Cao Huan: Encyclopedia II - Cao Huan - Reign

Cao Huan - Reign

At the time Cao Huang became emperor, his name was changed to "Cao Huan", because it was difficult to observe naming taboo with the name "Huang" (which was a homonym to many common terms -- including "yellow" (黃) and "emperor" (皇)). During Cao Huan's reign, the Simas had actual power of the regime, and he was even more of a figurehead than his predecessors Cao Fang and Cao Mao. In 263, he created his wife Lady Bian empress.

For the first few years of Cao Huan's reign, there were constant attacks by Shu Han's commander of armed forces, Jiang Wei. While Jiang's attacks were largely easily repelled, Sima was sufficiently annoyed that he planned a major counterattack, with the goal to destroy Shu Han once and for all. In 263, Sima launched the attack, with the forces commanded by Zhong Hui and Deng Ai. Initially, the attack was stalled, until Deng Ai bypassed Shu Han's main forces, led by Jiang, by going deep through treacherous mountain routes and defeating and killing Zhuge Zhan in battle. Once that happened, Jiang was trapped between the two main Cao Wei forces and could not react, and Deng proceeded to the Shu Han capital Chengdu, forcing Shu Han's emperor Liu Shan to surrender.

After the destruction of Shu Han, Deng became arrogant, and Zhong, who had grander ambitions, used Deng's arrogance against him by falsely accusing him of treason and forging letters to and from Deng to show such alleged treason. Sima ordered Zhong to arrest Deng and seize Deng's troops -- which was exactly what Zhong hoped for. Jiang, who had then surrendered to Zhong, wanted to use this chance to try to revive Shu Han, and he encouraged Zhong to declare a rebellion in early 264. Jiang tried to persuade Zhong to execute all of the Cao Wei generals, as they might oppose him. (Jiang's own plot was to kill Zhong after Zhong had already done that, and then declared the renewal of Shu Han under Liu Shan.) Zhong hesitated, and as he did, the generals started a counterinsurgency and killed him and Jiang. In the confused aftermaths, Deng was also killed. Shu Han's former territory (modern Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, southern Shaanxi, and southeastern Gansu) was incorporated into Cao Wei.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Reign", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki