The three fathers and sons of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms were obsessed with a woman, one for her, one for her, one for her as a wife, and the other for her to write her into the famous passages of the ages. The woman's name was Zhen Mi (fú). What was the fate of this woman who made all three of Cao's father and son admire? It's just a phrase "give death." Legend has it that after her death, she was "covered with hair and covered with chaff", and her soul did not talk about it.
Zhen Mi
Zhen Mi, also known as "Lady Zhen", was a native of wuji, Hebei. The Zhen clan reached its peak during Wang Mang's new dynasty, and the ancestor Zhen Handan was given the title of "Chengxin Gong", but by the end of the Han Dynasty, the Zhen clan had declined. Zhen Mi's father, Zhen Yi, was shangcai ling, which was equivalent to the position of county order.
Legend has it that when Zhen Mi was a child, she had a jade robe covering her body every night, and seemed to be taken care of by "heavenly people". When Zhen Mi was three years old, her father died, and she was already able to feel the pain of the death of her relatives at a young age, and she cried sadly. The family was amazed by Zhen Mi's early wisdom, so they found a Xiangshi to show her, and Xiangshi predicted that this woman would be extremely valuable in the future.
Unlike the women in the general boudoir, Zhen Mi likes to read since she was a child and has her own views on things. Zhen Mi's brother once ridiculed her for studying and writing whether she would become a "female doctor" (an ancient official position) in the future, and she said that she wanted to learn from the past in order to be a virtuous woman.
Zhen Mi not only has an opinion, but also has a kind heart. Although the Zhen family declined, they were also "declining aristocrats" who had "stored grain" in their families. Seeing that the hungry people in her hometown were everywhere, Zhen Mi persuaded her mother to do good deeds and open a warehouse to relieve the disaster. When she saw that her mother was harsh on her widow (Zhen Mi's second brother died), she persuaded her mother to love her daughter-in-law as she loved herself. According to contemporary standards, Zhen Mi is completely a representative of "truth, goodness and beauty".
But even such a woman, in the chaotic world of the late Han Dynasty, was - "I can't help my life." Yuan Shao, one of the most powerful people in Ruyang at the end of the Han Dynasty, took a fancy to Zhen Mi, and then she married her son Yuan Xi. The husband and wife respect each other as guests, and Zhen Mi and her mother-in-law Liu Shi get along harmoniously. During Yuan Xi's tenure as the Assassin of Youzhou, Zhen Mi stayed in Yecheng to take care of her mother-in-law and did not accompany her. But the good life is always short-lived.
At this time, there were two major forces in the north: yuan shao on the one hand, controlling the lower reaches of the Yellow River; on the other hand, Cao Cao was south of the Yellow River and north of the Huai River and the Han River. The two sides form a north-south confrontation, as long as one of the parties is "eaten" by the north, it is unified. In June of the fourth year of Jian'an, Yuan Shao took the lead in attacking Xuchang. The "Battle of Guandu", one of the "three major battles" of the Three Kingdoms period, was thus opened.
Yuan Shao
Ye Shi said that Cao Cao had heard of Zhen Mi's beauty and that the battle against Yuan Shao was to capture Zhen Mi. The credibility of this legend is basically "〇", but it also confirms Zhen Mi's beautiful face from the side. And Zhengshi tells us that the Battle of Guandu ended with Yuan Shao's defeat and the fall of Yicheng, and Zhen Mi was indeed in Yecheng at this time.
Cao Cao
At this time, Cao Pi appeared. Before the fall of Yecheng, Zhen Mi and her mother-in-law Liu Shi did not have time to escape. Cao Pi, who had entered the city before his father, led his troops into the Yuan mansion and also met Zhen Mi first.
For the first meeting between Cao Pi and Zhen Mi, the history books record that Cao Pi saw a dirty young woman hiding behind Liu Shi and sobbing in the Yuan Mansion, so he asked Liu Shi about the identity of this woman, and when he learned that she was Zhen Mi, he raised his hand to lift Zhen Mi's face and wipe away the dust, found that Zhen Mi was as beautiful as rumors, immediately fell in love with her, and then married Zhen Mi as a wife with Cao Cao's consent, even if she was someone else's wife.
At the age of twenty-four, Zhen Mi remarried Cao Pi, who was very fond of her, and the two had a pair of children, son Cao Rui and daughter Princess Dongxiang. Cao Rui was the later Emperor Ming of Wei.
Cao Pi and Zhen Mi
Here is a brief talk about Zhen Mi's "ex-husband" Yuan Xi. Shortly after the defeat at the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao fell ill and died. Yuan Shao's sons were supposed to unite against Cao Cao, but they attacked each other, and Cao Cao was naturally happy to "watch the fire from the other side". Yuan Xi was later killed by Gongsun Kang and the first rank was dedicated to Cao Cao.
Zhen, who followed Cao Pi, further developed his virtues of "truthfulness, benevolence, and beauty". Cao Pi spoiled her for several years, and many other wives and concubines were dissatisfied, and she often instructed those concubines who were not favored to be motivated. She also carried forward the spirit of female morality and persuaded Cao Pi to collect more female dependents and spread more branches and leaves for Cao's family. How could Cao Pi not like such a woman with "instrumentality"?
Interspersed in the middle is a "ghost wife" story. Thirteen years after Jian'an, Cao Cao's youngest son, Cao Chong, died of illness at the age of thirteen. Cao Chong was the prodigy who "called the elephant", and Cao Cao had high hopes for Cao Chong and wanted him to inherit the great cause. Cao Cao's early death made Cao Cao very sad, and he chose the deceased daughter of the Zhen family to match his son with a "secret marriage". This also shows that Cao Cao attaches great importance to Zhen Mi and the family.
Cao Cao and Cao Chong
Let's talk about Zhen Mi and Cao Pi. In 220 AD, Cao Pi was proclaimed emperor, and Liu Xie, the emperor of Han Xian, not only took the throne, but also took the initiative to dedicate his two daughters to Cao Pi, plus the favored Concubine Guo Gui and other newcomers, even the Zhen family, who was as broad as the ocean, also had a grudge. The words of complaint reached Cao Pi's ears, and Cao Pi "borrowed the slope to get off the donkey", and snubbed Zhen more and more.
Guo Gui concubine
At this time, the third Cao Zhi of the Cao clan appeared. Cao Zhi was the third son of Cao Cao, and Cao Zhi's literary attainments can be called the masters of Jian'an literature, and his natural literati temperament is naturally different from that of his elder brother Cao Pi. In li si's consideration, Cao Cao also chose Cao Pi because of Cao Pi's "natural nature".
"Seven Steps into Poetry" Ma Shike
Cao Zhi
Cao Zhi first saw Zhen Mi in a family banquet, Cao Zhi admired Zhen Mi's beauty, and Zhen Mi admired Cao Zhi's temperament and talent. Emotions, stop at deeds. Cao Zhi injected his emotions into the text and wrote "Roselle Endowment". In the endowment, Cao Zhi expressed his sad feelings of "love but not can't" with the goddess, "thinking and admiring" and "being afraid of pan and not being able to go".
Illustration of Roselle
Cao Pi heard the rumors of the two and of course couldn't stand it. He already hated to poison Cao Zhi, but he couldn't just kill the killer because of rumors, so he ordered Zhen Mi to be executed. At the time of burial, Cao Pi also ordered zhen to be "covered with hair and covered with chaff", which means that his soul will have nothing to rely on.
The reason for Zhen Mi's death, there are other theories: "Guo Concubine framed and said", Guo Gui Concubine to Cao Pi into the slander frame led to Zhen's murder, Cao Pi for many years did not establish Zhen as the queen, this statement has a certain degree of rationality. "Cao Rui said for Yuan Xi's son", saying that Cao Rui was not Cao Pi's own child, which is extremely unreliable, how could Cao Pi's grandson succeed to his throne.
The so-called emotional "entanglement" between Zhen Mi and Cao Shi is mostly fabricated by posterity, but Zhen Mi's tragic end in life is indeed a historical fact. The appearance of the country and the city, the final enemy is not the emperor's ruthlessness.