Zao (藻) | 24 Histories

Overview

The translated histories identify Zao as a general, official, royal family member, and writer. This record brings together 14 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	Zao	藻	Zao
Courtesy name	Jingyi	靖藝	Jingyi
Childhood name	Kaye	迦葉	Jiaye
Title	Marquis of Xichang	西昌縣侯
Personal name	Zao	藻	Zao

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Strongly inferred · liangshu:023:s0035

Roles

General
Official
Royal Family Member
Writer

Life and dates

Death

Date Context: Source Date: Text: 太清三年 · Western Year: AD 549
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0090

Age

Age: 67 · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 太清三年 · Western Year: AD 549
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0090

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 天監元年 · Western Year: AD 502
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0124
Source Date: Text: 太清三年 · Western Year: AD 549
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0090
Source Date: Text: 普通六年 · Western Year: AD 525
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0069
Source Date: Text: 齊永元初 · Western Year: AD 499
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0123

Family

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

Parent of Yu (彧)
Kinship Term: eldest son / 長子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son · Object Birth Order: 1
Child of Yi (懿)
Kinship Term: son / 子 · Parentage: biological · Subject Role: father · Object Role: son
Sibling of Ye (業)
Kinship Term: younger brother / 二弟 · Shared Parentage: full · Subject Relative Age: elder
Kinship Term: younger brother of Prince Yuan / 元王弟 · Shared Parentage: full · Subject Relative Age: younger

Career and standing

Label: Governor of Danyang / 丹陽尹 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 中大通三年 · Western Year: AD 531
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0076
Label: Governor of Yong / 雍州刺史 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 天監十一年 · Western Year: AD 512
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0063
Label: Director of the Imperial Clan / 宗正卿 · Action: appointed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 普通七年 · Western Year: AD 526
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0070
Label: Governor of South Xuzhou / 南徐州刺史 · Action: appointed
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0085
Label: Governor of Yi / 益州刺史 · Action: appointed
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0125
Title: Marquis of Xichang / 西昌縣侯 · Action: enfeoffed · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 天監元年 · Western Year: AD 502
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0124
Status: title-restored · Action: entered · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 普通八年 · Western Year: AD 527
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0071
Status: refused food / self-starvation during Hou Jing rebellion · Action: entered
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0088, liangshu:023:s0089
Label: stripped of office and fief / 免官削爵土 · Action: punished · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 普通六年 · Western Year: AD 525
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0069

Places and affiliations

Polity: Liang / 梁 · Relation: served
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0124
Polity: Southern Qi / 齊 · Relation: served
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0123
Place: Woyang / 渦陽 · Relation: posted-to · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 大通元年 · Western Year: AD 527
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0073

Learning and skills

Skill: literary composition / 文辭 · Level: skilled
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0062

Works and attributed material

Kind: speech · Role: speaker · Quoted: true
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0088

Events and relationships

Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: northern campaign against Woyang; withdrew · Other Person Id: Zhengde (正德) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 普通六年 · Western Year: AD 525
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0069
Kind: military · Role: commander · Action: suppressed Jiao Senghu rebellion · Other Person Id: Jiao Senghu (焦僧護) · Date Context: Source Date: Text: 天監元年 · Western Year: AD 502
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0126, liangshu:023:s0131
Relation: colleague-on-campaign-with · Person Id: Zhengde (正德)
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0069

Assessments and attributes

Assessment: model of imperial clan conduct · Provenance: Mode: historian-judgment
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0081

Source notes

From: Kaye / 迦葉 · To: Zao / 藻 · Kind: childhood-name
Explicit · liangshu:023:s0078

References in the histories

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

Book of Liang, Chapter 23Volume 23: Ye, Prince of Changsha; Boyou, Prince of Yongyang; Yuanjian, Prince of Hengyang; Xiang, Prince of Guiyang · 14 passages

Open chapter

宣武之難，與二弟藻、象俱逃匿。 When Prince Xuanwu met his death, he went into hiding together with his younger brothers Zao and Xiang.

藻字靖藝，元王弟也。 Zao, styled Jingyi, was the younger brother of Prince Yuan.

藻年未弱冠，集僚佐議，欲自擊之。 Zao was not yet twenty. He gathered his aides to deliberate and wanted to attack the rebels himself.

或陳不可，藻大怒，斬于階側。 Someone stated that this was impossible; Zao became furious and had him beheaded beside the steps.

賊乃夜遁，藻命騎追之，斬首數千級，遂平之。 The rebels then fled by night. Zao ordered cavalry to pursue them, took several thousand heads, and pacified them.

藻性謙退，不求聞達。 Zao was by nature modest and retiring, seeking neither fame nor advancement.

時渦陽始降，乃以藻爲使持節、北討都督、征北大將軍，鎮于渦陽。 Woyang had just surrendered, and Zao was appointed with the emissary staff as Northern Campaign Commander-in-Chief and General Who Conquers the North, with his headquarters at Woyang.

高祖每歎曰：「子弟並如迦葉，吾復何憂。」 Emperor Wu often sighed and said, 'If all my sons and nephews were like Kaye, what would I have to worry about?'

迦葉，藻小名也。 Kaye was Zao's childhood name.

入爲安左將軍、尚書左僕射，加侍中，藻固辭不就，詔不許。 He was recalled as General Who Pacifies the Left and Vice Director of the Left of the Secretariat with the additional title Attendant-in-Chief. Zao firmly declined, but the edict would not allow it.

藻性恬靜，獨處一室，床有膝痕，宗室衣冠，莫不楷則。 Zao was tranquil by nature. He lived alone in a single room, and the marks of his knees were worn into his couch. Throughout the imperial clan and the gentry, all looked to him as a model.

侯景亂，藻遣長子彧率兵入援，及城開，加散騎常侍、大將軍。 During Hou Jing's rebellion, Zao sent his eldest son Yu to lead troops to relieve the capital. When the city fell he was given the additional titles Regular Attendant and Great General.

景遣其儀同蕭邕代之，據京口，藻因感氣疾，不自療。 Hou Jing sent his officer Xiao Yong to replace him and seized Jingkou. Zao fell ill with a wasting disorder and refused to seek treatment.

或勸奔江北，藻曰：「吾國之台鉉，位任特隆，旣不能誅剪逆賊，正當同死朝廷，安能投身異類，欲保餘生。」 Some urged him to flee north of the Yangzi. Zao said, 'I am a pillar of the state, my rank and responsibility exceptionally great. Having failed to destroy the rebels, I ought to die with the court. How could I cast my lot among alien peoples merely to preserve what life remains?'