This article is the 35th column of the column of "Three Kingdoms in Wenmo".
Cao Rui character Yuanzhong, is the second emperor of Wei, from Bozhou, Anhui, and the grandson of Cao Cao. His father is Cao Pi and his mother is Queen Zhen. During Cao Rui's reign, his achievements are obvious to all. He used and commanded Cao Zhen, Sima Yi and others to defend against Wu Kingdom and Shuhan's crusades, conquer Gongsun Yuan, and attach importance to the trial of prison litigation. They have made great achievements in military and political culture. However, in the later period of life after Zhuge Liang's death, Cao Rui made great efforts in civil engineering, arrogance and luxury, coupled with Cao Ruituo's various shortcomings, led to the decline of the Wei state.
In the history, people's evaluation of Cao Rui is quite different. The historian of the Republic of China Lu Simian pointed out that Cao Pi has nothing to do with it. After Cao Rui succeeded to the throne, he made great efforts in civil engineering, and the government was even worse . However, Wang Zhongluo once said that Cao Rui's reign was the heyday of the Wei Dynasty. With such a big contrast, we must pay more attention to details on the premise that we have understood Cao Rui's life.
According to the "Book of Wei", Cao Rui's appearance is very elegant, but he also has a prestigious sense of sight. When Cao Rui was in the Eastern Palace, he never made friends with ministers, and he never asked about political affairs. He buried his thoughts in the books. After Cao Rui took the throne, the ministers didn't understand Cao Rui very much. Only when Liu Ye went to the palace to meet him at this time, Liu Ye commented on Cao Rui as: "Qin Shihuang and Han Xiaowu's cousins are insignificant."
As the emperor, Cao Rui was able to commend the ministers reasonably and attack the vanity of officialdom and literati, such as those of Cao Shuang’s party feathers in the future, almost all at this time Severely suppressed. Although Cao Rui had no previous experience, after ascending to the throne, he was able to reasonably control Wei's nationwide army. For important decisions, Cao Rui can often find the best strategy among many choices. In the face of important national decisions, Cao Rui can reasonably participate and make decisions. At the time when Cao Rui was so angry, civil servants and generals had already admired many of Cao Rui's five bodies.
Cao Rui has another advantage, that is, he has a good memory. Sometimes even though he is only a very small official, he only needs to see the official's resume, or hear some deeds of the official, and even understand the person. Cao Rui will never forget his father, brother and children.
In addition, Cao Rui is a person who can give up to ministers to speak out and persuade, this is a rare phenomenon in ancient Chinese feudal dynasties. Let's put aside whether or not to listen to the opinions of ministers. Sometimes ministers openly pointed out Cao Rui's shortcomings and when the memorials did not give the emperor any face, Cao Rui's most serious punishment was demoted. Since his accession to the throne, Cao Rui has never killed an admonishing minister or dismissed an admonishing minister.
Cao Rui is diligent in government affairs. He listens extensively to the suggestions of officials and people, and even reads a hundred letters from officials and people every month. It is said that within the political framework, some people are ignorant, and some people do not have long-term political vision and political depth. Even if he sees an insidious letter, Cao Rui will read it through, and he never even appears impatient.
These are the advantages of Cao Rui. We all know that "The Book of Wei" is the official historical data of the Wei State, and it has a very significant "ambiguity". More than a hundred years later, Sun Sheng, a descendant of Wei's most important minister, Sun Zi, "mouth cannon", although pointed out Cao Rui's shortcomings, he had to admit some of Cao Rui's advantages.
Sun Sheng pointed out that I heard from the older generation of scholars that Cao Rui is talented and smart, and if he has long hair, he can hang down directly. Cao Rui is a stutterer, so Cao Rui doesn't like to talk very much. Even so, Cao Rui cultivated Shen Yi's ability to make judgments. Regarding the auxiliary ministers left by Cao Pi, after Cao Rui had just taken office, he dictated the ministers except Chen Qun in the border. In this way, in this Luoyang city, Cao Rui could completely govern himself. Cao Rui can also maintain the most basic etiquette to ministers at all times, have a small face, and care about nothing. Although some ministers are too outspoken and offensive, Cao Rui will not overly ruin the writers, which shows the greatness of Cao Rui as a monarch.
At this time, the conversation turned around. Cao Rui's shortcoming was that he never thought about building a moral education atmosphere and did not consolidate the foundation of national construction. In the end, it led to the situation of trusting the guilty before his death and the dictatorship of the ministers after his death. It is also sad enough that Cao Rui failed to protect the great Wei Jiangshan community.
Chen Shou, the author of "Three Kingdoms", believes that Cao Rui is a qualified monarch in this regard. However, at the time when the people were still living hard and the world was in chaos, Cao Rui failed to take moral construction to consolidate the country first, but imitated the arrogance and lust of Emperor Qin Shihuang and Emperor Guangwu of Han. This was a very obvious mistake.
Chen Shou also pointed out that in ancient times, the world should be the public, and the meritocracy should be the same. The emperor should find the most suitable person. If the emperor does not have a biological son, he must choose a close relative who is moral to succeed him. But Cao Rui did not do this. His prince fully considered his personal likes and dislikes. To pass the throne to a person of such a young age, we should even consider the balance of the tutoring list. Later, Cao Shuang took power, and Sima Yi became the new dictator after killing Cao Shuang, and Cao Fang could not keep the emperor in the end.
During the time of Cao Rui, Liu Chan, Sun Quan, Lu Xunhe and others all commented on him, but due to different positions, this article ignores him for the time being. It's nothing more than talk and malicious attacks. However, Zhong Hui's evaluation after Cao Rui's death was extremely purposeful, and his brainless praise was not representative.
Pei Songzhi once pointed out that Cao Rui is 一时明主. Later Zhou Taizu Guo Wei was called Cao Rui, was a gift at a time, and it was called through the ages. Regarding literature, Ming scholar Hu Yinglin pointed out that only Cao Cao, Cao Pi, and Cao Rui can pass the poetry of to the third generation and maintain a high literary quality.
Regarding the negative evaluation, the historical writer Cai Dongpan said that Cao Rui was extravagant, violating morals, all kinds of absurdities, and all of them would subdue the country. On the contrary, he would put down Liaodong and capture Gongsunyuan and his son. It is a lesson, but also benefits its disease.
Historian Ma Zhijie adopts the view of dividing into two. He believes that in general, the advantages and disadvantages of Cao Rui’s actions are divided into half. admonish. Cao Rui was rare among ancient feudal monarchs in accepting outspoken words and not killing admonitions. This is his characteristic. Cao Rui's biggest shortcoming is excessive extravagance and prostitution, and another important mistake is in determining heirs and ministers.
Text: Talking about the author of the Three Kingdoms XXY
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