Chapter 48 6. The death of Cui Yan

In the twenty-first year of Jian'an (216), the Yang Xun incident occurred, and its sudden appearance stirred up the political situation.Yang Xun’s person is unknown, but he is from Julu County. Although he has average talents, he has good conduct (although talents are not good enough, but he is pure and honest). When Cui Yan presided over the work of the Jizhou government, he was recommended to Cao Cao as a talent. Yang Xun performed the ceremony. In May of this year, Cao Cao became the king of Wei. Yang Xun may not have appeared in the list of persuaders because of his low rank, but he, like many people, praised Cao Cao and eulogized him.Maybe Yang Xun wrote a bit too much, and some people laughed at him as nasty (people at the time might laugh at the hypocrisy of the world).

This incident caught Cui Yan's attention. Although he no longer served in the governor's office of Jizhou and became Minister of Wei, Yang Xun was recommended by him. If there is a problem with this person, he will also be implicated.For this reason, he specially found Yang Xun's playlist and looked at it, and found that it was not as serious as everyone said. Cui Yan then wrote a letter to Yang Xun, and there was a sentence in the letter: "Provincial form, good things! When the time is right, there will be changes." These few words are very vague and can be interpreted differently. , This brought Cui Yan a fatal disaster.

Literally, "provincial table" means "read the watch", "shijiaer" means "this is a good thing", "shihushihu" means "the current situation, the current situation" ".The key is the last sentence "when there is a change", the literal meaning is "when there should be a change". According to the "Three Kingdoms Cui Yan Biography", Cui Yan's original intention was to say that the people who ridiculed Yang Xun did not see the changes in the current situation, and they were a bit fussy. "Almost" and "will change when" can be understood as keeping pace with the times.But Cui Yan's words are too simple, especially "when there is a change", it makes people feel that he is looking forward to the change.

Someone took Cui Yan's letter and reported it to Cao Cao. Cao Cao was really sensitive to "when there will be a change" and believed that Cui Yan's intentions were sinister (meaning not inferior).In a rage, Cao Cao punished Cui Yan to do hard labor. This is a kind of punishment, but he doesn't have to be locked up in prison. It's a bit like punishing him as a volunteer. A few days later, Cao Cao sent someone to visit to see Cui Yan's reaction.The sent people came back and reported that Cui Yan was still receiving guests at home every day, and the crowd was like a bustling crowd. They also saw him curling his beard with his hands while receiving guests, and glaring angrily, as if he was aggrieved (looking straight at the guests' beards, as if there was something).Cao Cao became even more angry, and directly ordered Cui Yan to be killed.According to "Wei Lue", Cui Yan was not ordered to die, but committed suicide.

This dude Yang Xun is indeed a nerd, with no political sensitivity at all. The letter Cui Yan wrote to him made him throw it away as garbage, but someone got it and used it as waste paper to wrap the cover (people Get Yan Shu, wrap it in a cage). A person who had a conflict with Cui Yan happened to see Cui Yan's letter outside on the road, so he followed him, got Cui Yan's letter, and reported it to Cao Cao.Cao Cao thought that Cui Yan was dissatisfied, so he sent Cui Yan to prison, ordered his hair and beard to be shaved off, and punished him to do hard work on a construction site (髡执货爷).

The person who reported Cui Yan earlier reported to Cao Cao that Cui Yan was still dissatisfied.Cao Cao was furious and wanted to kill Cui Yan.Cui Yan was a famous scholar in Jizhou. Cao Cao didn't want to kill him publicly, so he sent someone to the prison to convey his intentions, hoping that Cui Yan would end it himself.But Cui Yan didn't understand. After a few days, Cao Cao learned that Cui Yan was still alive, so he said angrily: "Cui Yan must let me use the knife (Cui Yan must want to make a lonely knife saw)?" Cao Cao ordered the jailer to bring this sentence to Cui Yan, and Cui Yan said, "I'm so stupid, I don't know what Cao Gong meant (I'm not suitable, I don't know what the general will is)!" Cui Yan committed suicide in prison.

In the political arena of Cao Wei, Cui Yan was by no means an ordinary figure, and his death was an important event at that time. Cui Yan is a native of Qinghe State in the Jizhou Governor's Department, a student of Zheng Xuan, a great scholar, and has a certain influence as a native of Jizhou. Yuan Shao, father and son, both treat him with courtesy.After Cao Cao won Jizhou, he reused Cui Yan.In Cao Wei's political camp, Jizhou local faction is not important. Compared with other prefectures, there are only a few people born in Jizhou, such as Cui Yan, Xing, and Cui Lin. Cao Cao killed Cui Yan because of a trivial matter, not because he had any prejudice against Cui Yan personally, on the contrary, Cao Cao had long admired Cui Yan's talent and character, and relied heavily on him in many ways.

Cui Yan was very familiar with the affairs of Jizhou, so Cao Cao asked him to serve as the guard of Jizhou.Bie Jia is the most important assistant of the governor or the state pastor. It can be understood as the secretary general of the state government or the "deputy governor".Cao Cao later went out to conquer, leaving Cao Pi to guard Ye County, and Cui Yan was asked to assist Cao Pi. For Cui Yan, "The History of the Sages" said that he was "honest and bright", and Chen Shou commented on him as "the best of high grade", which shows that he is an upright and outspoken person. He once advised Cao Cao harshly, and also criticized him face to face. Cao Pi, but Cao Cao's appreciation for him has not changed.

There is an interesting story recorded in the book, which says that the envoys of the Huns came to visit Cao Cao. Cao Cao was not good-looking, short, and looked without dignity, while Cui Yan was tall, with thick eyebrows and heavy eyes, and a four-foot-long beard. Very temperamental, Cao Cao asked Cui Yan to pretend to be himself, while Cui Yan stood aside holding a knife. After the meeting, Cao Cao sent someone to ask the envoy of the Huns to talk about his impression of King Wei.The envoy replied: "The king of Wei has an extraordinary demeanor, but the man next to him holding the knife is even more heroic." When Cao Cao heard about it, he quickly sent someone to chase and kill the Hun envoy.

This is the origin of the allusion of "catch the knife".In fact, this incident first appeared not in the book, but in the book "Yu Lin" written by Pei Qi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty.This belongs to the category of folk tales, and the authenticity is not strong, but according to the "Three Kingdoms Cui Yan Biography", Cui Yan is indeed very handsome. "The History of the Sages" said that in the early days of the establishment of the Wei State, Cao Cao appointed him to be in charge of personnel work.Cui Yan has worked in this position for more than ten years, and many officials were selected by him. Because of his integrity and integrity, the court has improved his reputation, and everyone praised him for his fairness.

How could Cao Cao kill such an important minister because he believed in a pretentious thing?What's more, he is still Cao Zhi's uncle, so the two families are still related.Things are indeed very strange, but if you look at another event that happened not long ago, you may be able to find the answer to the question. According to the "Words of the World" written by Guo Xuan, a native of Jin Dynasty, before and after Cao Cao became the king of Wei, Cao Zhi's wife Cui Shi was given to death because of a trivial matter.One day Cao Cao climbed to the Tongque Terrace and saw Cao Zhi's Cui Shi dressed gorgeously, and Cao Cao always asked people around him to be diligent and thrifty. Cao Cao was very angry when he saw Cui Shi like this, and because of this, he gave her to death. It is indeed a bit unbelievable to find that someone does not follow his instructions, whether as King Wei or as a parent, he can call her over to criticize and kill her directly. Cui Shi is Cui Yan's niece, and her death is already a signal.Cui Yan was also killed by Cao Cao now, and this signal was amplified even more. None of them were killed for personal reasons, they were all related to Cao Zhi.Cao Cao has decided to make Cao Pi the crown prince, and everything he is doing now revolves around this matter. Although Cui Yan supported Cao Pi, he made a taboo: he should not make his opinions public.When Cui Yan expressed his political stance in an open manner, Cao Cao's reaction was very interesting, with a total of eight words: "Your Qigong is bright, sigh." While saying that he is fair and magnanimous, he sighed at the same time. This was not written by Chen Shou, but implied some deep meaning.Cui Yan's disclosure of his political stance not only embarrassed Cao Cao, but also made Cao Cao think that he was not sincere, but a show.If Cui Yan supported Cao Zhi, Cao Cao might not think too much about it. This is human nature. He supported Cao Pi and told everyone about it. Cao Cao thought that he actually supported Cao Zhi in his heart. With Cui Yan's political influence, if Cao Pi is selected as his successor in the future, this must be a negative factor, so it needs to be removed in advance. Therefore, Cui Yan's death has always been regarded as an unjust case. Even at that time, there were people who complained about Cui Yan, and Mao was one of them. Mao has also been engaged in personnel work under Cao Cao for a long time. Due to his work relationship, he has more contacts with Cui Yan. "The History of the Sages" said that he was "magnanimous and fair, and he was honest and honest", which was similar to the evaluation of Cui Yan. They were both honest and upright people, so they respected each other. Seeing that Cui Yan was inexplicably killed, Mao felt displeased.Someone went to Cao Cao to make a small report about Mao, saying that Mao went out and saw people who had been betrayed and their wives and children were punished as official slaves. Cao Cao was furious and put Mao in prison. Mao was not imprisoned because he supported Cao Zhi. On the contrary, he said earlier that he supported Cao Pi, and Cao Cao punished him because he was dissatisfied with Cui Yan's affairs.Cao Cao himself knew that the Cui Yan incident was difficult to convince the public, so he had to adopt a high-pressure policy, so Mao Cao was caught by Cao Cao as a negative teaching material. Later, with the rescue of Huan Jie, He Qia and others, Cao Cao spared Mao's death, but he was no longer used.Mao later died at home. Around this time, Liu Zhen, one of the seven sons of Jian'an, was also sentenced for a trivial matter.According to "Dianlue", Liu Zhen was very talented and deeply loved by the Cao brothers. He used to work in Pingyuanhou's Mansion, and then transferred to Wuguan Zhonglang General's Mansion.Once, when Cao Pi was entertaining guests, he called his wife Zhenshi out to meet everyone before the banquet. According to the etiquette, everyone should lower their heads at this time and not face Zhenshi squarely, but Liu Zhen was the only one who "looked straight up".When Cao Cao knew about it, he sent Liu Zhen to prison and sentenced him to prison. After the sentence expired, he re-arranged his work (Zhen was punished for disrespect, but the punishment turned out to be an official). Cui Yan and Cao Zhi's wife, Cui Shi, became the first victims of the Cao brothers' struggle to seize the heir apparent, and Mao, Liu Zhen and others were also implicated. But this is only a small beginning.