Why did Cao Cao become decadent after Zhuge Liang's death and no longer look like a wise king?

In the first month of AD 235, it was less than two months before Zhuge Liang died of illness in Wuzhangyuan. Wei's ministers were surprised to find that Cao Rui began to change. He is no longer the wise king who worked hard before, but more like a bad king who runs the country. This year, Cao Rui was 32 years old, and he began to go crazy.

First, he loves hunting, and many places outside Luoyang have been surrounded by him and turned into royal hunting grounds. Moreover, he also issued a special ban: anyone who hunts animals in the forbidden park without authorization will be put to death, and his property will be confiscated, and others will be strongly encouraged to report, and whistleblowers will be rewarded.

In this context, hundreds of royal hunting grounds have been built around Chang 'an and Luoyang. The big Fiona Fang is thousands of miles long, and the small one can be hundreds of miles long. It not only occupies a lot of cultivated land for the people, but also often rushes out of the hunting grounds because there are too many animals to spoil crops everywhere, making the people miserable.

Then, Cao Rui fell madly in love with Gai Lou. Xuchang Palace, Luoyang Palace and Zhaoyang Taiji Hall have been built successively. Later, on a whim, he leveled the North Mangshan Mountain in Luoyang, built a hall on it and looked at the Yellow River. During his stay in Gai Lou, Cao Rui stayed at the construction site all day regardless of state affairs. Once he was slightly dissatisfied, he directly executed the minister of supervision on the spot. What is the final result? Hard work, farmers and mulberry unemployed? , make the whole country on the verge of bankruptcy.

Later, Cao Rui first forced Queen Guo to death, and was blamed by the Queen for going out to play, so he directly gave the death penalty to Queen Mao, who was the queen of 10. Not only that, Cao Rui also intensified, started a crazy draft, wantonly selected beautiful folk women to serve himself in the palace, just like a bad king.

So, why did Cao Rui, known as Little Cao Cao, do such a crazy thing? Many people say that Zhuge Liang began to relax after no foreign invasion, and his only son died during this period, which caused him a great blow, so he had all kinds of crazy behaviors.

But in fact, this is only a superficial reason. As a politician who can be compared with Cao Cao, the real reason behind Cao Rui's madness is obviously not that simple. In fact, Cao Rui's madness is more of a kind of self-protection after helplessness.

Because under Wei's nine-grade system, people at the bottom will never climb up, while people at the top, the children of their relatives and friends, will always occupy a high position. In this context, the middle and high-level positions of Cao Wei Empire were basically controlled by various rich gentry, who jointly hollowed out the foundation of Cao Shi and Xiahou Shi, especially after the death of Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu. In the middle of the empire, the whole Cao Shi family can't find anyone who can stir up the beam.

Locally, the three major war zones of Cao Wei, Guanzhong, Xiangfan and Huainan, are all in the hands of giants such as Sima Yi. In addition, Sima is in the center, helping each other inside and outside. Although Cao Shi and Xia Hou Shi's family still have some strength, they are quite scattered and difficult to concentrate. At the same time, some positions of the central imperial army were infiltrated by rich gentry.

In this context, Cao Rui really can't find a person who can really trust and rely on him. His throne is already a crisis server. Because of this, Cao Rui's crazy and abnormal side was brought to the extreme. Because many times, madness itself is a way to protect yourself.

As we all know, for a rational person, when you have an argument with him, you usually dare to argue with him, and even don't worry too much about moving easily when necessary, because everyone is a rational person and knows the limits. But the question is, when you are dealing with a murderer, a psychopath or a drunk, do you dare to argue with him or even start a fight?

I think many people's answer is no. At this time, many people will choose to stay away. In short, there is no need to argue with garbage people. Why is this happening? Because in the face of this irrational person, when you play with him, you can't guarantee that he will take extreme measures to fight you.

In this sense, Cao Rui did all kinds of crazy and unreasonable things in the hope that people would be afraid of him and that courtiers would think that he was a bad king and never considered the consequences. Also because of this, Cao Rui suddenly became the legendary bad king tyrant, always killing courtiers and his relatives because of a little thing.

Cao Rui's behavior, in our present society, is just like that of many young people who deliberately smoke, drink and get tattoos, and always fight and chop people up. In short, through these reckless performances, let others know that they are a person who does things regardless of the cost and consequences. In short, no one wants to mess with me, and it's no good messing with me.

For a rational emperor, it is difficult for officials to be really afraid of him even if he shouts that he is reckless all day. Even if officials understand the emperor's routine, it is easy for the emperor to do nothing together. However, if a person becomes like Cao Rui and says nothing, people will certainly think that such a person can do anything. Because, he is a madman.

In this way, when Cao Rui expanded his power or attacked the interests of some big families, his courtiers would try to avoid confrontation with him. Because, this kind of person who looks like a madman may do unreasonable things at any time. Who has nothing to do with him? Do you think you haven't lived long enough?

Objectively speaking, in the game of power, it is not necessarily the most beneficial for people to be afraid of themselves, but it is always necessary. Just Cao Rui's. Obviously a little extreme.

But on the whole, behind Cao Rui's madness, there are also rational elements. As long as we don't regard history as a fairy tale, we can know this. During Cao Rui's administration, Wei has been on the rise, both at home and abroad.

But Cao Rui has been in this state for a long time, and his inner pain is probably unimaginable to ordinary people. So he sometimes acts crazy, and I'm afraid he can't tell which part is fake and which part is true. And perhaps because of this, Cao Rui died young.