Empress Mao (Mingdao) 明悼毛皇后

Empress Mao (Mingdao) was a native of Henei. During the Huangchu era she was selected to enter the Eastern Palace; Emperor Ming (Cao Rui) was then Prince of Pingyuan. She attended on him and won his favor, and rode in the same carriage with him whenever he went in or out. When Emperor Ming ascended the throne he made her Honored Consort, and in the 1st year of Taihe (227) he installed her as empress. The Annals of Emperor Ming record that in the 11th month of that year he installed Lady Mao as empress and in the 12th month enfeoffed the empress's father Mao Jia as a full marquis. The Biographies of Empresses and Consorts record that her father Mao Jia was appointed Chief Commandant of Cavalry and her younger brother Mao Zeng a Gentleman of the Palace. Records, Wei 5 §43Records, Wei 3 §6

Earlier, when Emperor Ming was Prince of Pingyuan, he had taken Lady Yu of Henei as his consort, but after he took the throne Lady Yu was not made empress. When the Grand Empress Dowager, Empress Bian (Wuxuan), consoled her, Lady Yu said that the Cao family had always liked to raise up the lowly and had never once advanced anyone on the grounds of righteousness, and that since no one who failed to begin well had ever ended well, this would surely cost them their state and end their ancestral sacrifices. Lady Yu was in the end dismissed and sent back to the palace at Ye. Records, Wei 5 §44–45

Mao Jia was promoted to Chief Commandant of Imperial Carriages and Mao Zeng to Chief Commandant of Cavalry, and the favors and gifts they received were lavish. Soon afterward Mao Jia was enfeoffed as Marquis of Boping Village and transferred to Grandee of Splendid Happiness, and Mao Zeng became Chief Commandant of Escort Cavalry. Mao Jia had originally been a carriage craftsman under the Dianyu office, and he suddenly became rich and noble. When Emperor Ming had the court officials gather at his house for a banquet, Mao Jia's bearing and manners were exceedingly foolish and rustic, and whenever he spoke he called himself 'this marquis's person', so that people of the time laughed at him. Later Mao Jia was further given the rank of Specially Advanced, and Mao Zeng was transferred to Gentleman Cavalier Attendant. Records, Wei 5 §45

The Biography of Xiahou Xuan records that when Xiahou Xuan, Cavalier Gentleman of the Yellow Gate, went in to see Emperor Ming and was seated side by side with the empress's younger brother Mao Zeng, he was ashamed of it and let his displeasure show on his face, and that Emperor Ming, resenting this, demoted him to Supervisor of the Feathered Forest Guard. Records, Wei 9 §100

When Mao Jia died in the 3rd year of Qinglong (235), he was posthumously granted the title of Grandee of Splendid Happiness and re-enfeoffed as Marquis of Anguo, his fief was increased by 500 households to a total of 1,000 together with what he had held before, and he was given the posthumous name Marquis Jie. In the 4th year of Qinglong (236), the empress's mother, Lady Xia, was posthumously enfeoffed as Lady of Yewang. Records, Wei 5 §46

As Emperor Ming came to favor Empress Guo (Mingyuan), his love for the empress cooled day by day. In the 1st year of Jingchu (237), Emperor Ming went to enjoy himself in the rear garden and held a private banquet for the ladies of the rank of Talented Lady and above, taking his pleasure to the full. Empress Guo said that the empress ought to be invited too, but Emperor Ming refused and forbade his attendants to speak of the matter. The empress learned of it, and the next day, when she saw Emperor Ming, she asked whether he had enjoyed his outing and banquet in the north garden the day before. Emperor Ming, holding that his attendants had leaked it, put more than ten of them to death and ordered the empress to die. Even so, he gave her a posthumous title and buried her in the Min Mausoleum. Records, Wei 5 §47

The Annals of Emperor Ming record that the empress, Lady Mao, died on the gengchen day of the 9th month of the 1st year of Jingchu (237), and that Empress Dao Mao was buried in the Min Mausoleum on the guichou day of the 10th month. The Biographies of Empresses and Consorts record that Mao Zeng was afterward transferred to Palace Cavalier Regular Attendant and later became General of the Household of the Feathered Forest and Rapid as Tigers Guards and Agricultural Commandant of Yuanwu. Records, Wei 3 §55Records, Wei 5 §48

In his assessment in Records of Wei 5, Chen Shou said that although the families of the Wei empresses and consorts were rich and noble, none of them, as in the declining Han, occupied positions not rightfully theirs and carved up the government of the court as they pleased, and that it was admirable that they had taken the past as a mirror and changed course. The assessment does not discuss Empress Mao separately. Records, Wei 5 §53