The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and Emperor Wu begins: "Emperor Taizuwu, Pei Guoren, surnamed Cao, Zhen Cao, Zi Mengde, Han Xiangguo (曹) after the reference. Chen Shou said that Cao Cao was a descendant of Cao Shan, the second chancellor of the Western Han Dynasty. Records such as the Romance of the Three Kingdoms abound. Liu Bei was a descendant of Liu Bang, Sun Jian was a descendant of Sun Wu, and Xiahou Huan was a descendant of Xiahou Bao. In fact, whether Cao Cao was a descendant of Cao Shan or not, no one can say clearly, since Chen Shou said so, we had to wait for this.
Neither the Book of The Later Han Dynasty nor the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a separate biography of Cao Cao's father, Cao Song, and some information about Cao Song's life is scattered in the biographies of his adoptive father Cao Teng and son Cao Cao.
As for Cao Song's lineage, the Later Han Shu Cao Teng Biography says: "Cao Teng's character Ji Xing, Pei Guochen (沛国谯) (present-day Bozhou City, Anhui Province) also ... Teng, adopted son Song Si..." The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and Emperor Wu of the Three Kingdoms says: "Emperor Huan, Cao Teng was the Chief Attendant of the Zhongchang Dynasty (The Chief Of the Court), and the Marquis of Feiting. The adopted son Song Si, the official to the lieutenant, can not judge his birth to the end. Song Sheng Taizu. ”
Cao Cao
The information revealed by Zhengshi is that the eunuch Cao Teng at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, a native of Peiguo County, had an adopted son named Cao Song, and after Cao Teng's death, his title was inherited by Cao Song, but it is not clear who Cao Song's biological father's surname was.
Cao Cao was Cao Song's biological son, which is undoubtedly righteous. Cao Cao's surname was Cao because his father Cao Song was surnamed Cao. To argue what Cao Cao should have been, it should be argued what Cao Song had before he adopted Cao Teng.
Cao Song's surname is Cao, and there are two possibilities.
1. Cao Song's original surname was Cao, that is, his blood relatives and ancestors were surnamed Cao, and after inheriting Cao Teng as an adopted son, they were still surnamed Cao, that is, the adopted surname of Cao.
2. Cao Song was not originally surnamed Cao, but after succeeding Cao Teng as an adopted son, he changed his surname to Cao, that is, the adoption of cao with the surname Cao was not surnamed Cao.
The county was the birthplace of the two surnames of Xiahou and Cao, and the Xiahou and Cao clans were the noble families of Xiahou and Cao, and their intermarriage situation should have been well known and well-documented at that time, and Chen Shou's record should not be wrong. Since Cao Song has intermarried between the Cao clan and Xiahou generations, according to the custom of not intermarriage between the same clan, it shows that Cao Song's descended Cao clan and Xiahou are not of the same clan in blood, that is, Cao Song was not originally surnamed Xiahou.
If we carefully read the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, we know that the information of Cao Song's original surname Cao is scattered in many places. "Romance of the Three Kingdoms and The Biography of Cao Of the Marquis of Zhuxia": "Cao Ren Zi Xiao, Taizu (referring to Cao Cao) from (polysyllabic character, here pronounced zòng) brother also." "Cao Hong's character is incorruptible, and Taizu is from his brother." "Cao Xiu Zi Wen Lie, Taizu Zi Ye." "Cao Zhen Zi Dan, Taizu Zi Also."
Cao Ren
Let's see what it means to be "from" from the brother and the "clan" of the clan.
Looking at the "Ciyuan" shows that in ancient Chinese, the same clan was inferior to the closest relatives called "from (from the simplified character)".
"Close relatives" refers to blood relatives, and feudal society is based on patrilineal blood. Brothers born to the same father (not necessarily the same mother) are considered close brothers. Brothers who are "inferior to relatives" should refer to cousins (born of the same grandfather) and brothers of the same generation who are more distantly related.
The so-called clan refers to a collection of males who are related by blood.
The so-called clan son refers to the son of the brothers of the same generation who are related by blood.
From the harmony family, these are two concepts that are both interrelated and distinct from each other. Generally speaking, those whose blood relations are close to (including great-grandfathers) are called "from", such as from brothers and subordinates; those who are far away from great-grandfathers are called "clans", such as clan brothers and clan sons. The brother's son was specially called a nephew (tong nephew).
The distance of male blood relations can be expressed in three levels: kinship-subordinate-clan.
There may be two situations in which "from the brother", one refers to the cousin (the same grandfather), such as the "Three Kingdoms Chronicle of Yuan Shu": "Yuan Shu zi highway, Sikong (Yuan) Feng (Zhi) son, (Yuan) Shaozhi congdier also." "The second refers to brothers of a more distant generation (the same great-grandfather), that is, uncles and cousins. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms says that Cao Ren and Cao Hong were Cao Cao's subordinates, which should be the second case.
But in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, "Congzi" is not the son of a brother, but the son of a cousin. For example. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and Emperor Wu of the Three Kingdoms says: "Zhang Xiu descended, repented, and reversed. Gong fought with the war, the army was defeated, and the eldest son Ang and his disciple An Min were killed. The "disciple Anmin" here refers to Cao Anmin, the son of Cao Cao's younger brother, indicating that Chen Shou's title for his brother's son (nephew) in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is not "congzi", but "brother" or "brother".
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Erxun Jia reads: "Xun Yu character Wen Ruo, grandfather Shu ... Father Kun... Uncle Cool... Xun You zi gong da, (xun) Yu congzi also. In the biography of Erxun, it is clearly stated that Xun You is Xun Yu's "consort".
If Xun You was Xun Yu's nephew (i.e., the son of Xun Yu's brothers), then Xun Yu's grandfather and Xun Yu's father were the same person. Chen Shou made it clear that Xun You's grandfather was called Xun Tan and Xun Yu's father was xun kun.
The Book of Later Han says that Xun Tan was Xun Shu's "brother", i.e., nephew. Xun Shu had eight sons: Xun Jian, Xun Kun, Xun Jing, Xun Tao, Xun Wang, Xun Shuang, Xun Su, and Xun Zhuan, who were called "Eight Dragons" at the time, and xun Shu's sons were indeed not Xun Tan. In other words, Xun You's grandfather (荀昙) and Xun Yu's father (Xun Kun) were cousins. Xun You, the "congzi", was Xun Yu's cousin.)
Xun Yu
I have noticed that both the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Book of the Later Han Dynasty refer to nephews as "brothers" or "disciples" rather than "subordinates." However, cousins and cousins are called "congbrothers" and "congbrothers", such as the "Later Hanshu Yuan Shu Biography": "Yuan) shu congruent brother (Yuan) Shaoyin (Sun) insisted on (Dong) Zhuo did not return, far away, sent him to Ji Zhou Xin to seize (Sun) Jianyu Prefecture. Wrath..."
Yuan Shao was the son of Yuan Cheng, and Yuan Shu was the son of Yuan Feng; Yuan Cheng and Yuan Feng were brothers and sons of Yuan Tang. Then, Yuan Shao's "consort brother" was Yuan Shu's cousin (in fact, Yuan Shao was also The son of Yuan Feng, Yuan Cheng died early and had no heirs, and Yuan Shao was passed on to Yuan Cheng.
It is said that Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are cousins, based on clan and not bloodline).
In this way, Cao Ren and Cao Hong are Cao Cao's "subordinate brothers", and there may be two situations: First, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, and Cao Cao are cousins, that is, the three of them have the same grandfather. 2. Cao Ren, Cao Hong, and Cao Cao are uncles and cousins, that is, the same great-grandfather of the three.
It seems that Cao Ren and Cao Hong are cousins, and Cao Ren and Cao Hong and Cao Cao are uncles and cousins. This explanation is more reasonable.
Cao Ren and Cao Hong were Cao Cao's younger brothers, and Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen were Cao Cao's sons. The following two issues can be illustrated:
1. Cao Cao, Cao Ren and Cao Hong, and Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen are all of the same ethnic group and are all related by blood;
Cao Ren and Cao Hong were of the same generation as Cao Cao, the same great-grandfather as Cao Cao, and the great-grandson of Cao Song's blood grandfather (Cao Cao's blood great-grandfather).
Cao Ren and Cao Hong's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather must have been surnamed Cao.
Since Cao Ren and Cao Hong's blood great-grandfathers were Cao Song's blood grandfathers, naturally, Cao Song's blood grandfathers should be surnamed Cao. Since Cao Song's blood grandfather was surnamed Cao, one of the sons born to his blood grandfather, Cao Song's blood father, should also be surnamed Cao.
Since Cao Song's blood father's surname was Cao, cao song had originally been surnamed Cao before he passed on to Cao Teng, which should be no problem.
Therefore, we can make a bold speculation: Cao Cao is not only originally surnamed Cao, but most likely, Cao Cao's father, Cao Song, is Cao Teng's nephew, and Cao Teng adopted from his brother.