Qin and Han · Official

Zhong Jun 終軍

Attested BC 113

Passages: 26
Chapters: 4
Histories: 2

Overview

The translated histories identify Zhong Jun as an envoy, named individual, official, and scholar. This record brings together 26 passages from 4 chapters across 2 histories, with names, dates, relationships, offices, and events preserved as source-backed claims.

Names

Type	English	Chinese	Pinyin
Personal	Zhong Jun	終軍	Zhong Jun
Title	Remonstrance Grandee	諫大夫
Surname	Zhong	終	Zhong
Personal name	Zhong Jun	終軍	Zhōng Jūn
Alternate	Zhong the Boy	終童	Zhong Tong
Courtesy	Ziyun	子雲	Ziyun
Given		軍	Jun

Identity

Historicity: Historical
Identification: Named
Sex: Male

Sex: male
Explicit · shiji:113:s0063

Roles

Envoy
Named Individual
Official
Scholar

Life and dates

Death

Description: died when the Han envoys were killed in Southern Yue
Explicit · hanshu:075:s0129, hanshu:075:s0131

Age

Age: 18 · Context: selected as an erudite student
Explicit · hanshu:075:s0054
Age Text: over twenty · Context: at death
Explicit · hanshu:075:s0131

Attested activity

Source Date: Text: 元鼎四年 · Western Year: BC 113
Explicit · shiji:113:s0063

Career and standing

Label: Remonstrance Grandee / 諫大夫 · Action: held
Explicit · shiji:113:s0063
諫大夫
Explicit · hanshu:075:s0124
謁者給事中
Explicit · hanshu:075:s0057

Places and affiliations

Place: Jinan
Explicit · hanshu:075:s0052

Events and relationships

Kind: diplomatic · Role: envoy
Explicit · shiji:113:s0063

References in the histories

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

Book of Han, Chapter 74Volume 64a: Yan, Zhu, Wuqiu, Zhufu, Xu, Yan, Zhong, Wang, and Jia 1 · 2 passages

卷六十四上嚴朱吾丘主父徐嚴終王賈傳第三十三上 Chapter 64a: Biographies of Yan Zhu, Zhu Maichen, Wuqiu Shouwang, Zhufu Yan, Xu Le, Yan An, Zhong Jun, Wang Bao, and Jia Yi (part one).

後得朱買臣、吾丘壽王、司馬相如、主父偃、徐樂嚴安、東方朔、枚皋、膠倉、終軍、嚴蔥奇等，並在左右。 He soon gathered Zhu Maichen, Wuqiu Shouwang, Sima Xiangru, Zhufu Yan, Xu Le, Yan An, Dongfang Shuo, Mei Gao, Jiao Cang, Zhong Jun, Yan Congqi, and the rest in his inner circle.

Book of Han, Chapter 75Volume 64b: Yan, Zhu, Wuqiu, Zhufu, Xu, Yan, Zhong, Wang, and Jia 2 · 22 passages

卷六十四下嚴朱吾丘主父徐嚴終王賈傳第三十三下 Volume 64b, Part Two: biographies of Yan An, Zhu Mai Chen, Wuqiu Shouwang, Zhufu Yan, Xu Le, Yan Cang, Zhong Jun, Wang Bao, and Jia Yi—the thirty-third set of biographies, lower scroll.

終軍字子雲，濟南人也。 Zhong Jun, whose courtesy name was Ziyun, came from Jinan.

至府受遣，太守聞其有異材，召見軍，甚奇之，與交結。 When he went to the yamen for his travel orders, the grand administrator heard reports of his gifts, called him in, was deeply impressed, and struck up a friendship.

軍揖太守而去，至長安上書言事。 Zhong Jun bowed once to the governor and left for the capital, where he filed a memorial on state policy.

武帝異其文，拜軍為謁者給事中。 Emperor Wu was struck by the quality of his prose and named him court herald with standing access to the inner palace.

軍上對曰： Zhong Jun responded with a memorial that read:

後數月，越地及匈奴名王有率眾來降者，時皆以軍言為中。 Within a few months Yue chiefs and noted Xiongnu princes began leading their followers in to surrender—just as Zhong Jun had predicted.

有詔下軍問狀，軍詰偃曰：「古者諸侯國異俗分，百里不通，時有聘會之事，安危之勢，呼吸成變，故有不受辭造命顓己之宜； An edict ordered Zhong Jun to examine the case. He questioned Xu Yan: 'In ancient times each feudal state kept its own ways; a hundred li might as well have been a world apart. Envoys hurried between courts because fortune could turn in a breath, so a minister might rightly assume emergency powers without waiting for a written order.

又詰偃：「膠東南近琅邪，北接北海，魯國西枕泰山，東有東海，受其鹽鐵。 Zhong Jun pressed further: 'Jiaodong borders Langye to the south and Beihai to the north; Lu lies against Mount Tai in the west and the Eastern Sea in the east—both regions already draw salt and iron from their own ground.

軍奏「偃矯制顓行，非奉使體，請下御史徵偃即罪。」 Zhong Jun memorialized: 'Xu Yan falsely invoked imperial authority and acted on his own. This is not the proper conduct of an envoy. I request that the matter be sent down to the Imperial Clerk, and that Xu Yan be summoned to answer for his crime.'

上善其詰，有詔示御史大夫。 The emperor commended Zhong Jun's cross-examination and issued an edict laying out the case for the Imperial Counselor.

初，軍從濟南當詣博士，步入關，關吏予軍繻。 Long ago, when Zhong Jun left Jinan to enroll as a student of the imperial academy, he entered the frontier pass on foot, and the gate officer handed him the return-token of split silk.

軍問：「以此何為？」 Zhong Jun asked, 'What is this for?'

軍曰：「大丈夫西游，終不復傳還。」 Zhong Jun said, 'A man of spirit who sets out for the west does not plan to slink home on a return pass.'

軍為謁者，使行郡國，建節東出關，關吏識之，曰：「此使者乃前棄繻生也。」 Later, as court herald on an inspection tour of the commanderies, Zhong Jun rode east through the same pass with the imperial credentia staff. The gate officer recognized him and exclaimed, 'This is the young scholar who threw away his chit!'

軍行郡國，所見便宜以聞。 Wherever he went, he reported every useful measure or abuse he observed.

當發使使匈奴，軍自請曰：「軍無橫草之功，得列宿衛，食祿五年。 When envoys were to be sent to the Xiongnu, Zhong Jun volunteered: 'I have never so much as thrown a blade of grass across the battlefield for the dynasty, yet I have stood in the palace guard and drawn a stipend for five years.

詔問畫吉凶之狀，上奇軍對，擢為諫大夫。 An edict asked him to spell out what he meant by laying out good and ill fortune. The emperor was so struck by his answer that he promoted him to Grandee Remonstrant.

南越與漢和親，乃遣軍使南越，說其王，欲令入朝，比內諸侯。 After Southern Yue sealed a marriage alliance with Han, the court dispatched Zhong Jun to persuade its king to come to audience and accept the status of an internal feudatory.

軍自請：「願受長纓，必羈南越王而致之闕下。」 Zhong Jun volunteered: 'Give me a long cord and I will bind the King of Southern Yue and haul him to the palace steps.'

軍遂往說越王，越王聽許，請舉國內屬。 Zhong Jun went south and won the king's ear; the king agreed to place his entire realm under Han.

軍死時年二十餘，故世謂之「終童」。 He was barely past twenty when he died, and posterity remembers him as 'Zhong the lad'—the boy who never grew old.

Book of Han, Chapter 76Volume 65: Dongfang Shuo · 1 passage

是時，朝廷多賢材，上復問朔：「方今公孫丞相，兒大夫、董仲舒、夏侯始昌、司馬相如、吾丘壽王、主父偃、硃買臣、嚴助、汲黯、膠倉、終軍、嚴安、徐樂、司馬遷之倫，皆辯知閎達，溢於文辭，先生自視，何與比哉？」 The court at that time teemed with talent, and the emperor pressed Shuo again: "Consider Chancellor Gongsun Hong, Censor-in-Chief Er Kuan, Dong Zhongshu, Xiahou Shichang, Sima Xiangru, Wuqiu Shouwang, Zhufu Yan, Zhu Maichen, Yan Zhu, Ji An, Jiao Cang, Zhong Jun, Yan An, Xu Le, Sima Qian, and men of that stamp. They are learned, articulate, and prolific writers. How do you measure yourself against such company?"

Records of the Grand Historian, Chapter 113Treatise on the Nanyue · 1 passage

令辯士諫大夫終軍等宣其辭，勇士魏臣等輔其缺，衛尉路博德將兵屯桂陽，待使者。 The court also ordered the eloquent Remonstrance Grandee Zhong Jun and others to present the arguments, the brave warrior Wei Chen and others to assist where needed, and the Commandant of Guards Lu Bode to station troops at Guiyang in readiness for the envoys.