Wei Boyu (衛伯玉) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Wei Boyu as an aristocrat, general, military officer, and official. This record brings together 13 passages from 2 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Wei Boyu	衛伯玉	Wei Boyu
Given name	Boyu	伯玉	Boyu
Given	Boyu	伯玉	Boyu
Title	Duke of Hedong commandery	河東郡公
Title	Prince of Chengyang commandery	城陽郡王
Surname	Wei	衛	Wei
Personal name	Wei Boyu	衛伯玉	Wei Boyu
Personal	Wei Boyu	衞伯玉	Wei Boyu

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · jiutangshu:119:s0139, xintangshu:141:s0174

Roles

Aristocrat
General
Military Officer
Official

Life and dates

Death

Manner: illness · Place: capital / 京師 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 大歷十一年二月 · Lunar Month: 2 · Western Year: AD 776
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0098
Statement: died after returning to the capital
Explicit · xintangshu:141:s0185

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 乾元二年十月 · Lunar Month: 10 · Western Year: AD 759
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0143
Source Date: Text: 上元二年二月 · Lunar Month: 2 · Western Year: AD 761
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0147, jiutangshu:119:s0148
Source Date: Text: 大歷十一年二月 · Lunar Month: 2 · Western Year: AD 776
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0098
Source Date: Text: 乾元二年 · Western Year: AD 759
Explicit event contextual date · xintangshu:141:s0178
Source Date: Text: 大歷十一年 · Western Year: AD 776
Explicit event contextual date · xintangshu:141:s0184
Source Date: Text: 天寶中 · Western Interval: Start: AD 742 · End: AD 756
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0140
Source Date: Text: 天寶中 · Western Interval: Start: AD 742 · End: AD 756
Explicit event contextual date · xintangshu:141:s0176
Source Date: Text: 廣德元年 · Western Year: AD 763
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0094, jiutangshu:119:s0095
Source Date: Text: 廣德元年 · Western Year: AD 763
Explicit event contextual date · xintangshu:141:s0182
Source Date: Text: 至德元載 · Western Year: AD 756
Explicit event contextual date · jiutangshu:119:s0141

Family

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Child of Mother of Wei Boyu (衛伯玉之母)
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: mother · Object Role: son · Line: maternal
Kinship Term: mother / 母 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: son · Object Role: mother · Line: maternal

Career and standing

Label: Censor-in-Chief / 御史大夫 · Action: appointed · Concurrent: true · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 廣德元年 · Western Year: AD 763
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0095
Label: Honorary General of the Imperial Guards / 員外諸衛將軍 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 天寶中 · Western Interval: Start: AD 742 · End: AD 756
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0140
Label: Mayor of Jingling / 江陵尹 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 廣德元年 · Western Year: AD 763
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0095
Label: military commissioner of Jingnan / 荊南節度使 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 廣德元年 · Western Year: AD 763
Explicit · xintangshu:141:s0182
Label: Military Governor and Observation Commissioner of Jingnan / 荊南節度觀察等使 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 廣德元年 · Western Year: AD 763
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0095
Label: Army Commissioner of the Shence Army / 神策軍兵馬使 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0142
Label: Grand General of the Right Yulin Army / 右羽林軍大將軍 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0144
Label: Military Commissioner of the Shence Army / 神策軍節度 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0146
Label: Military Governor of the Four Garrisons and Beiting campaign headquarters / 四鎮、北庭行營節度使 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0145
Label: Minister of Works by inspection / 檢校工部尚書 · Action: appointed
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0096
Label: Shence army commander / 神策兵馬使 · Action: held
Explicit · xintangshu:141:s0177
Title: Duke of Hedong commandery / 河東郡公 · Action: enfeoffed
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0149
Title: Prince of Chengyang commandery / 城陽郡王 · Action: enfeoffed
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0096
Label: Special Grand Master / 特進 · Action: advanced
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0149
Title: prince of Chengyang / 城陽郡王 · Action: advanced · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 廣德元年 · Western Year: AD 763
Explicit · xintangshu:141:s0182
Title: duke of Hedong / 河東郡公 · Action: granted
Explicit · xintangshu:141:s0181
Status: mourning · Action: entered · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 大歷初 · Western Interval: Start: AD 766 · End: AD 768
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0097

Places and affiliations

Label: Tang / 唐 · Relation: served
Strongly inferred · jiutangshu:119:s0139
Place: Anxi / 安西 · Relation: traveled-to · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 天寶中 · Western Interval: Start: AD 742 · End: AD 756
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0140

Learning and skills

Skill: martial arts / 藝 · Level: practiced from childhood
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0139

Events and relationships

Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: defeated Li Guiren · Other Person Id: Li Guiren (李歸仁) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 乾元二年 · Western Year: AD 759
Explicit · xintangshu:141:s0178
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: defeated Shi Chaoyi · Other Person Id: Shi Chaoyi (史朝義)
Explicit · xintangshu:141:s0180
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: defeated-rebels · Place: Yongning / 永寧 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 上元二年二月 · Lunar Month: 2 · Western Year: AD 761
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0148
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: defeated · Other Person Id: Li Guiren (李歸仁) · Place: Jiangzi Slope / 疆子阪 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 乾元二年十月 · Lunar Month: 10 · Western Year: AD 759
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0143
Kind: political · Role: actor · Action: incited-refusal-of-replacement-and-recalled-from-mourning · Other Person Id: Wang Ang (王昂)
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0097
Kind: travel · Role: actor · Action: returned-from-Anxi-to-Changan · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 至德元載 · Western Year: AD 756
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0141

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: despised for seizing office while in mourning · Provenance: Mode: named-source-report
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0097
Assessment: fierce warrior but still a soldier for grasping office in mourning · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0134
Assessment: retention during mourning despised · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · xintangshu:141:s0183
Kind: physical-description · Statement: great physical strength
Explicit · jiutangshu:119:s0139

References in the histories

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

Old Book of Tang, Chapter 119Volume 115 Biographies 65: Cui Qi, Zhao Guozhen, Cui Guan, Jing Kuo, Wei Yuanfu, Wei Shaoyou, Wei Boyu, Li Cheng · 8 passages

Open chapter

衛伯玉，有膂力，幼習藝。 Wei Boyu was powerfully built and had practiced martial arts since childhood.

肅宗即位，興師靖難，伯玉激憤，思立功名，自安西歸長安。 When Suzong ascended the throne and raised an army to quell the rebellion, Boyu burned with indignation, eager to win merit and fame, and returned from Anxi to Chang'an.

乾元二年十月，逆賊史思明遣偽將李歸仁鐵騎三千來犯，伯玉以數百騎於疆子阪擊破之，積屍滿野，虜馬六百匹，歸仁與其黨東走。 In the tenth month of 759 the rebel Shi Siming sent the false general Li Guiren with three thousand armored cavalry to attack. Boyu met them with several hundred horsemen at Jiangzi Slope and routed them. Corpses covered the ground, six hundred horses were captured, and Guiren fled east with his followers.

獻俘百余人至闕下，詔解縛而赦之，遷伯玉神策軍節度。 He presented more than a hundred captives at court; an edict ordered their bonds removed and granted them pardon, and Boyu was made military commissioner of the Shence Army.

伯玉以兵逆擊，大破賊於永寧。 Boyu met the attack with troops and routed the rebels at Yongning.

以伯玉有幹略，可當重寄，乃拜江陵尹、兼御史大夫，充荊南節度觀察等使。 Because Wei Boyu had capacity and resolve fit for grave responsibility, he was appointed mayor of Jingling, concurrent censor-in-chief, and military governor and observation commissioner of Jingnan.

大歷初，丁母憂，朝廷以王昂代其任，伯玉潛諷將吏不受詔，遂起復以本官為荊南節度等使，時議醜之。 Early in the Dali era he entered mourning for his mother; the court sent Wang Ang to replace him. Boyu secretly incited his officers and clerks to refuse the order, and was recalled from mourning to his former post as Jingnan commissioner—contemporaries despised him for it.

伯玉破敵立功，足為猛士，丁憂冒寵，終是武夫。 Boyu broke the enemy and won merit worthy of a fierce warrior; yet seizing office while still in mourning for his mother shows him still a soldier at heart.

New Book of Tang, Chapter 141Volume 141 Biographies 66: Cui, Deng, Wei, Wei, Li Han, Lu, Gao · 5 passages

Open chapter

衞伯玉，史失其何所人。 Wei Boyu — the histories do not record his birthplace.