In the "Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Wei Shu and Later Concubines", it is recorded that such a sentence is recorded: "Cao Shi is self-righteous and unworthy", which is a sentence said by Yu Shi, a concubine of Emperor Cao Rui of Wei Ming. Of course, this sentence has some angry words, but it points out a more interesting phenomenon of Cao Wei's canonization of empresses, that is, Empress Cao Wei is mostly a woman of humble origin, rather than a bridesmaid of the family. So under what circumstances did Yu Shi say this, and why did Cao Wei appear in this situation? Let's talk about this matter.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > empress of the powerful emperors of the Cao Wei dynasty</h1>
Since the phenomenon of Cao Wei's post-establishment is said, it is natural to detail the empresses of each generation of real-power emperors, because Cao Wei counts Cao Cao as a total of six emperors, and the last three have no actual power, but are kidnapped by Sima Shi. Their choice after the establishment may not be very convincing. The emperors of Cao Wei's power were Emperor Cao Cao of Wei, Emperor Cao Pi of Wei, and Emperor Cao Rui of Wei, and the empresses who were crowned empresses before their deaths were Empress Wu Xuanbian (actually Empress Wei, because Cao Cao did not claim the title of emperor), Empress Wendeguo, Empress Mao of Ming, and Empress Mingyuanguo. All four empresses were women of humble origin, and often had concubines as queens.
Empress Wuxuanbian: Empress Wuxuanbian is often referred to as Lady Bian. Lady Bian was born in the late days, originally a pro-pronged servant, with a low social status, and was rationed to Cao Cao as a concubine at the age of twenty. Twenty years old was already considered to be late marriage and late childbearing in the social background at that time, and it was difficult to have a relationship experience before Cao Cao. Under normal circumstances, it is difficult for Lady Bian to become the main room. However, the relationship between Cao Cao and Lady Ding broke down, and the impact of the three kingdoms chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty was relatively large, and in the end, Lady Bian was still supported by Cao Cao to the right position.
Empress Wendeguo: The love life of Cao Pi and Zhen is a topic that people talk about, and it also involves Cao Zhi, a tragic talent, but in the end, the throne of the empress still belongs to Empress Wendeguo, whose name is Queen Guo. In fact, Queen Guo's family lineage is not too low, far stronger than Lady Bian. Guo Yong, the father of Queen Guo, also served as the Taishou of Nan County. However, The fate of Queen Guo herself was not very good, her parents died early, and she was placed in the family of the Marquis of Tongyun (possibly married to the Marquis of Tongyun, or she may be a maid), and then gave Cao Pi as a concubine. Zhen's fall from favor was largely due to Queen Guo's favor. However, in the end, Queen Guo was also liquidated by Cao Rui, the son of Zhen.
Empress Mao of Ming: Empress Mao of Ming was the empress of Cao Rui and was chosen as Cao Rui's concubine during the early years of Cao Wei's reign, that is, during Cao Pi's lifetime. Empress Mao's family lineage was not too good, her father Mao Jia was originally just a Dianyu car worker (Dianyu is an official name, from the name point of view, it should be responsible for suburban hunting), Chen Zhi's "Biography of the Later Concubines" also has a more negative evaluation of Mao Jia: "The rich and the powerful", making some jokes when communicating with the upper class of Cao Wei.
Empress Mingyuan Guo: Empress Mingyuan Guo was also Cao Rui's empress, Empress Guo, like Queen Guo, originally had a good family lineage, born from the Hexi family, and as a result, because of the rebellion in Xiping County, Empress Guo's family should have participated, so she was taken into the palace. Empress Guo herself was also a side chamber, and she stepped on Empress Mao's ascension to the throne. Empress Mao was killed by Cao Rui for complaining about Cao Rui's snubs, and Empress Guo cleared the way and was made empress when Cao Rui was seriously ill. This was also the empress of Cao Wei's last generation of powerful emperors.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the background of "Cao's self-reliance"</h1>
Xiaobian also mentioned above that "Cao's self-righteousness and self-reliance" is an angry sentence of Cao Rui's concubine Yu Shi. Briefly speaking about the background of this angry sentence. Earlier when Cao Rui was the king of the plains, Na Hanoi Yu was a princess and belonged to Cao Rui's wife. Although it is not known what major figures with political influence have been produced by the Yu clan in Hanoi, it seems that from the performance of the Yu clan, it seems to be from the family family.
Later, Cao Pi fell seriously ill, and Cao Rui was made crown prince and ascended the throne after Cao Pi's death. As a princess, Yu Shi should have risen in the water and ascended the throne as empress. However, Cao Rui did not make Yu shi empress, but chose Mao Shi, which is the above-mentioned Empress Mao. This made Yu Shi feel very unhappy. Empress Bian persuaded Yu Shi, and Yu Shi said in such a scene that "Cao Shi is self-righteous and unworthy", and even Cao Wei "will perish and lose the country".
Empress Bian originally started in Hanwei and was born as the daughter of the advocate family, and of course she was unwilling to hear that "Cao Clan is self-righteous and lowly"; and Yu's words after her were no longer limited to the harem to compete for favors, but cursed Cao Shi. At the same time, offending Cao Rui and Empress Bian, Yu's fate would certainly not be too good, and he was deposed by Cao Rui and sent back to Yicheng, basically entering the cold palace.
Although Yu Shi was talking angrily, this was indeed the case after Cao Wei Li. Xiao Bian took stock of the four empresses of Cao Wei's shiquan emperor above, either from a humble background or originally a lady of everyone, but for various reasons, their families fell in the middle of the road. This was originally a private affair in the emperor's family, but because of the unique political status of the emperor's identity, the emperor's choice of concubines also had a strong political color. The scholars believed that only the virtuous women from the family were qualified to run the harem, on the one hand, as the emperor's inner helper, on the other hand, to maintain the ancient social atmosphere of dignity and inferiority. But it was clear that the rulers of Cao Wei did not eat this set.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the reason why "Cao's self-reliance"</h1>
So why didn't Cao Wei follow the set that the traditional scholars and masters respected, with the daughter of the family as the head of the harem, but preferred a woman with a humble origin? This also has to start from the political environment of the Eastern Han Dynasty. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the most active force in politics was often not the emperor, but foreign relatives and eunuchs. If it is further subdivided, the foreign relatives can be divided into the empress dowager and other sons of the emperor's foreign family. Sometimes the positions of the empress dowager and foreign relatives are not necessarily unified, or even tit-for-tat. But the power of the foreign relatives is undoubtedly based on the empress.
According to the records in the Book of Later Han and the Chronicle of Empresses, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, "the four emperors of the outer rulers, the six queens of the pro-dynasty", the four emperors of the Han An Emperor, the Han Emperor, the Han Huan Emperor, and the Han Ling Emperor were established by foreign relatives; Empress Dou (Empress Dowager Han Zhang), Empress Deng, Empress Yan, Empress Liang, Empress Dou (Empress Dowager Dou), Empress Dowager He of the Six Dynasties, regent,、、、s of the Lin Dynasty, Liang Ji, Dou Wu, He Jin, and other high-ranking foreign relatives took turns to appear. Although there are many foreign relatives who have better comments, such as Dou Wu and others, this is obviously not in line with the normal political environment in the eyes of the scholars.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the power of foreign relatives was too strong, and to a large extent, it led to the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty (Xiaobian believes that the most direct reason for the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty was Dong Zhuo's entry into Beijing, and the reason for Dong Zhuo's entry into Beijing was that of his foreign relative He Jin). Cao Wei took the Eastern Han Dynasty and replaced it, more or less taking the situation of the Eastern Han Dynasty as a lesson for the future. Therefore, during the Cao Wei period, great importance was attached to the containment of foreign relatives.
During Cao Cao's reign, Lady Bian tried to gain a higher political status for her brother Bian Bing, but Cao Cao refused, even though Bian Bing had been following Cao Cao in his conquests; during Cao Pi's reign, Cao Pi deliberately issued an edict that "women and government are the root of chaos", prohibiting Qunchen from playing to the empress dowager, and prohibiting foreign relatives from serving as auxiliary ministers. Cao Pi preserved this decree as an ancestral precept, just like the Western Han Dynasty's oath of "those who are not meritorious are not marquises, and those who are not Liu are not kings".
In Cao Wei, there was indeed no phenomenon of empress dowagers coming to the dynasty and foreign relatives assisting the government. Compared with the women of the noble family, the women from the cold door have shallow roots, the foreign family is weak, it is easier to control, and it is difficult to get the support of the scholars. This is probably the reason for "Cao's self-reliance".
References: Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Book of the Later Han Dynasty