Why did Sima Yi instruct his children and grandchildren not to dig their own graves?

The Three Kingdoms is a tumultuous historical period. Many consecutive wars occurred and culminated in the wits and force battles between the three most powerful political groups, namely Cao Wei, Shu Han and Dong Ngo.

Three forces with the ambition of unifying the world, but in the end the winner was the Sima family, with the important contribution of Sima Yi.

A lifetime of waiting patiently for the right opportunity, Sima Yi can be considered one of the best strategists in the Three Kingdoms. Sima Yi served and endured three generations of the Cao family, even being able to overcome Cao Cao’s suspicions. He is also considered a rival of Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu Han and also one of the most talented military advisors of the Three Kingdoms.

There is an old saying “long fight tiger fight”. If Zhuge Liang is known as “Crouching Dragon”, then Sima Yi is nicknamed “Red Tiger”. It is this nickname that speaks of Sima Yi’s personality and personality. Because “Tiger Race” means that the personality is cruel, sinister and this tiger can rush to attack at any time.

In fact, during the decades of hiding under Cao Wei, at the age of 70, Sima Yi made a spectacular power transfer. Accordingly, under the careful planning of Sima Yi, Cao Wei’s power was transferred to the Sima clan, laying a solid foundation for the descendants to establish the Jin dynasty later.

In 251, Sima Yi fell ill and died. Before his death, he carefully warned his descendants not to build graves, not to plant trees, not to bury valuables, or to let others bury them together.

As a powerful prime minister of Cao Wei, Sima Yi should have been given a grand burial. But Sima Yi chose to have a simple burial, no funeral items. This is strange indeed.

In particular, Sima Yi has repeatedly advised his descendants not to clean my grave. Why?

Sima Yi doesn’t let his children go to the grave?

According to experts, it turns out that Sima Yi deliberately told his descendants not to come and clean his grave because of the bloody lesson in the past.

The strange arrangement of Sima Yi before his death is said to be related to the “transformation of Cao Binh”. This coup was also a major turning point in Sima Yi’s life.

Specifically, in 249, Wei Emperor Cao Phuong along with Cao Sang, the power god of the Wei Dynasty, went to Cao Binh’s mausoleum to pay respects to Emperor Minh’s grave. At that time, Sima Yi seized this opportunity to launch a coup, seize power in the capital Luoyang, and at the same time force Cao Shuang to surrender.

Cao Sang thought that if he surrendered, he could still enjoy a rich and prosperous life. Unfortunately, Cao Sang was wrong. Because Sima Yi broke his word and ordered the execution of Cao Sang’s faction and relatives for the crime of treason.

Cao Binh’s transformation was the turning point for the Sima clan to officially hold all of Cao Wei’s power, making the Cao emperor only in name.

Unexpected cause

The reason the coup against Cao Binh’s mausoleum could be successful was because of the grave digging and being beaten up from behind. Because she is an insider and experienced, Sima Yi is worried that others will be able to follow.

At that time, when Sima Yi’s descendants were repairing and cleaning his tomb, the traitors had also staged a coup. Therefore, before his death, Sima Yi did not allow his descendants to worship and repair his tomb, also implicitly preventing tragedy from happening.

In psychology there is a phenomenon called “projective effect”, which means that when you treat others, you also worry about how others will treat you. Before his death, this was the mentality of Sima Yi.

Nearly 2,000 years after the transformation, Cao Binh and Sima Yi were also gone for the same amount of time. Many experts have tried to find out why Sima Yi does not allow her descendants to go to the grave and clean the tomb. Even, the whereabouts of Sima Yi’s tomb is still a great mystery for posterity. But with the above speculations, it is likely that Sima Yi passed away like this to protect future descendants.

All his life carefully calculated, concealed his ambition to dominate the world, unexpectedly right before his death, Sima Yi still had a deep scheme. Moreover, this hidden scheme has become a problem to challenge posterity for thousands of years. Sima Yi is indeed one of the most outstanding figures in the history of the Three Kingdoms.