"Seven Steps Poetry": Boil beans and burn beans, and beans weep in the kettle. We were born from the same root, so why should we speculate with each other! This poem is a figurative poem. The poet used the matter of cooking beans to describe the mutual harm between brothers and sisters, and it was also a metaphor for Cao Pi's persecution of Cao Zhi. This has also become one of the evidences of Cao Pi's persecution of Cao Zhi. Seven-step Poetry is from Shi Shuo Xin Yu written by Liu Yiqing, a writer and politician in the Southern Dynasties. Today, this book is a celebrity gossip magazine.
This book records the behaviors and events of some famous people in Wei and Jin Dynasties. The characters in the book are all real, but the events and behaviors are recorded according to hearsay, and there is no factual basis. Therefore, Chen Shou, the author of The Three Kingdoms, did not adopt them, and the things recorded in the book were isolated in the history books. Pei Songzhi quoted some books when he annotated the History of the Three Kingdoms, but it didn't prove its authenticity.
The so-called "seven-step poem" incident refers to that after Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor, in order to persecute Cao Zhi, Cao Zhi was ordered to write a poem within seven steps or be executed. As a result, the clever Cao Zhi wrote this poem in seven steps. After hearing this poem, Cao Pi felt a little regretful and didn't kill Cao Zhi.
Let's start with the logic of this matter. Cao Pi is the emperor and Cao Zhi is Cao Pi's younger brother. They are also relatives of the country. In Cao Cao's time, the death of their son was really controversial. Cao Pi won the competition for two main reasons:
First, Cao Pi's comprehensive ability exceeds Cao Zhi's.
Cao Cao wants to choose an heir, not a writer. The only talent that Cao Zhi can surpass Cao Pi is literature. In addition, Cao Zhi is not as good as Cao Pi, such as military talent, political talent, ability of employing people and so on.
Cao Pi can shoot arrows at the age of 6 and ride horses at the age of 8. 10 years old began to follow Cao Cao in the north. In the Battle of Wancheng, Cao Ang gave his horse to Cao Cao and died in battle. Xelloss, who was only ten years old at that time, was there, but Xelloss could take the opportunity to escape. Cao Pi can be said to be both civil and military. Relatively speaking, Cao Zhi is far from it. Besides poetry, he drinks for fun.
The second is the identity of Cao Pi's eldest son.
Cao Pi is the eldest son, and this identity is the heir. China's traditional way of inheritance is the eldest son's inheritance, which gives Cao Pi a lot of points. At least Jia Xu reminded Cao Cao that it was for this reason.
Third, Cao Zhi keeps making mistakes, while Cao Pi is steady and low-key.
Cao Zhi once broke into Sima Gate without authorization. Only the emperor can go through this door. Cao Zhi's following offenses gave Cao Cao a difficult problem. In addition, in 2 19 AD, Cao Cao also wanted Cao Zhi to lead an army to rescue Cao Ren who was besieged by Guan Yu in the battle of Xiangfan. But the night before, Cao Zhi got as drunk as a fiddler and got the wrong result the next day. How can such a level be an heir? On the contrary, xelloss did not.
Then Cao Zhi became Cao Cao's successor and was named commander of the five senses, that is, deputy prime minister. After Xelloss became the heir, Cao Zhi actually lost the possibility of threatening Xelloss, but after Xelloss became emperor, he was still very taboo about Cao Zhi, so he took some measures to control all the royal families:
1. xelloss asked all the brothers of the king who had been blocked to stay in the fief, and not to leave the fief or come to Beijing without the order of the court, otherwise it would be a crime, not only Cao Zhi, but also Cao Zhang and other brothers. Cao Cao had 25 sons, Cao Pi was the oldest one at that time, and more than 20 younger brothers were in charge together.
This is the method used by Cao Pi to strengthen centralization, not against Cao Zhi, but to treat all governors equally. After Cao Pi proclaimed himself emperor, he used many methods to strengthen the imperial power, such as stipulating that eunuchs could not interfere in politics, and that the royal family could not stay in the central government and had to return to fiefs, which led to the marginalization of power and was seized by courtiers like Sima Yi.
2. It is forbidden for Cao Zhi and others to participate in politics.
Cao Pi's policy towards Cao Zhi and others is to give fiefs, salaries, official positions and political power. Although Cao Zhi is the king of Wang Si Chen, he has no official position in the imperial court. Even in Cao Zhi's own feudal country, the consuls of feudal countries were all cronies appointed by Cao Pi and kept an eye on Cao Zhi at any time.
In other words, Cao Zhi can only be a rich man without political power, and Cao Pi can crack down on the royal forces that may threaten the imperial power through this policy. Although Cao Zhi kept writing letters to xelloss asking about politics, they were not allowed by xelloss. Even after Xelloss's death, Cao Rui became emperor, and Cao Zhi was still not allowed to go into politics.
Cao Zhi can't go into politics. In fact, there is no threat to Cao Zhi and no threat to his successor. When Cao Pi was in power, he established a set of laws to crack down on governors' participation in politics. In a sense, this relieved Cao Zhi's threat and saved his life. There is no need for Cao Zhi to harm Cao Zhi.
3. Constantly changing the fiefs of Cao Zhi and others, so that they can't look forward to being in one place for a long time and can't cultivate private forces.
According to historical records, during the reign of Cao Pi and Cao Rui, Cao Zhi changed his name many times. For example, in 22 1 year, Cao Zhi was named Anxiang Hou, and his fief was renamed Juancheng Hou in Jinzhou City, Hebei Province. In July of the same year, his fief was renamed Juancheng County, Shandong Province. In 223, Cao Zhi was renamed Qiu Yongwang.
In 229 AD, Cao Zhi was renamed East Asia, and in 232 AD, Cao Zhi was renamed Chen Wang. His last fief was in Chen County. The purpose of constantly changing Cao Zhi's fiefs is to prevent Cao Zhi from staying in one place for a long time, thus cultivating private forces. It can be seen that Cao Pi and Cao Rui's two generations' preparedness against Cao Zhi has gone deep into the bone marrow.
This is how Cao Pi treated Cao Zhi after he proclaimed himself emperor. Let's talk about the gentle side of Cao Pi first. Although xelloss is on guard against Cao Zhi, there are also some different performances:
1, Cao Zhi was falsely accused many times, but Cao Pi did not harm Cao Zhi.
In 222 AD, Cao Zhi, the prefect of the East County and assistant minister of the official department, falsely accused Cao Zhi of being guilty. The charges are unknown. Later, Cao Zhi went to Beijing to plead with Cao Pi, who was constantly urged by the minister to cure Cao Zhi's crime, but Cao Zhi pardoned Cao Zhi's crime, let him return to the fief, and even retained his title.
The next year, Cao Zhi was reported by the supervisor, and Cao Zhi insulted the country's envoy. The ambassador represents the imperial power and is responsible for supervising the princes. Even so, Cao Pi still didn't punish Cao Zhi.
If xelloss really has the idea of harming Xia Houdun, just one charge is enough for Xia Houdun to stand. Why did you get a seven-step poem in the imperial court to let everyone know that brothers were killing each other? There are many such things in history. Even if xelloss laid hands on Xia Houdun, there is nothing he can't understand, but xelloss never laid hands on him, and he won't force Xia Houdun to do seven-step poems in court. This is totally illogical.
2. Cao Pi talked with Cao Zhi many times. In the end, xelloss died in front of Cao Zhi, and he didn't embarrass Cao Zhi.
In 225 AD, Cao Pi levied Sun Quan in the south, but it was fruitless. When he returned to the army, he passed by Qiu Yong, which was Cao Zhi's fief, and visited Cao Zhi as the emperor. When the two brothers meet, it is inevitable to propose a toast. Cao Pi also added 500 fiefs to Cao Zhi, which is a normal brotherhood.
In addition, Cao Pi died in 226 AD and Cao Zhi died in 232 AD, which means that Cao Zhi lived for six years after his death. If Xelloss really regards Cao Zhi as a menace, a cup of poisoned wine can kill Cao Zhi and prevent Cao Zhi from threatening his successor, but Xelloss didn't do so at all, which shows that Xelloss didn't harm Cao Zhi, but was ready to guard against Cao Zhi.
Cao Pi is a low-key and gloomy person, but at the same time he is superficial and behind the scenes. You can see that he treated Yu Jin, who was captured by Guan Yu and detained in Jiangling City. Later, Soochow took Jingzhou, and Sun Quan gave Yu Jin to Cao Pi. After Yu Jin returned to Wei, Cao Pi quoted the allusions of Xun and Meng in the Spring and Autumn Period to comfort Yu Jin. The two men were also captured by the enemy and later released.
When Yujin went to Cao Cao's mausoleum, the wall was painted with pictures of Yujin's surrender and Pound's heroic sacrifice. It's obvious that Jin was humiliated. This is xelloss, a face cover and a back cover, forcing him to die in the ban, but xelloss has never treated Cao Zhi like this. Someone falsely accused Cao Zhi, but Cao Pi pardoned him. There are at least one hundred ways for Cao Pi to kill Cao Zhi, none of which is in the imperial court.
Another reason is that Cao Pi's mother, Bian, the queen of Wu Xuan, lived until 230, when Cao Pi died and Bian was still alive. Cao Pi, Cao Zhi, Cao Zhang and Cao Xiong are all her own sons. While Queen Bian is alive, it is impossible to allow Xelloss to harm her brother Cao Zhi. Although Cao Pi is an emperor, he cannot but be filial to his mother and dare not disobey her.
As for the seven-step poem, it should be a rumor fabricated by later generations. Although Cao Pi is not a gentleman, he will not hurt his brother Cao Zhi in this way in court. The seven-step poem should be fiction, not fact.