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| Post = Emperor Ming | Temple = Liezu }} Cao Rui (204 or 205 – 22 January 239〔(兩千年中西曆轉換 )〕), courtesy name Yuanzhong, was the second emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. His parentage is in dispute: his mother, Lady Zhen, was Yuan Xi's wife, but she later remarried Cao Pi, the first ruler of Wei. Pei Songzhi claimed that Cao Rui was Cao Pi's son, but Lu Bi and Mou Guangsheng stated that he was Yuan Xi's son. Cao Rui's reign was viewed in many different ways throughout Chinese history. He was an emperor who was known to have been a strong military strategist and a good leader astute in commissioning capable officials. At the same time, he was personally a supporter of arts. He devoted much resources into building palaces and ancestral temples, and his reign saw the stalemate between his empire, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu become more entrenched. His building projects and his desire to have many concubines (who numbered in the thousands) greatly exhausted the imperial treasury. On his deathbed, he entrusted his son Cao Fang to the regency of Cao Shuang and Sima Yi — a fatal mistake for his clan, as Cao Shuang monopolised power and governed incompetently, eventually drawing a violent reaction from Sima Yi, who overthrew him in a coup d'état (Incident at Gaoping Tombs) and became in control of the Wei government, eventually allowing his grandson Sima Yan to usurp the Wei throne. After his death, Cao Rui was posthumously honoured as "Emperor Ming" with the temple name "Liezu". ==Family background== When Cao Rui was born (likely in 204), his grandfather Cao Cao was the paramount warlord of Han Dynasty, who had rendered Emperor Xian of Han a mere figurehead. His father Cao Pi was Cao Cao's oldest surviving son and the heir apparent. His mother Lady Zhen had been the wife of Yuan Shao's son Yuan Xi, but when she was seized by Cao Cao's army in 204, Cao Pi forced her to marry him, and she gave birth to Cao Rui only eight months after the wedding—leading to theories that Cao Rui was actually biologically Yuan Xi's son and not Cao Pi's. This eventually was used to great advantage by Cao Pi's concubine Guo Nüwang to create tension between Cao Pi and Lady Zhen. Cao Pi, after his father's death in 220, forced Emperor Xian to yield the throne to him and established Cao Wei. Lady Zhen was not allowed to accompany him to the new capital Luoyang, and in 221 he forced her to commit suicide. Because of what happened to Lady Zhen and Cao Rui's unclear origin, even though Cao Rui was the oldest of Cao Pi's sons, he was not created crown prince early in his father's reign, but was only created the Prince of Pingyuan in 222. Sometime during his years as the Prince of Pingyuan, he married a daughter of an aristocrat, Lady Yu, as his wife and princess. He apparently had a cordial relationship with Lady Guo, who was created empress (also in 222), and as she was sonless, his status as heir apparent was not seriously challenged. It is said that any thoughts that Cao Pi had at not making him heir was dissipated by a hunt; during that hunt, Cao Pi and Cao Rui had encountered a mother deer and a young deer. Cao Pi killed the mother deer with an arrow, and then ordered Cao Rui to kill the young deer. Cao Rui wept and said, "Your imperial majesty had already killed the mother, and I do not have the heart to kill the son as well." Cao Pi dropped his bow and arrows and became mournful. In 226, when Cao Pi became ill, he finally created Cao Rui crown prince. He died soon thereafter, and Cao Rui became emperor at the age of 21. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cao Rui」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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