the correctness of life planning is directly related to the success or failure of a person's life. In the era of fierce competition for survival, it is particularly important whether a person has a correct life plan to survive in the world. The period of Wei, Shu and Wu in history was an era of fierce competition for survival. "Wise men stood by their plans, while brave men walked by their strength." Those who stood out and went down in history, such as Jia Xu, Xun You and Zhuge Liang, were all masters who correctly grasped their own life plans. However, among the three kingdoms, it can be called the most perfect and wonderful one in his life planning. The author thinks that Sima Yi of Wei is the only one.
Sima Yi is a crucial figure in the history of the Three Kingdoms. Without him, the history of the dispute between the three countries would probably not end so soon, and perhaps it would be interpreted for decades; Without him, the great Jin dynasty would have complied with the great cause of the reunification of the people's hearts, and it would not have been so natural and ingenious. It was he who inherited Wei's strength and prosperity, and initiated Jin's unification, and achieved great achievements like Qin Huang and Han Di, and rescued all the people in the world from the troubled times. Therefore, he can be called "the hero of the world."
extraordinary people must have something extraordinary. In the Book of Jin, Sima Yi was said to be "rare, clever, knowledgeable, and obedient to Confucianism." The chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty was often full of worries about the world. " In my opinion, the word "smart and broad" is the best way to show that Sima Yi is good at planning his life. Based on historical materials, let's take a look at how Sima Yi used his intelligence to plan his life.
as the ancients said, "Good birds choose wood to live in, while virtuous officials choose their masters to do things". In feudal society, a person's career achievements were mainly in politics and military affairs; However, achievements in politics and military affairs depend entirely on the relationship between individuals and superiors. Therefore, according to the four monarchs assisted by Sima Yi, his life planning can be roughly divided into four stages: Wei Wudi period, Wei Wendi period, Wei Mingdi period and Wei Shaodi Cao Fang period. And we can observe Sima Yi's life planning in stages from these four periods.
First, Wei Wudi period
First of all, it is necessary for us to know the personality characteristics and political style of Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei. According to the history books, Cao Cao "knows people well, but it is difficult to dazzle people with falsehood, and creates great undertakings, combining civil and military skills". At the same time, he "holds the law firmly, and those who will have a plan to win over themselves will be punished with the law, and there will be no rest." He is a veritable "master of guesses".
In addition, Cao Cao has a serious problem in his employment orientation, which is "emphasizing talents and avoiding talents; The duality of employing people and suspecting people. He attaches great importance to the talents and strength of his subordinates, but he does not allow them to go beyond the controllable range of him and his descendants. The History of the Three Kingdoms records such an example: Zhou Buyi, a boy from Jingzhou, was seventeen years old, with little talent and intelligence. Cao Cao wanted to marry his wife, but Zhou Buyi didn't deserve it. Cao Cao loves his son Cao Chong, and he also has extraordinary wisdom, which can be compared with Zhou Buyi. After Cao Chong died of illness, Cao Cao was jealous of Zhou Buyi and wanted to get rid of it. Cao Pi thought it was impossible. Cao Cao said, "This man is beyond your control." So he sent an assassin to kill him. This case fully proves the "dual orientation" of Cao Cao's employment route.
Sima Yi has a deep understanding of Cao Cao's employment orientation. When he came out of the mountain to take office, he was dissatisfied with Cao Cao's treacherous behavior, which made the princes "know that the Chinese side is weak, and he doesn't want to bow to Cao Shi". When Cao Cao longed for his name and wanted to take him into the account, he pretended to be suffering from "wind arthralgia" as a reason for refusing, and he also fooled people sent by Cao Cao to spy on the actual situation with his superb acting skills of "staying still". But you can fool for a while, but you can't fool for a lifetime. After Cao Cao became prime minister, he urged Sima Yi to be an official again, and explicitly issued the threat of "if he lingers, he will accept it". At this time, Sima Yi knew that he was not enough to compete with the powerful Cao Cao, so he had to "take office in fear". How can I be loyal to you if you are rude before you? ! Obviously, in this extremely passive situation, although Sima Yi has joined Cao Cao's camp, it is difficult to exert his extraordinary ambition and strategy immediately.
Even if he entered the Prime Minister's residence, Sima Yi was very unsafe. It is recorded in the Book of Jin: "Wei Wu's Emperor Cha (referring to Sima Yi) has great ambition, and he has heard that wolves care about each other. If you want to test it, you are called to move forward, to look back, to face forward and not to move. I also dreamed that Sanma ate the same food, which was very evil. Because prince pi said,' Sima yi is not a minister, but he will also predict your family affairs.' "Visible, cao cao's suspicion of him, reached the point of" will want to get rid of it and then quickly ".
The first key point of Sima Yi's life planning at this time is to "keep a low profile, look ahead and look back, and protect yourself". He decided to exchange his pragmatism and hard work for Cao Cao's trust. "So he was diligent in his official duties and forgot to sleep at night. As for straw and animal husbandry, he learned that he was on the job, so Wei Wuyi was happy." Yes, how can any monarch have an ulterior motive to control it when he sees such a loyal servant who forgets his personal interests, forgets to eat and sleep, and does his best for himself? Cao Cao finally accepted Sima Yi's loyalty and promoted him, so he was able to be the main book of the Prime Minister's Office (equivalent to the current Secretary-General the State Council) from the "literary book" (official of official documents) who just entered the Prime Minister's Office.
However, Sima Yi did not relax his experience at all while preserving his sanity. This is the second focus of his life planning during this period. He found two role models in the Prime Minister's House at that time-Xun Yu and Cao Cao. It should be said that during the experience of the Prime Minister's office, he was always learning the advantages of these two examples. However, Sima Yi noticed this point: Xun Yu, as a brilliant strategist, his strengths were limited to strategic planning, and the space for development was too narrow, so he could only hide behind the scenes all the time, and he could not gallop on the battlefield and board the big stage of history. Cao Cao, on the other hand, is a lean man who can seek and fight, and his development space is broader than that of Xun Yu. Since noticing this point, Sima Yi, who always had the ambition of "ruling the country and leveling the world", has learned to exercise himself in a planned and step-by-step way, and gradually improved himself into a real strong man who combines the strengths of Cao Cao and Xun Yu.
Finally, let's talk about Sima Yi's most important and wonderful life plan in the Wei Wudi period-helping Cao Pi become a prince. In the Book of Jin, he said: "The State of Wei was built, and the prince was moved to the common son. Every time you make great plans, you have a strange plan, which is trusted by the prince. " Confucianism says: "If you want to stand up, you should stand up first, and if you want to reach it, you should get ahead." In order to get rid of the fate of being a middle-level bureaucrat, Sima Yi directly worked hard on Cao Pi. As long as Cao Pi, who was at a disadvantage in the struggle for office, was pushed to the throne of the prince, he could become a founding father and enter the highest ruling class of Wei State. So, he thought of various strategies, defeated the attack of Cao Pi's political enemy, Cao Zhi, and finally made Cao Pi ascend to the position of Prince. The success of this move directly affected Sima Yi's life. From then on, he gradually approached the highest ruling class of Wei.
During this period, from the age of 29 when Sima Yi first entered the Prime Minister's Office to the age of 4 when Wei Wudi died, it took him eleven years to "jump up and soar".
during these eleven years, it can be seen that Sima yi's life planning completely follows the Confucian way of being in the world: self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and calming the world. Sima Yi firmly grasped the core link of Confucianism-"self-cultivation". Only when the "self-cultivation" kung fu is done truly and well, the ambition of "governing the country and leveling the world" will not be a tree without roots and passive water.
In Sima Yi's view, the topic of "self-cultivation" can be embodied in eight words, that is, "knowing the times": according to the needs of the times, closely connecting with the actual situation, taking the ambition of governing the country and leveling the world as the guide, solidly exercising one's ability in all aspects and being ready to accept the test and challenge of fate at any time. His best point is-when and under what circumstances he needs to highlight his ability to stand out from the crowd, and he has always calculated it very accurately. Therefore, Sima Yi was able to rise quietly and uncontrollably during the Wei Wudi period.
His successful career really confirms the famous saying in Xunzi: "He who has an inscrutable ambition has no bright future; Those who have nothing to do with it have no merit of Hehe. "
Second, Wei Wendi period
It was in the period of Emperor Wei Wendi Cao Pi that Sima Yi really ushered in his smooth life stage.
in the first month of spring in the 25th year of Jian 'an, Sima Yi was forty years old, and Wang Wei Cao Cao, the prime minister of Han Dynasty, died in Luoyang. At that time, Cao Zhang, who had come to seize power, was an inquisitive teacher outside the palace of Wei, and there were traces of riots from various military forces inside, and the ministers of the Han Dynasty were also eager to move. According to the history book, "Wei Wu was in Luoyang, and he was in danger in the ruling and opposition parties". Sima Yi resolutely stood up at this time, "the funeral of discipline and discipline was awesome both at home and abroad", used his outstanding talents to know the precarious situation, stabilized the people's hearts, and persuaded Emperor Xian of Han to officially make Cao Pi Prime Minister and Wang Wei.
His first act of showing his talents has further won the trust and reuse of Cao Pi. As soon as Cao Pi was established as Wang Wei, he was immediately named Tinghou of Tianjin, and was transferred to the post of Prime Minister Changshi, becoming one of the core figures in the Wei Palace.
At this time, Sima Yi has eliminated the threat of being suppressed everywhere in Wei Wudi, and can speak out and show her talents. He first planned a "rough plan" to meditate in the Wei Dynasty and Han Dynasty, and then "stayed in Xuchang, the people in the town, and provided military resources outside" for Wei Wendi's southern expedition, and was called "Xiao He" by Wei Wendi. When Wei Wendi was seriously ill, he still did not forget to make him, Cao Zhen and Chen Qun assistant ministers, and wrote a letter to Prince Cao Rui: "Don't doubt the existence of these three officials." Obviously, Sima Yi has been among the top decision makers of Cao Wei regime.
Now we can analyze Sima Yi's life planning during this period. First of all, it is Sima Yi who has contributed the most and made the greatest contribution to Cao Pi's career as a prince and Wei Emperor (although Sima Yi's strategies are not clearly described in the history books, this shows his "yin" and "depth"). Xelloss himself is also very grateful to Sima Yi, so Sima Yi need not be afraid of the suspicion of the monarch. In addition, Cao Pi gave him a relaxed development environment and a broad historical stage, which is an excellent foreshadowing for him to "achieve great things and win great responsibilities".
However, Cao Pi always likes to show off his strength and be ambitious. He has no military talent and loves to fight and kill. Therefore, in military affairs, Sima Yi did not dare to expose his true talents and knowledge, and let this vain monarch make a splash. However, he buried his head, shouldered the heavy responsibility of the prime minister in a down-to-earth manner, and made some achievements in politics and politics. At this time, Sima Yi didn't want to be sharp-edged, and seemed a little low-key. There was a reason: although Cao Pi had great trust in him, he still tended to rely heavily on his Cao Shi clan in military affairs. There is no need for Sima Yi to be eager to show his intention of mastering the military power-"to be safe first, and then to be foreign". After all, the post of prime minister is a good platform for Sima Yi.
We can also clearly see the specialty of Sima Yi's standing and acting: far-sightedness, deep planning, initiative in case of trouble, meticulous handling, watertight and flawless. Therefore, he can rise steadily and truly during Cao Pi's period, and he is always in an invincible position.
Cao Pi was 47 years old when he died. During the seven years when Cao Pi became emperor, Sima Yi ushered in a brilliant period of emerging. But in these seven years, his stage is not broad enough, and he just silently tamps the foundation of Wei's family in the rear. However, Sima Yi is no longer willing to hide behind the scenes, and he is ready to show his talents on the historical stage. And this opportunity will come soon.
III. Wei Mingdi Period
In 227 AD, in the first year of Wei Taihe, Cao Rui, the son of Cao Pi, became the king of Ming Di. He gave Sima Yi a chance to show his military talents. At that time, Sun Quan of Soochow led tens of thousands of mighty men to besiege Jiangxia City of Wei, and sent generals Zhu Gejin and Zhang Ba to attack Xiangyang City. Sima Yi immediately led the army to attack and defeated Wu Kou. Zhu Gejin fled and Zhang Ba was beheaded. Sima Yi's brilliant exploits immediately paid off, and he was appointed as the general of a title of generals in ancient times.
At this point, Sima Yi can run the government-with his own office and army under his command, he can cultivate his own strength. Wu Zhi, one of Cao Pi's "Four Friends of the East Palace", also praised him in front of Cao Rui: "Loyalty and wisdom are supreme, and he is a minister of the country". Sima yi's prestige is growing.
With the death of Cao Zhen, the most powerful minister of the patriarchal clan in the Wei family, Sima Yi began to dominate the political circles of Wei Guojun. Wei Mingdi's letting go of his appointment is more conducive to his further development. During the period of Wei Mingdi, he successfully transformed from an adviser to a military commander full of drama. His hidden military talents have been further brought into full play. During his thirteen years in power in Ming Di, he rebelled against Meng Da in the south, rejected Zhuge Liang in the west, and destroyed Gongsun Yuan in the north. He was so fierce that even Sun Quan, the Lord of the Kingdom of Wu, had to be afraid of him: "Sima Yi is good at fighting, and if he changes, he will be indomitable."
The key point of Sima Yi's life planning at this time is to consolidate his political position with outstanding military achievements, and at the same time, to use the strategy of "raising the bandits to respect themselves" to gradually erode the military and political inheritance of the Wei family.
It should be said that at this time, Sima Yi's vision was not limited to safeguarding the security of the Wei family. He had already begun to implement the great ambition and outline of "eliminating Wan Li, bringing together eight barren areas and leveling the world". When he was a teenager, he was "full of worries about the world", and when he was close to old age, he finally got the opportunity and conditions to "solve the worries for the world and solve the difficulties for all the people". This course has made him painstakingly manage for 37 years!
First of all, let's look at Sima Yi's wonderful first military stroke-the capture of the rebel Mengda in the tenth month. He is a master who is good at using urgent marching and stealth troops. When he suddenly descended from the sky and arrived at the gate of Shangyong, Meng Da was still dreaming his big dream in the Spring and Autumn Period! So, poor Mengda was swept away by him quickly and forcefully, cleanly and without delay. This shows the characteristics of Sima Yi's use of troops: quietness is hidden under nine places, which is impossible to find; The movement occurs over nine days, which makes people unprepared. From his argument with Ming Di, he said to himself: "Anyone who attacks the enemy must first seize his throat and pound his heart", which shows that he is good at concentrating superior forces to attack the enemy directly. Therefore, he often does not send it, but he will hit it at the first shot, and he will be enemies when ghosts and gods are unpredictable.
but why didn't Zhuge Liang use this agile, decisive and strong tactic when he confronted Zhuge Liang? This is exactly what the author wants to talk about-the focus of his life planning is not to show off his military talents blindly, but to start implementing his general idea of "sweeping the Three Kingdoms and unifying the world"!
Let's carefully analyze the battle of Qishan between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi. This is a protracted war. Sima Yi fought for six years from the age of forty-nine to fifty-five. He played Zhuge Liang's eternal reputation of "doing his best and dying" and also played Sima Yi's strong capital of "sweeping the Three Kingdoms and unifying the world". Influenced by Luo Guanzhong's Romance of the Three Kingdoms, people always think that Sima Yi's military ability is not as good as Zhuge Liang's, and Zhuge Liang leads him everywhere. However, according to historical records, this is not the case at all. First of all, we need to find out their real purpose in the battle of Qishan. Zhuge Liang's war