Cao Han

Biography

Family Background and Early Life

Cao Han was from Daming in Hebei. As a young man he served as a minor local clerk, behaved arrogantly, and was not well regarded in his home district. In the early Qianyou era of Later Han, in 948, Guo Wei was stationed at Ye. After speaking with Cao Han, Guo Wei considered him unusually talented and assigned him to the command of his adopted son Chai Rong. When Chai Rong guarded Chanyuan, he appointed Cao Han as a staff officer. When Chai Rong later entered the capital to serve as Governor of Kaifeng, he left Cao Han in charge at the Chanyuan military headquarters. When Guo Wei fell seriously ill, Cao Han returned to the capital without waiting to be summoned and secretly told Chai Rong that, as heir, he would lose the hopes of the realm if he handled affairs in the outer court instead of attending the sick emperor in the palace. Chai Rong accepted the warning, immediately entered the palace to care for Guo Wei, and entrusted his administrative affairs to Cao Han.

Later Zhou Period

After Chai Rong became emperor, Cao Han was appointed a palace service officer. He joined the Battle of Gaoping and participated in military planning. He was soon promoted to a military-affairs secretariat post and supervised repairs to a Yellow River breach. During Chai Rong's war against Southern Tang, more than a thousand suits of armor had been left at Zhengyang. Soon afterward eight hundred surrendered soldiers were captured and were being sent to the capital. Cao Han happened to be traveling from the capital to court and encountered them more than ten li from Zhengyang. Fearing that they might seize the armor and rebel, he falsely announced an imperial order and had them killed. When he reported the matter to Chai Rong, the emperor was displeased. Cao Han argued that the soldiers had surrendered only because they were trapped and not from genuine loyalty; if they seized the weapons at Zhengyang, another Huainan crisis might arise. Chai Rong therefore did not punish him. Cao Han later joined the Waqiao Pass campaign and, when the army withdrew, was left in charge of Xiongzhou.

When Chai Rong became gravely ill, he instructed Chancellor Fan Zhi and others to appoint Wang Zhu as chief minister and Cao Han as Xuanhui Commissioner. Fan Zhi regarded Wang Zhu as too fond of drink and Cao Han as deceitful and autocratic, so he suppressed both appointments and instead made Cao Han Prefect of Dezhou.

Founding of Northern Song and Pacification of Shu

At the beginning of the Northern Song, Cao Han followed Zhao Kuangyin in the campaigns against Zezhou and Luzhou and, on returning, became Prefect of Jizhou. In 964, the second year of Qiande, Zhao Kuangyin launched the western campaign against Shu. Cao Han was transferred as Prefect of Junzhou. Deep valleys and steep terrain obstructed the army, so he ordered rock cut away to open a road and the troops soon passed. He was concurrently appointed Transport Commissioner for the southwestern prefectures and traveled directly from Shimen to Guizhou, maintaining uninterrupted supplies. He then advanced through Kuizhou and Wanzhou to join Wang Quanbin, contributing to the capture of Chengdu.

At that time Quan Shixiong gathered about one hundred thousand men, occupied Pi County, and threatened Chengdu. Cao Han joined Liu Guangyi, Cao Bin, and others in suppressing the revolt. Soon afterward the army officer Lü Han killed Wu Huaijie, occupied Jiazhou, and rebelled. Cao Han and other commanders retook Jiazhou. Intelligence indicated that the rebels would return to attack around the third night watch. Cao Han ordered the timekeepers to announce the watches more slowly, so that at daybreak they were still calling only the second watch. The rebel forces failed to assemble properly and collapsed, allowing Cao Han to defeat them. Jiannan was thereby pacified. On returning, Cao Han was promoted to Training Commissioner of Caizhou.

River Works and the Southern Tang Campaign

In 969, the second year of Kaibao, Cao Han joined Zhao Kuangyin's Taiyuan campaign and served as Commissioner of Moats and Stockades. During the return march, the Yellow River breached at Chanzhou. Cao Han was ordered to supervise the closure of the breach, contributed silver vessels to the work, and sacrificed his white riding horse by sinking it in the river. When the river later broke through again at Yangwu, Cao Han once more supervised repairs and achieved results.

When the court prepared to conquer Southern Tang, Cao Han was sent with troops to Jingnan and appointed vanguard commander. He then captured Chizhou. After Jinling had fallen, military officer Hu De and staff officer Song Deming held Jiangzhou in resistance. Cao Han besieged the city for five months before taking it. After entering, he massacred the city and killed eight hundred Southern Tang soldiers. The source states that the gold and silk plundered amounted to an enormous sum. Cao Han falsely claimed that he intended to transport five hundred iron arhat statues from Donglin Temple on Mount Lu to the capital and used this pretext to requisition hundreds of large ships, which he filled with plunder and sent home. For the victory he was promoted to Surveillance Commissioner of Guizhou and put in charge of Yingzhou.

Campaigns against Northern Han and Youzhou

In 979, the fourth year of Taiping Xingguo, Cao Han accompanied Zhao Guangyi against Taiyuan and served as commander of the southern assault sector. Cao Han, Cui Yanjin, Li Hanqiong, and Liu Yu divided the siege fronts. Cao Han initially attacked the northeast while Liu Yu attacked the more strongly defended northwest. Liu Yu wanted to exchange sectors with him. Cao Han replied that a Surveillance Commissioner ranked below Liu and should therefore remain in the northeast. Liu Yu insisted, and the dispute continued for days. Fearing disunity among the commanders, Zhao Guangyi sent Cao Han a message: “Your wisdom and courage are unmatched; no one but you can handle the northwest.” Cao Han obeyed, built an earthen mound overlooking the city within a few days, and alarmed Liu Jiyuan. When the army lacked water, Cao Han visited a shrine in a valley more than ten li west of the city, had a channel dug, and obtained enough water for soldiers and horses.

He later accompanied Emperor Taizong in the Youzhou campaign, commanding troops against the southeastern corner of the city. While digging, soldiers unearthed a crab and presented it to him. Cao Han told the generals that a crab was a water creature found on land and therefore out of its proper place; it also had many legs, suggesting that enemy reinforcements were coming. He added that the word for crab could be associated with “release” and wondered whether this meant the army would withdraw. According to the source, events later unfolded as he predicted.

Later Years and Posthumous Honors

In 980, the fifth year of Taiping Xingguo, Cao Han accompanied Zhao Guangyi to Daming and was appointed Military Commissioner of Weisai while continuing to administer Yingzhou. He was also appointed commander of the Youzhou expedition. Ordered to supervise the Southern Canal from Xiongzhou to Mozhou to improve grain transport, he planned embankments to protect the waterway. Cao Han mobilized tens of thousands of laborers and cut giant timber in Han territory. He sent five cavalry scouts, each with a differently colored flag. If they encountered hills, marshes, enemies, smoke, or other conditions ahead, they were to signal with the appropriate flag. He also built beacon towers along the frontier. The enemy, uncertain about his movements, did not approach, and Cao Han obtained tens of thousands of large timbers before returning to his command.

Cao Han spent long periods in provincial office, where the source says he imposed harsh exactions and neglected administration. Zhao Guangyi repeatedly tolerated him because of his earlier service. Eventually Sun Chongwang, Magistrate of Ruyin, went to court and accused Cao Han of privately buying and selling weapons and of numerous other illegal acts. Censor Teng Zhongzheng was sent by relay horse to investigate. When the case was concluded, Cao Han was legally liable to death, but Zhao Guangyi pardoned him, stripped his ranks and titles, and exiled him under confinement to Dengzhou. In 985 he was recalled as General of the Right Qianniu Guard with a detached appointment in the Western Capital. In 987 he was summoned to court as Senior General of the Left Qianniu Guard and granted five million cash and five thousand taels of silver. He died in 992 at the nominal age of sixty-nine and was posthumously appointed Defender-in-chief. In 998 he received the posthumous name Wuyi.

Major Activities

Military Campaigns

Cao Han took part in many major wars. Under Later Zhou he fought at Gaoping, in Huainan, and at Waqiao Pass. In the early Northern Song he participated in the suppression of Li Yun's rebellion. In 964 he campaigned against Later Shu and helped suppress the rebellions of Quan Shixiong and Lü Han. During the Kaibao era he captured Chizhou and Jiangzhou. In 979 he joined the conquest of Northern Han, building an earthen mound to dominate Taiyuan and cutting a channel to obtain water, and later campaigned at Youzhou. His military reputation rested particularly on tactical improvisation, including slowing the announcement of the night watches to disrupt an enemy attack, building siege mounds, and interpreting the unearthed crab as a sign that the army would soon withdraw.

River-Control Achievements

In 969, when the Yellow River breached at Chanzhou, Cao Han supervised the closure, contributed silver to the work, and sacrificed a white horse. He again oversaw successful repairs after a breach at Yangwu. In 980 he supervised the opening of the Southern Canal from Xiongzhou to Mozhou to support transport, strengthened it with embankments, obtained tens of thousands of large timbers, and established frontier beacons that discouraged enemy approach.

Transport and Logistics

During the 964 Shu campaign, Cao Han served as Transport Commissioner for the southwestern prefectures. He moved from Shimen to Guizhou, maintained an uninterrupted supply flow, and advanced by Kuizhou and Wanzhou to join Wang Quanbin. These logistics supported the capture of Chengdu.

Massacre and Corruption

After taking Jiangzhou, Cao Han massacred the city, killed eight hundred Southern Tang soldiers, and seized gold and silk said to be worth an enormous sum. He falsely claimed that ships were needed to transport five hundred iron arhat statues from Donglin Temple and instead loaded hundreds of vessels with plunder. While governing Yingzhou, the source says, he imposed severe exactions, neglected administration, and privately traded weapons, offenses that eventually led to his confinement in Dengzhou. These actions made later assessments of him highly mixed.

Literary Anecdote

Cao Han wrote a poem called Poem of the Retired General, containing the line: “Once for the nation's peril I put on golden armor; I would be ashamed, from household poverty, to sell my treasured blade.” When Cao Han spoke of the poem while on palace duty, Zhao Guangyi was said to have been moved by its meaning and consequently granted him money and silver.

Personal Relations

Family

• Father: unknown
• Sons: Cao Shouqian, Cao Shouneng, Cao Shoujie, and Cao Shougui, whose offices were advanced by order of Emperor Taizong; Cao Shourang, Cao Shouzhi, Cao Shoucheng, Cao Shou'en, Cao Shouying, and Cao Shouji, who received palace-guard appointments

Rulers

• Guo Wei: Emperor Taizu of Later Zhou; recognized Cao Han's talent while he was still obscure
• Chai Rong: Emperor Shizong of Later Zhou; Cao Han served under him and joined campaigns at Gaoping, Huainan, and Waqiao Pass
• Zhao Kuangyin: Emperor Taizu of Song; Cao Han joined his campaigns at Zezhou, Luzhou, Shu, and Taiyuan and supervised Yellow River works
• Zhao Guangyi: Emperor Taizong of Song; Cao Han joined the Northern Han and Youzhou campaigns, was later exiled for illegal weapon trading, and was eventually recalled

Colleagues

• Fan Zhi: Later Zhou chief minister who withheld the order appointing Cao Han Xuanhui Commissioner, judging him deceitful and autocratic
• Wang Quanbin: commander of the Shu campaign; Cao Han joined his army by way of Kuizhou and Wanzhou
• Liu Guangyi and Cao Bin: colleagues in suppressing the Quan Shixiong rebellion
• Cui Yanjin, Li Hanqiong, and Liu Yu: fellow sector commanders in the Taiyuan siege

Conflicts

• Liu Yu: disputed with Cao Han over siege sectors at Taiyuan
• Sun Chongwang: Magistrate of Ruyin who accused Cao Han at court of privately trading weapons and other illegal acts

Historical Assessment

Song and Contemporary Assessments

• Emperor Taizong Zhao Guangyi: “Your wisdom and courage are unmatched; no one but you can handle the northwest.” (History of Song, “Biography of Cao Han”)
• The History of Song records that Emperor Taizong repeatedly showed leniency toward Cao Han's harsh provincial exactions because of his service to the state.
• The History of Song describes him as “secretive, cunning, and full of stratagems, fond of boasting, greedy for goods and bribes, able to drink several dou without losing composure, and capable of presenting dozens of items before the emperor from memory without significant error.”

Song and Yuan Periods

• Toqto'a and the other compilers of the History of Song observed that Cao Han and other founding commanders often rose from military courage rather than formal learning and achieved service under effective imperial control. They praised Cao Han and Cui Han especially for planning, fighting ability, generosity, and repeated achievement, but argued that Cao Han's killing of surrendered troops and massacre at Jiangzhou were excessively cruel. Their judgment was that few exceeded the two men in either merit or fault.

Ming and Qing Periods

• Guo Zizhang cited Cao Han as a commander capable not merely of taking territory but of holding it, invoking him in discussion of the problem of securing the You-Yan region.
• Gu Yingtai compared Cao Han's cruelty and corruption with earlier military figures, arguing that such behavior reflected recurring faults among commanders and that logistical and garrison problems limited what military victories could achieve.

Modern Assessments

• Modern scholars often examine Cao Han within the broader relationship between early Song generals and imperial power. His killing of surrendered soldiers and massacre at Jiangzhou are treated as evidence of the violent military culture inherited from the Five Dynasties, while his tactical resourcefulness and reputation for exceptional courage and intelligence are seen as qualities important in the Song wars of unification. His later exile for corruption followed by restoration has also been interpreted as part of Emperor Taizong's strategy of controlling while preserving founding military elites.