sat with the empress's younger brother Mao Zeng, and because Mao zeng was from a meager background, Xiahou Xuan was ashamed to sit with Mao Zeng, and even wrote unhappiness on his face. Even if the Xiahou family and the Cao family have a very deep relationship, they can't swing the score like this. In this way, the young Xiahou Xuan offended the empress and also offended Emperor Wei Ming, and Xiahou Xuan liked to engage in unorganized behavior such as a flashy rendezvous meeting, which made Emperor Wei Ming deeply disgusted. As a result, Emperor Ming of Wei demoted Xiahou Xuan to the position of Yulin Supervisor and repeatedly ordered the prohibition of flashy meetings. Xiahou Xuan, who was famous all over the world, was never reused again in the ming dynasty of Wei Ming.
Xiahou Xuan's fate took a turn in the year he was 30 years old, in this year, Emperor Wei Ming died, the young emperor Cao Fang took the throne, assisted by Xiahou Xuan's hardcore "old cousin" Cao Shuang, a courtier, Xiahou Xuan ushered in the spring of his career and served as an important position in the Middle Guard Army. "Flashy teenager" He Yan and others also came to the foreground together, and together they turned from a "keyboard man" who was in a position of opinion to a "trader" with great power.
The new official took office with three fires, and Xiahou Xuanzhi, who was thirty and standing, was satisfied and deeply involved in the two major actions of internal and external affairs.
Internal affairs carry out the "reform of the system from the beginning".
"Zhengshi" was the era name of Cao Fang, the Wei Shao Emperor, and the measures led by Xiahou Xuan included reforming the system of electing officials, that is, the Jiupin Zhongzheng system, at that time, it was three forces that decided to elect officials, Taige, Zhongzheng, and Guanchang, the Taige represented the central officials, the officials represented the local forces, and the Zhongzheng represented the Shijia clan. The second is to reform the luxury clothing system and promote a simple and simple atmosphere. The third is to reform the administrative organs, compress the local administrative organs at the three levels of prefectures, counties and counties into two levels of prefectures and counties, reduce the county level, eliminate the posts of about 10,000 bureaucrats, save government expenditures, and improve administrative efficiency.
The ideal is very full, the reality is very bone. Sima Yi, who was still a taifu at the time, easily strangled these reform measures in the cradle with a single sentence, "The judges choose people, remove heavy officials, change the uniform system, and all are of great goodness. . . . Fear of these three things, when the virtuous can then ear. ”
Xiahou Xuan's "reform of the system at the beginning" is full of idealism, and the reform of the official selection system and the administrative organs is a major move that hurts the bones of the bones, and the reform of the official election system has moved the interests of the family clan, reduced the administrative level, and greatly touched the interests of the bureaucratic clique. What's more, as Sima Yi said, "Wait for the virtuous and then the ear." Xiahou Xuan and his group of flashy teenagers who came to the fore were all people who had no actual administrative experience and ability, and He Yan, who was in charge of the official Shangshu, was even more willful, bullying, corrupt, and unpopular. He Yan, Deng Biao, and Ding Mi are known as Cao Shuang's "three dogs", who often bite people indiscriminately and have a very bad reputation. Reforms cannot be carried out and will not be resolved.
The foreign war launched the "Battle of Luogu".
At that time, although Cao Shuang controlled the government, he did not fight any battles, unlike Sima Yi, who fought for many years and had a high reputation within the army. In order to make up for this defect, Cao Shuang prepared a major campaign for the military of The Western Expeditionary General, False Festival, Governor Yongzhou, and Liangzhou, and launched the Battle of Shu to enhance the reputation of Cao Shuang's forces.
In the Battle of Luogu, Sima Zhao was the right and Xiahou Xuan was the deputy, leading Cao Wei's 100,000-strong army to attack the Shu state from Luogu, when the Shu state's defenders were only 30,000, and they were scattered everywhere, with a huge disparity in strength and weakness. However, the Shu army had the advantage of the terrain and held the fortress in advance, Xiahou Xuan himself had no experience in leading troops to fight, and there was no way to deal with it when he was blocked, and many of the generals at the bottom were also close associates of Sima Yi's side who did not listen to orders, and Xiahou Xuan could not control it and had no countermeasures.
The Battle of Luogu was hastily launched, and Xiahou Xuanhao led a massive attack of 100,000 men and horses, and for three months he did not advance any land, losing troops and generals, "when people ridiculed it."
Although Xiahou Xuan's actual ability was not good, until the last moment of his life, he did not lose the style of a celebrity.
After the Battle of Luogu, Xiahou Xuan continued to oversee the military of Yongzhou and Liangzhou, and defended the frontier. In the first ten years (249), Sima Yi took advantage of the opportunity of Cao Shuang's brothers to worship Gao Pingling to launch a coup d'état in Gaopingling, Cao Shuang and others were killed by Sima Yi, and Xiahou Xuan and Xiahou Ba, who were labeled Cao Shuang's forces, were recalled together, Xiahou Ba knew that he would go back to nine deaths and prepare to flee to the Shu kingdom, Xiahou Xuan flatly refused, "Why don't I keep myself in Kou Yuhu? ”
Xiahou Xuan still had deep feelings for the State of Wei, and although he knew that his situation was not good after he returned, he still took the overall situation of the country as the most important and resolutely returned to the State of Wei. Sima Yinian, in his old friendship with Xiahou Xuan, did not kill him immediately, and let Xiahou Xuan successively hold idle posts such as Dahongxu and Taichang, but after Sima Yi's death, Sima Shi came to power, and Xiahou Xuan was not so polite.
In the sixth year of Jiaping, Xiahou Xuan was involved in a conspiracy coup d'état that attempted to kill Sima Shi, and was killed by Sima Shi, and the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records, "Xuan Ge measured Hongji, lined the East City, the color did not change, the action was free, and he was forty-six years old." ”
Compared with the humble performance of He Yan and others before their deaths, Xiahou Xuan also lost his celebrity style. It is easy to be a "flashy teenager", and it is a pleasure to sit down as a noble relative, to talk about the tao, to talk about the head, and to show off your style. But after really jumping into the game, the test is not the theoretical level, but the practical ability. Xiahou Xuan, on Cao Shuang's side, under the situation of occupying a good situation, had ten years to make changes and did not do it, which can only be said to be high in prestige and insufficient ability, just as the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" commented that "Xuan is known as a standard bureau, and the world calls his name, but he is tied to Cao Shuang's foreign and foreign countries; the honor is like Si, he has never heard of Kuang's wrongdoing, and has helped good talents." To take this as an example, you can avoid it! ”