Zhen Luo

Zhen Luo ( Chinese  甄 宓  /  甄 洛 , Pinyin Zhēn Luò , * 183 ; † 221 ), formally Empress Wenzhao ( Chinese  文昭 皇后  - "civil and hardworking empress"), was the first wife of Wei Emperor Cao Pi . Her son Cao Rui later made her empress posthumously after ascending the throne.

Life

Zhen Luo came from the Zhongshan Headquarters (around today's Baoding , Hebei ). Her father Zhen Yi ( 甄 逸 ) was the governor of the commandant's office and died when she was only two years old. Despite his early death, the family remained wealthy and supported the rural population during the civil war that broke out after the death of Han Emperor Ling (189). Zhen Luo personally participated in the distribution of the donations and thus earned the sympathy of the population. When she grew up, Yuan Shao , who then controlled Ji Province ( 冀州 , now known as Hebei) , learned of her reputation and beauty. He married her to his son Yuan Xi , who later became governor of You Province ( 幽州 , now Beijing , Tianjin and western Liaoning ). His wife did not accompany him here, but stayed with her mother-in-law at the headquarters of the Yuan clan near Yecheng ( 鄴 城 , in today's Handan , Hebei). Apparently, she did not bear children to Yuan Xi.

Marriage to Cao Pi

Yuan Shao soon lost his supremacy in northern China. After a crushing defeat against the rival warlord Cao Cao in the Battle of Guandu (200), he died in 202. His sons Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan fought over the succession and thus paralyzed their empire. Cao Cao played the two off against each other in such a way that Yuan Tan was killed. Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi fled to see Governor Gongsun Kang , but were betrayed and executed by him.

On his campaigns to conquer the former Yuan Empire, Cao Cao also took the Ye district in 204. There, his son Cao Pi met Zhen Luo and took her as his wife, although she was not yet a widow at the time. Eight months later, she gave birth to a son, Cao Rui . In connection with his early birth, it was rumored that Yuan Xi was the boy's biological father. However, it is unlikely that Yuan Xi would have been in Yecheng this short before Cao Cao's invasion. Nevertheless, the rumor created tension between the couple. The concubine Guo Nuwang used this in her favor. After Cao Pi deposed the last Han emperor Xian after the death of his father in 220 and founded the Wei dynasty, he declared himself emperor, but did not call Zhen Luo to the capital Luoyang . She became angry and Guo Nuwang reported it to the emperor. He then sent a messenger to force Zhen Luo to commit suicide. In 221 he made Guo Nuwang empress .

Afterlife

After Cao Pi's death in 226, his son Cao Rui ascended the throne. He posthumously appointed his mother Zhen Luo as empress, but at the same time also Guo Nüwang as empress mother . This died in 235 under controversial circumstances. Many historians believed that Cao Rui found out her role in his mother's death and forced her to commit suicide.

Popular stories

A popular story speculates that Zhen Luo's death was due to an affair with Cao Pi's brother, Cao Zhi . Some, more fictional sources, even mention an affair with Cao Cao. However, there are no indications for either hypothesis. They are based on a poem by Cao Zhi that is dedicated to the goddess of the Luo River and (incorrectly) relate it to Zhen Luo.