Text/Comrade Guevara
In the second part of the "Alliance of Military Teachers", "Tiger Howling Dragon Yin", the relationship between empress dowager Guo Zhao and the Wei Ming emperor Cao Rui is portrayed badly, who blames Guo Zhao for the murder of his birth mother Lady Zhen and openly forces her to commit suicide. In fact, the fact that Emperor Ming forced Empress Guo to commit suicide does have a source in the history books, but it is full of doubts. So, was Guo Zhao really forced to die by Cao Rui?
In "The Alliance of Military Divisions", Guo Zhao was forced to die by Cao Rui
Before revealing the secret, let's first talk about the origin of Guo Zhao's name. In fact, Guo Zhao's real name does not appear in the historical records, we only know that her word is "queen". Regarding the origin of this word, according to Zhengshi, it was his father, Guo Yong, the Taishou of the Eastern Han Dynasty, who noticed that his daughter had been out of the ordinary since childhood, and once told everyone: "This woman is the female king of my Guo family. From this, Guo Girl used the word "queen".
When writing an inscription on Empress Wen Zhaochang, the adoptive mother of Emperor Wencheng Tuoba, You Ya, said that the empress dowager's name was similar to Empress Zhen of Cao Wei, but his colleague Chen Qi thought that this statement was wrong. Emperor Wencheng issued an edict examining the inscriptions and historical events, and it turned out that it was Empress Cao Weiguo whose names were similar to Empress Chang's, not Empress Zhen, and presumably Empress Chang and Empress Zhen's titles were Wen Zhao, resulting in You Ya's misremembering. Later, when they recorded this history, they mistakenly took Empress Wenzhao Chang as Empress Gao Zhaorong of Composition Zhao, and based on Empress Guo's sister Guo Yu's name from Japan, they speculated that Queen Guo's real name was Guo Zhao, which was actually a mistake.
Guo Zhao's character "queen", in fact, the real name does not appear in the history books
Queen Guo (hereinafter the same) came from a family of officials and eunuchs, because her parents and brother died early, so she waited until the war at the end of the Han Dynasty began, spent a period of exile and wandering, and finally lived in the Tongyan Hou family. After Cao Cao became the Duke of Wei, he recruited a side chamber for his second son Cao Pi, and the Tongyan Hou family took the opportunity to recommend Queen Guo to her, and was lucky enough to be selected. Although Empress Guo was three years older than Cao Pi, she was both talented and strategic, and she repeatedly offered good advice to Cao Pi in the battle of the crown princes, so she was deeply favored by the latter. Although Cao Rui's birth mother, Lady Zhen, was the main chamber, the most favored was Queen Guo.
After Cao Cao's death, Cao Pi rushed from Yecheng to Luoyang to take over, but left Lady Zhen in Yecheng. Cao Pi claimed the title of queen, and not only did not take Lady Zhen over, but instead made Queen Guo a lady, and her status was equal to that of the predecessors. Cao Pi claimed the title of empress dowager, and not only included the two daughters of Emperor Xian of Han into the palace, but also began to favor Li and Yin. Lady Zhen, who was stranded in Yecheng, was snubbed by Cao Pi, and seeing more and more enemies, it was inevitable that some resentful words would be revealed, and gradually spread throughout the palace and outside the palace.
Stills of Mrs. Zhen
In response to Lady Zhen's resentment, Cao Pi, instead of being warmly comforted, became angry and embarrassed, and in the following year (221), when he became emperor, he sent an envoy to put her to death. It is rumored that Cao Pi, in order to prevent Lady Zhen's ghost from haunting, also specially ordered Lady Zhen to cover her hair and cover her face during the funeral of Lady Zhen to plug her mouth. Regarding the murder of Lady Zhen, many people pointed the finger at Queen Guo, believing that it was caused by her slander. Just the year after Lady Zhen's death, Queen Guo ascended to the throne as empress as she wished.
However, although Empress Guo slandered Lady Zhen, she adopted her son Cao Rui as her adopted son, and took care of Youjia and regarded her as her own. However, although Cao Rui was forced to recognize Queen Guo as his mother, as a young man who was sixteen or seventeen years old, he was definitely indignant about the tragic death of his birth mother, but he was not allowed to serve Empress Guo with talent. And many people extended from this, believing that Cao Rui was secretly forcing Queen Guo's heart at this time.
The saying that "Cao Rui forced Empress Guo to kill" was very popular in history
When Cao Pi died, Cao Rui, as the crown prince, took the throne for Emperor Ming of Wei, and Empress Guo was naturally promoted to empress. After Emperor Ming ascended the throne, he quickly posthumously honored his birth mother Lady Zhen as empress, with the courtesy name "Wen Zhao". According to the usual logic of avenging her mother, what accompanies the pursuit of her birth mother must be the harm to Queen Guo. The Wei Dynasty historian Yu Feng's "Wei Luo" and the Eastern Jin Dynasty historian Xi's "Han Jin Spring and Autumn" are precisely the sayings that "Emperor Ming forced To kill Empress Guo".
The Wei Luo says that soon after Emperor Ming ascended the throne, he forced Queen Guo to be killed, and specially ordered that when she was buried, he would cover her hair and cover her face with chaff to plug her mouth, just like the story of Lady Zhen in those years: "Emperor Ming has established himself, and he has pursued Empress Zhen's son, so the empress dowager collapsed with sorrow." Zhen Hou came to the throne, and the emperor was subordinate to Lady Li. And the empress dowager collapsed, and the lady said that Zhen Hou saw the misfortune of the rumors, did not get a big curse, was covered with hair, the emperor mourned and wept, and ordered the funeral of the empress, all like the story of Zhen Hou. ”
Both Wei Luo and Han Jin Chunqiu say that the empress dowager was forced to be killed
The records of the Spring and Autumn of the Han Dynasty are much the same as those of Wei Luo, but there is a section in which Queen Guo questions Emperor Ming, insisting that the death of her mother was the claim of Emperor Wen Cao Pi himself, and had nothing to do with her: "In the beginning, The Curse of Empress Zhen, by the favor of Empress Guo, and the funeral, made the hair covered, with chaff plugging the mouth, then established Guo Hou, and made Emperor Yangming." Emperor Zhizhi was often angry, and he cried and asked Zhen Hou about his death. Guo Hou said: "Why did the former emperor commit suicide, so why did he blame me?" And Ru is the Son of Man, can he pursue the dead father, and kill the queen mother for the sake of the former mother? 'Emperor Ming was furious, so he forced him to kill him, and the mourner made Ru Zhenhou's story. ”
These two historical facts were widely circulated, so many people concluded that Queen Guo was indeed forced to die by Emperor Ming, but from the actual situation, it was very suspicious. First of all, Queen Guo died in the third year of Qinglong (235), at the age of 51, at this time it has been 9 years since Emperor Ming ascended the throne, if Emperor Ming wants to take revenge, how can he wait so long? Second, Queen Guo's courtesy name was "WenDe", and according to the law, "Wen" and "De" were both beautiful (or Shangyu), and if Emperor Ming really forced the empress dowager to die, then she would never be given a beautiful title after her death. Third, after The death of Queen Guo, her relatives did not suffer, but repeatedly added officials to the knighthood and received preferential treatment.
After Queen Guo's death, she was buried with Cao Pi in Shouyang Mausoleum
From these three points, it is inferred that Emperor Ming could not force The Killing of Queen Guo. As for the reason, in addition to the fact that Emperor Ming did not grasp the exact news that Queen Guo had killed Lady Zhen, it was also related to the fact that she had been deeply nurtured and loved by Queen Guo, and if she took revenge and forced the empress dowager to kill, she would definitely leave behind an insult of filial piety, which Wanfu pointed out. Therefore, whether in public or private, Emperor Ming had no motive to force The Killing of Queen Guo, which was the fundamental reason why the latter was able to die.