Cao Gan 曹幹

Emperor Wu, Cao Cao, had twenty-five sons, and Brilliant Companion Wang bore Cao Gan, Prince of Zhao. Records, Wei 20 §2

Cao Gan was enfeoffed as Marquis of Gaoping Village in the 20th year of Jian'an (215). In the 22nd year (217) his fief was moved and he became Marquis of Lai Village, and that same year he was re-enfeoffed as Marquis of Hongnong. In the 2nd year of Huangchu (221) he was raised in rank and moved to the fief of Duke of Yan, and in the 3rd year (222) he became Prince of Hejian. In the 5th year (224) his fief was changed to Lecheng County, and in the 7th year (226) it was moved to Julu. In the 6th year of Taihe (232) he was re-enfeoffed as Prince of Zhao. Records, Wei 20 §40

Cao Gan's mother enjoyed Taizu's favour, and when Emperor Wen was made heir, Cao Gan's mother lent her support. Because Emperor Wen left a testamentary edict when he was dying, Emperor Ming always showed him added kindness. Records, Wei 20 §40–41

In the 2nd year of Qinglong (234), when Cao Gan was impeached by the authorities for privately associating with guests and retainers, Emperor Ming sent him a sealed letter warning and admonishing him. The letter cited the warnings of the Book of Changes, 'In founding a state and continuing a house, do not employ petty men', and of the Book of Songs, 'The great carriage only raises dust'. It went on to say that when Taizu first enfeoffed the princes, he taught them with the most earnest words of respect and caution and gave them upright gentlemen of the realm as their assistants, and that, always citing the warning Ma Yuan had left, he made strict the prohibition on princes associating with guests and retainers, treating it as equal to committing sorcery and wickedness. This, it said, was not meant to treat his own flesh and blood harshly, but to keep his sons and younger brothers free from fault and to spare gentlemen and commoners the regret of being harmed. Records, Wei 20 §41–42

The letter continued that Gaozu (Emperor Wen), on taking the throne, had reaffirmed the order that the princes were not to come to court, but that Emperor Ming himself, following the words of the edict that 'if there is an edict they may come to the capital', had the princes perform the rites of attending court; yet the Prince of Chu and the Prince of Zhongshan had both broken the prohibition on associating with others, and Zhao Zong and Dai Jie had been punished for that crime. Recently, it said, the Prince of Dongping had had his officials beat an officer of Shouzhang County and been impeached by the authorities, and Emperor Ming had ruled that a county be cut from his fief. Records, Wei 20 §42–43

The authorities reported that Cao Zuan, Wang Qiao and others had gathered at Cao Gan's house on the occasion of the festivals of the nine degrees of kin, sometimes not at the proper time, and that all of them had broken the prohibition. In the sealed letter Emperor Ming said that the prince had been respectful and obedient by nature since his youth and had moreover received the late emperor's dying charge, so that he wished to exalt his kindness and courtesy toward him and extend it to his descendants, and asked who but a sage could be without fault. He then informed him that he had already ordered the authorities to pardon the prince's fault, and, citing the old saying that the gentleman is cautious when alone, urged his uncle to carry on the late emperor's dying command and, in fear and trembling, keep his position with care and reverence. Records, Wei 20 §43–44

During the Jingchu, Zhengyuan and Jingyuan eras his fief was repeatedly enlarged until, together with what it had before, it came to 5,000 households. The Annals of the Three Young Emperors in the Records of Wei record that Cao Gan, Prince of Zhao, died on the wuyin day of the 8th month, in autumn, of the 2nd year of Jingyuan (261). Records, Wei 20 §45Records, Wei 4 §121

In his assessment at the end of Records of Wei 20, Chen Shou said that the princes and dukes of Wei had only the name of states and lands and none of the substance of a state, that, hemmed in by prohibitions and surveillance, they were no different from men in prison, and that, their ranks and titles never fixed, their fiefs great and small changed year by year. He lamented that the kindness owed to one's own flesh and blood had been perverted and the principle of the 'Changdi' ode abandoned, asking whether the flaws of the system had truly come to this. Records, Wei 20 §93