Cao Chong 曹沖

Cao Chong's courtesy name was Cangshu. He was one of the twenty-five sons of Emperor Wu, born to Lady Huan, who also bore Cao Ju, Prince of Pengcheng, and Cao Yu, Prince of Yan. Records, Wei 20 §2 · 9

From childhood he was intelligent, perceptive and exceptionally gifted, and by the age of five or six the reach of his thinking already matched the wisdom of an adult. When Sun Quan once sent a huge elephant, Taizu (Cao Cao) wanted to know its weight and asked his subordinates, but none of them could come up with a method. Cao Chong said that if the elephant were placed on a large boat and a mark cut where the water came up to, and then goods were weighed and loaded onto the boat until the water reached that mark, the weight could be worked out by comparison. Taizu was delighted and put this into practice at once. Records, Wei 20 §9

At that time military and state affairs were many, and punishments were applied severely. When rats gnawed Taizu's saddle, which was kept in the storehouse, the storehouse clerk, fearing he would surely be put to death, thought of binding himself and going to confess his offense, but still feared he would not be spared. Cao Chong told him to wait three days and then give himself up. He then pierced his own unlined garment with a knife to make it look as if rats had gnawed it, pretended to be dispirited, and wore a worried look. Records, Wei 20 §10

When Taizu asked him why, Cao Chong replied that according to popular belief, when rats gnaw someone's clothes, misfortune befalls their owner, and that his unlined garment had now been gnawed, which was why he was worried. Taizu said that this was only idle talk and there was nothing to be troubled about. Shortly afterwards, when the storehouse clerk reported that the saddle had been gnawed, Taizu laughed and said, 'Even my son's clothes, right by his side, were gnawed; how much more a saddle hanging on a pillar!' and asked no questions at all. Records, Wei 20 §10–11

Chen Shou wrote that Cao Chong's benevolence and penetrating understanding were all of this kind. Those who had incurred death for their offenses but were rescued and pardoned because Cao Chong quietly brought their circumstances to light numbered several dozen in all. Taizu praised Cao Chong many times before his ministers and had a mind to make him his successor. Records, Wei 20 §11

When he fell ill in the 13th year of Jian'an (208), at the age of thirteen, Taizu himself prayed for his life. When he died, Taizu grieved deeply. When Emperor Wen (Cao Pi) gently tried to console him, Taizu said, 'This is my misfortune, but it is good fortune for the rest of you,' and whenever he spoke of it he shed tears. The Biographies of Technicians record that when his beloved son Cangshu was critically ill, Taizu sighed, 'I regret having killed Hua Tuo. I have made this child die before his time.' Records, Wei 20 §12Records, Wei 29 §23

Taizu arranged a marriage with a deceased daughter of the Zhen family and had them buried together, posthumously granted him the seal and ribbon of Chief Commandant of Cavalry, and ordered Cao Zong, son of Cao Ju, Marquis of Wan, to become Cao Chong's heir. The biography of Bing Yuan also records that Taizu wished to bury Cangshu together with Bing Yuan's daughter, who had died young, but gave up the idea when Bing Yuan declined, saying that such a joint burial was not in accordance with propriety. Records, Wei 20 §12Records, Wei 11 §71

In the 22nd year of Jian'an (217) Cao Zong was enfeoffed as Marquis of Deng. In the 2nd year of Huangchu (221) Cao Chong was given the posthumous name Marquis Ai of Deng, and his title was further raised to duke; in the 5th year of Taihe (231) his title was raised again to Prince Ai of Deng. Cao Zong's fief was moved to Duke of Guanjun and then Duke of Jishi, but in the 1st year of Jingchu (237) he was implicated in having prohibited articles made at the Central Imperial Workshop, lost 300 households and was demoted to Marquis of a Chief District. In the 3rd year of Jingchu (239) he again became Duke of Jishi, and in the 7th year of Zhengshi (246) his fief was moved to Duke of Pingyang; his fief was increased several times, reaching 1,900 households together with his earlier holdings. Records, Wei 20 §12–13

In his assessment in volume 20, Chen Shou wrote that the princes and dukes of Wei had only the name of states and lands without the substance of a state, that they were cut off by prohibitions and surveillance no differently than if they had been in prison, and that the bonds of affection between kin were broken. He did not assess Cao Chong individually. Records, Wei 20 §93