Eastern Han dynasty official (died 193)
Cao Song (died 193), courtesy name Jugao, was an official who lived during the Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was the foster son of the eunuch Cao Teng and the father of the warlord Cao Cao, who rose to prominence in the final years of Eastern Han and laid the foundation of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period. Cao Song was posthumously honoured as "Emperor Tai" ("Grand Emperor") by his grandson Cao Pi in 220 when the latter ended the Han dynasty and founded the Cao Wei regime.
Career.
Cao Song was known to be honest, sincere and of good moral conduct. He served as the Colonel-Director of Retainers () in the Han imperial court. During the reign of Emperor Ling, he served consecutively as the Minister of Finance () and Minister Herald () before replacing Cui Lie () as the Grand Commandant (). However, it was alleged that Cao Song obtained the post of Grand Commandant by bribing eunuchs, who were deeply trusted by the emperor. Another account stated that Cao Song purchased those official posts because Emperor Ling introduced a practice of selling political offices for money.
Death.
Around 193, Cao Song retired and returned to his hometown in Qiao County (譙縣; present-day Bozhou, Anhui). Along the way, he was murdered while passing through Langya State (琅玡國; present-day Linyi, Shandong) in Xu Province. At the same time, Cao Song's eldest son, the warlord Cao Cao, had established a base in Yan Province (covering present-day southwestern Shandong and eastern Henan).
There are three different accounts of Cao Song's death:
All the accounts agree that Cao Cao held Tao Qian responsible for the murder of his father regardless of the degree of Tao Qian's involvement in the incident. This led to Cao Cao launching an invasion on Xu Province between 193 and 194 to punish Tao Qian for his role in Cao Song's death.
Posthumous honour.
In 220, Cao Cao's son and successor, Cao Pi, ended the Eastern Han dynasty and established the state of Cao Wei, marking the start of the Three Kingdoms period. Cao Pi granted his grandfather the posthumous title "Emperor Tai" ("Grand Emperor").
Family background.
Cao Song's family background is a mystery. Chen Shou wrote in the "Sanguozhi" that Cao Song's origin could not be determined. The "Cao Man Zhuan" () and the "Shiyu" (), two sources used by Pei Songzhi in his annotations to the "Sanguozhi", mentioned that Cao Song's original family name was Xiahou () and that he was an uncle of Xiahou Dun. Therefore, Cao Cao and Xiahou Dun were cousins.
The Qing dynasty scholar He Zhuo (; 1661–1722) refuted the claim in the "Cao Man Zhuan" and "Shiyu" that Cao Song was from the Xiahou clan and dismissed it as a rumour started by people from Eastern Wu, a state founded by Cao Cao's rival, Sun Quan. This was because Xiahou Dun's son Xiahou Mao married Cao Cao's daughter Princess Qinghe (), and Xiahou Yuan's son Xiahou Heng () married Cao Cao's niece, so the Xiahous and Caos could not have shared the same lineage.
On the other hand, the Qing dynasty historians Pan Mei (潘眉; 1771–1841) and Lin Guozan () believed it was true that Cao Song was a Xiahou, as evident from the fact that Chen Shou placed the biographies of Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Xiahou Shang, Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen in the same volume (volume 9) in the "Sanguozhi".
Li Jingxing (李景星; 1876–1934), a scholar who lived in the late Qing dynasty, speculated that when Chen Shou wrote that Cao Song's origin could not be determined, his intention was to expose a scandal behind Cao Cao's family background.
Wu Jinhua (), a history professor from Fudan University, believed that Chen Shou employed a writing technique to distort facts when he wrote that Cao Song's origin could not be determined. Wu consolidated all the earlier differing viewpoints and pointed out three pieces of evidence to prove that Cao Song was from the Xiahou family:
The late Qing dynasty writer Zhou Shouchang (; 1814–1884) explained in "Sanguozhi Zhu Zheng Yi" () about the inter-clan marriages between the Caos and Xiahous. He cited Chen Jiao () as an example – Chen Jiao's original family name was "Liu" (). He was raised by his uncle (his paternal aunt's husband), whose family name was "Chen" (), and adopted "Chen" as his family name. Chen Jiao later married the daughter of Liu Song (), a close relative. Cao Cao appreciated Chen Jiao's talent and wanted to protect Chen's reputation, so he gave an order forbidding any dissent about Chen's personal life. Zhou Shouchang felt that when Cao Cao banned people from speaking against marriages between those who share the same family name, he was actually making it convenient to cover up his own family background.
Wu Jinhua also pointed out that in the late Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, it was not uncommon to find married couples who shared the same family name. For example, one of Cao Cao's foster sons, He Yan, married Cao's daughter Princess Jinxiang (), who was possibly his half-sister (born to the same mother), even though the identity of the princess's mother is not confirmed. Wu Jinhua mentioned that a person will have no doubts that Cao Song was from the Xiahou clan as long as he/she understands that inter-clan marriages were not unusual in that era.
Others such as history professors Zhu Ziyan () and Han Sheng () argue that the accounts from the "Cao Man Zhuan" and "Shiyu" are not reliable, and the fact that Xiahou Mao, Xiahou Heng and Xiahou Shang married women from Cao Cao's clan proved that Cao Song was not a Xiahou.
References.
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