Coup of Cao Mao

Coup of Cao Mao
Part of the wars of the Three Kingdoms
Date 260 CE Location Luoyang, China Result Failed coup; Cao Mao murdered and the Wang clan exterminated
Belligerents
Cao Mao and conspirators	Sima Zhao and various defenders
Commanders and leaders
Cao Mao † Wang Shen (Defected) Wang Jing Wang Ye (Defected)	Sima Zhao Sima Zhou Jia Chong Cheng Ji Wang Shen Wang Ye
Strength
300

The coup of Cao Mao was a coup d'état that occurred in 260 in Luoyang, the capital of the state of Cao Wei, during the Three Kingdoms period. Cao Mao, the nominal emperor of Wei, attempted to launch a coup to oust the regent Sima Zhao, who effectively controlled the Wei government. However, the coup concluded with Cao Mao's death and Sima Zhao retaining his status. Contrary to its intention, the coup actually increased the Sima clan's power and influence in Wei, thus providing a foundation for the eventual usurpation of the Wei throne in 265 by Sima Zhao's son Sima Yan, who founded the Western Jin Dynasty.

The coup is also mentioned in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong, which dramatises the history of the late Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period. The events of the coup described in the novel are largely similar to that described in historical sources.

The state of Cao Wei was established in 220 by Cao Pi, which marked the start of the Three Kingdoms period in China. The authority of the Wei imperial family had been weakening since the death of the second Wei emperor, Cao Rui, and reached a nadir after the Incident at Gaoping Tombs in 249, when the Wei general Sima Yi seized power from the regent Cao Shuang. Sima Yi died in 251 and was succeeded by his sons Sima Shi and Sima Zhao, who effectively controlled the Wei government.

In 254, Sima Shi deposed the third Wei ruler Cao Fang and installed a 13-year-old Cao Mao on the throne. From the start of his reign, Cao Mao acted in defiance of the Simas, refusing to accept the imperial seal directly from Sima Shi, and, after Sima Shi's death in 255, he attempted to order Sima Zhao to remain in Xuchang to keep watch over Shouchun (present-day Shou County, Anhui), where a rebellion led by Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin had just been suppressed. However, Sima Zhao ignored Cao Mao's edict and returned to the capital Luoyang. While Sima Zhao administered state affairs, Cao Mao attempted to gain the favour of the literati in the court through unremarkable meetings to discuss literature with some officials—Sima Zhao's cousin Sima Wang, Wang Shen (王沈), Pei Xiu, and Zhong Hui. Cao Mao also provided Sima Wang with a chariot and five imperial guardsmen as escorts because the latter lived further away from the palace than the others.

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