Cao Cao’s grandfather Da Changqiu Cao Teng
Cao Cao was born in the first year of Yongshou in the Eastern Han Dynasty (155) in peiguoqiao county (now Bozhou, Anhui Province), the provincial governor of Yuzhou. It is located in the southwest of Luoyang, the capital, about 500 li away from Luoyang.
The Cao family is the largest local family. Most of them live in the east of the county. This is a group of houses. Many houses are built along the Wohe river. There are exact records about the location of Cao’s residence in the historical books. Li Daoyuan said in the notes to the water classic: “there is the old residence of Cao Taizu in the east of the city, which is opposite to the shop in the negative state, and the side God faces the water.” That is to say, behind the Cao mansion are the city walls and residential quarters, and next to them are the moats and vortex water.
The prosperity of the Cao family came from Cao Teng, the great eunuch of Cao Cao’s grandfather. The rank of Da Changqiu pin, held by Cao Teng, was twothousand stone. He was the same as Jiuqing in the foreign Dynasty. He was a minister and worked in the Empress Dowager’s Changle palace. This was the highest position among all eunuchs.
Cao Teng was able to hold this post largely because he was the late husband of Empress Dowager Liang Zhe and the eighth emperor of the Empire
emperor
A classmate of Emperor Shun Liu Bao. Before Liu Zhi ascended the throne, Liang zhe was already the Empress Dowager. All major policies were issued by the Changle palace. Cao Teng was the head of the Empress Dowager and was actually at the center of imperial power.
In the book of the later Han Dynasty, there is a biography of Cao Teng. Although the length is small, it is not easy for a eunuch to enter the biography and keep it in the history books in a positive image.
According to the records of Cao Teng’s biography, his word Ji Xing indicates that he is not an only child. There are at least three brothers on him. Their names cannot be verified, but it is estimated that their words will be boxing, Zhongxing and Shuxing.
At that time, Cao Teng was favored by Liu Bao’s mother and Regent empress dowager Deng because of his “sincere” character, and asked him to accompany the then crown prince Liu Bao to study. In history, there are many people who rely on this kind of relationship with the future Emperor’s classmates and playmates, such as
the ming dynasty
The eunuch Fengbao.
However, compared with Feng Bao, Cao Teng is more cautious and low-key in his work. He has served emperor an Liu Hu, Emperor Shun Liu Bao, Emperor Chong Liu Bing (Liu Bao’s son, ascended the throne at the age of two and died of illness at the age of three), and Emperor Zhi Liu Zan (scolded Liang Ji for being domineering
general
Liu Zhi, the emperor of Huan, was “never seen before” for more than 30 years. This is an amazing record. If we examine the experiences of all the great eunuchs in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, we will find that they could become emperors in decades
queen
Cao Teng is almost the only one who can retreat with the queen mother.
This also shows that Cao Teng has an unusual relationship with the Liang family. Various signs show that he is a “Liang party”. Otherwise, no matter how “sincere” he is, it is a wishful dream to be in the center of power for more than 30 years and “never had it before”. In fact, as the main political alliance, Cao Cao was the spokesman of Liang Ji in the eunuch team.
However, Cao Teng has a lot of scheming. Although he has won the trust of Empress Dowager Liang and General Liang, he has not done many bad things to bully the people and commit crimes. On the contrary, he has done many good things. What is recorded in the history books is that he recommended many talents. Six people listed in his biography are famous figures in the late Han Dynasty, including yangu and Yu Fang in the political circles, Zhang Wen and Zhang Huan in the military circles, Bian Shao and Tang Xilong in the academic circles. Cao Teng supported these people. On the one hand, he won the reputation of recommending talents for the country, and on the other hand, he paved the way for himself and future generations.
For example, Zhang Wen and Zhang Huan will become members of the Imperial Army in the future
marshal
Level figures, such as DongZhuo, SunJian, taoqian, gongsunzan and Liu Biao, were once their subordinates. Their influence in the army should not be underestimated. Later, Cao Cao was able to directly enter the military as a civilian and hold important military positions. It is likely that he received their help.
It can be said that Cao Teng’s careful layout contributed greatly to the great achievements of the Cao Wei empire in the future. The prosperity of the Cao family for a hundred years is the foundation laid by Cao Teng.
The intimate relationship between Cao Teng and the Liang family can be seen from the fact that emperor Huan Liu Zhi succeeded to the throne. In the first year of this year (146), Liu Zhi was only a county Marquis of a foreign vassal. At that time, Liu Zan, Liu Zhi’s last emperor of the Han Dynasty, died, and the Empire needed to choose a new successor.
Liu Zan was a child laborer when he took up his post. At that time, he was only eight years old. This child was not simple. He pointed at the General Liang Ji in front of the Minister of the Manchu Dynasty in the court hall and said, “this despotic general.”. But because of this sentence, he was poisoned by Liang Ji in the cake.
Liu Zan was only nine years old when he died. Naturally, he had no time to prepare the next successor for the Empire. In the fierce struggle to select a successor, two kinds of tit for tat opinions were soon formed: one supported Li Wu, Hou Liuzhi, and the other supported liusuan, king of the Qinghe River.
The representatives of the “Yongzhi group” are the Empress Dowager Liang Peng, who assists the government, and her brother Liang Ji, commander in chief of the national armed forces (general); The representatives of the “garlic embracing faction” were the three officials of the current Dynasty, such as Taiwei Li Gu, situ Huguang, Sikong Zhaojie, and a group of courtiers, such as the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Da Hong Lu Qing) Du Qiao. The two sides are evenly matched. The Liangs’ brother and sister hold the power, and their strength prevails; Li, Du and others occupy the moral highland, and public opinion has the upper hand. It is difficult to distinguish between them for a while.
There are two reasons why the Liangs support liuzhizheng. First, liuzhizheng is going to marry Liangying, the younger sister of the Empress Dowager; Second, Liu Zhi is relatively young. He is only 15 years old. It is said that he has a low IQ and is stupid. Liu Suan is purer, more mature, virtuous and has a good reputation among scholars, which means that this person is very difficult to control.
The two factions, Li Gu and Du Qiao in particular, refused to let it go, and even raised the matter to the level of national survival. They fought fiercely. The “supporters” seemed to be unable to hold on. Under the pressure of strong public opinion, Liang Ji planned to compromise. Had it not been for the timely intervention of the eunuch group, the eleventh emperor of the Eastern Han Empire would have been Liu Suan.
From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the middle period, the political arena gradually divided into four forces: the emperor, relatives, eunuchs and scholars. These four factions rule the country separately. When they are evenly matched, the world will be peaceful for a while. That is the great luck of the country. If a certain faction or an alliance of two factions suddenly rises, they will not be able to live in peace, and they will certainly fight in a bloodbath.
In this contest, Cao Teng united the whole eunuch group and made them stand on the side of the “Pro zhipai” with a clear-cut stand, making the balance of victory and defeat slowly tilt towards the Liangs’ brothers and sisters.
According to historical records, when Liang Ji hesitated or even made concessions, Cao Teng paid a secret visit to Liang Fu late at night, hoping that Liang Ji would not compromise, and said that all eunuch colleagues firmly supported Liang Ji and supported Liu Zhi.
Eunuchs are a group. Their common life experience, humiliation and strong pursuit tend to make them form an unbreakable alliance. Whenever major events come, this alliance will show incredible power again and again. It has been so before, and will continue to be so after. Cao Teng let Liang Ji know that he was not alone. There were people behind him. They would support Liang Ji and Liu Zhi with all their strength, which immediately increased Liang Ji’s confidence.
The next day, the court held a meeting to discuss the matter again. Liang Ji was bribed back to the election of President Cao Xi: a knife and gun went to the door. Those who supported Liu Zhi as emperor stood and went out, and those who supported Liu Suan lay down and carried it out!
As for the scholars who had a congenital advantage in morality and public opinion, Liang Ji changed his strategy and no longer compared with them who was more moral, but more rogue, which immediately hit the soft spot of the scholars. Scholars not only fail to become hooligans, but also fail to withstand the threat of hooligans. Cao Xi won, and so did Liang Ji.
Situ Huguang, a veteran of the Jianghu and known as the “tumbler” of the officialdom, was the first to change his position. He bowed his head and said, “only the orders of the general follow!” Several of Huguang’s favorite students, as well as Zhao Jie and others, saw that the teachers and elders took the lead in subduing, and all expressed their support for Liu Zhi.
Only two people continued to insist. One was Taiwei Li Gu and the other was Du Qiao. They were still arguing with each other, but Liang Ji didn’t want to tangle with them any more. Seeing that those who agreed with Liu Zhi as emperor accounted for an overwhelming majority, they didn’t need to raise their hands to vote. The guy shouted: “break up, break up!”
For Liu Zhi, the year 146 A.D. was really an auspicious year. At the beginning of the year, his father Liuyi, the old Marquis of Liwu, died. He was a student who had to be controlled by others for everything. He lit the lights all day and stayed up late to do his homework. All at once, he became the head of the household of the Marquis of a County. The tax income of Liwu county was at his disposal. He could spend as much as he wanted and play as much as he liked.
Before he could let go of his natural and unrestrained life, a greater good came along. Empress dowager Liang, the actual leader of the Empire and a respected and respected empress dowager, did not know where she heard his son’s name and took the initiative to marry her beloved sister Liang Ying to him. The guard of honor to greet him then arrived at this remote Beiguo county. It was so grand that all the aborigines had never seen it in their lives.
Liu Zhi arrived in Luoyang, the capital. At this time, the two factions inside and outside the palace were making a quarrel. No one cared for him and left him in the guest house. Just when he was depressed and wanted to find an excuse to return home, there was a great deal of drum music outside the door. The most powerful general of the Empire, General Liang Ji, took him into the North Palace in person with the prince’s special green cover car. He sat on the legendary throne in the Deyang hall and received the greetings from all officials.
For Liu Zhi, this is simply a spring and autumn dream that cannot be covered by eighteen quilts!
The Cao family’s backer fell down
Cao Teng is the political alliance of Liang and Ji, and Liang and Ji are the backers of the Cao family. Whether Cao Teng admits it or not, it is an undisguisable fact.
However, this backer fell down unexpectedly later because Liang Ji was too domineering.
The word “domineering” was created by Liu Zan and specially given to Liang Ji. In general, the explanation in dictionaries is “tyrannical and violent”. If viewed separately, “Ba” means trampling, which is extended to “trekking through mountains and rivers”; “Retinue” has the meaning of the emperor’s entourage, which is extended to “retinue”. The abstract interpretation of the word “tyrannical and tyrannical” means “trampling on the followers around the emperor”.
When Liu Zan pointed to Liang Ji’s nose and said this, he probably thought of the following meaning. Liang Ji lived up to this glorious title, because he dared to trample on the Emperor himself, not to mention his followers.
There are seven princes in the Liang clan, three queens, six nobles, two generals, seven wives and daughters, seven princes, three princes, and as many as 57 senior officials at the level of minister, general, Yin, school, etc!
Among them, Liang Ji is undoubtedly a geek. According to historical records, Liang Jisheng had an ugly appearance, his shoulders shrugged like a harrier eagle, and his eyes shone like wolves. This ugly man is a typical dandy. He is addicted to drinking, flirtatious, good at gambling, fighting cocks and running dogs, galloping horses and shooting arrows, and singing dirty ditties. A large amount of evidence shows that he and his wife sun Shou are also related to the underworld organization. They are the leaders of the country’s largest underworld organization, and often engage in kidnapping, assassination and thugs.
In short, history books say that Liang Ji can do nothing but eat, drink and have fun, which I often doubt. It has managed the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty for nearly 20 years. Without two brushes, it will not work. Liang Ji has his own unique skills in managing people’s hearts. His means are to use both black and white and to use both hard and soft means. He plays gangster when he meets literati and gangsters when he meets them.
In the days when Liang and Ji were in power, they would sometimes jump out oneortwo hard bones who were not afraid of death to fight against him. There was a man named Wu Shu who was appointed as Wan county magistrate. Before taking office, he came to the Liang mansion as usual to say goodbye. The underworld organization controlled by Liang Ji has a branch in Wan County, where many of his subordinates live in the world. Liang Ji directly tells Wu Shu that someone needs to be taken care of, and that if something happens to someone, just turn a blind eye.
But Wu Shu was a green headed man. After he took office, he focused on those people who Liang Ji said. After checking, he found that they were guilty, so he caught them all and killed dozens of them at one go. Liang Ji was annoyed, but the case handled by others was hard to come by because the witness and material evidence were so hard to prove. Liang Ji transferred Wu Shu back, promoted him to be the governor of Jingzhou, and gave him a farewell party in the mansion. As a result, Wu enjoyed the treatment of emperor Liu Zan: he was poisoned by Liang Ji.
There are several other similar events in the history books. The original intention may be to explain that there will always be people who uphold truth and justice at any time. However, it is difficult to draw such a conclusion after reading these materials. Most of those who resisted Liang and Ji were low-level officials like Wu Shu. People could not help asking: where is Li Gu? Where’s Duccio?
There are no more Li and Du in the world. At this time, all the Gongqing in the court became shunmin, and they all looked up to the nostrils of the great general Liang. They were either recruited by Liang Ji to become thugs, or they looked down at Liang Ji’s eyes and acted. They dared not go out.
On the blacklist of Liang and Hebei, the most influential person is Chen Fu. He is much higher in rank. He is a department or bureau level historian, that is, Sima Qian, the historian of this dynasty.
On May 29 of the first year of Yanxi (158), a solar eclipse occurred in Luoyang. At this time, the emperor had to reflect on himself, listen to the advice of all officials and see what was not done well, so that God blamed him. This is a routine procedure. Ask and listen, and it will fall down.
It happened that Professor Chen, who had some official relationship with this matter, was also an angry young man like Wu Shu. He had long been dissatisfied with the arrogance of General Liang, so he went to the road and wrote a memorial, saying that the reason for this eclipse was all Liang Ji (the change of the eclipse was attributed to the general). Liang Ji was so angry that his minions found an excuse to arrest Chen and kill him in prison.
If Liang Ji knew that later generations had made such bad comments on him that even his appearance would be written into history books and wasted, he would certainly regret killing Chen Fu. The reason is simple: Professor Chen is a historian.
There is an anecdote recorded in the history of the Song Dynasty, which tells us how good historians are. It is said that zhaokuangyin, the emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty, had a hobby after work and liked to shoot birds with slingshots. On one occasion, several ministers claimed that they had something urgent to see, and song Taizu summoned them. But when they heard the reports, they were all ordinary things. Lao Zhao was very unhappy and criticized them. One of the ministers argued: “I think these things are not trivial, at least more urgent than bird hunting.”
Hearing this, Lao Zhao was even more annoyed. He took an axe from the side and hit the man in the mouth with the handle, knocking out two teeth. The man was neither afraid nor crying out for pain, but bent over and looked for his teeth. The tooth was really found by him, and he put it in his arms. Lao Zhao scolded, “what do you want to do with your teeth? Do you still want to keep the evidence against me?”
The old man, who was beaten by zhaokuangyin and looked for his teeth, calmly replied, “I won’t sue your majesty, but I’ll show it to the historian, who will write it in the history book.” Lao Zhao woke up, apologized quickly, and gave him a lot of gold, silver, cloth and silk for comfort.
Zhaokuangyin was the first outstanding person in the Song Dynasty, and his great achievements in Liang and Ji couldn’t catch up with him in all his 18 lives. But he was a smart man who knew what public opinion was and what history was. So Lao Zhao became “Emperor Tang and Emperor song” and Liang Ji became “domineering general”.
For Liu Zhi, in the years to come, he must accompany this ugly, vulgar and cruel man who once killed his predecessor for just one word. In front of this man, the other side is an elephant. He is just a small ant. To kill him, he doesn’t even have to raise his feet to step on it. He just needs to blow his breath and he can’t find it.
At the beginning of the first year of peace (150th year), Empress Dowager Liang died of illness. That year, Liu Zhi was 18 years old. It is reasonable to say that he could be in power, but Liang Ji seems to have no such arrangement. Liang Ji was not in a hurry because her younger sister was still the mistress of the imperial palace.
Nine years later, the queen of Liang died. Liang Ji panicked because of a major problem: who will fill it
Harem
The vacant seat left by the hostess?
At this time, the emperor was in his twenties and sevenoreight years old. If there were no girls of the Liang family around the emperor, in theory, he would have become a “former” or “former” relative.
Liang Ji and his wife, sun Shou, looked around and finally fell in love with the daughter of Uncle sun Shou’s family. Her name was dengmeng. Sun Shou’s uncle is called Liang Ji. Although his surname is Liang, he is not a member of Liang Ji’s family. Liang Ji married a wife. According to the history books, her name was Xuan, but I don’t know whether it was her last name or her first name. When she married Liang Ji, she was married for the second time. Her ex husband was Dengxiang. She died early and had two daughters. The eldest daughter married Yi Lang Bing Zun and the second daughter was dengmeng.
This Deng Meng is very beautiful. Liang Ji and his wife quietly took Deng Meng home and secretly changed his surname to Liang Meng. Deng Meng became Liang Meng and became another younger sister of Liang Ji. At this time, dengmeng’s mother was still alive. Her family lived in a place called yanxili in Luoyang City. Liang Meng was sent to the palace, which immediately aroused Liu Zhi’s strong affection. Soon, he was like a rubber knee and could not be separated.
Liang Ji and sun Shou spoke out, and the crisis was finally resolved! Next, waiting for Liang Meng to be crowned queen, Liang Ji will continue his life as a relative. On the genealogy of the Liang family, he can add a fourth name to the list of queens.
Unfortunately, there is a little guy who doesn’t want their dream to continue. Their nightmare is about to begin.
The person who wants to harm the good deeds of the Liang family is Yi Lang called Bing Zun, who is Liang Meng’s brother-in-law. As a genuine member of Liang Meng’s family, Bing Yilang was upset to see that Liang Ji had changed his family name on his own initiative.
Bing Yilang went to Liang Meng’s mother and his mother-in-law to persuade her. Her mother-in-law also expressed opposition to her daughter’s changing her surname. Liang Ji knew about this. He sent an assassin and made Bing Yilang.
Liangmeng’s mother was so frightened that she stayed at Yanxi’s home and dared not go out when she saw that her son-in-law had suffered an accident.
On that night, when the moon was dark and the wind was high, a figure rushed up to the roof of Liang Meng’s mother’s neighbor’s house. The man’s goal was obviously to come at Liang Meng’s mother, but it disturbed the neighbor. The history books said that the neighbor’s name was yuanamnesty. When he found out, he immediately beat drums and shouted. The assassin was scared away. Liang Meng’s mother was scared to death. He didn’t know what to do.
Yuanamnesty said: otherwise, I’ll find you a place to hide first. It’s the safest place.
The place where yuan amnesty led Liang Meng’s mother was really safe, because it was the imperial palace. It turned out that Yuan amnesty was a eunuch. Under his arrangement, Liang Meng’s mother not only entered the palace smoothly, but also met her other son-in-law that night: Liuzhi, the son of heaven.
Liu Zhi asks someone to find Liang Meng secretly. His mother and daughter cry bitterly when they meet. Liu Zhiquan understands.
Liu Zhinu was so angry that he could no longer bear it and decided to challenge Liangji group. The harem was full of Liang family members. There was only one eunuch named tangheng around. He looked reliable at ordinary times.
Liu Zhi asks Tang Heng if he has any reliable help. Tang Heng told him that Shan Chao and Xu Huang, the attendants of Zhongchang, Juyuan, the order of the yellow gate, and Zuoxin, the history of the little yellow gate, all hated the Liang family for their recklessness, but dared not speak out.
Liuzhi asked tangheng to call these people to the toilet and hold a secret meeting. The lavatory in the imperial palace is very luxurious and spacious. It is not only a convenient place, but also has the greatest advantage of privacy. Everyone can pack it together for convenience, which is not easy to attract outsiders’ attention.
Liu Zhi said to the five eunuchs, “the Liang family is tyrannical and hegemonic. The three generals and nine generals listen to them. I plan to kill them. What do you think?”
If one of the five people in front of him was an undercover agent planted by the Liang family, Liu Zhi might not live until tomorrow. Fortunately, the five brothers have long disliked the Liang family, and they are not angry with their colleagues who have been placed in the palace. They always want to replace them. Now the opportunity has come. Follow the emperor and take a gamble!
So everyone expressed their willingness to follow his majesty. The thought that once things were successful, glory and wealth were readily available, and for a time it was even more emotional. Liu Zhi thought it would be better to do some ceremony at this time to look solemn and stirring. He pulled the arm of Zhong Chang Shi Dan Chao and bit on it. Because it was not his own arm, the bite was more decisive, and the blood flowed out all at once.
Liu Zhi took the lead in dipping his finger in some blood, and several others followed suit. Six people put up their blood dripping fingers and made a blood pledge in a low voice under the dark light in the toilet.
Brother Shan Chao’s blood did not flow in vain. In a few days, they will all become ten thousand families. Because he gave more blood than others in this event. After the victory, other people got tenthousand families, and he got twentythousand families.
On the evening of August 10, Youyuan led a team to secretly arrest the eunuchs who were close to Liang and Ji in the palace. After that, Liu Zhi personally went to the imperial court Secretariat (Shangshutai) in the palace, summoned all personnel below yinxun, the Secretary General of the imperial court (shangshuling), and officially announced the implementation of the coup plan.
The minister ordered Yin Xun to immediately declare his loyalty to the emperor. Shan Chao and his staff got a batch of weapons and armed the pens on the desk temporarily. Their duty is to protect the talisman and seal of the emperor, because all the following orders will be issued from here.
The first imperial edict issued by Liu Zhi was to remove all the posts of Liang Ji and change the Marquis of Bijing township. The imperial edict was supported by guangluxun yuan Xu, Sili Colonel Zhang Biao and others. On that night, more than 1000 samurai, such as tiger tribute and Yulin, were summoned to surround the general’s mansion. Due to the sudden incident, the northern army battalions stationed dozens of miles away from Luoyang City have not received any information. Most of the lineages of Liang and Ji are here.
Seeing the house surrounded by layers, Liang Ji knew that the end was coming. Although the northern army is strong, its head must have fallen before they arrived. He didn’t even think about what the hell Bijing township was. He knew that he had committed many evils for more than 20 years. Even if the Emperor himself would let him go, he would definitely have no chance to live in this world.
General Liang Ji and his wife sun Shou committed suicide.
Liang Ji’s head was spread outside the northern army’s battalions. The officers and men of the Fifth Battalion knew that the world had changed, so they arrested Liang rang, Liang Zhong, Liang Ji and other Liang family members who were in charge of the army here and sent them to Sili Xiaowei. Emperor Huan issued an imperial edict. All men within the five uniforms of the Liang and sun families, young and old, were killed, and their bodies were thrown out of the market for public display.
Among those killed, there were not a few senior officials in the imperial court, and there were dozens of people whose rank was more than 2000 stone. So far, the coup plan was a complete victory, and the seemingly powerful Liang empire collapsed in one day.
For the people and officials in Luoyang City, this fact is a little too sudden, so that they feel uncomfortable. According to the book of the later Han Dynasty, “things happened so suddenly that people running back and forth to send orders (envoys cross chi). The ministers in the court didn’t know what was going on and what to do. People from the government to the market were boisterous and settled down for several days. After that, the people were all happy.”
Narrowly missed in liquidation
Now, Emperor Huan Liu Zhi is sitting in the Deyang Hall of the North Palace. This is the most magnificent building in the palace. Standing on a high platform, you can overlook the whole South City and the Luoshui river. Without empress dowager Liang and Senior General Liang, as the commander-in-chief of the successful coup, Liu Zhi has no reason not to be full of confidence in his own ability.
Liang Ji had been monopolizing power for too long, and the imperial court was beyond recognition. Emperor Huan issued an imperial edict to clean up the officials of Sangong Jiuqing and below, to find out what relationship these people had with the Liang family, and to welcome mutual accusations.
After checking, I found that not many people in the court were innocent. Emperor Huan issued an imperial edict. Taiwei Huguang, situ Hanyan, Sikong sunlang, and Fu Liangji failed to protect the Emperor (not guarding the palace). They should have been sentenced to death, but now their sentences are commuted to exempt them from being commoners.
Other persons involved in this matter were demoted, dismissed and handed over to the judicial authorities. In just a few days, more than 300 people were killed and even lost their positions because of the Liang Ji incident. It is said in history that “the imperial court is empty”.
The investigation found that among the nine Qing Dynasties, in addition to Yuan Xu, who made great contributions to the incident, Huang Qiong was the most upright and well-known, and did not form a party with the Liang family. Emperor Huan issued an imperial edict and promoted Huang Qiong to the rank of Taiwei. Without a major general, Huang Qiong became the first of all officials.
Under the auspices of Huang Qiong and others, a large number of talents were introduced to make up for the difficulties in government operation caused by the sudden reduction of officials. Finally, the imperial court slowly stepped on the right track. Emperor Huan offered a great reward to tangheng and others who had done the most meritorious service in the coup. All the five people were made County marquis in one day, with 10000 households in each city, and 10000 more in Shan Chao. These five eunuchs are called “five Marquis” by later generations.
Just two years before this incident, a census was conducted across the country. At that time, the total population was more than 56 million, and the number of households was less than 11 million. Sixty thousand households, more than five thousandths of the total number of households in the country, were distributed by Emperor Huan in one day. It was really a big deal.
The next step is to check and deal with the property of Liangji. The gold and silver treasures, real estate and all valuable things of the Liang family were first registered under the auspices of Luoyang Ling yuanteng and then auctioned. As a result of the final clean-up, the illegal gains from corruption and bribery in the Liangji family totaled three billion yuan.
According to the records of food and goods in the later Han Dynasty, a stone meter was about 50 yuan in the reign of emperor Huan, and a stone in the Han Dynasty is about 60 Jin now. According to the parity theory, a coin in the Han Dynasty is worth more than a dollar now, which is about two yuan now. Three billion yuan is about six billion yuan now. At that time, 60 million stone rice could be bought.
If calculated according to purchasing power, the amount involved in the Liang Ji case is only less than that in the Hekun case handled by Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty. The amount involved in the Hekun case was converted into silver, totaling 102 million yuan. At that time, 66 million stone rice could be bought.
In this great liquidation, there was also a missed fish: the Cao family.
Cao Teng was once a firm supporter of the Liang brothers and sisters and their spokesman in the eunuch team. However, he did not appear in the list to be checked because Cao Teng had just died. In view of the fact that he had the title of fertinho, the official obituary called him driving death.
Nine years ago, Empress Dowager Liang died of illness, and the busy Changle palace was suddenly deserted. Eunuchs in the Changle palace began to look for new ways for themselves. It was the best choice to squeeze around the emperor or queen, otherwise they had to retire early.
Only Cao Teng was not in a hurry. In fact, it was useless to be in a hurry. As the leader of the whole eunuch team, he was not able to find another job. The emperor and empress have been controlled by the eunuchs of the younger generation. These eunuchs who once saw him tremble at the sight of his legs have now become the middle Chang Shi and the little yellow gate. What will they do if he goes back?
The exact birth year of Cao Teng is not recorded in the history books. According to the clue that he was selected as the companion of Emperor Shun Liu Bao, he should be older than Liu Bao. Liu Baosheng was born in 115, and Cao Teng should have been born before this year.
Historical records record that Cao Teng entered the Palace during the reign of emperor an and worked in the palace for more than 30 years. Andy Liu Hu succeeded to the throne in 106, died in 125, and reigned for 19 years. Cao Teng entered the palace between 106 and 125 years ago. According to this calculation, it is most likely that Cao Teng was born before 100 A.D.
So when empress dowager Liang died, Cao Teng should have been in his fifties. Since then, there has been no record of his activities in history books.
It can be speculated that Cao Teng asked to retire after the death of Empress Dowager Liang. After retirement, he focused all his energy on two things: one was to support his adopted son caosong, and the other was to overhaul the cemetery in his hometown Qiao County to prepare for a hundred years later.
Eunuchs have no descendants. Liu Bao, the emperor of Shun, was crowned emperor by eunuchs. In order to appreciate the eunuch’s achievements, he made an unprecedented decision: allow the eunuch to accept adopted children to inherit the family property and rank. Cao Teng adopted Cao song as his adopted son in his same clan.
Cao Teng’s clan tomb, which was overhauled by Cao Teng, is clearly recorded in Li Daoyuan’s notes to the water classics, and its scale is very large. Today, after thousands of years of wind and rain, they are still proudly located in the south of Bozhou City, Anhui Province, Cao Teng’s hometown. According to the exact archaeological data, Cao Teng, Cao Bao, Cao song, Cao Chi and others are buried in this huge family tomb. They are all Cao Teng’s people. Here is a brief introduction to their relationship.
Cao Bao and Cao Teng are of the same generation. They should be from their brother or brother. Because of Cao Teng’s shadow protection, they have become the prefect of Yingchuan. His son’s name was caochi. He had been a sergeant and a captain in Changshui. He was the father of caoren and caochun.
Cao Chi and Cao song were of the same generation. There were at least four or five people in this generation. One was Cao Ding, who had been a minister of justice; One of Cao Ding’s brothers was Cao Yu, who became general Wei; They also have a brother whose name is no longer known, but his son is very famous. His name is caohong.
In addition to the three brothers of Cao Ding, there are at least two branches in this generation. One of them was a prefect of Wu County. He had a grandson named Cao Xiu. The other had a son named caoshao, and caoshao had a son named caozhen.
If Cao Teng and Cao Bao are the “first generation of Cao”, the “second generation of Cao” includes Cao song, Cao Ding, Cao Yu and Cao Chi; “Three generations of Cao” include Cao Cao, Cao De, Cao Hong, Cao Ren, Cao Chun and Cao Shao; There are many “four generations of Cao”, including Cao Pi, Cao Zhi, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, etc., followed by “five generations of Cao”. After that, people after the Cao family are no longer the focus of historical attention.
The origin of Cao song has always been a controversial issue, which must be explained.
Chen Shou’s words “no one can examine the whole story” have caused the Cao family to be discriminated against as “black black households”. Some unofficial historians believe that Cao song was a descendant of the Xiahou family and Cao Teng brought him from the Xiahou family. However, some people have always suspected that there was something wrong with Chen Shou’s words, either his professional level or he had other motives.
The annals of the Three Kingdoms was written by Chen Shou in the first year of the reign of emperor Taikang of the Jin Dynasty (280 years). Chen Shou was 48 years old that year. About nine years later, he completed the book. Chen Shou wrote the annals of the Three Kingdoms in Luoyang. At that time, he held an official position in Sima’s court.
Although Cao Cao has been dead for 60 years in AD 280, which is also the 16th year since Sima established the Jin Dynasty, a large number of people who are familiar with the historical anecdotes of the current and previous dynasties are still alive. Among the Cao family alone, Cao Zhi and Cao Huan of the “Cao five Dynasties” are still alive.
Caozhi, the son of Caozhi, served in the Jin Dynasty as the prefect of Leping, the general Minister of free riding, the doctor of Guozi, the doctor’s drinking ceremony and other official positions. In the ninth year of Taikang (288), that is, the year before Chen Shou finished writing the annals of the Three Kingdoms, he died of illness in Luoyang. As a colleague of the same Dynasty and a party to an important historical event, caozhili should be paid enough attention by Chen Shou. Unless Caozhi himself “can’t judge the cause and effect” of his ancestors, this historical pending case will be easy to solve.
There should be more than four brothers Cao Teng (Ji Xing, Bo Xing, Zhong Xing and Shu Xing), and there should be men among them. Even though the Cao family was very poor at first, by the time Emperor Shun came, the Cao family should be very rich. How could he refuse to let the Cao family’s children go and adopt a person with a different surname?
Therefore, a reasonable explanation is that Cao song is the child of one of Cao Teng’s other three brothers, that is, his nephew. Of course, this is also speculation. Cao song’s surname is Cao or Xiahou, or he was adopted from a beggar as revealed by Yuan Shao. I’m afraid the debate will continue until there is no more powerful archaeological discovery.
There are very limited historical data about Cao song’s children, that is, Cao Cao’s brothers and sisters. Taken together, it can be inferred that Cao song has at least six sons: the eldest son is Cao Cao; Next came Cao De, Cao Cao’s half brother; The third was caobin, the same name as the famous general of Song Dynasty; The fourth was Cao Yu, who died early. Later, Cao Cao passed on his son Cao Hui to him; The name of the fifth man is unknown. He only knows that his son’s name is caoanmin. He followed Cao Cao to start the army and died in the battle against Zhang Xiu; The name of Laoliu is Caoji. Some historical books say that caode and Caoji are one person.
In addition, Cao Cao had at least two sisters, one married to the Xiahou family and the other married to the sun family in Jiangdong. He also has two cousins, the daughter of his uncle’s family. One married Ren Jun, the future minister, and the other married Songqi.
Now it can be roughly speculated that Cao Teng died of illness in Luoyang on the eve of the fall of Liang Ji. According to the ritual system, Cao Teng had to return to his hometown for burial. Cao song and other Cao’s children had to resign their official posts and stay at home for three years. Cao song and others were not in Luoyang when Liang and Ji fell, and fortunately escaped the political liquidation.