Cao Mao

Cao Mao (241 – 2 June 260), courtesy name Yanshi, was the fourth emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was a grandson of Cao Pi, the first emperor of Wei. Described as intelligent and studious, Cao Mao made repeated attempts to seize back state power from the regent Sima Zhao but failed. He was killed in an abortive coup d'état against Sima Zhao. Family background and accession to the throne Cao Mao was a son of Cao Lin, the Prince of Donghai (東海王), a son of Cao Pi. In 244, at the age of three, in accordance with Wei's regulations that the sons of princes (other than the first-born son of the prince's wife, customarily designated as the prince's heir) were to be instated as dukes, Cao Mao was enfeoffed as the "Duke of Gaogui District" (高貴鄉公). Cao Lin died in 249 when Cao Mao was eight. Cao Mao's elder brother, Cao Qi (曹啟), succeeded their father as the Prince of Donghai. By 254, state power was in the control of the Sima clan, whose patriarch Sima Yi had seized power from the regent Cao Shuang in 249. After Sima Yi's death in 251, the Sima clan was led by his eldest son, Sima Shi. In 254, after falsely accusing Cao Fang's father-in-law Zhang Ji (張緝) and Zhang's associates Li Feng and Xiahou Xuan of treason, Sima Shi had them and their clans executed. When Cao Fang himself considered a coup against the Simas later that year, Sima Shi had him deposed. It was at this time that Cao Fang's stepmother, Empress Dowager Guo, made a last-ditch attempt at preserving the Cao clan's imperial authority by injecting herself into the process of selecting the next emperor. When Sima Shi notified her that he intended to make Cao Pi's brother, Cao Ju (曹據), the Prince of Pengcheng, the new emperor, she managed to persuade him that such a succession would be improper since Cao Ju was the uncle of her husband, Cao Rui, and such a succession would leave Cao Rui effectively without an heir. Sima Shi was forced to agree with her to let Cao Mao be the emperor. (Cao Mao, although young (at age 13) was known for his intelligence and Empress Dowager Guo might have believed that he, alone, of the princes and dukes might have had a chance of counteracting the Simas.) When Sima Shi asked her for the imperial seal she again reasoned with him and refused politely, under the reasoning that she had met Cao Mao before and wanted to personally hand him the seal.