There is a ridiculous saying on the Internet: "Eastern Wu loves Lori, Cao Wei is a good wife, and Shu Han is all ji." Among them, the saying that "Cao Wei is a good wife" comes from Cao Cao's emotional life. In fact, in the social environment at that time, the imprisonment of women was not so harsh, and the situation of women remarrying was relatively normal. Liu Bei and Sun Quan had actually married widowed women. However, Cao Cao inevitably married a little more. Accordingly, they also accepted their previous children and adopted them as adopted sons. In addition, Cao Cao also adopted the hero. Cao Cao is found in historical sources with three adopted sons, Cao Zhen, Qin Lang, and He Yan. The former became Cao Wei's heavy generals, while the latter two became losers in political struggles.
Cao Zhen: The main general of Cao Wei's western front and Zhuge Liang's direct opponent
Regarding the origin of Cao Zhen, there are two theories in the historical records. The first is the "Three Kingdoms Chronicles of Wei Shu Cao Zhen Biography" and the "Book of Wei" statement: Cao Zhen is a member of Cao Cao's clan, one generation younger than Cao Cao. When Cao Cao raised an army, many clans recruited soldiers to follow Cao Cao, including Cao Zhen's father Cao Shao. However, Cao Shao was killed by Shi Huanghuan, then the assassin of Yuzhou.
In addition, it is said in the "Wei Luo": Cao Zhen's original surname was Qin, and his father's name was Qin Bonan, which was probably a table character. In the last year of the Eastern Han Dynasty (probably the second year of Xingping, that is, in 195 AD), Cao Cao was pursued by Yuan Shu's generals, and Cao Cao entered Qin Bonan's home to take refuge. Yuan Shubu asked Qin Bonan about cao cao's whereabouts, and Qin Bonan himself impersonated Cao Cao to help cao cao escape the disaster. The two theories are not the same, but either theory is that Cao Was really a hero and was adopted by Cao Cao as an adopted son.
Cao Zhen showed a brave side in the early days, and when hunting, Cao Zhen was chased by a tiger and shot the tiger with an arrow. Cao Cao believed that Cao Zhen had military talent, so he handed over the "Tiger and Leopard Ride" to Cao Zhen. The "Tiger and Leopard Rider" can be said to be cao Cao's ace troops, and an ordinary soldier is composed of "hundred generals". The "Tiger and Leopard Rider" never dared to pretend to be the hand of a general with a foreign surname, the first leader was Cao Chun; after Cao Chun's death, he was led by Cao Cao himself; then Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen commanded the "Tiger and Leopard Riding", and Cao Zhen seemed to be Cao Xiu's subordinate, commanding the "Tiger Riding" in the "Tiger and Panther Riding". Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen are also the two most valued of Cao's sons.
After Cao Cao's death, Cao Pi ascended to the throne, and at that time, almost all the outer towns were guarded by cao and xiahou's sons, with Cao Zhen in charge of Yongzhou and Liangzhou on the western front; Xiahou Shang in charge of the central line; and Cao Xiu in charge of Yangzhou on the eastern front. During the Cao Pi period, There was no war between Cao Wei and Shu Han, and Cao Zhen later returned to the court. During the Cao Rui period, Shu Han waged a high-intensity war against Cao Wei, and Cao Zhen once again became the main general of the Western Front, becoming a direct opponent of Zhuge Liang.
Cao Zhen and Zhuge Liang fought twice: in the second year of Cao Wei's reign and in the sixth year of Jianxing of the Shu Han Dynasty (i.e., in 228 AD), Zhuge Liang launched the First Northern Expedition. Due to the lack of war for a long time, Cao Wei was ill-prepared, and in a hurry, three counties rebelled against Cao Wei and defected to Shu Han, and Long's right was shaken. When Zhuge Liang was divided into two roads, Zhao Yun led the larger suspects to the slope, and Zhuge Liang personally went to Longyou. In order to deal with Zhao Yun's threat, Cao Zhen had to garrison Guanzhong, and Zhang Gao broke through the Long Right to force Zhuge Liang to retreat; after the first fell, Cao Zhen judged that Zhuge Liang's second expedition would march from Chen CangDao and ordered Hao Zhao to repair Chen Cangcheng in advance. Sure enough, Zhuge Liang er took Chen Cangdao, because Hao Zhao had already prepared, so he also returned without success.
In addition, Cao Zhen also had a plan to take the initiative to attack Shu Han, and began to implement it, and Sima Yi on the central line also cooperated with Cao Zhen's actions and marched from Shangyong to Hanzhong. However, due to the rainy weather, the possible collision came to an abrupt end.
Qin Lang: One of the original auxiliary ministers, replaced by Cao Shuang and Sima Yi
Qin Lang's biological father was named Qin Yilu, and his birth mother was called Du Shi. Du Shi and Qin Lang entered Cao Cao's big family, and there is a more interesting story. Qin Yilu was originally Lü Bu's general, he went to Yuan Shu as an envoy, and Yuan Shu married Qin Yilu a new wife, a Han dynasty daughter, then Qin Yilu and Du Shi should also be considered peaceful. Du Shi stayed in Xia Pi.
In the third year of Jian'an in the Eastern Han Dynasty (i.e., in 198 AD), Cao Cao formed an alliance with Liu Bei, or Liu Bei defected to Cao Cao and attacked Lü Bu in Xia Pi with Cao Cao. During the siege of the city, Guan Yu asked Cao Cao to give Du Shi Xu to him on the grounds that his wife was childless. Cao Cao had agreed. As a result, when Xia Pi was about to be breached, Guan Yu reminded him again. Cao Cao then thought that Du Shi was very beautiful, and after entering Xia Pi, he observed Du Shi in advance, and sure enough, he was very beautiful, so he disregarded his promise to Guan Yu and took Du Shi as his own. Qin Lang also became Cao Cao's adopted son.
Qin Lang was deeply loved by Cao Cao, and Cao Cao repeatedly said to people: "Is there anyone in the world who loves a false son like a lonely person? However, unlike Cao Zhen, Cao Cao did not give Qin Lang the opportunity to play a political and military role; during the Cao Pi period, Cao Pi probably did not like Qin Lang and He Yan too much, and Qin Lang did not have the opportunity to become a soldier during the Cao Pi period; it was not until the Cao Rui period that Qin Lang was able to make a career and was deeply favored by Cao Rui.
Moreover, before Cao Rui's death, the list of the first batch of auxiliary ministers formulated by Cao Rui was not Cao Shuang and Sima Yi, but Cao Yu, Xiahou Xian, Cao Shuang, Cao Zhao, Qin Lang and others. Cao Yu was Cao Cao's son; Xiahou Xian failed to judge his origins, but from the surname point of view, it was undoubtedly Xiahou's son; Cao Shuang was Cao Zhen's son; Cao Zhao's son Cao Xiu's son; plus Cao Cao's adopted son Qin Lang, it can be seen that Cao Rui's list of auxiliary ministers was mainly based on cao's xiahou clan. However, Qin Lang had deep contradictions with Cao Wei ZhongshuLing, Zhongshu Supervisor Sun Zi, and Liu Fang. Under the influence of Sun Zi and Liu Fang, he eventually became Cao Shuang and Sima Yi, which also led to the weakening and demise of Cao Wei.
He Yan: Died in the struggle between Cao Shuang and Sima Yi
He Yan's biological mother, Yin Shi, was He Jin's daughter-in-law and also became Cao Cao's concubine, probably after the first year of Jian'an (i.e., 196 AD), when Cao Cao controlled the Eastern Han court. Cao Cao regarded both He Yan and Qin Lang as adopted sons, and the treatment was generous, and the personalities of the two adopted sons were completely different. Qin Lang had a cautious personality, while He Yan had no scruples, and his costume was similar to that of a prince, so he was also hated by Cao Pi. Therefore, like Qin Lang, He Yan did nothing during the Cao Pi period.
During the Cao Rui period, He Yan did not have much political influence. He Yan was an important figure in Wei and Jin metaphysics, and the custom of the Wei and Jin people to eat five stones began with He Yan. However, in Cao Rui's eyes, He Yan was only a "flashy celebrity" and could not be used much, so he did not reuse He Yan. It was not until Cao Rui's death, the young emperor Cao Fang ascended the throne, and Cao Shuang and Sima Yi jointly ruled, that He Yan and Deng Biao, Li Sheng, Ding Mi, and Bi Rail, who were "flashy celebrities", returned to the center of the political stage.
Cao Shuang's qualifications and merits were obviously far inferior to Sima Yi's. In order to be able to suppress Sima Yi, Cao Shuang fostered many henchmen, such as his brothers and fellow villagers, and these celebrities who were contained by Cao Rui. He Yan was an important figure in Cao Shuang's faction, and Ding Mi, He Yan, and Deng Biao all entered the Shang Shu Tai, and the administration, appointment and dismissal were unpopular, and they were evaluated as "three dogs in the platform". In the first ten years of Cao Wei's reign (i.e., 219 AD), Sima Yi took advantage of Cao Shuang's escort to Gaopingling to pay his respects, summoned the dead to launch a mutiny, and used Cao Shuang's cowardice to trick Cao Shuang into surrendering, and then killed Cao Shuang. Cao Shuang's big tree collapsed, and the henchmen of Cao Shuang's faction were not spared. He Yan originally wanted to see the wind and steer the helm, and turned to Sima Yi to liquidate Cao Shuang's henchmen, but was not pardoned by Sima Yi, and eventually died at the hands of Sima Yi.
Reference: "Three Kingdoms"