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At the end of 2009, Anyang, Henan Province, announced the discovery of Cao Cao’s tomb, which caused a sensation. At the same time, the debate about the authenticity of Cao Cao’s tomb was also rampant and lively. At almost the same time, thousands of miles away in Shanghai, a scientific research project on Cao Cao in the Human Genetics Laboratory of Fudan University is also being carried out in an orderly manner. On November 11, 2013, the joint research group of history and Anthropology of Fudan University released the latest achievements on the DNA research of Cao Cao’s family: through the double verification of modern gene extrapolation and ancient DNA detection, Cao Cao is neither the descendants of Xiahou family that some historians believe, nor the descendants of Cao Shen, the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty. In addition, through the comparison of genetic testing and genealogical source analysis, the research group confirmed that the six Cao ethnic groups are the most likely descendants of Cao Cao. Thus, the mystery of Cao Cao’s life experience was solved to a considerable extent.
Not Xiahou
Cao Cao is undoubtedly a familiar figure among the Chinese people, but when it comes to his life experience, there have been divergent opinions and endless debates. At present, there is nothing more widely spread than the saying in the romance of the Three Kingdoms: in the first time, the heroes of the banquet Taoyuan made three righteous deeds, beheaded the Yellow turban, and made the first contribution, when it comes to the rebel army “Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao defeated the disabled soldiers and took the road away”, he suddenly saw a young tiger army and horse, fought the red flag as much as possible, and when his head came, he stopped the way. ” Who is it? Cao Cao is also.
Then, the author Luo Guanzhong introduced Cao Cao as follows: “the first one flashed out, with a length of seven feet, thin eyes and long beards, an officer worshipping and riding a lieutenant, a native of Qiao County in Pei country, whose surname was Cao song, whose surname was Xia Hou. Because Zhong often served Cao Teng’s adopted son, Cao song took the surname of Cao. Cao song was born with Cao, with small characters of a lie, and a lucky name.”
According to this statement, Cao Cao’s father, Cao song, was originally surnamed Xiahou. Later, for some reason, Cao Teng, the great eunuch, adopted him as an adopted son, so he changed his name to Cao. In that case, the father changed his surname, and his son Cao naturally changed his surname to Cao.
Luo Guanzhong’s “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” was written in the early Ming Dynasty, and its circulation is not wide, but the saying that Cao Cao’s surname was Xia Hou did not begin in the “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”. As early as the northern and Southern Dynasties, peisongzhi, a man of the time, wrote such a note when he was making a note for the historical book “annals of the Three Kingdoms”: “the biography of Cao deceived by the people of Wu” and the language of the world issued by Guo said: ‘song, the son of Xia Hou, the uncle of Xia Hou dun. Taizu (Cao Cao) and dun are subordinate brothers’ “.
The biography of Cao concealment was written by the people of Wu during the struggle for hegemony among the Three Kingdoms, and the author of Shi Yu was from the Jin Dynasty. In this way, the saying that Cao Cao’s original surname is Xia hou can be derived from the legend of Cao lie in the period of the Three Kingdoms, which was followed in later “world language” and “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”. It is worth noting that due to the enemy relationship between the state of Wu and the state of Cao Wei at that time, the title of Cao concealed biography has obvious discriminatory meaning, which seems not to be credulous.
According to historical records, the surname of Xia Hou comes from Xia Yu. At the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty enfeoffed the descendants of Xia Yu to the state of Qi. In the spring and Autumn period, the various heroes competed for hegemony, and the state of Qi was destroyed by the state of Chu. Xia Tuo, the younger brother of the Duke of Qi Jian, fled to the state of Lu. The king of the state of Lu was granted Marquis because he was the successor of Xia Yu. Later generations took the clan and official positions as their surname, and the surname was changed to Xia Hou. Leaving aside genetic verification, Cao Cao’s surname Xiahou has at least two loopholes. First, Cao Teng, Cao Cao’s nominal grandfather, has four brothers, of which Cao Teng is the smallest, with the word Ji Xing. The names of his three brothers are no longer available because they are not famous. They only know that their words are Bo Xing, Zhong Xing and Shu Xing. Cao Teng entered the palace as a eunuch and was infertile. According to the ancient tradition of blood relatives, if Cao Teng wanted to have a stepson, he should have adopted the child of his brother rather than a child with a different surname; Second, Cao Cao once betrothed his daughter, Princess Qinghe, to Xia houxing, the son of Xia Houdun, and Cao Cao’s younger brother also betrothed his daughter to Xia houxing, the son of Xia Houyuan. For example, Cao Cao’s surname was Xiahou, and the marriage of Cao family and Xiahou family violated the custom of “not marrying with the same surname” at that time, which has been in existence since the Zhou Dynasty.
Irrelevant Cao Shen
It is considered to be the most credible official history of the Three Kingdoms period, the annals of the Three Kingdoms. What is the saying about Cao Cao’s life experience? Judging from the wording in the book, it seems to be much more cautious: “Taizu Emperor Wu, Qiao people of Pei state, surnamed Cao taboo, Cao Cao, word Meng De, after the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty. During the reign of emperor Huan, Cao Teng was the Zhong Chang Shi, Da Changqiu, and the Marquis of FeiTing. His adopted son, Song Si, was an official to Taiwei, and he could not judge the origin and origin of it. Song gave birth to Taizu.”
Chen Shou, the author of the annals of the Three Kingdoms, was from the Western Jin Dynasty, not far from the Three Kingdoms period. He said that Cao Cao was the descendant of Cao Shen, the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty, and Cao song, the father of Cao Cao, was the adopted son of eunuch Cao Teng. However, Chen Shou couldn’t tell the origin of Cao song, but he hesitated and said, “we can’t judge the origin of Cao song”, leaving the mystery to future generations.
The author of books and biographies usually has a bad habit, that is, he likes to find a prominent ancestor for celebrities to prove the genetic rationality of “Lao Tzu heroes”. It seems that this is not enough to become a famous person. Chen Shou said in the annals of the three kingdoms that Cao Cao was “after Han xiangguocan”, which seemed to follow this bad tradition.
Cao Shen, a native of Peixian County, Jiangsu Province, was a hero of the founding of the Western Han Dynasty. He and Liu Bang, the emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, upheld the uprising against the Qin Dynasty and was later named Duke of Pingyang. The allusion of “Xiao Gui and Cao Sui” in history says that after Cao can took over Xiao He as prime minister, he did not overthrow all the rules and regulations of his predecessor, but made another set to show that he was stronger than his predecessor. It can be seen that Cao can is not only a strong general, but also a politician who knows right and wrong and knows the general. However, these have nothing to do with Cao Cao, because even if Cao Teng is regarded as Cao Shen in a farfetched way – eunuchs will not have their own flesh and blood.
Later, when Yuan Shao and Cao Cao had a big fight, Chen Lin, his adviser, called Cao Cao “redundant and ugly”, and Cao Cao’s father Cao song “begging for support”. “Beggar” is also known as “beggar”, that is to say, Cao song was a beggar picked up by the roadside and came from a wrong way. Literati have been doing nothing since ancient times. They scold their ancestors for eight generations as soon as they scold them. However, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao had close contacts when they were young, and his understanding of Cao Cao seems to have a certain credibility.
As a famous and long-standing Prime Minister family, why did Cao can’s descendants produce a big eunuch has also aroused historians’ doubts. It is reported that the research group investigated the families claiming to be descendants of Cao can. According to the preserved genealogy and DNA examination, it was found that five families were indeed descendants of Cao can. However, none of these descendants of Cao can family has the same Y chromosome as Cao Cao’s descendants. It can be seen that Cao Teng, a great eunuch who was in power for a while, probably used his power to rewrite his life experience and attached himself to the Cao can family. Chen Shou also wrote this into the annals of the Three Kingdoms without textual research.
Li Ji, a genealogy expert and historian, also believes that Cao can’s lineage comes from the Cao surname of Ying, which originates from Cao Jia, the descendant of Cao An, the sixth son of Lu Zhong. Because he was granted the capital of Ying, he took Ying as his surname; Cao Cao, the younger brother Zhenduo, was granted to Cao Yi after King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang Dynasty and was called Cao Bo. His descendants took Cao as their surname and took the Ji surname Cao as their surname. Although these two “Cao” surnames are both from Shandong, they are not related by blood.
Descendants of Cao Cao
It was also said that Cao Cao’s surname was a descendant of Cao Cao. After simayan established the Jin regime, he frantically killed the royal family of Cao Wei, and Cao Cao was exiled to his grandson and changed his surname to Cao Cao. In this regard, scholar Li Ji said that Cao’s surname is a rare surname and accounts for a small proportion of China’s total population. This surname has appeared at least in the Han Dynasty, and the operator is recorded in the literature. However, the sources of Cao’s surname are different, which is difficult to determine. In ancient times, there was a habit of taking the ancestor’s name as the surname. This Cao surname detected by Fudan was not Cao’s descendants, but other Cao surnames still have the possibility of Cao’s descendants.
However, according to historical records, the argument that the descendants of Cao Cao changed their surnames because they were persecuted by Sima family seems to be untenable. According to the records of the Three Kingdoms, Cao Cao had 25 sons. Under the condition of polygamy at that time, these people should have a large number of descendants. For example, Cao Pi, who established the Cao Wei regime, had 9 sons, and the descendants of his brothers can also be imagined.
In 249 ad, Sima Yi controlled the court through the gaopingling coup, Cao Fang, the great grandson of Cao Cao, was abolished, and Cao Huan, the grandson of Cao Cao, was established as the new emperor. After that, Sima Yi will oppose his brother Cao Shuang and his followers to kill and annihilate the three ethnic groups. This case is usually considered as evidence of Sima’s massacre of the royal family of Cao Wei, but seriously investigated, although Cao Shuang is nominally a nephew of Cao Cao, in fact, his father was originally surnamed Qin and had no blood relationship with the royal family of Cao Wei.
In 265 ad, simayan usurped power and established the Western Jin Dynasty. For the descendants of Cao Cao, this period is undoubtedly dark. It is said that they were expelled by Sima family, and many clansmen were forced to hide their names and embark on the road of escape. However, the legend is only a legend. The royal family of Cao Wei did not suffer the disaster of extermination, and its clan continued until the Western Jin Dynasty. For example, the last king of Wei, Cao Huan, was granted the title of King Chen Liu by Sima Yan and exiled in Yecheng, where Cao Cao was buried. At the end of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Cao family moved south and still maintained the status of King Chen Liu. Since then, until the Tang Dynasty, the Cao family has also been the selection object of the previous dynasties.
After the Five Dynasties, the clans of Caowei gradually moved south, and most of the clans settled in the Yangtze River Basin and multiplied. So far, the once powerful Cao family has gradually disappeared in historical records, and its descendants seem to have disappeared. Despite this, although there are no celebrities and famous things in the literature, the blood of the Cao Cao family continues silently in the long river of history. Millennia of years and time honed, under the reflection of modern genetic technology and historical research, those scattered descendants of Cao Cao finally removed the clouds and saw their distant ancestors. This is probably the charm of history.