Even contemporary people are extremely disgusted with Sima Yi's behavior. After Cao Shuang's death, the news spread to the Shu-Han Empire. Fei Yi (1), a Shu-Han general who once competed with Cao Shuang, also wrote articles on A and B to discuss the truth of Cao Shuang's murder.
Fei Yi put forward two theories. One is that Cao Shuang and his gang can only reach the top by relying entirely on their parents and grandparents. However, they failed to live up to people's hopes. They were crony, arrogant and extravagant, and Sima Yi's responsibility to the country and his own assistance made people happy. Another way of saying it is that Sima Yi and Cao Shuang couldn't pee in the same pot, and he had tried his best to get rid of Cao Shuang. When Cao Shuang made mistakes again and again, he was secretly happy. Cao Shuang lost his heart and suddenly began to kill people. Where is this a gentleman's practice? If Cao Shuang really wanted to rebel at that time, then he must have wanted to kill the little emperor Cao Fang. Sima Yi closed the gate and said that Cao Shuang rebelled. Wouldn't it kill the little emperor more? Actually, Sima Yi also knew that Cao Shuang never had the idea of rebellion, and he could not have harmed Cao Fang. So he dared to close the city gate and make a coup. Cao Shuang didn't die, but in the end he was beheaded. Even the son of Yanhe, his mother is a princess, and he is of royal blood. Born to die and Sima Yi's behavior can be said to be indiscriminate killing and petty revenge.
As a contemporary, Fei Yi's evaluation of Sima Yi can be said to hit the nail on the head and go deep into the bone marrow. Personally, I think most of this evaluation is extremely correct, but the fundamental point of view is not necessarily correct. I have never had a drink with Mr. Sima Yi, and I have no friendship. Even earlier, I hated him very much, but after reading so many of his stories over and over again, I want to be fair to him.
If you are an emotional person, you will never like Sima Yi. He is not handsome at all, and he didn't leave any touching stories. Most importantly, he is a kind-hearted man with a vicious heart. Judging from his life, he destroyed many people's three races. Whether killing political opponents or fighting soldiers, he showed no mercy. Even if he broke his oath, even if he was accused by thousands of people, he would not hesitate to exchange the lives of many people for victories again and again. As long as he can win, he doesn't care what means he used or how many people died, whether they were enemies or himself.
However, as long as we are rational, we can find that Sima Yi is an extremely clever leader simply in terms of ability. He is a very good politician and strategist. No one has ever said that his political ability is better than Zhuge Liang, and no one has ever said that his military ability is better than Cao Cao. But from Hanzhong countermeasures, Guan Yu countermeasures, to killing Meng Da and Zhuge Liang, he never made any mistakes. His accurate judgment of the situation, flexibility and rigor in strategy, internal affairs, and the use of troops are not only outstanding among his contemporaries, but even comparable to the old people like Wuqi and Sun Bin. It is not easy for a person to have a few flashes, and it is even harder to have a bright life like Sima Yi. We can imagine how smart this man must be to see the political and military situation so thoroughly, to kill Guan Yu, to boil Zhuge Liang to death, to kill Cao Shuang, and even to be associated with the only tomb that could compete with him at that time.
Fei Yi is right. Sima Yi did know that Cao Shuang didn't want to rebel at all, but he was cornered by Cao Shuang and mad, so he had to be labeled as a rebel. However, Cao Shuang won't hurt Cao Fang, because he is the secretary of the records, and the little emperor Cao Fang is just his shield. Never mind what Sima Yi is doing. Cao Fang's security is fine. Therefore, it is wrong for Fei Yi to say that Sima Yi staged a coup without considering the safety of Cao Fang. It is even more wrong to say that he wanted Cao Shuang dead long ago. He was sure that Cao Shuang would treat Cao Fang well, not hurt him.
A few years before Cao Shuang Fuzheng, if Sima Yi had not reached the retirement age, he would not have been able to sit in the position of Cao Shuang, the records. If Sima Yi was embarrassed by Cao Shuang at that time, it can be said that he was too old to walk. He threw the real battlefield to Cao Shuang, who had little time, and watched him lose face and make a fool of himself. However, he was even more despised because of his defeat in the battlefield. During the crusade against Shu, Cao Shuang was probably cut off and wiped out. Sima Yi also wrote to Xia Houxuan, asking Xia Houxuan, who knew the crisis, to persuade Cao Shuang to return to Wei. If Sima Yi had the ambition of dominating Wei at that time, he could have completely wiped out Cao Shuang, and then came out to save the defeat, and of course he would have dominated the Chaogang. However, Sima Yi did not do so.
After Cao Shuang's defeat, he became more arrogant and indulgent. Power made him more arrogant and narrow-minded, looking at Sima Yi, who was one hundred times stronger than him. In 248, Cao Shuang appointed Lun Sheng to spy on Sima Yi's recent situation, which actually showed that Cao Shuang had moved his heart to Sima Yi. We can imagine that if Li Sheng saw Sima Yi, he would still be full of energy and not die of old age. Although I don't have any evidence myself, I insist that it was Dr. Li's visit that made Sima Yi make up his mind to fight hard.
Sima Yi was also a victim from the evil feudal autocracy. Officials nearly two thousand years ago did not have a retirement system, and no country was spared. As long as you enter the officialdom, there are only two endings: playing to death and being played to death. Sima Yi is not alone. Behind him is a huge Sima family and a huge network of cronies. This network as a whole has become a thorn in Cao Shuang's side. If you don't resist, then most people will have no future. Therefore, for such a large network, for his whole family, for the strength of his faction, he must launch a coup.
In fact, Sima Yi's coup was popular and won the sympathy and support of most powerful people in Cao Wei Empire. People like Queen Mother Guo, Jiang Ji and Gao Rou all sided with Sima Yi in the coup. They all thought that Sima Yi's coup was to help Cao Wei and save the empire. Sima Yi stood at a remarkable commanding height both intellectually and morally, and no one doubted his motives.
However, when Sima Yi successfully fought back against Cao Shuang, he suddenly found himself in supreme power. He had to face two ways: to be a diligent record and strive to be a gentry; Overhead Cao Wei royal family, become the largest family. In fact, throughout the whole cremation era, the imperial power was not very strong. After mastering the supreme power, many aristocratic families did not perish, and even retained high officials and generous salaries. However, Sima Yi is not a superman. He can't see the future. For people of his time, there was only one Han Dynasty he could learn. In the Han dynasty, except for the Liu family, all the people with foreign surnames who mastered the supreme power, even the Wang Mang family who became the emperor, were finally hacked. Therefore, Sima Yi can only think that as a minister, he has mastered the power that only the emperor can have. If he wants to give this power back to the emperor, he is in danger of being killed by his whole family. Without power, his family may be killed. If he maintains power, he can also ensure the safety of his family. Coupled with his character of doing nothing or doing nothing, he did not hesitate to choose to kill Cao Jia and became the first family himself.
There is a classic saying: power is like a tiger. If you ride it, you can't get off. If you come down, it will be torn to pieces by the tiger, so you should ride it all the time. Cao Cao, Sima Yi's old superior, also said that if I don't hand over power, my whole family will be killed. Sima Yi didn't want to risk losing her child. From the day he staged a coup, he could only make up his mind to turn the counterattack against Cao Shuang into subversion against the Cao Wei Empire. In this way, a generation of founding fathers became grave diggers of the country he helped create.