Anecdotes of the Brothers of Cao Pi
Shishuo Xinyu 世說新語 “A New Account of the Tales of the World” is a difficult source to deal with. A compilation of anecdotes about historical figures, collected and edited during the (Liu) Song dynasty (420-479), it is acknowledged as an important resource for studying the history and culture of the Six Dynasties era.
But are the anecdotes contained within it actually true? Which ones are historical and which ones are historical fiction?
There are two famous anecdotes in Shishuo Xinyu regarding the two full brothers of the Wei Emperor Wen Cao Pi, the King Wei of Rencheng, Cao Zhang, and the King Si of Chen, Cao Zhi. Both of these anecdotes have been widely spread since its inclusion in Shishuo Xinyu, and many do believe the anecdotes are true.
Below I will discuss the anecdotes and why they are certainly fictitious, and why this matters.
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While collections of anecdotes like the SSXY can be useful for studying culture, one should never mistake them for...
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a question?
RULES.
i. First and foremost, please do not steal my headcanons, my graphics, or anything of the sort. I put a lot of thought and care into those. Thank you~!ii. Cao Pi is not always a nice guy. He can be a sadist and has a crude sense of humour. He doesn't put up with stupidity, and has a lack of patience at times. Do take this in mind that he IS a prince/emperor depending on the timeline, and will more than likely take great offense to being treated like a peasant. Especially if it’s intentional.
iii. Goes without saying, but Cao Pi and I are not the same. He can be a real jerk sometimes, but that doesn’t reflect how I feel, ye? I swear I'm a nice person fkdjlgkj--
iv. Please don’t godmod. That also goes without saying!
v.I don’t accept M!A’s unless posted otherwise. I get pretty bored with them.
vi.I’m totally chill with following/rping with other Cao Pi blogs! I love seeing 'em~
vii.This blog is selectively multiship. Cao Pi is attracted to physical appearance before getting to know someone better, but just ‘cause you’re good looking doesn’t mean he wants a relationship.
- Side note: I will likely not want to ship with you if you are a Lu Xun. Pi/Xun is my otp and I’m very picky about who I write that with whooops.
- I exclusively ship Pi/Mitsunari with sxkichi.
viii. I don’t mind pre-established relationships, so long as it’s discussed first!
ix. OC sons, daughters, siblings or whatever are also okay, again as long as it’s discussed so he doesn’t get bombarded all of a sudden (especially children). I absolutely love family relations, but I also like to know it's coming :'D
x. I WILL NOT SMUT WITH MINORS. I have absolutely no exceptions to this.
verses
- MAIN.
- AU.
- GROUP.
VERSE NAME.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce scelerisque nec orci ac elementum. Etiam dictum leo in leo fringilla, at ultricies arcu venenatis. Ut dignissim pretium volutpat. Nullam pharetra, nunc volutpat porttitor congue, libero felis tincidunt quam, at hendrerit velit augue vel odio. Praesent tincidunt lorem vitae maximus porta. Suspendisse hendrerit ut velit eget mattis. Proin malesuada efficitur ligula, a posuere sapien mollis et. Etiam volutpat in lectus at malesuada. Nunc et interdum leo.VERSE NAME.
Pellentesque a nisl venenatis, ultricies odio et, malesuada est. Mauris eros dolor, rhoncus vestibulum lorem nec, vestibulum ornare magna. Donec posuere ante mattis lectus bibendum, nec fermentum ante ullamcorper. Fusce blandit velit ac metus convallis ultricies. Quisque turpis nulla, scelerisque et orci ac, pellentesque ullamcorper odio. Fusce at auctor elit. Sed eu odio sodales est dapibus dictum in et ex. Nulla a elementum eros.-
VERSE NAME.
Proin blandit sollicitudin aliquet. Donec sed malesuada nibh. Sed quis fermentum velit. Praesent tincidunt, lectus in bibendum ornare, odio odio mattis purus, sit amet molestie orci velit et justo. Nunc cursus porta vestibulum. Curabitur elementum volutpat tortor, ut maximus enim. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Sed tincidunt non tellus at efficitur. Sed id est tincidunt, euismod metus quis, aliquam mauris. Nulla nunc magna, fermentum semper pulvinar quis, facilisis eu tortor. Duis facilisis nulla et nunc fermentum ultricies. Pellentesque quis vulputate dolor. In non gravida arcu. Nunc nec libero fringilla, hendrerit leo sed, imperdiet purus.VERSE NAME.
Phasellus consectetur vitae sapien sed maximus. Phasellus vel nulla non purus ultricies euismod. Phasellus non orci tincidunt, commodo ligula id, elementum augue. Quisque at elit at justo mattis tristique eget non turpis. Duis euismod, mi ut sollicitudin sollicitudin, sapien lorem dapibus orci, id scelerisque ipsum dui non augue. Donec tortor mauris, venenatis nec finibus in, eleifend ac justo. Morbi a vulputate turpis. Proin hendrerit, urna sed iaculis euismod, est nisi vehicula nisi, vel convallis nibh tellus ac nibh. Vestibulum volutpat pellentesque sapien, nec pretium nulla aliquam nec. Cras ultrices nisl sit amet nulla consequat efficitur. 
VERSE NAME.
Nulla tincidunt felis non venenatis euismod. Fusce odio tellus, consectetur vitae erat non, feugiat tincidunt metus. Mauris suscipit ex sit amet arcu fermentum, eu fringilla diam consequat. Nullam imperdiet suscipit turpis, ac semper enim fringilla sit amet. Nullam ac magna pharetra, elementum sapien quis, pharetra elit. Suspendisse faucibus neque ligula, sit amet tempor est venenatis a. Praesent eleifend fringilla enim, vel varius libero laoreet eget. Aliquam erat volutpat. Phasellus tempor mi vitae enim consequat tempor. Cras condimentum quis tellus vel mattis. Cras sit amet est at neque luctus congue.VERSE NAME.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce scelerisque nec orci ac elementum. Etiam dictum leo in leo fringilla, at ultricies arcu venenatis. Ut dignissim pretium volutpat. Nullam pharetra, nunc volutpat porttitor congue, libero felis tincidunt quam, at hendrerit velit augue vel odio. Praesent tincidunt lorem vitae maximus porta. Suspendisse hendrerit ut velit eget mattis. Proin malesuada efficitur ligula, a posuere sapien mollis et. Etiam volutpat in lectus at malesuada. Nunc et interdum leo.
On the breezes of the sky,
And you ask "What if I fall?"
Oh but my darling,
What if you fly?
basic information
- Name: Cao Pi.
(Pronounced T'sao Pi). - Style name: Zihuan.
- Kingdom: Wei.
- Role: Prince/Emperor.
- Age: 27
- Height: 6'0" (182cm)
- DOB: December 23, 187AD.
- Death: June 29, 226AD.
- Western Zodiac: Capricorn.
- Chinese Zodiac: Fire Tiger.
- Element: Ice.
- Weapon: Dual blade.
history
From a young age, Cao Pi had exceptional talent. He was "the perfect child" as quoted by others, and was also said to have quite the bashful side in his youth. He was the third son of Cao Cao who was known as the King of Wei and Hero of Chaos, and his mother was Lady Bian.In these early years, he honed his talents in swordsmanship and archery, until he was able to wield almost any weapon ambidextrously, and shoot a bow with great precision from horseback. His skills only improved as his age progressed.
Exceptional as he was, however, he was not initially heir to the throne; his elder half-brother named Cao Ang was. Cao Ang was a man that Cao Pi looked up to greatly, and out of all of his siblings, he felt the strongest bond with him. Often he would follow his brother around, eagerly watching and learning from him. In turn, he was a particular favourite to Cao Ang.
Their time shared was short-lived. When the events of Wancheng occurred, Cao Pi was about ten years old and had almost lost his own life that day. Cao Ang himself had given their father his horse to escape, and he was left behind on the battlefield, never to be seen again.
The loss of his elder brother struck him hard, as it did for many. Coming to terms with never seeing him again, hearing his voice - it was impossible for him. Cao Pi had shut down, wallowing in depression, distancing himself from all those around him. While his connection to his father appeared to improve, he rarely offered a second glance to his brothers and sisters any longer. During his nights of grief, Cao Pi made the decision to do everything he could to succeed his brother. He changed, and was no longer the kind and sweet boy he was before, but rather a hard working and devoted son.
While ambidextrous, he wrote only with his right hand. Cao Pi was an excellent writer; he loved literature and poetry like his father and wrote over a hundred articles on various subjects. He wrote Yàn Gē Xíng, the first Chinese poem in the style of seven syllables per line. In 200 AD following Yuan Shao's defeat at the hands of Wei, Cao Pi would meet Lady Zhen, who was Yuan Shao's daughter-in-law. He fell in love with her and married her not long after. She bore him two children; his son and heir Cao Rui, and a daughter. However, there were whispers of Cao Rui not truly belonging to Cao Pi, but to Lady Zhen's previous husband due to her pregnancy shortly after their meeting. As such, it was possible that their only child together was really Princess Dongxiang. Even though it was possible, Cao Pi disregarded those rumours and treated Rui as blood. Wei's victories and morale only continued to grow, until the time came when they faced against the Wu and Shu alliance at Chibi. Cao Pi was left with a physical reminder of Wei’s failure at that time. With their massive fleet, everything was in their favour until the wind changed direction. Through Wu and Shu's schemes, the entirety of Wei's naval fleet was set ablaze, and they were forced to retreat in shame.As the flames grew higher and he fled from battle, he was struck by falling debris from the ships, which burned through his attire and left a painful wound on his back. By the time he was treated, it was already too severe to heal completely. When he recalls that battle, he notes that he still feels the sensation along the scarred skin. It was this event that increased his fear of failure, and ignited his complete and utter disdain for the other kingdoms. Indeed, he learned from his father's mistakes through the many years - but at what cost, he continued to wonder. After his father's death, the kingdom was then ruled by Cao Pi. Cao Pi forced Emperor Xian to abdicate his throne to fully wipe out the Han Dynasty, however it caused a rift between him and his sister, Cao Jie, due to her marriage to the emperor. His reign from then on was relatively peaceful. Although some internal conflicts were present, there were no major revolts. Due to his paranoia, he had many eyes and ears within Wei, especially around his siblings. They were his spies and reported anything of interest to him. Though his reputation was that of a man whose heart was frozen to the core, those who knew him personally knew otherwise. His softness was restricted for his wife and children, and he was more relaxed around a particular few of his generals. Come his late thirties, he grew ill. It was very slight at first, and he thought little of it. However, as time progressed, it worsened. It continued into coughing fits and to the paleness of his skin. His once perfected talents were now something he struggled with, and his hand shook with each stroke of his brush. He gradually became bedridden and unable to recover from illness, and he died at the age of 38 in the summer of June 29, 226. He was posthumously known as Emperor Wen.
side notes
It's noted that Cao Pi was interested in the supernatural, and set aside his poetry to write the occasional ghost story.Cao Pi had a fondness for grape wine, speaking highly of its richness and sweetness. He was very tolerant of alcohol, but drank in moderation as he had a tendency to get 'carried away' when far too intoxicated.
痛みさえも 味方にして
Cao Pi.
Independent roleplay blog for Cao Pi from Dynasty Warriors/ROTK. Semi-historical. Multi-ship, OC friendly, crossovers encouraged!
Please take the time to read the rules, thank you in advance.
打ち破れ空を
est 2014remade in july 2015
written by kuri.