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卷六十七 楊胡朱梅云傳

Volume 67: Yang, Hu, Zhu, Mei and Yun

Chapter 78 of 漢書 ✓ Translated
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Volume 67: Biographies of Yang, Hu, Zhu, Mei, and Yun—the thirty-seventh series.
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Yang Wangsun
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Yang Wangsun lived under Emperor Wu. He studied Huang-Lao, commanded a fortune in gold, and pursued longevity with every luxury money could buy. Yan Shigu glosses the word zhi (here "bring to bear") as "reach the utmost." As death neared he issued final instructions to his son—what commentators call a "first command," meaning a deathbed will. He said, "I want a naked burial—to go back to what is real. Yan Shigu: naked burial omits shroud, inner coffin, and outer shell." "Return" means to go back. The real is nature's own course. The word for naked burial is pronounced like the syllables lang-guo in the fanqie spelling (ancient reading guide)." Do not change my mind. Yan Shigu glosses yi as "alter" or "change." When I die, sew me in a sack, lower me seven feet, then strip the sack upward from my feet until my flesh meets native earth." The son wanted to refuse yet shrank from disobeying a father—zhong meaning "a hard choice." If he obeyed, his heart rebelled; so he went to Wangsun's friend, the Marquis of Qi. Yan Shigu: the Marquis of Qi was Zeng He's grandson-heir, named Ta.
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Marquis Qi wrote: "Friend, your illness is cruel; I have been tied to the emperor's Yong sacrifice and could not visit you." Yan Shigu glosses yi as "to arrive" or "reach." To come before you is to pay a visit." Guard your strength, worry less, take physic, and be kind to yourself. Your naked-burial will: if the dead feel nothing, very well; if they do, you invite the shame of a corpse abused in the dark and would greet ancestors stripped—surely that cannot be your wish. The Classic of Filial Piety still commands coffin, shell, and winding-sheet—the sages' own rule. Why hug one eccentric opinion? Yan Shigu: ququ means petty, narrow-minded fussing. Think again, I beg you."
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使使 穿
Wangsun answered: "The ancient kings framed rites from human pity for the dead; today men vault past those bounds into wasteful tombs. Yan Shigu notes: they overspend the rites." I choose naked burial to jerk the age back toward sanity. Yan Shigu: jiao means to straighten what is bent. Rich tombs help the corpse not at all, yet the world competes in piling treasure underground until fortunes dissolve. Yan Shigu glosses mi as "scatter" or "squander." Dan means "drain dry." Some are sealed tonight and rifled tomorrow—Yan Shigu: opened by thieves. That is no better than leaving carrion on the plain. The dead are life's last change, the homecoming all matter makes. Return finishes the journey; change sheds the old—each creature goes home to its own nature. In that dark return, shape and voice gone, the man at last fits the Way. Gaudy display for the living and thick coffins for the dead both wall off the true return. Yan Shigu reads the character here as "block" or "separate off." The glosses that follow run on the same principle." You trap the traveler short of the inn and freeze the chrysalis in the shell—every creature misses its appointed end. The hun soul is heaven's loan; the bones are earth's clay. Yan Shigu cites the Wenzi: celestial breath is the ethereal soul." Jizha of Yanling said, "Flesh and bone return to mud"—the same teaching." Spirit and carcass part, each to its element—hence we call the dead gui, "those who have gone home." The husk sits lumpish and alone; Yan Shigu gives the fanqie spelling (kou-dui) for the word rendered "lumpish." What mind is left in meat? Swaddle it in brocade, box it in double caskets, bind the limbs, plug the mouth with jade—you forbid decay until it mummifies; only when wood rots a thousand years later does dust rejoin dust. Why prolong a guest lease on nothing? Yan Shigu: do not overstay as a traveler in the world." The graph for you ("thereby") is read like the homophone you meaning "from" or "by." Emperor Yao's grave was a hollowed log for a coffin, wild grapevine for straps—Fu Qian says the first word is read kuan, meaning "hollowed." Empty timber formed the shell." Yan Shigu: the graph here is the same as the word for a small chest or inner coffin. A small inner box. Lei is dolichos vine. Another gloss: lei names a vine like kudzu. Jian means lash tight. The plant name lei is spelled in the fanqie system as li-shui. The word jian (to bind) is spelled in fanqie as gong-xian." The pit did not pierce the aquifer below—Yan Shigu reads the verb as "cut off" the spring. Nor did stench seep upward to offend heaven. Thus the sage kings lived simply and buried simply. Yan Shigu glosses shang as "honor" or "esteem." Both ends of life stayed spare." They wasted no labor on the pointless, no coin on empty show. Yan Shigu: wei means "name" or "pretext." Today men bankrupt kin for tombs that neither comfort the dead nor enrich the living—twice deluded. Alas! I will not do it." Yan Shigu: the exclamation yu is read like wu." The second syllable xi is read like hu (a sigh)."
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Marquis Qi said, "Well argued." They buried him as he asked—stripped to earth.
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穿 宿 穿 巿 穿 使
Hu Jian, courtesy Zimeng, came from Hedong. Under Wu's Tianhan reign he served as acting deputy to the chief army judge—Yan Shigu: each host had a rectifier and deputy; Jian held the post without full rank. Too poor for a cart, he marched with the camp runners, sharing their bed and board until they loved him. Yan Shigu: wei here means to reassure or soothe from above." Jian in this sense means to enroll someone on the promotion roster." The supervising censor broke the camp palisade to open a shop—Yan Shigu explains the word for merchant stall as a seated market, a place for selling goods." Qu names a small booth, like a guard hut. Hence guard sheds are called qu-lu, and exterior palace sentries are called qu-shi. The merchant graph is read with the same sound as the word for "merchant" (gu). The same reading applies below." Jian bound his runners with an oath—Yan Shigu glosses yue as "bind" or "pledge." "We are going to kill a man: when I say take, you seize; when I say strike, you strike." On muster day the censor and the colonels sat in the roofless hall—Yan Shigu identifies jiao (regimental commands) as the army's company sections." Huang names an open hall without four enclosing walls." Jian rushed up with the runners, bowed, mounted the platform, and pointed: "Seize him." They dragged the censor from the dais. "Behead him." The blade fell. The colonels sat frozen, not grasping what had happened. Jian drew from his breast a finished memorial: "The code says awe checks the ranks and punishment bars crime." This censor openly breached the camp wall for trade—Yan Shigu reads gong as "openly" or "in public view." He peddled inside the lines, showed no stern courage, and could not lead officers—gross injustice by statute. A civil tribunal might call it a light offense. The Yellow Emperor's Li canons—Su Lin: Li was a judicial title." The monograph on astronomy pairs the left horn with Li." Meng Kang: a military-law formula." Yan Shigu: Li judges war and punishment, hence the Li Code—Su Lin's gloss is closest." Su Lin had the sense of it." "Once walls stand, tunneling off the line is treason—treason earns death." Yan Shigu explains the word for a thief-tunnel as a small hole, with the reading given in fanqie spelling. The graph is read like the homophone meaning "from" or "thereby." The same glossing convention applies below." Your servant cites the code: the chief judge answers to the throne, not the camp commander; a general's crimes go up by memorial. Yan Shigu stresses that the rectifier is not the general's subordinate." Any fault on the general's part may be tabled for the emperor." Officials at two thousand piculs and below enforce the statute." Meng Kang clarifies: here "two thousand piculs" covers colonels and chief commandants. As deputy I hesitated at the law's edge—Meng Kang notes the deputy served the chief rectifier, so killing a censor sat in a gray zone. The officer on the spot must act when the code demands—not pass the buck upward. Yan Shigu glosses wei as "burden" or "implicate." Execute the law at once; do not drag the throne into it." The character wei is spelled fanqie as nu-rui. The character lei is spelled fanqie as li-rui." Your servant therefore took his head and reports at peril of his life." The emperor answered: "The Sima canons say camp law is not capital etiquette—why drag in civil judges?" Yan Shigu: Sima Fa is a military treatise, as explained under Zhufu Yan." The rescript puts the case under field law, not the ministry clerks." The three sage kings swore inside the camp so every soldier fixed his plan before battle; or they swore beyond the gate so the host steeled its will before the order came; Yan Shigu: lu is forethought, calculation." Xian yi means shaping resolve beforehand." Or they swore on the eve of steel to lock the army's courage." Yan Shigu: the oath was meant to nerve the ranks so none broke and ran." What doubt can Hu Jian still raise?" Hu Jian's name rang through the empire.
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使 使 使
He later governed Weicheng county and earned a ringing reputation. Young Zhao sat the throne while the empress's father, General Shangguan An, consorted with Ding Wairen, lover of the emperor's sister the Princess of Gai. Ding Wairen was insolent, hated the ex-governor Fan Fu, and had him shot by hired blades. The killers sheltered in the princess's compound; no constable dared touch them. Magistrate Hu Jian ringed the house with troops and moved to arrest. The princess rode out with Ding, Shangguan, and a mob of clients, galloping and shooting at Hu's men—Yan Shigu notes ben is the old graph for "run." They charged in shooting." Hu's detachment broke and ran. She had her majordomo indict the county patrol for wounding her slaves. Hu Jian answered that the patrol had committed no separate crime. Fu Qian reads the line as praise of the patrol's lawful conduct. She struck back with a memorial accusing Hu Jian of lese-majeste and riddling the gate of her first-ranked mansion. Yan Shigu: "armor hall" is another name for a nobleman's top-tier residence. Hu knew his men had bloodied her slaves yet filed a dodgy closing report and closed the case. Su Lin thought pi meant "turn aside." Bao means "verdict" or "finding." Closing a criminal file is called bao. Su read it as "there was a stated reason." Not to investigate exhaustively is to leave the matter half done." Yan Shigu rejects Su Lin. Hu means the patrol dodged blame with a sham report, so the case never went to trial." The character pi is read like bi, "avoid." Huo Guang buried the princess's bill. When Huo fell sick the Shangguans seized the reins, ordered Hu Jian arrested, and he killed himself. The people of Weicheng still call it murder and keep a shrine to his memory. The people of Weicheng still call it murder and keep a shrine to his memory.
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Zhu Yun, courtesy You, was a Lu man who resettled at Pingling. As a youth he ran with swordsmen and hired blades for revenge. Yan Shigu glosses jie as "lend aid," with fanqie spelling zi-ye. He stood over eight feet, looked every inch a fighter, and was known for raw strength. At forty he reformed, studied the Zhou yi under Doctor Bai Ziyou and the Analects under the retired general Xiao Wangzhi, and mastered both teachers. He admired heroic independence—Yan Shigu gives the fanqie for ti. The capital set great store by him.
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使
Under Yuan, Imperial Counselor Gong Yu of Langya received a sealed memorial from Jia, acting county chief clerk of Huayin—Yan Shigu names the man Jia. It argued that order rests on worthy ministers, that the censor is the chancellor's right hand and outranks the nine ministers—Yan Shigu reads you as "senior." The memorial insisted that the post must be filled with care. Zhu Yun of Pingling blends civil and martial gifts with loyal wit; try him as acting imperial counselor at six hundred piculs and see what he can do. The emperor bounced the memorial to the high assembly. Junior tutor Kuang Heng answered that great ministers are the state's limbs, the people's mirror, and a wise king picks them with utmost care. The classics warn that when commoners despise high rank and plot against power-holders, the realm shakes. Yan Shigu: shang jue means exalted posts. Tu is "to scheme." Bing chen is a minister who wields the levers of power. Yet Jia, a mere acting clerk, would vault a foot soldier into the censor's chair—not how you steady the altars. Even Yao with Shun and King Wen with the Grand Duke tested them long before handing seals—would Zhu Yun be rushed faster? Zhu loves a fight, has fled the law more than once, knows the Changes well enough to teach, yet shows nothing singular in conduct. Imperial Counselor Gong Yu is stainless, learned, and as straight as Boyi or Ziyu—everyone knows it—yet Jia crookedly praises Zhu Yun. Yan Shigu: wei means "twisted" or "improper." He would make Zhu censor by mutual puffery—smelling conspiracy, Kuang asked for a full inquest before the rot spreads. Jia paid for the stunt with his career.
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鹿 鹿 鹿
Meanwhile Junior Minister Wulu Chongzong stood high at court expounding the Liangqiu interpretation of the Changes. Since Xuandi the court had favored Liangqiu; Yuan ordered a showdown between Chongzong and every other school. Chongzong traded on rank and a glib tongue—Yan Shigu glosses cheng as "ride on" or "trade on." He leaned on imperial favor to cow the doctors. Every scholar feigned sickness rather than face him. Someone nominated Zhu Yun; he strode in, tucked his court skirt, and mounted the dais—Yan Shigu identifies zi as the lower robe, fanqie zi-si. He lifted his head to speak—Yan Shigu: kang is "raise." His voice shook the hall. In disputation he pinned Chongzong again and again—Yan Shigu glosses zhu as "gore" or "parry," fanqie zhu-yu. The doctors sang: "Wulu locks horns high—Zhu Yun snaps his tip." Yan Shigu: yueyue paints tall branching horns. The emperor named him an erudite.
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宿
He moved to Duling magistrate, fell for letting fugitives slip, then was pardoned, recommended as upright, and sent to Huaili. Palace secretary Shi Xian ran the inner court in league with Chongzong, and the bureaucracy trembled. Only young Chen Xian, assistant censor, defied Shi Xian and befriended Zhu Yun. Zhu Yun memorialized that Chancellor Wei Xuancheng clung to his cushion, neither advancing policy nor yielding—Li Qi reads the phrase as "unable to move either way." Yan Shigu quotes the "Jun Shi" chapter: the Duke of Zhou praises King Wen's ministers—Guo Shu, Hong Yao, San Yisheng, Tai Dian, and Nangong Kuo. The same passage speaks of men who could neither press forward nor step back." That is the line Zhu Yun invoked against Wei Xuancheng." Chen Xian meanwhile kept impeaching Shi Xian before the throne. Months later the authorities reopened Zhu Yun's file, suspecting he had urged underlings to kill. Yan Shigu reads the character as feng, meaning to hint or suggest indirectly. At the next great audience Emperor Yuan asked the chancellor how Zhu Yun had governed. Wei Xuancheng replied that Zhu Yun was savage and had left no creditable record. Yan Shigu glosses "no good aspect" as no praiseworthy conduct to report. Chen Xian stood in the front ranks, overheard the answer, and warned Zhu Yun. Zhu Yun filed a memorial in his own defense; Chen Xian composed the draft and asked that it be referred to the assistant censor. The chancellor's yamen ran the inquest until clerks could enter a murder conviction in the record. Yan Shigu glosses li as "establish" or "complete." Zhu Yun slipped into Chang'an and took counsel again with Chen Xian. The chancellor laid out the whole intrigue: Chen Xian held a law officer's post, had heard state business in audience, leaked it to Zhu Yun, ghost-wrote his defense, and tried to route the case to his own bureau—Yan Shigu notes the irony of an assistant censor referring a case to himself. He knew Zhu was a wanted fugitive yet conspired with him anyway—so Zhu could not be seized." Yan Shigu: the officers could not run him to ground. The emperor jailed both men and spared their lives for hard labor on the walls. Both were disgraced and blocked from employment until Yuan died.
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祿 祿 殿 殿 使
Under Cheng, Zhang Yu of Anchang—once the emperor's tutor—sat as specially advanced minister and basked in deference. Zhu Yun demanded a hearing with the high ministers looking on. Zhu Yun said the high ministers neither steadied the throne nor helped the people—they were "corpse seat" placeholders drawing empty pay. Yan Shigu glosses shi as "preside." Su means hollow or wasted. They warm the bench without doing the job. They draw pay while their virtue never matches their rank." They are the petty men Confucius warned against—clinging to place until they will commit any crime. Yan Shigu: both quotations come from the Analects. Terror for salary twists every word and deed." Give me the imperial blade reserved for traitors—one stroke on a sycophant to sober the rest." Yan Shigu: Shangfang forges the court's arms, including the ceremonial sword sharp enough to cleave a charger. The emperor snapped, "Name him." "Zhang Yu of Anchang." Cheng boiled over: "A low clerk defames his betters—Yan Shigu glosses shan as revile." You have insulted my teacher in the hall—no pardon." Guards dragged Zhu away; he locked arms on the door sill until the carved rail snapped. Yan Shigu: kan is the hall railing. Zhu roared—Yan Shigu glosses hu as shout. "Let me join Long Peng and Bi Gan in the grave—I am content! Yan Shigu names the two martyred remonstrators of Jie and Zhou. What your sage dynasty will look like, I cannot yet say!" Yan Shigu: executing honest critics stains the throne. The guards marched him off. Left general Xin Qingji tore off cap and sash and kowtowed: "The man is famous for wild integrity." Yan Shigu: zhu means "display" or "show forth." His reputation has stood for years." If he speaks truth, spare him; if he is wrong, still indulge his bluntness. I will plead for him on pain of death." Xin battered his brow on the stone until blood ran. Cheng's rage cooled and the execution halted. When carpenters came to mend the rail, the emperor said, "Leave it broken! Patch the break and keep it as a monument to blunt loyalty." Yan Shigu reads ji like ji, to patch together. Jing means to set forth for all to see."
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宿
Zhu Yun never served again. He farmed at Hu, sometimes toured in an ox-cart with students, and every village honored him. When Xue Xuan took the chancellorship, Zhu called on him. Xue laid a feast, kept him overnight, and over wine said—Yan Shigu gives fanqie for cong. "Idle in the country—lodge in my east wing and watch the empire's odd talents pass through." "You fresh-faced stripling—you think you can press me into clerking for you?" Yan Shigu: xiao sheng is a junior scholar. Are you trying to hire me as a secretary?" Xue never raised it again.
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He picked disciples only from the worthiest students. Yan Wang of Jiujiang and his nephew Yan Yuan mastered Zhu's school; both rose to erudite. Yan Wang governed Taishan.
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Zhu Yun died at home past seventy. Sick, he refused doctors and drugs. His will demanded a snug shroud, a coffin no wider than his shoulders, a pit barely wider than the shell—Yan Shigu explains the frugal measure. The shaft would only admit the inner box." He asked for a burial mound one zhang and five chi high east of Pingling's outer wall.
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使
Mei Fu, courtesy Zizhen, came from Shouchun in Jiujiang. He studied in Chang'an, mastered the Shang shu and Guliang Annals, served as commandery instructor, then constable of Nanchang. Yan Shigu: a Yuzhang county. Home in Shouchun he kept tipping off the throne through county post riders—Yan Shigu: he hitched memorials to official couriers. Bian means crises or anomalies." He asked for relay tallies on a light wagon—Yan Shigu explains the small-carriage chop. Yao is read yao. Zhuan is read zhang-lian in fanqie." To reach the temporary palace and answer point by point on urgent reforms—Yan Shigu glosses tiao dui as itemized response. Each time the court brushed him off.
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Cheng handed power to Wang Feng; Feng choked the court. Wang Zhang of the capital spoke sharp truth and Feng had him killed. The Wangs swelled—Yan Shigu: jin is "step by step." Omens stacked up while every tongue stayed tied. Mei Fu memorialized again:
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使
Jizi played the madman under Shang yet gave Zhou the Hong fan; Shusun Tong slipped from Qin to Han and built the court's ritual code. Yan Shigu: dun is flee. Shusun Tong was no traitor—Yan Shigu glosses xian as "sir" or "venerable." Another gloss: xian means "while still in Qin." Jizi did not betray family to turn traitor—Yan Shigu reminds us he was the king's uncle. No one would listen. Gaozu drank in advice for fear of missing a word and spun on a remonstrance like a ball—Yan Shigu: bu ji is dread of losing counsel. Zhuan yuan means turning a round weight—easy motion, ready compliance." He heard men out without demanding polish and rewarded deeds without probing pedigrees. Yan Shigu: take the deed at face value, not the résumé. Chen Ping rose from exile as strategist; Han Xin leaped from the ranks to grand marshal. Yan Shigu: named grand general of the armies. Talent poured to Han from every quarter—Yan Shigu: like clouds converging. Wise men laid schemes, fools found courage, heroes spent their nerve, cowards learned to die. All minds and all awe united—Qin fell like fluff, Chu like snatching dropped coins—Yan Shigu: goose feather for lightness. Shi yi means as easy as stooping for a trifle." That is how Gaozu became unbeatable. Yan Shigu reads wu like wu, "without peer." Emperor Wen came from the Dai commandery to the throne—Yan Shigu notes his path. Without the Zhou-Shao tutors or Yi-Lu ministers—Yan Shigu: Shao reads shao. He kept Gaozu's code and layered on modest thrift. The realm neared peace. Yan Shigu: ji is read ju-yi. Follow Gaozu's pattern and the land rests; abandon it and the land boils. Why? Qin hacked away Confucius, smashed the Duke of Zhou's models—Yan Shigu: gui is "pattern." It tore up well-fields and the five ranks until rites and music died and the royal way clogged—so no later king could finish the work. Emperor Wu welcomed blunt counsel and prized straight speech—Yan Shigu reads yue as delight. He handed out fiefs when a memorial pleased him—no need for the usual incorrupt or abundant-talent nominations or battle laurels. Lian names the "incorrupt" recommendation class. Mao names the "abundant talent" class." Commoners sharpened wits and thronged the capital to sell their service—uncountable. Han talent peaked in that age. Had Wu used their advice, the realm might have reached true peace. Zhang Yan defines shengping as years when granaries hold three years of grain. Instead came slaughter abroad and pride at crushing barbarians—so Liu An of Huainan saw his opening. Why the plot failed: talent still packed the Han capital—Yan Shigu glosses ben chao as our dynasty. Huainan's ministers could not bully the ruler into conspiracy. Fu Qian reads it as ministers dominating their lord. Yan Shigu: Huainan's inner circle of high officials. Today rustics watch for weakness—Shu rose first. Meng Kang cites Zheng Gong's Guanghan rising under Cheng's Hongjia. Then Su Ling's Shanyang band overran great cities, recruiting allies—Li Qi glosses sui he as followers. They marched openly, never slinking into hiding. They despise high ministers because the court's awe has thinned—commoners dare face the Son of Heaven.
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使祿 滿 祿
Talent is the dynasty's heavy armor; with them you stand firm, without them you totter. The Classic says many good men made King Wen secure. Yan Shigu: from the Greater Ya "Wen Wang" ode. As explained earlier." Inner-court policy is no topic for grass huts. I risk the execution ground yet keep petitioning—and each time you brush me off. Duke Huan once heard a man teach the times table and still received him—hunger for greatness. Yan Shigu: jiu jiu is arithmetic, like later mathematical primers. My words outweigh a times table—three rebuffs prove why talent stays home. King Wu of Qin loved brawn; Ren Bi pounded the gate to offer his back; Yan Shigu identifies the Qin king. Ren Bi was a noted strongman." Duke Mu sought hegemony; You Yu defected out of respect. Yan Shigu: Qin Mugong. Bo here reads ba, hegemon. You is read you." To summon talent, route every memorial to the Imperial Secretary; pay useful words with a token stipend and a bolt of silk. Then honest rage will pour forth—Yan Shigu gives fanqie for men. Good counsel will flow upward until every fiber of the realm lies plain. Yan Shigu: ran ran means blazingly clear. Eloquent men swarm the four seas. Yet few who write like classics and pass the sages' test—Yan Shigu: zhi is "test against." Fewer still fit the present moment. Yan Shigu: wu ji means scarce. Fanqie for ji." So stipend and silk are the empire's grindstone—Yan Shigu glosses di as fine whetstone. That is how Gaozu whetted the world's edge. Confucius said sharpen your tools before the job. Yan Shigu cites the Analects. The craftsman is government; the tools are ministers." Qin stretched slander statutes to pave Han's rise—then gripped the Tai'e blade by the edge and gave the hilt to rebels. Yan Shigu: Tai'e was Ou Yezi's master blade. Lawless Qin let Chen She and Xiang Yu strike—an empire handing enemies the sword grip. Keep the hilt and no rebel tests the edge—that is how Wu became the dynasty's martial ancestor. Yan Shigu reads pi as open or expand. Today, ignoring the hegemon's way—Yan Shigu: bo reads ba. The same reading recurs below." Using ancient selection rites to hire modern men is like finding a thoroughbred from a picture—hopeless and obvious. Gaozu pardoned Chen Ping's scandals and took his plots—Yan Shigu cites the old gossip. Jin Wen met the king at hunt; Huan used a foe as minister—Yan Shigu: the Heyang assembly. The enemy was Guan Zhong, made chief minister. Both stories glossed earlier." It ignores expedience yet works—that is hegemon politics. Pure hue is chun; mottled white and black is bo. Applying Wen-era statutes to Qin's wreckage—Yan Shigu: xu is leftover evil. It is like running a village banquet in a war camp.
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退 使
You reject counsel and pile executions on top. When hawks and owls are harmed, the benevolent birds fly farther away; Yan Shigu: you names the owl. Benevolent birds are luan and phoenix. You is read yuan." Kill fools and the wise dig in. Yan Shigu: meng means suffer. Lately common memorials trip petty statutes; the Commandant of Justice swallows them and men die. Yan Shigu: punished for "non-urgent" speech. Since Yangshuo China fears its own tongue—worst in the hall—Yan Shigu: muzzling law. Every minister nods at your hint; none stands straight. How do we know? Take a memorial you praised and give it to the judge—he will call it lese-majeste. That is one proof. Wang Zhang of the capital spoke truth to power; Yuan promoted him to shame seat-warmers. Yan Shigu: ju chen warms a useless chair. Jiao means set right." Under you his wife and children died too. Punish the man, not the clan—Wang Zhang was no traitor, yet his house fell. You broke honest spines and sealed loyal mouths; all know it is wrong yet stay mute—speech taboo is the worst peril. Return to Gaozu's road and dam Qin's ditch—Yan Shigu: du is block. Sing often the "Tenth Month" ode—Meng Kang says Fu attacks the Wangs. It warns when maternal kin swell." Yan Shigu: from Lesser Ya "Shi yue zhi jiao." Study the "Wu yi" chapter—Yan Shigu: Zhou document to King Cheng. Scrap petty speech laws, invite plain words, hear low and distant voices—open four gates, brighten four eyes. Yan Shigu cites Shun's canon on opening the court to sight. Petty statutes are slander-law snares. The past is gone; the future can be mended. Ministers defy edicts and imperial awe fades—Yan Shigu explains. Consort power swells by the day—read the shadow if not the shape. Since Jianshi, eclipses and quakes triple the Annals' count; floods beyond reckoning. Yan Shigu: too many to tally. Yin swells, yang thins—metal flies from forges: what omen is that! Zhang Yan cites molten iron flying at Pei in Heping 2 as a sign of overmighty subjects. Su Lin cites the Hong fan: disobedience in counsel skews the metal phase. Jing means the portent or shadow cast. The shadow foretells collapse." Since Gaozu the dynastic altars have twice tottered. The Lu, Huo, and Shangguan clans were maternal relatives; kin should be sheltered—Yan Shigu says keeping them safe ranks first. Give them wise tutors and drill loyalty and filial piety. Instead you fatten their offices and hand them the Big Dipper's handle—Yan Shigu compares power to the ladle stars. Until they turn arrogant and are wiped root and branch—Yan Shigu glosses yi as level away. That is how loving kin goes wrong. Even Huo Guang could not save his line—so when regents survive a change of throne, peril follows. The Classic warns: do not let power smolder like kindling fire. Yan Shigu: from the Luo gao in the Zhou Documents. Yong yong describes a tiny spark. A spark ignored becomes an inferno. When ministers swell, cut their power early." Wait until they dwarf the throne and it is too late to fence them in. Yan Shigu: yi closes the sentence.
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The throne ignored the memorial.
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Cheng still had no heir; Mei Fu urged reviving the three royal lines by enfeoffing Confucius's house as heir to Yin, and wrote again:
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殿
The classic says: out of office, out of policy. Policy belongs to rank; humble men who lecture upward commit a crime. I risk the waist block to name this age's sickness—gladly. Yan Shigu: fu zhi is execution. Heng fen means cut in two." Silent clerks die whole yet nameless before the flesh cools; I would not trade this for Qi Jing's thousand teams. Yan Shigu identifies Qi Jinggong. The Analects says Jing's thousand teams won him no praise after death. Hence the quotation." I beg once to climb the marble stairs and the cinnabar court—Ying Shao notes the red-daubed floor. To sit at the proper throne between the pillars—Yan Shigu names the yi screen behind the ruler. Fa zuo is the formal audience seat, like "law carriage." Fanqie for zuo." And pour out every thought I have. If it helps the age not at all yet leaves a trace—Yan Shigu: yi is leave behind. That is why I cannot sleep or taste my food. I beg you weigh every line. Yan Shigu: xing is examine.
25
西
Help others rise and you rise; choke them and you choke yourself. Good and evil reap their own fruit. Qin snuffed Eastern and Western Zhou and six kingdoms—Yan Shigu names the Zhou royal houses. The six are Qi, Chu, Han, Wei, Zhao, Yan." Hermits went unhonored, wanderers uncalled—Yan Shigu reads yi as reclusion. Qin severed the three royal lines and snuffed Heaven's pattern—so the First Emperor fell to plots, Ershi died, Ying could not inherit—Zhang Yan glosses the line. The grandson is Ziying." That is choking others and choking yourself. King Wu, still in his chariot, restored the five royal lines—Song for Yin, Qi for Xia—Yan Shigu lists the five enfeoffments. He showed the three lines of succession so no one house owned Heaven. So half the realm bore the Ji name and portable shrines crowded every gate—Li Qi stresses their number. That is helping others to stand firm yourself. King Tang's line lacks smoke on the altar; Yin has no heir. Your own heir-lessness may stem from the same neglect. The Annals record Song executing a great officer. Guliang says the victim went unnamed because he sat in the ancestral seat—honored silence. Yan Shigu: the entry falls in Xi 25. The "ancestor seat" means Confucius sprang from Song's Kong clan before Fangshu fled to Lu. The victim was another Kong kinsman left in Song—Confucius's senior line—hence the text withholds his name." The classic hints Confucius carried Yin blood; even off the main line, enfeoffing his seed as Yin heir fits the rites. Why? Marquises can supplant the main house; wise younger sons can supplant the heir. Ru Chun: a new marquis may displace the old zongzi role. Duo shi is Wen passing Bo Yikao for Wu." Confucius, though a cadet branch, may stand as Yin heir." Yan Shigu: shi reads di, heir. The canon says worthy lines deserve fiefs—how much more a sage of Yin stock! When Cheng buried the Duke of Zhou with only a lord's honors, Heaven answered with storm and wind. Yan Shigu quotes the Great Tradition: Zhou asked burial at Chengzhou to show he served Cheng. At his death Heaven blasted wind and rain until grain flattened and trees uprooted. Panic gripped the court; king and ministers opened the golden coffer and wept that they had missed Zhou's loyalty. They moved the tomb to Bi to show they dared not treat him as a vassal." Today Kong's shrine never leaves Queli—Yan Shigu names his lane. No second site honors the sage." His kin still pay poll tax as commoners—Yan Shigu notes their mean status. A sage fed like a peasant cannot be Heaven's will. If you reward Confucius's "uncrowned king" merit with a fief—Yan Shigu cites the Guliang title. Guliang calls him the king without throne." The dynasty will gain blessing and your name will ride the sky. Why? Honoring a throneless sage sets precedent for every age to come. Immortal fame is worth the reach.
26
Mei Fu stood alone, slashed at the Wangs, and was never heard.
27
In Yanshi Wang Mang seized the government—Yan Shigu reads zhuan as monopolize. He abandoned kin overnight, fled to Jiujiang, and legend makes him a transcendent. Later rumor placed him in Kuaiji under a new name, tending a market gate. Yan Shigu: afterward means after his flight.
28
Yun Chang, courtesy Youru, came from Pingling. He studied under Wu Zhang of his county; Zhang mastered the Shang shu and rose to erudite. Boy emperor Ping of Zhongshan left Mang as regent calling himself the Han-pacifying duke. As Cheng's heir he barred his mother and the Wei in-laws from the capital. Mang's heir Yu hated isolating the Wei clan—Yan Shigu reads ge as block. He feared the boy emperor's future grudge. Yu and Zhang smeared Mang's gate with blood like a ghost warning. Zhang meant to use the scare to open a remonstrance. The plot surfaced; Mang killed Yu, wiped the Wei, and executed over a hundred linked names. Zhang died by waist-slicing; his body was displayed at the east market. Zhang had been a celebrated teacher with a thousand pupils; Mang branded the school criminal and barred every man from office. Students renounced him overnight and claimed new masters. Yan Shigu: they hid ever having studied under Zhang. Chang served as a clerk under the Grand Minister of Education; he confessed to being Zhang's pupil, reclaimed the corpse, and buried it—Yan Shigu gives fanqie for guan. Lian is read li-shan." Chang'an praised his courage. Wang Shun, chariot general, likened him to Luan Bu, named him a yamen clerk, then recommended him as palace gentleman and remonstrating grandee. Once Wang Mang seized the throne, Wang Shun rose to grand tutor. He again urged that Chang could serve as a pillar of government. Yan Shigu glosses the post as a ministerial aide. Illness forced him out. Tang Lin argued Chang could govern; the court named him chief magistrate of Lu. Gengshi recalled him in a honor carriage for the censorate; he begged off again and died in retirement.
29
Appraisal
30
The historian writes: Confucius said without the steadfast mean he turned to the fierce and the fastidious. Yan Shigu opens the Analects passage on zhongxing versus kuang juan. The bold push ahead; the scrupulous refuse what is wrong." Zhong xing is the Confucian middle way. Juan names stubborn integrity. Better hot-tempered worthies than witless flatterers. Fanqie spelling for juan." Yang Wangsun's burial vow shames Qin Shihuang. Some say Zhu Yun overshoots the mark—hence Confucius's line on inventing without knowledge. Yan Shigu cites the Analects again. He scorned hollow writers of his day." Hu Jian struck before the enemy without flinching—martial order blazed abroad. Yan Shigu: zhao means manifest. He cut corruption in camp and never let the line break. Mei Fu's prose belongs with the Greater Ya: "No graybeards remain, yet the old pattern still stands." "Yin's lesson is near—the lesson Xia's king heard." Yan Shigu glosses the Shang hymn on law without elders. The same ode warns Yin to read Xia's fall." The praise ties Mei Fu's plea for Kong heirs to King Wu's settlement of Shang. It also recalls Qin's refusal to plant successor lines—another mirror." So Mei Fu followed his bent and kept his integrity as a gate guard. Yun Chang proved ren in the Wu Zhang affair—Confucius said benevolence is a man's own work—and twice served great ministers—Yan Shigu cites the Analects. The eulogy quotes that line." Two tours through high offices: first under the Grand Minister of Education, then under the chariot general." Clear water lets you rinse your hat strings—how far must purity flee? Yan Shigu cites the Chuci fisherman. Muddy Canglang water washes only the feet." Meet good government and take office; meet chaos and withdraw—Yun Chang's sick retirements echo that teaching."
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