In the first year of Wei Jiaping during the Three Kingdoms period, a shocking event occurred in the Wei Dynasty, that is, the Gaopingling Incident. Sima Yi, the Grand Duke of Wei, took advantage of the fact that the great general Cao Shuang and his brother accompanied the emperor to Gaoping to pay homage to Emperor Ming's mausoleum and launched a coup d'état. Through this coup, Sima Yi took cao Wei's power into his own hands, laying the foundation for Sima Shi's usurpation of Cao Wei's Jiangshan in the future.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, Gaopingling Incident. </h1>
In this coup d'état, Sima Yi first secretly gathered three thousand dead soldiers and invited empress dowager Guo. Then, borrowing Empress Guo's will, she occupied the arsenal and sent troops to garrison the Luoshui pontoon bridge to prepare against the army led by Cao Shuang. At the same time, Sima Yi sent emissaries to Cao Shuang's camp to persuade Cao Shuang to surrender, in an attempt to make Cao Shuang automatically give up resistance.
At that time, Cao Shuang's think tank Huan Fan knew that something had happened and escaped from the city and came to Cao Shuang's camp. He persuaded Cao Shuang's brothers to protect the emperor and go to Xudu to gather the soldiers of the Qin King of the world to fight against Sima Yi. At this time, the emissaries sent by Sima Yi had already conveyed his meaning to Cao Shuang, that is, Cao Shuang was relieved of his military powers, dismissed from his official position, and ensured that Cao Shuang's brothers were fine. Cao Shuang was hesitant to do so, not knowing what to do.
After Huan Fan saw it, he planned more specifically for the Cao Shuang brothers. He told Cao Shuang's brother Cao Yi that the Tuntian soldiers and horses in Luoyang were nearby, and your brother's other military camps were not far away, and it would be possible to reach Xuchang from here. There was also an arsenal in Xuchang, and it was more than enough to arm these people and horses. The only thing to worry about is the grain, and the seal of the Great Sinong is on me, and I can collect grain and grass at any time. However, even if Huan Fan spoke to this point, Cao Yi was silent, while Cao Shuang was still undecided.
Finally, after a night of thinking, Cao Shuang threw his sabre to the ground when it was almost dawn, and decided to surrender to Sima Yi, saying that if he surrendered, our brothers could at least become rich. At that time, Huan Fan was so angry that he cried and scolded Cao Cao for being a really smart person, how could he give birth to a bunch of stupid little beasts of yours. I didn't expect to be wiped out by you.
Sure enough, the Cao Shuang brothers who surrendered their military power were soon liquidated by Sima Yi. Along with Huan Fan, Cao Shuang and his henchmen were both annihilated by Sima Yi. So, what would happen if Cao Shuang hadn't surrendered his military power at that time? Can he defeat Sima Yi and escape the scourge of annihilation?
If we look at the situation at that time, if Cao Shuang had followed Huan Fan's advice to rebel against Sima Yi, but he could only delay his own defeat, he would not have been able to defeat Sima Yi. After Cao Shuang learned of the Gaopingling Incident, he consulted with his brothers, and this was the reason for his hesitation. Jiang Ji said that their brothers' love of the beans was one reason, and their own lack of confidence in defeating Sima Yi was the most fundamental reason. Let me ask you, the commander-in-chief of the army does not have the confidence to win, can this army win the battle?
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, the political comparison between the two sides. </h1>
Therefore, the failure of the Cao Shuang brothers was doomed from the beginning. Even a female streamer like Xin Xianying could see that Cao Shuang was bound to lose, on the grounds that Cao Shuang's talent was not Sima Yi's opponent at all. Then other clear-eyed people can see this even more. Huan Fan was only to repay Cao Shuang's kindness, and at the beginning he also wanted to defect to Sima Yi. It can be seen that no one is optimistic about Cao Shuang, and from this point we can see how high Cao Shuang's support is.
After comparing the talents of Sima Yi and Cao Shuang, let's compare the political advantages of both sides. Cao Shuang's only trump card was the emperor in his hand, but Sima Yi moved out of the empress dowager Guo Hou. In this regard, the two sides can be said to be evenly matched. Moreover, when Cao Shuang was in power before, he was too flappy and reckless, which made everyone deeply resentful. In the whole imperial court, in the process of the Gaopingling Incident, no one came forward to say a word for him. This can be seen how far Cao Shuang has lost the hearts and minds of the people.
Sima Yi, on the other hand, united the vast majority of the people by means of Cao Ruituo's will and under the banner of the Kuangfu Imperial Court. Moreover, most of these people believed that this incident was a power struggle between Sima Yi and Cao Shuang, and would not endanger the state society. Moreover, Sima Yi was a third-generation old minister of Cao Wei, who was twice entrusted with the lonely minister and had outstanding merits. For the rebellious Cao Shuang brothers, Sima Yi was also the best candidate for the Kuangfu imperial court. In this way, although the Cao Shuang brothers have the trump card of the emperor, they cannot change his isolation situation.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, the comparison of military strength between the two sides. </h1>
Secondly, in terms of troop strength. If we only look at Huan Fan's suggestion, it seems that the Cao Shuang brothers still have the upper hand in terms of troops. If we gather troops from all over the country again, the elimination of Sima Yi is just around the corner. However, everyone knew that Sima Yi was an old traitor, and he had been plotting for so many years, how could he put himself in a dangerous situation. In fact, Huan Fan's ideas were all his wishful thinking, and in terms of military strength, Cao Shuang was not Sima Yi's opponent at all.
When Sima Yi pretended to be ill, he had already made preparations for the day of the coup. His two sons, Sima Shi (司馬師) served as the Middle Protector and Sima Zhao (司馬昭) held positions of military power. While the Cao Shuang brothers were leading the Yulin army and the emperor visited Gao Pingling, Sima Yi staged a coup d'état, relying on his two sons and taking control of the army first. Based on the three thousand dead soldiers he secretly raised, he rescued the imprisoned Empress Guo, and then took control of the arsenal of the capital and the military camp left by Cao Shuang. In this way, the entire army of the Beijing Division was controlled by Sima Yi, and the strength of the army had greatly exceeded the part of the Yulin army led by Cao Shuang. It was precisely because of this that Sima Yi dared to lead the army with great fanfare, go out of the city and camp at the pontoon bridge of the Luo River, and make an offensive posture.
On the other hand, the Cao Shuang brothers did not control much of the army in their hands at this time, that is, the part of the imperial forest army that protected the emperor to visit Gao Pingling. Due to the needs of the ceremony, this group of people and horses was not numerous and incompletely equipped. In an emergency, Cao Shuang had to urgently recruit thousands of Tuntian soldiers to build fortifications.
From Huan Fan's suggestion, we can also see that he asked Cao Yi to gather the army, but he did not know that Cao Yi's military camp had long been taken over by Sima Yi. He asked the soldiers to conscript Tuntian, but these soldiers had no weapons, and they could only be equipped in Xuchang. How could this poorly trained and small number of troops be the opponents of the Central Forbidden Army controlled by Sima Yi?
Then, the only thing that huan fan could hope for in his suggestion was the master of the qin king in the world. But in fact, this part of the military is also unreliable. Guan Long's army was sima Yi's army, and he led Guan Long's army to resist Zhuge Liang for a long time. In order to master this army, he took great pains. Most of the generals in this army who were loyal to the Wei Dynasty, led by Zhang Gao, died. The loyalty of the Guanlong legion to Sima Shi was unshakable. When Xiahou Xuan and others commanded this army, their men paid no attention to their command, and military discipline was abolished. However, when Sima Shi took over, the military discipline of the whole army was straightened out and the order was prohibited. From this point, we can see the military aspirations of this army, and it is impossible for them to support Cao Shuang against Sima Yi.
Because of the confrontation with Eastern Wu, the armies of Jingzhou and Huainan were even more difficult to mobilize. And the commander-in-chief of this army is also different in his mind. Later, when Sima Shi was in power, the three rebellions in Huainan made us understand. They attacked each other, vying for power and profit, and did not have the heart to support Cao Wei at all. To expect this army to serve the king is tantamount to a fool's dream. Therefore, Cao Shuang simply could not gather an army that could compete with Sima Yi.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > fourth, the comparison of the generals' abilities on both sides. </h1>
Finally, let's take a look at the capabilities of the generals on both sides. We are all familiar with Sima Yi, who is Zhuge Liang's equal opponent. After he joined Cao Wei's camp, he worked hard for Cao Cao and gradually gained the trust of the Cao family. In Guan Yu's Battle of Xiangfan, it was he who dissuaded Cao Cao's plan to move the capital when he was defeated on the front line, and suggested that Sun Quan be used against Guan Yu.
In the Cao Pi era, he began to be reused. Cao Pi said to him, I send troops to the East, and you will manage Western affairs. I send troops to the West, and you manage the East. After Cao Pi's death, he served as an auxiliary chancellor and became Cao Rui's most trusted and important courtier. After he began to grasp the military power, he played a great role in the battlefield. He captured Meng Da, rejected Zhuge and Ping Liaodong, and showed outstanding military ability.
Compared with Cao Shuang, Sima Yi's military talent is not worth mentioning, and his position as a general is Cao Rui's arrangement. Although Cao Rui listed both Sima Yi and Cao Shuang as chancellors, cao Rui was still partial to his own relatives in terms of military power. It was for this reason that Cao Shuang took up the post of great general who held the power of the military.
However, Cao Shuang was a man of great ambition and talent, and his military talent was really not commendable. During his tenure, in order to establish his prestige, he launched an attack on Shu Han. In this attack, Cao Shuang sent more than 100,000 troops from Guanzhong to attack Hanzhong by crossing the Qin Mountains into Luokou. However, he was prevented by the Shu Han general Wang Ping from relying on the defensive system left by Wei Yan at the foot of Xingshi Mountain. Cao Shuang was unable to break through the Shu army's defenses and was forced to retreat at The Urging of Sima Yi. In this battle, the Wei army suffered heavy losses, and the history books say that "Guanzhong was wasted for it."
From the military careers of Sima Yi and Cao Shuang, it can be seen that Cao Shuang's military ability is far inferior to That of Sima Yi. If the two sides were evenly matched, Cao Shuang could not be Sima Yi's opponent. Not to mention that in the case of Sima Yi's superiority, Cao Shuang had no possibility of victory.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > concluding remarks:</h1>
Judging from the historical records, it seems that if Cao Shuang did not surrender to Sima Yi and surrendered his military power, there was still a possibility of fighting with Sima Yi. However, if analyzed from the actual situation, this possibility exists, but the possibility of victory is not.
Sima Yi is an old and treacherous figure, and he will not take risks easily. When he held the Gaopingling coup, he had already made long-term plans. Politically, he used Empress Guo's position to compete with the emperor cao shuang controlled. Among the courtiers and the army, he also cultivated a large number of henchmen and cultivated his own forces. So much so that when he held a coup d'état, no one in the government or the public had any sympathy for Cao Shuang.
In terms of military strength, Sima Yi's son had long occupied a position of real power in the army. At the beginning of the coup, Sima Yi took control of the capital's army and arsenal. The only things left for the Cao Shuang brothers were their bodyguards and some scattered Tuntian soldiers. Even if Cao Shuang arrived in Xuchang and had the arsenal there, the conscripted Tuntian soldiers would not be opponents of the central forbidden army in Sima Yi's hands. As for the soldiers of the Qin King, due to Sima Yi's long-term management in the army, most of them still have their hearts set on Sima Yi. Therefore, Cao Shuang's military strength was not Sima Yi's opponent at all.
As for the military talent of the generals, Sima Yi was far superior to Cao Shuang. From the comprehensive view of these aspects, even if Cao Shuang adopted Huan Fan's suggestion, when he arrived in Xuchang, he was only stubborn for a while. This is also the reason why the Cao Shuang brothers were dumbfounded after listening to Huan Fan's advice. Even the managers don't have the confidence to win, and the soldiers have even less confidence. Therefore, no matter what, in the end, the Cao Shuang brothers will still be destroyed by Sima Yi. However, if they knew that Sima Yi was going to kill them in the end, it was estimated that they would still struggle according to Huan Fan's advice, but by the time death was imminent, it was already too late.