The Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui was a grandson of Cao Cao, the son of Cao Pi, who died after only 36 years of age. After Cao Rui's death, the 8-year-old Cao Fang took the throne, and Cao Shuang and Sima Yi assisted in the government, and as a result, the power eventually fell into the hands of Sima Yi. In the early days of Emperor Wei's reign, he was still relatively successful, but as soon as Zhuge Liang died, he began to focus on enjoying himself...
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From an early age, Cao Rui was handsome, otherworldly, young and intelligent, knowledgeable and knowledgeable, and never forgot. His grandfather Cao Cao was amazed and loved him, often accompanying him. On May 17, the seventh year of the Huang Dynasty (226), Emperor Wen died. The young Cao Rui ascended the throne in Luoyang for Emperor Ming of Wei. With the assistance of Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, Chen Qun, and Sima Yi, he began his twelve-year reign.
During His reign, Cao Rui commanded Cao Zhen, Sima Yi, and others to successfully defend against wu and Shu's many attacks, and pacified Xianbei, attacked Gongsun Yuan, set up a system of doctors of law, attached importance to the trial of prison lawsuits, and worked with Shangshu Chen Qun and others to produce the eighteen articles of the Wei Law, which was a major progress in the history of ancient code compilation. Emperor Ming of Wei was quite accomplished militarily, politically, and culturally, so history has many positive evaluations of Cao Rui.
However, beginning in 235 AD, Cao Rui suddenly seemed to have changed his nature, and he began to build a large number of civil palaces, recruiting women to enrich his post-officials, and then hanging on the first day of the first month of the first month of 239 AD. So what exactly made Cao Rui change so much? I think there are two things:
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="6" > Zhuge Liang died of illness</h1>
In 234, Zhuge Liang died of illness during the Fifth Northern Expedition, which made Cao Rui completely relax. Cao Rui was actually quite sad, he took the throne in 226 AD, and Zhuge Liang also began to prepare for the Northern Expedition from this year. From the beginning of the First Northern Expedition in 228 AD to the death of Zhuge Liang in the Fifth Northern Expedition in 234 AD, Zhuge Liang's five Northern Expeditions all occurred during Cao Rui's reign.
Although Cao Wei's strength was far stronger than that of Shu Han, and it seemed that Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition did not pose much of a threat, this actually caused great trouble to Cao Wei. Every time Zhuge Liang sent troops, Cao Wei was almost a national shock, large-scale army movements, grain and grass transportation, although from the records, Wei Ming Emperor every time planned, in fact, Zhuge Liang gave Cao Rui a lot of pressure.
During Zhuge Liang's Fifth Northern Expedition, Sima Yi led his army to resist, and Cao Rui issued an edict to Sima Yi: "Jianbi is defended and does not engage the Shu army, so that they cannot advance, and after a long time, the grain and grass are not good, they will definitely retreat, and when they retreat, they will pursue, in order to wait for work, this is the right way to win." As a result, Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi confronted each other for more than a hundred days, and Zhuge Liang died of overwork, and Cao Rui can be said to have finally breathed a sigh of relief.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" > to repel Sun Quan</h1>
Although Cao Wei was powerful, the threats he faced also came from many sources, not only Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, but also Eastern Wu Sun Quan launched several attacks. In August 226, shortly after Cao Rui succeeded to the throne, Sun Quan thought that Cao Pi had just died and led a large army to attack Jiangxia and Xiangyang, but did not make a profit. In 228, Lu Xun defeated Sima Cao Xiu of the State of Wei at the Battle of Shiting, and fiercely thwarted Cao Wei's attack.
In 234, Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition was coordinated with Sun Quan, who launched the Northern Expedition in February; Sun Quan led his troops to personally conquer Hefei New City in May, in order to echo Zhuge Liang and threaten Cao Wei to the greatest extent. Sima Yi resisted Zhuge Liang in Longxi, and while Cao Rui ordered the Hefei garrison to hold on, the imperial conscription of Sun Quan, Sun Quan could not attack the city, and saw that Cao Rui led a large army to come, so he withdrew.
Although Cao Rui did not confront Sun Quan head-on, Sun Quan did retire, so this credit can be counted on his head. Sun Quan withdrew from the army and Zhuge Liang died of illness, these two things made Cao Rui feel that there was no threat anymore. Once Zhuge Liang died, the Shu state was powerless, repelling Sun Quan by himself, and could also make Wu guo peaceful for a while, so Cao Rui began to enjoy extravagant pleasures.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="14" > to build palaces and recruit women</h1>
Since 235 AD, Cao Rui has built a large number of civil engineering projects, successively building Xuchang Palace, Luoyang Palace, Zhaoyang Taiji Hall, and Zongzhangguan, which is recorded to be more than ten zhang high, equivalent to thirty or forty floors today. In order to build these palaces, Cao Rui constantly conscripted laborers, ranging from 30,000 to 40,000 to hundreds of thousands, resulting in almost a halt to agricultural production around Luoyang.
Cao Rui widely recruited women in the folk, but all those who had some posture did not let go, "from the nobles below to the court sweeping, all thousands of people", from nobles to cleaning palace women there are thousands of people. What is even more absurd is that Cao Rui also selected six harem beauties who could read and write as female Shangshu, and those courtiers who did not go through Shangshu Province directly played the song were handed over to these six female Shangshu to deal with, and they had the right to directly play it.
Because of excessive indulgence, Cao Rui had never had a son, and at that time, the court lieutenant Gao Rou wrote to advise Cao Rui to stay away from women, saying that the Zhou Li stipulated that the Tianzi could have one hundred and twenty concubines below, "the prosperity of the holy heirs, and the ability to be able to do so", saying that Cao Rui had no children under his knees, probably for this reason, suggested that Cao Rui choose a small number of virtuous and beautiful women, and send all the rest home, and then "cultivate the spirit and cultivate the gods, and concentrate on tranquility as a treasure", and soon there will be more children and grandchildren, but unfortunately Cao Rui will not listen.
On the first day of the first lunar month in the third year of the Jing Dynasty (239), Emperor Wei Ming died at the Jiafu Hall of Luoyang Palace at the age of thirty-six. Cao Cao lived for 66 years, Cao Pi lived for 40 years, but Cao Rui only lived for 36 years, and I am afraid that the reason why Cao Rui lived so short was inseparable from "absurd luxury". Without the pressure of Zhuge Liang and Sun Quan, Cao Rui let go of himself, and as a result, only a few years later, he hung up on the first day of the New Year.
References: Notes on Pei Songzhi in romance of the Three Kingdoms, Lu Simian in History of the Three Kingdoms, Romance of the Three Kingdoms