Cao Chong

Cao Chong ( Chinese  曹 沖  /  曹 冲 , Pinyin Cáo Chōng , W.-G. Ts'ao Ch'ung ; Zì 倉 舒 , Cāngshū , Ts'ang-shu ; * 196 ; † 208 ) was a son of the Chinese warlord Cao Cao at the time of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China.

Cao Chong was the eldest son of Cao Cao's lover, Huan. According to the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms by Chen Shou he had at the age of five or six years the mind of an adult. So goes the legend in China that the southern warlord Sun Quan once sent an elephant to his father Cao Cao . Cao Cao wanted to know its weight, but no one had any idea how to go about it. Cao Chong answered: He asked to bring the elephant onto a boat with the water level marked on the keel. Then the elephant was brought ashore and the ship was loaded with smaller weights until it had the same water level as with the elephant on board. A problem solution similar to Archimedes' crown problem .

Another time, Cao Cao's saddle was bitten by rodents in the camp. The guards feared for their lives because the law was strict in times of war. When Cao Chong found out, he took a knife and cut holes in his clothing as if rats had bitten them. Then he went to Cao Cao and complained that he took the rat bites as a bad omen. Cao Cao comforted him and presented the whole thing as superstition. Cao Chong then told him about the saddle. Cao Cao laughed and said, "If even my son's clothes on his body are not safe from the rats, who else speaks of the saddle in the camp?" The guards were spared.

Cao Chong carefully studied criminal trials to prevent injustice. Through his intelligence and benevolence, he won Cao Cao's heart, who often declared that he would like to succeed him. Cao Chong died at a young age. Cao Cao then said to his son Cao Pi , his ultimate successor: "This is my misfortune, but your happiness."

In 221, Cao Pi posthumously awarded his half-brother the title of Marquis Ai of Deng , and ten years later he was promoted to Prince Ai of Deng . Because he died without an heir, his nephew Cao Cong succeeded him.

Web links

• Family Trees Cao and Xiahou (English)

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Cao is the family name here, Chong is the first name.