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卷三十八 高五王傳

Volume 38: The Five Sons of Emperor Gao

Chapter 47 of 漢書 · Book of Han
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Chapter 47
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1
Emperor Gao fathered eight sons: Empress Lü gave him Emperor Xiaohui; Lady Cao gave him Prince Daohui of Qi, Liu Fei; Consort Bo bore the future Emperor Wen; Lady Qi bore Liu Ruyi, later titled the Hidden Prince of Zhao; Lady Zhao bore Liu Chang, the Fierce Prince of Huainan; and lesser consorts bore Liu You, Liu Hui, and Liu Jian, the Obscure Prince of Zhao, the Joint Prince of Zhao, and the Numinous Prince of Yan respectively. Liu Chang, the Fierce Prince of Huainan, is treated in a separate biography.
2
Prince Daohui of Qi
3
The Hidden Prince of Zhao
4
Liu Ruyi, posthumously known as the Hidden Prince of Zhao, was invested as king in the ninth year of Gaozu's reign. In the fourth year of Emperor Hui's reign, after Gaozu had died, Empress Dowager Lü summoned Prince Ruyi to Chang'an and murdered him with poisoned wine. He left no heir, and his house came to an end.
5
Prince You of Zhao the Obscure
6
西使 使
Liu Sui had been king of Zhao for twenty-six years when, under Emperor Jing, Chao Cuo seized the Changshan commandery from Zhao as punishment for alleged wrongdoing. The kingdoms were already smoldering with resentment; when Wu and Chu rose in revolt, Liu Sui conspired with them and mobilized his own forces. His chancellor Jiande and interior secretary Wang Han urged him to reconsider, but he refused to heed them. He had Jiande and Wang Han executed by fire, deployed troops along his western border to await a joint advance with Wu and Chu, and sent a mission north to court an alliance with the Xiongnu. The court sent Marquis of Quzhou Li Ji against him. The king of Zhao shut himself inside Handan, and the siege lasted seven months. After Wu and Chu collapsed, the Xiongnu, learning the outcome, likewise declined to cross the frontier. Luan Bo, returning from the campaign that had broken Qi, joined his command with others, diverted a river, and inundated the Zhao capital. The ramparts failed; Liu Sui took his own life, and the kingdom was abolished. Touched by the loyalty of the Zhao chancellor and interior secretary who had died for their principles, Emperor Jing made each man's son a full marquis.
7
Prince Hui of Zhao the Joint
8
Liu Hui, the Joint Prince of Zhao. In the eleventh year of Gaozu's reign, after Peng Yue, king of Liang, was put to death, Liu Hui was transferred to Liang and invested there. In the sixteenth year, when Prince You of Zhao died, Empress Lü reassigned Liu Hui to Zhao. He went unwillingly, his heart heavy at the move. She married him to a daughter of Lü Chan, whose entire household staff were Lü partisans. They seized the inner court, spied on the king at every turn, and left him unable to live as he pleased. When he favored another woman, his Lü queen poisoned her. In his grief he wrote four songs and had the court musicians perform them. Brokenhearted, he took his own life in the sixth month. The empress dowager dismissed his death as the act of a man who had killed himself over a woman and showed no regard for his duty to the imperial ancestors; she struck his line from the succession.
9
Prince Jian of Yan the Numinous
10
西
Prince Daohui of Qi left nine sons who in turn received royal titles: the crown prince Xiang became Prince Ai of Qi; Liu Zhang became Prince Jing of Chengyang; Liu Xingju, king of Jibei; Liu Jianglü, king of Qi; Liu Zhi, again king of Jibei; Liu Piguang of Jinan; Liu Xian of Zichuan; Liu Ang of Jiaoxi; and Liu Xiongqu of Jiaodong.
11
Prince Ai of Qi
12
忿
Liu Zhang was twenty, strong and hot-tempered, and bitter that real power lay not with the house of Liu. On one occasion he attended one of Empress Lü's feasts, and she put him in charge of the wine. He volunteered: "I am a soldier's son. Permit me to enforce the drinking rules as if we were under military law." "Very well," said Empress Lü. When spirits were high, he rose to offer a song and dance, then said he wished to tell the empress dowager a story about farming. She doted on him like a son and laughed. "Your father knew the plow; you were born a prince of the blood. What could you know of the soil?" "I know it," said Liu Zhang. "Then tell me what you know of the field," she said. "Plow deep and sow thick," he began; "set the seedlings far apart— —and whatever is not your own strain, hoe it up and cast it away." The empress dowager fell silent. Presently one of the Lü guests broke the rules and tried to slip away. Liu Zhang ran him down, cut off his head, and reported back: "One man deserted his cup. I have executed him under military law." The empress dowager's attendants cried out in alarm. She had already authorized military discipline; there was no honest pretext on which to punish him. The banquet broke up at once. After that the Lü clan feared Liu Zhang, and even senior ministers looked to the Marquis of Zhuxu for leadership. The house of Liu gathered strength again.
13
祿 祿使西
The following year Empress Lü died. Lü Lu, king of Zhao, held the post of senior general; Lü Chan, king of Lü, was chancellor. Both remained in Chang'an, massed troops to overawe the ministers, and plotted revolt. Because Zhang was married to Lü Lu's daughter, he learned of the conspiracy and secretly warned his brother, the king of Qi, urging him to march west while he and his cousin, the Marquis of Dongmou, coordinated with loyal ministers inside the capital to extirpate the Lü and set the king of Qi on the throne.
14
紿 使 使紿西 使西 使
The king of Qi took counsel in secret with his uncle Si Jun, his palace superintendent Zhu Wu, and commandant Wei Bo, and plotted to raise troops. When Chancellor Shao Ping of Qi got wind of it, he called out the guard and sealed the royal palace. Wei Bo lied to him: "The king means to rebel without the court's tiger tallies. You have wisely surrounded him. Let me relieve you: give me the troops, and I will garrison the palace in your stead." Shao Ping believed him and handed over the command. Wei Bo at once turned the same troops against the chancellor's compound and besieged it. "Alas," cried Shao Ping, the Daoists had it right: hesitate when you must act, and chaos finds you instead." He killed himself on the spot. The king of Qi then named Si Jun chancellor, Wei Bo general, and Zhu Wu interior secretary, and mobilized every able-bodied man in the kingdom. Zhu Wu was sent with a tale for the king of Langye: "The Lü have turned traitor; the king of Qi is marching west to punish them. The king of Qi, declaring himself young and untried in war, begs to place the entire army under your command. You commanded troops for Emperor Gao and know the field. He cannot leave his host, so he asks you to ride to Linzi to take supreme command and lead the combined forces of Qi and Langye west to settle the turmoil in Guanzhong." The king of Langye believed every word and sped to Linzi. The king of Qi and his confederates held him fast while Zhu Wu stripped Langye of its remaining troops and brought them under Qi's banner.
15
使
Trapped in Qi, Liu Ze argued: "Prince Daohui was Gaozu's eldest son; by strict descent you are Gaozu's senior grandson by the main line and have the strongest claim to the throne. The ministers in Chang'an still waver, and I am the oldest living prince of the blood; they will listen when I speak. Keeping me here serves no purpose. Send me through the passes to settle the succession in your favor." The king of Qi agreed, furnished him with a grand escort, and sent him on his way.
16
使 西
The court learned of the rising and ordered Grand General Guan Ying, Marquis of Yingyin, to take the field against Qi. At Xingyang he halted and reasoned with his officers: "The Lü hold Guanzhong and mean to supplant the Liu. If I crush Qi and march home, I only strengthen their hand." He camped at Xingyang, sent envoys to the king of Qi and the other kings, and forged a common front to wait for the Lü to move, then strike them down together. The king of Qi drew up his army on his western frontier to await the signal.
17
祿
When Lü Lu and Lü Chan moved toward open revolt, Liu Zhang joined Zhou Bo, Chen Ping, and the loyal ministers in cutting them down. Liu Zhang struck the first blow, killing Lü Chan; Zhou Bo and the rest then wiped out the entire Lü faction. Meanwhile Liu Ze had traveled from Qi to Chang'an as well.
18
The ministers first considered the king of Qi, but objected in one voice: "His uncle Si Jun is vicious and overbearing—a man with a tiger's heart beneath a courtier's hat. The Lü rose from a mother's clan and nearly destroyed the dynasty; to enthrone Qi now would be to invite another Lü. The king of Dai's kin on his mother's side, the Bo, are modest and trustworthy; he himself is Gaozu's son and the eldest prince still living. Succession among the sons would be orderly, and a worthy prince would put the ministers at ease." They therefore resolved to welcome Liu Heng of Dai, sent Liu Zhang to tell his brother in Qi that the Lü were dead, and ordered him to stand down.
19
使使 退
Guan Ying, still at Xingyang, had heard that Wei Bo had instigated the king of Qi's revolt. Once the Lü were gone and Qi's army sent home, he summoned Wei Bo to account for himself. "When the roof is burning," Wei Bo replied, "do you first bow to your elders or grab a bucket?" He stepped back, legs trembling, unable to steady himself. Too frightened to say more, he offered no further defense. Guan Ying studied him a long moment, then laughed. "They say Wei Bo is bold. The man is a panicky fool—harmless." He let Wei Bo go. Wei Bo's father had won an audience with the First Emperor of Qin by his skill on the zither. In his youth, wanting to meet Chancellor Cao Shen of Qi but too poor for an introduction, he rose before dawn day after day to sweep the doorstep of one of the chancellor's retainers. The retainer thought some ghost was at work and lay in wait until he caught Wei Bo in the act. Wei Bo said, "I beg an audience with the chancellor, but I have no way in. That is why I have been sweeping your doorstep—to earn a chance to meet him."
20
The king of Qi sent his men home; Liu Heng of Dai ascended the throne as Emperor Wen.
21
Liu Zhang, Prince Jing of Chengyang, was enfeoffed in the second year of Emperor Wen together with his brother Xingju, Marquis of Dongmou; he died two years later. His son Liu Xi, Prince Gong of Chengyang, succeeded him. In the twelfth year of Emperor Wen he was transferred to Huainan; five years after that he was brought back to Chengyang. He reigned thirty-three years in all before he died. His son Liu Yan, Prince Qing of Chengyang, reigned twenty-six years. Liu Yi, Prince Jing, followed and reigned nine years. Liu Wu, Prince Hui, held the throne eleven years. Liu Shun, Prince Huang, ruled forty-six years. Liu Hui, Prince Dai, succeeded him and died after eight years. His son Liu Jing, Prince Xiao of Chengyang, reigned twenty-four years. Liu Yun, Prince Ai, lasted only a year and left no heir; the kingdom lapsed. Emperor Cheng revived the title for Liu Li, Prince Yun's elder brother, but the line died out under Wang Mang.
22
Liu Xingju of Jibei had been Marquis of Dongmou when he helped the ministers enthrone Emperor Wen at the princely residence in Dai. "We slew the Lü," he said then, "yet I had no share in the glory. Let me join Grand Coachman Xiahou Ying in clearing the palace." He escorted the boy emperor out and brought the new sovereign in.
23
西 使 使
Eleven years into his reign came the third year of Emperor Jing, when Wu and Chu rose in revolt. The kings of Jiaodong, Jiaoxi, Zichuan, and Jinan all mobilized in their support. They tried to bring Qi in, but Prince Xiao of Qi wavered, kept his walls manned, and refused their summons. The three rebel hosts ringed Qi, so the king dispatched his courier—the official styled "grandee in the middle of the road"—to appeal to the emperor. The court sent the same envoy back with orders for the king to stand fast: imperial forces had already crushed Wu and Chu. But Linzi was wrapped in layer upon layer of siege lines, and he could not get through. The rebel generals cornered him and extorted a pledge: "Tell the king the Han is finished and urge him to yield to us—or we kill you." He gave his word, yet when he stood beneath the ramparts in sight of the king he shouted that a million Han soldiers were on the march under Grand Commandant Zhou Yafu, that Wu and Chu were already broken, and that Qi must not capitulate. The three generals put him to death for his treachery.
24
西
Early in the siege Qi had secretly dealt with the rebels, though no firm pact was sealed. When the courier returned from the capital with the emperor's message, Qi's ministers pressed the king anew to hold out against the three kingdoms. Soon Luan Bo and the Marquis of Pingyang arrived with other imperial columns, routed the besiegers, and raised the siege. Afterward the court learned of Qi's first overtures to the rebels and prepared to turn the army against Linzi. Prince Xiao of Qi, terrified at the prospect, took his own life with poison. The kings of Jiaodong, Jiaoxi, Jinan, and Zichuan were executed to a man and their kingdoms struck from the rolls. Only the king of Jibei survived among them.
25
His mother was known as Empress Dowager Ji. She married him to a niece of her own Ji clan, but the king cared nothing for his Ji queen. Empress Dowager Ji meant to keep power in her kin: she installed her eldest daughter, a princess by the Ji surname, inside the palace to police the harem and keep other women from the king's bed, hoping to force his affection onto the Ji girl. Instead the king took his sister, that same princess, as his secret lover.
26
使 使 使
Among Qi's eunuchs was Xu Jia, who had gone to Chang'an to wait on the empress dowager. The empress dowager doted on a daughter named the Princess of Xiucheng—no child of the imperial Liu line—and showered her with tenderness. The princess had a daughter, E, whom her mother hoped to marry off to a feudal king. Xu Jia volunteered for a mission to Qi, promising to bring back a formal request from the king for the girl's hand. Delighted, she dispatched him north. Zhufu Yan, seeing a chance for his own daughter, pulled Xu Jia aside: "If you pull this off, put in a word for my girl as a secondary consort." In Linzi, Xu Jia sounded out the court on the match. Empress Dowager Ji exploded: "The king already has a queen and a full harem. As for Xu Jia—a pauper from Qi who bought his way into the Han palace—he has never done us a scrap of good, and now he would sow chaos in our house! And who is this Zhufu Yan? He thinks his daughter belongs in the inner apartments!" Xu Jia, trapped, reported to the empress dowager that the king had seemed willing to take E until scruples arose—scruples like those that had undone the king of Yan. He meant the scandal of the king of Yan, who had lain with his kindred and was executed for it. He used the example of Yan to dissuade the empress dowager. "Say no more of wedding a girl to Qi," she said. Whispers of the incest spread until they reached the emperor's ear. From that day Zhufu Yan nursed a grudge against Qi.
27
巿
Now in favor at court, he observed that Linzi boasted a hundred thousand households, market tolls counted in pounds of gold, and wealth rivaling the capital itself—ground fit only for the emperor's closest kin. Yet the present king of Qi was only a remote cousin. He reminded the throne how Qi had flirted with rebellion under Empress Lü and how Prince Xiao had nearly joined the Seven Kingdoms revolt. He added the fresh rumor that the king was sleeping with his own sister. The emperor named Zhufu Yan chancellor of Qi with orders to get to the bottom of it. Zhufu Yan reached Linzi and turned the screws on the harem eunuchs who had facilitated the king's visits to the princess; their testimony pointed straight at the king. Young and terrified of arrest and public execution, the king drank poison.
28
The king of Zhao, alarmed that one vindictive minister could destroy a princely house and set kin against kin, memorialized that Zhufu Yan had taken bribes and committed other offenses; the emperor had him thrown in prison. Gongsun Hong urged: "The king of Qi died heirless and broken-hearted; only Zhufu Yan's death will satisfy the realm." Zhufu Yan was condemned and put to death.
29
The king of Jibei
30
Liu Zhi of Jibei had toyed with the rebels at first but never marched; spared execution, he was transferred to the throne of Zichuan. During Yuanshuo the kingdom of Qi ceased to exist.
31
Of Prince Daohui's line only Chengyang and Zichuan remained. Because Prince Daohui's mausoleum park lay east of Linzi inside old Qi territory, Emperor Wu carved that enclave out and annexed it to Zichuan so his descendant could tend the sacrifices.
32
使使 使
Liu Zhi reigned thirty-five years and is remembered posthumously as Prince Yi of Zichuan. His son Liu Jian, Prince Jing, ruled twenty years. Liu Yi, Prince Qing, held the throne thirty-five years. Liu Zhonggu, Prince Si, succeeded him. During Wufeng the governor of Qingzhou charged Liu Zhonggu with forcing his favorite male slaves on concubines of the statutory bazhong rank—the grade called 'Eight Sons'—and on other palace women, taking part himself, and—in broad daylight—making frail attendants submit to bestial coupling while he watched. When children resulted, he ordered them destroyed: "We cannot tell whose seed this is—get rid of it." The case went to the chancellor and the censorate, who observed that the statutes allow a king to take bazhong concubines at six hundred bushels' stipend precisely to multiply heirs and honor his line. Yet Zhonggu had conducted himself like a beast, blurring every bond of ruler and subject, husband and wife, and human decency; they demanded his arrest. An edict stripped him of four counties. He died in the twenty-eighth year of his reign. His son Liu Shang, Prince Kao, reigned five years. Liu Heng, Prince Xiao, ruled thirty-one years. Liu Jiao, Prince Huai, died after six years. His son Liu Yong inherited the title until Wang Mang extinguished the house.
33
The historian's judgment: Of all the great fiefs, Prince Daohui's Qi was the mightiest. The empire was newly pacified, imperial sons were few, and the lesson of Qin's lonely fall was fresh; the court therefore lavished territory on Liu kinsmen to ring the realm with bulwarks. Each kingdom could staff its own bureaucracy down to the clerks, mirroring the capital, save that the crown alone named each kingdom's chancellor. After Wu and Chu were crushed, the throne steadily pared princely power—through statutes against serving princes as a "left-hand" career, against unauthorized enlargement of fiefs, and against clique loyalty. In time the kings kept little more than the income from their tax rolls; the poorer among them went about in ox-drawn carts.
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