Wei Palace Raiders: How a miscellaneous slave maid became an empress
Empress Wende Guo (文德郭皇后), whose name is unknown, was a native of Guangzong County, Anping Commandery (安平郡, in modern Guangzong, Hebei), the second daughter of Guo Yong (郭永), the empress of Emperor Cao Pi of Wei. Guo's young boy Xiuhui, father Guo Yongqi said: "This is my daughter Wang Ye." "So I took the queen as the word.
Guo's parents were lost early and he was displaced from a chaotic world. When Cao Cao was the Duke of Wei, he entered cao pi's eastern palace and was deeply favored. In the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an (220 AD), Cao Pi took the throne, and Guo Shi was made a lady (empress dowager), and in the same year Cao Pi was zen, and Guo Shijin was made a concubine (empress). In the third year of the Huang Dynasty (222 AD), Guo shizhi was made empress.
In the seventh year of the Huang Dynasty (226 AD), the Wei Emperor Cao Pi died, and Cao Rui the Prince of Pingyuan succeeded to the throne, honoring Guo as empress dowager. In the spring of the third year of the Qinglong Dynasty (235 AD), Guo died in Xuchang and was buried in the Shouyang Mausoleum in Luoyang, known as Empress Wende.
During the Yellow Turban War at the end of the Han Dynasty, Both of Queen Guo's parents died, and she was also in a turbulent displacement, from an official eunuch qianjin to a wandering girl, and later became a miscellaneous slave of the Hou family in Tongyan (present-day Qin County, Shanxi). Because of his beauty and brilliance, in the eighteenth year of Jian'an (213 AD), he was given as a gift by his master to Cao Cao, who was then the Duke of Wei, and was later sent to serve Cao Pi and give Cao Pi a concubine. At that time, Cao Pi had been married to the beautiful woman Zhen for many years, but Queen Guo, with her intelligence and rationality, soon made Cao Pi's eyes shine, and was appreciated and favored by Cao Pi.
Empress Guo was very politically minded, and in the process of Cao Pi's struggle with her brothers for the son of the Prince of Wei, she repeatedly made strange plans, "always offered", analyzed the situation for Cao Pi, gave advice, and finally made Cao Pi win surprisingly, and became Cao Cao's legal successor as he wished. In the pen of Chen Shou, who is as good as gold, the sentence "Emperor Wen (Cao Pi) is designated as an heir, and then there is a plot" (see "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"), which shows That Queen Guo's extraordinary political intelligence and her great assistance to Cao Pi in the struggle to seize the heir.
In the first month of the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an (220 AD), Cao Cao died of illness, and Cao Pi succeeded him as the King of Wei and The Chancellor, and Empress Guo was also given the title of "Lady". In October of the same year, Cao Pi was enthroned as Emperor Xian of Han, and became the founding emperor of Cao Wei. Cao Pi was proclaimed empress, and choosing who to be empress between Zhen and Queen Guo became a thorny consort. Zhen was the original match of Cao Pi, who was quiet and filial to the elders, and gave birth to the eldest son and eldest daughter for Cao Pi, and naturally should become an empress. But in fact, Cao Pi only named Zhen a "lady", but promoted Queen Guo to a "noble concubine". Concubines were a newly established rank of Cao Pi, second only to empresses, and Queen Guo later came to the top.
The delay in establishing the empress shows that Cao Pi has already transferred his affection for Zhen and even caused some boredom. Cao Pi was a man and a husband, but he was also an emperor. In Cao Pi's view, Zhen's appearance is only beautiful, and her appearance does not allow Zhen's, and Queen Guo, who is very politically strategized, knows Cao Pi's mind better. Compared with Zhen, Cao Pi is more pleased and more dependent on Queen Guo, a beautiful woman who can be a husband, and she is the like-minded person that Cao Pi needs, and she is also the political partner who will assist him in handling national affairs in the future. With the passage of time, Zhen's position in Cao Pi's mind declined, while Queen Guo became more and more favored. In June of the second year of the Huang Dynasty (221 AD), Cao Pi put Zhen to death with an edict, apparently clearing the way for Queen Guo to ascend the throne.
Zhen's death is generally believed to be the pillow wind blown by Queen Guo, but it is not. In fact, Zhen is looking for his own death. Zhen is five years older than Cao Pi, and although he is "extraordinary in color", he cannot withstand the wear and tear of time, and the longer the time, the more Zhen's beauty and power are reduced. In order to consolidate favor and grasp Cao Pi's heart, Zhen went so far as to generously persuade Cao Pi many times to "seek Shuyuan widely and succeed him with abundance" and suggested that Cao Pi marry more wives and concubines, which is obviously beyond the emotional scope of a woman, and is obviously putting on a show. After Cao Pi ascended the throne, there were indeed beautiful women around him, and Zhen gradually fell out of favor, and could not help but be "frustrated and complained" (see "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"), and even wrote a poem "Tang Shangxing" to complain about Cao Pi. Zhen's complaints angered Cao Pi and caused him to kill himself.
Generations of literati loved beauty and liked to blame the death of the red face on the harem. In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it is said that Queen Guo conspired with Zhang Tao to create the so-called "Witch Deception" incident and reported that Zhen Shi wanted to murder Cao Pi in this way, which was really out of thin air. Chen Shou also believes that "the death of Zhen Hou is also favored by Hou (Queen Guo)", although this statement has some truth, it is biased. Cao Pi was a pan-lover, and at that time he was not exclusively fond of Queen Guo, but "Guo Hou, Li, Yin Guiren and Loved Luck" (see Romance of the Three Kingdoms). Zhen Also said in the poem "Tang Shangxing" that "all mouths are shining gold, so that junsheng will be separated", which shows that it is the concubines of the harem who slander her, not Queen Guo alone. After Zhen's death, Queen Guo was the biggest beneficiary of the crown and the most suspicious, so she was orchestrated as the first criminal who framed Zhen, and the literati of all generations also pointed the spearhead at her.
Queen Guo's ascension to the throne was not all smooth sailing. In September of the third year of the Huang Dynasty (222 AD), Cao Pi proposed to make Queen Guo empress, but was opposed by his ministers. They believe that the kings and queens of the past are particularly cautious, "they must take the ancestral family of the ancestors, and choose their orders to unify the six palaces", Queen Guo is not from a famous family, and she has been a slave, not worthy of being a wife, and even less worthy of being an empress. After hearing the news, Queen Guo took retreat as an advance, and the above table depreciated herself, saying that she was indeed not qualified to be an empress. Empress Guo's statement further strengthened Cao Pi's original intention, so she insisted on making her empress, and handed over to her to raise Cao Rui, the son of Zhen, and at the same time "gave the world a male knight of the second rank; widows and widows and those who could not survive on their own" (see "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"),so that the people of the world could be grateful to Queen Guo.
In addition to her superior wisdom, Queen Guo's wisdom is also worthy of praise. As the mother of a country, Queen Guo was careful and cautious in everything, taking Empress Hanming As an example and trying to curb family power, especially the control of her mother's family. Liu Fei, the in-law, wanted to marry a woman from another country in order to climb the dragon and attach a phoenix, and Guo Hou gave warnings and criticisms; from his brother Guo Biao wanted to cut off the river fishing of caoyun, which was detrimental to public wealth and private interests, and was rejected by Queen Guo; his nephew Meng Wu, who used the power of his aunt and wanted to marry a little wife, was also severely stopped by her. In addition, Queen Guo also specially issued an edict to her relatives, warning them to clean themselves and not to be extravagant and lascivious, otherwise they would be severely punished. It can be said that in the final Wei Dynasty, none of Queen Guo's relatives dared to bully others, flaunt their might, and do evil deeds.
This is true of relatives, and it is also true of the harem concubines. Queen Guo was once a slave, a former concubine, a former concubine, and she was well aware of the pains and difficulties of living under people, so she was very tolerant of harem concubines and maids. At that time, the harem chai nobles were favored, and Queen Guo was not jealous, but only taught, persuaded, rewarded, and guided them; other concubines and concubines had faults, and Queen Guo always tried to excuse them. Cao Pi claimed the title of empress, and her temper became worse and worse, and she became angry at every turn, and the concubines would be punished if they did not pay attention, and even their lives were not guaranteed. Whenever Cao Pi was angry, Queen Guo often blamed herself for herself, and apologized for her sins on behalf of others, so she was respected and appreciated by everyone. Under the auspices of Queen Guo, Cao Pi's harem order was very harmonious, and "the six palaces had no complaints" (see Romance of the Three Kingdoms).
In May of the seventh year of the Huang Dynasty (226 AD), Cao Pi died of illness, and Cao Rui took the throne, honoring his adoptive mother Queen Guo as empress dowager. In the spring of the third year of qinglong (235 AD), Empress Guo drove Xuchang at the age of fifty-two. Some people believe that Queen Guo was forced to die by Cao Rui to avenge her birth mother, but this is not the case. If Cao Rui really wanted revenge, as soon as he became emperor, he could attack Queen Guo, how could he still be filial to her, still greet her sooner or later, and tolerate her to live for another nine years? In the historical data, only the Wei Luo and the Han Jin Chunqiu mention that The death of Empress Guo was related to Cao Rui, and later Zhao Yi argued in the "Three Congresses" that this was not true, "Although Emperor Gaiming hated Guo, he was established by the previous emperor, worshipped a false name, lived in Xuchang in vain, and did not force him to kill him." After The death of Queen Guo, Cao Rui was buried in the west of Shouyang Mausoleum (i.e., Cao Pi's Mausoleum). Such an arrangement once again reflects Cao Rui's respect and affirmation for Queen Guo.
(End of this article)