Okay, I'm new to this site but I'm a dedicated Three Kingdoms enthusiast and I'm just going to say it.
I don't think Cao Pi had Zhenji commit suicide.
I reckon she died of illness.
Welcome.
Think about it. The Wei Shu states that she simply died of illness while the later histories, usually those that make no attempt to hide their disfavour for Cao Pi, claim he ordered her death.
But if that's the case...wouldn't the Wei histories have instead tried to justify his actions?
Surely, as Emperor, he was permitted to do what he liked at this time when women had little say in their own fates to say the least.
Every major historians, East and West, Past and Current, seem to go forced suicide road. Therefore, based on that alone, the Wei Shu seemed suspicious.
This is because of different reasons.
Imperial Harem Intrigues getting out of control usually damages a Dynasties reputation. Especially a recent set up one.
Lady Zhen was at the end of the day Rui mother and Pi official wife. The Emperor in theory can do whatever he likes. That doesnt meant the Gentry Officials and Historians would agree with it.
According to some later histories, there are numerous stories of Zhenji's promiscuity. Her supposed continued relationship with her old husband, stories of an affair with Cao Pi's brothers and even Cao Cao himself, and the questionable parenthood of Cao Rui.
If this factored in, why wasn't it in the Wei Shu?
1) Wei Shu will majority of the time defend Cao Wei official figures especially in sensitive situations.
2) Most of these stories were myths and legends circulated later on.
If Empress Guo was just, generous and virtuous, wouldn't it have aided the Wei Shu's writers to portray Zhenji as the polar opposite? Some unfaithful succubus who fled her last husband, seduced Cao Cao's son and was ruled by her lusts? Such a portrayal for a woman killed by her husband was not unheard of at this time.
Just because historians want to put a person on a pedastal does not automatically means that another person will be demonized.
On Lady Zhen wikipedia: The original version of Lady Zhen's biography in the Sanguozhi did not contain the anecdotes about Zhen's excellent moral conduct, such as her care for her family members, her filial piety towards her mother-in-law Lady Bian, her tolerance of Cao Pi's other wives, etc. These accounts, which were mostly documented in the Wei Shu and the Weilüe, were later added to the Sanguozhi by Pei Songzhi. In his commentary, Pei cast doubts on the anecdotes relating to the "virtuous deeds" of Lady Zhen and other noble ladies of Wei, because it was difficult to verify whether they were true or not due to a dearth of alternative sources. The Wei Shu and the Weilüe were among the official histories of Wei, so they were likely to be biased towards Lady Zhen, hence some of those anecdotes might have been fabricated by Wei historians to promote a positive image of Lady Zhen. Pei remarked that Chen Shou had done well in omitting the questionable information when he first compiled the Sanguozhi.[27]
Pei SongZhi SanGuoZhiZhu was the source.
As you can see, historical records especially on women were kind of scarce back in antiquity with Ancient China being no different. Painting the Official Wife of an Emperor and Mother of another Emperor in a bad light would also not sit well with anyone.
Frankly, I find the idea of her affair with Cao Zhi hard to believe as he wasn't a very pleasant chap in truth.
Being a good poet didn't make him a good man and one of his concubines is famous for being executed for bad behaviour by Cao Cao himself so its unlikely any of the parties involved would risk this level of scandal.
Fair enough. But you need to understand ZhenXZhi was mostly myths and legends and not supported by any of the major histories of the 3K period.
There are dozens of stories of the Han Empresses and those of the previous dynasties committing crimes and suffering for them? Why would Wei be an exception?
Lady Zhen was never an official Empress. The situation of all these instances are too different to make a basic comparison. As far as I can tell, three of the East Han Emperors just executed Empresses and GuangWu desposed two. None of them however had an Official Wife that was not an Empress. So a proper comparison cannot be made, because most if not all Official Wives of Emperor automatically become Empress.
Yes, the scandal wouldn't look good for Cao Pi but, surely if there was a scandal, covering it up wouldn't really be necessary so much as justifying it.
You basically just answered yourself? Anyway I answered this at the beginning of this post.
Stop me if I'm wrong but there just seems far too many implausibilities as far as I can see with the story of Zhenji's tragic death at the hands of her own husband.
You are wrong? Excluding one history, all goes forced suicide.
Liu Bei did nothing wrong.
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