Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties · General

Cao Jingzong 曹景宗

c. AD 457 - AD 508

Passages: 20
Chapters: 1
Histories: 1

Overview

Cao Jingzong was a general.

Other names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Posthumous name	Zhuang	壯	Zhuang

Life and dates

Death

AD 508 七年
At on the road to Jiangzhou 道 · Age 52 · Reckoning Sui
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 157

Age

52
AD 508 時年五十二 · Reckoning Sui
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 157

Attested activity

AD 508 七年
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passages 156-157
AD 506 五年
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passages 114, 122
AD 507 六年三月
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passages 132, 134, 139

Family

Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.

Parent of Cao Jiao (曹皎)
son 子 · paternal line
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 160

Kinship Role concubines and singing girls · Quantity hundreds
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 144

Career and standing

Palace Attendant, Central Guard General, Jiangzhou Inspector 侍中、中衛將軍、江州刺史
AD 508 七年 · Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 156
Palace Attendant and Commander of the Army 侍中、領軍將軍
AD 507 六年 · Appointed
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 140
advanced to duke 進爵爲公
AD 507 六年 · Advanced · Fief Households 2000
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 139
posthumous name Zhuang 諡曰壯
AD 508 七年 · Bestowed
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 159
one suite of drums and pipes 鼓吹一部
AD 507 六年 · Bestowed
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 140
funeral gifts; posthumous Campaign-North General, Yongzhou Inspector, Open Office Equal to the Three Dukes 贈征北將軍、雍州刺史、開府儀同三司
AD 508 七年 · Posthumously granted
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 158

Places and affiliations

At Yangzhou 揚州 · Relation Posted to
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 149

Works and attributed material

Speech · Speaker · Direct quotation
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passages 146-151

Events and relationships

Assigned north bridge
AD 506 五年 · Military · Commander · With Wei Rui (韋叡)
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 131
Built rampart south of Dayan and defeated him
AD 506 五年 · Military · Commander · With Yang Dayan (楊大眼)
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passages 126-127
Commanded relief of Zhongli
AD 506 五年 · Military · Commander in chief · With Chang Yizhi (昌義之)
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 114
Disobeyed order to wait at Daoren Isle
AD 506 五年 · Military · Commander · At Shaoyang Isle 邵陽洲
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passages 115-117
Stormed walls routed Wei
AD 507 六年三月 · Military · Commander
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 134
Relation Respected elder · Person Wei Rui (韋叡)
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passage 143

Assessments and attributes

Assessment proud, invented characters rather than ask, no deference except to Wei Rui · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passages 141-143
Assessment restless; loved hunting and wine; staged year-end howl until Gaozu learned of abuses · Mode historian-judgment
Directly stated · Book of Liang 9, passages 145, 152-154

References in the histories

Search passages

History

20 passages

Book of Liang, Chapter 9Volume 9: Wang Mao; Cao Jingzong; Liu Qingyuan · 20 passages

高祖詔景宗督衆軍援義之，豫州刺史韋叡亦預焉，而受景宗節度。 Gaozu ordered Jingzong to command the armies to relieve Yizhi; Yuzhou inspector Wei Rui joined as well, under Jingzong's command.

詔景宗頓道人洲，待衆軍齊集俱進。 He ordered Jingzong to encamp at Daoren Isle and wait for the armies to gather before advancing together.

景宗固啓，求先據邵陽洲尾，高祖不聽。 Jingzong repeatedly petitioned to seize the end of Shaoyang Isle first; Gaozu refused.

景宗欲專其功，乃違詔而進，值暴風卒起，頗有渰溺，復還守先頓。 Wishing to keep the glory for himself, Jingzong disobeyed the edict and advanced; a sudden storm drowned many, and he fell back to his former camp.

景宗不進，蓋天意乎！ Jingzong holding back—surely that is Heaven's will!

及韋叡至，與景宗進頓邵陽洲，立壘去魏城百餘步。 When Wei Rui arrived, he and Jingzong advanced to Shaoyang Isle and built ramparts a little over a hundred paces from the Wei city.

景宗等器甲精新，軍儀甚盛，魏人望之奪氣。 Jingzong and the rest had bright new arms and armor and a splendid array; the Wei troops looked on and lost heart.

景宗乃募勇敢士千餘人，徑渡大眼城南數里築壘，親自舉築。 Jingzong then recruited more than a thousand brave men, crossed several li south of Dayan's city, and built a rampart, piling earth with his own hands.

大眼率衆來攻，景宗與戰破之，因得壘成。 Dayan led his troops to attack; Jingzong fought and broke him, and the rampart was finished.

先是，高祖詔景宗等逆裝高艦，使與魏橋等，爲火攻計。 Earlier Gaozu had ordered Jingzong and the others to fit out tall warships in advance, level with the Wei bridges, for a fire attack.

令景宗與叡各攻一橋，叡攻其南，景宗攻其北。 He ordered Jingzong and Rui each to take one bridge—Rui the south, Jingzong the north.

景宗因使衆軍皆鼓噪亂登諸城，呼聲震天地，大眼於西岸燒營，英自東岸棄城走。 Jingzong then had every army drum and shout and swarm the walls; the roar shook heaven and earth; Dayan burned his camp on the west bank, and Ying abandoned his city and fled from the east.

景宗令軍主馬廣躡大眼至濊水上，四十餘里，伏屍相枕。 Jingzong ordered the army commander Ma Guang to pursue Dayan to the Huishui for more than forty li; the dead lay heaped along the way.

景宗乃搜軍所得生口萬餘人，馬千匹，遣獻捷，高祖詔還本軍，景宗振旅凱入，增封四百，並前爲二千戶，進爵爲公。 Jingzong gathered more than ten thousand captives and a thousand horses from the army's takings and sent word of victory; Gaozu ordered him back to his command; Jingzong marched home in triumph, his fief was increased by four hundred households to two thousand in all, and he was advanced to duke.

景宗爲人自恃尚勝，每作書，字有不解，不以問人，皆以意造焉。 Jingzong was proud and always had to win; when he wrote, any character he did not know he would not ask about but invent as he saw fit.

景宗好內，妓妾至數百，窮極錦繡。 Jingzong loved women; his concubines and singing girls numbered in the hundreds, and he exhausted every brocade and embroidery.

景宗謂所親曰：「我昔在鄉里，騎快馬如龍，與年少輩數十騎，拓弓弦作霹靂聲，箭如餓鴟叫。 Jingzong told his intimates: "Back home I rode a swift horse like a dragon, with several dozen young men at my side, drawing the bowstring till it thundered, arrows screaming like hungry kites.

高祖頗知之，景宗乃止。 Gaozu learned of it, and Jingzong then stopped.

高祖數讌見功臣，共道故舊，景宗醉後謬忘，或誤稱下官，高祖故縱之，以爲笑樂。 Gaozu often feasted his merit-holders and talked of old times; drunk, Jingzong would forget himself and sometimes call himself "your servant"; Gaozu indulged it and laughed.

諡曰壯。 His posthumous name was Zhuang, "Strong."