Please forgive the depressed productivity of recent times; crunching to get The Rulers of Shǔ out on time for Liú Bèi’s 1800th Death Day was more taxing than expected.
Anyways, how about a more whimsical topic of discussion? Such as a completely unqualified psychoanalysis on a certain aspect of the behavior of Wèi Emperor Míng, Cáo Ruì? Obviously, any attempt to psychoanalyze a historical figure from centuries ago should not be taken seriously, as there is not enough data to make serious diagnoses when you don’t have the actual person in front of a trained and qualified psychologist or psychiatrist. But it can still be a fun diversion, so let’s get on with it.
Do not take this article seriously.
Anyways, this was all inspired by a casual conversation on whether it would be fair to characterize Cáo Ruì as a “womanizer.”
A point in favor would be that there has long been a traditional view that Cáo Ruì was a lecherous depraved Emperor who may very well have caused his own relatively early death through too much indulgence in sex. Likely this view originates from the accounts of the Emperor’s extravagance, including his extravagance in his harem/female palace staff. In the Wèilüè account on the numerous palace halls and gardens he commissioned, we are also told that he filled them with women in an official ranked system comparable in number to the ranks of the regular bureaucracy, and that he always roamed and feasted within, selecting out six women to serve as a female Secretariat to handle official Imperial documents, and that the female singers and performers numbered in the thousands. Furthermore, there were accusations that, as part of this massive female staffing, the Imperial Palace had embezzled from a government program of arranging marriages for combat soldiers. Under the program, women from military families that had been married off to civilian families were to be returned to be matched as wives for soldiers, but reportedly these women were instead being screened out to have the most beautiful selected out and instead redirected toward staffing the palace harem.1
As a point against: despite this extravagance in his harem, Cáo Ruì had very few children compared to most Emperors. The annals in SGZ 3 record only three sons, all of which died young. Additionally, the biographical entry of the senior minister Wáng Lǎng includes a story of Wáng Lǎng submitting a remonstrant urging the Emperor to focus on producing more children for the security of the state.2
So what’s the deal? Well, one possible reconciliation of this apparent contradiction is the simple observation that building a large harem is not necessarily the same thing has using said harem for reproductive purposes. For instance, it is perhaps worth noting that the Wèilüè account focuses on identifying the harem staff by their formal ranks and duties as artisans, singers, and performers. One could speculate that the Emperor Míng may have been more interested in using his harem for those sorts of more “showing off” entertainments than for fathering children.
Funny thing, we do have another anecdote involving Cáo Ruì building a large collection of something and then not really doing anything practical with it beyond showing off: the biographical entry of the senior minister Gāo Róu includes a memorial where-in Róu criticized Cáo Ruì’s maintenance of a large restricted deer reserve where none were permitted to hunt the deer under penalty of death.3 Apparently tongue in cheek, Gāo Róu wrote that he had at first been bewildered by the deer reserve policies until suddenly realizing the Emperor’s wisdom: clearly the plan was to let the deer population grow to a massive size and then harvest the deer all at once for government and military use. However, Gāo Róu explained that, despite the obvious wisdom of this plan, it would be impossible for the deer population to increase any further due to surplus population being devoured by natural predators, which Gāo Róu proceeded to list out in a series of back of the envelope calculations to estimate the deer population, rate of increase and decrease by predators, and its probable carrying capacity limit.4
So, if one wished to recklessly speculate, perhaps one could guess that there was a sort of pattern in the Emperor Míng’s life, where he sought to amass large personal collections but then never really use it for the original intended or practical purposes. Or, in other words: hoarding.
While searching for information on hoarding, I came across this analysis:
Usually, an early environment of lack, inadequacy and unfulfilled wishes creates a need to hoard things later in life. Hoarding also offers comfort after a person has lost something/someone precious. There is a sense of security in being surrounded by stuff they are in control of. It all compensates for the feelings of lack.5
If this is true, what might have led to a feeling of lack or inadequacy in the early life of a future Emperor? Well, there was that whole ugly business with his mother the empress Zhēn, who was destroyed in the brutal arena of harem politics and forced to commit suicide in 221,6 when Cáo Ruì was about sixteen. Due to the disgrace of his mother, Cáo Ruì was not a favorite of his father and not established as heir, and we are told that Cáo Pī instead favored and considered Ruì’s younger half-brothers such as Cáo Lǐ.7 Indeed, it was only when Cáo Pī was critically ill and on his deathbed that Cáo Ruì was established as Heir-Apparent, literally the very day before Cáo Pī died.8 Taken together, this does not imply a very happy or stable family situation.
On a side note, the Hàn Emperor Líng, who has traditionally been viewed as the real “last Emperor who destroyed his state” despite not actually being the last Emperor of Hàn,9 was reportedly also something of a hoarder, building vast personal stockpiles of money despite theoretically controlling the resources of the Empire, but that is a story for another time.
《三國志·魏書三·明帝紀》魏略曰:是年起太極諸殿,築總章觀,高十餘丈,建翔鳳於其上;又於芳林園中起陂池,楫櫂越歌;又於列殿之北,立八坊,諸才人以次序處其中,貴人夫人以上,轉南附焉,其秩石擬百官之數。帝常游宴在內,乃選女子知書可付信者六人,以為女尚書,使典省外奏事,處當畫可,自貴人以下至尚保,及給掖庭灑掃,習伎歌者,各有千數。通引穀水過九龍殿前,為玉井綺欄,蟾蜍含受,神龍吐出。使博士馬均作司南車,水轉百戲。歲首建巨獸,魚龍曼延,弄馬倒騎,備如漢西京之制,築閶闔諸門闕外罘罳。太子舍人張茂以吳、蜀數動,諸將出征,而帝盛興宮室,留意於玩飾,賜與無度,帑藏空竭;又錄奪士女前已嫁為吏民妻者,還以配士,既聽以生口自贖,又簡選其有姿色者內之掖庭,乃上書諫
《三國志·魏書十三·王朗傳》時屢失皇子,而後宮就館者少,朗上疏曰:「昔周文十五而有武王,遂享十子之祚,以廣諸姬之胤。武王既老而生成王,成王是以鮮於兄弟。此二王者,各樹聖德,無以相過,比其子孫之祚,則不相如。蓋生育有早晚,所產有眾寡也。陛下既德祚兼彼二聖,春秋高於姬文育武之時矣,而子發未舉於椒蘭之奧房,藩王未繁於掖庭之眾室。以成王為喻,雖未為晚,取譬伯邑,則不為夙。周禮六宮內官百二十人,而諸經常說,咸以十二為限,至於秦漢之末,或以千百為數矣。然雖彌猥,而就時於吉館者或甚鮮,明『百斯男』之本,誠在於一意,不但在於務廣也。老臣慺慺,願國家同祚於軒轅之五五,而未及周文之二五,用為伊邑。且少小常苦被褥泰溫,泰溫則不能便柔膚弱體,是以難可防護,而易用感慨。若常令少小之縕袍,不至於甚厚,則必咸保金石之性,而比壽於南山矣。」
《三國志·魏書二十四·高柔傳》是時,殺禁地鹿者身死,財產沒官,有能覺告者厚加賞賜。柔上疏曰:「聖王之御世,莫不以廣農為務,儉用為資。夫農廣則穀積,用儉則財畜,畜財積穀而有憂患之虞者,未之有也。古者,一夫不耕,或為之饑;一婦不織,或為之寒。中閒已來,百姓供給眾役,親田者既減,加頃復有獵禁,群鹿犯暴,殘食生苗,處處為害,所傷不貲。民雖障防,力不能禦。至如滎陽左右,周數百里,歲略不收,元元之命,實可矜傷。方今天下生財者甚少,而麋鹿之損者甚多。卒有兵戎之役,凶年之災,將無以待之。惟陛下覽先聖之所念,愍稼穡之艱難,寬放民閒,使得捕鹿,遂除其禁,則眾庶久濟,莫不悅豫矣。」
《三國志·魏書二十四·高柔傳》魏名臣奏載柔上疏曰:「臣深思陛下所以不早取此鹿者,誠欲使極蕃息,然後大取以為軍國之用。然臣竊以為今鹿但有日耗,終無從得多也。何以知之?今禁地廣輪且千餘里,臣下計無慮其中有虎大小六百頭,狼有五百頭,狐萬頭。使大虎一頭三日食一鹿,一虎一歲百二十鹿,是為六百頭虎一歲食七萬二千頭鹿也。使十狼日共食一鹿,是為五百頭狼一歲共食萬八千頭鹿。鹿子始生,未能善走,使十狐一日共食一子,比至健走一月之間,是為萬狐一月共食鹿子三萬頭也。大凡一歲所食十二萬頭。其鵰鶚所害,臣置不計。以此推之,終無從得多,不如早取之為便也。」
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-some-people-just-collect-stuff-but-never-get-to-use-them-at-all
《三國志·魏書五·文昭甄皇后傳》延康元年正月,文帝即王位,六月,南征,后留鄴。黃初元年十月,帝踐阼。踐阼之後,山陽公奉二女以嬪于魏,郭后、李、陰貴人並愛幸,后愈失意,有怨言。帝大怒,二年六月,遣使賜死,葬于鄴。
《三國志·魏書三·明帝紀》魏略曰:文帝以郭后無子,詔使子養帝。帝以母不以道終,意甚不平。後不獲已,乃敬事郭后,旦夕因長御問起居,郭后亦自以無子,遂加慈愛。文帝始以帝不悅,有意欲以他姬子京兆王為嗣,故久不拜太子。
《三國志·魏書三·明帝紀》七年夏五月,帝病篤,乃立為皇太子。丁巳,即皇帝位,大赦。
The last Emperor of Eastern Hàn was of course the Emperor Xiàn, but there is a common view that, by the time Emperor Xiàn was enthroned, it was pretty much already too late, one which I tend to personally agree with. One could potentially draw some sort of analogy, comparing Hàn Líng to Wèi Míng, and Hàn Xiàn to the three Young Emperors of Wèi.