Cao Rui 曹蕤

Emperor Wen, Cao Pi, had nine sons, and Worthy Lady Pan bore Cao Rui, Prince Dao of Beihai. Records, Wei 20 §75

When Emperor Ming took the throne in the 7th year of Huangchu (226), Cao Rui was made Prince of Yangping County. The Annals of Emperor Ming record that, after Emperor Ming ascended the imperial throne on the dingsi day of the 5th month, in summer, of that year, he made his younger brother Cao Rui Prince of Yangping on the renchen day. In the 6th year of Taihe (232) he was re-enfeoffed at Beihai. Records, Wei 20 §79Records, Wei 3 §1–2

Cao Rui died in the 1st year of Qinglong (233). The Annals of Emperor Ming, following the entry on the edict of the renshen day of the 5th month, in summer, of that year, record that Cao Rui, Prince of Beihai, passed away on the wuyin day. Records, Wei 20 §79Records, Wei 3 §28–29

The following year, the 2nd year of Qinglong (234), Cao Zan, a son of the Prince of Langya, was made Cao Rui's heir and enfeoffed as Duke of Changxiang. In the 2nd year of Jingchu (238) Cao Zan was made Prince of Rao'an, and in the 7th year of Zhengshi (246) his fief was moved to Wen'an. During the Zhengyuan and Jingyuan eras the fief was repeatedly enlarged until, together with what it had before, it came to 3,500 households. Records, Wei 20 §79

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