Cao Song
Eastern Han dynasty official (died 193)
Cao Song (died 193), courtesy name Jugao, was an official who lived during the Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was the foster son of the eunuch Cao Teng and the father of the warlord Cao Cao, who rose to prominence in the final years of Eastern Han and laid the foundation of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period. Cao Song was posthumously honoured as "Emperor Tai" ("Grand Emperor") by his grandson Cao Pi in 220 when the latter ended the Han dynasty and founded the Cao Wei regime.
Career
Cao Song was known to be honest, sincere and of good moral conduct. He served as the Colonel-Director of Retainers (司隸校尉) in the Han imperial court. During the reign of Emperor Ling, he served consecutively as the Minister of Finance (大司農) and Minister Herald (大鴻臚) before replacing Cui Lie (崔烈) as the Grand Commandant (太尉). However, it was alleged that Cao Song obtained the post of Grand Commandant by bribing eunuchs, who were deeply trusted by the emperor. Another account stated that Cao Song purchased those official posts because Emperor Ling introduced a practice of selling political offices for money.
Death
Around 193, Cao Song retired and attempted to return to his hometown in Qiao County (譙縣; present-day Bozhou, Anhui). Along the way, he was murdered while passing through Langya State (琅玡國; present-day Linyi, Shandong) in Xu Province.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Cao Song” as eastern Han dynasty official (died 193). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the history & society register because the source frames it as eastern Han dynasty official (died 193). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q699910. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cao Song” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.