After the death of Emperor Cao Rui of Wei, his adopted son Cao Fang (曹芳), the third emperor of the Three Kingdoms of Wei after Cao Pi and Cao Rui, was the great-grandson of Emperor Cao Cao of Wei, the grandson of Cao Zhang, the Prince of Rencheng, and the son of Cao Kai.
On the sixth day of the first lunar month of the first decade (249), Cao Fang and the great general Cao Shuang's brothers and others went out of the city to worship Gaopingling, and Sima Yi, the taifu who had been dormant for a long time, took the opportunity to launch a coup d'état in the capital Luoyang, led the army to occupy the arsenal, tun troops Luoshui Pontoon Bridge, and controlled the capital, known in history as the "Change of Gaopingling".
From then on, the power of Cao Wei fell into the hands of the powerful minister Sima Yi.
After Sima Yi's death, his sons Sima Shi and Sima Zhao successively seized the power of the imperial government, and the power fell to the opposition, and the emperor was completely reduced to a puppet and became a decoration.
In the sixth year of Jiaping (254), Sima Shi deposed Emperor Cao Fang as the King of Qi and succeeded him as the Duke of Gaoguixiang, Cao Fu (曹髦), the fourth emperor of Cao Wei, who was the grandson of Emperor Wen of Wei and the son of Cao Lin the Prince of Donghai.
After Sima Shi's death, his brother Sima Zhao continued to exercise monopoly.
In the fifth year of Ganlu (260), Cao Xian was dissatisfied with Sima Zhao's dictatorship and could not bear it any longer, so he organized some slaves in the palace, boarded the carriage, and personally attacked Sima Zhao.
After Cao Huan's death, Sima Zhao consulted with the ministers and decided to make Cao Huan emperor and enshrine The Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui, who became the last emperor of Cao Wei.
Cao Yi was originally the grandson of Cao Cao, the Emperor of Weiwu, and the son of Cao Yu, the King of Yan, but at this time, he became Cao Rui's adopted son, a generation shorter, so that Cao Yu's biological father Cao Yu the King of Yan actually became his grandfather, which was a big surprise.
In the second year of Xianxi (265), after Sima Zhao's death, his son Sima Yan usurped the power of Cao Wei, Sima Yan could not hold back, did not want to wait any longer, forced Cao Yan to give way, Cao Wei perished, Cao Yan was demoted to the title of King of Chen Liu, Sima Yan established the Jin Dynasty, known as "Emperor Wu of Jin".
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records that the December month is nongzhi, the heavens are eternal, and the calendar is in Jin. Zhaoqun Gongqing Shi Yi set up an altar in the southern suburbs, so that the emissaries were enshrined in the Emperor's Seal Book, and Zen was located in the Jin Dynasty, such as the Han Wei Story. The messenger is entrusted. Therefore, it was changed to Kim Yong Seong, and the final building was in Ye.
Cao Yi was moved to Jin YongCheng, and when he left the city, Sima Fu bid farewell to Cao Yi, and Sima Fu took Cao Yi's hand and said with tears in his eyes: "I will be a loyal vassal of Great Wei until my death." ”
However, Sima Yan, the emperor of the Jin Dynasty, was not bad to Cao Yi, and did not poison Cao Yan, and Sima Yan not only made Cao Yan the King of Chen Liu and ate ten thousand households, but also let him live in Yicheng, giving him the use of the Tianzi Banner, practicing wei guo zhengshuo, and the suburban ritual system of heaven and earth were imitated by the wei state system.
This is not to mention, Sima Yan also gave Cao Yan special treatment of not being a vassal in a letter and not being commanded to worship.
In the first year of the reign of Emperor Tai'an of Jin (302), Cao Huan died in his fiefdom of Chen Liu, living to be fifty-eight years old, and the imperial court gave him the title of "Emperor Yuan" (元帝), known in history as "Emperor Yuan of Wei".
As the last emperor of Cao Wei, although Cao Huan was a puppet, he died well.