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卷七十二 列傳第六十: 高熲 牛弘 李德林

Volume 72 Biographies 60: Gao Jiong, Niu Hong, Li Delin

Chapter 72 of 北史 · History of the Northern Dynasties
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Gao Jiong, Niu Hong, and Li Delin
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Biography 60
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Gao Jiong, Niu Hong, and Li Delin
4
西
Gao Jiong, whose courtesy name was Zhaoxuan and who was also known as Min, claimed to be from Zhuo in Bohai. His forebears had followed government posts to the northern border and ended up lost in eastern Liao. His great-grandfather Hao came back from Liaodong to Wei in the second year of Emperor Xiaowen's Taihe reign and rose to Commandant of the Guards. His grandfather Xiao'an served as Inspector of Yan Province. His father Bin held office under Eastern Wei as Remonstrance and Critic Grand Master. In the sixth year of the Datong era, fleeing slander he resigned and went to Western Wei, where Dugu Xin recruited him to his staff and granted him the surname Dugu. After Xin was put to death, his wife and children were sent into exile in Shu. Because Bin had once served under her father, Sui's Empress Wenxian was in the habit of coming and going at the Gao home. Bin was sharp in handling affairs, resolute and quick to decide. He was granted the rank of Baron of Wuyang, rose through posts including chief clerk to Prince Xian of Qi, Cavalry General, Pillar of State, and Registrar in the Xiangzhou governorate, and died there in office. After Jiong came to power, in Kaihuang his father was posthumously honored as Minister of Rites and Duke of Wuyang, with the posthumous epithet Jian. From youth Jiong was clever and perceptive, possessed of large capacity; he had some acquaintance with letters and history and was especially skilled at polished speech. In his infancy the family had a willow tree nearly a hundred feet high, spreading like a pavilion roof. Neighborhood elders said, "This family is destined to produce a man of rank. At seventeen he was recruited by Prince Xian of Qi of Northern Zhou as a staff recorder. He inherited the barony of Wuyang and was later promoted to Junior Grand Master of the Palace Secretariat. For his achievements in the conquest of Qi he was made a Pillar of State.
5
便
Once Emperor Wen of Sui took control, he already knew Jiong to be forceful and brilliant, versed in warfare and rich in stratagems, and meant to draw him into his staff. He dispatched Yang Hui, Duke of Han, to sound him out; Jiong accepted with delight and said, "I am ready to serve at your bidding. Even if the enterprise fails, I will not flinch from the destruction of my whole house. He was thereupon appointed Recorder of the princely establishment. Chief Administrator Zheng Yi and Marshal Liu Fang had both been kept at a distance for their excesses; the emperor relied on Jiong ever more closely and made him his trusted inner counselor. When Yuwen Yong rebelled, the emperor sent Wei Xiaokuan against him; the army reached Heyang, yet no commander would lead the advance. Finding the commanders divided, the emperor appointed Cui Zhongfang to supervise them, but Zhongfang pleaded that his father was still in Shandong. When Jiong saw that Liu Fang, Zheng Yi, and the others had no wish to march, he offered to go himself, which accorded perfectly with the emperor's intent. The moment he received the commission he departed, sending word to his mother that one cannot serve both filial piety and loyalty, and set off down the road in tears. At the front he threw a bridge across the Qin River; the enemy loosed fire-rafts from upstream, but Jiong had already built earthen barriers against them. After crossing he burned the bridge and fought, routing the enemy decisively. On the army's return he was feasted in the private apartments, and the emperor pulled aside the imperial curtain and gave it to him. He was promoted to Pillar of State, made Duke of Yining, transferred to Marshal of the chancellor's office, and his trust grew still heavier. When the emperor took the throne, Jiong was made Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs and Master of Writings, and enfeoffed as Duke of Bohai. None at court could stand beside him; the emperor always addressed him as Dugu, never by his given name. Jiong pretended to withdraw from power, memorialized to resign, and yielded his place to Su Wei. The emperor wished to burnish his reputation and permitted him to step down as vice director. A few days later the emperor said, "Su Wei held himself aloof under the previous reign, and Jiong knows how to elevate the capable. I have heard that promoting talent merits the highest reward; how could I let him go? He then ordered Jiong back to his post. Before long he was made General-in-Chief of the Left Guard while retaining his other offices. When the Turks repeatedly raided the borders, an edict sent Jiong to hold the frontier in check. On his return he was rewarded with a hundred horses and herds of cattle and sheep numbering in the thousands. He directed construction of the new capital, and much of its institutional design came from him. Each day Jiong heard cases beneath the northern locust at the audience hall; because the tree did not align with the official rows, the clerks prepared to fell it. The emperor expressly forbade its removal, as a sign for posterity. Such was the esteem in which he was held. He was again made General-in-Chief of the Left Army. His remaining offices were unchanged. When his mother died he left office; within twenty days he was ordered back to duty. Jiong wept and begged to be excused, but the emperor would not allow it.
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In Kaihuang year two, when Zhangsun Lan and Yuan Jingshan marched against Chen, Jiong was placed in overall command. When Emperor Xuan of Chen died, Jiong argued that propriety forbade campaigning against a house in mourning and asked to withdraw. During Xiao Yan's rebellion an edict sent Jiong to settle the Jianghan region, where he won exceptional popular support. The emperor once asked his strategy for conquering Chen; Jiong replied, "North of the river the land is cold and the harvest late, while south of the river the soil is warm and rice ripens early. At their harvest season, raise a modest force and announce a sudden strike. The enemy will surely mass troops to defend, which will be enough to wreck their agricultural season. When they have gathered, we stand down again; repeat this several times and they will treat it as routine. When we mobilize again they will not believe us; in that moment of hesitation we cross, land, and fight with doubled spirit. Moreover, southern soil is thin and houses mostly bamboo and thatch; stores are not kept in underground vaults. Send agents secretly to set fires when the wind favors it, and when they rebuild, burn them again. Within a few years their wealth and strength will be exhausted on their own. The emperor adopted the plan, and Chen grew steadily weaker.
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In year nine Prince Guang of Jin undertook the great conquest of Chen; Jiong served as chief clerk where no supreme commander was named, and the three armies obeyed his judgment. After Chen fell, the prince wished to take Zhang Lihua, the late ruler's favorite consort. Jiong said, "When King Wu overthrew Yin he executed Daji. Now that Chen is conquered, Lihua must not be taken. He thereupon ordered her beheaded. The prince was deeply displeased. On the army's return he was raised to Supreme Pillar of State, made Duke of Qi, rewarded with nine thousand bolts of goods, and granted fifteen hundred households in Qiansheng as his fief. The emperor praised him, saying, "After your campaign against Chen people said you had rebelled; I have already put them to death. When ruler and minister are of one mind, no whispering fly can come between them. Jiong again offered to resign; a gracious edict refused him.
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調 使
After this Right Guard General Pang Huang, General Lu Fen, and others successively slandered Jiong to the emperor. The emperor grew angry and all were removed and cast aside. He then told Jiong, "Duke Dugu is like a mirror; every time it is polished it shines more clearly. Soon Director Jiang Ye and Acting Staff Officer Li Juncai of Chuzhou both memorialized that floods and droughts were out of season, blamed Gao Jiong, and asked that he be removed. Both were punished and dismissed, while the emperor's personal regard for Jiong grew still closer. When the emperor traveled to Bingzhou he left Jiong in charge at the capital. On his return he granted five thousand bolts of silk and one of the traveling palaces as a manor estate. When his wife Lady Heluo fell ill, palace envoys called without interruption. The emperor visited his house in person, gave a million cash and ten thousand bolts of silk, and again bestowed a horse famed for a thousand li. Once at leisure he had Jiong and He Ruo discuss the conquest of Chen; Jiong said, "He Ruo first offered ten stratagems, then fought hard at Mount Jiang and broke the enemy. I am only a civil clerk—how dare I compare achievements with fierce generals! The emperor laughed heartily, and contemporaries praised his humility. Soon his son Biaoren married the daughter of Crown Prince Yong; gifts before and after were beyond counting.
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使
At that time Mars entered the Supreme Palace and struck the Left Enforcer. The diviner Liu Hui told Jiong privately, "The stars are ill for the chief minister; you should cultivate virtue to avert disaster. Uneasy, Jiong reported Hui's words to the throne. The emperor rewarded and reassured him generously. When the Turks raided the borders he was made commander-in-chief and routed them. He marched out by the White Road intending to penetrate the desert, sent to request reinforcements, and court intimates said he meant to rebel; the emperor gave no reply, and Jiong defeated the enemy and returned in any case.
10
退
When Crown Prince Yong had fallen from favor the emperor secretly planned to remove him and told Jiong, "The Jin prince's consort received a divine sign that her husband would rule the realm. Jiong knelt and said, "Senior and junior have a fixed order that must not be overturned." The plan was abandoned. Empress Dugu knew Jiong could not be moved and secretly sought to remove him. Earlier, after Jiong's wife died, the empress later said to the emperor, "Vice Director Gao is aged and bereaved—why not arrange a marriage for him? The emperor repeated the empress's words; Jiong wept and declined, saying, "I am old now; after court I only fast and read Buddhist sutras. However deep your kindness, taking another wife is not what I wish. The emperor let the matter drop. About then Jiong's favorite concubine gave birth to a son; the emperor was delighted, but the empress was deeply displeased and said, "Will Your Majesty ever trust Jiong again? You once meant to arrange a marriage for him, yet he cherished his concubine and lied to your face; now his deceit stands exposed. From that point the emperor kept Jiong at arm's length.
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When the court debated an expedition to Liaodong, Jiong argued firmly against it. The emperor would not listen, appointed Jiong chief clerk on the campaign, and sent him with Prince Han against Liaodong; floods, disease, and rain ruined the effort and the army came back defeated. Later the empress told the emperor, "Jiong never wanted to march; you forced him—I knew from the start he would fail. The emperor moreover, thinking the prince young, placed the whole army under Jiong's control. Jiong, feeling the burden of trust, strove for absolute impartiality and harbored no private doubt. Most of the prince's words went unheeded, and he came to resent Jiong bitterly. On the return the prince wept to the empress, "That Jiong was not executed is our good luck! The emperor heard this and grew still angrier. Before long Supreme Pillar Wang Ji was put to death for crime; during the inquiry a palace matter surfaced, said to have come from Jiong's household. The emperor meant to fix guilt on Jiong and was startled by the discovery. Then He Ruo, Yuwen Gan of Wuzhou, Xue Zhou, Hulu Xiaqing, Liu Shu, and others declared Jiong innocent; the emperor only grew angrier and sent them all to the law officers. After that no one at court dared speak up. Jiong was at last dismissed and lived at his manor as a duke in name only.
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' ''
Soon the emperor visited Prince Jun of Qin and summoned Jiong to the feast. Jiong wept beyond control; Empress Dugu wept with him, and everyone present wept. The emperor said, "I have not failed you—you have failed me. He told the court, "Toward Gao Jiong I am more than to a son; though I may not see him, he is always before my eyes. Since his dismissal I forget him in sleep, as though Gao Jiong never existed. No man may hold the sovereign hostage by his person and boast that he comes first. Soon the director of Jiong's household reported private matters, saying his son Biaoren had told Jiong, "When Sima Yi first feigned illness and stayed from court, he eventually took the realm. You meet the same circumstance now—who says it may not be fortune? The emperor flew into rage and imprisoned Jiong in the palace secretariat for interrogation. The judicial office reported further charges, that the monk Zhenjue had told Jiong, "Next year the state will mourn greatly. The nun Linghui also said, "In the seventeenth and eighteenth years the emperor will face great disaster. The nineteenth year he cannot survive." Hearing this the emperor grew still angrier and said to the court, "Can an emperor seize the throne by force? Confucius, greatest of sages, framed laws for posterity—did he not desire supreme power? Heaven's mandate could not be grasped. Jiong and his son spoke and likened themselves to Jin emperors—what heart is this? The judges asked for execution; the emperor said, "Last year I killed Yu Qingze, this year Wang Ji—if I kill Jiong too, what will the world say?" He therefore struck Jiong's name from the registers. When Jiong was vice director his mother warned him, "Your wealth and rank are at their height—only the headsman's block remains; take care!" From then on Jiong lived in constant fear of ruin. Now he accepted it gladly without bitterness, believing he had escaped disaster.
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稿
Jiong possessed great civil and military vision and a clear grasp of administration. Once entrusted with power he gave absolute loyalty, promoted the upright, and took the empire as his personal charge. Su Wei, Yang Su, He Ruo, Han Qin, and others were all Jiong's recommendations; each served to the full and became ministers of renown. Others who won merit and office under him are beyond counting. For nearly twenty years he governed the court; all bowed to him, the realm was without dissent, and an age of peace approached—this was Jiong's doing. Men called him a true prime minister. When he died the world did not lightly forget him; to this day men call his fate a lasting wrong. His subtle plans and reforms he destroyed in draft, so the age never knew them.
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His son Shengdong was Governor of Ju and died in exile at Liucheng. His younger brother Hongde was Duke of Ying and recorder to the Prince of Jin; the next, Biaoren, Duke of Bohai. The family was banished to Shu.
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Niu Hong, courtesy name Liren, came from Zhegu in Anding. His forebears once fled trouble and took the surname Liao. His grandfather Chi was local rectifier of the commandery. His father Yuan under Wei was Attendant-in-Ordinary, Minister of Works, and Duke of Linjing, and restored the surname Niu. As an infant a physiognomist told his father, "This boy will rise high; raise him with care. Grown, he was imposing in stature, magnanimous, studious, and widely read. Under Zhou he served as recorder in central and outer offices, superior scribe and remonstrance master of writings, handling documents and editing the imperial diary. He later inherited the dukedom of Linjing, then became junior grand master of the secretariat and a Pillar of State. At the opening of Kaihuang he was made Regular Attendant and Director of the Palace Library. Seeing the classics lost and scattered, Hong memorialized to open a channel for submitting books, writing:
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西西 簿 殿
When Zhou virtue waned, the ancient canon fell into disorder and was cast aside. Confucius, with a sage's power, undertook the work of the uncrowned king, modeled his ancestors, shaped the Rites, edited the Odes, fixed the Spring and Autumn, and opened the Ten Wings to spread the Changes. When Qin's First Emperor seized the realm he swallowed the feudal lords and swept away the tombs and records of former kings. That was the first disaster for books. When Han rose it founded libraries and established collators of texts. Under Emperor Cheng, Chen Nong was sent to seek lost books across the empire, and Liu Xiang and his son were ordered to collate them. Han canonical literature then reached its height. At the end of Wang Mang's reign they were burned. That was the second disaster. When Guangwu succeeded he prized the classics; before he left his carriage he sought fine literature. When Emperor Suzong lectured in person and Emperor He often visited the book halls, the Orchid Terrace, Stone Chamber, Hongdu, and Eastern Observatory overflowed with archives, more than twice the former store. When Emperor Xian moved the capital, clerks and people rioted; books and silk were seized for curtains and sacks. What was gathered and sent west filled seventy carts; when the Western Capital collapsed, the whole train was burned. That was the third disaster. When Wei Emperor Wen replaced Han he gathered the canon again in the Secretariat's three pavilions; Zheng Mo edited the old texts, and critics praised the clarity of his distinctions. Jin inherited this, and its records grew especially vast. Jin library director Xun Xu fixed the Wei Inner Classic and compiled a New Bibliography. When Liu and Shi raided in turn, the collection was lost. That was the fourth disaster. After Yongjia, brigands rose everywhere; though states kept names, ritual and music vanished without trace. When Liu Yu conquered Yao he seized their books; the Five Classics and histories totaled four thousand scrolls on red shafts and blue paper, archaic in script, and all went south of the Yangtze. Song secretariat gentleman Wang Jian followed Liu's Seven Summaries and made the Seven Treatises. Liang's Ruan Xiaoxu likewise compiled the Seven Records. Together their holdings exceeded thirty thousand scrolls. When Hou Jing crossed the Yangtze he ruined Liang; palace classics burned with the armies, yet the Hall of Literary Virtue's books largely survived. Xiao Yi held Jiangling, broke Hou Jing, and gathered duplicate classics from the literary hall and public and private collections—more than seventy thousand scrolls—and sent them to Jingzhou. When Zhou armies entered Ying, Yi burned them outside the wall; barely one scroll in ten survived. That was the fifth disaster.
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Later Wei rose from the north and moved to Yiluo; pressed for time, the canon was thin. Zhou founded itself in Guanzhong while war never ceased. At Baoding's start there were only eight thousand scrolls; later collection barely reached ten thousand. Gao held Shandong and at first sought books too, yet his catalog showed vast gaps. When eastern Xia fell, his armies captured thirty thousand scrolls in four tangled departments. Added to the old stock, only five thousand were new. Today the imperial separate holdings exceed fifteen thousand scrolls, yet gaps remain between sections. Compared with Liang's old catalog, there is barely half. Works on the River Chart, medicine, and illustrated atlases are scarcer still.
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From Confucius to today the canon has suffered five calamities; the hour to gather it again is this sage reign. The palace collection suffices for reading, yet the age's records must be made whole. The imperial library must not lack what private homes hold. If Your Majesty issues a broad edict and opens purchase rewards, rare texts will come and the viewing halls will fill.
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The emperor accepted the proposal and decreed one bolt of silk for every scroll submitted. Within a year or two the holdings were largely restored. He was enfeoffed as Duke of Qizhang.
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In year three he became Minister of Rites and compiled the Five Rites in a hundred scrolls that became the standard of the age. Hong asked to restore the Bright Hall by ancient precedent and memorialized as follows:
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便 西 西 退西 西 宿
The Bright Hall, I hold, joins spirits to men, moves heaven and earth, issues transforming teaching, and honors the worthy. The Yellow Emperor named it the Harmonious Palace, Yao the Five Mansions, Shun the General Banner; to proclaim government and foster teaching has been honored since antiquity. The Zhou Artificers' Record says, "The Xia Replacement Hall had a hall length of seven double units, width four plus one-fourth of the length. Zheng Xuan notes, "Fourteen paces in length; width adds one-fourth of the length, making seventeen and a half paces wide." The Yin Layered Roof hall was seven xun long, with four eaves and a double roof." Zheng says, "Seven xun in length, nine in width." The Zhou Bright Hall used nine-foot mats; seven mats north to south. Five chambers, each two mats wide." Zheng Xuan says these three names—ancestral temple, royal apartments, or Bright Hall—are interchangeable, showing one underlying design. Ma Rong, Wang Su, and Gan Bao also differ from Zheng; their views are omitted here for brevity. Han Minister Ma Gong argued, "Xia called it Replacement Hall because the chamber stands clear of the hall. Yin called it Layered Roof because the roof stands clear of the hall. Zhou called it Bright Hall because the hall exceeds the Xia chamber. Xia widened the hall to one hundred forty-four feet; Zhou made the space between side corridors equal to Xia's seventy-two-foot hall. By Zheng Xuan the Xia chamber exceeds the Zhou hall; by Ma Gong the Zhou hall exceeds the Xia chamber. Later kings revised the texts; Zhou's larger measure is authoritative. Yet Ma Gong's account does not explain the rationale fully. All lie far from the sages; ritual texts are broken, and earlier commentators disagree from school to school. Zheng's note on Jade Ornaments also says the ancestral temple and the road apartments share the Bright Hall's form. Royal Regulations says, "Apartments do not exceed the temple," showing the scale is meant to be one. On Zheng's reckoning each chamber and hall is only eighteen feet square, with barely four feet beyond the walls. For the ancestral temple, on the great combined sacrifice Zhou sets six corpse-figures plus the rear canopy—eleven in all with thirty-six tablets—while the ruler faces north in a hall only twenty feet wide; I cannot see how that fits. For the principal apartments, court audiences and banquets are required. Banquet Rites says feudal lords' feasts bring guests and ministers shoeless to their seats. Hence at the Son of Heaven's banquet the Three Excellencies and nine ministers all mount the hall. Banquet Meaning adds, "Lesser ministers' mats follow the greater. All attend at their mats. Within only two mats' space, how can ritual be performed? For the Bright Hall, at the general offering each of the Five Thearchs has his chamber. The Green Thearch's seat must stand in the Wood Chamber, slightly north and facing west. Taihao shares the offering west of him, nearly facing north-south. Ancestors paired in the offering sit south of the Green Thearch, withdrawn and facing west. An eighteen-foot chamber holds three spirit seats, plus vessels, sacrificial meats, tribute from all realms, singers on the mats, wine jars and stands, and the full round of bows—there is no room. On these grounds the small measure simply will not serve. Liu Xiang's catalog and texts seen by Ma Gong, Cai Yong, and others list Ancient Bright Hall Rites, Royal Dwelling Rites, diagrams, Yin-Yang treatises, Mount Tai meanings, and Wei Wenhou's Filial Classic—all on the ancient hall. Those books are lost beyond recovery. The Bright Hall Monthly Ordinance—Zheng Xuan attributes it to Lü Buwei as the opening of his Twelve Records, stitched together by later ritualists. Cai Yong and Wang Su credit the Duke of Zhou; Zhou Documents chapter fifty-three is the same text. Each view has evidence; most citations are omitted here. Shu Xi held it for a Xia document. Liu Xuan said, "Buwei assembled scholars to recover the sage-kings' monthly ordinances and record them. Buwei alone could not have invented the whole record. It cannot be called purely Zhou Documents, nor simply a Qin classic; it mingles Yu, Xia, and Yin methods—the benevolent policies of sage-kings. Cai Yong listed the chapter titles and wrote, "The Bright Hall honors ancestors in sacrifice paired with Supreme God. Xia named it Replacement Hall, Yin Layered Roof, Zhou Bright Hall. East was Green Yang, south Bright Hall, west General Banner, north Dark Hall, center Great Chamber. The sage listens facing south, governing in luminous clarity; no royal posture stands outside this frame. Though five names exist, Bright Hall remains the chief name. Each measure of the design rests on a principle. The square of one hundred forty-four feet follows Kun's number; the round roof with ridge diameter two hundred sixteen follows Qian's. Great temple and hall six zhang square, penetrating roof nine zhang round—the play of yin and yang in nine and six, round heaven covering square earth. Eight gates mirror the trigrams, nine chambers the provinces, twelve palaces the hours of the day. Thirty-six doors and seventy-two windows multiply four doors and eight windows by the nine palaces. Doors open outward and never shut, showing the realm that nothing is concealed. The penetrating roof rises eighty-one feet—the fullness of Yellow Bell's nine-times-nine. Twenty-eight pillars in the four quarters image the seven lodges of each direction. Hall height three feet answers the three cosmic sequences; four sides in five colors image the elements. Water twenty-four zhang wide images the twenty-four seasons and, outward, the four seas. Such is the king's supreme rite. Modeling heaven and earth and imaging yin and yang, it must rest on ancient authority—not on empty invention. If one took only the Artificers' Record without the Monthly Ordinance, names like Green Yang and General Banner would fail, and the ninth-month thearch offering could not be performed. Han builds at the two capitals followed this theory in full.
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殿 穿
After Jian'an the empire collapsed; Wei had not pacified its three regions, and no building is recorded. Jin's Pei Wei argued for a single hall to exalt the father's sacrifice and to cut all other clutter. From Song and Qi onward courts followed that reduced rite, and the former kings' great enterprise lapsed. Later Wei's capital hall, by Li Chong, stacked threes into nine roofs. Eaves failed to cover the base, rooms opened onto streets, and piercings abounded—nothing in it could be adopted. After the move to Luoyang construction resumed, but five-nine disputes left the work unfinished. Ancestral rites thus lacked a home.
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沿 · 殿
Now the royal design spreads far and transforming power reaches the seas; the great rites are being raised for endless posterity. Hong and his colleagues, unworthy as we are, have been charged with this deliberation. Why must the Bright Hall have five chambers? Documents, Emperor's Command Verification says, "The emperor receives heaven and raises five mansions: red Literary Ancestor, yellow Spirit Dipper, white Manifest Record, black Dark Frame, green Spirit Mansion. Zheng Xuan notes, "The five mansions match Zhou's Bright Hall." Three dynasties altered many measures, yet five chambers remained fixed. Chambers sacrifice to heaven, and heaven has five faces; nine chambers would leave four unused. Government and new-moon observances follow their seasons. Zheng the ritual director says the twelve months sit in Green Yang and related positions—not in dwelling chambers. Zheng Xuan also says, "Each month government is conducted in that season's hall. Ritual diagrams place the figures along the hall sides; hence five chambers are required. Why must the hall be round above and square below? Filial Classic, Divine Contract says, "The Bright Hall is round above, square below, eight windows and four openings—the palace of government. Rites, Abundant Virtue says, "Four doors, eight windows, round above and square below." Round and square are therefore required. Why must it have a double roof? The Artificers' Record has Xia with nine steps, flanking windows, gate-hall two-thirds and chambers one-third. Yin and Zhou are silent, showing they followed Xia alike. Yin speaks of four-eaved layered roofs; Zhou inherits without naming roofs—yet the form is the same. Under "Yin layered roof" there was originally no mention of five chambers. Zheng notes five chambers are inferred from Xia. Zhou does not name the layered roof, yet inherits it from Yin—this is plain. Rites, Bright Hall Position says, "The Great Temple is the Son of Heaven's Bright Hall. Lu, honoring the Duke of Zhou, used royal ritual; Lu's Great Temple equaled Zhou's Bright Hall. It also says, "Double temple, layered eaves, scraped pillars carrying sound—the Son of Heaven's temple ornament. Zheng notes, "Double temple means layered roof." If temples already had layered roofs, the Bright Hall surely did as well. Spring and Autumn records that in Duke Wen's thirteenth year the Great Chamber roof fell; the Five Elements Annals explains, "The front hall is the Great Temple, the center the Great Chamber—the layered structure above. Fu Qian likewise said the Great Chamber was the roof-structure over the Great Temple. Making of Luo in Zhou Documents says they raised Great Temple, Ancestral Palace, Road Apartments, and Bright Hall, all with four eaves, jar-stands, and double beams and corridors. Kong Chao notes, "Layered ridge-beams mean piled beams; layered corridors mean piled roofs. The Yellow Diagram shows Han ancestral temples all as layered roofs. That age still lay near antiquity and preserved the old method—hence the layered roof is required. Why must the Bright Hall include a Ring Moat? Rites, Abundant Virtue says the Bright Hall clarifies feudal lords' ranks. The outer water is called the Ring Moat. Bright Hall Yin-Yang Record says the design runs water in a circle, turning left to image heaven, with a Great Chamber within imaging the Purple Palace. This is explicit testimony that the Bright Hall had water. Ma Gong and Wang Su placed Bright Hall, Ring Moat, and Imperial Academy together; Cai Yong and Lu Zhi treated Bright Hall, Spirit Terrace, Ring Moat, and Academy as one institution under many names. Cai Yong wrote, "From its role in ancestral sacrifice it is the Clear Temple; as main chamber, Great Chamber; as hall, Bright Hall; as four-gate school, Imperial Academy; as encircling water like a jade disk, Ring Moat—yet it is one building. Others separated them: Five Classics Comprehensive Meaning says the Spirit Terrace observed qi, the Bright Hall issued government, the Ring Moat nourished the aged and taught. These three were distinct. Yuan Zhun and Zheng Xuan also treated them as separate. Generations have disputed the point—how can we decide rashly? The Record of Suburban Sacrifices says that when the court wished to build a Bright Hall it did not know the design. Gongyu Dai of Jinan presented the Yellow Emperor's Bright Hall Diagram—a hall without walls, thatched roof, water encircling the wall—and the emperor followed it. By this account the tradition is very old. In Han Zhongyuan year two the Bright Hall, Ring Moat, and Spirit Terrace were raised at Luoyang in separate locations. Yet the Bright Hall also had jade-water; Li You's inscription says "the flowing waters wide"—that is the evidence. Hence a Ring Moat is required.
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使沿 殿
Today's Bright Hall must take the ritual classics as foundation. Its form should follow Zhou law, its measures the Monthly Ordinance, and gaps should be filled from other books so the history of the institution is fully traced. Five chambers, nine steps, round above and square below, four-eaved layered roof, and two gates on each side follow the Artificers' Record and Filial Classic. A hall one hundred forty-four feet square, round roof two hundred sixteen across, Great Chamber six zhang square, penetrating roof nine zhang round, eight gates and twenty-eight pillars, hall three feet high and four colors in the quarters follow Zhou's Monthly Ordinance. The palace wall square within, water circling without to three hundred paces' inner diameter, follows Mount Tai, Abundant Virtue, and Observance of Rites. In every dimension it bears a cosmic pattern, enough to show full sincerity to God, pair the ancestors, spread transforming teaching, and set a model for posterity.
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The emperor, pressed by founding affairs, never carried the project through.
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In year six he became Director of the Imperial Sacrifices. In year nine an edict fixed court music; he composed Music Bureau lyrics, set the Round Mound triumph for the Five Thearchs, and debated music policy. Hong memorialized as follows:
27
便
Ritual prescribes five tones, six standards, and twelve tubes cyclically generating palace modes. Offices of Zhou pairs performing Yellow Bell with singing Great Offering, performing Great Cluster with singing Responding Bell—each a cycle of palace generation. Cai Yong's Bright Hall Monthly Ordinance says, "In mid-spring Great Cluster is palace, Gu Xian merchant tone, Rui Bin angle, Southern Lu zhi, Responding Bell yu, Great Offering altered palace, Yi Ze altered zhi. Other months follow the same pattern. The sage-kings fashioned pitch pipes to distinguish the sounds of heaven, earth, quarters, and yin-yang. Yang Xiong said, "Sound arises from pitch; pitch arises from chronograms. Pitch pipes match the five phases, penetrate the eight winds, traverse twelve chronograms and twelve months in endless rotation. As at Establishment of Spring wood rules and fire assists, at Establishment of Summer fire rules and earth assists, in late summer earth rules and metal assists, at Establishment of Autumn metal rules and water assists, at Establishment of Winter water rules and wood assists. Cyclical palace generation means naming as palace the tone of the element that rules that month. If the eleventh month does not take Yellow Bell as palace and the thirteenth does not take Great Cluster, spring wood no longer rules and summer earth no longer assists. Would not yin and yang lose their measure and heaven and earth fall out of communication? Liu Xin's Bell and Pitch Book says, "Spring palace with autumn pitch—the hundred plants wither; autumn palace with spring pitch—the ten thousand things flourish; summer palace with winter pitch—hail falls; winter palace with summer pitch—thunder sounds. On this evidence the matter is truly not simple. There are twelve pitch-standards, yet today only Yellow Bell's key is used with seven tones—what becomes of the other five? That would betray the sages' original intent. Ritual therefore requires restoring cyclical palace generation.
28
The emperor said, "Do not restore cyclical generation for now; keep only the Yellow Bell key. Hong argued further that the sixty pitch-standards cannot be practiced:
29
' ''調 ' '調 調 ' 使
The Continued Han Treatise on Pitch and Calendars records that Emperor Yuan sent Wei Xuancheng to question Jing Fang at the Music Bureau. Fang replied, "I learned from the former Junior Yellow Director Jiao Yanshou. The sixty pitch-standards generate one another: generating downward, three becomes two; generating upward, three becomes four. Yang generates yin below, yin generates yang above, ending at Middle Lu when the twelve standards are complete. Middle Lu generates Holding Beginning above, Holding Beginning generates Removing Extinction below, until Southern Affairs completes the sixty standards. Twelve standards expanding to sixty mirror the eight trigrams expanding to sixty-four. Winter solstice sound takes Yellow Bell as palace, Great Cluster shang, Gu Xian jue, Forest Bell zhi, Southern Lu yu, Responding Bell altered palace, Rui Bin altered zhi. This is the root of sound and qi and the rectitude of the five tones. Each therefore governs one day. The rest rotate in order; on its day each becomes palace while shang and zhi follow by category. Fang also said bamboo cannot measure tuning, so he made the pitch-pipe to fix numbers. The pipe resembled a zither one zhang long with thirteen strings and a hidden span of nine feet matching Yellow Bell's nine inches. On the central string he marked inches and parts as nodes for the sixty standards' clear and muddy tones. Holding Beginning and the like were Fang's own inventions. Fang claimed Jiao Yanshou's method, but Yanshou's source is unknown. By Yuanhe year one Pan Rong, Awaiting Edicts for Bell and Pitch, wrote, "No official understands the sixty standards for pipe tuning." Yan Song therefore taught his son Xuan the full pipe method and asked that Xuan be summoned as learning officer to tune instruments. Assistant Grand Astrologer Hong tested Xuan on twelve standards: two correct, four wrong, six unrecognized—Xuan was dismissed. After that no pitch specialist could apply the pipe to strings. In Xiping year six the Eastern Pavilion summoned Zhang Guang, canonist of pitch, to explain the pipe. Guang could not explain it; the old instrument matched Fang's description, yet none could set string tension, and experts in clear and muddy pitch died out. Only the great pitch-rod's constants and qi-observation survived transmission. By this evidence Fang's method was already unworkable in Han. Shen Yue's Song Treatise says careful review shows the sixty standards have no place in music. Ritual speaks of twelve tubes cycling as palace, not sixty. Feng and Shan Record says the Great Thearch had the Plain Girl play a fifty-string zither until he broke it into twenty-five. Even if sixty standards could be made to work, they should not be used—great music must be simple and great ritual easy.
30
He deliberated further:
31
調 調 調調 調 調 調 調 調
Offices of Zhou says, "The Grand Director of Music holds the method of completing the mean. Zheng Zhong notes, "Mean means tuning. Music masters chiefly tune the tones." Comprehensive Meaning of the Three Rites says performing Yellow Bell uses Yellow Bell as key and singing Great Offering uses Great Offering as key. Performing refers to the four banks below the hall, singing to what is sung above. Yet within one sacrifice both keys are used. Hence palace and key are one principle. Six standards and six tubes cycle as palace, each forming its own key. Present practice uses Yellow Bell palace yet Forest Bell key, contrary to the classics. Jin secretariat director Xun Xu, following canonical records, made twelve flutes by five-tone twelve-standard cyclical generation. The Yellow Bell flute's correct tone answers Yellow Bell, its lower zhi Forest Bell, with Gu Xian as clear jue. The Great Offering flute answers Great Offering in correct tone and Yi Ze in lower zhi. Other keys follow the same pattern. Yet today's Forest Bell is Xu's lower-zhi key. To prefer the lower tone over the correct is unreasonable and must be corrected.
32
The emperor approved his proposal and ordered Hong, Yao Cha, Xu Shanxin, He Tuo, Yu Shiji, and others to fix the new court music. When the court later debated building the Bright Hall, Hong was ordered to list precedents and weigh their merits. The emperor held him in the highest regard.
33
退
Yang Su, proud of his talent, despised courtiers, yet always composed himself before Hong. When Yang Su was leaving to campaign against the Turks, he came to the Directorate of Sacrifices to bid Hong farewell. Hong escorted him only to the middle gate; Su said, "A field marshal departs on campaign and I came to take leave—why see me off only this far? Hong bowed and withdrew. Su laughed and said, "Duke Qizhang's wisdom one may match, but not his folly. Nor did Hong take offense. Soon he was made Great General and Minister of the Civil Service.
34
The emperor also had Hong join Yang Su, Su Wei, Xue Daoheng, Xu Shanxin, Yu Shiji, Cui Zifa, and other scholars to debate gradations in the new rites. Hong's proposals won universal assent. When Empress Xian died, even princes and nobles could not settle the mourning regulations. Yang Su told Hong, "Your classical learning is what the age admires. Today's matter rests with you. Hong did not hesitate; in a moment every regulation was complete and grounded in precedent. Su sighed, "Robe, cap, ritual, and music all lie here—not within my reach! On the three-year mourning: Auspicious and distant sacrifices have graded reductions, but the eleven-month mourning with practice-cloth lacks any ritual model, and he reported this to the emperor. The emperor abolished the practice-cloth mourning rite, beginning with Hong's memorial.
35
In the Ministry of Civil Service Hong put virtue before talent and strove for caution. Though appointments slowed, those he advanced mostly proved capable. Vice Minister Gao Xiaoji was brilliantly perceptive and impeccably cautious, yet seemed rash and light; most ministers distrusted him. Only Hong saw his true worth and entrusted him wholeheartedly. Sui appointments were never better; contemporaries admired Hong's foresight.
36
祿 祿
While Yang Di was crown prince he often sent poems and letters to Hong, who always replied. On succeeding he gifted Hong a poem: "Jin's mountain clerk, Wei's Minister Lu—do not say the ancients differ; rare talents alike assist me. Learning and conduct steady the age; the Way stays pure and still; Master of Writings in the Cloud Gate, ritual at the dynasty's dawn. Human relations rejoice in order; with folded hands you dwell in peace. Among those who received such poems, none was praised in verse as richly as Hong. In Daye year two he was promoted to Supreme Great General. In year three he became Right Grand Master of Splendid Happiness. On the Mount Heng sacrifice, altar, jades, silks, and victims were all set by Hong. Returning from Mount Taihang, Yang Di summoned him to the inner tent and, before the empress, shared mat and meal with him. Such was his intimate favor. Hong told his sons, "I have received extraordinary favor and deep grace. You and your descendants must live with sincerity and respect to answer such kindness. In year six, on the journey to Jiangdu, he died. The emperor mourned him and gave lavish funeral gifts. He was buried in Anding, posthumously honored as Pillar of State, Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, and Marquis Wen'an with the epithet Xian.
37
退
Though honored above all, his carriage and dress stayed plain; he served superiors with full ritual, inferiors with kindness, and was slow of speech but swift in deed. Once ordered to proclaim an edict, Hong reached the stair-foot speechless, returned to apologize, and said he had forgotten every word. The emperor said, "Relaying words is petty eloquence—not a chief minister's work. He praised Hong's plain authenticity all the more. In the Daye era his trust grew ever greater. Generous by nature and devoted to learning, he never set aside his books though duties pressed him. Among Sui's old ministers, only Hong was trusted from first to last without a single regret. His younger brother Bi loved wine; once drunk he shot the ox that drew Hong's carriage. Hong came home; his wife said, "Your brother shot the ox." Hong asked nothing odd and simply said, "Make jerky." When seated his wife added, "He suddenly shot the ox—a strange thing." Hong said, "I already know." His color unchanged, he went on reading. Twelve scrolls of his collected writings circulated in his time.
38
His eldest son Fangda was learned and served as Palace Secretariat Attendant.
39
His second son Fangyu was cruel and without human feeling; at Jiangdu he joined Pei Qiantong and others in regicide, as told in Sima Dekan's biography.
40
便
Li Delin, courtesy name Gongfu, came from Anping in Boling. His grandfather Shou had been a household clerk in Huzhou under Wei. His father Jingzu served as Erudite of the Imperial Academy and General Who Pacifies the Distance. When Emperor Jing of Wei ordered leading scholars to correct the literary corpus, Delin was made Inner Collator in the Direct Pavilion. Delin was clever as a child; at only a few years he memorized Zuo Si's Rhapsody on the Shu Capital within a fortnight. Gao Longzhi marveled at him and told the court, "Given years he will be a pillar of the realm. Ye's gentry flocked to his house for more than a month without pause. At fifteen he could recite the Five Classics and anthologies at several thousand words a day. Soon he mastered the canonical tombs, yin-yang lore, weft texts, and chronograms alike. He wrote powerfully, with concise diction and lucid argument. Wei Shou told his father before Gao Longzhi, "Your son's pen will one day follow Wen Zisheng. Longzhi laughed, "Wei is jealous of talent—why compare him to Old Peng nearby yet reach for Wen Zi far away?"
41
輿 殿
At sixteen, when his father died, he drove the bier himself and buried him in their native place. In bitter cold he wore only hemp and went barefoot, and the province admired him. Poor and moved by Yan Zi's example, with an often-ill mother, he turned to books and lost desire for office. When his mother recovered somewhat, he was pressed to take office. Prince Cheng of Ren, governor of Dingzhou, valued him, lodged him in the prefectural residence, and kept him near as a friend and teacher. Later recommended as Presented Scholar, he ranked first under Yang Zunyan and became Palace Army General. When the Prince of Changguang became chancellor he joined his staff as acting officer. Soon the prince became emperor; Delin rose to Palace Secretariat Attendant and Cavalier Attendant, handling secrets. Soon his mother died; his extreme filial piety won court praise. After only a hundred days he was ordered back to office but firmly refused. Wei Shou and Yang Xiuzhi debated the founding year in Qi History, and the ministries met in conference. Shou and Delin exchanged letters at length, most omitted here. Later made Vice Director of the Palace Secretariat, he was still ordered to compile national history; the Qi emperor, loving letters, brought him into the Forest of Letters with Yan Zhitui to oversee it. He rose to Pillar of State.
42
使 使 使
When Emperor Wu of Zhou conquered Qi he sent word to Delin's house, "The true prize of conquering Qi is you—come to me. He followed the emperor to Chang'an as Superior Scribe, with edicts, formats, and Shandong appointments all in his hands. Emperor Wu told his ministers, "I had heard Li Delin wrote Qi documents and thought him a man from heaven. Now he serves me and writes for me—how extraordinary. Helouling Yi replied, "Sage kings receive qilin and phoenix as omens of virtue, not by force. Such omens may come yet cannot be used. But Li Delin comes to serve your sage virtue and has talent far beyond qilin or phoenix. The emperor laughed and said, "Truly as you say." At the end of the Xuanzheng era he became Junior Grand Master of Imperial Rectification. He was later enfeoffed as Baron of Cheng'an.
43
When Emperor Xuan lay dying and Emperor Wen first received the regency, he sent Yang Hui to Delin, "The court has placed all civil and military affairs in my hands; I wish to accomplish them with you—you must not refuse. Delin answered, "I will serve you even unto death." Wen was delighted and summoned him at once. Liu Fang and Zheng Yi had forged an edict summoning Wen to assist the young emperor and command all armies. Yi meant to make Wen Grand Steward while he took Grand Marshal and Fang Junior Grand Steward. Delin privately advised, "Make him Grand Chancellor with the golden axe as commander of all armies. Yi was made chief administrator of the chancellor's office and Fang its marshal, and both were displeased. Yi was made chief administrator of the chancellor's office and Fang its marshal, and both were displeased. Delin was made staff of the chancellor's office with the rank of Pillar General.
44
Soon the three regions rebelled, and every military plan was debated with him. Dispatches arrived morning and night; in a single day more than a hundred passed through his hands. When urgency pressed, he dictated to several clerks at once, meanings branching in every direction, without pause to polish. Wei Xiaokuan, Duke of Yun, commanded the eastern front but halted at Yong Bridge when the swollen Qin River blocked crossing. Chief Clerk Li Xun secretly reported that the generals had taken gold from Yuwen Yong. Wen received the report, grew anxious, and considered replacing Xiaokuan. Delin said, "Replacing a commander on the eve of battle has always been perilous—Yue Yi left Yan for it, and Ma Fu ruined Zhao. Send one trusted counselor, clear in strategy and respected by the generals, to observe the army's true intentions. Even if they harbor other designs, they will not dare act. Wen said, "Had you not spoken, I would nearly have ruined everything!" He at once sent Gao Jiong by relay to the army to take command, and victory followed. His counsel was always of this sort. He was promoted to Internal Gentleman of the chancellor's establishment. At the abdication, the chancellor's edicts, patents, nine bestowals, memorials, and seal documents were all Delin's compositions. On the day Wen took the throne, Delin became Master of Writings. When Wen was about to take the throne, Yu Qingze urged exterminating the Yuwen clan; Delin argued firmly against it. Wen grew angry and withheld promotion, granting only Superior Pillar of State and the rank of viscount by routine.
45
簿 忿
At the end of the Daxiang era Wen gave him rebel Wang Qian's house, then reassigned it to Cui Qian and let Delin choose a replacement house and shops. Delin took eighty market wards in Weiguo county from rebel Gao Ana's property as substitute. In year nine, when the emperor visited Jinyang, shopkeepers complained that Gao's house had seized commoners' land and built on it. The emperor reproached Delin. Delin asked to review the rebel registers and the original exchange, but the emperor refused and returned all shops to their occupants. From that point Wen disliked him. Delin had claimed his father was Grand Steward Remonstrance to win a posthumous office; Li Yuancao and others reported that his father had died only as a collator and the title was false. The emperor harbored deep resentment. When court debate again crossed him, the emperor listed his faults: "As Master of Writings you hold my secrets; you have not joined deliberations because you are not expansive enough. I now govern the realm through filial piety and establish the Five Teachings to spread it. You say filial piety springs from nature and ask why teaching is needed. Should Confucius's grandson then not have taught the Filial Classic? You also seized shops falsely and inflated your father's office—I have long resented this without acting. Now I shall send you to a province. He was sent out as governor of Huzhou. During drought he ordered wells dug to irrigate fields and was downgraded by the evaluation office. A little over a year later he died in office at sixty-one. He was posthumously made Great General and Governor of Lian with the epithet Wen. For his burial the emperor granted a hundred guardsmen, a full military band, and sacrifice with the second-year great offering.
46
Delin was handsome, eloquent, and immeasurably deep in bearing. Prince Cheng of Ren, Zhao Yanshen, Wei Shou, and Lu Yang all honored him deeply. Orphaned young and without a courtesy name, Wei Shou told him, "Your talent will reach the highest office; I give you this name. Once in office he held secrets; cautious by nature, he said the ancients did not boast of knowing the warm tree—why should he? Known early for talent, he grew self-important as rank rose, and rivals slandered him. Though he helped found the dynasty, for more than ten years his rank scarcely moved. His writings filled eighty scrolls; war destroyed most, and fifty circulated in his time.
47
His son Baiyao was widely learned, talented, and lucid in style. At the end of the Daye era he served as assistant governor of Jian'an.
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