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卷七十三 劉虞公孫瓚陶謙列傳

Volume 73: Biographies of Liu Yu, Gongsun Zan, Tao Qian

Chapter 80 of 後漢書 · Book of Later Han
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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.
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