Cao Pi 曹丕

He was the crown prince of Emperor Wu, Cao Cao, born in the winter of the 4th year of Zhongping (187) in Qiao County. When Cao Cao pacified Ji Province, he took as wife at Ye Lady Zhen, formerly the wife of Yuan Xi, and she later bore Cao Rui, the future Emperor Ming. In the 16th year of Jian'an (211), by imperial command, he became General of the Household of the Five Offices (Wuguan Zhonglang Jiang), with his own staff of officials, and served as deputy to the Chancellor. Records, Wei 2 §1Records, Wei 5 §19Records, Wei 1 §109

Cao Zhi, Marquis of Linzi, was then at the height of his talent and renown; each had his own following, and there was talk of displacing the rightful heir. When Cao Pi sent someone to ask Jia Xu how to secure his position, Jia Xu told him to broaden his virtue and magnanimity, carry out the calling of a plain scholar and not go against the way of a son, and Cao Pi followed this advice. When Cao Cao asked him privately, Jia Xu answered that he had been thinking of Yuan Benchu and Liu Jingsheng and their sons. Cao Zhi acted as he pleased and could not restrain his drinking, whereas Cao Pi handled matters with calculation, held back his feelings and presented himself well, so that the palace ladies and those around Cao Cao spoke in his favour. Lady Guo's schemes also played a part. In the 10th month of the 22nd year of Jian'an (217) he became Crown Prince of Wei. Records, Wei 10 §84–85Records, Wei 19 §14–15Records, Wei 5 §32Records, Wei 1 §157

When Cao Cao died in the 25th year of Jian'an (220), he succeeded him as Chancellor and King of Wei and changed the era name to Yankang. He appointed Jia Xu as Grand Commandant, Hua Xin as Chancellor of State (xiangguo) and Wang Lang as Imperial Counsellor, and had a decree inscribed on metal tablets barring eunuchs from rising above the rank of director of the various offices. He put to death Ding Yi (丁儀) and Ding Yi (丁廙), who had been Cao Zhi's wings, together with the men of their households, and Cao Zhang, Cao Zhi and the others departed for their fiefs. In the 6th month he set out on a southern campaign, and in the 7th month at Qiao County he held a great feast for the Six Armies and for the elders and people of his home district. Records, Wei 2 §1–2 · 8–11Records, Wei 19 §14 · 18 · 8

That year Emperor Xian, declaring that the hopes of the multitude lay with Wei, reported to the ancestral temple of Gaozu and had Zhang Yin, acting Imperial Counsellor, present the imperial seal and ribbons and hand over the throne. Cao Pi built an altar at Fanyang, ascended it on the gengwu day of the 10th month and took the imperial throne, changing Yankang to Huangchu and proclaiming a general amnesty. In the 11th month of the 1st year of Huangchu he enfeoffed Emperor Xian as Duke of Shanyang, exempting him from calling himself a subject when submitting documents, and posthumously honoured Cao Cao as Emperor Wu. In the 12th month he began building the Luoyang Palace and moved to Luoyang. Records, Wei 2 §13 · 16–17 · 19Records, Wei 5 §20

In the 2nd year of Huangchu (221) he enfeoffed the Court Gentleman-Consultant Kong Xian as Marquis Who Honours the Sage (Zongsheng Hou) to maintain the sacrifices to Confucius. When a solar eclipse occurred in the 6th month and the officials concerned proposed dismissing the Grand Commandant, he declared that calamities are rebukes to the sovereign and ordered that the Three Excellencies no longer be impeached for them. In the same month, when Lady Guo and others enjoyed his favour and Lady Zhen spoke resentful words, he flew into a rage and sent an envoy to order her death. In the 8th month, when Sun Quan submitted a memorial and sent back Yu Jin and others, he dispatched Xing Zhen to enfeoff Sun Quan as King of Wu and grant him the Nine Bestowments. Records, Wei 2 §23–24 · 26 · 27Records, Wei 5 §20

Yu Jin returned with his beard and hair turned white, weeping and knocking his head on the ground. The emperor comforted him by citing precedents and made him General Who Pacifies Distant Lands, but before sending him as envoy to Wu he had him pay respects at the Gao Mausoleum in Ye, having arranged in advance for the mausoleum building to be painted with scenes of Guan Yu victorious in battle, Pang De in his fury and Yu Jin surrendering. On seeing this, Yu Jin fell ill from shame and bitterness and died. Records, Wei 17 §39–40

In the 3rd year of Huangchu (222), hearing that Liu Bei, fighting Sun Quan, had strung his palisaded camps together for more than 700 li, he said that Liu Bei did not understand the art of war and that Sun Quan's report would soon arrive; seven days later news of the victory came. In the 8th month, when Huang Quan of Shu came over in surrender, he made him General Who Guards the South. In the 9th month, declaring that women's involvement in government was the root of disorder, he issued an edict barring the empress's relatives from regency posts, and installed Lady Guo as empress. In the 10th month he fixed his own tomb site east of Mount Shouyang and composed the Regulations for the End, directing that there be no burial mound or trees and that no gold or silver be buried. Records, Wei 2 §32–36Records, Shu 13 §7

Asked for a sworn covenant and a son to be sent as hostage, Sun Quan declined; in the 9th month of that year Wei sent out Cao Xiu, Cao Ren, Cao Zhen and others along three routes, and the emperor himself marched south from Xuchang. When Sun Quan sent a humble letter, the emperor replied that if the son arrived in the morning he would withdraw his troops by evening, but Sun Quan changed his era name and held the Yangtze against him. In the 5th year of Huangchu (224) the emperor boarded his dragon boat and, by way of Shouchun, reached Guangling in the 9th month. The Biography of the Lord of Wu records that, gazing at the great river, the emperor said, "They have men over there; it cannot yet be taken," and turned back. Xu Sheng of Wu had built false city walls stretching several hundred li from Jianye; the emperor was alarmed on seeing them, and with the river also greatly swollen, he withdrew. Records, Wu 2 §42–47 · 51Records, Wei 2 §41 · 46Records, Wu 10 §86

In the 6th year of Huangchu (225) he again led a naval force on an eastern campaign, and in the 10th month he reviewed his army on the Yangtze at the old city of Guangling, with more than 100,000 soldiers and banners stretching for several hundred li. But the cold was so severe that the waterways froze, and he turned back. Bao Xun, who had remonstrated against this campaign to his face, was demoted; later, accused of privately covering up an offence, he was judged by the three offices to deserve only a fine, yet the emperor insisted on putting him to death. Twenty days later the emperor himself died. Records, Wei 2 §48 · 50Records, Wei 12 §72–76

In the 1st month of the 7th year of Huangchu (226), when the south gate of the city of Xuchang collapsed for no reason, he took it as an ill omen, did not enter, and returned to the Luoyang Palace. In the 5th month, when his illness became critical, he at last made Cao Rui Crown Prince and summoned Cao Zhen, Chen Qun, Cao Xiu and Sima Yi to receive his testamentary edict together and assist the succeeding ruler. He died in the Jiafu Hall on the dingsi day, aged forty, and in the 6th month was buried at the Shouyang Mausoleum, entirely in accordance with the Regulations for the End. When he was General of the Five Offices, the physiognomist Zhu Jianping had said he would live to eighty but face a minor misfortune at forty; as his illness deepened, the emperor said that the eighty had meant counting days and nights separately. Records, Wei 2 §52–53Records, Wei 3 §1Records, Wei 29 §38 · 42

The emperor loved literature; the writings he himself composed and completed numbered close to a hundred pieces, and he had Confucian scholars gather the classics and commentaries and arrange them by category, producing the Huanglan (Imperial Digest) of more than a thousand sections. Records, Wei 2 §54

In his assessment, Chen Shou said that Emperor Wen was endowed with natural literary grace, producing finished writing as soon as he set brush to paper, and that with his wide learning and retentive memory he possessed a full range of talents and skills. He then wrote that had he added a broad and generous magnanimity, striven with a sincere commitment to fairness, set his aims high and widened his virtuous heart, how far could he have been from the worthy rulers of old? Records, Wei 2 §55