Cao Pi (187-29 June 226) was the first emperor of Cao Wei and one of the sons of Cao Cao. Cao Pi first served in battle at the Battle of Guandu in 200 AD under his father, witnessing Cao Cao's victory. Cao Pi was responsible for the destruction of Yuan Shao's army in the battles that followed, and when his father died in 220 AD, he overthrew the Later Han and that founded the Kingdom of Cao Wei.
Biography[]
A painting of Cao Pi.
Cao Pi was born in Qiao County in You Province to Cao Cao and Empress Dowager Bian, the heir apparent of Cao Cao. His brothers were Cao Ang, Cao Anmin, Cao Zhang, Cao Zhi, Cao Xiong, and the others.
Cao Pi first saw action in his father's campaign to against Yuan Shao, and but he gained a wife in Zhenji, who was formerly the wife of Yuan Xi.
He also took part in the Battle of Hebei in 204 AD, and swatted the remnants of Yuan Shao's Army in the first decade of the 200s AD. Cao Pi next saw action at the Battle of Chibi and fought alongside his father in many of his wars in the Southlands. In 219 AD, Cao Pi was defeated by Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong, the two of Liu Bei's generals, at the Battle of Han River, in the Hanzhong Campaign.
When his father died in 220 AD, Cao Pi overthrow the last nominal Han Emperor and that founded the Kingdom of Cao Wei, declaring himself Emperor of Wei and choosing Chang'an as his capital, with Xuchang and Luoyang as the other major cities.
In 220 AD, the Eastern Wu reduced Hefei Castle, Cao Cao's legacy, to rubble, and Cao Pi was wounded. In 222 AD, an invasion of Wu failed at the Battle of Dongkou and the Second Battle of Ruxukou, and Cao Pi died in 226 AD, after having incited a Nanman rebellion to against Shu.
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