Cao Zhi (192～232), a poet of the Wei State during the Three Kingdoms period. A native of Pei Guoqiao (now Bozhou City, Anhui Province). The courtesy name is Zijian. He is the third son born to Cao Cao and Empress Wu Xuanbian.
Cao Zhi has been smart since he was a child. When he was more than 10 years old, he recited hundreds of thousands of poems, essays, and poems. Cao Cao once believed that Cao Zhi was "the most capable of determining major events" among the princes, and wanted to make him the prince several times. However, Cao Zhi's behavior was laissez-faire and he repeatedly violated laws and regulations, which aroused Cao Cao's anger. However, his brother Cao Pi was quite able to show off himself and finally gained the upper hand in the struggle to establish the crown prince, and was established as the crown prince in the 22nd year of Jian'an (217). . In the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao died of illness. Cao Pi succeeded to the throne of Wei and soon became emperor. Cao Zhi's life has undergone fundamental changes since then. He went from being a noble son who lived a life of leisure and entertainment to being the target of restrictions and attacks at every turn. In the seventh year of Huangchu (226), Cao Pi died of illness, and Cao Rui succeeded him as Emperor Wei Ming. Cao Rui still strictly guarded and restricted him, and his situation did not fundamentally improve. During the 12 years of the reign of Emperor Wen and Ming Dynasty, Cao Zhi was moved to several fiefdoms. The last fiefdom was in Chen County. Cao Zhi passed away on December 27, 232, and was given the posthumous title of Si, so later generations called him "King Chen". Or "King Chen Si".
Poetry is the main field of Cao Zhi’s literary activities. There is a big difference between the early and late content. The early poems can be divided into two categories, one expresses the leisurely life of his noble son Guijie, and the other reflects his feelings of the era of "being born in chaos and growing up in the army". His later poems mainly express his sometimes angry and sometimes sad mood under oppression, expressing his unwillingness to be abandoned and his desire to make meritorious deeds in life. There are more than 80 relatively complete poems by Cao Zhi in existence today. Cao Zhi made many innovations and developments in the art of poetry. In particular, he made great contributions to the creation of five-character poems. First of all, most of the ancient Yuefu poems of the Han Dynasty are mainly narrative. It is in Nineteen Ancient Poems that the lyrical component plays an important role in the works. Cao Zhi developed this trend and organically combined lyricism and narrative, so that five-character poetry could not only describe complex changes in events, but also express tortuous psychological feelings, which greatly enriched its artistic functions.
As the master of Jian'an literature, Cao Zhi had a great influence on later generations. During the Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, he was respected as a model of writing. During his lifetime, Cao Zhi compiled a collection of 78 works, "Qianlu". After his death, Emperor Ming Cao Rui collected more than 100 works for him, including 30 volumes of "Sui Shu·Jing Ji Zhi", 1 volume of "Ode to Women", and 5 volumes of "Praise to Paintings". However, the original collection was lost by the end of the Northern Song Dynasty. There are 10 volumes of "Collected Works of Cao Zijian" published in the sixth year of Jiading in the Southern Song Dynasty, which contain 206 poems, poems and essays. The "Collection of Chen Siwang" engraved by Guo Yunpeng, Wang Shixian and Zhang Pu in the Ming Dynasty was slightly modified from the Southern Song Dynasty edition. In the Qing Dynasty, Ding Yan's "Comments on Cao Ji Quan" and Zhu Xuzeng's "Cao Ji Yi Kao Yi" revised each chapter in detail and added many lost sentences, making them two more complete and refined editions. Huang Jie, a recent scholar, has "Annotations on Cao Zijian's Poems", ancient Chinese has "Notes on Cao Zhi's Poems", and contemporary Zhao Youwen has "Annotations on Cao Zhi's Collection of Poems".
Cao Zhi married two wives in his life. His ex-wife, Cui, came from a famous family. His brother Cui Yan once served as the minister of Cao Wei and once gained Cao Cao's trust. Cui was ordered to go home and sentenced to death by Cao Cao because she "violated the regulations on clothing and embroidery." Not long after, Cui's brother Cui Yan was executed for "disrespectful speech". Some people say that Cui Yan's death is related to the death of his sister. Cao Zhi's later wife, Xie, was once named a princess, also known as "Concubine Chen" in history books. She was Cao Zhi's partner in his later life. It is said that she lived until the Jin Dynasty, when she was more than 80 years old. Cao Zhi had two sons. The eldest son, Cao Miao, was once named Gaoyang Township Duke and died young. The second son, Cao Zhi, was named Mu Xianggong. Cao Zhi is young but eager to learn and has outstanding talents. Cao Zhi praised him as the "protector of the family" of the Cao family. After Cao Zhi's death, Cao Zhi succeeded to the throne and was granted the title of King of Jibei. After the Sima family usurped the throne, Cao Zhi was demoted to the title of Duke of Juancheng County, and later he was appointed as the prefect of Leping. He then moved to Sanqi Changshi and served as a doctor of Guozi, and later became a doctor to offer wine. He died in the ninth year of Taiyuan (228), and his posthumous title was Ding Gong. Cao Zhi also had two daughters, who were occasionally mentioned in his works, but the details are unknown.
The Cao family, father and son, were famous writers during the Three Kingdoms period, collectively known as the Three Caos. They left many immortal chapters in the history of Chinese literature. Cao Zhi’s "Seven Steps Poetry" is a good story, and its significance It is no longer the value of the poem itself. It contains profound political connotations and has become a portrayal of brothers fighting against each other and fighting each other for status, power, and property in the long history. When he was a boy, Cao Zhi had the ambition to "live on the edge of the edge" and charge into the battlefield. Therefore, he worked hard to learn various martial arts since he was a child, and acquired excellent skills in swordsmanship, swordsmanship, and riding and archery. In his youth, Cao Zhi accompanied his father on many expeditions, and later led his troops to fight alone. He returned victorious almost every time, and he was worthy of being a young hero galloping on the battlefield.
Cao Zhi is not only outstanding in martial arts, but also has unparalleled literary talent. The talented Cao Zhi "is more than ten years old, has hundreds of thousands of poems on poetry, and is good at literature." In the fifteenth year of Jian'an (210), the Bronze Bird Tower built by Cao Cao in Yecheng was completed. He summoned a group of scribes to "come on the stage to write poems", and Cao Zhi was naturally among them. Among all the people, Cao Zhi was the only one who thought about it a little, finished it in one stroke, and was the first to hand in the paper. His article was called "Ode to the Stage". After seeing it, Cao Cao was filled with admiration. Cao Zhi was only 19 years old at the time.
Since then, Cao Cao, who has always valued talents, had the idea to break the old rule of "establishing the elder rather than the young" and handing over the throne to his son Cao Zhi, who was versatile in both civil and military affairs. Therefore, Cao Cao was particularly fond of Cao Zhi and repeatedly expressed to those around him, "I want to establish him as his heir." Who would have expected that Cao Cao's idea would not bring any blessings to Cao Zhi. On the contrary, it would cause him endless pain and make him invisibly involved in the whirlpool of fighting for the crown prince.
Cao Zhi is Cao Pi's fierce rival. He was favored by his father Cao Cao. Cao Cao once wanted to depose Cao Pi and make him the prince. It is reasonable for Cao Pi to hate him. If it weren't for the strong opposition of some ministers, Cao Zhi would have been established as the heir apparent. The struggle between Cao Pi and his younger brother Cao Zhi began from this era.
Another time, Cao Cao wanted to send Cao Zhi to lead an expedition. Leading troops on an expedition is a symbol of military power and a sign of Cao Cao's emphasis on training. As a result, Cao Zhi was drunk before going to the expedition. Cao Cao sent someone to warn Cao Zhi. After urging him several times, Cao Zhi still fell asleep. Cao Cao angrily canceled Cao Zhi's decision to lead the army. It seems that Cao Zhi is only qualified to be an informal writer and cannot be a resourceful politician.
In the struggle between Cao Zhi and Cao Pi, Cao Pi was the winner and eventually inherited the throne of Wei. Although Cao Pi's status and power have been basically consolidated, his hatred of Cao Zhi has not changed. In fact, Cao Zhi did not commit any serious crimes, but someone reported that he often drank and cursed. He also detained Cao Pi's envoys, but there were no signs or symptoms of recruiting troops or plotting rebellion. This was not considered a crime, but Cao Pi was afraid that the public would not accept the crime, so he came up with a method of "composing a poem in seven steps" to punish his brother. Fortunately, exporting poems was Cao Zhi's specialty, and this "seven-step poem" became a life-saving poem. Cao Pi had to withdraw his orders and lower Cao Zhi's rank.