As far as Cao Wei is concerned, Guo Wei (65438+February 220-65438+February 265) was one of the separatist forces in the Three Kingdoms period, and later historians called it Cao Wei. Because the Northern Wei Dynasty was called the post-Wei Dynasty, Cao Wei was also called the pre-Wei Dynasty or the pre-Wei Dynasty. For Wei, it only existed for more than 40 years. The reason is obviously directly related to the change of high Ping Ling. In the change of Gao Pingling, the reason why Cao Wei was marginalized was obviously directly related to the fact that the little emperor Cao Fang could not take power. Then, the question is, the frequent appearance of little emperors in the Eastern Han Dynasty can last for more than 190 years. Why did Cao Wei only have a little emperor, and it declined, and even died soon?
one
First of all, there were many little emperors in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but they could persist for nearly 200 years. However, because of Emperor Cao Fang, Cao Wei was usurped by Sima Yi and eventually replaced by the Western Jin Dynasty established by Sima Yan. The reasons are mainly divided into the following points. On the one hand, although we now use the Eastern Han Dynasty to refer to the dynasty established by Liu Xiu, this is only the name of future generations. In fact, the Eastern Han Dynasty is a continuation of the Western Han Dynasty, that is, both of them are called the Han Dynasty. Therefore, for the Eastern Han Dynasty, despite the frequent appearance of little emperors, the prestige of the Han Dynasty remained for hundreds of years, that is, the influence of the Han Dynasty was deep, which not only put greater pressure on the rebels and thieves, but also made more civil servants and military commanders support the Han Dynasty.
To a certain extent, although the influence of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was still there at the end of the fragmented Eastern Han Dynasty, as for Liu Bei, he was able to concentrate forces loyal to the Han Dynasty, such as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun and Zhuge Liang. As for Cao Cao, who wanted to usurp Han's self-reliance, he never proclaimed himself to death. All these highlight the powerful influence of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, when the Eastern Han Dynasty was still a unified dynasty, the appearance of these little emperors did not completely sideline the emperor, that is, after the successful emperor ascended the throne, he could still restore power. For example, Emperor Han Ling at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was obviously not an overhead puppet emperor, which was obviously different from emperors such as Cao Fang, Cao Mao and Cao Huan in the history of Cao Wei.
two
For Cao Wei, although Liu Xie, Emperor Xian of Han Dynasty, gave up the position of Emperor Xelloss of Wei Wendi. But from beginning to end, Cao Wei failed to unify the whole country and completely put an end to the tripartite confrontation. In addition, the establishment of Cao Wei was not too long, and its prestige and influence were not the same as those of the Han Dynasty. When Sima Yi launched the change of Gao Pingling, even Cao Zhi, Xiahou clan and many other imperial clan forces did not resist, which naturally accelerated the demise of Cao Wei. That is to say, compared with the Eastern Han Dynasty, the background of Cao Wei is deep enough, and Sima Yi, the minister who usurped power, lacks the power of restriction.
On the other hand, for the Eastern Han Dynasty, although there were many little emperors, the mutual restraint of eunuchs, consorts, aristocratic families and other forces ensured the status of the Eastern Han Emperor. During the reign of Emperor Gaozu Zhang, consorts were first appointed. After the death of Emperor Gaozu Zhang, Emperor Gaozu 10 succeeded to the throne, and Dou Taihou was called the imperial court. Dou Taihou relied on the scepter of the Doushi family, which led to the consorts usurping power. In the fourth year of Yongyuan, Emperor Han joined forces with eunuchs to eliminate the clan of Doushi. Since then, the repeated contests between consorts and eunuchs have become an important reason for the decline of the Eastern Han Dynasty. However, eunuchs have the greatest power, so it is difficult to threaten the emperor's position. However, consorts have eunuchs as opponents in the court, and there are aristocratic families in various places to form constraints, so it is difficult to threaten the throne of the Eastern Han Emperor.
three
It is worth noting that the Eastern Han Dynasty, as a unified dynasty, was difficult to usurp power or even usurp the throne when it did not encounter internal troubles and foreign invasion. As we all know, as early as the establishment of the Western Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang agreed in the White Horse League that "unless Liu is king, the world will attack together" (Chronicle of Empress Lu in Historical Records, Volume 9). Moreover, not only a powerful minister is hard to be king, but even the duke is hard to get. In the history of the Han Dynasty, only a few powerful ministers such as Wang Mang and Cao Cao were regarded as dukes, which happened at the end of the dynasty. If it is in the early or middle stage, both Wang Mang and Cao Cao will become targets of public criticism and will be attacked by local forces.
As far as Cao Wei is concerned, it is not a unified dynasty. After all, there are two opponents, Shu Han and Soochow. Therefore, Cao Wei relied more on military commanders than the Eastern Han Dynasty, which led to the gradual usurpation of power by military commanders. In the early and middle period of Cao Wei, there were imperial clan generals such as Coss, Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu and Xia Houdun. , in order to avoid the situation of relegation. However, after the imperial clan generals went downhill, Cao Wei had no consorts and eunuchs in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which made Sima Yi and other gentry gradually usurp power and even completed the process of replacing Cao Wei. For Cao Wei, although he learned a lesson from the Eastern Han Dynasty and strictly prohibited consorts and eunuchs from interfering in state affairs, everyone knew that it was too late to do so. Just like Emperor Chongzhen in the late Ming Dynasty, after getting rid of eunuch forces such as Wei Zhongxian, it would only make civil servants sit up constantly, thus leaving them helpless.
four
Finally, in A.D. 184, the Yellow Scarf Uprising broke out, and the Eastern Han Dynasty was unable to counter the rebellion at all. Under the impact of the Yellow Scarf Army, the precarious Eastern Han Dynasty decided to quench its thirst by drinking poison and ordered all counties to recruit soldiers for self-defense. Although the yellow turban insurrectionary uprising was successfully put down, it made the local state and county governors support their troops and respect themselves. In A.D. 189, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty died and Emperor Liu Bian ascended the throne. Concubine blades worshiped the general and controlled the imperial court, aiming at eradicating the eunuch forces. But He Taihou objected, and Yuan Shao suggested that Dong Zhuo should go to Beijing, which forced He Taihou to agree. As a result, after fierce competition, the consorts and eunuchs of the Eastern Han Dynasty bid farewell to the big stage of history. This naturally made Dong Zhuo seize the opportunity to usurp the Eastern Han regime and eventually pushed the Eastern Han Dynasty to extinction.
Accordingly, as far as Cao Wei is concerned, it was originally expected that the imperial clan forces and the gentry forces could form a balance. But what Cao Cao didn't expect was that Cao Pi's suppression and restriction on the imperial clan gradually led to the decline of the imperial clan, that is, Sima Yi and other gentry gradually surpassed Cao Wei's imperial clan. Of course, in this process, there are still many accidental factors, such as General Cao Shuang's response measures and Sima Yi's age. In the second year of Emperor Xianxi (265), Wei was usurped and renamed Jin, and Cao Wei perished. For Cao Wei, the existence time is less than 60 years, which is undoubtedly a far cry from the Eastern Han Dynasty. The main reason for this situation is the imbalance of power structure in Cao Wei, not just the little emperor like Cao Fang.