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志第十六五行四
Treatise Sixteen: The Five Elements, Part Four.
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地震山崩地陷大风拔树螟牛疫
This section records earthquakes, landslides, sinkholes, gales that tear up forests, rice-borer infestations, and murrain among cattle.
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《五行传》曰「治宫室，饰台榭，内淫乱，犯亲戚，侮父兄，则稼穑不成。」 谓土失其性而为灾也。 又曰：「思心不容，是谓不圣。 厥咎□，厥罚恒风，厥极凶短折。 时则有脂夜之妖，时则有华孽，时则有牛祸，时则有心腹之疴，时则有黄眚、黄祥，惟金、水、木、火□土。」 华孽，刘歆传为蠃虫之孽，谓螟属也。
The "Treatise on the Five Elements" says: "When one builds palace halls, adorns terraces and pavilions, carries on debauchery within, offends kinsmen, and insults fathers and elder brothers, then sowing and reaping do not succeed." That is, the element of soil is corrupted and disaster follows. The same text adds that when deliberation is cramped and counsel shut out, the ruler fails the standard of "sagacity. The fault is muddled judgment; the matching scourge is ceaseless wind; the bitter end is untimely death in violence. Such ages bring uncanny night lights, freak blossoms, cattle plagues, diseases of the vitals, and yellow hauntings—while metal, water, wood, and fire encroach on earth." Liu Xin grouped these floral prodigies with "soft-bodied" vermin omens—in practice, the rice stem borer.
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Jianwu 22 (46 CE), ninth month: forty-two jurisdictions shook; Nanyang worst, with fissures that swallowed lives. Then the Wuxi tribes rose, raided south to Nanjun, and trapped Liu Shang's relief army—he and his men were wiped out.
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章帝建初元年三月甲寅，山阳、东平地震。
Jianchu 1 (76 CE), third month, jiayin: tremors struck Shanyang and Dongping.
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Yongyuan 4 (92 CE), sixth month, bingchen: thirteen provinces quaked. The "Spring and Autumn Han hanzi" says: "When the female ruler flourishes and ministers dictate the mandate, then the earth moves and splits, revolt and quake arise, mountains collapse and sink." The Dou regency and Xian's monopoly on power were the moral fault behind the shock. Five days after: Xian's credentials were stripped; the brothers were sent to their domains and forced to kill themselves. Yongyuan 5, second month, wuwu: Longxi shook. Commentators read the omen as meaning that the folk, whose life is bound to the soil, foretell a major convulsion when the ground itself is about to shift. Ninth month: Shanyu Yuchujian turned rebel; border garrisons marched against him. Yongyuan 7 (95 CE), ninth month, guimao: Luoyang trembled. Scholars compared eunuchs to women: without "yang" generative force, they were a yin presence at court. He had conspired with Zheng Zhong to break the Dous, then raised Zhong and Cai Lun until both eunuchs shared the inner court's power. Yongyuan 9, third month, gengchen: another Longxi quake. Intercalary month: frontier Qiang raided inward; Liu Shang was ordered west.
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Yongchu 1 (107 CE): eighteen jurisdictions reported tremors. Li Gu said: "Earth is yin; by principle it ought to be still. When yin usurps yang's role—women or ministers ruling in the emperor's stead—the ground answers with convulsions." Through her death in Jianguang, the Deng regency blocked An from rule; yin forces ran wild, and the Qiang war dragged on for over a decade. Yongchu 2: twelve provinces shook. Yongchu 3, twelfth month, xinyou: nine jurisdictions quaked. Yongchu 4, third month, guisi: four provinces felt the shock. Yongchu 5, first month, bingxu: ten commanderies shook. Yongchu 7: tremors on renyin in the first month and bingwu in the second—eighteen jurisdictions in all.
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元初元年，郡国十五地震。 二年十一月庚申，郡国十地震。 三年二月，郡国十地震。 十一月癸卯，郡国九地震。 四年，郡国十三地震。 五年，郡国十四地震。 六年二月乙巳，京都、郡国四十二地震，或地坼裂，涌水，坏败城郭、民室屋，压杀人。 冬，郡国八地震。
Yuanchu 1 (114 CE): fifteen provinces reported earthquakes. Yuanchu 2, eleventh month, gengshen: ten jurisdictions. Yuanchu 3, second month: ten more. Yuanchu 3, eleventh month, guimao: nine commanderies. Yuanchu 4: thirteen provinces shook. Yuanchu 5: fourteen jurisdictions. Yuanchu 6, second month, yisi: Luoyang and forty-two commanderies convulsed—fissures opened, springs burst through, walls and homes collapsed, and many were buried alive. That winter eight more provinces trembled.
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永宁元年，郡国二十三地震。
Yongning 1 (120 CE): twenty-three jurisdictions.
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Jianguang 1 (121 CE), ninth month, jichou: thirty-five commanderies; ground split, towns ruined, lives lost. An turned on the Dengs on whispered lies from Wang Sheng and the harem, then handed the realm to Jiang Jing, Fan Feng, and their fellow eunuchs.
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Yanguang 1 (122 CE), seventh month, guimao: Luoyang and thirteen provinces shook. Ninth month, wushen: twenty-seven jurisdictions. Yanguang 2: the capital plus thirty-two commanderies quaked. Yanguang 3: Luoyang and twenty-three provinces. That was the year Yang Zhen was ousted on false charges and the crown prince cast down. Yanguang 4, eleventh month, dingsi: the capital and sixteen commanderies. After An's death the Yan brothers, behind their sister's screen, set aside An's own boy from the succession. They called other princes toward the capital, but eunuchs struck first and slaughtered the Yans before the boys arrived.
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Yangjia 2 (133 CE), fourth month, jihai: Luoyang shook the month Song E was ennobled as Lady of Shanyang. Yangjia 4, twelfth month, jiayin—a date heading the next entry. The capital trembled.
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Yonghe 2 (137 CE), fourth month, bingshen: Luoyang quaked. Song's forged charges unraveled in the fifth month; she was stripped of rank and sent home. Eleventh month, dingmao: another shock under Luoyang. Wang Gong wanted the eunuchs dead for usurping authority, but kin talked him down with the memory of Yang Zhen's fatal stand. Yonghe 3, second month, yihai: Luoyang, Jincheng, and Longxi split open; walls and roofs fell and killed many. Intercalary month, jiyou: the capital shook again. Tenth month: two thousand Qiang riders poured through Jincheng to ravage Liangzhou. Yonghe 4, third month, yihai: Luoyang trembled. Yonghe 5, second month, wushen: Luoyang shook again.
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Jiankang 1 (144 CE), first month: six Liangzhou commanderies shook. In seven months one hundred eighty shocks cracked the northwest—gorges split, monasteries and towns crumbled. Third month: Zhao Chong died at the hands of rebel tribesmen. Ninth month, bingwu: Luoyang quaked. The Liang dowager was leveling tombs wholesale to build Shun a grand tomb. Luan Ba protested; she flew into a rage. On guimao she had him jailed to be executed. When the earth shook on bingwu she freed him and reduced him to commoner status.
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Jianhe 1 (147 CE), fourth month, gengyin: Luoyang trembled. Ninth month, dingmao: another shock. Liang Ji dominated the court behind his sister's regency. She died in Heping 1, but Ji clung to power until Yanxi 2, when he and his clan were destroyed. Jianhe 3, ninth month: the earth shook on jimao and again on gengyin.
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元嘉元年十一月辛巳，京都地震。 二年正月丙辰，京都地震。 十月乙亥，京都地震。
Yuanjia 1 (151 CE), eleventh month, xinsi: Luoyang shook. Yuanjia 2, first month, bingchen: another. Tenth month, yihai: the capital quaked.
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永兴二年二月癸卯，京都地震。
Yongxing 2 (154 CE), second month, guimao: Luoyang trembled.
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永寿二年十二月，京都地震。
Yongshou 2 (156 CE), twelfth month: capital shock.
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Yanxi 4 (161 CE): tremors from Luoyang west to Youfufeng and Liangzhou. Yanxi 5, fifth month, yihai: the capital. Huan and Shan Chao had just brought down Liang Ji; the eunuchs now ran everything. Empress Deng had been elevated for her face alone; she ended on charges of witchcraft, stripped of rank, and broken-hearted. Yanxi 8, ninth month, dingwei: Luoyang shook.
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熹平二年六月，地震。 六年十月辛丑，地震。
Xiping 2 (173 CE), sixth month: earthquake. Xiping 6, tenth month, xinchou: tremor.
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Guanghe 1 (178 CE), second month, xinwei: quake. Fourth month, bingchen: another shock. Under Ling the palace attendants did as they pleased. Guanghe 2, third month: Jingzhao trembled. Guanghe 3–4: Bishi in Jiuquan shook over eighty times from autumn to spring; springs burst through the streets and every structure slumped. The county seat was moved and new walls raised.
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献帝初平二年六月丙戌，地震。
Chuping 2 (191 CE), sixth month, bingxu: the ground shook.
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兴平元年六月丁丑，地震。
Xingping 1 (194 CE), sixth month, dingchou: the ground shook.
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Yongyuan 1 (89 CE), seventh month: a peak south of Kuaiji gave way. The Kuaiji range was one of the great southern massifs. Jing Fang's "Tradition of the Changes" says: "When mountains collapse, yin rides atop yang; the weak conquers the strong." Liu Xiang read the mountain as the sovereign, the yang aspect of the land. Water stood for yin, the common folk. When the ruler's course breaks, the people lose their homes. Liu Xin compared a mountain fall to foundations giving way. Again the Dou regency: the dowager and Xian held the Han court in their hands. Seventh month, seventh year: the soil cracked at Yiyang in Zhao. Jing Fang's "Tradition of the Changes" says: "When the ground splits, ministers and subordinates separate and refuse to follow one another." The Southern Xiongnu host had fractured; imperial troops were in pursuit. Yongyuan 12 (100 CE), intercalary fourth month, wuchen: a four-hundred-zhang cliff at Zigui sheared off, blocked a gorge, and buried over a hundred souls. Next winter the Wushan tribes rose; the court drafted ten thousand Jingzhou men to fight them.
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元兴元年五月癸酉，右扶风雍地裂。 是後西羌大寇涼州。
Yuanxing 1 (105 CE), fifth month, guiyou: the ground split at Yong in right Fufeng. Then the Western Qiang poured into Liangzhou.
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Yanping 1 (106 CE), fifth month, renchen: Mount Yuan in Hedong fell. The Deng regency still ruled. That autumn, eighth month, the infant emperor died.
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Yongchu 1, sixth month, dingsi: a sinkhole opened at Yang in Hedong. It measured 140 by 120 paces and sank nearly forty feet. Yongchu 6, sixth month, renchen: sixty-three slides scarred the Yuanxi highlands in Yuzhang.
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元初元年三月己卯，日南地坼，长百八十二里。 其后三年正月，苍梧、郁林、合浦盗贼群起，劫略吏民。 二年六月，河南雒阳新城地裂。
Yuanchu 1 (114 CE), third month, jimao: a rift 182 li long tore Rinan commandery. Three years on, coastal Guangxi erupted in banditry. Yuanchu 2, sixth month: another fissure at Luoyang's Xincheng district.
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Yanguang 2 (123 CE), seventh month: forty-seven landslides in Danyang. Yanguang 3, sixth month, gengwu: Mount Langzhong in Ba gave way. Yanguang 4, tenth month, bingwu: a Yuexi peak in Shu buried four hundred souls. The almanac marks bingwu as an imperial audience day—doubly ominous. The Yan empress dowager was regent. Eleventh month: eunuchs led by Sun Cheng murdered Jiang Jing, raised Shun, and wiped out the Yans; the dowager followed her kin to the grave the next year.
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Yangjia 2 (133 CE), sixth month, dingchou: an eighty-five-zhang crack opened at the Xuande pavilion by the southern suburb. At that time Li Gu offered a policy memorial, holding that "yin categories act wantonly and there will be signs of separation; that it attaches to the suburban wall means High Heaven is displaying an image to warn Your Majesty." Song E and the eunuchs feuded; Zhang Kui and Qu Zheng then tried to frame Liang Shang with whisper campaigns.
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和平元年七月，广汉梓潼山崩。
Heping 1 (150 CE), seventh month: Zitong mountain in Guanghan fell.
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永兴二年六月，东海朐山崩。 冬十二月，泰山、琅邪盗贼群起。
Yongxing 2 (154 CE), sixth month: Mount Qu in Donghai gave way. That winter brigandage flared across Taishan and Langye.
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Yanxi 1 (158 CE), seventh month, yisi: Yunyang in left Fengyi cracked. Yanxi 3, fifth month, jiaxu: Mount Han in the Hanzhong march collapsed. Huan was showering favor on Shan Chao and his fellow eunuchs. Yanxi 4, sixth month, gengzi: Tai Mountain and the Youlai ridge near Bo town sundered. Yanxi 8, sixth month, bingchen: the soil gaped at Goushi.
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Yongkang 1 (167 CE), fifth month, bingwu: twin fissures—one at the Yongshou pavilion in Luoyang, one at Xuanshi in Shangdang. Ministers fretted over Wang Fu's unchecked eunuch faction. That winter Huan died. Next year Dou Wu's coup against the regular attendants failed; the plotters were slaughtered instead. Manuscripts disagree on a single word in the source line, but every version describes the same reversal.
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灵帝建宁四年五月，河东地裂十二处，裂合长十里百七十步，广者三十余步，深不见底。
Jianning 4, fifth month: Hedong opened twelve parallel chasms—over eleven li end to end, thirty paces across at the widest, depth lost in shadow.
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和帝永元五年五月戊寅，南阳大风，拔树木。
Yongyuan 5 (93 CE), fifth month, wuyin: a gale tore up Nanyang's forests.
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Yongchu 1: gales ripped trees from the earth. The Deng dowager enthroned the young Qinghe prince, praising his precocity; he became Emperor An. She bypassed Prince Sheng, betting that An would reward the Dengs for the throne. An later swallowed lies about the Dengs, purged them savagely, and left eight or nine dead—whole houses destroyed. That was the arrogant obscuration the omen text names as the blame. Then the Qiang war convulsed Liangzhou for another decade. Yongchu 2, sixth month: forty jurisdictions lost trees to wind. Yongchu 3, fifth month, guiyou: a wind sheared ninety-six catalpas from the processional avenue to the southern altar. Yongchu 7, eighth month, bingyin: Luoyang gales again.
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元初二年二月癸亥，京都大风拔树。 六年夏四月，沛国、勃海大风，拔树三万余枚。
Yuanchu 2, second month, guihai: capital windthrow. Yuanchu 6, fourth month of summer: Pei and Bohai counted thirty thousand trees down.
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三年，京都及郡国三十六大风拔树。
Yanguang 3: thirty-six jurisdictions plus the capital.
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灵帝建宁二年四月癸巳，京都大风雨雹，拔郊道树十围已上百余枚。 其后晨迎气黄郊，道于雒水西桥，逢暴风雨，道卤簿车或发盖，百官沾濡，还，不至郊； 使有司行礼。 迎气西郊，亦壹如此。
Jianning 2, fourth month, guisi: wind, rain, and hail snapped over a hundred massive trees lining the sacred way. Later, at the yellow-suburb rite at dawn, a squall struck the Luo's west bridge—umbrella-chariots lost their hoods, ministers were soaked, and the cortège turned back without finishing the ceremony. The court had ministers complete the ritual by proxy. The western-suburb ceremony failed the same way.
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中平五年六月丙寅，大风拔树。
Zhongping 5 (188 CE), sixth month, bingyin: another windthrow.
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獻帝初平四年六月，右扶風大風，發屋拔木。
Chuping 4 (193 CE), sixth month: west of the capital, gales stripped roofs and timber.
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中兴以来，脂夜之妖无录者。
After Guangwu restored the Han, the annals list no more "midnight grease" omens.
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中平二年七月，三辅螟虫为害。
Zhongping 2 (185 CE), seventh month: the borers returned to the capital districts.
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Yongping 18 (75 CE): murrain wiped out the herds. The same year Dou Gu marched west and the court posted a protector-general and Wuji colonels. No sooner had the army withdrawn than the west rebelled—Chen Mu and Guan Chong fell. Ming meant to strike again but died that autumn—Heaven cutting short a ruler who would not listen.
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Jianchu 4 (79 CE), winter: cattle plague struck the capital herds. Empress Dou's son sat as heir; she set agents to sniff out Lady Song's slips and ruin her with lies. Zhang never saw Dou's malice—the fault named obscuration in the omen text. Another gloss ties the plague to Ma's death that sixth month and the untimely earthworks her tomb demanded.