Cao Zhen

Cao Zhen
A Qing dynasty portrait of Cao Zhen
General of Cao Wei
Born	(Unknown)
Died	231
Names
Traditional Chinese	曹真
Simplified Chinese	曹真
Pinyin	Cáo Zhēn
Wade–Giles	Ts'ao Chen
Courtesy name	Zidan (Chinese: 子丹; pinyin: Zǐdān; Wade–Giles: Tzu-tan)
Posthumous name	Marquis Yuan (Chinese: 元侯; pinyin: Yuán Hóu; Wade–Giles: Yüan Hou)

Cao Zhen (died 231),courtesy name Zidan, was a military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. He served the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. He was also a distant nephew of Cao Cao, though the latter treated him like a son. Cao Zhen participated in many campaigns against the forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan. From 227 onwards, he was very much involved with successfully repelling the frequent invasions led by Zhuge Liang.

According to the Records of Three Kingdoms, Cao Zhen was a distant nephew of Cao Cao. In 190, when Cao Cao was raising an army to join the coalition against Dong Zhuo, the tyrannical warlord who held Emperor Xian hostage, Cao Zhen's father, Cao Shao, heeded the call but was killed before he could join Cao Cao. The Brief History of Wei (魏略) by Yu Huan, however, says Cao Zhen was originally surnamed (秦). Cao Zhen's father, Qin Bonan, had long been friends with Cao Cao. In 195, as Cao Cao was fleeing from rebels, he hid in the Qin's. When rebels asked for the whereabouts of Cao Cao, whom they did not recognize by face, Qin Bonan claimed to be the man and was slain.

Either way, Cao Cao took in the young Cao Zhen, whom he raised as his own son. He had Cao Zhen resided with his future successor Cao Pi and another distant nephew Cao Xiu. The three of them would travel with five of the seven scholars of Jian'an, including Wu Zhi, Liu Zhen (刘桢), Xu Gan (徐干), Ying Yang (应玚), and Chen Lin (陈琳) from time to time. Due to his chubby shape, he was often ridiculed by his friends, especially by the famous jester, Wu Zhi. Unfortunately for him, Cao Zhen's distant uncle, Cao Hong, was also a compulsive prankster who never failed to "show concern" on his nephew's size problem. As Cao Zhen did not have power at the time, he could only bear a furtive displeasure against jokes revolving around his weight, but his muffled wrath would keep accumulate to a point where it nearly broke out into a duel between him and Wu Zhi years later (see Appraisal section below). Probably he had had enough from his influential "friends", Cao Zhen remained most intimate with lower characters like his clansman Cao Zun (曹遵) and general Zhu Zan (硃赞).