Cao Zhi's Seven Steps into a Poem

When Sun Quan took Jingzhou and killed Guan Yu, he sent a letter to Cao Cao, expressing his willingness to submit to Cao Cao and advising Cao Cao to obey the Mandate of Heaven and take the throne as emperor before it was too late.

When Cao Cao received this letter, he handed it to his beloved minister to read. He smiled and said, "Sun Quan, this boy, is trying to put me on the fire."

Since Emperor Xian moved to Xu, the power of the court and the military power were all in Cao Cao's hands. It would be easy for Cao Cao to abolish Emperor Xian and claim the throne himself. However, he considered that although the Han Dynasty was in decline, it still had a proper name, and he was afraid that if he became the emperor, there would be people who would not be convinced. So he thought that Sun Quan was trying to make things difficult for him by persuading him to become emperor.

He pondered for a while and added, "If there is a heavenly mandate, I will be King Wen of Zhou!" This meant that his son would be the emperor.

Not long after this incident, Cao Cao suffered from an old illness and finally died in Luoyang after asking doctors to take medicine to no avail. In that year, he was sixty-six years old.

After Cao Cao's death, Crown Prince Cao Pi succeeded him as the King of Wei and Prime Minister, holding the power of the court. After Cao Pi assumed the throne of Wei, someone reported that his younger brother, Cao Zhi, the Marquis of Linzi, often drank and cursed, and detained the messenger he sent to him. Cao Pi immediately sent someone to Linzi and caught Cao Zhi and took him back to Yecheng for interrogation.

It turned out that both Cao Pi and Cao Zhi were born to Cao Cao's wife Bian (pronounced biàn). Cao Cao was not only a politician and military man but also a literary man. The two brothers were also good at poetry and literature, and the history of literature calls them the "three Cao's" together. Cao Zhi grew up with extraordinary intelligence, and by the time he was a teenager, he had read a lot of books and could write excellent essays. Once, when Cao Cao read Cao Zhi's essay, he was a bit suspicious and asked Cao Zhi, "Did you ask someone to write this for you?"

Cao Zhi knelt and said, "My son can write with his mouth and pen. How could I ask someone to write it for me? Father, if you don't believe me, you can interview me."

Cao Cao tried Cao Zhi several times and thought he was talented, so he favored him and wanted to make him crown prince many times, but the decision was not made because some ministers opposed it.

Cao Pi was afraid that his position would be unstable, so he tried to please Cao Cao by all means. Once, when Cao Cao went out to fight in a war, Cao Pi and Cao Zhi both went to see him off. When they were about to say goodbye, Cao Zhi read an article praising Cao Cao's merits and virtues on the spot, which was greatly appreciated by everyone.

Someone whispered in Cao Pi's ear, "The great king is leaving, you just have to express sadness." Cao Pi did wipe his tears and said goodbye to Cao Cao, who was so touched that he also shed tears.

This incident made Cao Cao feel that although Cao Pi was not as talented as Cao Zhi, he was honest at heart and had feelings for him. In addition, there were many people who spoke well for Cao Pi, so Cao Cao's heart gradually changed to favor Cao Zhi.

Cao Zhi was a person who did not pay attention to the smallest details. Once, he went out in his carriage in the palace and opened the outer door of the palace privately. This was a violation of the rules of the palace.

When Cao Cao heard about this, he was so angry that he put the official in charge of the palace gate to death.

On another occasion, Cao Cao sent Cao Zhi to lead his troops to war. When Cao Pi got the news, he sent wine and food to Cao Zhi and drank with him, making Cao Zhi drunk. At this time, Cao Cao sent someone to look for Cao Zhi, but Cao Zhi did not wake up after several times. Cao Cao had to cancel sending Cao Zhi to the expedition.

After this, Cao Cao stopped the idea of making Cao Zhi the crown prince.

After Cao Pi became the king of Wei, he still hated Cao Zhi. This time, he seized the opportunity to arrest Cao Zhi and punish him with death.

When his mother, Empress Dowager Bian, found out about it, she was so anxious that she hurriedly pleaded with Cao Zhi in front of him, asking him to forgive him for the sake of his siblings.

Cao Pi could not disobey his mother, and besides, it was not decent for him to kill his brother for a trivial matter, so he just withdrew Cao Zhi's title of Marquis of Linzi and lowered it to a lower title.

It is said that after Cao Pi summoned Cao Zhi, in order to punish him a little, he asked him to make a poem in the time it took to complete seven steps. If he could do so, he would be spared death.

Cao Zhi, after thinking for a while, took one step and recited a poem.