Cao Shen And The Failed Interventions By Other Officials To Curb His Excessive Drinking

In 209 BCE, a low-level official named Liu Bang joined in a widespread wave of rebellion against the Qin Dynasty in China. Cao Shen (also often called Cao Can) was one of Liu Bang’s earliest supporters. Oddly enough, the life of Cao Shen before the revolt was that of a Qin law enforcement official in Pei, the region where Liu Bang eventually rebelled. Yet, when the revolts erupted, Cao Shen shed off any loyalty to the Qin and instead joined the rebels, devoting the rest of his life to serving Liu Bang and his descendants.

As a member of Liu Bang’s entourage, Cao Shen witnessed the fall of the Qin Dynasty and, in 206 BCE, the division of the empire into kingdoms led by the numerous rebel leaders. Liu Bang, now the king of Han, then embarked on a slew of hard-fought conquests, eventually becoming the first emperor of the Han Dynasty in 202 BCE. After gaining control of China, Liu Bang (posthumously remembered as Emperor Gaozu) rewarded Cao Shen with a noble title, appointing him as the marquis of Pingyang. As a further show of trust, the emperor nominated Cao Shen to serve as prime minister for Liu Fei, the king of Qi and the emperor’s eldest son.

In his role as a governing official, Cao Shen was a sworn adherent to the Huang-Lao Method, a governing philosophy based on the myths of Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor), as well as the Daoist teachings of Lao Tzu. One of the highest principles of the philosophy was that of inaction—his philosophical school believed in a minimalistic relationship between the ruler and the ruled, where the government strove to exert as little force as possible on the population so that the land would achieve a natural and harmonious stability. Cao Shen’s policies apparently worked well, for during his years working in Qi, Cao Shen gained a reputation as an able administrator.

Another promotion was awarded to Cao Shen in 193 BCE. The year, Prime Minister Xiao He of the imperial Han court fell fatally ill. On his deathbed, Xiao He advised that Cao Shen should be nominated as the next prime minister of Han. When Xiao He passed away and left his position vacant, Emperor Hui (Gaozu’s successor) followed the advice of the late minister and hired Cao Shen for the job.

As portrayed by the records of the Grand Historian, Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE), Cao Shen turned out to be quite the quirky government official once he entered the Capitol. Cao Shen was already a devotee of the philosophy of inaction. In addition to this, however, Cao Shen also believed that Xiao He had been an ideal lawmaker. Therefore, Cao Shen made no effort to improve or amend Xiao He’s policies and instead strove only to enforce his predecessor’s precedent.  To do this, he was said to have filled the ministry dormitory with loyal and generous employees. With Xiao He’s preexisting laws in place and a group of by-the-book bureaucrats employed to implement the legal code, Cao Shen relaxed as the cogs of government cranked away on their own accord.

Suffice it to say, Cao Shen had a lot of free time. He apparently filled these idle hours with one of his favorite hobbies—drinking. According to Sima Qian, the vice spread throughout the whole ministry. In one story, the prime minister’s valet complained that the clerks in the ministry dormitory were obnoxiously singing and drinking during their time off. When he was told this, Cao Shen reportedly rushed to the dormitory, but not to scold the clerks. Instead, he brought in a mat and some casks of his favorite beverage and invited the clerks to party with him in a garden near the dormitory.

Antics such as these quickly caught the attention of other government officials, and even Emperor Hui became concerned. Cao Shen’s reputation, however, was so great that nobody thought to punish him for his behavior. Instead, the officials wanted to reform his lifestyle and, if possible, bring about an intervention to end the prime minister’s excessive drinking.

Various officials apparently sought out Cao Shen to convince him to restrain his drinking and focus on his duties. These concerned visitors, however, were always ushered by the charismatic Cao Shen into his office, where the prime minister would generously serve his guests ample helpings of strong wine. Before long, they would all be inebriated and no progress was made.

Eventually, Emperor Hui reportedly tasked Cao Shen’s son, Cao Ju, with the nigh impossible task of weaning the prime minister off the drink and refocusing him on his government duties. Unfortunately for Cao Ju, his father did not take kindly to the family intervention. Instead of deflecting the questions or charismatically talking his way out of the situation, Cao Shen did away with all tact and instead punished his son’s unfilial nosiness with a reported 200 whaps from a rod.

Eventually, the emperor apparently gave up on trying to reform Cao Shen. Despite his unorthodox behavior, the prime minister’s approach seemed to not have a negative impact on the Chinese government or people. In fact, when Cao Shen died around 190 BCE, after only three years as prime minister, he was given the posthumous title of Admirable Marquis. An anonymous poem about Cao Shen was recorded by Sima Qian, which read:

“Xiao He made us laws,

As plain as the figure ‘one,’

Cao Shen took his place

And upheld them without fault.

He governed with purity and stillness,

And the people were at peace.”

(The Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji 54) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson)

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (A reproduction of an earlier Tang Dynasty (618-907) work of art, the reproduction is attributed to Emperor Huizong of Song (r. 1100–1125 AD), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.
• http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Han/personscaoshen.html 
• https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php?define=Cao+Can  

The Tragic Tale of King Liu Hui

Liu Hui was a son of Emperor Gaozu (king r.206-202 BCE, Emperor r. 202-195 BCE), the founder of the Han Dynasty in China. Although the Liu family would continue to rule China for centuries, Liu Hui and his brothers fell on very hard times after the death of their father. Of the eight sons fathered by Emperor Gaozu, only one was born from Empress Lü. Therefore, when Gaozu died and Empress Lü’s son, Liu Ying, became the new emperor, she quickly came to regard her late husband’s other surviving sons as threats to her own child’s power.

The first of Liu Hui’s brothers to be targeted by Empress Lü was Liu Ruyi. Empress Lü apparently detested Ruyi because his mother, Lady Qi, had been Gaozu’s favorite concubine. Furthermore, it was said that Emperor Gaozu had seriously considered making Liu Ruyi his heir instead of Empress Lü’s son. Nevertheless, the Empress and other advisors convinced Emperor Gaozu to keep Liu Ying as his heir and to send Ruyi away from the capital to become the king of Zhao. Even though Empress Lü had her way, she did not forget how close Lady Qi and Ruyi had come to shattering her life. Therefore, in 194 BCE, one year after the death of Gaozu, she had Liu Ruyi poisoned and then executed Lady Qi.

Liu Ying, who was supposedly driven to unhealthy habits to cope with his mother’s brutality, died in 188 BCE, when he was only twenty-three years old. Upon her son’s death, Empress Lü took full control of government, ruling as regent for two successive child-emperors of questionable birth. During her time as regent, she diligently introduced members of her Lü clan into government and noble positions, which angered and frightened her husband’s Liu clan. Unfortunately, by the end of the decade, Empress Lü apparently began to harbor murderous feelings toward the other sons of her late husband.

Sometime during Empress Lü’s reign, she arranged for Liu Hui and other sons of Gaozu to marry women from the Lü clan. These uneasy marriages caused drama between the Liu princes and their overbearing stepmother. This tension peaked in 181 BCE, when Empress Lü had Liu You—the new king of Zhao and another of Gaozu’s sons—starved to death after he allegedly offended his Lü family bride.

Liu Hui succeeded his half-brother, You, as the next king of Zhao, a title which must have seemed like a death sentence after the unnatural deaths of the kingdom’s two previous kings. Liu Hui found himself in an eerily similar situation to his recently deceased brother—both of them had been set up with wives from the Lü family, yet neither brother had any chemistry with his assigned bride. Even worse, Liu Hui’s wife brought with her a troop of Lü clan advisors, whose mission was to turn the new king of Zhao into a puppet ruler.

Despite these unfavorable conditions, King Hui took comfort in having with him a beloved concubine who could ease his sorrows. Yet, Liu Hui’s love for his unnamed concubine caused great jealousy for his queen. Sadly, as Hui’s brothers had discovered before him, it was deadly to be the target of a Lü woman’s scorn.

Whereas Liu You’s bride had complained to the empress about her husband, King Hui’s wife instead chose a more hands-on approach to dealing with her problem. According to Sima Qian, the angry queen exacted her revenge not on King Hui, but on the concubine that he loved. As even the royal attendants in Zhao were apparently loyal to the Lü clan, it was not difficult for the queen to have her way. Tragically, King Hui’s last bastion of comfort was murdered with poison.

The death of the woman he loved plunged Liu Hui into heartbroken depression. After her death, the king was inspired by the muse of sadness to write a poem in honor of his murdered partner and he even composed music to accompany the mournful verses. In the end, King Hui lost the will to live and ultimately committed suicide before the end of 181 BCE.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribute: (image from the Pictorial History Of China And India, by Robert Sears (1810-1892), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons and Flickr.).

Sources:

• The Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993.

A Son Of The Chinese Emperor Gaozu Was Starved To Death

Emperor Gaozu was said to have had eight legitimate sons—of these, Liu Ying, Gaozu’s child with Empress Lü, was named heir apparent, while the rest of the sons (from different consorts of the emperor) were appointed as kings of various regions in the empire. Perhaps, Emperor Gaozu had hoped that his sons would all have prosperous lives. Little did he know, however, that after his death in 195 BCE, political turmoil between Emperor Gaozu’s Liu family and the Lü clan of the empress would directly or indirectly lead to the early deaths of half his sons.

Liu You was one of the ill-fated sons fathered by Emperor Gaozu. At the time of the emperor’s death, Liu You was the king of Huaiyang. The following year, however, he was transferred by Empress Dowager Lü to rule the kingdom of Zhao, which had been left leaderless after the murder of Liu Ruyi, one of Liu You’s royal half-brothers. Along with the throne, Empress Dowager Lü also sent Liu You a woman from the Lü clan to be his wife. Although Liu You and his new wife did not get along, the king’s reign in Zhao was calm enough to keep his name out of the historical records for over a decade.

Outside of Zhao, however, the rift between the Liu and Lü families was becoming increasingly wide. On September 26, 188 BCE, Emperor Hui (formerly the heir apparent Liu Ying) died at the young age of twenty-three after allegedly falling fatally ill from heavy drinking and other bad habits. The Grand Historian, Sima Qian (c. 145-90 BCE), proposed that the young emperor turned to these unhealthy vices because of depression and mental strain caused by the empress dowager. In any case, after Hui’s death, Empress Dowager Lü retained control of the empire by placing two subsequent young puppet emperors on the imperial throne. Then, secure at the head of government, she began to shift the power structure of China by putting an increasing number of Lü family members in powerful positions as generals, marquises and kings.

King Liu You of Zhao returned to the historical record in 181 BCE. By this point, he and his Lü family bride had a complete falling out. The king apparently favored a concubine over his wife, and the Lü woman was so infuriated by this that she returned to the Han Dynasty’s capital of Chang’an, where she complained about her husband to the matriarch of the Lü family, the empress dowager. In particular, the scorned wife spread a rumor that Liu You, like many of the Liu family nobles, was grumbling about the Lü clan’s recent rise to power. She allegedly also told the empress dowager that the king of Zhao was considering an attack on the new Lü nobles at some point in the future. This news was too much for the empress dowager to let go unanswered.

In early 181 BCE, Empress Dowager Lü summoned Liu You to the city of Chang’an. As soon as the king arrived in the city and entered his state residence there, the building was surrounded by the empress dowager’s soldiers and besieged. For several weeks, the empress dowager refused to allow any provisions to be brought to the king. Sima Qian even claimed that several officials were arrested while trying to smuggle supplies to Liu You. During his days of worsening hunger and thirst, the king was said to have spent his time writing poetry about the abuses of the Lü family and the peril facing his own Liu clan. After wasting away inside his besieged residence, King Liu You died from lack of food and water on February 21, 181 BCE.

Written by C. Keith Hansley.

Picture Attribution: (Ancient Chinese exhibit in the Sichuan University Museum (四川大学博物馆) - Chengdu, Sichuan, China. Photography was permitted in the museum without restriction. [Public Domain] via Creative Commons).

Sources:

• The Records of the Grand Historian (Shi ji) by Sima Qian, translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993. 
• http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Han/personslvhou.html