Cao Zhi, a Prince who composed a poem

KiiWii Karanomo · 发表于 2011-12-3 16:54:26

During the period of the Three Kingdoms in
China, the King of WEI, one of the three
Kingdoms, was called Cao Cao. He had several
sons, two of whom stood out as very talented in
different ways. The elder son was called Cao
Pei who was very skilful in military art, but
rather aggressive and ambitious whilst his
younger brother, Cao Zhi was a very kind
hearted person; he was a great scholar and had
the reputation of composing poems at lightning
speeds. Traditionally, the heir to the throne
should be the eldest son, but Cao Cao and
some of his ministers agreed that Cao Zhi would
make a great King if he were to ascend to the
throne.

The end of Cao Cao's had come and he died
without leaving a royal decree announcing the
heir to the throne. Cao Pei automatically
became the next King of the Wei Kingdom.
After he had become King, he was afraid that
his brother, who had the respect and support of
many senior courtiers, would overthrow him. He
decided to eliminate Cao Zhi who was at that
time a governor in a town within Wei. Cao Zhi
decided not to return to the capital to attend his
father's funeral because he knows that his
brother had been regarding him as a pain in the
neck and would detain him. Furthermore, he
pretended to indulge in drinking with his officials
all the time and neglect the governance of the
town so as to give his brother the impression
that he had lost all ambitions of becoming King.
Despite all this, Cao Pei still regarded his
brother as a potential threat to his power and
sent an army to arrest Cao Zhi, on the ground
that he did not practise filial piety and failed to
attend the late King's funeral.

When Cao Zhi arrived at the Palace, Cao Pei
assembled all theministers, and in front of them,
he ordered Cao Zhi to be executed. At this point
in time, their mother arrived at the assembly hall
and begged Cao Pei to have mercy on his
brother. Cao Pei claimed that his brother should
be punished for not attending the royal funeral,
as he, being a prince, should set an example to
the rest of the Kingdom. However, since Cao
Zhi was his brother and in view of his mother's
plea, he said that he deals with his brother
mercifully. He said, “I will give you back your life
if you can compose a poem within the time you
walk seven steps."  All the courtiers present
were shocked as they all considered this
condition to be too harsh and could not be
compiled with by Cao Zhi. It was a virtual
execution.

Cao Zhi thought he would take a chance, or else
he would be executed.  He agreed to the terms.
Cao Pei immediately ordered his brother to start
walking and smilingly counted the steps. Cao
Zhi started composing a poem and within the
time, he walked seven steps he did finish the
poem, which read as follows:
煮豆燃豆箕,
豆在釜中泣﹕
本是同根生,
相煎何太急。
Beans were cooked in a pot,
by burning beanstalks.
Inside the pot the beans cried out,
”We’ve grown from the same root and spout,
what’s all this ravaging about?”

When Cao Pei heard of the poem, he was so
touched by its contents that he could not help
weeping. He felt so ashamed of himself.
However, as he had to consolidate his power
and strengthen his position, he could not let his
brother continue to stay in the capital where he
still had much influence and support. As he had
to honour what he had promised, he ordered
Cao Zhi to be released and sent to his township
where he continued to be the governor.
Needless to say, Cao Pei had his spies keeping
his brother under close surveillance all the time
until his death.