[Material]
" Zi Zhi Tong Jian " Han Dynasty Emperor Xiaoxian, the thirteenth year of Jian'an, 208 AD
spring, the first month, Situ Zhao Wen Pi Cao Cao Zi Pi. Cao Biao said, "Wen Pichen's son, so the election was not based on reality", so he was dismissed.
[Translation]
In the spring of this year, in the first month of the year, Situ Zhao Wen appointed Cao Pi as his staff. Cao Cao said in the letter: "Zhao Wen recruited the minister's children as his staff, which shows that he committed fraud in the election inspection." Zhao Wen was dismissed by Emperor Xian of Han .
[Analysis]
As the saying goes, you can’t hit someone with a smiling face. In the material, Zhao Wen recruited Cao Cao’s son Cao Pi to enter the official career. This was originally a good intention.
In order to please Cao Cao, Zhao Wen smiled like a chrysanthemum, but Cao Cao not only didn't appreciate it, but also slapped him in the face himself. Zhao Wen's face was swollen, and he was dismissed from the imperial court for "fraud" .
Why did Zhao Wen take the initiative to move closer to Cao Cao, but was slapped in the face, slapped on the horse's hoof, and ultimately had to end his political life because of this?
I think there are mainly three reasons:
1. Timing
Around 208 AD, Cao Cao had basically completed the unification of the north. However, the world was at peace, and the people did not follow. At this time, as a male leader, Cao Cao What is urgently needed is to recruit talented people from all over the world to enter the system and become the basis for the support.
But Zhao Wen obviously didn't understand Cao Cao. He was still doing the old trick of supporting each other among the powerful nobles in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. You recruit my son, I recruit your nephew, and everyone will have a bright future.
From the perspective of national governance, the pattern of Zhao Wen and Cao Cao is completely different. Zhao Wen has the mentality of a professional manager. Whether the boat capsizes or not has nothing to do with me. I only care about how much benefit I occupy before the boat capsizes.
But Cao Cao has a master mentality. I conquered this whole world. I conquered the world and I am the chairman. Are you still playing like a professional manager with me?
If Cao Cao still plays according to Zhao Wen's old method, what will be the consequences? In that day, fighting would be in vain, as what goes up and down takes effect, the court is filled with the children of ministers, but there is no promotion path for the truly talented and capable people.
If there is no legal promotion channel, they will turn to other ways to realize their own value, such as joining Liu Bei camp, joining Sun Quan camp, or even joining the local refugee army to make suggestions.
For a professional manager like Zhao Wen, he doesn’t care about these things. He can just send troops to suppress it. How can a professional manager fish in troubled waters if nothing happens? How can a professional manager show his role if he doesn’t let some intractable diseases come out? ?
But Cao Cao doesn't care. He conquered the entire world. This is directly related to the stability of the underlying structure of the entire empire. Cao Cao must cure the disease before it is ill.
Yan and Jie are elected together, and the people they select are all honest and upright people. Although they are famous at that time, those who do not act according to their own standards will never be able to advance. Pull out the solid, denounce the Chinese and hypocritical, advance against the weak, and suppress the Party. Therefore, all the people in the world should encourage themselves with integrity.
Even if you honor your favored ministers, you will not dare to overdo it. Even when the senior officials return, they will have dirty faces and poor clothes, riding alone in a chariot. When military officials enter the government, they will walk in court uniform . The officials are clean at the top and the vulgar are at the bottom.
Hearing this, Cao Cao sighed: "If we employ people like this to make the people of the world autonomous, what can I do?"
The world has just been decided. This is the time to attract talents and change the old ecology of the officialdom. Cao Cao must set an example and oppose the disciples of the Cao family. Enter the imperial court and serve as an official.
Cao Cao has set standards. With the huge prestige of Cao Cao's new rule in the world, officials of all sizes in the DPRK naturally do not dare to engage in private exchanges and collusion in recommendations.
If Cao Cao agreed to Zhao Wen's recruitment of Cao Pi, it would be equivalent to opening the door for colleagues to recruit each other and acquiescing to this unspoken political rule.
This is naturally a good thing for professional managers, but for the actual controllers of the organization and the overall situation, it is harmful rather than beneficial, and is not conducive to the long-term healthy development of the organization.
So let me tell you, Zhao Wen seemed to be trying to please Cao Cao on the surface, but in fact he was doing it for himself. He hoped that by recruiting Cao Pi as an official, Cao Cao would become a spokesperson for each other in the officialdom.
As the actual founder of the organization, Cao Cao naturally did not accept this trick, and was very disgusted with Zhao Wen and was very taboo on this issue.
Therefore, he did not hesitate to slap Zhao Wen in the face personally to show that he is unshakable in his stance of recruiting talents from all over the world.
This is the first reason why Zhao Wen tried to please Cao Cao but was slapped in the face. As a professional manager, Zhao Wen thought he was old and cunning. The time was not right to do such a thing to Cao Cao. If he did it in the hands of Cao Pi, The thing is done.
Because Cao Pi is different from Cao Cao. As the second generation ancestor, Cao Pi has insufficient ability and lack of prestige. In order to consolidate his power, he naturally has to please the bureaucratic group and prevent the clan from usurping the throne.
2. Posture
Furthermore, Zhao Wen’s move to recruit Cao Pi to serve in the Situ Mansion was also problematic in itself. Who is Cao Cao? He conquered the entire world and was extremely powerful.
But at the same time, Cao Cao conquered the world and carried the name of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. In name, Cao Cao was still a minister, and Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was still the emperor. Therefore, even though the Han Dynasty had existed in name only, Cao Cao never usurped the Han Dynasty in order not to bear the charge of disloyalty.
But Cao Cao’s failure to usurp the Han Dynasty does not mean that Cao Cao’s family will not usurp the Han Dynasty. Not only does it not mean that the Cao family must usurp the Han Dynasty.
It is impossible for the Cao family to return actual power to Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. Once handed back, the Cao family will be the fate of the Huo family. Anyone who has read " Huo Guang Zhuan" will understand.
There is no way out with power. During the period of power, I have offended so many people and gained so many interests. Once I hand over my power, I will become a fat pig and a rat that everyone calls for beating, no matter if you are a rat or not. .
Therefore, even if Cao Cao does not want to usurp the throne, once he embarks on the path of a powerful minister, he will be hard to get off. If he does not usurp the throne, he will not end well.
In order to protect the interests of his own family, it is inevitable to pave the way for his descendants. Sooner or later, this man will usurp.
Cao Cao has been a Han official all his life, and his reputation will be bad if he usurps the throne again. If Cao Cao wants to pave the way for his descendants, it is impossible for Cao Pi to become a Han official and follow his own old path.
Therefore, Zhao Wen obviously did not understand Cao Cao's inner thoughts. This flattering gesture was wrong. Cao Cao did not want the children of the Cao family to become Han ministers and eat Han's salary.
At least Cao Cao did not want Cao Pi to serve under the inherent three-gong system of the Han Dynasty, with promotions and salary increases step by step. Instead, after three years, he ingeniously created a reputation as a good-looking general and served as deputy prime minister. important task.
Serving as an official in the traditional Sangong Mansion with gradual promotions and salary increases, and serving as deputy prime minister in the Prime Minister's Mansion established by Cao Cao after abolishing the Sangong Mansion. These are two completely different concepts.
The former will lead the world to think that Cao Pi gradually grew bigger in the Han Dynasty system and then usurped the Han Dynasty; while the latter belonged to Cao Cao's private shogunate, and he became deputy prime minister. Since there was no path for promotion step by step, he was not favored by the Han Dynasty. This is said.
This is the second reason why Cao Cao personally slapped Zhao Wen in the face. He believed that Zhao Wen was trying to please him on the surface, but in fact he wanted to ruin the Cao family's future choices and make Cao Pi a disloyal usurper in the future. reputation.
Whether Zhao Wen meant this or not is not important. What is important is that Zhao Wen's posture to please Cao Cao is wrong, and it is easy for him to be unable to argue and cause misunderstandings.
3. Interests
Why is it said that Zhao Wen and Cao Cao have conflicts in interests? You must know that Zhao Wen occupied the position of the Third Duke for fifteen years from the fourth year of Chuping to the thirteenth year of Jian'an. If there was a conflict of interest between him and Cao Cao, how could he occupy the position of the Third Duke for more than ten years?
Indeed, the reason why Zhao Wen was able to stay in the position of San Gong for more than ten years is inseparable from his family background and his submission to Cao Cao. Therefore, in order to win over the people of the world, Cao Cao could tolerate Zhao Wen being a Situ.
But these are things in the past. As the situation developed, Eastern Han Sikong Cao Cao destroyed the general Yuan Shao who was entrenched in Hebei, and pacified Guanzhong and Youyan . Cao Cao was ordered by the emperor not to Minister, single-handedly recovered the core areas of the Central Plains regime.
At this time, the north of the Yangtze River, except for the northern Jingzhou and the Liangzhou area waiting around, were basically all defeated by Cao Cao. The entire Huanghuaihai Plain was in Cao Cao's hands. It can be said that the general trend of the world has been determined.
At this time, Cao Cao was no longer as submissive as he was when the rebellion first started. Under the huge prestige of his military exploits, no one did not recognize Cao Cao's power. Even Zhuge Liang had to admit frankly that he could not compete with Cao Cao's thieves.
So at this time, Cao Cao has conquered a large area for the Han Dynasty, but politically he is still just a Sikong. Cao Cao's status and strength are completely mismatched. With Cao Cao's achievements, being a Sikong is really a derogation of talent. .
Cao Cao's team has already opened up the situation. In this case, Cao Cao will naturally seek greater honor in political status, in order to match the name and reality, and to pave the way for better centralization of power.
The reason why Zhao Wen tried to please Cao Cao but was slapped in the face was because Cao Cao wanted to be prime minister, but Zhao Wen blocked his way and didn't realize it at all, or pretended not to understand.
Xia, June, the three public officials were dismissed and the prime minister and censor were reinstated. Guisi. Make Cao Cao the prime minister.
The fault of Zhao Wen is that he does not know what is good, or pretends not to understand. Under such circumstances, he does not know how to advance or retreat, and he clings to Situ's position at the age of seventy-two.
And Cao Cao wants to abolish the Three Dukes. The post of Taiwei has been vacant since Yang Biao was dismissed.
Zhao Wen's failure is failure here. If we talk about profit-based confrontation, even if the timing of flattery is wrong or the posture is wrong, it is not a big deal. It is usually just three glasses of wine as punishment.
However, Zhao Wen has not abdicated for a long time. When he was over seventy, he still stayed in the position of Situ and did not want to step down. In terms of interests, he blocked Cao Cao's move to abolish the three ministers and establish the prime minister system.
Due to the conflict of interests, if Cao Cao wants to depose the Three Dukes, he must first take action on Zhao Wen. Even if Zhao Wen is about to retire, he is not willing to let him have a good ending, because in order to depose the Three Dukes, he must prove that the Three Dukes are bad and the Prime Minister is good. .
And again, with the fornication of Taiwei Yang Biao, and Yuan Shu, and the attack on Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty by General Yuan Shao, now it is also coupled with Situ Zhao Wen's deception.
Cao Cao wanted to use the failure of each of the Three Officials to prove that the Three Officials system was not good, so Zhao Wen was destined to not be able to retire safely.
Cao Cao would even use his own power to oppress, secretly inducing Zhao Wen to make specific actions, and then suddenly stand on the moral high ground and publicly suppress him.
For example, in this incident, Cao Cao wanted to get rid of Zhao Wen justifiably, but he also spent money on it. The capital was the reputation of Master Pi:
Cao Cao said "Wen Pichen is a son, so the election is not based on truth", so he avoided it.
The election was not based on facts. This was actually a conspiracy against Zhao Wen and his son Cao Pi. Isn't this a scolding of Cao Pi's lack of talent? This may be a bait to induce Zhao Wen to recommend Cao Pi in violation of regulations, and then take the opportunity to depose the three ministers.
Because Zhao Wen never dreamed that Cao Cao would destroy himself in order to be justified, so he fell into the trap and hoped to support Cao Cao's group by recommending Cao Pi. How could he have expected that Cao Cao wanted someone other than Zhao Wen? Instead, Zhao Wen was asked to be a source of fertilizer and a laughing stock on his way to abolishing the three-gong system.
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