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Yuan XiYuan Xi (袁熙)was the second son of the warlord Yuan Shao and a military general under his father during the late Eastern Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms era in ancient China. After he was defeated in battle against Cao Cao, he fled to Liaodong with his younger brother Yuan Shang and was betrayed and killed by Gongsun Kang, governor of Liaodong, who sent his head to Cao Cao. His wife Zhen Luo was seized by Cao Pi and became Cao Pi's wife.
Category:People of the Three Kingdoms
WarlordWarlord is a term that refers to one who has de facto (complete) military control of a subnational area, due to a military force which is personally obedient to that warlord. The term must be clearly differed from European Feudalism during the Middle Age.
In historic literature warlordism before the Chinese Republic 1911-1949 where the term first formally appeared is usually refered to in context of Japan during the Sengoku period or China during the Three Kingdoms, not really in other examples.
Today, warlords refers to military leaders which control subnational territories in so-called failed states, meaning states where political authority has collapsed and been replaced by Anarchy.
Historical Warlordism in Europe
Warlordism in Europe is usually connected to various mercenary companies and their chieftains, which often were de facto powerholders in the areas in which they resided. Such free companies would arise in a situation when the recognized central power had collapsed, such as in the Great Interregnum in Germany (1254-1278) or in France during the Hundred Years War after the battle of Poitiers 1356. Free company mercenary captains, such as Sir John Hawkwood, Roger de Flor of Catalan Company or Hugh Calveley could be considered as warlords. Several condottieri in Italy can also be classified as warlords.
The Imperial commanders-in-chief during the reign of Emperor Maximilian I did hold the title Kriegsherr (direct translation "warlord"), but they were not warlords in the definitive sense of the word.
Historical Warlordism in Japan
During most of the 16th century, before the Tokugawa era, Japan was tormented by repeated wars among rival warlords (see Sengoku Era). Each warlord had several castles, neighbouring land with peasants, and a private army of samurai.
Powerful Japanese Warlords
- Oda Nobunaga
- Uesugi Kenshin
- Takeda Shingen
- Hojo Soun
- Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Historical warlordism in China
Warlords exercised widespread rule in China several times in Chinese history, notably in the period from the overthrow of the empire in 1911 until the Northern Expedition in 1927. This is also the time when the term "Warlord" first appeared. Despite the superficial unification of China in 1927 under the rule of the Guomindang, warlordism remained a problem unsolved until the victory of the Chinese Communist Party in 1949.
Another Era in Chinese History well-known for the dominance of warlords is the era of the Three Kingdoms
Famous Warlords during the Three Kingdoms (220-280)
- Gongsun Kang
- Gongsun Yuan
- Yuan Shao
- Sun Jian
- Cao Cao
- Puxian Wannu
Powerful Chinese Warlords during the Republic of China
- Zhang Zuolin (Chang Tso-lin) -- "Old Marshall" or "Mukden Tiger".
- Zhang Xueliang (Chang Hsüeh-liang) -- "Young Marshall".
- Zhang Zongchang (Chang Tsung-ch'ang) -- "The Dogmeat General".
- Feng Yuxiang (Feng Yü-hsiang) -- "The Christian General".
- Bai Chongxi (Pai Ch'ung-hsi) -- "The Muslim General".
- Yan Xishan (Yen Hsi-shan) -- "The Model Governor".
- Wu Peifu
Warlordism in the World Today
Warlordism appears in so-called failed states - states in which central government and nationwide authorities have collapsed or exist merely formally without actual controll over the state territory.
Examples:
Somali: With the collapse of the central government, groups of rival warlords constitute the only form of authority in some parts of the country.
Other regions and countries with warlords include Chechnya, Moldova, Burma, Colombia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
See also
- Warlord (comics)
- Warlords
- alt.fan.warlord
ko:군벌
ja:軍閥
Eastern Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty (; 206 BC - AD 220) followed the Qin Dynasty and preceded the Three Kingdoms in China. The dynasty was founded by the Liu family.
The Chinese people consider the Han Dynasty to be one of the greatest periods in the entire history of China. As a result, the members of the ethnic majority of Chinese people to this day still call themselves "people of Han," in honor of the Liu family and the dynasty they created.
During the Han Dynasty, China officially became a Confucian state and prospered domestically: agriculture, handicrafts and commerce flourished, and the population reached 50 million. Meanwhile, the empire extended its political and cultural influence over Vietnam, Central Asia, Mongolia, and Korea before it finally collapsed under a combination of domestic and external pressures.
The first of the two periods of the dynasty, namely the Former Han Dynasty (Qian Han 前漢) or the Western Han Dynasty (Xi Han 西漢) 206 BC - AD 9 seated at Chang'an. The Later Han Dynasty (Hou Han 後漢) or the Eastern Han Dynasty (Dong Han 東漢) 25 - 220 seated at Luoyang. The western-eastern Han convention is used nowadays to avoid confusion with the Later Han Dynasty of the Period of the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms although the former-later nomenclature was used in history texts including Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian.
Intellectual, literary, and artistic endeavors revived and flourished during the Han Dynasty. The Han period produced China's most famous historian, Sima Qian (145 -87 BC?), whose Records of the Grand Historian provides a detailed chronicle from the time of legendary Xia emperor to that of the Emperor Wu ( 141- 87 BC). Technological advances also marked this period. One of the great Chinese inventions, paper, dates from Han times.
It is fair enough to state that contemporary empires of the Han Dynasty and the Roman Empire were the two superpowers of the known world. Several Roman embassies to China are recounted in Chinese history, starting with a Hou Hanshu (History of the Later Han) account of a Roman convoy set out by emperor Antoninus Pius that reached the Chinese capital Luoyang in 166 and was greeted by Emperor Huan.
The Han dynasty was notable also for its military prowess. The empire expanded westward as far as the rim of the Tarim Basin (in modern Xinjiang-Uyghur Autonomous Region), making possible relatively secure caravan traffic across Central Asia. The paths of caravan traffic are often called the "Silk Road" because the route was used to export Chinese silk. Chinese armies also invaded and annexed parts of northern Vietnam and northern Korea (Wiman Joseon) toward the end of the second century BC. Han control of peripheral regions was generally insecure, however. To ensure peace with non-Chinese local powers, the Han court developed a mutually beneficial "tributary system." Non-Chinese states were allowed to remain autonomous in exchange for symbolic acceptance of Han overlordship. Tributary ties were confirmed and strengthened through intermarriages at the ruling level and periodic exchanges of gifts and goods.
The Emergence
Within the first three months after Qin Dynasty emperor Qin Shi Huang's death at Shaqiu, widespread revolts by peasants, prisoners, soldiers and descendants of the nobles of the six Warring States sprang up all over China. Chen Sheng and Wu Guang, two in a group of about 900 soldiers assigned to defend against the Xiongnu, were the leaders of the first rebellion. Continuous insurgence finally toppled the Qin dynasty in 206 BC. The leader of the insurgents was Xiang Yu, an outstanding military commander without political expertise, who divided the country into 19 feudal states to his own satisfaction.
The ensuing war among those states signified the 5 years of Chu Han Contention with Liu Bang, the first emperor of the Han Dynasty, as the eventual winner. Initially, "Han" (the principality as created by Xiang Yu's division) consisted merely of modern Sichuan, Chongqing, and southern Shaanxi and was a minor humble principality, but eventually grew into an empire; Han Dynasty was named after the principality, which was itself named after Hanzhong (漢中) -- modern southern Shaanxi, the region centering the modern city of Hanzhong. The beginning of the Han Dynasty can be dated either from 206 BC when the Qin dynasty crumbled and the Principality of Han was established or 202 BC when Xiang Yu committed suicide.
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Taoism and Feudal System
The new empire retained much of the Qin administrative structure but retreated a bit from centralized rule by establishing vassal principalities in some areas for the sake of political convenience. After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Gao (Liu Bang) divided the country into several "feudal states" to satisfy some of his wartime allies - but planned to get rid of them once he had consolidated his power.
After his death, his successors from Emperor Hui to Emperor Jing tried to rule China combining Legalist methods with the Taoist philosophic ideals. During this "pseudo-Taoism era", a stable centralized government over China was established through revival of the agriculture sectors and fragmentations of "feudal states" after the suppression of the Rebellion of the seven states.
Emperor Wu and Confucianism
During the "Taoism era", China was able to maintain peace with Xiongnu by paying tribute and marrying princesses to them. During this time, the dynasty's goal was to relieve the society of harsh laws, wars, and conditions from both the Qin, external threats from nomads, and early internal conflicts within the Han court. The government reduced taxation and assumed a subservient status to neighboring nomadic tribes. This policy of the government's reduced role over civilian lives (與民休息) started a period of stability, which was called the Rule of Wen and Jing (文景之治), named after the two emperors of this particular era. However, Under Emperor Wu's leadership, the most prosperous period (140-87 BC)of the Han Dynasty, the Empire was able to fight back. At its height, China incorporated the present-day Qinghai, Gansu, and northern Vietnam into its territories.
Emperor Wu decided that Taoism was no longer suitable for China, and officially declared China to be a Confucian state; however, like the emperors before him, he combined Legalist methods with the Confucian ideal. This official adoption of Confucianism led to not only a civil service nomination system, but also the compulsory knowledge of Confucian classics of candidates for the imperial bureaucracy, a requirement that lasted up to the establishment of the Republic of China in 1912. Confucian scholars gained prominent status as the core of the civil service.
Beginning of the Silk Road
1912 travels of Zhang Qian to the West, Mogao Caves, 618-712 AD mural.]]
From 138 BC, Emperor Wu also dispatched Zhang Qian twice as his envoy to the Western Regions, and in the process pioneered the route known as the Silk Road from Chang'an (today's Xi'an, Shaanxi Province), through Xinjiang and Central Asia, and on to the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Following Zhang Qian' embassy and report, commercial relations between China and Central as well as Western Asia flourished, as many Chinese missions were sent throughout the 1st century BC, initiating the development of the Silk Road:
:"The largest of these embassies to foreign states numbered several hundred persons, while even the smaller parties included over 100 members... In the course of one year anywhere from five to six to over ten parties would be sent out." (Shiji, trans. Burton Watson).
China also sent missions to Parthia, which were followed up by reciprocal missions from Parthian envoys around 100 BC:
:"When the Han envoy first visited the kingdom of Anxi (Parthia), the king of Anxi dispatched a party of 20,000 horsemen to meet them on the eastern border of the kingdom... When the Han envoys set out again to return to China, the king of Anxi dispatched envoys of his own to accompany them... The emperor was delighted at this." (Shiji, 123, trans. Burton Watson).
The Roman historian Florus describes the visit of numerous envoys, included Seres (Chinese), to the first Roman Emperor Augustus, who reigned between 27 BC and 14 AD:
:"Even the rest of the nations of the world which were not subject to the imperial sway were sensible of its grandeur, and looked with reverence to the Roman people, the great conqueror of nations. Thus even Scythians and Sarmatians sent envoys to seek the friendship of Rome. Nay, the Seres came likewise, and the Indians who dwelt beneath the vertical sun, bringing presents of precious stones and pearls and elephants, but thinking all of less moment than the vastness of the journey which they had undertaken, and which they said had occupied four years. In truth it needed but to look at their complexion to see that they were people of another world than ours." ("Cathey and the way thither", Henry Yule).
Henry Yule
In 97 AD the Chinese general Ban Chao went as far west as the Caspian Sea with 70,000 men and established direct military contacts with the Parthian Empire, also dispatching an envoy to Rome in the person of Gan Ying.
Several Roman embassies to China soon followed from 166 AD, and are officially recorded in Chinese historical chronicles.
Good exchanges such as Chinese silk, African ivory, and Roman incense increase the contacts between the East and West.
Contacts with the Kushan Empire led to the introduction of Buddhism to China from India in the first century.
See also: Silk Road, Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
Rise of landholding class
To draw funds for his triumphant campaigns against the Xiongnu, Emperor Wu relinquished land control to merchants and the riches, and in effect legalized the privatization of lands. Land taxes were then drawn based on the sizes of fields. It was no longer on their income(harvest), which could not guarantee to pay their taxes completely. Incomes from selling harvest were often market-driven - a stable amount could not be guaranteed especially after harvest-reducing natural disasters. Merchant and prominent families then lured peasants to sell their lands since land accumulation guaranteed living standards of theirs and their descendants' in the agricultural society of China. Lands were hence accumulating into a new class of landholding families. The Han government in turn imposed more taxes on the remaining independent servants in order to make up the tax losses, therefore encouraging more peasants to come under the landholding elite or the landlords.
Xiongnu
Ideally the peasants pay the landlords certain periodic (usually annual) amount of income, who in turn provide protection against crimes and other hazards. In fact an increasing number of peasant population in the prosperous Han society and limited amount of lands provided the elite to elevate their standards for any new subordinate peasants. The inadequate education and often complete illiteracy of peasants forced them into a living of providing physical services, which were mostly farming in an agricultural society. The peasants, without other professions for their better living, compromised to the lowered standard and sold their harvest to pay their landlords. In fact they often had to delay the payment or borrow money from their landlords in the aftermath of natural disasters that reduced harvests. To make the situation worse, some Han rulers double-taxed the peasants. Eventually the living conditions of the peasants worsened as they solely depended on the harvest of the land they once owned.
The landholding elite and landlords, for their part, provided inaccurate information of subordinate peasants and lands to avoid paying taxes; to this very end corruption and incompetence of the Confucian scholar gentry on economics would play a vital part. Han court officials who attempted to strip lands out of the landlords faced such enormous resistance that their policies would never be put in to place. In fact only a member of the landholding families, for instance Wang Mang, was able to put his reforming ideals into effect despite failures of his "turning the clock back" policies.
Interruption of Han rule
After 200 years, Han rule was interrupted briefly during AD 9–24 by Wang Mang, a reformer and a member of the landholding families. The economic situation deteriorated at the end of Western Han Dynasty. Wang Mang, believing the Liu family had lost the Mandate of Heaven, took power and turned the clock back with vigorous monetary and land reforms, which damaged the economy even further.
Rise and Fall of Eastern Han Dynasty
A distant relative of Liu royalty, Liu Xiu, led the revolt against Wang Mang with the support of the landholding families and merchants. He "re-established" the Han Dynasty at Luoyang, which would rule for another 200 years, and became Emperor Guangwu.
In 105, During Eastern Han Dynasty, an official and inventor named Cai Lun invented the technique for making fine paper. The invention of paper is considered a revolution in communication and learning, dramatically lowering the cost of education.
Cai Lun).]]
Nevertheless the Eastern Han emperors failed to put forward any groundbreaking land reforms after the failure of its precedent dynasty. Rife bureaucratic corruption and bribery contributed into lingering adverse consequences of land privatizations throughout the dynasty. Prestige of a newly founded dynasty during the reigns of the first three emperors was barely able to hinder the corruption; however Confucian scholar gentry turned against eunuchs for their corrupted authorities, while consort clans and eunuchs struggled for power in subsequent reigns. None of these three parties was able to improve the harsh livelihood of peasants under the landholding families. Land privatizations and accumulations on the hands of the elite affected the societies of the Three Kingdoms and the Southern and Northern Dynasties that the landholding elite held the actual driving and ruling power of the country. Successful ruling entities worked with these families, and consequently their policies favored the elite. Adverse effects of the Nine grade controller system or the Nine rank system were brilliant examples.
Taiping Taoist ideals of equal rights and equal land distribution quickly spread throughout the peasantry. As a result, the peasant insurgents of the Yellow Turban Rebellion swarmed the North China Plain, the main agricultural sector of the country. Power of the Liu royalty then fell into the hands of local governors and warlords, despite suppression of the main upraising of Zhang Jiao and his brothers. Three overlords eventually succeeded in control of the whole of China proper, ushering in the period of the Three Kingdoms. The figurehead Emperor Xian reigned until 220 when Cao Pi forced his abdication.
In 311, around one hundred years after the fall of the Eastern Han, its capital Luoyang was sacked by Huns.
Sovereigns of Han Dynasty
External links
- [http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/early_imperial_china/han.html Han Dynasty by Minnesota State University]
Category:History of China
Category:Iron Age
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ko:한나라
ja:漢
Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms period (Simplified Chinese: 三国; Traditional Chinese: 三國; Pinyin Sānguó) is a period in the history of China. In a strict academic sense it refers to the period between the foundation of the Wei in 220 and the conquest of the Wu by the Jin Dynasty in 280. However, many Chinese historians and laypeople extend the starting point of this period back to the uprising of the Yellow Turbans in 184.
184
The earlier, "unofficial" part of the period, from 190 to 220, was marked by chaotic infighting between warlords in various parts of China. The middle part of the period, from 220 and 263, was marked by a more militarily stable arrangement between three rival states, Wei (魏), Han (漢), and Wu (吳).
To distinguish these states from earlier states of the same name, historians prepended a character: Wei is also known as Cao Wei (曹魏), Han is also known as Shu Han (蜀漢), which later became more commonly known as Shu, and Wu is also known as Eastern Wu (東吳). The later part of this period was marked by the destruction of Shu by Wei (263), the overthrow of Wei by the Jin Dynasty (265), and the destruction of Wu by Jin (280).
The term "Three Kingdoms" itself is somewhat of a mistranslation, since each state was eventually headed by an Emperor who claimed legitimate succession from the Han Dynasty, not by kings. Nevertheless the term has become standard among sinologists and will be used in this article.
Although relatively short, this historical period has been greatly romanticised in the cultures of China, Japan, Korea and throughout Southeast Asia. It has been celebrated and popularised in operas, folk stories, novels and in more recent times, films, television serials, and video games. The best known of these is undoubtedly the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a fictional account of the period which draws heavily on history. The authoritative historical record of the era is Chen Shou's Sanguo Zhi, along with Pei Songzhi's later annotations of the text.
Video games that have arisen from the Three Kingdoms romance would include the Dynasty Warriors series, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms series, and the second game in the Kessen series. All of these are made by a Japanese company called KOEI.
The Three Kingdoms period is one of the bloodiest in Chinese history. A population census in late Eastern Han dynasty reported a population of approximately 56 million, while a population census in early Western Jin dynasty (after Jin re-unified China) reported a population of approximately 16 million. Even taking into account the inaccuracies of these census reports, it's safe to assume that a large percentage of the population was wiped out during the constant wars waged during this period.
This article will trace outline the major developments leading to the establishment of the Three Kingdoms and their subsequent history.
Collapse of dynastic power
The series of events leading to the collapse of dynastic power and the rise of Cao Cao are extremely complex. The death of Emperor Ling in May 189 led to an unstable regency under General-in-chief He Jin and renewed rivalry between the factions of the eunuchs and regular civil bureaucracy. Following the assassination of He Jin, his chief ally the Colonel-Director of Retainers Yuan Shao led a massacre of the eunuchs in the imperial palaces. The ensuing turmoil at the capital allowed the frontier general Dong Zhuo to enter Luoyang from the northwest and take control of the imperial court, ushering in a period of civil war across China.
Dong Zhuo manipulated the succession so that the future Emperor Xian could take the throne in lieu of his elder half-brother. In 190 a coalition led by Yuan Shao was formed in the eastern provinces of the empire against him. The mounting pressure drove the Han Emperor and later Dong Zhuo himself west to Chang'an in May 191. A year later he was killed in a coup d'etat and the Emperor passed through a number of warlords in the years that followed.
The rise of Cao Cao
In 191 there was some talk among the coalition of appointing an emperor of their own, and gradually its members began to fall out. Open warfare broke out as soon as Dong Zhuo burned and sacked Luoyang. In August 195 Emperor Xian left Chang'an and made a year-long hazardous journey east in search of supporters. By 196, when he was received by Cao Cao, most of the smaller contenders for power had either been absorbed by larger ones or destroyed. The Han empire was divided between a number of regional warlords. Yuan Shao occupied the northern center of Ye and extended his power north of the Yellow River against Gongsun Zan, who held the northern frontier. Cao Cao, directly to Yuan's south, was engaged in a struggle against Yuan Shu and Liu Biao, who occupied respectively the Huai River basin and Middle Yangzi regions. Further south the young warlord Sun Ce was establishing his rule in the Lower Yangzi. In the west, Liu Zhang held Yizhou province whilst Hanzhong and the northwest was controlled by a motley collection of smaller warlords such as Ma Teng of Xiliang.
Cao Cao, who would become the effective founder of Wei, had raised an army in the winter of 189. He had absorbed some 300,000 Yellow Turbans into his army as well as a number of clan-based military groups. In 196 he established an imperial court at Xuchang and developed military agricultural colonies (tuntian) to support his army. After destroying Yuan Shu in 197, and the eastern warlords Lü Bu (198) and Liu Bei (199) in rapid succession, Cao Cao turned his attention north to Yuan Shao, who himself had eliminated his northern rival Gongsun Zan that same year.
Following months of planning, the two sides met in force at Guandu in 200. Overcoming Yuan's superior numbers, Cao Cao decisively defeated him and crippled the northern army. In 202, Cao Cao took advantage of Yuan Shao's death and the resulting division among his sons to advance north of the Yellow River. He captured Ye in 204 and occupied the provinces of Ji, Bing, Qing and You. By the end of 207, after a lightning campaign against the Wuhuan people, Cao Cao had achieved undisputed dominance of the North China Plain.
Red Cliffs and its aftermath
North China Plain
In 208, Cao Cao marched south with his army hoping to quickly unify the empire. Liu Biao's son Liu Zong surrendered the province of Jing and Cao was able to capture a sizeable fleet at Jiangling. Sun Quan, the successor to Sun Ce in the Lower Yangzi, continued to resist however. His advisor Lu Su secured an alliance with Liu Bei, himself a recent refugee from the north. Their combined armies of 50,000 met Cao Cao's fleet and 200,000-strong force at Red Cliffs that winter. After an initial skirmish, an attack with fireships inflicted a decisive defeat on Cao Cao, forcing him to retreat in disarray back to the north. The allied victory at Red Cliffs ensured the survival of Liu Bei and Sun Quan, and provided the basis for the states of Shu and Wu.
After his return to the north, Cao Cao contented himself with absorbing the northwestern regions in 211 and consolidating his power. He progressively increased his titles and power, eventually becoming King of Wei in 217. Liu Bei entered Yi province and later in 214 displaced Liu Zhang as ruler, leaving his commander Guan Yu in charge of Jing province. Sun Quan, who had in the intervening years being engaged with defenses against Cao Cao in the southeast at Hefei, now turned his attention to Jing province and the Middle Yangzi. Tensions between the allies were increasingly visible. In 219, after Liu Bei successfully seized Hanzhong from Cao Cao and as Guan Yu was engaged in the siege of Fan, Sun Quan's commander-in-chief Lü Meng secretly seized Jing province.
Three emperors
In the first month of 220, Cao Cao died and in the tenth month his son Cao Pi deposed the Emperor Xian and ended the Han Dynasty. He named his state Wei and made himself emperor at Luoyang. In 221, Liu Bei named himself Emperor of Han, in a bid to restore the fallen Han dynasty. (His state is known to history as "Shu" or "Shu-Han".) In the same year, Wei bestowed on Sun Quan the title of King of Wu. A year later, Shu-Han troops declared war on Wu and met the Wu armies at the Battle of Yiling. At Xiaoting, Liu Bei was disastrously defeated by Sun Quan's commander Lu Xun and forced to retreat back to Shu, where he died soon afterward. After the death of Liu Bei, Shu and Wu resumed friendly relations at the expense of Wei, thus stabilizing the tripartite configuration. In 229, Sun Quan renounced his recognition of Cao Pi's regime and declared himself emperor at Wuchang.
Dominion of the north completely belonged to Wei, whilst Shu occupied the southwest and Wu the central south and east. The external borders of the states were generally limited to the extent of Chinese civilization. For example, the political control of Shu on its southern frontier was limited by the Tai tribes of modern Yunnan and Burma, known collectively as the Southern Barbarians (南蠻).
Population
In terms of manpower, the Wei was by far the strongest, retaining more than 660,000 households and 4,400,000 people within its borders. Shu had a population of 940,000, and Wu 2,300,000. Thus, Wei had more than 58% of the population and around 40% of territory. With these resources, it is estimated that it could raise an army of 400,000 whilst Shu and Wu could manage 100,000 and 230,000 respectively: roughly 10% of their registered populations. The Wu-Shu alliance against the Wei proved itself to be a militarily stable configuration; the basic borders of the Three Kingdoms almost unchanging for more than forty years.
Trade and transport
In economic terms the division of the Three Kingdoms reflected a reality that long endured. Even in the Northern Song, seven hundred years after the Three Kingdoms, it was possible to think of China as being composed of three great regional markets. (The status of the northwest was slightly ambivalent, as it had links with the northern region and Sichuan). These geographical divisions are underscored by the fact that the main communication routes between the three main regions were all man-made: the Grand Canal linking north and south, the hauling-way through the Three Gorges of the Yangzi linking southern China with Sichuan and the gallery roads joining Sichuan with the northwest. The break into three separate entities was quite natural and even anticipated by such political foresight as Zhuge Liang (see Longzhong Plan 隆中對).
Consolidation
In 222 Liu Shan rose to the throne of Shu following his father's defeat and death. The defeat of Liu Bei at Yiling ended the period of hostility between Wu and Shu and both used the opportunity to concentrate on internal problems and the external enemy of Wei. For Sun Quan, the victory terminated his fears of Shu expansion into Jing province and he turned to the aborigines of the southeast, whom the Chinese collectively called the "Shanyue" peoples (see Yue). A collection of successes against the rebellious tribesmen culminated in the victory of 234. In that year Zhuge Ge ended a three year siege of Danyang with the surrender of 100,000 Shanyue. Of these, 40,000 were drafted as auxiliaries into the Wu army. Meanwhile Shu was also experiencing troubles with the indigenous tribes of their south. The South-western Yi peoples rose in revolt against Han authority, captured and looted the city of Yizhou. Zhuge Liang, recognising the importance of stability in the south, ordered the advance of the Shu armies in three columns against the Yi. He fought a number of engagements against the chieftain Meng Huo, at the end of which Meng submitted. A tribesman was allowed to reside at the Shu capital Chengdu as an official and the Yi formed their own battalions within the Shu army.
Zhuge Liang's Northern Expeditions
At the end of Zhuge Liang's southern campaign, the Wu-Shu alliance came to fruition and Shu was free to move against north. In 227 Zhuge Liang transferred his main Shu armies to Hanzhong, and opened up the battle for the northwest with Wei. (See Northern Expeditions) The next year, he ordered general Zhao Yun to attack from Ji Gorge as a diversion whilst Zhuge himself led the main force to Qishan. The vanguard Ma Su, however, suffered a tactical defeat at Jieting and the Shu army was forced to withdraw. In the next six years Zhuge Liang attempted several more offensives, but supply problems limited the capacity for success. In 234 he led his last great northern offensive, reaching the Wuzhang Plain south of the Wei River. Due to his untimely death, however, the Shu army was forced once again to withdraw.
Wu and development of the south
In the times of Zhuge Liang's great northern offensives, the state of Wu had always been on the defensive against invasions from the north. The area around Hefei was under constant pressure from Wei after the Battle of Red Cliffs and the scene of many bitter battles. Warfare had grown so intense that many of the residents chose to migrate and resettle south of the Yangzi. After Zhuge Liang's death, attacks on the Huainan region intensified but nonetheless, Wei could not break through the line of the river defenses erected by Wu, which included the Ruxu fortress.
Sun Quan's long reign is regarded as a time of plenty for his southern state. Migrations from the north and the settlement of the Shanyue increased manpower for agriculture, especially along the lower reaches of the Yangzi and in Kuaiji commandery. River transport blossomed, with the construction of the Zhedong and Jiangnan canals. Trade with Shu flourished, with a huge influx of Shu cotton and the development of celadon and metal industries. Ocean transport was improved to such an extent that sea journeys were made to Manchuria and the island of Taiwan. In the south, Wu merchants reached Linyi (southern Vietnam) and Fu'nan (Cambodia). As the economy prospered, so too did the arts and culture. In the Yangzi delta, the first Buddhist influences reached the south from Luoyang. (See Buddhism in China)
Decline and end of the Three Kingdoms
From the late 230s tensions began to become visible between the imperial Cao clan and the Sima clan. Following the death of Cao Zhen, factionalism was evident between Cao Shuang and the Grand Commandant Sima Yi. In deliberations, Cao Shuang placed his own supporters in important posts and excluded Sima, whom he regarded as a threat. The power of the Sima clan, one of the great landowning families of the Han, was bolstered by Sima Yi's military victories. Additionally, Sima Yi was an extremely capable strategist and politician. In 238 he crushed the rebellion of Gongsun Yuan and brought the Liaodong region directly under central control. Ultimately, he outmaneuvered Cao Shuang in power play. Taking advantage of an excursion by the imperial clansmen to the Gaoping tombs, Sima undertook a putsch in Luoyang, forcing Cao Shuang's faction from authority. Many protested to the overwhelming power of the Sima family; notable of which were the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. One of the sages, Xi Kang, was executed as part of the purges after Cao Shuang's downfall.
Fall of Shu
The decreasing strength of the Cao clan was mirrored by the decline of Shu. Zhuge Liang gained large amounts of Wei's land. After Zhuge Liang's death, his position as Lieutenant Chancellor fell to Jiang Wan, Fei Wei and Dong Yun, in that order. But after 258, Shu politics became increasingly controlled by the eunuch faction and corruption rose. Despite the energetic efforts of Jiang Wei, Zhuge's protégé, Shu was unable to secure any decisive victory against Wei. In 263, Wei launched a three-pronged attack and the Shu army was forced into general retreat from Hanzhong. Jiang Wei hurriedly held a position at Jiange but he was outflanked by the Wei commander Deng Ai, who force-marched his army from Yinping through territory formerly considered impassable. By the winter of the year, the capital Chengdu had fallen and the emperor Liu Chan had surrendered. The state of Shu had come to an end after forty-three years.
Fall of Wei
Cao Huan succeeded to the throne in 260 after Cao Mao was killed by Sima Zhao. Soon after, Sima Zhao died and his position as King of Jin was taken by his son Sima Yan. Sima Yan immediately began plotting to become Emperor but faced stiff opposition. However, due to advice from his advisors, Cao Huan decided the best course of action would be to abdicate, unlike his predecessor Cao Mao. Sima Yan seized the throne in 264 after forcing Cao Huan's abdication, effectively overthrowing the Wei Dynasty and establishing the successor Jin Dynasty. This was similar to the deposal of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty by Cao Pi, the founder of the Wei Dynasty.
Fall of Wu
Following Sun Quan's death in 252, the kingdom of Wu went into a period of steady decline. Successful Wei oppression of rebellions in the Huainan region by Sima Zhao and Sima Shi reduced any opportunity of Wu influence. The fall of Shu signalled a change in Wei politics. Sima Yan (grandson of Sima Yi), after accepting the surrender of Liu Chan, overthrew the Wei emperor and proclaimed his own dynasty of Jin in 264, ending forty-six years of Cao dominion in the north. In 269 Yang Hu, Jin commander in the south, started preparing for the invasion of Wu by ordering the construction of a fleet and training of marines in Sichuan under Wang Jun. Four years later, Lu Kang, the last great general of Wu, died, leaving no competent successor. The planned Jin offensive finally came in the winter of 279. Sima Yan launched five simultaneous offensives along the Yangzi River from Jianye to Jiangling whilst the Sichuan fleet sailed downriver to Jing province. Under the strain of such an enormous attack, the Wu forces collapsed and Jianye fell in the third month of 280, bringing to a close a century of conflict.
Major battles
- Battle of Jieqiao (191)
- Battle of Guandu (200)
- Battle of Red Cliffs (208)
- Battle of He Fei (217)
- Battle of Yiling (223)
- Zhuge Liang's Southern Campaign (225-230)
- Northern Expeditions (228-234)
- Battle of Wuzhang Plain (234)
- Battle of Jieting
Biographies
- Dong Zhuo
- Cao Cao
- Yuan Shao
- Yuan Shu
- Liu Bei
- Guan Yu
- Sun Quan
- Zhuge Liang
For a more comprehensive list, see Personages of the Three Kingdoms
See also
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms
- Military history of the Three Kingdoms
- Yellow Turban Rebellion
- Rafe de Crespigny
References
- Hill, John E. 2004. The Peoples of the West from the Weilue 魏略 by Yu Huan 魚豢: A Third Century Chinese Account Composed between 239 and 265 CE. Draft annotated English translation. [http://depts.washington.edu/uwch/silkroad/texts/weilue/weilue.html]
External links
- [http://eprints.anu.edu.au/archive/00002632/01/ Online Three Kingdoms publications of Dr Rafe de Crespigny, Australian National University]
Category:History of China
ko:삼국 시대 (중국)
ja:三国時代 (中国)
Cao Cao
Cao Cao (155 – 220), whose name is also often transliterated and should be correctly pronounced as Ts'ao Ts'ao, was a regional warlord and the last Chancellor of Eastern Han Dynasty who rose to great power during the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty in ancient China. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, he laid down foundations for what was to become Cao Wei and was posthumously titled Emperor Wu of Wei (魏武帝). Although generally characterized as a cruel and suspicious character in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and other folk cultures, the historic Cao Cao was a brilliant ruler, military strategist and poet.
Life
Early life
Cao Cao was born in the county of Qiao (譙, present day Bozhou, Anhui) in 155. His father Cao Song (曹嵩) was a foster son of Cao Teng (曹騰), who in turn was one of the favorite eunuchs of Emperor Huan. Some historical records, including Biography of Cao Man, claim that Cao Song was originally surnamed Xiahou (thus making Cao Cao a cousin of Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan, two of his most prominent generals).
Cao Cao was known for his craftiness as a young man. Cao Cao's uncle often complained to Cao Song regarding Cao Cao's childhood indulgence in hunting and music. To counter this, Cao Cao one day feigned a fit before his uncle, who hurriedly informed Cao Song. Cao Song rushed out to see his son, who was by then back to normal. When asked, Cao Cao replied, "I have never had such illness, but I lost the love of my uncle, and therefore he had deceived you." Henceforth, Cao Song ceased to believe the words of his brother regarding Cao Cao, and thus Cao Cao became even more blatant in his wayward pursuits.
At that time, there was a man living in Runan (汝南) named Xu Shao (許劭) who was famed for his ability to identify hidden talents of others. Cao Cao paid him a visit. Under persistent questioning, Xu Shao finally said, "You would be a capable minister in peaceful times and an unscrupulous hero in chaotic ones." Cao Cao took this as a compliment and was very pleased.
At twenty, Cao Cao was recommended to be a district captain of Luoyang. Upon taking up the post, Cao Cao placed rows of multicolored staffs outside his office and ordered his deputies to flog those who violated the law, regardless of their status. An uncle of Jian Shuo, an influential eunuch under Emperor Ling, was once caught walking in the city beyond the curfew hour by Cao Cao and given his fair share of flogging.
When the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in 184 Cao Cao was promoted to a captain of the cavalry (騎都尉) and sent to Yingchuan (潁川) to put down the rebels there. He was successful in his military exploits and was further promoted to Governor of Dong Commandery (東郡).
Alliance against Dong Zhuo
In 189, Emperor Ling died and was succeeded by his eldest son, though it was the empress dowager and the eunuchs who held true power. The two most powerful generals of that time, He Jin and Yuan Shao, plotted to eliminate the clan of influential eunuchs. He Jin summoned Dong Zhuo, governor of Liangzhou (凉州), to lead his army into the capital Luoyang to lay pressure on the empress dowager. Before Dong Zhuo arrived, however, He Jin was assassinated by the eunuchs and Luoyang fell into chaos. After his force ridded the palace ground of opposition, Dong Zhuo deposed the emperor and placed in the throne the puppet Emperor Xian.
Not seeing eye to eye with Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao left Luoyang for Chenliu (陳留, southeast of present day Kaifeng, Henan), where he raised his own troops. The next year, regional warlords combined their forces under Yuan Shao against Dong Zhuo. Cao Cao joined their cause. When Dong Zhuo was eventually killed in 192 by his own foster son, mighty warrior Lü Bu, China fell into civil war. Through short-term and regional-scale wars, Cao Cao continued to expand his power.
In 196, Cao Cao convinced Emperor Xian to move the capital to Xuchang, into the warlord's custody. Henceforth, the last emperor of Han remained mostly a figurehead in the hands of Cao Cao. Cao Cao was then instated as the General-in-Chief (大將軍) and Marquis of Wuping (武平侯), though both titles had little practical implication.
In 200, Yuan Shao amassed more than 100,000 troops and marched southwards on Xuchang in the name of rescuing the emperor. Cao Cao gathered 20,000 men in Guandu, a strategic point on the shore of the Yellow River. With his craft, brilliant military maneuvers and the help of a defector from Yuan Shao's camp, Cao Cao won a decisive and seemingly impossible victory.
Yuan Shao fell ill and died shortly after returning from the defeat, leaving his legacy to two of his sons – the eldest son, Yuan Tan and the youngest son, Yuan Shang (袁尚). As he had designated the youngest son, Yuan Shang, as his successor, rather than the eldest as tradition dictated, the two brothers consistently feuded against each other, as they fought Cao Cao. Because of their internal divisions, Cao Cao was easily able to defeat them by using their differences to his advantage. Henceforth Cao Cao assumed effective rule over all of northern China. He sent armies further out and extended his control past the Great Wall into northern Korea, and southward to the Han River.
However, Cao Cao's attempt to extend his domination south of the Yangtze River was dashed as his forces were defeated by the first coalition of his archrivals Liu Bei and Sun Quan (who later founded the kingdoms of Shu and Wu respectively) at the Red Cliffs in 208.
The three kingdoms
In 213, Cao Cao was titled Duke of Wei (魏公), given the Nine Dignities and given a fief of ten cities under his domain, known as the State of Wei. In 216, Cao Cao was promoted to Prince/King of Wei (魏王). Over the years, Cao Cao, as well as Liu Bei and Sun Quan, continued to consolidate their power in their respective regions. Through many wars, China became divided into three powers – Wei, Shu and Wu, which fought sporadic battles among themselves without the balance tipping significantly in anyone's favor.
In 220, Cao Cao passed away in Luoyang at the age of 66, without realizing his ambition to unify China. His will instructed that he be buried in everyday clothes and without burial artifacts, and that his subjects on duty at the frontier to stay in their posts and not attend the funeral as, in his own words, "the country is still unstable".
His eldest surviving son Cao Pi succeeded him. Within a year, Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian to abdicate and proclaimed himself the first emperor of the Kingdom of Wei. Cao Cao was then posthumously titled Emperor Wu.
Major battles
Battle of Yanzhou
In 193, China fell into a state of full-fledged civil war. Meanwhile, remnants of the Yellow Turban rebels still plagued the country. A wandering throng of the rebels from the Qingzhou (青州) numbering a million invaded the Yanzhou (兗州). Bao Xin (鮑信), a subject of Yanzhou governor Liu Dai (劉岱), advised the latter to fortify the city and wait for the enemies to disperse. Liu Dai refused and was subsequently killed in battle.
Bao Xin then offered Cao Cao the governor's seat in exchange for his help. In the initial encounter, Cao Cao suffered minor losses but eventually subdued the rebel force. He also took in more than 300,000 surrendered troops under his own flag. This force, which came to be known as the Qingzhou Army, was to be an important foundation for Cao Cao's subsequent rise to power.
Battle of Guandu
In the spring of 200, Yuan Shao, the most powerful warlord of that time, amassed more than 100,000 troops and marched from Ye on Xuchang. To defend against the invasion, Cao Cao placed 20,000 men at Guandu (官渡), a strategic landing point on the shore of the Yellow River which Yuan Shao's troops had to secure en route Xuchang.
With a few diversionary tactics, Cao Cao managed to disorient Yuan Shao's troops as well as kill two of Yuan Shao's most capable generals, Yan Liang and Wen Chou. The morale of Yuan Shao's troops suffered a further blow when Cao Cao launced a stealth attack on the former's food store. Many more of Yuan Shao's men surrendered or deserted than were killed during the ensuing battle. When Yuan Shao eventually retreated back to Ye in the winter of 201, he did so with little more than 800 horsemen.
The Battle of Guandu shifted the balance of power in northern China. Yuan Shao died shortly after his return and his two sons were soon defeated by Cao Cao. Henceforth, Cao Cao's dominance in the entirety of northern China was never seriously challenged. The battle has also been studied by military strategists ever since as a classic example of winning against an enemy with far superior numbers.
201]]
Battle of Red Cliffs
The Battle of Chibi (literally, "Red Cliffs") was another classic battle where the vastly outnumbered emerged as victor through strategy. In this battle, however, Cao Cao was on the losing end.
In the winter of 208, Liu Bei and Sun Quan – two warlords who later founded the kingdoms of Shu and Wu respectively – formed their first coalition against the southward expansion of Cao Cao. The two sides clashed at the Red Cliffs (northwest of present day Puqi, Hubei). Cao Cao boasted 830,000 men (historians believe the realistic number was around 220,000), while the Liu-Sun coalition at best had 50,000 troops.
However, Cao Cao's men, mostly from the north, were ill-suited to the southern climate and naval warfare, and thus entered the battle with a disadvantage. Furthermore, a plague that broke out undermined the strength of Cao Cao's army. The decision by Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yu, military advisors to Liu and Sun, to use fire also worked effectively against Cao Cao's vessels, which were chained together and thus allowed the fires to quickly spread. A majority of Cao Cao's troops were either burnt to death or drowned. Those who tried to retreat to the near bank were ambushed and annihilated by enemy skirmishers. Cao Cao himself barely escaped the encounter.
Other contributions
Agriculture and education
While waging military campaigns against his enemies, Cao Cao did not forget the basis of society – agriculture and education.
In 194, a locust plague caused a major famine across China. According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, the people ate each other out of desperation. Without food, many armies were defeated even without fighting. From this experience, Cao Cao saw the importance of an ample food supply in building a strong military. He began a series of agricultural programs in cities such as Xuchang and Chenliu. Refugees were recruited and given wastelands to cultivate. Later, encampments not faced with imminent danger of war were also made to farm. This system was continued and spread to all regions under Cao Cao as his realm expanded. Although Cao Cao's primary intention was to build a powerful army, the agricultural program also improved the living standards of the people, especially war refugees.
By 203, Cao Cao had eliminated most of Yuan Shao's force. This afforded him more attention on the constructional works within his realm. In autumn of that year, Cao Cao passed an order decreeing the promotion of education throughout the counties and cities within his jurisdiction. An official in charge of education matters was assigned to each county with at least 500 households. Youngsters with potential and talents were selected to undergo schooling. This prevented a lapse in the output of intellectuals in those warring years and, in Cao Cao's words, would benefit the people.
Poetry
Cao Cao was also an established poet. Although few of his works remain today, his verses, unpretentious yet profound, contributed to reshaping the poetry style of his time. Together with his sons Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, they are collectively known as the "Three Cao" in poetry. Along with several other poets of the time, their poems formed the backbone of what was to be known as the jian'an style (建安风骨; jian'an is the era name for the period from 196 to 220).
The civil strife towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty gave the jian'an poems their characteristic solemn yet heart-stirring tone, which frequently lament over the ephemerality of life. In the history of Chinese literature, the jian'an poems were a transition from the early folksongs into scholarly poetry.
One of Cao Cao's most celebrated poems, written in the late years of his life, is Though the Tortoise Lives Long (龟虽寿).
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《龟虽寿》
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Though the Tortoise Lives Long
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神龟虽寿，猷有竟时。
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Though the tortoise blessed with magic powers lives long,
Its days have their allotted span;
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腾蛇乘雾，终为土灰。
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Though winged serpents ride high on the mist,
They turn to dust and ashes at the last;
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老骥伏枥，志在千里；
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An old war-horse may be stabled,
Yet still it longs to gallop a thousand li;
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烈士暮年，壮心不已。
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And a noble-hearted man though advanced in years
Never abandons his proud aspirations.
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盈缩之期，不但在天；
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Man's span of life, whether long or short,
Depends not on Heaven alone;
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养怡之福，可得永年。
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One who eats well and keeps cheerful
Can live to a great old age.
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幸甚至哉！歌以咏志。
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And so, with joy in my heart,
I hum this song.
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Cao Cao in Romance of the Three Kingdoms
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a historical novel by Luo Guanzhong, was a romanticization of the events that occurred during the Three Kingdoms period. While staying true to history most of the time, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms inevitably gave Cao Cao a certain degree of dramatic make-up, in such a tone so as to suggest him as a cruel and suspicious character. On several occasions, Luo Guanzhong even made up fictional or semi-fictional events involving Cao Cao. These include:
Three Kingdoms period]]
Escape from Dong Zhuo
While in reality Cao Cao did leave Dong Zhuo, the tyrannical warlord who held the last Han emperor hostage, in 190 to form his own army, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms went a step further to describe Cao Cao's attempted assassination of the latter.
Since Dong Zhuo deposed the eldest son of the late Emperor Ling and placed in the throne Emperor Xian, his tyrannical behavior had angered many court officials. One of the officials, Wang Yun, held a banquet one night. Halfway through the banquet, Wang Yun began to cry at the cruel deeds of Dong Zhuo. His colleagues, feeling the same anguish, joined him.
Cao Cao, however, laughed and said, "All the officials of the court – crying from dusk till dawn and dawn till dusk – could you cry Dong Zhuo to his death?" He then borrowed from Wang Yun the Seven Gem Sword with the promise that he would personally assassinate Dong Zhuo.
The next day, Cao Cao brought the precious sword along to see Dong Zhuo. Having much trust in Cao Cao, Dong Zhuo received the guest in his bedroom. Lü Bu, Dong Zhuo's foster son, left the room for the stable to select a fast horse for Cao Cao, who complained about his slow ride.
When Dong Zhuo faced away, Cao Cao prepared to unsheath the sword. However, Dong Zhuo saw the movement in the mirror and hastily turned to question Cao Cao's intention. At this time, Lü Bu had also returned. In his desperation, Cao Cao knelt and pretended that he wanted to present the sword to Dong Zhuo. He then rode away with the excuse of trying out the new horse, and headed straight out of the capital before Dong Zhuo, who grew heavily suspicious, could capture him.
Lü Bu, the hunched figure clearly portraying him as a villain]]
Escape through Huarong Trail
After the fire started burning at the Red Cliffs, Cao Cao gathered all the men he could and escaped towards Jiangling, taking the shortcut through Huarong Trail. On top of the huge defeat and humiliation Cao Cao suffered, Luo Guanzhong decided to add one more pinch of salt to the getaway.
During his perilous escape back to Jiangling, Cao Cao came to a fork in the road. Columns of smoke were seen rising from the narrower path. Cao Cao judged that the smoke was a trick by the enemy to divert him to the main road, where an ambush must have been laid. He then led his men towards the narrow path – the Huarong Trail.
The smoke was indeed a trick by Zhuge Liang, military advisor to Liu Bei. Grasping Cao Cao's psychology exactly, however, Zhuge Liang actually meant to direct him to Huarong Trail, where Guan Yu with 500 troops sat waiting. Upon being cut off, Cao Cao rode forward and pled Guan Yu remember kindness of the former days. Seeing the plight of the defeated men and recalling the former favors he received from Cao Cao, Guan Yu then allowed the enemy to pass through without challenge, risking his own life for disobeying military orders.
Death of Cao Cao and Hua Tuo
In 220, Cao Cao passed away in Luoyang due to an unrecorded illness. Legends had many explanations for the cause of his death, most of which were wrought with superstitions. The Romance of the Three Kingdoms included some of these legends, as well as Luo Guanzhong's own story about the involvement of Hua Tuo, a renowned Chinese physician.
When Cao Cao started complaining about splitting headaches during the last days of his life, his subjects recommended Hua Tuo, a physician whose skills were said to parallel the deities. Upon examination, Hua Tuo diagnosed Cao Cao's illness to be a type of rheumatism within the skull. He suggested giving Cao Cao a dose of hashish and then splitting open his skull with a sharp axe to extract the pus within.
However, due to an earlier incident with another physician who attempted to take Cao Cao's life, Cao Cao grew very suspicious of any physician. Cao Cao believed Hua Tuo intended to kill him. He then threw Hua Tuo into jail, where the renowned physician died a few days later. Without proper treatment, Cao Cao soon died as well.
Cao Cao in opera
rheumatism
While historical records indicate Cao Cao as a brilliant ruler, he was represented as a cunning and deceitful man in Chinese opera, where the character of Cao Cao is given a white facial makeup to reflect his treacherous personality. When writing the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Luo Guanzhong took much of his inspiration from the opera. As a result, such unscrupulous depiction of Cao Cao had become much more popular among the common people than the real Cao Cao himself.
The Cao clan
Direct male descendants
- Cao Pi (曹丕)¹
- Cao Rui (曹睿)
- Cao Fang (曹芳)
- Cao Mao (曹髦)
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- Cao Huan (曹奂)
- Cao Zhang (曹彰)
- Cao Kai (曹楷)
- Cao Zhi (曹植)
- Cao Zhi (曹志)
- Cao Xiong (曹熊)
- Cao Bin (曹炳)
With Lady Liu
- Cao Ang (曹昂)
- Cao Wan (succeeded Cao Ang but was the son of Cao Jun (曹均)) (曹琬)
- Cao Lian (曹廉)
- Cao Shuo (曹铄)
- Cao Qian (曹潜)
- Cao Yan (曹偃)
With Lady Huan
- Cao Chong (曹冲)
- Cao Cong (succeeded Cao Chong but was the son of Cao Ju (曹据)) (曹琮)
- Cao Ju (曹据)
- Cao Yu (曹宇)
With Lady Du
- Cao Lin (曹林)
- Cao Wei (曹纬)
- Cao Gun (曹衮)
- Cao Fu (曹孚)
With Lady Qin
- Cao Xuan (曹玹)
- Cao Heng (曹恒)
- Cao Jun (曹峻)
- Cao Ao (曹澳)
With Lady Yin
- Cao Ju (曹矩)
- Cao Min (succeeded Cao Ju but was the son of Cao Jun (曹均)) (曹敏)
- Cao Kun (曹焜)
With other consorts
- Cao Gan (曹幹)
- Cao Shang (曹上)
- Cao Biao (曹彪)
- Cao Jia (曹嘉)
- Cao Qin (曹勤)
- Cao Cheng (曹乘)
- Cao Zheng (曹整)
- Cao Fan (succeeded Cao Zheng but was the son of Cao Ju (曹据)) (曹范)
- Cao Chan (younger brother of Cao Fan by birth, succeed Cao Fan) (曹阐)
- Cao Jing (曹京)
- Cao Jun (曹均)
- Cao Kang (曹抗)
- Cao Chen (曹谌)
- Cao Ji (曹棘)
- Cao Hui (曹徽)
- Cao Xi (曹翕)
- Cao Mao (曹茂)
Extended family
- Cao Ren (younger cousin) (曹仁)
- Cao Tai (曹泰)
- Cao Chu (曹初)
- Cao Kai (曹楷)
- Cao Fan (曹范)
- Cao Chun (younger cousin) (曹純)
- Cao Yan (曹演)
- Cao Liang (曹亮)
- Cao Hong (younger cousin) (曹洪)
- Cao Xiu (distant nephew) (曹休)
- Cao Zhao (曹肇)
- Cao Zhen (distant nephew) (曹真)
- Cao Shuang (曹爽)
- Cao Xi (曹羲)
- Cao Xun (曹训)
- Cao Ze (曹则)
- Cao Yan (曹彦)
- Cao Ai (曹皑)
- Cao Anmin (nephew) (曹安民)
¹ For a complete list of Cao Pi's sons, see Cao Pi.
Reference
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-
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See also
- Three Kingdoms
- Han Dynasty
- End of Han Dynasty
- Personages of the Three Kingdoms
- Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms
External links
- [http://www.anu.edu.au/asianstudies/decrespigny/morrison51.html Cao Cao and the Three Kingdoms: A George Ernest Morrison lecture in Ethnology ]
- [http://china.tyfo.com/int/literature/ancient%20poems/20000410literature.htm Translations of poems by Cao Cao and Cao Zhi]
- [http://www.chineseliterature.com.cn/Classics/cla2.htm Translations of ancient Chinese texts, including poems by Cao Cao]
Cao Cao
Cao Cao
Category:Chinese poets
Category:People of the Three Kingdoms
Category:Han Dynasty
ko:조조
ja:曹操
Gongsun Kang
Gongsun Kang (?-221) was a Chinese warlord in Liaodong and northwestern Korea.
He was born to Gongsun Du, Governor of Liaodong. In 204 Kang took over the position with the territories of Liaodong, Xuantu and Lelang. He was nominally subject to Cao Cao while keeping his domain semiindependent. In 207 he pleased Cao Cao in killing Yuan Shang (袁尚), the last attested member of the clans of Yuan Shao and escaped the conquest of Cao Cao to Liaodong.
He smashed Yiyimo (伊夷模), King of Goguryeo, at her capital and forced him to move the capital. He separated the southern half from the Lelang commandery and established the Daifang commandery in 204 to make administration more efficient. With military expeditions he brought southern natives into submission.
When he died in 221, his younger brother Gongsun Gong (公孫恭) succeeded him because Kang's children were young. However, Kang's son Gongsun Yuan took back the position in 228.
See also
- List of Korea-related topics
- History of Korea
- History of China
Category:Early Korean history
category:221 deaths
Category:History of Manchuria
Zhen LuoZhen Luo (甄洛) (d. 221), formally Empress Wenzhao (文昭皇后, literallly, "the civil and diligent empress") was the first wife of Cao Wei's first emperor, Cao Pi -- although she was never empress while she was alive. She was posthumously honored as an empress because her son Cao Rui later became emperor.
Early life and marriage to Yuan Xi
Zhen Luo was from Zhongshan Commandery (roughly modern Baoding, Hebei). It is not known when she was born. Her father Zhen Yi (甄逸) was a commandery governor, but died when she was only two years old. Despite her father's early death, her family remained rich, and during the wars during the end of Han Dynasty, her family became locally important in famine relief for the poor. Zhen Luo was personally involved in famine relief and gained the praise of many people.
When Zhen Luo became older (although it is not known what year), Yuan Shao, the warlord in control of Ji Province (冀州, roughly modern Hebei) became aware of her reputation and beauty, and sought to marry her to his son Yuan Xi. The marriage eventually occurred. When Yuan Shao later sent Yuan Xi to be the governor of You Province (幽州, roughly modern Beijing, Tianjing, and western Liaoning), however, she did not accompany him but remained at the Yuan clan's headquarters at Yecheng (鄴城, in modern Handan, Hebei) to serve her mother-in-law. Yuan Xi and she did not appear to have any children.
Marriage to Cao Pi
Yuan Shao, the most powerful warlord at the time, was defeated by Cao Cao at the Battle of Guandu in 200, and died in 202. After his death, his sons Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang became involved in internectine struggles against each other in trying to control their father's vast domain, and this allowed Cao Cao to play them off against each other, eventually conquering all of the Yuans' territory. While he was still campaigning against the Yuans, he was able to capture Yecheng in 204, and his son Cao Pi, who accompanied him, saw Lady Zhen and became obsessed with her beauty. Even though her husband Yuan Xi was still alive at this point (and would remain so until 207), Cao Pi forced her to marry him as his wife. Eight months later, she gave birth to Cao Rui -- leading to incessant gossip that Cao Rui was actually biologically Yuan Xi's son, not Cao Pi's, although that appeared to be rather unlikely given that Yuan Xi had been away from Yecheng for quite some time before Cao Pi married Lady Zhen.
Nevertheless, the rumors became a source of tension between Cao Pi and Lady Zhen. Cao Pi's other favorite, Guo Nüwang, took full advantage of the rumors to increase the tension. Eventually, Lady Zhen lost the favor of Cao Pi. When he forced Emperor Xian of Han to abdicate to him and thus established Cao Wei in 220, he set his capital at Luoyang but did not summon Lady Zhen from Yecheng to join him. Lady Zhen became upset, and Lady Guo reported her anger to Cao Pi, further angering him. In 221, he sent messengers to force her to commit suicide. Her rival Guo Nüwang would become empress the next year.
Later developments
After Lady Zhen's son Cao Rui became emperor in 226, he honored her posthumously as an empress, although he also honored Empress Guo as empress dowager. In 235, Empress Guo died under controversial circumstances -- with many historians believing that Cao Rui had found out her role in Lady Zhen's death and forced her to commit suicide.
Popular stories
Many popular stories speculated that the reason for Lady Zhen's death was that she carried on an affair with Cao Pi's brother Cao Zhi -- a speculation not supported by evidence. Some more fantastical accounts alleged that she had an affair with his father Cao Cao as well. These accounts generally allege that a poem generally attributed to Cao Zhi, dedicated to the goddess of Luo River, as actually dedicated to Zhen Luo.
Category:221 deaths
Category:People of the Three Kingdoms
Category:People of the Three KingdomsThis category contains people who lived before or during the Three Kingdoms era in ancient China who had contributed significantly to their time or were well-known in their own right. The category also contains fictional characters found in the 14th century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong.
:See also: Personages of the Three Kingdoms
Category:Three Kingdoms
Category:Chinese people in history
ja:Category:三国志の登場人物
Grand Prix show jumpingThe Grand Prix is the highest level of show jumping. Run under FEI rules, the horse jumps a course of 10-15 obstacles. Grand Prix-level show jumping competitions include the Olympics, the World Equestrian Games, the World Cup Series and the Nations Cup Series.
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