In 196, Cao Cao greeted Liu Xie, the Emperor of Han, and gained the advantage of holding Tianzi hostage to order the princes. On this basis, Cao Cao eliminated Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao, Lü Bu, Liu Biao, Han Sui, Ma Chao, Zhang Lu, Zhang Xiu, and many other princes. Therefore, for Cao Cao, he fully possessed the strength and prestige to replace Emperor Xian of Han. However, everyone knows that Cao Cao did not claim the title of emperor until his death. In 220, Cao Cao died of illness in Luoyang. In this regard, Cao Pi first inherited the throne of the King of Wei. In the same year, under the threat of Cao Pi, the Han Emperor Liu Xiechan relinquished the emperor's throne, which meant the official demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
During the reign of Cao Pi, he had the ambition to unify the world. On this basis, Cao Pi attacked Eastern Wu many times, but there was no major gain. In 226 AD, Cao Pi died of illness in Luoyang at the age of 40, which naturally belonged to the situation of untimely death. After Cao Pi's death, his courtesy name was Emperor Wen and his temple title was Gaozu. So, the question is, cao pi, as the founding emperor of Cao Wei, why is the temple name Gaozu instead of Taizu? Correspondingly, Zhao Kuangyin, the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, the temple number is Taizu, and the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, is also Taizu.
One
Specifically, in ancient history, although the temple number began in the Shang Dynasty, in the pre-Qin period, the temple number was not used more. Since the Western Han Dynasty, temple trumpets have been promoted among emperors. Among them, when it comes to Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, many people's first reaction is Han Gaozu. However, in fact, Liu Bang's temple name was Taizu, not Gaozu. It was only because Liu Bang's courtesy name was Emperor Gao that there was a saying of Han Gaozu.
Now, for Cao Pi, the reason why the temple number "Gaozu" was used was because Taizu's temple number already had someone else. For Cao Cao, the temple name was Taizu and the title was Emperor Wu. Although the first emperor of Cao Wei was Cao Pi, Cao Wei's foundation was obviously laid down by Cao Cao. To a certain extent, Cao Cao could have been called emperor before his death. However, because he was a vassal of the Eastern Han Dynasty and did not want to bear the insult of usurping the throne, he gave up the opportunity to become emperor to Cao Pi.
As far as Cao Pi was concerned, naturally he did not dare to use Taizu's temple name, but posthumously sealed it to Cao Cao, otherwise the civilian generals left by Cao Cao would also strongly oppose it. Cao Pi must posthumously honor Taizu's temple title to his father, so as to gain the support of Cao Cao's subordinates and thus sit firmly on the emperor's throne.
Two
After Cao Pi, sima yan, the founding emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty, did not use the temple name "Taizu", but posthumously awarded it to Sima Zhao. As for Sima Yan himself, he used the temple name "Shizu". Sima Zhao (211 – September 6, 265), courtesy name Shang (子尚 in the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms), was a native of Wen County, Hanoi (present-day Wen County, Henan). For Sima Zhao, he participated in the Gaopingling Rebellion launched by Sima Yi. After the deaths of Sima Yi and Sima Shi, Sima Zhao began to take power over Cao Wei. At that time, Zhuge Zhi rebelled, and was pacified by Sima Zhao.
In 260, Sima Zhao sent people to kill Emperor Cao Huan and make Cao Huan emperor instead. It is true that the act of killing the emperor made Sima Zhao criticized. However, Sima Zhao's move also made Emperor Cao Wei's efforts to regain power completely fail. In 263, Sima Zhao mobilized an army of 180,000 and launched the Battle of Wei and Shu. In this battle, Deng Ai smuggled his troops into Yinping and forced the hou lord Liu Chan to give up resistance. In this regard, in the author's opinion, the demise of the Shu Han brought Sima Zhao's prestige to the peak. If it weren't for the fact that he died of illness in 265 AD, Sima Zhao could have taken his place.
Therefore, after Sima Zhao's death, Sima Yan was also not eligible to use the temple name taizu. By the time he ascended the throne, Sima Zhao had already paved the way for him, and Sima Yan only needed to follow the steps to establish the Western Jin Dynasty.
Three
In the same way, for Li Yuan, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, he posthumously awarded taizu's temple name to his grandfather Li Hu, while he only used the temple name "Gaozu". Li Hu (?) ~551), courtesy name Wenbin, was a native of Wuchuan Town, Northern Wei, whose ancestral home was a native of Chengji County, Longxi County (present-day Qin'an County, Tianshui City, Gansu Province), a native of Zhao County, Hebei Province, and a former great-grandfather of Li Shimin, a famous general of Northern Wei and Western Wei, one of the Eight Pillar States, the grandfather of Li Yuan, the grandfather of Tang Gaozu, and the great-grandfather of Li Shimin of Tang Taizong.
Li Hu is a gentleman and has great ambitions. Loves to read and is proficient in riding and shooting. Make friends and be charitable. Initially following Taibao Hebayue, he was deeply valued, from the Rebellion of Pingyuan Hao to defeat the Ugly Slaves of Wan Qian. After He Bayue was killed, he had planned to support He Basheng to succeed him, but was unsuccessful, so he followed Yuwen Tai. In the Battle of Lingzhou, Li Hu led the river to fill the enemy and defeated Cao Ni. Li Hu participated in several more conquests and became one of the "Eight Pillar States" of Western Wei, giving him the surname of Daye , Bai Taiwei , and was given the title of Duke of Longxi County. For Li Hu, the position of power is prosperous and incomparable. In the seventeenth year of the Western Wei Dynasty (551), he died of illness and was given the courtesy name Xiang.
After Li Hu's death, he was posthumously awarded the title of Duke of Tang by Northern Zhou. As far as Li Yuan is concerned, he directly uses Tang as the national name. It was precisely because of the foundation laid by Li Hu that Li Yuan was able to quickly raise an army in the last year of the Sui Dynasty. On the other hand, if Li Yuan was a self-made emperor like Zhu Yuanzhang, he could naturally use Taizu's temple number.
In general, on the emperor's temple number, Taizu was mostly founders, such as Liu Bang of the Han Taizu, Zhao Kuangyin of the Song Taizu, Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Taizu, and Nurhaci of the Qing Taizu. As for the temple title of Gaozu, it was mainly awarded to emperors who were second only to Taizu, such as Yang Jian, the Ancestor of Sui Gaozu, Li Yuan, and Cao Pi of Wei Gaozu.