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後漢書卷七十三劉虞公孫瓚陶謙列傳第六十三劉虞劉虞字伯安,東海郯人也。 [一]祖父嘉,光祿勳。 虞初舉孝廉,稍遷幽州刺史,民夷感其德化,自鮮卑、烏桓、夫余、穢貊之輩,皆隨時朝貢,無敢擾邊者,百姓歌悅之。 公事去官。 中平初,黃巾作亂,攻破冀州諸郡,拜虞甘陵相,綏撫荒余,以蔬儉率下。 遷宗正。 注[一]謝承書曰:「虞父舒,丹陽太守。 虞通五經,東海*(王)*恭*[王]*之後。」 後車騎將軍張溫討賊邊章等,發幽州烏桓三千突騎,而牢稟逋懸,皆畔還本國。 [一]前中山相張純私謂前太山太守張舉曰:「今烏桓既畔,皆願為亂,涼州賊起,朝廷不能禁。 又洛陽人妻生子兩頭,此漢祚衰盡,天下有兩主之征也。 子若與吾共率烏桓之觿以起兵,庶幾可定大業。」 舉因然之。 四年,純等遂與烏桓大人共連盟,攻薊下,燔燒城郭,虜略百姓,殺護烏桓校尉箕稠、右北平太守劉政、遼東太守陽終等,觿至十余萬,屯肥如。 [二]舉稱「天子」,純稱「彌天將軍安定王」,移書州郡,雲舉當代漢,告天子避位,勑公卿奉迎。 純又使烏桓峭王等[三]步騎五萬,入青冀二州,攻破清河、平原,殺害吏民。 朝廷以虞威信素著,恩積北方,明年,復拜幽州牧。 虞到薊,罷省屯兵,務廣恩信。 遣使告峭王等以朝恩寬弘,開許善路。 又設賞購舉、純。 舉、純走出塞,余皆降散。 純為其客王政所殺,送首詣虞。 靈帝遣使者就拜太尉,封容丘侯。 [四]注[一]前書音義曰:「牢,賈直也。」 稟,食也。 言軍糧不續也。 注[二]肥如,縣,屬遼西郡,故城在今平州。 注[三]峭音七笑反。 注[四]容丘,縣,屬東海郡。 及董卓秉政,遣使者授虞大司馬,進封襄賁侯。 初平元年,復征代袁隗為太傅。 道路隔塞,王命竟不得達。 舊幽部應接荒外,資費甚廣,歲常割青、冀賦調二億有余,以給足之。 時處處斷絕,委輸不至,而虞務存寬政,勸督農植,開上谷胡巿之利,通漁陽鹽鐵之饒,民悅年登,谷石三十。 青、徐士庶避黃巾之難歸虞者百餘萬口,皆收視溫恤,為安立生業,流民皆忘其遷徙。 虞雖為上公,天性節約,敝衣繩履,食無兼肉,遠近豪俊夙僭奢者,莫不改操而歸心焉。 [一]注[一]夙猶舊也。 初,詔令公孫瓚討烏桓,受虞節度。 瓚但務會徒觿以自強大,而縱任部曲,頗侵擾百姓,而虞為政仁愛,念利民物,由是與瓚漸不相平。 二年,冀州刺史韓馥、勃海太守袁紹及山東諸將議,以朝廷幼沖,逼於董卓,[一]遠隔關塞,不知存否,以虞宗室長者,欲立為主。 乃遣故樂浪太守張岐等繼議,上虞尊號。 虞見岐等,厲色叱之曰:「今天下崩亂,主上蒙塵。 [二]吾被重恩,未能清雪國恥。 諸君各據州郡,宜共曒力,[三]盡心王室,而反造逆謀,以相垢誤邪!」 固拒之。 馥等又請虞領尚書事,承製封拜,復不聽。 遂收斬使人。 於是選掾右北平田疇、從事鮮于銀[四]蒙險閒行,奉使長安。 獻帝既思東歸,見疇等大悅。 時虞子和為侍中,因此遣和潛從武關出,告虞將兵來迎。 道由南陽,後將軍袁術聞其狀,遂質和,使報虞遣兵俱西。 虞乃使數千騎就和奉迎天子,而術竟不遣之。 注[一]時獻帝年十歲。 注[二]左傳曰,周襄王出奔於鄭,魯臧文仲曰:「天子蒙塵於外。」 注[三]說文曰:「曒力,並力也。」 左傳曰:「曒力同心。」 音力凋反,又音六。 注[四]魏志曰:「疇字子泰,右北平無終人。 好讀書,善擊劍。 劉虞署為從事。 太祖北征烏桓,令疇將觿*(止)**[上]*徐無,出盧龍,歷平剛,登白狼堆。 去柳城二百餘里,虜乃驚,太祖與戰,大斬獲,論功封疇。 疇上疏自陳,太祖令夏侯惇喻之。 疇曰:『豈可賣盧龍塞以易賞祿哉?』」 初,公孫瓚知術詐,固止虞遣兵,虞不從,瓚乃陰勸術執和,使奪其兵,自是與瓚仇怨益深。 和尋得逃術還北,復為袁紹所留。 瓚既累為紹所敗,而猶攻之不已,虞患其黷武,[一]且慮得志不可複製,固不許行,而稍節其稟假。 瓚怒,屢違節度,又復侵犯百姓。 虞所賚賞典當胡夷,[二]瓚數抄奪之。 積不能禁,乃遣驛使奉章陳其暴掠之罪,瓚亦上虞稟糧不周,二奏交馳,互相非毀,朝廷依違而已。 瓚乃築京於薊城以備虞。 [三]虞數請瓚,輒稱病不應。 虞乃密謀討之,以告東曹掾右北平魏攸。 攸曰:「今天下引領,以公為歸,謀臣爪牙,不可無也。 瓚文武才力足恃,雖有小惡,固宜容忍。」 虞乃止。 注[一]黷猶慢也,數也。 尚書曰「黷於祭祀」也。 注[二]當音丁浪反。 注[三]京,高丘也,言高築丘壘以備虞焉。 解見獻帝紀。 頃之攸卒,而積忿不已。 四年冬,遂自率諸屯兵觿合十萬人以攻瓚。 將行,從事代郡程緒免冑而前曰:「公孫瓚雖有過惡,而罪名未正。 明公不先告曉使得改行,而兵起蕭牆,非國之利。 加勝敗難保,不如駐兵,以武臨之,瓚必悔禍謝罪,所謂不戰而服人者也。」 虞以緒臨事沮議,遂斬之以徇。 戒軍士曰:「無傷餘人,殺一伯珪而已。」 時州從事公孫紀者,瓚以同姓厚待遇之。 紀知虞謀而夜告瓚。 瓚時部曲放散在外,倉卒自懼不免,乃掘東城欲走。 虞兵不習戰,又愛人廬舍,勅不聽焚燒,急攻圍不下。 瓚乃簡募銳士數百人,因風縱火,直衝突之。 虞遂大敗,與官屬北奔居庸縣。 [一]瓚追攻之,三日城陷,遂執虞並妻子還薊,猶使領州文書。 會天子遣使者段訓增虞封邑,督六州事; 拜瓚前將軍,封易侯,假節督幽、并、*(司)**[青]*、冀。 瓚乃誣虞前與袁紹等欲稱尊號,脅訓斬虞於薊市。 先坐而咒曰:「若虞應為天子者,天當風雨以相救。」 時旱埶炎盛,遂斬焉。 傳首京師,故吏尾敦於路劫虞首歸葬之。 [二]瓚乃上訓為幽州刺史。 虞以恩厚得觿,懷被北州,百姓流舊,莫不痛惜焉。 注[一]居庸縣屬上谷郡,有關。 注[二]尾敦,姓名。 初,虞以儉素為操,冠敝不改,乃就補其穿。 及遇害,瓚兵搜其內,而妻妾服羅紈,盛綺飾,時人以此疑之。 和後從袁紹報瓚雲。 公孫瓚公孫瓚字伯珪,遼西令支人也。 [一]家世二千石。 瓚以母賤,遂為郡小吏。 為人美姿貌,大音聲,言事辯慧。 [二]太守奇其才,以女妻之。 [三]後從涿郡盧植學於緱氏山中,略見書傳。 舉上計吏。 太守劉君坐事檻車征,官法不聽吏下親近,瓚乃改容服,詐稱侍卒,身執徒養,御車到洛陽。 太守當徙日南,瓚具豚酒於北芒上,祭辭先人,酹觴祝曰:「昔為人子,今為人臣,當詣日南。 日南多瘴氣,恐或不還,便當長辭墳塋。」 慷慨悲泣,再拜而去,觀者莫不歎息。 既行,於道得赦。 注[一]令音力定反。 支音巨移反。 注[二]典略曰:「瓚性辯慧,每白事,常兼數曹,無有忘誤。」 注[三]魏志曰:「侯太守妻之以女。」 瓚還郡,舉孝廉,除遼東屬國長史。 嘗從數十騎出行塞下,卒逢鮮卑數百騎。 瓚乃退入空亭,約其從者曰:「今不奔之,則死盡矣。」 乃自持兩刃矛,馳出沖賊,殺傷數十人,瓚左右亦亡其半,遂得免。 中平中,以瓚督烏桓突騎,車騎將軍張溫討涼州賊。 [一]會烏桓反畔,與賊張純等攻擊薊中,瓚率所領追討純等有功,遷騎都尉。 張純復與畔胡丘力居等寇漁陽、河閒、勃海,入平原,多所殺略。 瓚追擊戰於屬國石門,[二]虜遂大敗,棄妻子踰塞走,悉得其所略男女。 瓚深入無繼,反為丘力居等所圍於遼西管子城,二百餘日,糧盡食馬,馬盡煑弩楯,力戰不敵,乃與士卒辭訣,各分散還。 時多雨雪,隊坑死者十五六,虜亦饑困,遠走柳城。 詔拜瓚降虜校尉,封都亭侯,復兼領屬國長史。 職統戎馬,連接邊寇。 每聞有警,瓚輒厲色憤怒,如赴讎敵,望塵奔逐,或繼之以夜戰。 虜識瓚聲,憚其勇,莫敢抗犯。 注[一]賊即邊章等。 注[二]石門,山名,在今營州柳城縣西南。 瓚常與善射之士數十人,皆乘白馬,以為左右翼,自號「白馬義從」。 烏桓更相告語,避白馬長史。 乃畫作瓚形,馳騎射之,中者咸稱萬歲。 虜自此之後,遂遠竄塞外。 瓚志埽滅烏桓,而劉虞欲以恩信招降,由是與虞相忤。 初平二年,青、徐黃巾三十萬觿入勃海界,欲與黑山合。 瓚率步騎二萬人,逆擊於東光南,大破之,[一]斬首三萬餘級。 賊棄其車重數萬兩,奔走度河。 瓚因其半濟薄之,賊復大破,死者數萬,流血丹水,收得生口七萬餘人,車甲財物不可勝筭,威名大震。 拜奮武將軍,封薊侯。 注[一]東光,今滄州縣。 瓚既諫劉虞遣兵就袁術,而懼術知怨之,乃使從弟越將千餘騎詣術自結。 術遣越隨其將孫堅,擊袁紹將周昕,越為流矢所中死。 瓚因此怒紹,遂出軍屯盤河,將以報紹。 [一]乃上疏曰:「臣聞皇羲已來,君臣道著,張禮以導人,設刑以禁暴。 今車騎將軍袁紹,托承先軌,爵任崇厚,而性本淫亂,情行浮薄。 昔為司隸,值國多難,太后承攝,何氏輔朝。 [二]紹不能舉直措枉,而專為邪媚,招來不軌,疑誤社稷,至令丁原焚燒孟津,[三]董卓造為亂始。 紹罪一也。 卓既無禮,帝主見質。 紹不能開設權謀,以濟君父,而棄置節傳,[四]迸竄逃亡。 忝辱爵命,背違人主,紹罪二也。 紹為勃海,當攻董卓,而默選戎馬,不告父兄,至使太傅一門,累然同斃。 不仁不孝,紹罪三也。 [五]紹既興兵,涉歷二載,不恤國難,廣自封植。 乃多引資糧,專為不急,割刻無方,考責百姓,其為痛怨,莫不咨嗟。 紹罪四也。 逼迫韓馥,竊奪其州,矯刻金玉,以為印璽,每有所下,輒皁囊施檢,文稱詔書。 [六]昔亡新僭侈,漸以即真。 [七]觀紹所擬,將必階亂。 [八]紹罪五也。 紹令星工伺望祥妖,[九]賂遺財貨,與共飲食,克會期日,攻鈔郡縣。 此豈大臣所當施為? 紹罪六也。 紹與故虎牙都尉劉勳,首共造兵,勳降服張楊,累有功効,而以小忿枉加酷害。 信用讒慝,濟其無道,紹罪七也。 故上谷太守高焉,故甘陵相姚貢,紹以貪惏,[一0]橫責其錢,錢不備畢,二人並命。 紹罪八也。 春秋之義,子以母貴。 [一一]紹母親為傅婢,地實微賤,據職高重,享福豐隆。 有苟進之志,無虛退之心,紹罪九也。 又長沙太守孫堅,前領豫州刺史,遂能驅走董卓,埽除陵廟,忠勤王室,其功莫大。 紹遣小將盜居其位,斷絕堅糧,不得深入,使董卓久不服誅。 紹罪十也。 昔姬周政弱,王道陵遲,天子遷徙,諸侯背畔,故齊桓立柯*(會)**[亭]*之盟,[一二]晉文為踐土之會,[一三]伐荊楚以致菁茅,[一四]誅曹、衞以章無禮。 [一五]臣雖闒茸,名非先賢,[一六]蒙被朝恩,負荷重任,職在鈇鉞,奉辭伐罪,[一七]輒與諸將州郡共討紹等。 若大事克捷,罪人斯得,[一八]庶續桓文忠誠之效。」 遂舉兵攻紹,於是冀州諸城悉畔從瓚。 注[一]般即爾雅九河鉤盤之河也。 其枯河在今滄州樂陵縣東南。 注[二]謂何進也。 注[三]續漢書曰:「何進欲誅中常侍趙忠等,進乃詐令武猛都尉丁原放兵數千人,為賊於河內,稱『黑山伯』,上事以誅忠等為辭,燒平陰、河津莫府人舍,以怖動太后。」 注[四]傳音丁戀反。 注[五]左傳曰:「兩釋累囚。」 杜預曰:「累,系也。」 前書音義曰:「諸不以罪死曰累。」 斃,踣也。 董卓恨紹起兵山東,乃誅紹叔父太傅隗,及宗族在京師者,盡誅滅之。 注[六]漢官儀曰:「凡章表皆啟封,其言密事得皁囊。」 說文曰:「檢,書署也。」 今俗謂之排,其字從「木」。 注[七]亡新,王莽。 注[八]階,梯也。 詩曰:「職為亂階。」 注[九]星工,善星者。 注[一0]惏音力含反。 注[一一]公羊傳曰「桓公幼而貴,隱公長而卑,子以母貴,母以子貴」也。 注[一二]春秋:「公會齊侯盟於柯。」 公羊傳曰:「齊桓公之信著於天下,自柯之盟始也。」 注[一三]踐土,鄭地也。 左傳,周襄王出居於鄭,晉文公重耳為踐土之會,率諸侯朝天子,以成霸功。 注[一四]菁茅,靈茅,以供祭祀也。 左傳曰僖四年,齊桓伐楚,責之曰:「爾貢苞茅不入,王祭不供,無以縮酒,寡人是征。」 注[一五]左傳僖二十八年,晉侯伐曹,假道於衞,衞人不許,還自河南濟,侵曹伐衞,責其無禮也。 注[一六]闒猶下也。 茸,細也。 闒音吐盍反。 昔音人勇反。 注[一七]鈇音方於反。 莝,刃也。 鉞,斧也。 注[一八]尚書:「周公東征,三年,罪人斯得。」 紹懼,乃以所佩勃海太守印綬授瓚從弟范,遣之郡,欲以相結。 而范遂背紹,領勃海兵以助瓚。 瓚乃自署其將帥為青、冀、兗三州刺史,又悉置郡縣守令,與紹大戰於界橋。 [一]瓚軍敗還薊。 紹遣將崔巨業將兵數萬攻圍故安不下,退軍南還。 瓚將步騎三萬人追擊於巨馬水,[二]大破其觿,死者七八千*[人]*。 乘勝而南,攻下郡縣,遂至平原,乃遣其青州刺史田揩據有齊地。 紹復遣兵數萬與揩連戰二年,糧食並盡,士卒疲睏,互掠百姓,野無青草。 [三]紹乃遣子譚為青州刺史,揩與戰,敗退還。 注[一]橋名。 解見獻帝紀。 注[二]水在幽州歸義縣界,自易州遒縣界流入。 注[三]左傳齊侯伐魯,語展喜曰:「室如懸罄,野無青草,何恃而不恐?」 是歲,瓚破禽劉虞,盡有幽州之地,猛志益盛。 前此有童謠曰:「燕南垂,趙北際,中央不合大如礪,唯有此中可避世。」 瓚自以為易地當之,遂徙鎮焉。 [一]乃盛修營壘,樓觀數十,臨易河,通遼海。 注[一]前書易縣屬涿郡,續漢志曰屬河閒。 瓚所居易京故城在今幽州歸義縣南十八裡。 劉虞從事漁陽鮮于輔等,合率州兵,欲共報瓚。 輔以燕國閻柔素有恩信,推為烏桓司馬。 柔招誘胡漢數萬人,與瓚所置漁陽太守鄒丹戰於潞北,斬丹等四千餘級。 烏桓峭王感虞恩德,率種人及鮮卑七千餘騎,共輔南迎虞子和,與袁紹將曲義合兵十萬,共攻瓚。 興平二年,破瓚於鮑丘,[一]斬首二萬餘級。 瓚遂保易京,開置屯田,稍得自支。 相持歲餘,曲義軍糧盡,士卒饑困,余觿數千人退走。 瓚徼破之,盡得其車重。 注[一]鮑丘,水名也,又名路水,在今幽州漁陽縣。 是時旱蝗谷貴,民相食。 瓚恃其才力,不恤百姓,記過忘善,睚眥必報,州裡善士名在其右者,必以法害之。 常言「衣冠皆自以職分富貴,不謝人惠」。 故所寵愛,類多商販庸兒。 所在侵暴,百姓怨之。 於是代郡、廣陽、上谷、右北平各殺瓚所置長吏,復與輔、和兵合。 瓚慮有非常,乃居於高京,以鐵為門。 斥去左右,男人七歲以上不得入易門。 專侍姬妾,其文簿書記皆汲而上之。 令婦人習為大言聲,使聞數百步,以傳宣教令。 疏遠賓客,無所親信,故謀臣猛將,稍有乖散。 自此之後,希復攻戰。 或問其故。 瓚曰:「我昔驅畔胡於塞表,埽黃巾於孟津,當此之時,謂天下指麾可定。 [一]至於今日,兵革方始,觀此非我所決,不如休兵力耕,以救凶年。 兵法百樓不攻。 今吾諸營樓樐千里,[二]積穀三百萬斛,食此足以待天下之變。」 注[一]九州春秋曰:「瓚曰:『始天下兵起,我謂唾掌而決。』」 注[二]「樐」即「櫓」字,見說文。 釋名曰:「櫓,露也。 上無覆屋。」 建安三年,袁紹復大攻瓚。 瓚遣子續請救於黑山諸帥,而欲自將突騎直出,傍西山以斷紹後。 長史關靖諫曰:「今將軍將士,莫不懷瓦解之心,所以猶能相守者,顧戀其老小,而恃將軍為主故耳。 堅守曠日,或可使紹自退。 若捨之而出,後無鎮重,易京之危,可立待也。」 瓚乃止。 紹漸相攻逼,瓚觿日蹙,乃卻,築三重營以自固。 四年春,黑山賊帥張燕與續率兵十萬,三道來救瓚。 未及至,瓚乃密使行人繼書告續曰:「昔週末喪亂,殭屍蔽地,以意而推,猶為否也。 不圖今日親當其鋒。 袁氏之攻,狀若鬼神,梯沖舞吾樓上,鼓角鳴於地中,日窮月急,不遑啟處。 鳥戹歸人,滀水陵高,[一]汝當碎首於張燕,馳驟以告急。 父子天性,不言而動。 [二]且厲五千鐵騎於北隰之中,[三]起火為應,吾當自內出,奮揚威武,決命於斯。 不然,吾亡之後,天下雖廣,不容汝足矣。」 紹候得其書,[四]如期舉火,瓚以為救至,遂便出戰。 紹設伏,瓚遂大敗,復還保中小城。 自計必無全,乃悉縊其姊妹妻子,然後引火自焚。 紹兵趣登台斬之。 注[一]滀音丑六反,喻急也。 注[二]言相感也。 注[三]下濕曰隰。 注[四]獻帝春秋「候者得書,紹使陳琳易其詞」,即此書。 關靖見瓚敗,歎恨曰:「前若不止將軍自行,未必不濟。 吾聞君子陷人於危,必同其難,豈可以獨生乎!」 乃策馬赴紹軍而死。 續為屠各所殺。 [一]田揩與袁紹戰死。 注[一]屠各,胡號。 鮮于輔將其觿歸曹操,操以輔為度遼將軍,封都亭侯。 閻柔將部曲曹操擊烏桓,拜護烏桓校尉,封關內侯。 張燕既為紹所敗,人觿稍散。 曹操將定冀州,乃率觿詣鄴降,拜平北將軍,封安國亭侯。 論曰:自帝室王公之冑,皆生長脂腴,不知稼穡,其能厲行飭身,卓然不腢者,或未聞焉。 [一]劉虞守道慕名,以忠厚自牧。 [二]美哉乎,季漢之名宗子也! 若虞瓚無閒,同情共力,糾人完聚,稸保燕、薊之饒,[三]繕兵昭武,[四]以臨腢雄之隙,捨諸天運,征乎人文,則古之休烈,何遠之有! [五]注[一]前書班固曰:「夫唯大雅,卓爾不腢者,河閒獻王之謂與?」 故論引焉。 注[二]牧,養也。 易曰:「卑以自牧。」 注[三]糾,收也。 注[四]繕,修也。 左傳曰:「繕甲兵。」 注[五]天運猶天命也。 人文猶人事也。 易曰「觀乎人文,以化成天下」。 陶謙陶謙字恭祖,丹陽人也。 [一]少為諸生,仕州郡,[二]四遷為車騎將軍張溫司馬,西討邊章。 會徐州黃巾起,以謙為徐州刺史,擊黃巾,大破走之,境內晏然。 注[一]丹陽郡丹陽縣人也。 吳書曰:「陶謙父,故余姚長。 謙少孤,始以不羈聞於縣中。 年十四,猶綴帛為幡,乘竹馬而戲,邑中兒童皆隨之。 故倉梧太守同縣甘公出遇之,見其容貌,異而呼之,與語甚悅,許妻以女。 甘夫人怒曰:『陶家兒遨戲無度,於何以女許之?』 甘公曰:『彼有奇表,長必大成。』 遂與之。」 注[二]吳書曰:「陶謙察孝廉,拜尚書郎,除舒令。 郡太守張盤,同郡先輩,與謙父友,謙恥為之屈。 嘗*[以]*舞屬謙,謙不為起,固強之乃舞,舞又不轉。 盤曰:『不當轉邪?』 曰:『不可轉,轉則勝人。』」 時董卓雖誅,而李傕、郭汜作亂關中。 是時四方斷絕,謙每遣使閒行,奉貢西京。 詔遷為徐州牧,加安東將軍,封溧陽侯。 [一]是時徐方百姓殷盛,谷實甚豐,流民多歸之。 而謙信用非所,刑政不理。 別駕從事趙昱,知名士也,而以忠直見踈,出為廣陵太守。 [二]曹宏等讒慝小人,謙甚親任之,良善多被其害。 由斯漸亂。 下邳*(閻)**[闕]*宣自稱「天子」,謙始與合從,後遂殺之而並其觿。 注[一]溧陽今宣州縣也。 溧音栗。 注[二]謝承書曰:「謙奏昱茂才,遷為太守。」 初,曹操父嵩避難琅邪,時謙別將守陰平,[一]士卒利嵩財寶,遂襲殺之。 初平四年,曹操擊謙,破彭城傅陽。 [二]謙退保郯,操攻之不能克,乃還。 過拔取慮、雎陵、夏丘,皆屠之。 [三]凡殺男女數十萬人,雞犬無餘,泗水為之不流,自是五縣城保,無復行多。 初三輔遭李傕亂,百姓流移依謙者皆殲。 [四]注[一]縣名,屬東海國,故城在今沂州承縣西南。 注[二]縣名,屬彭城國,本春秋時偪陽也。 楚宣王滅宋,改曰傅陽,故城在今沂州承縣南。 注[三]取慮音秋閭,縣名,屬下邳郡,故城在今泗州下邳縣西南。 雎陵,縣,在下邳縣東南。 夏丘,縣,屬沛郡,故城今泗州虹縣是。 注[四]殲、盡也。 左傳曰:「門官殲焉。」 興平元年,曹操復擊謙,略定琅邪、東海諸縣,謙懼不免,欲走歸丹陽。 會張邈迎呂布據兗州,操還擊布。 是歲,謙病死。 初,同郡人笮融,[一]聚觿數百,往依于謙,謙使督廣陵、下邳、彭城運糧。 遂斷三郡委輪,大起浮屠寺。 [二]上累金盤,下為重樓,又堂閣周回,可容三千許人,作黃金塗像,衣以錦彩。 每浴佛,輒多設飲飯,布席於路,其有就食及觀者且萬餘人。 [三]及曹操擊謙,徐方不安,融乃將男女萬口、馬三千匹走廣陵。 廣陵太守趙昱待以賓禮。 融利廣陵資貨,遂乘酒酣殺昱,放兵大掠,因以過江,南奔豫章,殺郡守朱皓,入據其城。 後為楊州刺史劉繇所破,走入山中,為人所殺。 注[一]笮音側格反。 注[二]浮屠,佛也。 解見西羌傳。 注[三]獻帝春秋曰:「融敷席方四五里,費以巨萬。」 昱字符達,琅邪人。 清己疾惡,潛志好學,雖親友希得見之。 為人耳不邪聽,目不妄視。 太僕種拂舉為方正。 贊曰:襄賁勵德,維城燕北。 [一]仁能洽下,忠以衛國。 伯珪疏獷,武才趫猛。 [二]虞好無終,紹埶難並。 徐方殲耗,實謙為梗。 注[一]勵,勉也。 注[二]趫音去驕反。
This is Volume 73 of the Book of Later Han, the sixty-third set of collective biographies: Liu Yu, Gongsun Zan, and Tao Qian. Liu Yu, style Bo'an, came from Tan in Donghai commandery. His grandfather Liu Jia had served as Director of the Imperial Clan. Liu Yu first entered office as a Filial and Incorrupt nominee, then rose step by step to Inspector of You. Both Chinese subjects and frontier peoples felt the pull of his moral example: Xianbei, Wuhuan, Puyŏ, Yilou, and others sent tribute at the proper seasons and none dared raid the frontier. The populace celebrated him in song. He later stepped down from his post over an official matter. Early in the Zhongping reign (184–189), the Yellow Turbans revolted and overran the commanderies of Ji. The court named Liu Yu Chancellor of Ganling, where he calmed the war-shattered population and set an example of austere living for his subordinates. He was then promoted to Director of the Imperial Clan in the capital. A commentary citing Xie Cheng's history adds: "Liu Yu's father, Liu Shu, had been Administrator of Danyang. Liu Yu was learned in the Five Classics and traced his descent from Prince Gong of Donghai (the transmitted text wavers between "Wang" and "Gong" in the graph). Later, when Chariots and Cavalry General Zhang Wen marched against rebels such as Bian Zhang, he drafted three thousand Wuhuan mounted raiders from You. Their wages and grain had gone unpaid for so long that they mutinied and rode home. Zhang Chun, a former chancellor of Zhongshan, took Zhang Ju, erstwhile governor of Mount Tai, aside and whispered: "The Wuhuan have already turned on us; every clan itches for revolt. Rebels have erupted in Liangzhou and Luoyang cannot contain them. And a Luoyang woman bore a two-headed infant—a sign, men said, that the Han mandate was spent and two rival sovereigns would soon divide the realm. If you join me in raising the Wuhuan hosts, we might yet seize the great enterprise for ourselves." Zhang Ju agreed. In the fourth year of Guanghe (181), Zhang Chun and his confederates swore an oath with Wuhuan chieftains, struck south of Ji, torched towns, looted civilians, and slew Colonel Ji Zhou, who guarded the Wuhuan, along with Liu Zheng of Right Beiping and Yang Zhong of Liaodong. Their army swelled past one hundred thousand and camped at Feiru. Zhang Ju proclaimed himself Son of Heaven while Zhang Chun took the bombastic title "General Who Fills Heaven, King Who Pacifies All," circulated manifestos declaring that Ju would supplant the Han, demanded that the emperor abdicate, and ordered the high ministers to come out and receive him. Zhang Chun also dispatched the Wuhuan "Sheer-cliff King" and fifty thousand foot and horse into Qingzhou and Ji, where they stormed Qinghe and Pingyuan and butchered officials and townsfolk alike. The court, knowing Liu Yu's moral authority on the northern frontier, reappointed him Governor of You the following year. Once in Ji, Liu Yu disbanded superfluous garrisons and put every effort into winning people through generosity and good faith. He sent messengers to assure chieftains like the Sheer-cliff King that imperial mercy was wide and that an honorable surrender remained open to them. He posted rich bounties on the heads of Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun. Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun bolted beyond the frontier; their followers mostly disbanded or came over. A household retainer named Wang Zheng murdered Zhang Chun and delivered his head to Liu Yu. Emperor Ling sent an imperial messenger to appoint Liu Yu Grand Commandant and Marquis of Rongqiu. The commentary on an earlier history glosses lao as "purchase price" or "hire cost." Bing here means rations. In other words, the army's grain supply had run out. Feiru was a county in Liaoxi; its old walled town lay in what is now the Pingzhou region. Commentary note [3] Qiao is read like the fanqie qi-xiao. Rongqiu was a county seat in Donghai commandery. After Dong Zhuo seized power, he sent agents to name Liu Yu Grand Marshal and raise his fief to Marquis of Xiangben. In Chuping 1 (190) the court again summoned him to replace Yuan Kui as Grand Tutor. Warlord lines choked the highways, so the imperial writ never reached him. You Province had long policed the outer steppe at enormous cost: every year the treasury diverted over two hundred million cash worth of Qingzhou and Jizhou taxes simply to keep the frontier solvent. With convoys everywhere interrupted, Liu Yu still pursued a light hand in government: he pushed agriculture, encouraged trade with the Hu at the Shanggu frontier market, and tapped Yuyang's salt and iron. Harvests turned full again and grain sold for a mere thirty cash a hu. More than a million refugees from Qing and Xu, fleeing the Yellow Turban turmoil, sought shelter with Liu Yu. He fed them, found them work, and treated them kindly, until many no longer felt like exiles. Though ranked among the three dukes, Liu Yu lived plainly—patched robes, straw sandals, never two meat dishes at a meal. Even the region's swaggering magnates, once notorious for extravagance, quietly mended their ways out of respect for him. The gloss explains su as "of old" or "habitually." Earlier an edict had sent Gongsun Zan against the Wuhuan with Liu Yu as his superior. Zan cared only for hoarding troops and swagger, let his officers prey on civilians, whereas Liu Yu ruled with compassion and an eye to the common good. The two men slowly came to loggerheads. In the second year of Chuping (191) Han Fu of Ji, Yuan Shao of Bohai, and the Shandong coalition debated replacing the throne: the boy emperor was hostage to Dong Zhuo, news from Chang'an was choked off, and Liu Yu, senior among imperial clansmen, seemed the natural candidate. They deputized former Lelang governor Zhang Qi and others to press the proposal and offer Liu Yu the imperial style. When Zhang Qi arrived, Liu Yu met him with a black look and snapped: "The empire is in ruins and our sovereign wanders in exile. I owe the dynasty a profound debt, yet I have done nothing to avenge its humiliation. Each of you holds a province or commandery: you should be pooling your strength for the house of Han, not hatching treason that will drag everyone into the mire!" He refused them outright. Han Fu's party next asked him to run the Secretariat and issue orders in the emperor's name; he declined that as well. He then seized their envoys and had them executed. Instead he chose Tian Chou of Right Beiping and staff officer Yu Yin to thread the blockade and carry his memorial to Chang'an. Emperor Xian, desperate to escape westward captivity, was overjoyed to see Tian Chou's party. Liu Yu's son Liu He was then a palace attendant, so the emperor sent him out secretly via Wu Pass to tell his father to march an escort east. Liu He's route ran through Nanyang, where Rear General Yuan Shu heard the plan, seized him as hostage, and forced him to demand that Liu Yu send troops jointly westward. Liu Yu therefore detached several thousand riders to rendezvous with his son, yet Yuan Shu never freed Liu He. The commentary notes that Emperor Xian was only ten at the time. The gloss quotes the Zuo: when King Xiang of Zhou fled to Zheng, Zang Wenzhong of Lu said the Son of Heaven was "covered in dust" abroad—a classical idiom for imperial exile. Commentary note [3] The Shuowen says: "Jiao li means combine strength. The Zuo also uses the phrase "with one heart and combined strength." The character is read with the li-diao fanqie, sometimes also liu. Commentary note [4] The Wei Chronicle says: "Chou, courtesy name Zitai, was a man of Wuzhong in Right Beiping. He loved books and excelled at swordplay. Liu Yu named him a staff adjutant. Later, when Cao Cao marched north against the Wuhuan, he ordered Tian Chou to lead a column up from Xu Wu through Lulong Pass, cross Pinggang, and crest White Wolf Mountain (an edition note wavers between graphs for "halt" and "ascend"). Two hundred li short of Liucheng the tribesmen panicked; Cao Cao attacked, won a crushing victory, and on the merit roll offered Tian Chou a fief. Tian Chou memorialized to decline the reward, so Cao Cao sent Xiahou Dun to talk him round. Tian Chou replied, "Am I to hawk Lulong Pass for a stipend?" Earlier Gongsun Zan had seen through Yuan Shu's ruse and begged Liu Yu not to send troops; Liu Yu ignored him. Zan then secretly prompted Yuan Shu to hold Liu He hostage and strip away the relief column—after which the two allies nursed a bitter grudge. Liu He soon slipped away from Yuan Shu, but heading north he fell into Yuan Shao's hands again. Gongsun Zan kept hurling himself at Yuan Shao despite repeated defeats. Liu Yu, fearing endless slaughter and the day Zan could no longer be curbed, vetoed further offensives and quietly tightened his grain allowances. Enraged, Zan flouted Liu Yu's orders ever more flagrantly and let his troops prey on civilians. He repeatedly looted the gifts and pledges Liu Yu used to court the frontier tribes. When remonstrance failed, Liu Yu sent couriers south accusing Zan of brigandage; Zan answered with memorials claiming Liu Yu starved his army. The dueling paperwork flew to Luoyang, where the court shrugged and split the difference. Gongsun Zan therefore raised a high ring-work at Ji as a bastion against Liu Yu. Liu Yu summoned him repeatedly; Zan invariably pleaded illness and stayed away. Liu Yu began plotting a strike and confided in Wei You, his eastern-bureau clerk from Right Beiping. Wei You objected: "The whole realm is looking to you; you cannot do without counselors and sword-arm generals. Gongsun Zan is brutal but capable. Swallow his petty crimes for the larger cause." Liu Yu dropped the plan—for the moment. The gloss reads du as "reckless" or "incessant" (depending on sense). The Shangshu says "du in sacrifice." Dang here takes the ding-lang fanqie reading (pledge, pawn). Jing means a tall earthwork; Zan piled ramparts to overawe Liu Yu. See Emperor Xian's annals for the fuller gloss. Wei You soon died, yet Liu Yu's smoldering anger did not. In the winter of the fourth Chuping year (193) he personally led every camp under his command—some one hundred thousand men—to march against Gongsun Zan. As the host set out, Dai adjutant Cheng Xu stepped forward bareheaded and said, "Gongsun Zan may be wicked, but he has not yet been condemned by law. You have never issued a public rebuke or given him a chance to mend his ways; to raise civil war inside your own walls helps no one. Battle is a dice throw. Better camp your army in a show of force: Zan will repent and sue for peace—that is the art of winning without a blow." Liu Yu judged Cheng Xu's counsel mutinous and executed him as a warning. He told his troops, "Spare everyone else—I want only Bo Gui's head." Among his staff was an adjutant named Gongsun Ji, whom Zan favored for sharing his surname. Gongsun Ji learned of Liu Yu's design and slipped out at night to warn Zan. Zan's units were scattered abroad; fearing sudden death, he began undermining the eastern wall of Ji to break out. Liu Yu's men were green and he forbade torching homes, so the siege made little headway. Zan drafted a few hundred picked fighters, waited for a favorable wind, set fires, and punched straight through Liu Yu's lines. Liu Yu's army collapsed; he fled north toward Juyong with his staff. Zan pursued, stormed Juyong in three days, took Liu Yu and his family, and marched back to Ji—yet for a time still let him stamp provincial paperwork. Just then the court sent Duan Xun to enlarge Liu Yu's fief and put him in charge of six provinces—on paper, at least; it simultaneously named Gongsun Zan General of the Van, Marquis of Yi, and credentialed him as inspector over You, Bing, Qing, and Ji (an edition note wavers between Si and Qing for the third province). Zan forced Duan Xun to endorse a forged charge that Liu Yu had plotted an imperial title with Yuan Shao, then had Liu Yu executed in the Ji marketplace. He seated Liu Yu in the stocks and sneered, "If Heaven meant this man to be emperor, let a storm come save him." The sky stayed pitilessly clear and fierce; they cut off his head anyway. His severed head was sent to Luoyang, but an old retainer named Wei Dun waylaid the convoy, seized the head, and gave Liu Yu a proper burial. Gongsun Zan then had the court name Duan Xun Inspector of You in Liu Yu's place. Liu Yu had won the north through sheer decency; refugees and old settlers alike mourned him as a personal loss. The gloss: Juyong county lay in Shanggu and guarded the famous pass of that name. Wei Dun is recorded as the man's full name. Liu Yu had always prided himself on austerity: he would not replace a threadbare cap until he had patched the holes himself. After his murder Zan's men searched his household and found his wives swathed in silk and jewels—an incongruity that made contemporaries whisper about hidden hypocrisy. Liu He later served under Yuan Shao in the war of accusation and vengeance against Gongsun Zan, according to one report. Gongsun Zan, style Bo Gui, came from Lingzhi in Liaoxi commandery. His clan had supplied officials of ministerial rank for generations. His mother's low birth barred him from fast promotion, so he began as a minor clerk in the provincial yamen. He was strikingly handsome, carried a booming voice, and debated policy with razor wit. The governor, impressed by his gifts, married him to his own daughter. He later studied under Lu Zhi of Zhuo in the Goushi hills and acquired a solid grounding in the classics and histories. He was nominated as reporting clerk for the annual capital accounts. When Governor Liu was arrested and shipped to Luoyang in a cage cart, regulations forbade staff to accompany him. Zan disguised himself as a menial convict, shouldered the travel kit, and drove the wagon all the way to the capital. When the sentence was commuted to exile in sun-scorched Rinan, Zan laid out pork and wine on Beimang Hill, sacrificed to his ancestors, and pledged: "Once I was only a son; now I am your lord's man, bound for the southern rim. Rinan is a fever coast—I may never come back. Consider this my farewell at your graves." He wept with such fervor, bowed twice, and walked away while every onlooker sighed. They had hardly set out when an amnesty spared them the journey. The commentary gives the fanqie reading for Ling. Zhi takes the ju-yi fanqie reading. The Dian lue says Zan had a bureaucrat's memory: "he could brief several offices at once without dropping a detail." Commentary note [3] The Wei Chronicle says: "Administrator Hou gave him his daughter as wife. Back home he earned a Filial and Incorrupt nomination and a post as chief clerk of Liaodong's dependent state. Once, riding with a few dozen escorts beyond the wall, he stumbled into several hundred Xianbei horsemen. He pulled back into an abandoned signal tower and told his men, "If we don't hit them now, we're dead to the last man." Seizing a double-headed lance, he spurred out and cut down dozens; half his companions fell, but the rest broke clear. Midway through Zhongping he led Wuhuan shock horse under Zhang Wen's command against the Liangzhou rebels. When the Wuhuan mutinied with Zhang Chun and struck toward Ji, Zan chased them down, won credit against Chun, and was promoted to Colonel of Cavalry. Zhang Chun later joined the renegade chieftain Qiu Liju in raids on Yuyang, Hejian, and Bohai, then swept into Pingyuan, killing and looting as they went. Zan overtook them at Shimen in the dependent state, shattered their host, and watched them bolt across the frontier, abandoning families and captives alike—all of whom he recovered. He pushed too deep without supplies. Qiu Liju ringed him at Guanzi in Liaoxi for over two hundred days until the grain ran out, then the horses were eaten, then crossbows and shields were boiled for soup. When further resistance was hopeless he bade his men scatter and each find his own way home. Blizzards turned the retreat into a charnel road—perhaps half his men died in the drifts—while the tribesmen, equally famished, limped off toward Liucheng. The throne named him Colonel Who Subdues the Caitiffs, Marquis of the Duting precinct, and let him keep the dependent-state chief clerkship. The post put every frontier horse regiment under his hand against raiders from beyond the wall. At every alarm he flushed with a murderous joy, as though riding to settle a blood feud—often chasing the dust plume through the night. The steppe riders knew his battle cry and shrank from meeting him in the field. The commentary identifies "the bandits" as Bian Zhang's coalition. Shimen is a mountain ridge southwest of present-day Liucheng in the old Yingzhou circuit. Zan constantly with several tens of good archers, all riding white horses, took them as left and right wings, styled himself "White Horse Righteous Followers." The Wuhuan passed the word: steer clear of the white-horse chief clerk. They set up painted effigies of Zan for mounted archery practice; anyone who struck the heart cheered "Long life!" After that drubbing they kept their distance beyond the frontier. Zan dreamed of exterminating the Wuhuan while Liu Yu wanted to win them with kindness—the root of their feud. In Chuping 2 some three hundred thousand Yellow Turbans from Qing and Xu poured into Bohai intent on linking up with the Black Mountain armies. Zan took twenty thousand foot and horse, intercepted them south of Dongguang, and shattered the horde—over thirty thousand heads were counted. The rebels shed tens of thousands of cartloads of baggage and fled toward the river. Zan struck while they were midstream, broke them again, and left corpses piled so thick the river ran red. He took seventy thousand prisoners and incalculable loot, and his name shook the north. The court named him General Who Displays Might and Marquis of Ji. Dongguang is in modern Cangzhou prefecture. After blocking Liu Yu's relief column to Yuan Shu, Zan feared Shu's spite and sent a cousin, Gongsun Yue, with a thousand riders to curry favor at Yuan Shu's camp. Yuan Shu attached Yue to Sun Jian's strike on Yuan Shao's man Zhou Xin, where a stray bolt killed him. Zan blamed Yuan Shao for his kinsman's death, marched to the Pan River line, and prepared to settle scores. He then fired off a memorial: "Since the age of the sage-kings, ruler and minister have been bound by ritual that teaches the people and by law that curbs violence. Yet Chariots and Cavalry General Yuan Shao, for all his inherited rank, is lewd, shallow, and unstable by nature. When he was Metropolitan Commandant the court was in crisis: the empress dowager held the regency while the He clan ran affairs. Shao never promoted the honest or dismissed the corrupt; he trafficked in flattery, welcomed schemers, and misled the altars of state until Ding Yuan torched the Meng ford depots and Dong Zhuo could begin the present catastrophe. That is Shao's first crime. Once Zhuo cast off all decency, our sovereign became his prisoner. Shao devised no stratagem to free ruler or father; he threw away his seals of office and bolted. To abandon his commission and desert his sovereign is Shao's second crime. As governor of Bohai he should have marched on Dong Zhuo; instead he secretly built up cavalry without warning his kin, until the Grand Tutor's whole clan perished in Luoyang. Neither humane nor filial—that is his third crime. For two years since raising his banner he has ignored the empire's agony while enlarging his own domains. He hoards grain for no urgent purpose, levies without rule, and hounds the commoners until every village groans under him. Fourth crime. He bullied Han Fu out of Ji, forged golden seals, and wrapped every order in black silk pouches stamped as if they were imperial edicts. Wang Mang's fallen Xin began the same way—with arrogance that crept toward the throne. Shao's mimicry points the same road to usurpation. Fifth crime. He pays court astrologers to invent portents, wines and dines them, fixes raid dates, then sacks county seats on cue. Is that conduct fit for a minister of Han? Sixth crime. He and the former Tiger-Fang colonel Liu Xun once raised arms together; Liu Xun later served Zhang Yang with distinction, yet Shao butchered him over a petty slight. Seventh crime: he trusts slander and abets injustice. The late governors Gao Yan of Shanggu and Yao Gong of Ganling he squeezed for silver until, unable to pay in full, both died at his hands. Eighth crime. The Spring and Autumn teaches that a son's rank rises with his mother's station. Yet Shao's mother was a bondwoman of mean birth, while he occupies exalted office and wallows in luxury. He grasps after more power yet will not yield an inch—that is his ninth crime. Sun Jian of Changsha, lately Inspector of Yu, drove off Dong Zhuo and cleansed the imperial tombs—no greater servant of the throne. Shao installed some junior in Sun Jian's place and starved his army so that Zhuo lived to ravage another day. Tenth crime. When Zhou grew feeble and vassals defied the throne, Duke Huan of Qi convoked the covenant at Ke, Duke Wen of Jin met the lords at Jiantu, chastised Chu for withholding sacral reeds, and struck Cao and Wei for discourtesy (text wavers between Ke meeting and pavilion). I am no sage of old, yet the court has armed me with axe and mandate; I therefore join every loyal province in punishing Shao and his clique. If we succeed and drag these traitors to justice, we may yet match the loyalty of Huan and Wen." He marched against Shao, and city after city in Ji went over to his banner. The commentary identifies the Pan with the Goupan channel of the Nine Rivers tradition. Its dried bed lies southeast of Leling in modern Cangzhou. The note identifies the regent as He Jin. The Xu Han shu relates how He Jin forged an alarm: he had Ding Yuan stage a "rebel" force in Henei under the title Black Mountain Earl, torch depots at Pingyin and Meng ford, and memorialize the eunuchs as the cause—all to panic the empress dowager into approving a purge. Zhuan takes the ding-lian fanqie reading. Commentary note [5] The Zuo Tradition says: "Both sides released accumulated prisoners. Du Yu glosses lei as "bound." Former Han pronunciation and meaning says: "All who die not because of crime are called lei. Bi means to fall prostrate. When Shao raised the eastern coalition, Zhuo slaughtered his uncle Grand Tutor Yuan Wei and every Yuan kinsman left in Luoyang. Commentary note [6] Han Official Ceremonial says: "All memorials and petitions are opened and sealed; those whose words are secret matters obtain black pouches. The Shuowen says: "Jian means document endorsement. Now vulgar speech calls it pai; its character follows "wood." The commentary identifies "fallen Xin" with Wang Mang's usurpation. Jie here means a ladder or stepping-stone to chaos. The Classic of Poetry says, "You became the rung on which disorder climbed." Star artisans means professional astrologers. Commentary note [10] Lin is read li-han fanqie. Commentary note [11] The Gongyang Tradition says: "Duke Huan was young yet honored; Duke Yin was elder yet base; the son is honored because of the mother, the mother is honored because of the son." Commentary note [12] The Spring and Autumn: "The duke met the marquis of Qi and covenanted at Ke. The Gongyang Tradition says: "Duke Huan of Qi's trustworthiness was manifest to the world; from the covenant at Ke it began. Jiantu lay on Zheng soil. The Zuo relates how, when King Xiang of Zhou took refuge in Zheng, Duke Wen of Jin held the Jiantu meeting, led the lords to pay homage to the king, and capped his hegemony. The sacred mao reeds were bundled for libation rites at the ancestral altar. In Duke Xi's fourth year Duke Huan of Qi invaded Chu and demanded, "You have withheld the bundled mao; the king's libations lack the straining bundle—on that charge we march." The gloss cites Duke Xi's twenty-eighth year: the marquis of Jin attacked Cao, asked a corridor through Wei, was refused, doubled back south of the Yellow River, struck both states, and cited their discourtesy. Ta in this compound suggests lowliness. Rong carries the sense of petty or trifling. Ta takes the tu-he fanqie reading. Xi is read with the ren-yong fanqie. Fu (axe) uses the fang-yu fanqie. Cuo denotes the blade of an axe. A yue is a broad battle-axe. The Documents quotes the Duke of Zhou's eastern campaign: "after three years the guilty were taken." Yuan Shao, alarmed, handed his Bohai seal to Gongsun Fan—Zan's cousin—and sent him south to cement a truce. Fan instead betrayed Shao, brought the Bohai army over, and reinforced Zan. Zan commissioned his own Inspectors of Qing, Ji, and Yan, packed the counties with his appointees, and met Yuan Shao in a pitched battle at Jie Bridge. Zan lost the field and limped back to Ji. Yuan Shao sent Cui Juye with tens of thousands to storm Gu'an; failing, he pulled back south. Zan overtook him on the Ju Ma with thirty thousand foot and horse, shattered the column, and left seven or eight thousand dead on the ice (the text adds an optional graph ren). He pressed his victory south, seized a string of counties down to Pingyuan, and planted Tian Kai as his Inspector of Qing to hold the Qi plain. Shao threw fresh tens of thousands against Tian Kai for two years until both armies were out of grain, the men exhausted, and each side stripped the countryside bare—down to the last blade of grass. Shao then named his son Yuan Tan Inspector of Qing; Tian Kai fought him, lost, and fell back. Jie Bridge is the crossing's name. See Emperor Xian's annals for detail. The Ju Ma rises in Yi Prefecture's Qiu county and enters You's Guiyi. The Zuo quotes Duke Huan's taunt to Lu: "Your storehouses hang empty as a bare lute; the fields show not a stalk of green—what makes you so bold?" That same year Zan destroyed Liu Yu and swallowed You, which only fed his arrogance. A children's rhyme had run: "South of Yan, north of Zhao, a notch as wide as a grindstone—there alone may you ride out the storm." Zan decided the "grindstone" meant Yi county and shifted his headquarters thither. There he raised dozens of towered ramparts along the Yi River, facing the Gulf of Bohai. Western Han listed Yi under Zhuo; the Later Han gazetteer places it in Hejian. The ruins of Zan's "Yi Capital" lie eighteen li south of modern Guiyi in Youzhou. Liu Yu's Yuyang adjutant Xianyu Fu mustered provincial levies to avenge their murdered governor. They chose Yan Rou of Yan, a man trusted on the frontier, as Wuhuan major. Yan Rou raised tens of thousands of Hu and Han, met Zou Dan—Zan's man in Yuyang—north of the Lu River, and took four thousand heads. The Sheer-cliff King, still grateful to Liu Yu, brought seven thousand Wuhuan and Xianbei riders south with Xianyu Fu to rescue Liu He, then merged with Yuan Shao's general Qu Yi—altogether one hundred thousand men—to fall on Zan. In Xingping 2 (195) they crushed Zan at the Baoqiu River and counted more than twenty thousand heads. Zan barricaded himself in Yi Capital, opened military farms, and scraped together enough grain to endure. After a year Qu Yi ran out of food; his famished thousands broke and ran. Zan ambushed the retreat and captured every wagon of supplies. Baoqiu water—also called Lu River—runs through present-day Yuyang in the old Youzhou circuit. Drought and locusts had driven grain prices sky-high; in places men fed on one another. Zan trusted his own prowess, ignored the starving peasantry, nursed every slight, forgot every kindness, and hounded any local worthy who overshadowed him. He liked to say, "Gentry suppose their silks and caps entitle them to wealth and never owe anyone gratitude." Hence his inner circle was mostly petty traders and street toughs. Wherever they went they plundered, and hatred followed. Dai, Guangyang, Shanggu, and Right Beiping then murdered Zan's magistrates and threw in their lot with Xianyu Fu and Yan Rou. Fearing coup and riot, Zan retired to his high citadel and sheathed its gates in iron. He cleared the precinct of males over seven sui—none might pass the Yi gate. He passed his days among concubines while clerks hoisted paperwork up and down on cords. He trained women to shout his orders across hundreds of paces from the towers. With no counselors let past the iron doors, his able generals drifted away one by one. After that he seldom took the field. When someone asked him why he had stopped taking the field, he answered, "I once chased the steppe Hu beyond the wall and crushed the Yellow Turbans at Meng Ford; I thought the empire would fall to a flick of my wrist. Today war has barely begun, and I see it is no longer mine to finish. Better spare the army for the plough and ride out these lean years. The military maxim says no one storms a hundred watch-towers. My ring of towers and parapets runs a thousand li, and I have three million hu in the granaries—enough to wait out whatever Heaven sends." The Jiuzhou Chunqiu quotes him: "When the swords first came out I thought I could settle everything in the time it takes to spit on my palm. Commentary note [2] "Lei" is the character for "lu" (shield parapet), seen in the Shuowen. The Shiming explains lu as "exposed" construction. That is, open parapets without roof tiles." In Jian'an 3 (198) Yuan Shao resumed his all-out siege. Zan sent his son Gongsun Xu to beg relief from the Black Mountain bands while planning a breakout along the Taihang western flank to stab Shao from behind. Chief clerk Guan Jing objected: "Your men are ready to bolt; they stay only because their families cling to you as their one prop. Hold fast long enough and Shao may lift the siege of his own accord. Leave this fortress and you leave nothing to anchor them—the fall of Yi Capital would follow in hours." Zan dropped the sally plan. As Shao tightened the noose, Zan shrank inward and threw up three concentric rings of walls. In the spring of Jian'an 4 Zhang Yan of the Black Mountains and Gongsun Xu marched one hundred thousand men in three columns to relieve him. Before they arrived Zan smuggled a letter to his son: "Even the corpse-strewn chaos at the end of the Zhou, if you reason it through, was mild compared to this. I never thought I would live to stand on this razor edge myself. The Yuan assault is like something out of hell—battering rams dance on my parapets, drums and horns seem to rise from the underworld; day and night press without respite. Refugees huddle like frightened birds while floodwater climbs the walls; throw yourself on Zhang Yan, ride day and night, and cry for help (the text is partly corrupt; "birds exhausted" may echo desperate straits). Father and son need no words—the bond will move you. Station five thousand armored riders in the northern marsh, light beacon fires on signal, and I will burst from the citadel to stake everything on one blow. Fail me, and though the world is wide there will be no corner left for you." Shao's patrols intercepted the letter, lit the decoy fires on schedule, and Zan—thinking Zhang Yan had come—sallied straight into the trap. Yuan Shao's ambush shattered him; he fled back into the inner keep. Seeing no escape, he strangled his sisters, wife, and children, then set the fortress alight around himself. Yuan Shao's men swarmed the tower and cut him down. The gloss reads chu with the chou-liu fanqie, meaning "pressed" or "urgent." The note explains the phrase as mutual sympathy between father and son. Xi means a damp lowland. Commentary note [4] Emperor Xian's Spring and Autumn: "When scouts obtained the letter, Shao had Chen Lin change its wording"—this is that letter. Watching the end, Guan Jing groaned, "Had we let you ride out then, you might yet have broken the ring. A gentleman who lets his lord walk into fire does not walk away—why should I outlive you?" He spurred into Yuan Shao's ranks and was cut down. Gongsun Xu fell to Tuge tribesmen. Tian Kai had already died fighting Yuan Shao. Tuge was a Xiongnu branch name on the northern frontier. Xianyu Fu brought his army over to Cao Cao, who named him General Who Crosses the Liao and Marquis of the Duting precinct. Yan Rou led his retainers on Cao Cao's campaign against the Wuhuan, earned appointment as Colonel Protector of the Wuhuan, and a secondary marquisate inside the passes. After Yuan Shao broke Zhang Yan, his following slowly melted away. When Cao Cao was poised to conquer Ji, Zhang Yan rode to Ye with his troops and surrendered; Cao named him General Who Pacifies the North and Marquis of the Anguo precinct. The historian's judgment runs thus: princes of the blood are raised in velvet and lard, know nothing of the plough, and rarely produce a man stern enough to keep his soul unstained. Liu Yu cleaved to the Way, sought a good name, and ruled his own heart with loyalty and generosity. How fine a specimen he was of the Later Han imperial house! Had Liu Yu and Gongsun Zan never fallen out—had they pooled their strength, resettled the people, husbanded the wealth of Yan and Ji, rearmed, and struck when the warlords faltered—they might have turned Heaven's lottery and human opportunity alike; the great deeds of old would not have seemed beyond reach. Ban Gu's praise of the "great Odes" man who alone stayed pure is quoted here—the King Xian of Hejian type. Hence this judgment cites him in that company. The gloss: mu means to nurture oneself. The Changes says: "With lowliness to cultivate oneself." Jiu here means to gather in. Shan means to put in order or repair. The Zuo Tradition says: "Repair armor and weapons." Tian yun here parallels the sense of Heaven's mandate. Ren wen is the human counterpart—the pattern of human affairs. The Changes says: "Observe the human pattern to transform and complete the realm under Heaven." Tao Qian, style Gongzu, came from Danyang commandery. He began as a student, rose through local posts, and after four steps became Zhang Wen's major on the western expedition against Bian Zhang. When the Yellow Turbans erupted in Xu, the court named him Inspector; he crushed the rebellion and restored calm across the province. His natal place was Danyang county in Danyang commandery. The Wu Book says: "Tao Qian's father was the former Magistrate of Yuyao. Orphaned young, he first made a name in the county for wild, heedless ways. At fourteen he was still leading mock processions—silk banners, bamboo horses—and every boy in town tagged along. Gan Gong, a retired governor of Cangwu from the same county, spotted him in the street, called him over, liked his bearing, and promised a daughter in marriage. His wife fumed: "That Tao boy is a reckless wastrel—why pledge our daughter to him?" Gan answered, "His face is no ordinary boy's; grown, he will amount to something." He gave the girl anyway." The Wu shu traces his rise: "Filial and Incorrupt, palace gentleman, then magistrate of Shu. Zhang Pan, the governor, was his father's crony and an elder townsman; Tao Qian bridled at having to defer to him. Once Pan ordered him to dance; Tao Qian refused to rise until forced, then danced without turning—the ritual spin that marks deference. Pan asked, "Aren't you supposed to turn?" He replied, "If I turned I would outshine everyone else." By then Dong Zhuo was dead, yet Li Jue and Guo Si were tearing Chang'an apart. With the empire chopped into warring blocks, Tao Qian still sent couriers by back trails to present tribute at the western capital. An edict raised him to Governor of Xu, added the title General Who Guards the East, and Marquis of Liyang. Xu was then rich in grain and people; refugees flocked to its peace. Yet he trusted the wrong men and let law and administration slide. Zhao Yu, his adjutant, was a noted scholar loyal to a fault; Tao Qian edged him out to Guangling. Mean flatterers such as Cao Hong and his ilk became his intimates while honest men suffered. From that poison the province slid toward disorder. A man of Xiapi—surname Yan (text: Yan / emend Que) Xuan—styled himself "Son of Heaven"; Qian at first joined him in vertical alliance, afterward then killed him and annexed his hosts. Liyang is the modern Xuanzhou county of that name. Li is pronounced like "chestnut." Commentary note [2] Xie Cheng's Book says: "Qian memorialized recommending Yu as flourishing talent, promoted him to be Administrator. Earlier, when Cao Song fled to Langye, a detached officer of Tao Qian's garrisoned Yinping; the troops coveted Cao Song's baggage train and murdered him for it. In Chuping 4 Cao Cao invaded Xu and stormed Pengcheng and Fuyang. Tao Qian fell back on Tan; Cao Cao could not crack the walls and withdrew. On the retreat he sacked Quyu, Suiling, and Xiaqiu, putting each to the sword. The slaughter ran to hundreds of thousands of souls; not a fowl or dog survived; corpses choked the Si so that the current stalled, and for years almost no one dared travel the roads of those five counties. Refugees from the Sanfu turmoil who had sought shelter under Tao Qian perished in the same carnage. Yinping was a Donghai county; its ruins lie southwest of Cheng in modern Yizhou. Fuyang county in Pengcheng was ancient Biyang. Chu's King Xuan annexed Song's Biyang and renamed it Fuyang—south of present Cheng county. Quyu (read qiu-lü) was a Xiapi county southwest of modern Xiapi. Suiling lay southeast of Xiapi town. Xiaqiu in Pei is today's Hong county in the Si region. Jian means wiped out to the last. The Zuo Tradition says: "Gate officers were annihilated therein." In Xingping 1 Cao Cao struck again, overran Langye and Donghai, and Tao Qian—seeing the end—planned flight to his native Danyang. Then Zhang Miao ushered Lü Bu into Yanzhou, forcing Cao Cao to wheel about and fight for his own base. That same year Tao Qian died of illness. Earlier Ze Rong of the same commandery had raised a few hundred followers and joined Tao Qian, who put him in charge of grain convoys for three commanderies. Ze Rong hijacked the shipments and poured the loot into colossal Buddhist foundations. He gilded bronze Buddhas, draped them in brocade, and raised a nine-tier pagoda with golden disks aloft—halls ringing a nave that seated three thousand. Each Bathing-the-Buddha festival he laid feasts along the roads until ten thousand poor and curious lined up for a meal. When Cao Cao marched on Xu, Ze Rong bolted to Guangling with ten thousand followers and three thousand horses. Governor Zhao Yu received him as an honored guest. He coveted Guangling's treasury, murdered Zhao Yu at a banquet, looted the town, crossed the Yangzi, slew Yuzhang's governor Zhu Hao, and seized the city. Liu Yao of Yangzhou crushed him; he fled to the hills and was cut down by locals. Ze is read with the ce-ge fanqie. Futou transliterates "Buddha." See the Western Qiang treatise for the loanword's earlier gloss. Commentary note [3] Emperor Xian's Spring and Autumn says: "Rong spread mats four or five li square, expense reached tens of thousands in cash. Zhao Yu, style Fuda, was a native of Langye. He lived plainly, detested vice, and studied with such absorption that even kin seldom saw him. He would not cock an ear to gossip nor let his eyes wander. Grand coachman Zhong Fu nominated him as an Upright and Regular candidate. The encomium: Liu Yu at Xiangben nurtured virtue and should have been the northern bulwark of Yan. His kindness won the frontier; his loyalty was meant for the throne. Bo Gui—rough, fierce, a soldier's genius. Liu Yu's mercy had no limit, yet Yuan Shao's strength could not be joined with his own. Xu's ruin—Tao Qian's blunders were the stumbling block. Li means to urge or encourage. Qiao takes the qu-jiao fanqie reading.