What Cao Pi asked Cao Zhi to do was to compose a poem within a hundred steps, and Cao Zhi complied with his request. Later, Cao Pi once again asked Cao Zhi to write a poem in seven steps, and then the very famous "Poetry in Seven Steps" was born. Although Cao Pi and Cao Zhi are brothers, their relationship is not deep. Among them, Cao Zhi was favored by Cao Cao because of his outstanding talents. For this reason, Cao Cao also wanted to make Cao Zhi the prince many times. The reason why Cao Cao has been unable to make up his mind to appoint Cao Zhi as the crown prince is that Cao Zhi has too much scholarly character and does not restrain himself enough.
This shortcoming of Cao Zhi just provided Cao Pi with an opportunity to take advantage of. Once, Cao Zhi took advantage of the drunkenness and ignored the law and rode a horse on a forbidden road where only emperors could gallop, which made Cao Cao very unhappy. Cao Pi took the opportunity to stir up trouble with Sima Yi and others, which made Cao Cao increasingly dislike Cao Zhi. In the end, the position of heir apparent fell into Cao Pi's hands. After Cao Pi ascended the throne, Cao Zhi, who was his main opponent in the struggle to establish an heir, naturally could not be reused, and he also tried to kill Cao Zhi many times.
One time when he was out playing, Cao Pi saw two cows fighting. After the two cows had a fight, one of the cows was knocked into a well by the other cow and fell to his death. Upon seeing this, Cao Pi asked Cao Zhi, who was accompanying him, to write a poem on the theme of the incident within a hundred steps. In addition, words such as cow and well cannot appear in this poem, and the number of words in the entire poem must be kept at 40 words. Cao Zhi was made things difficult by Cao Pi, and although he was dissatisfied, he could only do it. In the end, he succeeded in writing a "Hundred Steps Poetry" as requested.
Cao Pi saw that the poems written by Cao Zhi did meet many of the conditions he proposed, so he could only let Cao Zhi go. Later, Cao Pi made even more extreme demands on Cao Zhi. He asked Cao Zhi to write a poem according to his request within seven steps. Cao Zhi, who still couldn't refuse, finally succeeded in writing a poem in seven steps. This poem was widely circulated compared to the previous "Poetry in Hundred Steps". The content of this "Seven-step Poem" is: Boil the beans and burn the beans, and the beans weep in the cauldron.
They are born from the same roots, so why rush each other? ?