In 226 AD, Cao Pi fell ill and died. After Cao Rui ascended the throne, he drew his sword and rushed into Empress Guo's palace, roaring angrily: "You killed my mother, I want to avenge her!" Empress Guo explained in horror: "The death of empress Xian was ordered by Emperor Xian himself, so what does it have to do with me?" Why are you and my mother and son?" Cao Rui cried with his headache, and the knife fell to the ground.
Cao Rui's biological mother was Empress Zhen, who was also known as the famous Three Kingdoms beauty Zhen Mi.
In the ninth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao attacked the city of Yicheng, and Cao Pi fell in love with Yuan Xi's wife Zhen at first sight in the city, and was incorporated into the palace.
After marriage, the two had a very sweet relationship, and successively gave birth to the later Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui and Princess Dongxiang.
After Cao Rui was born, he inherited the beauty of his mother and the talent of his father, and he was talented and beautiful from an early age. At that time, Cao Cao hugged this grandson and said happily, "I am based on Er III!" Meaning, with you, our Cao family can prosper for at least three generations!
Later, Cao Pi followed his father to enlist Sun Quan and took the child with him, but left Zhen in Yecheng.
In 220 AD, Cao Pi succeeded to the throne of Wei, and soon accepted the Zen concession of Emperor Xian of Han in Luoyang and ascended the throne as emperor.
What people did not expect was that after Cao Pi ascended the throne, he not only did not take the Zhen clan who gave birth to his eldest son to Luoyang and make him empress, but also gave him death! After her death, she was covered with chaff and her soul had nowhere to go!
After Zhen's death, Cao Rui was also implicated and deposed as the Marquis of Pingyuan.
According to the "Biography of the End of Wei", once, Cao Pi took Cao Rui to hunt. There was a mother and son deer in the field, and Cao Pi did not hesitate to shoot the doe, and then turned to Cao Rui and said, "You come and shoot that fawn!" Cao Rui hesitated and said with tears in his eyes, "Your Majesty has already killed the doe, and the subject cannot bear to kill her son again." ”
Hearing his son's words, Cao Pi was heartbroken, put down his bow and arrow, and also strengthened the heart of Establishing Cao Rui as the prince!
In the third year of the Huang Dynasty, Cao Pi promoted the Marquis of Pingyuan to the Title of Prince of Pingyuan and passed him on to Empress Guo. In this way, Cao Rui became a veritable eldest son.
Empress Guo was childless, so she was very fond of Cao Rui.
Four years later, Cao Pi died of illness, and Cao Rui naturally became emperor.
After ascending the throne, he posthumously honored his birth mother as Empress Wenzhao and Empress Guo as empress dowager.
However, someone told him that the death of Empress Zhen was caused by Empress Guo.
Therefore, Cao Rui drew his sword and rushed into the empress dowager's palace and questioned the cause of her birth mother's death. Empress Guo wept bitterly and said, "This matter was done by Emperor Xian, so why blame me?" You and I are also mother and son! ”
Thinking of Empress Guo's kindness to herself, Cao Rui put aside her hatred and treated the members of the Guo clan kindly. Since then, Guo Biao and Guo Xiang have been promoted.
Historically, the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui was shrouded in various clouds of doubt.
Some people suspect that he is not the son of Cao Pi, but may be the son of Yuan Xi, so Zhen's death is extinguished.
But this matter is untenable, the ancients talk about false age, so push forward the time to subtract one year.
In addition, at that time, Yicheng was besieged by Cao Cao for at least 4 months, and Yuan Xi himself was no longer in Yecheng. If Zhen was really pregnant, it would be impossible for no one to see it.
In addition, some people suspected that Cao Rui avenged his mother and killed Empress Guo. This is even more untenable, as Empress Guo died nine years after Cao Rui ascended the throne.
In fact, Cao Rui was very good to both his birth mother's family and his adoptive mother's family, and he was a well-known filial piety.
Moreover, he is also very successful in politics.
Cao Pi left Cao Rui with four assistant ministers, Sima Yi, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, and Chen Qun, all of whom were pinched to death during Emperor Ming's reign.
Cao Rui was well versed in the art of checks and balances, and had monopolized power very early on, making the auxiliary ministers useless. He repeatedly transferred Sima Yi and others to reduce their time in the capital and effectively reduce their influence.
Emperor Ming was rigorous in his work and good at receiving advice. While balancing foreign ministers, he also constantly weakened the power of the clan in order to achieve centralization.
Militarily, he reused Sima Yi, Zhang Gao, Cao Zhen and others, and frequently won foreign wars.
When Chen Shou wrote the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, he praised Emperor Ming as "Emperor Ming's perseverance and determination, acting with his heart, and covering the supreme general of the king." ”
In his "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," Liu Ye even more commented on Cao Rui: "Qin Shi Huang and Han Xiaowu are the only ones who are insignificant."
Even the Qin Emperor Han Wu was inferior to him, which showed the strength of his political behavior.
Unfortunately, Cao Rui only lived to be 36 years old. What is more regrettable is that his parents died early, and his adopted son is only 7 years old.
After that, the Cao Wei regime was in turmoil and came to an end.
Such an outcome is not unusual at all, Cao Rui's policy has always been to attack the clan and balance the family clan. But after his death, the youngest son could not balance the foreign ministers, and the clan could not compete with the family clan. In the end, the authority fell into the hands of the Sima family step by step, which was really regrettable!
If the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui could have lived a little longer, the direction of history would probably be completely rewritten.
Miraculously, everything was indeed as Cao Cao expected, and it flourished for three generations!
