The "male god" Grand Eunuch - Cao Cao's grandfather Cao Teng

Last time, we learned about the history of the Yuan Shao family. Today, let's take a look at the family history of his rival Cao Cao. This article mainly introduces Cao Cao's grandfather Cao Teng, a great eunuch who was in the middle and late Eastern Han Dynasty.

Speaking of eunuchs, they are often not well-known, such as Zhao Gao, Zhang Rang, Liu Jin, Wei Zhongxian and so on. In the middle and late period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there were two "disasters of the party", and the eunuch clique persecuted a large number of celebrities. The scholar hated the eunuch to the bone. But our protagonist, Cao Teng, as a powerful eunuch, has a surprisingly good reputation. From the emperor and empress dowager to the foreign relatives, they all praised him. Such a strange person can really be said to be the "male god" in the eunuch.

Nonsense, the following begins to introduce the life of the eunuch Cao Teng.

Cao Teng was a native of Peiguo County (沛国谯县; present-day Bozhou, Anhui). During the reign of Emperor An of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the young Cao Teng entered the palace as a eunuch and began his court career of more than thirty years.

At a young age, Cao Teng showed a cautious and loyal, youthful and old-fashioned personality. At that time, Empress Deng, who was listening to the government of the dynasty, admired Cao Teng. Her grandson, the young crown prince Liu Bao (later Emperor Shun of Han), reached the age when it was time to go to school. She asked Cao Teng to be the prince's book boy. The little prince was very close to this big brother.

Crown Prince Liu Bao was the only son of Emperor An of Han. His life should have been smooth. But fate made a lot of jokes about him. His mother was a palace maid, and soon after giving birth to him, she was poisoned by the cruel queen. His nursing mother and close subjects were also killed by the villains around his father. Although he was made crown prince, he was eventually deposed. He was only 11 years old when his father died. As the only son, he could not attend his father's funeral, but could only cry bitterly in the palace. The Empress chose another person to succeed to the throne.

As Liu Bao's close attendant, Cao Teng carefully protected the poor child, trying to make him less hurt in the brutal political struggle. And as far as possible, Liu Bao won the sympathy of the courtiers.

At this time, the subordinate eunuch Sun Cheng and nineteen other people, seeing the opportunity, launched a coup d'état. They launched a surprise attack on the Queen Group. All the courtiers sided with Liu Bao. They overthrew the forces that were close to the empress, and then helped Liu Bao to take the throne.

After Emperor Shun of Han ascended the throne, he thanked the eunuchs for their merits and made Sun Cheng and nineteen others marquises. The mastermind Sun Cheng was even given the title of Marquis of Wanhu.

In the era of The Shun Emperor of Han, the power and status of eunuchs in the Han Dynasty were greatly enhanced. From supporting roles in the political arena, they gradually developed into the most powerful force, standing on three feet with foreign relatives and scholars.

Cao Teng, who had been friends with Emperor Shun since childhood, was also reused. His position was promoted to Zhongchang Shi (中常侍) and DaChangqiu (大長秋). Those who are familiar with the history of the late Eastern Han Dynasty know that Zhongchang Shi was a hot official position. The Great Changqiu is the head of the Changqiu Palace where the Empress resides. Zhongchang Waiter and Grand Changqiu is one of the most important characters among eunuchs.

The nineteen marquises appointed by Emperor Shun were originally mostly low-level eunuchs. With their meritorious service, they successfully ascended to the throne and became the upstarts of the Shun Emperor Dynasty. Most of them did not obey the law after coming to power, and most of them were later deposed. Cao Teng, a close confidant of Emperor Shun and always cautious and loyal, never made any mistakes and was always valued.

Unlike other eunuchs who embezzled and accepted bribes, oppressed the people, fought for power and profit, and attacked the warrior clan, Cao Teng used his position to recommend many famous scholars and courtiers. For example, Chen Liuyufang, Bian Shao, Nanyang Yangu, Zhang Wen, Hongnong Zhang Yi, Yingchuan Tang Fengdian and so on. Among these people were the Great Confucians, the famous scholars, many officials to the Three Princes and Nine Secretaries, and even the anti-eunuch fighters in the calamity of the party. This made Cao Teng also enjoy a high prestige among the scholars.

After the death of Emperor Shun of Han, his young successor, Emperor Chong of Han, also died shortly thereafter. Later, the nine-year-old Emperor Of Han was poisoned by his foreign minister Liang Ji. The eastern Han dynasty emperor was once again severed. Cao Teng recommended Liu Zhi the Marquis of Liwu to his ruling cousin Liang Ji. This was the later Emperor Huan of Han. Because of his meritorious service, after Emperor Huan ascended the throne, He made Cao Teng the Marquis of Feiting. Later, in recognition of his decades-long loyalty to the imperial family, Emperor Huan appointed him a special jin, second only to the Three Dukes.

Cao Teng is a generous person, and he can also tolerate those who offend him. Once, Shu Jun's Taishou wanted to bribe him. When his subordinate officials entered the capital to report on their work, Taishou asked them to bring their belongings and letters to Cao Teng. However, the letter was found on the way by the Yizhou Thorn Shi Zhong, who was in charge of supervision. As a result, The Assassin Shi Zhongzhong reported Taishou for bribery and impeached Cao Teng at the same time. However, Cao Teng did not know about this matter, and Emperor Huan did not pursue his fault. Although the defendant was accused, Cao Teng did not remember to hate Zhongxuan, but often praised Zhongxuan to others, saying that he was a good official who was responsible and dared to act. Under the publicity of Cao Teng, the reputation of The Seed Pavilion was greatly shocked. He was later promoted to Situ (Zai Chancellor). He often told others that his ability to reach the third duke was all due to Cao Teng. Cao Teng did not hesitate to respect the practice of Nengchen and won himself a good reputation.

Cao Teng experienced the five dynasties of Emperor An of Han, Emperor Chong, Emperor Qian, Emperor Shun, and Emperor Huan. During this period, the government was chaotic, and there were the disasters of eunuchs persecuting the clans, as well as two coups d'état by eunuchs against foreign relatives. I don't know how many powerful foreign relatives, eunuchs, and courtiers died and died. Cao Teng is in a chaotic situation, and it is not easy to always be in a high position and enjoy a good name. It can be seen that he is indeed a cautious and self-respecting person.

After Cao Teng's death, he left a rich political and economic legacy for future generations. His adopted son Cao Song (曹嵩), the official To taiwei (who had gained money by bribing eunuchs and donating money). His grandson Cao Cao was able to raise filial piety at the age of twenty, and before he was thirty years old, he became the minister of Jinan at the provincial and ministerial levels. Cao Cao's rival Liu Bei, on the other hand, was awarded the rank of county lieutenant only after he risked his life to make meritorious contributions in the war to suppress the peasant uprising. Compared with Liu Bei, who fought hard when he made his debut, Cao Cao, who came from a large family, was still very lucky.

There were many eunuchs in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, but most of them did not fare well, and their descendants were rarely developed. Only Cao Teng was the exception. This is due to Cao Teng's long-term marriage of good doctors and foreign relatives. Originally, the scholar looked down on the eunuchs. After Cao Cao served as a eunuch, he was able to recruit a large number of outstanding scholars (such as Xun Yu) under his command, which was inseparable from Cao Teng's high prestige among the scholars.

The Cao family and the Xiahou family were full of talents, such as Cao Hong, Cao Ren, Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, Xiahou Huan, Xiahou Yuan, etc., who gave great help to Cao Cao's career. These people were able to become excellent generals, probably because Cao Teng provided them with the opportunity to study and become officials and make friends with Haojie.

Cao Teng was later posthumously honored as Emperor Gao of Wei by Emperor Ming of Wei. He became the only eunuch in Chinese history to have the title of emperor.

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms states that Cao Teng was a descendant of Cao San, the founding hero of the Western Han Dynasty. This is suspicious. Eunuchs are mostly from the lower classes of society. After Cao San, I am afraid that he will not fall to the point of becoming a eunuch. This is likely to be the high branch of the Cao family climbing Cao ginseng.

What is the relationship between Cao Teng and his adopted son Cao Song? Some history books say that Cao Song's original surname was Xiahou. But modern DNA technology disproves this claim. Experts deduce that Cao Song may be a descendant of Cao Teng's clan.

Yuan An was loyal to the country, regardless of life and death; Cao Tengguang was kind and recommended by many institutes. Their families have long prospered. It can be seen that if the family wants to prosper for a long time, it is indispensable to stand on morality.