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卷九十三佞幸傳第六十三
Volume 93: "The Flatterers," the sixty-third biography.
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After the Han rose, the court had its share of favorites: under Gaozu there was Ji Ru; under Emperor Hui, Hong Ru. Neither had any real ability; they rose by soft flattery alone, sharing the emperor's bedchamber, and high officials routinely used them as go-betweens to reach the throne. So under Emperor Hui, Gentlemen of the Palace and attendants-in-chief took to zījī caps, shell-inlaid belts, and rouge—aping the style of Hong Ru and Ji Ru. Both families were resettled at Anling. Later reigns had their own favorites: under Emperor Wen, the lay courtier was Deng Tong; the eunuchs were Zhao Tan and Beigong Bozi; under Emperor Wu, the courtier was Han Yan and the eunuch Li Yannian; under Emperor Yuan, the eunuchs Hong Gong and Shi Xian; under Emperor Cheng, Zhang Fang and Chunyu Chang; and under Emperor Ai, Dong Xian. Emperors Jing, Zhao, and Xuan had no true "favorites" of this kind. Jing's circle held only Zhou Ren, the palace commandant. Under Emperor Zhao, Jin Shang, marquis of Du and commandant of the imperial son-in-law, inherited his father Jin Midi's chariot-and-cavalry rank and marquisate; father and son were favored beyond the usual, though the affection was not deep. Xuandi's childhood study-mate Zhang Pengzu, later a palace attendant and general of the household, was made marquis of Yangdu for past loyalty and often rode beside him as escort—people spoke of him as a favorite. He was careful and irreproachable until a concubine poisoned him; his fief was struck from the rolls.
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Deng Tong of Nan'an in Shu had been a Yellow-Head boatman in the imperial service. Wen once dreamed he could not rise to heaven until a Yellow-Head attendant pushed him upward; glancing back, he noticed the seat of the man's trousers was split. He went to the Jian Terrace and quietly searched for that attendant—and found Deng Tong, whose trousers were torn exactly where the dream had shown. Asked his name, the man said he was Deng Tong. The emperor took "Deng" for "ascend" and was delighted; Deng Tong's favor climbed higher every day. Deng Tong was obliging and discreet, avoided outside contacts, and even on bath-leave preferred not to leave the palace. Wen showered him with fortunes counted in the hundreds of thousands and promoted him to senior grandee.
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Wen sometimes dropped in on Deng Tong's home for sport, but Deng had no talent for recommending men—only a knack for keeping himself in the emperor's good graces. Wen had a face-reader study Deng Tong, who said, "This man will starve in poverty." "Who makes Deng Tong rich is me," replied the emperor. "How could he end poor?" So he gave Deng Tong the Yandao copper hills in Shu and let him cast his own cash. Deng Tong's money circulated across the empire—such was his wealth.
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When Wen developed an abscess, Deng Tong habitually drew the pus with his mouth. Unhappy, Wen asked casually, "Who in all the world loves me most?" “Surely no one loves you more than the crown prince,” Deng Tong said. When the crown prince visited the sickbed, Wen told him to suck the sore. The prince did it, but his face showed revulsion. Learning that Deng Tong had done the same for his father, the prince was mortified and nursed a grudge against him.
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When Wen died and Jing succeeded, Deng Tong was stripped of office and sent home. Soon he was accused of illegal minting beyond the frontier; the inquiry proved true, his property was seized, and he still owed tens of millions. Whenever the princess tried to help him with gifts, officials seized them before they reached him—not even a hairpin stayed his. At last she could only arrange meager food and clothes on loan. He died without a coin to his name, a guest in someone else's roof.
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Appendix: Zhao Tan and Beigong Bozi
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Han Yan, styled Wangsun, was grandson of Marquis of Gonggao Tuidang. While Wu was still prince of Jiaodong, Han Yan studied with him and they grew inseparable. When Wu became heir apparent, the bond only tightened. Han Yan excelled at horsemanship and archery and was quick-witted. Once enthroned, Wu planned war on the Xiongnu; Han Yan, already versed in military matters, rose to senior grandee with largesse to rival Deng Tong's.
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Early on he often shared the emperor's quarters. The king of Jiangdu attended court and joined a hunt in Shanglin Park. Before the main procession moved, Wu sent Han Yan ahead in the escort carriage with scores of horsemen to beat the cover. The king mistook the party for the emperor, sent his escort aside, and knelt by the road. Han Yan raced past without a nod. Humiliated, the king wept to the empress dowager and asked to return his kingdom and enter palace guard duty, to be treated like Han Yan. The empress dowager never forgave Han Yan.
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His brother Han Shuo, another favorite, became marquis of Andao on merit and was killed by the heir apparent Li in the witchcraft scandal. His son Han Zeng rose to marquis of Longluo, grand marshal, and chariot-and-cavalry general—he has a separate biography.
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Li Yannian of Zhongshan came from a family of professional performers. Convicted, he was castrated and assigned to the imperial dog kennel. His sister became Lady Li, a favorite—her story is in the "Consorts" chapter. He was a superb singer who devised new vocal styles. Wu was founding state rituals to Heaven and Earth and wanted fresh ritual music; Sima Xiangru and others were told to supply hymn texts. Li Yannian set each new poem to melody and accompaniment. When Lady Li bore the king of Changyi, Yannian was made director of harmony with a two-thousand-picul seal, shared the emperor's intimacy, and matched Han Yan in favor. In time his brother Ji took lovers among the eunuchs and swaggered through the palace. After Lady Li's death his star faded; Wu executed Li Yannian and his whole clan.
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Appendix: Wei Qing and Huo Qubing
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From then on, "favorites" tended to be in-laws of the throne. Wei Qing and Huo Qubing enjoyed imperial favor, but they also earned their place by real achievement.
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Shi Xian, styled Junfang, was a native of Jinan; Hong Gong came from Pei. Both were castrated for crimes in youth, entered as yellow-gate attendants, and were chosen for the central secretariat. Under Xuandi they ran the inner chancellery; Hong Gong knew law and precedent cold and drafted petitions to perfection. Hong Gong was chief; Shi Xian, his deputy. A few years into Yuan's reign Hong Gong died and Shi Xian became chief of the secretariat.
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是時，元帝被疾，不親政事，方隆好於音樂，以顯久典事，中人無外黨，精專可信任，遂委以政。 事無小大，因顯白決，貴幸傾朝，百僚皆敬事顯。 顯為人巧慧習事，能探得人主微指，內深賊，持詭辯以中傷人，忤恨睚眥，輒被以危法。 初元中，前將軍蕭望之及光祿大夫周堪、宗正劉更生皆給事中。 望之領尚書事，知顯專權邪辟，建白以為：「尚書百官之本，國家樞機，宜以通明公正處之。 武帝游宴後庭，故用宦者，非古制也。 宜罷中書宦官，應古不近刑人。」 元帝不聽，由是大與顯忤。 後皆害焉，望之自殺，堪、更生廢錮，不得復進用，語在《望之傳》。 後太中大夫張猛、魏郡太守京房、御史中丞陳咸、待詔賈捐之皆嘗奏封事，或召見，言顯短。 顯求索其罪，房、捐之棄市，猛自殺於公車，咸抵罪，髡為城旦。 及鄭令蘇建得顯私書奏之，後以它事論死。 自是公卿以下畏顯，重足一跡。
Yuan was often ill and left state business aside while he lost himself in music. Shi Xian, long trusted in the palace, had no outside clique and seemed safe—so power passed to him. Every decision, great or small, went through Shi Xian; the court leaned his way and every minister deferred to him. Shi Xian was clever, read the emperor's slightest wish, and nursed a vicious grudge: one cross word could bring a capital charge framed in legal jargon. During Chuyuan, Xiao Wangzhi, Zhou Kan, and Liu Gengsheng held joint appointments as palace attendants. Xiao Wangzhi, heading the secretariat, saw Shi Xian's crooked monopoly and argued: "That office is the nerve center of government; it needs open, upright men. Emperor Wu used eunuchs there because he banqueted in the inner palace—but that was never classical practice. Abolish eunuch secretaries and return to the old rule: do not keep the mutilated at the ruler's elbow." Yuan refused, and Xiao Wangzhi made a bitter enemy of Shi Xian. All were ruined: Xiao Wangzhi committed suicide; Zhou Kan and Liu Gengsheng were cashiered and blocked from office—the full story is in Wangzhi's biography. Later Zhang Meng, Jing Fang, Chen Xian, and Jia Juanzhi memorialized or were called in to attack Shi Xian. Shi Xian hunted charges: Jing Fang and Jia Juanzhi died in the market; Zhang Meng killed himself at the carriage park; Chen Xian was shorn and sentenced as corvée labor. When Su Jian of Zheng presented a private letter from Shi Xian, he himself was later executed on another pretext. After that, from ministers downward, everyone feared Shi Xian and scarcely dared breathe.
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Seeing General of the Left Feng Fengshi and his sons prominent at court—and a daughter already a Zhaoyi in the inner palace—Shi Xian tried to curry favor by recommending her brother, Usher Jun, as fit for inner service. The emperor summoned Jun for palace attendant; Jun asked for a private audience. Jun denounced Shi Xian's monopoly; the emperor, furious, demoted him back to ordinary gentleman. When the imperial counsellor's post fell open, the court ranked Ye Wang, Jun's brother and grand herald, first in talent; the emperor consulted Shi Xian, who said, "No nine minister outranks Ye Wang. Yet he is the favored lady's brother. I fear posterity will say you skipped better men to elevate a bedchamber connection to one of the three excellencies." "Well said," the emperor replied. "I had not seen that." He then published an edict praising Ye Wang while shelving him all the same; the full story is in the 《Biography of Ye Wang》.
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Shi Xian knew he held the real strings of government and dreaded the day the emperor might listen to other intimates; he staged moments of contrition to manufacture proof of loyalty. On a requisition run to outside offices he filed notice in advance, pleading that the water-clock might expire and lock him out—so he asked for an authorized clerk to keep the gate open. The emperor agreed. He deliberately came back after dark, invoked imperial orders, and walked through. When a memorial later charged him with forging orders to force the gate, the emperor only laughed and handed Shi Xian the paper. Shi Xian wept: "You have over-favored a minor official and piled work on him; every man under heaven envies me and wants me ruined. This is not the first such accusation—only a clear-sighted sovereign sees through it. I am too humble to please the multitude or absorb the world's hatred. Let me surrender the secretariat and sweep the inner palace instead—I would die content if Your Majesty would pity me and let me live." Yuan bought the performance: he comforted Shi Xian again and again, heaped gifts on him, and cash from stipends and kickbacks reportedly reached a hundred million.
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Earlier, word on the street blamed Shi Xian for Xiao Wangzhi's death. Wangzhi had been the age's leading classicist; Shi Xian worried the literati would turn every pen against him. He courted Gong Yu of Langye—a noted scholar of integrity then serving as remonstrant—through intermediaries and tied him with favors. He pushed Gong Yu up the ladder to the nine ministers and even to imperial counsellor, honoring him with elaborate courtesy. Gossip then called Shi Xian magnanimous, as if he had never plotted against Wangzhi. Every ruse he used to save his skin and keep the emperor's confidence looked like this.
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Late in Yuan's reign the emperor fell ill; King Gong of Dingtao was beloved and favored, and Shi Xian's backing of the crown prince carried real weight. After Yuan died and Chengdi took the throne, Shi Xian was transferred to Director of Palace Servants at Changxin Palace, rank fully two thousand shi. Deprived of his patron, Shi Xian lingered out of power for months until the chancellor and censor-in-chief filed his old crimes and dismissed his allies Lao Liang and Chen Shun. Shi Xian was sent home with his family, refused food in despair, and died on the road. Everyone who had climbed in through Shi Xian lost his post. Wulu Chongzong was demoted from the treasury to governor of Xuantu; Yi Jia from vice censor-in-chief to commandant of Yanmen. Chang'an gossip ran: "Yi to the goose, deer to the rabbit—good riddance to Lao and Chen, not worth a penny."
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Chunyu Chang, styled Zihong, came from Yuancheng in Wei commandery. Through his tie to the empress dowager's sister he entered as a yellow-gate gentleman before he had won the throne's notice. When Wang Feng fell ill, Chang kept vigil day and night at his bedside—the bond of uncle and nephew ran deep. On his deathbed Wang Feng commended Chang to the empress dowager and the emperor. Chengdi praised his loyalty, moved him through column commandant posts to chief commandant of waters and forests and palace attendant, then to defender of the capital.
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When Zhao Feiyan rose high enough to aim at the empress's throne, the empress dowager balked at her low birth. He acted as intermediary, carrying messages back and forth to the Eastern Palace. More than a year later Empress Zhao was installed, and the emperor, deeply grateful, recalled Chunyu Chang's earlier service. He issued an edict: "Former Director of Works Xie Wannian memorialized requesting construction at Changling, exhausting the empire. Palace Attendant and Defender of the Capital Chunyu Chang repeatedly stated that the work should stop and that relocated households should be returned to their former homes. I referred Chang's words to the dukes and ministers, and all who deliberated agreed with his plan. He was first to propose this excellent policy, and the people thereby gained peace. He awarded Chang a marquis-within-the-passes title." Chang was soon made marquis of Dingling, deeply trusted, and his prestige overshadowed the high ministers. He traded favors with regional lords and governors; gifts and graft ran into the millions. He hoarded concubines, drowned himself in music and women, and treated the statutes with contempt.
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初，許皇后坐執左道廢處長定宮，而後姊靡為龍額思侯夫人，寡居。 長與靡私通，因取為小妻。 許后因靡賂遺長，欲求復為婕妤。 長受許后金錢乘輿服御物前後千餘萬，詐許為白上，立以為左皇后。 靡每入長定宮，輒與靡書，戲侮許后，嫚易無不言。 交通書記，賂遺連年。 是時，帝舅曲陽侯王根為大司馬票騎將軍，輔政數歲，久病，數乞骸骨。 長以外親居九卿位，次第當代根。 根兄子新都侯王莽心害長寵，私聞長取許靡，受長定宮賂遺。 莽侍曲陽侯疾，因言：「長見將軍久病，意喜，自以當代輔政，至對衣冠議語署置。」 具言其罪過。 根怒曰：「即如是，何不白也？」 莽曰：「未知將軍意，故未敢言。」 根曰：「趣白東宮。」 莽求見太后，具言長驕佚，欲代曲陽侯，對莽母上車，私與長定貴人姊通，受取其衣物。 太后亦怒曰：「兒至如此！ 往白之帝！」 莽白上，上乃免長官，遣就國。
Former Empress Xu had lost her title for "left-path" sorcery and lived at the Changding Palace; her sister Mi, widow of the marquis of Longesi, kept house alone. Chunyu Chang took Mi as a secret concubine. The deposed empress sent gifts through Mi, begging to be restored as a lady of handsome favor. Chang pocketed more than ten million in coin, carriages, and wardrobe from her, promised to plead her case, and swore he would make her a "left empress." Whenever Mi visited the Changding Palace, he sent letters along with her, ridiculing the former empress in the crudest terms. The letters and bribes flowed without stop for years. The emperor's uncle Wang Gen, marquis of Quyang, had served as regent grand marshal and general of agile cavalry for years; chronic illness drove him to ask for retirement. As an in-law already in the nine ministers, Chang stood next in line to succeed him. Wang Mang of Xindu, Wang Gen's nephew, envied Chang's rise and quietly confirmed his affair with Xu Mi and the bribes from Changding. At Wang Gen's sickbed Mang said, "Chang sees the general has been ill a long time. He's pleased at heart, thinks he'll replace you as regent, and is even discussing appointments with men in caps and robes in the yamen." He laid out the counts in full. Wang Gen snapped, "If that is true, why have you kept silent?" "I was not sure where you stood," Mang replied. “Go to the empress dowager at once,” Wang Gen ordered. Mang told the empress dowager everything: Chang's arrogance, his designs on Wang Gen's post, his brazen familiarity with Mang's mother at the carriage step, his affair with the Changding noblewoman's sister, and the gifts he took from her. The empress dowager snapped, "Has the boy sunk this low? Tell the emperor immediately." Mang carried the word to Chengdi, who stripped Chang of his posts and ordered him to his fief.
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In his days as palace attendant he had run errands for both palaces and been treated as family. Wang Li, marquis of Hongyang, alone had been passed over for the regency; he was convinced Chang had slandered him and nursed a murderous grudge. The emperor knew the bad blood. When Chang prepared to leave the capital, Wang Li's heir Rong asked him for horses and carriages; Chang funneled rare gifts through Rong, and Wang Li put in a good word. The arrangement struck Chengdi as wrong; he handed the matter to the judiciary. Clerks seized Rong; Wang Li ordered his own son to commit suicide to seal his lips. That only deepened the emperor's suspicion of a vast conspiracy; Chang was jailed under imperial warrant at Luoyang and interrogated without mercy. He admitted to humiliating the Changding Palace and plotting a rival empress—capital treason—and died in custody. Wives and children liable under the law went to Hepu; his mother was sent home to her native commandery. Wang Li, marquis of Hongyang, was packed off to his fief as well. Several score generals, ministers, grandees, and governors fell with him. Wang Mang stepped into Wang Gen's place as grand marshal. Years later his mother and son Pu were allowed back to the capital. When Pu offended the law, Mang had him executed and exiled the rest of the family again.
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附：張放
Appendix: Zhang Fang
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Even at his height, Chang's intimacy never matched that of Zhang Fang, marquis of Fuping. Zhang Fang shared the emperor's bedchamber and roamed the city incognito at his side.
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董賢字聖卿，雲陽人也。 父恭，為御史，任賢為太子舍人。 哀帝立，賢隨太子官為郎。 二歲餘，賢傳漏在殿下，為人美麗自喜，哀帝望見，說其儀貌，識而問之，曰：「是舍人董賢邪？」 因引上與語，拜為黃門郎，由是始幸。 問及其父為雲中侯，即日徵為霸陵令，遷光祿大夫。 賢寵愛日甚，為駙馬都尉侍中，出則參乘，入御左右，旬月間賞賜累巨萬，貴震朝廷。 常與上臥起。 嘗晝寢，偏藉上袖，上欲起，賢未覺，不欲動賢，乃斷袖而起。 其恩愛至此。 賢亦性柔和便辟，善為媚以自固。 每賜洗沐，不肯出，常留中視醫藥。 上以賢難歸，詔令賢妻得通引籍殿中，止賢廬，若吏妻子居官寺捨。 又召賢女弟以為昭儀，位次皇后，更名其捨為椒風，以配椒房雲。 昭儀及賢與妻旦夕上下，並侍左右。 賞賜昭儀及賢妻亦各千萬數。 遷賢父為少府，賜爵關內侯，食邑，復徙為衛尉。 又以賢妻父為將作大匠，弟為執金吾。 詔將作大匠為賢起大第北闕下，重殿洞門，木土之功窮極技巧，柱檻衣以綈錦。 下至賢家僮僕皆受上賜，及武庫禁兵，上方珍寶。 其選物上弟盡在董氏，而乘輿所服乃其副也。 及至東園秘器，珠襦玉柙，豫以賜賢，無不備具。 又令將作為賢起塚塋義陵旁，內為便房，剛柏題湊，外為徼道，周垣數里，門闕罘罳甚盛。
Dong Xian, styled Shengqing, was a native of Yunyang. His father Dong Gong served as imperial secretary and used his privilege to appoint Xian gentleman of the household to the crown prince. When Ai ascended, Xian moved from the heir's staff into the corps of gentlemen. Two years later, while keeping the water-clock below the hall, he caught Ai's eye—handsome, self-possessed. The emperor recognized him and called out, "Is this Gentleman Dong Xian?" He had him brought up for conversation, named him a yellow-gate gentleman, and favor began that day. Learning that his father held the Yunzhong marquisate, Ai summoned the elder Dong the same day to be magistrate of Baling, then promoted him to grand counsellor of the household. Dong Xian rose to commandant of the imperial son-in-law and palace attendant, rode escort when the emperor went abroad, and stayed at his elbow within; in weeks the gifts ran to millions and his power shook the court. He often shared the emperor's couch. Once Ai napped with him; Xian lay across his sleeve. Rather than wake him, Ai took a knife and cut the cloth free. That was the depth of their bond. Dong Xian was soft, pliant, and expert at ingratiating flattery. Even on bath-leave he stayed inside to "supervise" the imperial physic. To spare him trips home, Ai let Dong Xian's wife carry palace passes and live in his lodge inside, like an official's wife and children quartered in a ministry hostel. He took Dong Xian's sister as a lady of handsome deportment second only to the empress and renamed her hall Jiaofeng to echo the empress's Jiaofang. The sister, Dong Xian, and his wife moved in a pack, attending the emperor morning and night. The sister and the wife each received gifts in the tens of millions. Dong Gong was raised to chamberlain for the palace revenues, given a marquis-within-the-passes title with income, then shifted to defender of the capital. His father-in-law became director of works; his brother, chief of the capital guard. The director of works raised a mansion north of the palace gate—stacked halls, linked gateways, joinery and masonry pushed to the limit, pillars wrapped in brocade. Even Dong Xian's house servants received imperial largesse—arms from the state arsenal and curios from the palace workshops. First pick of every tribute shipment went to the Dongs; the throne made do with what was left. Even the eastern-garden burial suit—pearl shroud, jade coffin panels—was signed over to Dong Xian in advance, nothing missing. He had a mortuary park built beside Ai's own tomb mound—inner chambers, cypress outer coffin, patrol paths, miles of wall, and ornate gate towers.
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Ai wanted to make Dong Xian a full marquis but lacked an excuse. Then Sun Chong, Xi Fugong, and other awaiting-orders men denounced the king of Dongping's queen for shrine-cursing; the courts tried the case and extracted confessions. Ai rewrote the story: Xi and Sun had exposed the plot "through" Dong Xian. He credited that tale and enfeoffed Dong Xian as marquis of Gao'an, Xi as marquis of Yiling, and Sun as marquis of Fangyang, each for a thousand households. Soon another two thousand households were added to Dong Xian's appanage. Chancellor Wang Jia believed the Dongping case a frame job and loathed Xi Fugong's clique; he protested that Dong Xian was wrecking the polity—and died in prison for speaking out.
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上初即位，祖母傅太后、母丁太后皆在，兩家先貴。 傅太后從弟喜先為大司馬輔政，數諫，失太后指，免官。 上舅丁明代為大司馬，亦任職，頗害賢寵，及丞相王嘉死，明甚憐之。 上浸重賢，欲極其位，而恨明如此，遂冊免明曰：「前東平王雲貪慾上位，祠祭祝詛，雲後舅伍宏以醫待詔，與校秘書郎楊閎結謀反逆，禍甚迫切。 賴宗廟神靈，董賢等以聞，咸伏其辜。 將軍從弟侍中奉車都尉吳、族父左曹屯騎校尉宣皆知宏及栩丹諸侯王后親，而宣除用丹為御屬，吳與宏交通厚善，數稱薦宏。 宏以附吳得興其噁心，因醫技進，幾危社稷，朕以恭皇后故，不忍有雲。 將軍位尊任重，既不能明威立義，折消未萌，又不深疾雲、宏之惡，而懷非君上，阿為宣、吳，反痛恨雲等揚言為群下所冤，又親見言伍宏善醫，死可惜也，賢等獲封極幸。 嫉妒忠良，非毀有功，於戲傷哉！ 蓋『君親無將，將而誅之』。 是以季友鴆叔牙，《春秋》賢之； 趙盾不討賊，謂之弒君。 朕閔將軍陷於重刑，故以書飭。 將軍遂非不改，復與丞相嘉相比，令嘉有依，得以罔上。 有司致法將軍請獄治，朕惟噬膚之恩未忍，其上票騎將軍印綬，罷歸就第。」 遂以賢代明為大司馬衛將軍。 冊曰：「朕承天序，惟稽古建爾於公，以為漢輔。 往悉爾心，統辟元戎，折衝綏遠，匡正庶事，允執其中。 天下之眾，受制於朕，以將為命，以兵為威，可不慎與！」
When Ai first ascended, his grandmother, Grand Empress Dowager Fu, and his mother, Empress Dowager Ding, were still living, and both the Fu and Ding kindreds already held great power. Fu Xi, a cousin of the grand empress dowager on the Fu side, had served as regent grand marshal; after repeated remonstrance that crossed her wishes, he was cashiered. Ai's uncle Ding Ming succeeded him as grand marshal and checked Dong Xian's influence somewhat; when Wang Jia died, Ding Ming grieved openly. The emperor increasingly valued Dong Xian and wanted to raise him to the highest office, but he resented Ding Ming's attitude. He therefore dismissed Ming by written rescript: "Previously Yun, King of Dongping, coveted the throne and performed sacrifices with curse-prayers. Wu Hong, the maternal uncle of Yun's queen, was awaiting appointment as a physician and plotted rebellion with Yang Hong, Gentleman for Collating the Palace Library. The danger was extremely urgent. Thanks to the spirits of the ancestral temples, Dong Xian and the others reported it, and all confessed their guilt. Your cousin Ding Wu, Palace Attendant and Chief Commandant of the Convoy, and your senior clansman Ding Xuan, Left Aide and Colonel of Garrison Cavalry, both knew that Wu Hong and Xu Dan were linked by marriage to kings and queens. Yet Xuan appointed Dan to his staff, while Wu maintained close dealings with Hong and repeatedly praised and recommended him. By attaching himself to Wu, Hong was able to advance his evil designs, enter by means of medical skill, and nearly endanger the altars of state. Out of regard for the late Empress Gong, I could not bear to punish Yun at the time. You, General, hold an honored and weighty office, yet you neither displayed authority and established justice to extinguish the plot before it sprouted, nor deeply abhorred the crimes of Yun and Hong. Instead you harbored thoughts unworthy of your ruler, sided with Xuan and Wu, and even claimed aloud that Yun and the others had been wronged by subordinates. You also personally said that Wu Hong was a good physician and that his death was regrettable, while Dong Xian and the others had received enfeoffment only through extraordinary good fortune. To envy loyal ministers and tear down men of merit—how bitter a sight! The classic rule runs: "No one may raise a hand against his ruler or his father; if he does, he dies for it." So when Jiyou removed Shuya with poison, the 《Spring and Autumn》 praised him for it; when Zhao Dun let the killer go free, the same annals branded him a king-slayer. We grieve to see you, General, face the heaviest penalties, and send this written warning. You double down on your faults, stand shoulder to shoulder with Chancellor Wang Jia, and give him cover to mislead Us again. The law would send you to prison; remembering kinship once sealed in blood, We cannot—return the grand marshal's agile-cavalry seals, step down, and go home to your mansion." Dong Xian was named to replace Ding Ming as grand marshal and general of the guards. The appointment scroll read: "We who inherit the mandate of heaven, following the ancient model, raise you to high duke as bulwark of the Han. Pour your whole heart into it: lead the armies, break foreign threats and soothe the borderlands, straighten every branch of government, and keep to the golden mean. All the realm hangs on Our word; they take their cue from you and their terror from the sword—tread with care!"
35
Dong Xian was twenty-two, nominally one of the three dukes but in practice always "palace attendant within," running the secretariat so that every ministry reported through him. His father Dong Gong was judged unfit for a nine-minister post and shifted to grand counsellor of the household at the top two-thousand-picul rate. His brother Dong Kuanxin took over as commandant of the imperial son-in-law. Every Dong relative held a palace or bureau seat with "awaiting audience" privilege; their clout eclipsed even the Ding and Fu families.
36
The following year the Chanyu came to court for a banquet audience, with the assembled ministers present. The Chanyu stared at the boyish grand marshal; through the interpreter the emperor explained, "He is young because true worth, not years, fills the office." The Chanyu rose and bowed, congratulating the Han on its "worthy pillar."
37
Long before, when Kong Guang was imperial counsellor, Dong Gong had been his subordinate secretary. Once Dong Xian joined him as a fellow "duke," Emperor Ai told Dong to call on Kong Guang informally. Kong Guang, ever correct, knew the sovereign wished to exalt Dong Xian: he waited at his gate in full dress, then slipped back inside the moment Dong Xian's carriage appeared. Dong Xian stopped at the inner gate while Kong hid in a side room, emerging only after Dong had stepped down—then he bowed low at every coming and going, never treating him as an equal. When Ai heard how Kong Guang had debased himself, he was delighted and on the spot promoted two of Kong's nephews to remonstrant and regular attendant. After that, Dong Xian's authority matched the throne's own.
38
是時，成帝外家王氏衰廢，唯平阿侯譚子去疾，哀帝為太子時為庶子得幸，及即位，為侍中、騎都尉。 上以王氏亡在位者，遂用舊恩親近去疾，復進其弟閎為中常侍，閎妻父蕭咸，前將軍望之子也，久為郡守，病免，為中郎將。 兄弟並列，賢父恭慕之，欲與結婚姻。 閎為賢弟駙馬都尉寬信求咸女為婦，咸惶恐不敢當，私謂閎曰：「董公為大司馬，冊文言『允執其中』，此乃堯禪舜之文，非三公故事，長老見者，莫不心懼。 此豈家人子所能堪邪！」 閎性有知略，聞咸言，心亦悟，乃還報恭，深達咸自謙薄之意。 恭歎曰：「我家何用負天下，而為人所畏如是！」 意不說。 後上置酒麒麟殿，賢父子親屬宴飲，王閎兄弟侍中、中常侍皆在側。 上有酒所，從容視賢笑，曰「吾欲法堯禪舜，何如？」 閎進曰：「天下乃高皇帝天下，非陛下之有也。 陛下承宗廟，當傳子孫於亡窮。 統業至重，天子亡戲言！」 上默然不說，左右皆恐。 於是遣閎出，後不得復侍宴。
The Wangs who had dominated under Chengdi were spent; only Wang Quji, son of Marquis Tan of Ping'a, who had won favor as a shuzi cadet while Ai was heir apparent, rose with him to palace attendant and commandant of cavalry. Seeing no Wang in power, Ai favored Quji out of old affection and promoted his brother Wang Hong to regular palace attendant; Hong's father-in-law Xiao Xian—Xiao Wangzhi's son—had been a long-serving governor, left office for illness, and now served as general of the household. With both brothers prominent, Dong Gong courted an alliance by marriage. Wang Hong asked Xiao Xian for his daughter as wife for Dong Kuanxin; Xiao Xian panicked and whispered back, "The grand marshal's patent cited 'hold the mean'—words from the Yao-Shun abdication, not a normal appointment for one of the three excellencies. Elders who read it were inwardly afraid. How could a household like ours survive that kind of tie?" Wang Hong took the point, went back to Dong Gong, and relayed Xiao Xian's polite refusal in full. Dong Gong sighed, "What crime have we committed against the empire to be dreaded so?" He went away sour. Later Ai held a banquet in the Qilin Hall for the Dong clan; Wang Hong and his brothers, on duty as attendants, flanked the party. When he had drunk, Ai turned to Dong Xian and smiled. "I wish to follow Yao and yield the throne to Shun—what do you think?" Wang Hong stepped in: "The empire belongs to Gaozu's line, not to Your Majesty alone to give away. You hold the ancestral shrines in trust for endless generations of heirs. The succession is too grave for imperial jokes!" Ai fell silent, clearly offended; everyone at the table froze. He sent Wang Hong away and never again let him join the drinking parties.
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賢第新成，功堅，其外大門無故自壞，賢心惡之。 後數月，哀帝崩。 太皇太后召大司馬賢，引見東廂，問以喪事調度。 賢內憂，不能對，免冠謝。 太后曰：「新都侯莽前以大司馬奉送先帝大行，曉習故事，吾令莽佐君。」 賢頓首幸甚。 太后遣使者召莽。 既至，以太后指使尚書劾賢帝病不親醫藥，禁止賢不得入出宮殿司馬中。 賢不知所為，詣闕免冠徒跣謝。 莽使謁者以太后詔即闕下冊賢曰：「間者以來，陰陽不調，災害並臻，元元蒙辜。 夫三公，鼎足之輔也，高安侯賢未更事理，為大司馬不合眾心，非所以折衝綏遠也。 其收大司馬印綬，罷歸第。」 即日賢與妻皆自殺，家惶恐夜葬。 莽疑其詐死，有司奏請發賢棺，至獄診視。 莽復風大司徒光奏：「賢質性巧佞，翼奸以獲封侯，父子專朝，兄弟並寵，多受賞賜，治第宅，造塚壙，放效無極，不異王制，費以萬萬計，國家為空虛。 父子驕蹇，至不為使者禮，受賜不拜，罪惡暴著。 賢自殺伏辜，死後父恭等不悔過，乃復以沙畫棺四時之色，左蒼龍，右白虎，上著金銀日月，玉衣珠璧以棺，至尊無以加。 恭等幸得免於誅，不宜在中土。 臣請收沒入財物縣官。 諸以賢為官者皆免。」 父恭、弟寬信與家屬徙合浦，母別歸故郡巨鹿。 長安中小民言雚嘩，鄉其第哭，幾獲盜之。 縣官斥賣董氏財凡四十三萬萬。 賢既見發，裸診其屍，因埋獄中。
Dong Xian's new mansion had just been finished when the main gate buckled without cause—a sign he hated to see. A few months later Emperor Ai was dead. The grand empress dowager called Dong Xian to the eastern gallery to quiz him on the funeral schedule. Dong Xian, terrified and empty-headed, could only doff his cap and apologize. She said, "Wang Mang of Xindu once ran the late emperor's obsequies as grand marshal; he knows the rites. Let him help you." Dong Xian kowtowed in relief. She sent for Wang Mang at once. When Wang Mang arrived, at the empress dowager’s instruction he had the Masters of Writing impeach Dong Xian for failing to oversee the emperor’s medicines personally during his illness, and forbade Xian to enter or leave the palace compound. Dong Xian stumbled to the gate, capless and shoeless, to beg forgiveness. Wang Mang had an usher intone a rescript at the foot of the wall: "Heaven and earth are out of joint; calamities pile up and the people bear the cost. The three dukes should steady the state; Marquis of Gao'an Dong Xian is green at government, sits as grand marshal against every expectation, and cannot keep the realm secure. He shall return the grand marshal's seals and retire to his house." That evening Dong Xian and his wife killed themselves; kin buried them hastily in the dark. Wang Mang suspected a ruse and had officials demand that the coffin be opened and the body examined in jail. Wang Mang also prompted Kong Guang, Grand Minister over the Masses, to memorialize: "Dong Xian was by nature crafty and fawning. He assisted treachery and thereby won a marquisate; father and son monopolized the court, and brothers shared favor side by side. They received lavish gifts, built mansions and tomb chambers, and imitated royal scale without limit, no differently from the institutions of kings. Their expenses ran into the hundreds of millions and emptied the state. Father and son were arrogant and overbearing, to the point that they showed no courtesy to imperial envoys and received gifts without bowing; their crimes were plain. Dong Xian killed himself and submitted to guilt, yet after his death his father Gong and the others showed no repentance. They painted the coffin with the colors of the four seasons, set the azure dragon on the left and the white tiger on the right, placed gold and silver sun and moon above, and put jade garments, pearls, and disks inside the coffin. Even the highest sovereign could add nothing more. Dong Gong should not be left in the heartland after such mercy. We ask that their wealth be forfeited to the treasury. Everyone who had risen through Dong Xian must be stripped of rank." Dong Gong and Dong Kuanxin went to Hepu with the clan; the mother was sent home to Julu. Chang'an commoners clamored in uproar, flocked to his mansion to weep, and the tumult nearly turned to looting. The state auctioned the Dong estates for some forty-three hundred million cash. When the coffin was forced open, the body was stripped for inspection and dumped in the prison yard.
40
Zhu Xu of Pei, an officer Dong Xian had favored, resigned from the grand marshal's staff, bought a coffin and shroud, collected Dong Xian's corpse, and buried him. Wang Mang, enraged, found another pretext and had Zhu Xu beaten to death. Zhu Xu’s son Zhu Fu became eminent during the Jianwu era, reaching Grand Marshal and Minister of Works and receiving a marquisate. Wang Hong became a provincial governor under Mang and left a good record; he quit when Mang fell. Emperor Guangwu decreed: "King Wu of Zhou honored Shang Rong's lane after conquering Shang; Wang Hong lived prudently and well, so that when rebellion broke out no mob tried to kill him for sport. Let his son be given an official post." He rose to magistrate with the black ribbon and died in harness. Zhu Fu was Xiao Xian's grandson on the distaff side.
41
The summation reads: the spell of soft beauty is not only a woman's weapon; men too have turned rulers' heads with it. From Ji Ru and Hong Ru through Deng Tong and Han Yan, none matched Dong Xian: father and son both sat among the highest ministers, a peak of favor without parallel. Yet they rose without moral right, outran their abilities, and none ended well—proof that doting favor can destroy what it cherishes. Han strength ebbed under Emperors Yuan and Cheng and shattered under Ai and Ping. Between those two reigns the dynasty was riven with fault lines. The emperor ailing and heirless, kept his balance on favorites; the "three legs" of state wobbled and the roof-tree swayed. When Ai died in a night, treacherous ministers arrogated the mandate; Dong Xian died on a rope, the Ding and Fu clans were swept into exile, and even the dowager paid for misrule—the price of filling office from the pillow instead of from virtue. Confucius therefore warned of "three friendships that injure you," and the sage-kings never handed out rank for love alone—this is what he meant.