Empress Zhang 張皇后

Empress Zhang has no separate biography in the Records. Chen Shou's main text refers to her as 'Lady Zhang' and 'Empress Zhang' in the Annals of the Three Young Emperors in Records of Wei 4, and in the biographies of Xiahou Xuan and Zhang Ji only as the daughter of 'the empress's father Zhang Ji'. Records, Wei 4 §34 · 43Records, Wei 9 §122Records, Wei 15 §58

Her father Zhang Ji (張緝) was the son of Zhang Ji (張既), a man of Gaoling in Pingyi, and succeeded him after his death. Zhang Ji rose gradually from Gentleman of the Palace Secretariat to become Administrator of Dongguan; during the Jiaping era, when his daughter became empress, he was summoned to court, appointed Grand Master of Splendid Happiness and given the rank of Specially Advanced, and his wife, Lady Xiang, was enfeoffed as Lady of Ancheng District. Records, Wei 15 §38 · 56 · 58

In the 7th month of the 3rd year of Jiaping (251), Empress Zhen died. In the 1st month of spring of the following year, the 4th year of Jiaping (252), Sima Shi became General-in-Chief, and in the 2nd month Lady Zhang was established as empress and a general amnesty was proclaimed. Records, Wei 4 §33 · 34

Li Feng, Prefect of the Palace Secretariat, had long enjoyed the affection and favour of the General-in-Chief Sima Shi, but his heart lay with Xiahou Xuan, so he joined with the empress's father Zhang Ji, Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, and plotted to have Xiahou Xuan assist the government. Because Li Feng held power within the palace, his son had married a princess, and he was a man of Pingyi like Zhang Ji, Zhang Ji trusted him. In the 2nd month of the 6th year of Jiaping (254), when an Honoured Lady was to be invested, Li Feng and the others planned to take advantage of the occasion when the Son of Heaven came out before the hall and guards lined the steps at the gates to kill the General-in-Chief, replace him with Xiahou Xuan, and make Zhang Ji General of Agile Cavalry. Records, Wei 9 §122–123

The General-in-Chief Sima Shi caught wind of the plot, summoned Li Feng and killed him on the spot, and Xiahou Xuan, Zhang Ji and others were arrested and sent to the Commandant of Justice. The deliberation of the Commandant of Justice Zhong Yu and the high ministers held that Zhang Ji, though as an imperial in-law he had inherited the dignity of the empress's family, had plotted a vicious rebellion; Li Feng, Xiahou Xuan, Zhang Ji and the others all had their three sets of relatives exterminated, and their other relatives were moved to Lelang Commandery. Records, Wei 9 §124–126

The Annals of the Three Young Emperors record that on the gengxu day of the 2nd month of the 6th year of Jiaping (254) this plot was discovered and all those implicated were executed, and that in the 3rd month Empress Zhang was deposed. In the 4th month Lady Wang was established as empress. In the 9th month of that year Sima Shi, planning to depose the emperor Cao Fang, reported this to the empress dowager. Records, Wei 4 §43 · 44

Chen Shou's main text does not record what became of Lady Zhang after she was deposed or her death. The assessment of the Annals of the Three Young Emperors, too, only says that Emperor Ming, bound by private affection, handed the great enterprise to a small child and did not entrust it wholly to one person, so that in the end Cao Shuang was executed and Cao Fang, the Prince of Qi, was replaced on the throne; it does not mention her. Records, Wei 4 §43–44 · 152Records, Wei 9 §126Records, Wei 15 §58