As the most powerful kingdom of the Three Kingdoms Period, Kingdom of Wei was successively reined by six emperors including Cao Cao who was proclaimed as Wei Dynasty Tai Tsu after his death.
Cao Cao paid close attention to the application of talented people and economic development during his reign. In the beginning, he tried to recruit as many talented people as possible and made many reformations to discard the old political patterns of the Eastern Han (25-220). As a result, the monopolization of eunuchs was swept away and personages from different social status participated in the Court of Wei.
In order to have a continuous supply of soldiers, a special system called Shijia (family of warriors) System was founded by Cao Cao. Men in those families had to join the army or to do the corvee labor from generation to generation. In this way, the military force of Wei was guaranteed.
Economically, Cao Cao benefited a lot from the Tun Tian (farming done by soldiers) System. Since the productivity of soldiers was greater, the demand for combat food was well met in a short period of time. Besides, Hu Tiao (Tax Modification) System was also carried out, which to some extent added a burden to landlords while lightening the burden on farmers. Under all these policies, the social order of Wei became extremely harmonious.
In addition, remarkable accomplishments were achieved in literature, philosophy and technique. Numerous predominant poets emerged from the Kingdom of Wei, including Cao Cao and his two sons Cao Pi and Cao Zhi as well as the seven leading writers during the Jian An Period. The noted Yuefu Poem-Peacock Flies to Southeast was also written in the Jian An Period. Metaphysics represented by He Yan and Wang Bi also came into being. In medicine, the commonly known 'Miracle Doctor', Zhang Zhongjing wrote the book Theory of Exogenous Febrile Disease which established the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine.
In the late Wei Dynasty, power struggles between the imperial clan of Cao Cao and the military official Sima Yi appeared within the Court. Finally, Sima Yi made contributions to the war and defeated Kingdom of Shu in 263. Two years later, a new dynasty - Jin Dynasty (265-420) was founded by the son of Sima Yi.
Travelers' Voices on Kingdom of Wei
1.
May. 26,2009 11:18 Reply
Ms.Nu Wa(USA) said:
After Cao Pi died, that ridicolous battle between Cao Pi's son and Sima Yi for the throne ensued, ultimately having Sima Yi end up the ruler for the rest of the time her was alive, which wasn't very long. Then his sons would take over and there you have the Jin Dynasty.
Sima Yi was a brilliant man, he knew just the right time to execute his takeover of the kingdom and then followed through with it. He used manipulation, and it's sad that Wei didn't realize that their biggest threat came from within the kingdom itself.
2.
May. 7,2009 18:21 Reply
Mr.Alex(Croatia) said:
Cao wanted complete persons around him, they needed to know art of war, literature, art... some say that he never left the Art of war...
May. 20,2009 21:23
Mr.Chakraborty(USA) replied:
Cao Cao's kingdom was made up of the cream of the crop, excluding Zhuge Liang. All of his strategists and generals were the best. Xu Huang, Zhang Liao, and Yue Jin were a few of his best, and Xun Yu, Xun You, Guo Jia, and Jia Xu were a few good ones. Also Cheng Yu.
3.
Mar. 24,2009 14:56 Reply
Mr.sullivan(america) said:
cao cao was an amazing man, and so was sima yi, thats probally why they had problems with each other, to much greatness in one place
4.
Feb. 27,2009 10:14 Reply
Mr.Yagami Quan(vietnam) said:
CaoCao valued the people due to their talents, that is why he had so many talented strategist(XunYu ,XunYou ,ChengYu) and fearsome generals(ZhangLiao,XiahouDun,XuZhu) around. He is the most incredible warlord in the history of china
5.
Feb. 26,2009 17:05 Reply
Mr.he(america) said:
cao cao had alot of strong warriors and great plans I evened played the three kingdom game using him