Gongsha Mu (公沙穆) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Gongsha Mu as an administrator, diviner, hermit, and military officer. This record brings together 10 passages from 1 chapter across 1 history, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Gongsha Mu	公沙穆	Gongsha Mu
Personal name	Gongsha Mu	公沙穆	Gongsha Mu
Courtesy name	Wenyi	文乂	Wenyi

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · houhanshu:093:s0016

Roles

Administrator
Diviner
Hermit
Military Officer
Official
Scholar
Teacher

Life and dates

Death

Circumstance: died in office as commandant of the dependent state of Liaodong · Source Text: 年六十六，卒官
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0042

Age

Age: 66 · Reckoning: Chinese years (年六十六) · At Event: death
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0042

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 永寿元年 · Regnal Year: 1 · Reign Name: 永寿 · Western Year: AD 155
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0039, houhanshu:093:s0040
Source Date: Text: 公沙穆历官（永寿元年之前，无纪年） · Western Interval: Start: AD 120 · End: AD 155
Derived · houhanshu:093:s0021, houhanshu:093:s0027

Family

Kinship Role: sons · Count: 6 · Note: all six sons became known names (六子皆知名)
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0043

Career and standing

Label: director of affairs / 主事 · Action: appointed
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0027
Label: magistrate of Hongnong / 弘农令 · Action: promoted · Jurisdiction: Hongnong county / 弘农
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0036
Label: minister of Zeng / 缯相 · Action: promoted · Jurisdiction: marquisate of Zeng / 缯
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0027
Label: commandant of the dependent state of Liaodong / 辽东属国都尉 · Action: promoted
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0041
家贫贱
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0017
Action: arrested and interrogated · Description: seized and examined all of the marquis's retainers and clients who broke the law · Source Text: 其苍头兒客犯法，皆收考之
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0034

Places and affiliations

Place: Jiaodong, Beihai commandery / 北海胶东 · Relation: native-of
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0016
Place: the Jian Mountains / 建成山 · Relation: resided-in · Description: built a hut against forest and cliff and slept alone without a companion
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0018
Place: Mount Donglai / 东莱山 · Relation: withdrew-to · Description: lived in seclusion there and scholars came from afar to study with him
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0021

Learning and skills

Action: studied · Life Stage: adulthood · Subjects: the Han Poetry / 韩诗, the Gongyang Spring and Autumn Annals / 公羊春秋, the numerology of the Yellow River Chart and Luo River Writing / 《河》《洛》推步之术
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0017
Credential: Filial and Incorrupt / 孝廉 · Action: nominated · Note: placed in the high grade (高第)
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0027
Belief: wealth and rank rest with Heaven and depend on fate / 富贵在天，得之有命 · Relation: professed
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0025
Skill: prognostication from celestial signs / 占候 · Level: expert
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0040

Works and attributed material

Kind: prayer · Role: speaker · Status: quoted · Summary: if the people have sinned the guilt is Mu's own; he asked to offer his own body in prayer
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0038
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Liu Chang (刘敞) · Status: quoted · Summary: on taking office he told the Marquis of Zeng that the capital called Zeng cursed with a wicked marquis, rebuked him for transgressing the statutes despite his inherited fief, and urged him to mend his ways
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0029, houhanshu:093:s0030, houhanshu:093:s0031, houhanshu:093:s0032
Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Other Person Id: Wang Zhong (王仲) · Status: quoted · Summary: thanked Wang Zhong but declared that wealth and rank rest with Heaven and that he could not bear to seek office with money
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0024, houhanshu:093:s0025, houhanshu:093:s0026

Events and relationships

Kind: uncanny · Role: subject · Action: a voice called his name three times amid violent wind and thunder and then entered through the window; he kept reciting his texts and refused to answer · Outcome: nothing further happened · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 公沙穆历官（永寿元年之前，无纪年） · Western Interval: Start: AD 120 · End: AD 155
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0019, houhanshu:093:s0020
Kind: personal · Role: recipient of an offer · Other Person Id: Wang Zhong (王仲) · Action: declined Wang Zhong's offer of a million cash as capital for advancement · Outcome: refused to buy office with money · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 公沙穆历官（永寿元年之前，无纪年） · Western Interval: Start: AD 120 · End: AD 155
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0022, houhanshu:093:s0023, houhanshu:093:s0024, houhanshu:093:s0025, houhanshu:093:s0026
Kind: administrative · Role: minister of Zeng · Other Person Id: Liu Chang (刘敞) · Action: memorialized to confiscate the fields Liu Chang had seized from officials and commoners, deposed the concubine's son and restored the legitimate heir · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 公沙穆历官（永寿元年之前，无纪年） · Western Interval: Start: AD 120 · End: AD 155
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0033
Kind: disaster-relief · Role: magistrate · Action: read the omens in advance and ordered the people to move to high ground before the Yongshou floods · Outcome: the people of Hongnong alone escaped harm · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 永寿元年 · Regnal Year: 1 · Reign Name: 永寿 · Western Year: AD 155
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0039, houhanshu:093:s0040
Kind: ritual · Role: officiant · Action: set up an altar and prayed to take the people's guilt on himself when caterpillars devoured the crops · Outcome: a violent rain fell, the sky cleared before nightfall and the pests vanished
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0037, houhanshu:093:s0038, houhanshu:093:s0039
Relation: remonstrated-with · Person Id: Liu Chang (刘敞) · Description: remonstrated bitterly until Liu Chang wept, apologized and largely followed his counsel
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0035

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: divine (神明) · Source Text: 百姓称曰神明 · Provenance: Mode: popular-report
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0039
Assessment: extraordinary · Source Text: 时人奇之 · Provenance: Mode: contemporary-opinion
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0020
Assessment: good at winning the hearts of clerks and commoners · Source Text: 善得吏人欢心 · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0041
Kind: character · Statement: from childhood he disliked frivolous play · Source Text: 自为兒童不好戏弄
Explicit · houhanshu:093:s0017

References in the histories

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

Book of Later Han, Chapter 93Volume 82b: Biographies of Alchemists 2 · 10 passages

Open chapter

公沙穆 Gongsha Mu

公沙穆字文乂，北海胶东人也。 Gongsha Mu, styled Wenyi, was a native of Jiaodong in Beihai.

时，暴风震雷，有声于外，呼穆者三，穆不与语。 Once, amid howling wind and thunder, something outside called his name three times; he refused to answer.

有顷，呼者自牖而入，音状甚怪，穆诵经自若，终亦无它妖异，时人奇之。 Presently the voice slipped in through the window, weird in timbre and shape, yet Mu went on chanting his texts undisturbed, and nothing further happened—onlookers marveled at his composure.

谓穆曰：“方今之世，以货自通，吾奉百万与子为资，何如？” Wang said to Mu, "These days connections are bought with money. I will give you a million cash as seed money—will you take it?"

对曰：“来意厚矣。 Mu replied, "Your kindness is deep.

穆到官，谒曰：“臣始除之日，京师咸谓臣曰‘缯有恶侯’，以吊小相。 On taking office Mu presented himself and said, "The day my commission was issued, everyone at court told me, 'Zeng is cursed with a vicious marquis,' and condoled me as if I were walking into a trap.

因苦辞谏敞，敞涕泣为谢，多从其所规。 Mu remonstrated until it hurt; Chang wept and apologized, and largely yielded to his counsel.

穆乃设坛谢曰：“百姓有过，罪穆之由，请以身祷。” Mu built an altar and took the blame: "If the people have sinned, the fault is mine; let me offer myself in prayer."

穆明晓占候，乃豫告令百姓徙居高地，故弘农人独得免害。 Mu read the omens and warned everyone to relocate to high ground, so Hongnong alone was spared.