At the time of Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, the Cao family had already begun to decline.
Cao Cao, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xiahou Yuan, and Xiahou Huan, the leaders of the first generation, have all withdrawn from the stage of history, and the leaders of the second generation, Cao Pi, Cao Zhang, and Cao Zhi, have also withdrawn from the stage of history.
Because the Cao generation has been fighting for many years, their children can occupy high positions, but their own talent is really not commendable. For example, Xiahou Shu, the son of Xiahou Shu, can be called famous in the world, but this Xiahou Shu is famous for his incompetence.
During Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, Wei Yan said directly to Zhuge Liang: Give me five thousand elite soldiers, and I will be able to capture Chang'an City without a fight. Because it was an incompetent person like Xiahou Shu who was guarding the city, I was scared to death.
Objectively speaking, Wei Yan was indeed arrogant, but Wei Yan's remarks were really not without purpose. Because at that time, many people believed that Wei Yan could do this, which showed that Xiahou Shu's incompetence was already deeply rooted in the hearts of the people at that time.
In fact, in addition to Xiahou Shu, there were two other leaders in the second generation of the Cao clan, that is, Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen.
Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen were both sons and nephews of Cao Cao, but they joined the army earlier, and unlike other second-generation people who sat on the family's bottom, no one dared to despise them as much as xiahou shu.
Cao Cao's comment on Cao Xiu was: This is the Thousand Mile Foal of our Cao family. In the battle for Hanzhong, Cao Xiu had a record of defeating Zhang Fei. But a few months after the end of Zhuge Liang's First Northern Expedition, Cao Xiu died of illness.
Yesterday we said that before Zhuge Liang's first Northern Expedition, Wei and Wu had been at war, and the commander of the State of Wu was Lu Xun, and the commander of the State of Wei was Cao Xiu. The Wu general Zhu Huan said to Sun Quan: Cao Xiu is also a touted second generation, but in fact, he has no ability. When Cao Xiu heard similar remarks, he immediately thundered and wanted to fight a decisive battle with the State of Wu, but as a result, he fell into the encirclement of the State of Wu and almost lost his life.
In the context of the withdrawal of the Cao generation from the historical stage, Cao Xiu gradually became the leading figure of the Cao family. Whether at home or abroad, everyone's eyes are naturally focused on Cao Xiu, so it is natural that the voices of criticism of Cao Xiu will begin to increase.
If we compare Cao Xiu and Sima Yi, we can also clearly see that Cao Xiu is indeed not a first-class commander.
A few years later, Zhuge Liang gave the woman's clothes to Sima Yi, and Sima Yi only smiled. However, Cao Xiu became irritable and impulsive because of Zhu Huan's few words, and the gap between the two was really too big. Whether Sima Yi was a hero or not, it was not Zhuge Liang's turn to evaluate, so Sima Yi completely ignored Zhuge Liang. Whether Cao Xiu was a hero or not, it was not Zhu Huan's turn to evaluate, but Cao Xiu just couldn't help but want to teach Wu Guo a lesson.
The set that Wu Guo gave Cao Xiu was very shallow, and Cao Xiu also found it. But Cao Xiu prides himself on the fact that there are many people and many people, that is, he wants to drill into the sleeve. When Cao Xiu led the army to attack, Jia Kui, who had never been at odds with Cao Xiu, said: Cao Xiu will be defeated. As a result, Cao Xiu was indeed defeated, but Jia Kui went out on horseback to save Cao Xiu. Jia Cao and the two had a bad relationship, and now that Jia Kui had saved Cao Xiu, he was even more elegant and calm. All in all, a small thing, don't thank me!
Cao Xiu was also really anxious, not only was he not grateful to Jia Kui, but he also tried to push the responsibility on Jia Kui's head. Jia Kui was not convinced, and the two people got into a fight. This incident had an extremely bad impact on Cao Xiu, why was the person known as the "Thousand Mile Colt" so narrow-minded? No matter what your relationship with Jia Kui was before, now that people have saved your life, you will take revenge, is this virtue of "Thousand Mile Foal"?
In the end, it was the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui who saw that the situation was not good, and came out to play a round field to appease Cao Xiu. But such a reassurance, everyone feels that Cao Xiu is also relying on having a good uncle and a good nephew to have today's achievements. At that time, there was Cao Cao's help, and now there is Cao Rui's help, and there is no punishment for losing the battle, this kind of person is also worthy of being called "Thousand Mile Foal"? Hearing this discussion, the more Cao Xiu thought about it, the more angry he became, and he eventually died of hatred.
So far, the second generation of the Cao clan can be called the leading figure, and it seems that there is only one Cao Zhen. In general, Cao Zhen's performance was not bad, because Zhuge Liang's main opponent during the second and third Northern Expeditions was Cao Zhen. Two battles, one win and one loss.
Zhuge Liang's Second Northern Expedition had not yet begun, and Cao Zhen calculated that Zhuge Liang's target for this attack was Chen Cang. Therefore, when Zhuge Liangbing approached Chen Cangcheng, the opposite side was already waiting in a strict position. Before Emperor Wei's rescued army arrived, Zhuge Liang withdrew, and the Second Northern Expedition ended. This battle made Hao Zhao famous, and Hao Zhao, with an isolated city, defeated Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition army. In the context of Zhuge Liang being blown to the point of being divine, it is naturally worth writing a big book.
During Zhuge Liang's Third Northern Expedition, Cao Zhen lost some points because Zhuge Liang had taken two cities in the State of Wei. Cao Zhen saw that Zhuge Liang was so arrogant, so he decided to take the initiative to march south, but the giants opposed it. Coupled with the arrival of the rainy season, Cao Zhen tossed for half a day, and finally came back without a fight. Soon after, Cao Zhen also died.
Up to this point, Cao And Xiahou no longer had a figure who could handle it.
Cao Zhi had deeply felt the crisis of the Cao family, so he said to Emperor Wei Ming: If the family is not credible, can outsiders be trusted? Will family members threaten the imperial power, and outsiders will not threaten the imperial power? The development of our Cao family has gone to extremes, and if this continues, the end of the Cao family will come.
For Cao Zhi's remarks, Cao Rui only coped with it once, and there was no afterword. But the reality is beyond doubt, the rich warrior clan is full of bulls, the Cao family can't even get a decent figure, and then continue to develop like this, what will await the fate of the Cao family?
When each empire was laid out, it would refer to the failures of the previous dynasty: Qin Shi Huang was fully bureaucratic, so the imperial family and foreign relatives weakened. Therefore, after Qin Shi Huang died of illness, Li Si Zhao Gao joined forces and killed the descendants of Qin Shi Huang. Liu Bang felt the demise of the Qin state, so the imperial family and foreign relatives attached equal importance, and as a result, the disasters of the imperial family and foreign relatives have been endless. Liu Xiu analyzed the problems between Qin and the Western Han Dynasty, decided to suppress the imperial family, and used foreign relatives and court forces (eunuchs) to contain each other, and as a result, the disaster of foreign relatives drinking eunuchs has been endless. Faced with this dilemma, the State of Wei decided to suppress the imperial family, foreign relatives, and eunuchs, trying to create a pattern in which bureaucrats and magnates were mutually restrained. It turned out that he was a bit ahead of the curve, and he was quickly peacefully evolved by the giants. After Sima Shi came to power, it was the royal family, foreign relatives and giants who stood on three legs, and the result was a more unsuccessful game.
On the face of it, the innings was well broken. However, when transportation and media reach a certain stage of development, it is unbreakable. The emperors of the two Jin dynasties and the southern and northern dynasties tried their best to break the situation, and the results were all tossed around.