It’s really scary to be able to read minds (how scary is mind reading)

Sima Yi

When Emperor Wei Ming was dying, he made Sima Yi and Cao Shuang the ministers of Tuogu. Assisted the eight-year-old prince (Cao Fang) to ascend the throne. They were appointed as servants and recorded as ministers. The false festival yue serves as the commander-in-chief of the Chinese and foreign armies. Each led three thousand troops and stayed in the palace. Cao Shuang and Sima Yi were not on equal footing, but rather "Changfu was in charge of his affairs, consulting on everything, and not daring to do his own thing." It can be said that Cao Shuang was still smart at this time. Sima Yi was already a veteran of three dynasties, and he had repeatedly made military exploits in resisting Shu and defeating Wu and Ping in Liaodong. His prestige in the court has reached its peak. However, Cao Shuang's meritorious service was insignificant, and he got the position of Minister Gu Ming just because he was Cao Zhen's grandson (Cao Shuang's father was Cao Zhen's adopted son). At the beginning, Emperor Wei Ming wanted Cao Yu to be the minister of Tuogu, but Cao Yu felt that he was not qualified and tried his best to refuse. It was Cao Shuang's turn.

The balanced relationship between Cao Shuang and Sima Yi did not last long. Bi Gui, Deng Yang, Li Sheng, He Yan, Ding Mi and others came to Cao Shuang. During the Ming Dynasty, although these people had talents and reputations, they were not reused. Emperor Ming hated their pomposity. They were eager to seek wealth and honor, so they all fell in love with Cao Shuang. Cao Shuang is also an arty person and hangs out with them all day long. As time went by, the relationship became closer. These people began to come up with dirty ideas and encouraged Cao Shuang to exclude Sima Yi. Cao Shuang then promoted Sima Yi to Taifu. On the surface he was promoted, but secretly he was relieved of his military power. In other words, Sima Yi's three thousand soldiers were annexed by Cao Shuang. Sima Yi was very depressed and went home to recuperate due to illness.

After Sima Yi returned home, Cao Shuang was overwhelmed with pride. Bring the late emperor's talented people to sing and dance, and use the emperor's ceremonial guard when going out. He Yan and others were promoted to official positions. Cao Shuang's younger brother Cao Xi once warned Cao Shuang, but Cao Shuang ignored it and continued to drink and party with He Yan and others. "Those who adhere to the meeting will be promoted, and those who disobey will be dismissed." Queen Mother Guo may be a little dissatisfied, but Cao Shuang actually moved the Queen Mother to Yongning Palace. Separate her from the emperor.

Cao Shuang was still a little worried about Sima Yi and sent people over to check on him from time to time. Of course Sima Yi understood what Cao Shuang was thinking. When Li Sheng came, he pretended to be extremely weak, his hands and feet were trembling, his mouth was drooling, and his speech was unclear. Some people admire Sima Yi's acting skills. In fact, this acting skill doesn’t need to be very high. It was already very rare for ancient people to reach seventy, and even fewer lived in good health. Sima Yi is also in his twilight years and can act like a little bit. Cao Shuang was so naive that he was blinded by such low-level acting skills.

When things reached this point, Sima Yi had no way to retreat. He is not doing it for himself, he wants to gain a foothold for his Sima family. He couldn't bear it forever, and his life was about to run out. The opportunity finally came. In the first month of the tenth year of Zhengshi, the young emperor Cao Fang paid a visit to the tomb of Emperor Wei Ming in Gaoping Ling. Brother Cao Shuang and his cronies went with him. Sima Yi ordered in the name of Queen Mother Guo to close the city gates, lead his troops to occupy the arsenal, and send troops out of the city to guard the Luoshui Floating Bridge; he ordered Situ Gaorou to act as general and occupy Cao Shuang's camp; his servant Wang Guan led the army on behalf of Zhong. Ministry, occupied Cao Xi's camp.

This change was too sudden. Sima Yi was deprived of his military power. Where did he get the soldiers to occupy his arsenal? It turned out that he also had two sons, Sima Shi and Sima Zhao, who were the regular servants of the Sanqi and the commanders of the Central Guards at that time. "Book of Jin" records that Master Sima "raised three thousand dead men in secret". This record is confusing. Under Cao Shuang's close supervision, it is not easy to secretly train three thousand killers. Communication in ancient times was extremely backward (it was difficult to pass messages by flying pigeons). How could it be possible to gather 3,000 people in a short period of time? Unless these three thousand dead soldiers are hiding in Luoyang City. If he had been hidden in Luoyang City for so long, how could he not be exposed? But without these three thousand dead soldiers, Brother Sima had too few soldiers. And the camp of Brother Cao Shuang was easily taken over by Gao Rou and Wang Guan without any commotion, which is incredible.

Now I have to talk about Queen Mother Guo. Queen Mother Guo was originally with the emperor and was likely to participate in politics. She must have been very angry when Cao Shuang forced her to go to Yongning Palace and sit on the bench, so when Sima Yi started the rebellion, she wanted to vent her hatred and actually wrote an edict. All historians believe that it was forced by Sima Yi, and the new version of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" was also shot in this way.

However, if Sima Yi really wanted to do this at that time, it would be treason, and ministers such as Gao Rou and Wang Guan might not support him. The fact is that almost all ministers did not express objections. Are all the loyal ministers at that time dead? This is Sima Yi's brilliance. He managed the ideological work of Queen Mother Guo and occupied the moral high ground. Secondly, he focused his main focus on Cao Shuang and did not involve others. Cao Shuang's crimes are known to the whole world, and everyone in the court believes that this thief must be eliminated (he has offended too many people). No one in the army was willing to stand up for Cao Shuang. Only Huanfan, a senior official, defected to Cao Shuang under the persuasion of his son.

Huan Fan came to Cao Shuang and gave him a detailed analysis of the current situation, which was favorable to Cao Shuang and Sima Yi was vulnerable. Because Cao Shuang has a political advantage (the emperor is the best banner), secondly he has logistical supplies (Huan Fan brings the seal, which can mobilize the world's food and grass), and thirdly he has a base for retreat (Xuchang, the former capital of Wei). With the emperor's There were many people who responded to the order. But the strange thing was that Cao Shuang thought about it all night and finally decided to surrender. Huan Fan was so angry that he called him an unworthy descendant of Cao Zhen.

Why is Cao Shuang so coward? He was a useless person. He was born in the royal family and had never experienced any hardships. He was the only one who had any talent at the time, but he was unwilling to contribute to the country at the beginning. , he was respectful to Sima Yi and treated him as his father. First, he was intimidated by Sima's "Eagle Watching Wolf" power, and second, Sima Yi had experienced three dynasties and had achieved great success in resisting Shu and defeating Wu Ping and Liaodong, and his prestige in the court reached its peak. . Third, the Sima family was originally a prestigious family. If it could continue like this, nothing would happen. But at this time, a group of ignorant scholars came to Cao Shuang, and they only talked about Taoism. Incited by them, Cao Shuang suddenly thought that he was an extraordinary talent and wanted to use the emperor's honor guard. Sima Yi was so arrogant that no one in the world dared to express his anger. He would only take the risk if he knew he was a strong person. Later facts proved that Sima Yi's judgment was correct. When the news of Luoyang reached Gaopingling, no one was excited, and even the young emperor Cao Fang did not express his anger. .

Speaking of Cao Fang, I am really speechless. It has been ten years since he ascended the throne. However, an eighteen-year-old emperor has been indifferent to this coup. Is he a fool? Is Cao Shuang capable of controlling him? If he had the slightest temper and issued an edict to punish the traitors, Sima Yi would definitely lose. When Cao Shuang decided to surrender, Cao Fang had already reported the details and did not even sigh. . Cao Cao's heroic spirit disappeared with the wind.

At this point, we have to admire Sima Yi's mind-reading skills. He not only understood the psychology of Queen Mother Guo and Cao Fang. He understood Cao Shuang's psychology and predicted the psychology of everyone at the time. The only thing he ignored was the great Sinong Huanfan. He did not expect that Huanfan would fight to the end, but it did not affect the overall situation. With one soldier and one soldier, he can seize all the power in an instant. He uses his mind to see how terrible politicians can be. Just look at the Gao Pingling incident.

"The eagle looks at the wolf and the wolf looks at it." "The real danger lies in the mind.