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| Post = Marquis Yuan | Other = | Notes = }} Cao Zhen (died 231), courtesy name Zidan, was a military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. He served the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. He was also a distant nephew of Cao Cao, though the latter treated him like a son. Cao Zhen participated in many campaigns against the forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan. From 227 onwards, he was very much involved with successfully repelling the frequent invasions led by Zhuge Liang. ==Service under Cao Cao== According to the ''Records of Three Kingdoms'', Cao Zhen was a distant nephew of Cao Cao. In 190, when Cao Cao was raising an army to join the coalition against Dong Zhuo, the tyrannical warlord who held Emperor Xian hostage, Cao Zhen's father, Cao Shao, heeded the call but was killed before he could join Cao Cao. The ''Brief History of Wei'' (魏略) by Yu Huan, however, says Cao Zhen was originally surnamed Qin (秦). Cao Zhen's father, Qin Bonan, had long been friends with Cao Cao. In 195, as Cao Cao was fleeing from rebels, he hid in the Qin's. When rebels asked for the whereabouts of Cao Cao, whom they did not recognize by face, Qin Bonan claimed to be the man and was slain. Either way, Cao Cao took in the young Cao Zhen, whom he raised as his own son. He had Cao Zhen resided with his future successor Cao Pi and another distant nephew Cao Xiu. The three of them would travel with five of the seven scholars of Jian'an,〔Note that the "seven scholars of Jian'an" is not an official title, and the membership of this group is disputed.〕 including Wu Zhi, Liu Zhen (刘桢), Xu Gan (徐干), Ying Yang (应玚), and Chen Lin (陈琳) from time to time. Due to his chubby shape, he was often ridiculed by his friends, especially by the famous jester, Wu Zhi. Unfortunately for him, Cao Zhen's distant uncle, Cao Hong, was also a compulsive prankster who never failed to "show concern" on his nephew's size problem. As Cao Zhen did not have power at the time, he could only bear a furtive displeasure against jokes revolving around his weight, but his muffled wrath would keep accumulate to a point where it nearly broke out into a duel between him and Wu Zhi years later (see Appraisal section below). Probably he had had enough from his influential "friends", Cao Zhen remained most intimate with lower characters like his clansman Cao Zun (曹遵) and general Zhu Zan (硃赞). Ironically, he was specifically ordered to serve as a captain in the highly mobile Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, despite his health problem. Henceforth Cao Zhen followed Cao Cao in a series of battles without noted accomplishment until the war with southwestern warlord, Liu Bei. In 219, during the struggle for Hanzhong, the western commander of Cao Cao, Xiahou Yuan, was defeated and killed in the Battle of Mount Dingjun, Cao Zhen was charged with overseeing the retake of Yangping Pass (阳平关) by forces led by Xu Huang. He commissioned his subordinate to defeat Gao Xiang in their task, but Liu's forces occupied nearly all strategic positions and refused engagement. Facing logistical difficulty, Cao Cao personally led a force to pull Zhang He out from encirclement, and Cao Zhen was sent to escort Cao Hong from Wudu. After Cao Zhen had merged his force with that of Cao Hong's, they retreated to Chenchang, where Cao Zhen stationed his troops to prevent possible attack from Shu.〔(以真为征蜀护军，督徐晃等破刘备别将高详於阳平。太祖自至汉中，拔出诸军，使真至武都迎曹洪等还屯陈仓。). SGZ. Biography of Cao Zhen.〕 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 Zhen」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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