Ministers › Statesman / Official
Cao Jixiang
Ming eunuch who helped Shi Heng and Xu Youzhen restore Emperor Yingzong in the 1457 palace coup and was executed in 1461 after his adopted son Cao Qin led a failed rising in Beijing
In the courtyard of a district government hall, a line of petitioners waits before a raised bench with a long table and document boxes; a blue umbrella stands beside it, a large drum stands at the gate where a few people wait, and a lake with sailboats lies beyond.
- Roles
- Statesman / Official
Cao Jixiang, a native of Luanzhou, rose as a follower of the powerful eunuch Wang Zhen and in the Zhengtong years accompanied several campaigns as army supervisor. In the first month of 1457, as the Jingtai emperor lay ill, he joined Shi Heng, Marquis of Wuqing, and the censor Xu Youzhen in leading troops into the Southern Palace and putting the former emperor Yingzong back on the throne. Rewarded with direction of the eunuch Directorate of Ceremonial and command of the capital garrisons, he saw his adopted son Cao Qin made Earl of Zhaowu, and kept many Mongol officers as clients. After Shi Heng's fall and death in 1460 he grew uneasy. In the seventh month of 1461 Cao Qin led his men in an assault on the gates of the imperial city; Sun Tang and others drove them off, and Cao Qin threw himself down a well. Cao Jixiang was arrested and executed by slicing, and his family was wiped out.
Life and times
Dates Birth unknown–1461 CE