Cao Wei

History

Beginnings and founding

Towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, northern China came under the control of Cao Cao, the chancellor to the last Han ruler, Emperor Xian. In 213, Emperor Xian granted Cao Cao the title of "Duke of Wei" (魏公) and gave him ten cities as his dukedom. The area was named "Wei". At that time, the southern part of China was divided into two areas controlled by two other warlords, Liu Bei and Sun Quan. In 216, Emperor Xian promoted Cao Cao to the status of a vassal king – "King of Wei (魏王)".

Cao Cao died on 15 March 220 and his vassal king title was inherited by his son Cao Pi. Later that year, on 11 December, Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian to abdicate in his favour and took over the throne, establishing the state of Wei. However, Liu Bei immediately contested Cao Pi's claim to the Han throne and declared himself "Emperor of Han" a year later. Sun Quan was nominally a vassal king under Wei, but he declared independence in 222 and eventually proclaimed himself "Emperor of Wu" in 229.

To distinguish the state from other historical Chinese states of the same name, historians have added a relevant character to the state's original name, making the state that called itself "Wei" (魏) known as "Cao Wei" (曹魏).

Reigns of Cao Pi and Cao Rui

Cao Pi ruled for six years until his death on 29 June 226 and was succeeded by his son, Cao Rui, who ruled until his death on 22 January 239. Throughout the reigns of Cao Pi and Cao Rui, Wei had been fighting numerous wars with its two rival states – Shu and Wu.

Between 228 and 234, Zhuge Liang, the Shu chancellor and regent, led a series of five military campaigns to attack Wei's western borders (within present-day Gansu and Shaanxi), with the aim of conquering Chang'an, a strategic city which lay on the road to the Wei capital, Luoyang. The Shu invasions were repelled by the Wei armies led by the generals Cao Zhen, Sima Yi, Zhang He and others; Shu did not make any significant gains in the expeditions.

On its southern and eastern borders, Wei engaged Wu in a series of armed conflicts throughout the 220s and 230s, including the battles of Dongkou (222–223), Jiangling (223) and Shiting (228). However, most of the battles resulted in stalemate and neither side managed to significantly expand its territory.

Sima Yi's Liaodong Campaign

Main article: Sima Yi's Liaodong campaign

After Guanqiu Jian failed to subjugate the Gongsun clan of the Liaodong Commandery, it was Sima Yi who, in June 238, as the Grand Commandant (太尉), launched an invasion with 40,000 troops at the behest of Emperor Cao Rui against Liaodong, which at this point had been firmly rooted under Gongsun control for 4 decades. After a three-month long siege, involving some assistance from the Goguryeo Kingdom, Sima Yi managed to capture the capital city of Xiangping, resulting in the conquest of the commandery by late September of the same year.

Goguryeo–Wei Wars

Main article: Goguryeo–Wei War

Around that time, as the Korean kingdom Goguryeo consolidated its power, it proceeded to conquer the territories on the Korean peninsula which were under Chinese rule. Goguryeo initiated the Goguryeo–Wei Wars in 242, trying to cut off Chinese access to its territories in Korea by attempting to take a Chinese fort. However, Wei responded by invading and defeated Goguryeo. Hwando was destroyed in a reprisal raid by Wei forces in 244.

Fall of Wei

In 249, during the reign of Cao Rui's successor, Cao Fang, the regent Sima Yi seized state power from his co-regent, Cao Shuang, in a coup. This event marked the collapse of imperial authority in Wei, as Cao Fang's role had been reduced to that of a puppet ruler while Sima Yi wielded state power firmly in his hands. Wang Ling, a Wei general, tried to rebel against Sima Yi, but was swiftly dealt with, and took his own life. Sima Yi died on 7 September 251, passing on his authority to his eldest son, Sima Shi, who continued ruling as regent.

Sima Shi deposed Cao Fang in 254, on grounds of planning to stage a rebellion, and replaced him with Cao Mao. In response, Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin staged a rebellion, but were crushed by Sima Shi in an event that nevertheless took a heavy toll on Sima Shi's health, having undergone eye surgery prior to the insurrection, causing him to die on 23 March 255, but not before handing his power and regency over to his younger brother, Sima Zhao.

In 258, Sima Zhao quelled Zhuge Dan's rebellion, marking an end to what are known as the Three Rebellions in Shouchun. In 260, Cao Mao attempted to seize back state power from Sima Zhao in a coup, but was killed by Cheng Ji, a military officer who was serving under Jia Chong, a subordinate to the Simas. After Cao Mao's death, Cao Huan was enthroned as the fifth ruler of Wei. However, Cao Huan was also a mere figurehead under Sima Zhao's control, much like his predecessor. In 263, Wei armies led by Zhong Hui and Deng Ai conquered Shu. Afterwards, Zhong Hui and former Shu general Jiang Wei grouped and plotted together in order to oust Sima Zhao from power, however, various Wei officials turned against them when it was found out that Jiang Wei had urged Zhong Hui to get rid of these officials before the planned coup. Sima Zhao himself received and finally accepted the nine bestowals and the title Duke of Jin in 263, and was further bestowed with the title King of Jin by Cao Huan in 264, but he died on 6 September 265, leaving the final step of usurpation up to his eldest son, Sima Yan.

On 4 February 266, Sima Zhao's son, Sima Yan, forced Cao Huan to abdicate in his favor, replacing Wei with the Jin dynasty on 8 February 266. Cao Huan himself was spared, though, and continued to live until 302, before dying.

Government

The system of government in Wei inherited many aspects from that of the Eastern Han dynasty. During his reign, Cao Pi established two separate government bodies – the Central Inspectorate (中書監) and the Imperial Secretariat plenipotentiary (行尚書臺) – to reduce the authority of the Imperial Secretariat (尚書臺) and consolidate the power of the central government.

During this time, the minister Chen Qun developed the nine-rank system for civil service nomination, which was adopted by later dynasties until it was superseded by the imperial examination system in the Sui dynasty.

Cao Pi felt that the Han dynasty collapsed because the Governors (州牧) of the various provinces wielded too much power and fell outside the control of the central government. He reduced the role of a Governor to that of an Inspector (刺史), and permitted the Inspectors to administer only civil affairs in their respective provinces, while military affairs were handled by military personnel based in regional offices or in the capital.

Cao Wei society was feudalized and vassalized. When China was divided in the Period of Disunion, south and north were economically and socially dominated by an aristocratic hereditary class enshrined in law, who were exempt from conscript labor, special kinds of taxes, had legal immunities and other privileges. This situation was created by Cao Wei with rigid social stratification backed by law between shu (庶) (commoner) households and shi (士) (noble) households in the Nine ranks system which was created by Cao Wei and enabled hereditary officeholding by the aristocratic magnate families. Magnates took in farming families and war refugees into their fortress villages as ke (客) (private clients) and as buqu (military retainers) who made up their private militias. These magnates were rich landowners and local warlords and their economic and social power only grew at this time. The military retainers stayed on as private agricultural laborers bonded to the magnate families even after war ended. They did not contribute any labor service or taxes to the central government while their magnate lord received 50% or more of their grain harvest. They effectively were bondservants to their lords.

Culture

The kaishu style of Chinese calligraphy was developed at some time between the late Eastern Han dynasty and the Cao Wei dynasty, as well as the Jian'an poetry style. The first known master of the former was Zhong Yao, an official of Wei, of the latter; Cao Cao's son, Cao Zhi.

Since the beginning of the Cao Wei dynasty, finding their roots in Cao Cao's administrative influences, intellectual constraints were relaxed, leading to the formation of new groups of intellectuals, such as the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. These intellectual freedoms were overturned by the time of the Jin dynasty (it was Sima Yi himself who associated with the orthodox Confucianists, who despised these new intellectual groups, and therefore were more willing to offer their support to the Sima clan).

Ruling class

According to the Book of Wei by Wang Chen, the Cao family descended from the Yellow Emperor through his grandson Zhuanxu. They were of the same lineage as Emperor Shun. Another account says that the Cao family descended from Emperor Shun. This account was attacked by Jiang Ji, who claimed that those with the family name "Tian" descended from Shun, but not those surnamed "Cao". He also claimed that "Gui" (媯) was Emperor Shun's family name.

List of territories

List of sovereigns

sovereigns

Cao Wei family tree

Main article: Cao Wei family trees

Notes

References

References

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13. The invasions sent its king fleeing, and broke the tributary relationships between Goguryeo and the other tribes of Korea that formed much of Goguryeo's economy. Although the king evaded capture and eventually settled in a new capital, Goguryeo was reduced to such insignificance that for half a century there was no mention of the state in Chinese historical texts.Byington, Mark E. [https://web.archive.org/web/20111005153543/http://english.historyfoundation.or.kr/Data/Jnah/J4_1_S4.pdf "Control or Conquer? Koguryŏ's Relations with States and Peoples in Manchuria,"] ''Journal of Northeast Asian History'' volume 4, number 1 (June 2007):93.
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21. While [[Chen Shou]] only briefly mentioned in Jiang Ji's biography in ''Sanguozhi'' that Jiang had a debate with [[Gaotang Long]] over the lineage of the Cao clan ({{lang. zh. [初，侍中高堂隆论郊祀事，以魏为舜后，推舜配天。济以为舜本姓妫，其苗曰田，非曹之先，著文以追诘隆。] ''Sanguozhi'', vol.14), [[Pei Songzhi]] included more material and gave his opinion in his annotations to Jiang Ji's biography (〈{{lang. zh. 臣松之案蒋济立郊议称《曹腾碑》文云“曹氏族出自邾”，《魏书》述曹氏胤绪亦如之。魏武作家传，自云曹叔振铎之后。故陈思王作武帝诔曰：“于穆武皇，胄稷胤周。”此其不同者也。及至景初，明帝从高堂隆议，谓魏为舜后，后魏为禅晋文，称“昔我皇祖有虞”，则其异弥甚。寻济难隆，及与尚书缪袭往反，并有理据，文多不载。济亦未能定氏族所出，但谓“魏非舜后而横祀非族，降黜太祖，不配正天，皆为缪妄”。然于时竟莫能正。　济又难：郑玄注《祭法》云“有虞以上尚德，禘郊祖宗，配用有德，自夏已下，稍用其姓氏。”济曰：“夫虬龙神于獭，獭自祭其先，不祭虬龙也。骐𬴊白虎仁于豺，豺自祭其先，不祭骐虎也。如玄之说，有虞已上，豺獭之不若邪？臣以为祭法所云，见疑学者久矣，郑玄不考正其违而就通其义。”济豺獭之譬，虽似俳谐，然其义旨，有可求焉。)
22. Howard L. Goodman. (1998). "Ts'ao P'i transcendent: the political culture of dynasty-founding in China at the end of the Han". Psychology Press.