At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos and the heroes competed. In the warlord melee, Cao Cao gradually strengthened and controlled the Eastern Han court, laying the foundation for the establishment of Cao Wei. When Cao Cao was named Wei Gong, he was governed in Ye, the seat of Wei Jun in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Therefore, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty named him "Wei Gong" and "Wei Wang", and his son Cao Pi established the national name "Wei". In the first year of Yankang, Cao Pi forced the Han Emperor to make a surrender and formally replaced the Han Dynasty and established Cao Wei.
However, many people have always questioned why the mighty Cao Wei suddenly declined: Is it because Cao Wei’s fortunes have been lost, or Cao Cao’s direct line lost control of the army, so that the Sima Yi family quickly Rise and seize power?
Some people think that this is the result of Cao Wei's exhaustion.
Actually, this is not the case.
Many people said: Because Sima Yi is well versed in the art of war and military, came from a family and cultivated a large number of outstanding generals and talents, even Cao Cao gave him three points. However, if we analyze the pattern and situation of the world from Wei Wen to Wei Ming, we can find that, in fact, it is not the same thing at all. Cao Wei's qi number not only showed no declining trend, but was very strong.
So, why do you say that? The reasons for
are as follows:
1. The rule is very large: During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the country was divided into 13 states, and some important strategic states and counties were basically in the north. Emperor Han Huan once did a census (this census is the closest time to the three countries), and the census report shows the total population and number of households in each state and county. If these figures are made into a population density map, we can find that the population at that time was mainly concentrated in the vicinity of the Yellow River Basin, especially Guanzhong, Heluo, Hebei and Xuyan, while the population of Jiangnan was relatively small. .
The economic belt of the Eastern Han Dynasty corresponds to this population map, and the main economic regions are concentrated in the north. Although Jiangnan is very large, in general, it has only Yangzhou, Jingzhou and Yizhou, and Jiaozhou which has not yet been developed. Among them, Yangzhou belonged to the division of Wei and Wu; Jingzhou was initially governed by Wei, Shu and Wu separately, and later became the division of Wei and Wu; and Shu only occupied one Yizhou. Looking at it this way, among the thirteen states, Cao Wei occupied the most, about nine states, and all of them included densely populated areas and major economic zones at the time.
Although this situation has changed at a certain point in time, it was roughly the same during the reign of Cao Pi and Cao Rui. Therefore, from the perspective of scope and economics, Cao Wei did not lose his breath.
2. Large population: According to the census report made by Emperor Han Huan at that time, there were probably more than 56 million people in the country at that time. After this, the warlord's melee for nearly a hundred years began, the chaos of war, the epidemic of disease, the fleeing of the population, and the soldiers massacring innocent people in the city. These unnatural deaths have caused a sharp decline in the population. Due to the social turmoil during this period, there is no specific population count.
However, in academia, we generally quote these numbers:
First of all, according to the folk book submitted by Shang Shulang of Shu when Shu surrendered to Wei, Shu had a population of 940,000. 280,000 households, about 100,000 soldiers, and 40,000 officers and men;
Secondly, during the Jin Dynasty, Sima Biao recorded in the history books: Wei had a population of 4.43 million, more than 660,000. Household;
Finally, according to Wu's surrender in Jin, the population atlas submitted by Sun Hao shows: Wu has a population of 2.3 million, more than 520,000 households, and a total of more than 260,000 officers and soldiers.
However, the above sets of data may be underestimated. Because, during the Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, the population of Yizhou had already reached 7 million. No matter how weak the State of Shu, the population could not be reduced to less than one million in such a short time. The same is true for Wei State. Many states within its territory have not experienced wars for many years, and their social economy has also improved to a certain extent. How can the population be so small? However, from these figures alone, the population of Wei is larger than the total population of Wei and Wu.If there are more peaces, there will naturally be more troops.
It can be seen that Wei has such an obvious advantage in population. How can it decline?
III. Cleanliness and unification of internal affairs: Although Cao Pi is not too strong politically, and his military talents are average, he is still not a foolish king, and he has his own management of the country. Set of wrists. In addition, the foundation laid by Cao Cao earlier, he has absolute control over the political situation after he took office, and few people opposed any of his decisions. Moreover, all ethnic groups in the northern and northwestern parts of the Cao Wei Dynasty came to worship. It can be said that apart from the fact that the Liaodong area has not been settled, there is basically no worry outside Cao Wei.
Although Cao Rui seldom appeared in the early days and has some mystery to people, his talents are outstanding, and he is called the "temporary master". During his reign, although Sima Yi's power continued to expand, he was basically under his control, and no one dared to challenge the imperial power openly. For example, as long as Cao Rui issued an edict, Sima Yi had to obediently abandon Jingzhou, which had been in business for many years. Therefore, whether it was Emperor Wei Wen or Emperor Wei Ming, the fortune of Cao Wei was very strong, and there were no signs and signs of being surpassed by other families.
However, on the other hand, the decline of Cao Wei is related to these two emperors. Because, when it comes to controlling the political situation, no one can replace them. However, they unexpectedly passed away prematurely. Cao Pi died at the age of 40, and Cao Rui only lived 35 years old. Although the level of medical care at the time was not high, and people's life expectancy was relatively short, this age could not be compared with Cao Cao's 66 years old. Moreover, Cao Cao has 25 sons, Cao Pi only has one son, and Cao Rui has no successors.
The lack of enthusiasm caused certain faults and dislocations in the transfer of the Cao Wei regime, which was a fatal blow to the Cao Wei regime.
Although Cao Rui could find an heir from the clan to replace him, he eventually lost a certain degree of royal legitimacy and appeal. As a result, the new monarch lost his power after taking office. The basic control of the government has caused the political situation to fall into a situation where the ministers of the ministers are criticizing each other. Until the Gao Pingling coup, Cao Wei had completely lost in the political battle, and Jiang Shan had to hand it over.
References:
["Three Kingdoms·Wu Di Ji", "Zi Zhi Tong Jian·Volume Seventy-fourth·Wei Ji 6", "Three Kingdoms·Wei Shu·Wen Di Ji"】
