Qin and Han · Chancellor

Bing Ji 丙吉

Died BC 55

Passages: 83
Chapters: 5
Histories: 1

Overview

The translated histories identify Bing Ji as a judge, official, statesman, and teacher. This record brings together 83 passages from 5 chapters across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Bing Ji	丙吉	Bing Ji
Surname	Bing	丙	Bǐng
Surname	Bing	丙
Personal name	Bing Ji	丙吉	Bing Ji
Personal	Bing Ji	丙吉	Bǐng Jí
Personal name	Bing Ji	丙吉	Bǐng Jí
Given	Ji	吉	Jí
Posthumous name	Marquis Ding	定侯
Title	Marquis of Boyang	博陽侯
Courtesy name	Shaoqing	少卿	Shàoqīng
Surname		丙	Bing
Given		吉	Ji

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · hanshu:068:s0260, hanshu:082:s0042, hanshu:085:s0096, hanshu:101:s0022

Roles

Judge
Official
Statesman
Teacher

Life and dates

Death

Date Context: Source Date: Text: 五鳳三年 · Western Year: BC 55
Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:085:s0209, hanshu:085:s0217, hanshu:085:s0220

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 五鳳三年 · Western Year: BC 55
Explicit · hanshu:101:s0084
Source Date: Text: 五鳳三年春 · Western Year: BC 55
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0209
Source Date: Text: 地節三年 · Western Year: BC 67
Explicit · hanshu:082:s0042
Source Date: Text: 孝宣承統 · Western Interval: Start: BC 74 · End: BC 48
Explicit · hanshu:068:s0260
Source Date: Text: 武帝末至五鳳三年 · Western Interval: Start: BC 87 · End: BC 55
Explicit event contextual date · hanshu:085:s0100, hanshu:085:s0209

Family

Immediate source-linked family. Drag to pan, scroll or pinch to zoom, and select a person to open their record.

Ancestor of Bing Chang (丙昌)
Kinship Term: grandson / 孫 · Generation Distance: 2
Parent of Bing Yu (丙禹)
Kinship Term: middle son / 中子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Birth Order: 2
Kinship Term: middle son / 中子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Birth Order: 2
Parent of Bing Xian (丙顯)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Birth Order: 1
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological
Spouse of Wife of Bing Ji (丙吉夫人)
Kinship Term: wife / 夫人 · Union Category: marriage
Kinship Term: wife / 夫人 · Union Category: marriage
Parent of Bing Gao (丙高)
Kinship Term: youngest son / 少子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Birth Order: 3
Kinship Term: youngest son / 少子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Birth Order: 3

Career and standing

Office: Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince / 太子太傅 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 地節三年 · Western Year: BC 67
Explicit · hanshu:082:s0042
Label: chancellor / 丞相 · Action: appointed
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0147
Label: grand tutor to the heir / 太子太傅 · Action: appointed
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0124
Label: imperial censor / 御史大夫 · Action: appointed
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0124
Label: Lu jail clerk / 魯獄史 · Action: held
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0097
Label: right superintendent of the commandant of justice / 廷尉右監 · Action: held
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0098
Label: supernumerary household grandee / 光祿大夫 · Action: held
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0019, hanshu:085:s0112
Office: Commandant of the Imperial Counselors / 御史大夫 · Action: promoted · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 地節三年 · Western Year: BC 67
Explicit · hanshu:082:s0042
Title: Marquis of Boyang / 博陽侯 · Action: enfeoffed · Households: 1300
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0138
Label: posthumous Marquis Ding / 定侯 · Action: granted
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0220
Title: marquis within the passes / 關內侯 · Action: granted
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0121

Places and affiliations

Label: Han / 漢 · Relation: served
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0096
Label: Western Han / 漢 · Relation: served
Explicit · hanshu:068:s0260
Polity: Han · Relation: official-of
Explicit · hanshu:082:s0042
Place: Lu / 魯國
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0096

Learning and skills

Subject: Odes and Rites / 詩禮
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0148
Subject: statutes and ordinances / 律令
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0097

Works and attributed material

Kind: letter · Role: author · Other Person Id: Wei Xiang (魏相)
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0019, hanshu:085:s0020
Kind: sealed-note · Role: author · Other Person Id: Huo Guang (霍光)
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0115, hanshu:085:s0116, hanshu:085:s0117, hanshu:085:s0118, hanshu:085:s0119

Events and relationships

Kind: legal · Role: jailer-protector · Action: saved-imperial-great-grandson · Other Person Id: Emperor Xuan (宣帝)
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0105, hanshu:085:s0106, hanshu:085:s0110
Kind: political · Role: recommender · Action: urged-enthronement · Other Person Id: Emperor Xuan (宣帝)
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0115, hanshu:085:s0118, hanshu:085:s0119, hanshu:085:s0120
Relation: patron-of · Person Id: Emperor Xuan (宣帝)
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0101, hanshu:085:s0102, hanshu:085:s0110
Relation: friend-of · Person Id: Wei Xiang (魏相)
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0019, hanshu:085:s0092

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: deep, reserved, did not boast of kindness · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0122
Assessment: general or chancellor (將相) · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · hanshu:068:s0260
Assessment: had achievements recounted in their age · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · hanshu:068:s0260
Assessment: knew men; recommended able successors · Provenance: Mode: named-person · Speaker Person Id: Emperor Xuan (宣帝)
Explicit · hanshu:085:s0219

References in the histories

Open any source group to read the Chinese and English passage in context.

Book of Han, Chapter 68Volume 58: Gongsun Hong, Bu Shi and Er Kuan · 1 passage

孝宣承統，纂修洪業，亦講論六藝，招選茂異，而蕭望之、梁丘賀、夏侯勝、韋玄成、嚴彭祖，尹更始以儒術進，劉向，王褒以文章顯，將相則張安世、趙充國、魏相、丙吉、於定國、杜延年，治民則黃霸、王成、龔遂、鄭弘、召信臣、韓延壽、尹翁歸、趙廣漢、嚴延年、張敞之屬，皆有功跡見述於世。 Emperor Xuan inherited the succession and carried forward the great enterprise. He too expounded the Six Arts and recruited outstanding men. Xiao Wangzhi, Liangqiu He, Xiahou Sheng, Wei Xuancheng, Yan Pengzu, and Yin Gengshi advanced through Confucian learning; Liu Xiang and Wang Bao gained distinction for their writing; among the generals and chancellors were Zhang Anshi, Zhao Chongguo, Wei Xiang, Bing Ji, Yu Dingguo, and Du Yannian; and among those who governed the people were Huang Ba, Wang Cheng, Gong Sui, Zheng Hong, Shao Xinchen, Han Yanshou, Yin Wengui, Zhao Guanghan, Yan Yannian, Zhang Chang, and others. All left achievements celebrated in their age.

Book of Han, Chapter 82Volume 71: Jun, Shu, Yu, Xue, Ping and Peng · 1 passage

地節三年，立皇太子，選丙吉為太傅，廣為少傅，數月，吉遷御史大夫，廣徙為太傅。 In Dijie 3, when the heir apparent was installed, Bing Ji became grand tutor and Shu Guang junior tutor; a few months later Ji rose to commandant of the imperial counselors and Guang succeeded him as grand tutor.

Book of Han, Chapter 85Volume 74: Wei Xiang and Bing Ji · 74 passages

相與丙吉相善，時吉為光祿大夫，與相書曰：「朝廷已深知弱翁治行，方且大用矣。 Wei Xiang was close to Bing Ji, then a supernumerary household grandee, who wrote: ‘The court knows your record well and is poised to give you higher office.

時，丙吉為御史大夫，同心輔政，上皆重之。 Bing Ji was then imperial censor; the two men worked in concert and the emperor honored both.

相為人嚴毅，不如吉寬。 Wei Xiang was sterner and less indulgent than Bing Ji.

丙吉字少卿，魯國人也。 Bing Ji, courtesy name Shaoqing, was a native of Lu.

武帝末，巫蠱事起，吉以故廷尉監征，詔治巫蠱郡邸獄。 Late in Emperor Wu’s reign, when the witchcraft trials began, Bing Ji—once a justice superintendent—was recalled to oversee the witchcraft jail in the imperial hostel.

時，宣帝生數月，以皇曾孫坐衛太子事系，吉見而憐之。 The future Emperor Xuan was only months old when, as the imperial great-grandson, he was imprisoned in the Crown Prince Wei affair; Bing Ji saw the infant and pitied him.

又心知太子無事實，重哀曾孫無辜，吉擇謹厚女徒，令保養曾孫，置閒燥處。 Knowing the crown prince was innocent and the child blameless, he chose a trustworthy woman convict to nurse the boy and lodged him in a warm, quiet cell.

吉治巫蠱事，連歲不決。 Bing Ji oversaw the witchcraft trials, which dragged on unresolved year after year.

內謁者令郭穰夜到郡邸獄，吉閉門拒使者不納，曰：「皇曾孫在。 When Guo Rang, director of palace ushers, reached the hostel prison at night, Bing Ji barred the gate and said, ‘The imperial great-grandson is inside.

相守至天明不得入，穰還以聞，因劾奏吉。 They stood off until dawn; Guo Rang reported back and memorialized against Bing Ji.

郡邸獄系者獨賴吉得生，恩及四海矣。 Only the inmates of that hostel prison lived because of Bing Ji—a kindness that spread across the realm.

曾孫病，幾不全者數焉，吉數敕保養乳母加致醫藥，視遇甚有恩惠，以私財物給其衣食。 The boy nearly died several times; Bing Ji ordered better care, summoned doctors, and paid for food and clothes from his own purse.

後吉為車騎將軍軍市令，遷大將軍長史，霍光甚重之，入為光祿大夫給事中。 He rose to army market director under the chariot-and-cavalry general, then chief clerk to the grand general; Huo Guang valued him highly and brought him into court as supernumerary household grandee.

昭帝崩，無嗣，大將軍光遣吉迎昌邑王賀。 When Emperor Zhao died heirless, Huo Guang sent Bing Ji to escort Prince He of Changyi to the capital.

吉奏記光曰：「將軍事孝武皇帝，受襁褓之屬，任天下之寄，孝昭皇帝早崩亡嗣，海內憂懼，欲亟聞嗣主，發喪之日以大誼立後，所立非其人，復以大誼廢之，天下莫不服焉。 Bing Ji wrote Huo Guang: ‘General, you served Emperor Wu, received the charge of the swaddling-clothes regency, and bear the empire’s trust; when Emperor Zhao died without heir the realm was anxious; you established a successor on the day mourning was announced, and when he proved unworthy you deposed him again by great duty—none under Heaven failed to submit.

而遺詔所養武帝曾孫名病已在掖庭外家者，吉前使居郡邸時見其幼少，至今十八九矣，通經術，有美材，行安而節和。 The edict-nurtured great-grandson Liu Bingyi, raised outside the harem—whom Bing Ji had known as a child in the hostel—is now a young man of eighteen or nineteen, learned, talented, and even-tempered.

光覽其議，遂尊立皇曾孫，遣宗正劉德與吉迎曾孫於掖庭。 Huo Guang accepted the plan, elevated Liu Bingyi, and sent Liu De with Bing Ji to fetch him from the harem compound.

宣帝初即位，賜吉爵關內侯。 Emperor Xuan ennobled Bing Ji as a marquis-within-the-passes as soon as he took the throne.

吉為人深厚，不伐善。 Bing Ji was reserved and deep, never boasting of his kindness.

自曾孫遭遇，吉絕口不道前恩，故朝廷莫能明其功也。 After the boy became emperor, Bing Ji never mentioned his old service, so the court never knew his full merit.

地節三年，立皇太子，吉為太子太傅，數月，遷御史大夫。 In 67 BCE he was made grand tutor to the new crown prince and within months promoted to imperial censor.

章下掖庭令考問，則辭引使者丙吉知狀。 The case went to the harem director; Ze named Bing Ji as witness.

掖庭令將則詣御史府以視吉。 The director brought Ze to the censor’s office to confront Bing Ji.

吉識，謂則曰：「汝嘗坐養皇曾孫不謹督笞，汝安得有功？ Bing Ji recognized her: ‘You were flogged for negligent nursing—what merit is that?

詔吉求組、征卿，已死，有子孫，皆受厚賞。 The court sought Hu Zu and Guo Zhengqing; both were dead, but their descendants were richly rewarded.

上親見問，然後知吉有舊恩，而終不言。 The emperor questioned her himself and learned of Bing Ji’s silence about his old debt.

上大賢之，制詔丞相：「朕微眇時，御史大夫吉與朕有舊恩，厥德茂焉。 Deeply moved, the emperor told the chancellor: "When I was helpless, Censor Bing Ji saved me; his virtue is profound.

其封吉為博陽侯，邑千三百戶。」 Enfeoff him as Marquis of Boyang with thirteen hundred households."

臨當封，吉疾病，上將使人加紳而封之，及其生存也。 When the patent was ready, Bing Ji fell ill; the emperor meant to invest him in person while he still lived.

上憂吉疾不起，太子太傅夏侯勝曰：「此未死也。 Fearing Bing Ji might die, the emperor heard Grand Tutor Xiahou Sheng say, ‘He is not dying yet.

今吉未獲報而疾甚，非其死疾也。」 Bing Ji has not yet been repaid; this illness will not kill him.’

後病果愈。 Bing Ji indeed recovered.

吉上書固辭，自陳不宜以空名受賞。 He memorialized to decline, saying he deserved no empty honor.

吉本起獄法小吏，後學《詩》、《禮》，皆通大義。 He had begun as a jail clerk, then mastered the Odes and Rites in their larger sense.

客或謂吉曰：「君侯為漢相，奸吏成其私，然無所懲艾。」 A retainer said to Bing Ji, ‘You, lord marquis, are Han’s chancellor, yet wicked clerks pursue their private aims and there is no punishment.’

吉曰：「夫以三公之府有案吏之名，吾竊陋焉。」 Bing Ji replied, ‘I would be ashamed to have the chancellor’s office known chiefly for prosecuting clerks.’

後人代吉，因以為故事，公府不案吏，自吉始。 Later chancellors followed his precedent: the high ministry no longer hounded minor officials—that began with Bing Ji.

吉馭吏耆酒，數逋蕩，嘗從吉出，醉嘔丞相車上。 His coachman was a drunk who once vomited on the chancellor’s cushions.

西曹主吏白欲斥之，吉曰：「以醉飽之失去士，使此人將復何所容？ The chief clerk wanted him dismissed; Bing Ji said, ‘For a full belly’s slip I will not ruin a man—where could he find another post?

馭吏因隨驛騎至公車刺取，知虜入雲中、代郡，遽歸府見吉白狀，因曰：「恐虜所入邊郡，二千石長吏有老病不任兵馬者，宜可豫視。」 The carriage officer therefore followed the courier to the Public Carriage Office and made inquiries. Learning that the raiders had entered Yunzhong and Dai commanderies, he hurried back to the bureau, saw Bing Ji, reported the situation, and then said, ‘I fear that in the border commanderies the enemy has entered, some of the two-thousand-bushel senior officials may be old or ill and unable to handle troops and horses. It would be proper to inspect this in advance.’

吉善其言，召東曹案邊長吏，瑣科條其人。 Bing Ji agreed, ordered his staff to list border governors’ fitness for command.

未已，詔召丞相、御史，問以虜所入郡吏，吉具對。 Before they finished, the palace summoned chancellor and censor to name the frontier officials; Bing Ji answered from his lists.

而吉見謂憂邊思職，馭吏力也。 Bing Ji passed for a border-minded chancellor thanks to his driver.

吉乃歎曰：「士亡不可容，能各有所長。 Bing Ji sighed, ‘A gentleman must not be cast off—each has his special strength.

掾史繇是益賢吉。 His staff admired him the more for seeing the larger picture.

吉又嘗出，逢清道群鬥者，死傷橫道，吉過之不問，掾史獨怪之。 Once he passed a street fight and corpses without stopping; his clerks thought it odd.

吉前行，逢人逐牛，牛喘吐舌，吉止駐，使騎吏問：「逐牛行幾里矣？」 As Bing Ji went on, he met a man driving an ox. The ox was panting with its tongue out, so Ji stopped his carriage and sent a mounted clerk to ask, ‘How many li has this ox been driven?’

掾史獨謂丞相前後失問，或以譏吉，吉曰：「民斗相殺傷，長安令、京兆尹職所當禁備逐捕，歲竟丞相課其殿最，奏行賞罰而已。 The clerks privately thought the chancellor had asked about the wrong thing, and some used it to mock him. Bing Ji said, ‘When commoners fight and kill or wound one another, it is the duty of the Chang’an magistrate and the Governor of the Capital to prevent it, prepare against it, pursue the offenders, and arrest them. At year’s end, the chancellor merely grades their performance and memorializes for rewards and punishments.

掾史乃服，以吉知大體。 The staff then conceded that he grasped the chancellor’s true scope.

五鳳三年春，吉病篤。 In spring of the third year of Wufeng, Bing Ji fell gravely ill.

上自臨問吉，曰：「君即有不諱，誰可以自代者？」 The emperor came in person to visit Bing Ji and asked, "If the worst should come, who could take your place?"

吉辭謝曰：「群臣行能，明主所知，愚臣無所能識。」 Bing Ji declined, saying, "Your ministers’ conduct and ability are known to a wise sovereign; this humble servant has none he can judge."

上固問，吉頓首曰：「西河太守杜延年明於法度，曉國家故事，前為九卿十餘年，今在郡治有能名。 The emperor pressed him. Bing Ji kowtowed and said, "Governor of Xihe Du Yannian knows law and precedent, served among the nine ministers for more than ten years, and now governs his commandery with a reputation for ability.

上以吉言皆是而許焉。 The emperor found Bing Ji’s recommendations sound and assented.

及吉薨，御史大夫黃霸為丞相，徵西河太守杜延年為御史大夫，會其年老，乞骸骨，病免。 When Bing Ji died, Imperial Censor Huang Ba became chancellor and Governor of Xihe Du Yannian was summoned as imperial censor, but he was already old, begged to retire, and was dismissed on account of illness.

黃霸薨，而定國為丞相，太僕陳萬年代定國為御史大夫，居位皆稱職，上稱吉為知人。 When Huang Ba died, Yu Dingguo became chancellor and Superintendent of Transport Chen Wannian succeeded him as imperial censor. All performed their offices well, and the emperor praised Bing Ji as a judge of men.

吉薨，諡曰定侯。 When Bing Ji died, he was posthumously titled Marquis Ding.

丞相吉大怒，謂其夫人曰：「宗廟至重，而顯不敬慎，亡吾爵者必顯也。」 Chancellor Bing Ji flew into a rage and told his wife, "The ancestral temple is supremely grave, yet Xian is careless. The one who will cost me my title will surely be Xian."

吉中子禹為水衡都尉。 Bing Ji’s middle son Yu served as superintendent of waterways and parks.

是時，治獄使者丙吉見皇曾孫遭離無辜，吉仁心感動，涕泣淒惻，選擇復作胡組養視皇孫，吉常從。 Envoy Bing Ji, moved by the child’s innocence, wept and assigned Hu Zu, a woman on labor rotation, to nurse him while he stayed at hand.

後遭條獄之召，吉扞拒大難，不避嚴刑峻法。 When the mass execution order came, Bing Ji defied it at risk to himself.

既遭大赦，吉謂守丞誰知，皇孫不當在官，使誰如移書京兆尹，遣與胡組俱送京兆尹，不受，復還。 After the general amnesty Bing Ji told assistant warden She Zhi that the imperial grandson could not stay in jail; he sent She Ru with transfer papers to the Governor of the Capital and had Hu Zu accompany them, but the governor refused to take the child and they had to return.

及組日滿當去，皇孫思慕，吉以私錢顧組，令留與郭徽卿並養數月，乃遣組去。 When Hu Zu’s term ended, Bing Ji paid her from his own pocket to stay on with Guo Zhengqing a few months longer.

後少內嗇夫白吉曰：『食皇孫亡詔令』。 The inner granary clerk then said there was no edict to feed the boy.

時，吉得食米肉，月月以給皇孫。 Bing Ji supplied rice and meat each month from his own rations.

吉即時病，輒使臣尊朝夕請問皇孫，視省席蓐燥濕。 When Bing Ji fell ill he sent me morning and night to check on the child’s bedding.

教宣皇帝時，臣上書言狀，幸得下吉，吉謙讓不敢自伐，刪去臣辭，專歸美於組、徽卿。 When Emperor Xuan came to the throne I, Zun, reported the story; Bing Ji struck out my lines and gave the credit to Hu Zu and Guo Zhengqing.

組、徽卿皆以受田宅賜錢，吉封為博陽侯，臣尊不得比組、徽卿。 Hu Zu and Guo Zhengqing received land and cash while Bing Ji was ennobled; I, Zun, cannot rank with them.

吉子顯坐微文奪爵為關內侯，臣愚以為宜復其爵邑，以報先入功德。」 Bing Ji’s son Xian lost his marquisate on a petty charge; I ask that his title be restored to reward his father’s virtue.’

上曰：「故丞相吉有舊恩，朕不忍絕。」 The emperor said, ‘The late Chancellor Bing Ji served me; I cannot destroy his line.’

成帝時，修廢功，以吉舊恩尤重，鴻嘉元年制詔丞相御史：「蓋聞褒功德，繼絕統，所以重宗廟，廣賢聖之路也。 In Emperor Cheng’s time, neglected services were restored to honor. Because Bing Ji’s old kindness was especially weighty, in the first year of Hongjia an edict was issued to the chancellor and imperial secretary: ‘We have heard that commending merit and virtue and continuing broken lines of succession are ways to honor the ancestral temples and broaden the path for worthies and sages.

故博陽侯吉以舊恩有功而封，今其祀絕，朕甚憐之。 Bing Ji was enfeoffed for old service, yet his line had failed; the emperor pitied it.

夫善善及子孫，古今之通誼也，其封吉孫中郎將、關內侯昌為博陽侯，奉吉後。」 Good done to the good should reach descendants; he therefore enfeoffed Bing Ji’s grandson Chang, a palace gentleman and marquis-within-the-passes, as Marquis of Boyang to continue the line.’

近觀漢相，高祖開基，蕭、曹為冠，孝宣中興，丙、魏有聲。 Among Han chancellors, Xiao He and Cao Shen stood first at the founding; under Emperor Xuan’s restoration Bing Ji and Wei Xiang won lasting fame.

Book of Han, Chapter 89Volume 78: Xiao Wangzhi · 5 passages

是時，大將軍霍光秉政，長史丙吉薦儒生王仲翁與望之等數人，皆召見。 While the great general Huo Guang governed, chief clerk Bing Ji nominated the scholar Wang Zhongweng along with Wangzhi and others; they were all called in.

時，丞相魏相、御史大夫丙吉亦以為羌虜且破，轉輸略足相給，遂不施敞議。 Chancellor Wei Xiang and Counselor Bing Ji judged the Qiang nearly beaten and supply adequate, so Zhang Chang's plan was dropped.

三年，代丙吉為御史大夫。 In the third year he succeeded Bing Ji as imperial counselor.

丞相丙吉年老，上重焉，望之又奏言：「百姓或乏困，盜賊未止，二千石多材下不任職。 The aged Chancellor Bing Ji still enjoyed imperial favor, yet Wangzhi reported: "The people still suffer; banditry continues; too many two-thousand-bushel officials are low in talent and unfit for office.

數月間，丙吉薨，霸為丞相。 Bing Ji died within months, and Ba stepped up to the chancellorship.

Book of Han, Chapter 101Volume 89: Upright Officials · 2 passages

五鳳三年，代丙吉為丞相，封建成侯，食邑六百戶。 In the third year of Wufeng he succeeded Bing Ji as chancellor, was ennobled as marquis of Jiancheng with six hundred households.

霸材長於治民，及為丞相，總綱紀號令，風采不及丙、魏、於定國，功名損於治郡。 Huang Ba's gifts lay in managing common folk. Once he took the chancellorship and had to orchestrate the whole bureaucracy, he lacked the presence of Bing Ji, Wei Xiang, or Yu Dingguo, and his renown dimmed beside what he had earned as a governor.