Due to the influence of `Romance of the Three Kingdoms`, to this day many people still believe that the most petty character in this historical period was Chu Du – the owner of the angry statement before his death:
However, from the perspective of the historical website Qulishi (China), in historical reality, the character with the most narrow-mindedness in the Three Kingdoms is not Zhou Yu but Cao Pi – the successor to Cao’s inheritance.
Cao Thuc’s seven-step poetic anecdote unintentionally revealed Cao Cao’s petty habits
Cao Pi (187 – 226), courtesy name Tu Huan, was the son of Cao Cao and also the first Emperor of the Cao Wei dynasty during the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese feudal history.
Before being chosen by his biological father as his heir, Cao Phi once held the position of Five Mandarins, equivalent to Deputy Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty.
During his lifetime, history books rated him as a shrewd character and treated his brothers in the family relatively harshly, especially his serious rival in the throne struggle like Cao Thuc.
Legend has it that in the past, because he was jealous of Cao Thuc’s literary talent, he forced his younger brother to write a poem within 7 steps on the topic of brotherhood, but the word `brother` was not mentioned in the poem.
Although he was lucky enough to pass this hurdle, Cao Thuc’s life under his brother’s command was destined to not have a single peaceful day.
Finally, in the 22nd year of Kien An (ie 217), he defeated his younger brother Cao Thuc in the war for succession and was officially appointed Crown Prince.
In 220, Cao Cao died, Cao Pi inherited the throne, and soon usurped the Han dynasty.
Later, although he was given the title of Tran Vuong, in a period of only 10 years, he was transferred 6 times, his life was like a prisoner under house arrest.
Gradually, Cao Thuc sank into melancholy and boredom, and eventually fell ill and died while still in his teens.
Cao Pi’s quest to clear his personal enemies: Some had their property confiscated, some died in frustration
After firmly sitting on the throne, Cao Pi began to settle accounts with each character who had wronged him in the past.
WHF
In terms of position, Cao Hong is Cao Cao’s cousin and is considered Cao Pi’s uncle.
In his youth, Cao Phi also liked to socialize with noble gentlemen of that time.
Cao Phi then bragged that he could buy it, but he didn’t have enough money. He remembered his uncle Cao Hong, who had just returned from a victory and had received a lot of rewards, so he went to the door to borrow some money.
Who would have thought that Cao Hong was originally a stingy person, using the excuse of not having money to chase Cao Phi.
After succeeding, Cao Pi still did not forget the feud of the past year, so he immediately found an excuse to throw Cao Hong into prison and sentenced him to death.
When the courtiers heard this, they were immediately shocked, because Cao Hong was still the head of the Wei Kingdom at that time, and had even saved Cao Cao’s life.
Therefore, the civil servants and military generals frantically petitioned the Emperor to revoke the order, but Cao Phi was still determined to kill this uncle.
It was not until his mother, Empress Dowager Bien, came forward to ask for forgiveness that he revoked the death sentence, but still wanted to confiscate Cao Hong’s entire estate.
Later, Empress Dowager Bian once again appeared, and Cao Pi agreed to return Cao Hong’s money in deep dissatisfaction.
Duong Tuan
As soon as Cao Hong’s work ended, Cao Pi continued to settle accounts with another character.
In the past, when Cao Cao asked about the issue of establishing a successor, Duong Jun said that Cao Phi and Cao Thuc both had their own advantages, but did not specify who should be established.
The fact that this old minister did not help him also made Cao Phi secretly resentful.
At that time, Sima Y and many other ministers came forward to help, some bowed their heads and begged until they bled, but Cao Pi still refused to pardon the sage Duong.
Duong Tuan remembered Cao Hong’s past and knew that the Emperor intended to take revenge, so he committed suicide.
Bao Huan
Right at the time when Cao Phi was proud of having avenged his personal revenge, the bad news that Ton Ngo had turned against him caused this Emperor to change his expression.
Before winning the battle of Di Lang, Ton Quyen’s forces consistently declared themselves before Cao Wei.
Therefore, Cao Pi immediately ordered his army to go south to attack Jiang Dong.
During his time as Crown Prince, the younger brother of Lady Quach (Cao Phi’s concubine) once broke the law and was sentenced to death.
Later, Cao Phi was still worried about his old hatred and immediately found a reason to dismiss Bao Huan.
What is even more remarkable is that Bao Huan’s father, Bao Tin, once sacrificed his life to save Cao Cao when fighting the Yellow Turban army.
Cao Cao treated Bao Xin’s family very kindly, but Cao Pi did not hesitate to kill the son of the benefactor who saved his father.
From the above evidence, it is not difficult to see that in terms of generosity, Cao Pi is indeed far behind his father Cao Cao.
Because of this, there is an opinion that it was Cao Pi’s pettiness that caused cracks to gradually appear within Cao Wei.
*From Qulishi’s point of view.
