Cao Biao 曹彪

Emperor Wu, Cao Cao, had twenty-five sons, and Concubine Sun bore Cao Shang (曹上), the Lord of Linyi who died young, Cao Biao, Prince of Chu, and Cao Qin, the Lord of Gang who died young. Cao Biao's courtesy name was Zhuhu. Records, Wei 20 §2 · 49

Cao Biao was enfeoffed as Marquis of Shouchun in the 21st year of Jian'an (216). In the 2nd year of Huangchu (221) he was raised in rank and moved to the fief of Duke of Ruyang, and in the 3rd year (222) he was enfeoffed as Prince of Yiyang and moved that same year to Prince of Wu. In the 5th year (224) his fief was changed to Shouchun County, and in the 7th year (226) he was moved to Baima. In the winter of the 5th year of Taihe (231) he came to court at the capital, and in the 6th year (232) his fief was changed to Chu. Records, Wei 20 §49

Because Cao Biao had earlier broken the prohibitions when he came to court, in the 1st year of Qinglong (233) he was impeached by the officials concerned and by edict had three counties and 1,500 households cut from his fief. The following year there was a general amnesty and the counties that had been cut were restored to him, and in the 3rd year of Jingchu (239) 500 households were added, making 3,000 households with what he had before. Records, Wei 20 §49–50

Earlier, when Emperor Wen was General of the Household of the Five Offices, Zhu Jianping, who was skilled at physiognomy, read the faces of all the guests gathered there. Zhu Jianping told Cao Biao that he would hold a princely fief, but at fifty-seven he would meet misfortune through arms, and should guard well against it. Records, Wei 29 §38–39

The Grand Commandant Wang Ling and his nephew Linghu Yu, Inspector of Yan Province, secretly plotted together. Holding that Cao Fang, Prince of Qi, was unfit for the throne and that Cao Biao, Prince of Chu, was senior in age and talented, they wished to receive Cao Biao and set him up with Xuchang as the capital. In the 9th month of the 1st year of Jiaping (249), Linghu Yu sent his officer Zhang Shi to Baima to exchange greetings with Cao Biao, and in the 11th month sent Zhang Shi to Cao Biao again, but Linghu Yu died of illness before Zhang Shi returned. Records, Wei 28 §6–7

In the 3rd year of Jiaping (251), when Wang Ling had the general Yang Hong (楊弘) inform Huang Hua, Inspector of Yan Province, of the plan to depose and enthrone, Huang Hua and Yang Hong reported it to the Grand Tutor Sima Yi. When Sima Yi came with troops, Wang Ling came out to meet him having bound himself, and while being escorted to the capital he drank poison at Xiang and died. When Sima Yi reached Shouchun, Zhang Shi and the others all gave themselves up, and the affair was investigated to the bottom. Cao Biao was ordered to die, and all those implicated were exterminated to the third degree of kin. The Annals of the Three Young Emperors record that in that year Wang Ling killed himself in the 5th month and Cao Biao was ordered to die in the 6th month. Records, Wei 28 §8–10Records, Wei 4 §32–33

According to the biography of Cao Biao, his Tutor and an Attendant Censor were sent to his fief to investigate, and all those implicated were arrested and punished. When the Commandant of Justice asked that Cao Biao be summoned to be tried, following the precedent of Liu Dan, Prince of Yan of the Han, the Grand Herald, acting as Commandant of Justice, was sent with the tally to rebuke Cao Biao severely with a sealed letter and have him settle the matter himself. Cao Biao then killed himself. His consort and all his sons were reduced to commoners and moved to Pingyuan, and Cao Biao's officials and below, together with the Internuncio Supervising the State, were all executed for having known the facts yet failed in their duty to guide and assist him. The fief was abolished and became Huainan Commandery. Records, Wei 20 §50–51

The Biography of Zhu Jianping records that Cao Biao was enfeoffed as Prince of Chu and, at the age of fifty-seven, was implicated in the crime of plotting with Wang Ling and ordered to die, and cites this as an instance in which Zhu Jianping's physiognomy came true just as he had said. Records, Wei 29 §44

An edict of the 1st year of Zhengyuan (254) said that the late Prince of Chu, Cao Biao, had betrayed his state and attached himself to the wicked, so that he himself died and his line was cut off; though he had brought it on himself, the emperor still pitied him; and, saying that covering over faults was the way of treating kin as kin, it enfeoffed Cao Biao's heir Cao Jia as Prince of Zhending in Changshan. In the 1st year of Jingyuan (260) his fief was increased, making 2,500 households with what he had before. Records, Wei 20 §52

In his assessment at the end of the volume, Chen Shou said that the princes and dukes of Wei had only the name of a fief and none of the substance of a state, were so hemmed in by prohibitions and surveillance that they were no different from men held in prison, and, their titles never being fixed, had their fiefs changed year after year. He then lamented that the affection between flesh and blood had been perverted and the duty of the 'Changdi' ode cast aside, and asked whether the evils of the system had really come to this. Records, Wei 20 §93