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卷十六 魏書十六 任蘇杜鄭倉傳

Volume 16: Book of Wei 16 - Biographies of Ren, Su, Du, Zheng, and Cang

Chapter 16 of 三國志 · Records of the Three Kingdoms
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Chapter 16
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1
簿 使
Ren Jun, style Boda, came from Zhongmou in Henan commandery. Late in the Han, the realm was thrown into chaos, and the lands east of Hangu Pass were shaken. Yang Yuan, the magistrate of Zhongmou, was gripped by fear and wanted to resign his post and run. Ren Jun urged him: Dong Zhuo was the first to plunge the empire into revolt. Everyone glares at him, yet no one has moved first—not from lack of resolve, but because the moment to act has not felt safe. If you, my lord, will sound the first note, others are bound to answer in chorus. Yang Yuan asked, "Then what should we do?" Ren Jun replied: "East of the Pass lie over ten counties with at least ten thousand men fit to fight. If you temporarily act as Intendant of Henan, pull them together, and put them to use, you can carry the plan through." Yang Yuan accepted the plan and made Ren Jun his chief clerk. Ren Jun drew up a memorial authorizing Yang Yuan to act as Intendant of Henan, told the counties to stand their ground, and then mobilized the forces. Just then Cao Cao raised his army east of the Pass and crossed into Zhongmou. The people were unsure whom to follow; Ren Jun alone, with his townsman Zhang Fen, decided to bring the whole commandery over to Cao Cao. Ren Jun also mustered several hundred kinsmen and household retainers, and Yang Yuan marched with Cao Cao. Cao Cao was delighted, had Ren Jun appointed Colonel of Cavalry, married him to a cousin of his own household, and came to rely on him deeply. On every expedition Cao Cao mounted, Ren Jun stayed home to hold the lines and keep the army fed. Famine and drought had pinched the army's food supply. Jia Zhi of Yingchuan, who held the Feathered Forest inspectorate, urged the founding of agricultural garrisons, so Cao Cao named Ren Jun Diannong zhonglang general. He drafted settlers onto the fields around Xu, brought in a million hu of grain, and posted field officers across the commanderies. In a few years the bins were full wherever his system reached.
2
使 使 使 便 使 便便 怀 使
During the Guandu campaign Cao Cao put Ren Jun in charge of ordnance and supply lines. Enemy raiders kept severing the convoys, so he organized supply trains of a thousand carts apiece, ran ten parallel columns, and screened them with interlocking camps in layered formation until the raiders no longer dared come near. The wealth of arms and administration that followed began with Jia Zhi's idea and was finished by Ren Jun's execution. 〈The Wei Wu Stories preserves an edict: The former Chenliu prefect Jia Zhi was loyal and able by nature. From the first we had raised the loyal host together and campaigned side by side. Later, with Yuan Shao in Ji Province, he coveted Jia Zhi as well and tried to win him over. Jia Zhi pinned his loyalty on me alone, so I put him in as magistrate of Dong'e. When Lü Bu rose, Yan Province went over to him wholesale, yet Fan and Dong'e held out—because Jia Zhi defended them with arms. When the main host later ran short of grain, seizing Dong'e to keep the line open was Jia Zhi's doing. After the Yellow Turbans were crushed and Xu secured, we took over their stores and assets. When the garrison farms were to be set up, the consensus was to tally draft oxen, set grain quotas, and codify the tenant rules. Once the scheme ran, Jia Zhi argued that leasing oxen for a fixed grain rent would not raise yields in bumper years and would be a disaster when flood or drought struck. He kept pressing the point, but I still thought we should stick with the old rule and not flip policy every time yields swung. Jia Zhi would not let it go. Unsure whom to believe, I told him to take it up with Xun Yu. The former army libationer Hou Sheng said, Requisitioning government oxen suits state-run fields; Jia Zhi's plan helps the treasury but hurts the tenants. Under Jia Zhi's formula the government gains ease at the settlers' expense. Hou Sheng nursed that line of argument and tried to sow doubt in Xun Yu. Jia Zhi still trusted his own figures, came back with his calculations, and insisted on the field-allotment method. I came round, named him Diannong commandant, and put the farm colonies into operation. That season brought a bumper crop; from that foundation the big farms spread, the armies were fed, the rebels were broken, the empire was pacified, and the house of Han was strengthened. Jia Zhi had built that achievement yet died young; even a posthumous county marquisate did not repay what he had earned. On reflection Jia Zhi deserved a fief long ago; the delay has been my mistake. His son Chuzhong should receive a title and rank so that offerings to Jia Zhi may endure. The Biographies of Literati notes that Jia Zhi was born Ji; an earlier generation had changed the name to Zao ("jujube") while fleeing persecution. His descendant Sun Ju, style Daoyan, became Jin's provincial inspector of Ji. Sun Ju's son Sun Song, style Taichan, rose to supernumerary cavalier attendant-in-ordinary. Both were celebrated writers and left a large body of work. Sun Song's elder brother Sun Tian, style Xuanfang, served as prefect of Xiangyang and was a stylist in his own right. Given Ren Jun's stature, Cao Cao had him enfeoffed as village marquis at Du, with three hundred households, and promoted him to Colonel of the Long River.
3
Ren Jun was broad-minded and steady; he read situations clearly, and Cao Cao usually took his advice. In the hunger years he sheltered friends' orphans and needy kinsmen, easing crises and carrying people through; his integrity was widely remarked. He died in the ninth year of Jian'an, and Cao Cao mourned him at length. His son Ren Xian inherited the title. Ren Xian died without an heir, and the fief lapsed. Emperor Wen, reviewing the old heroes, posthumously named Ren Jun Marquis Cheng ("the Accomplished"). He also ennobled Ren Jun's second son, Ren Lan, as a marquis within the passes.
4
使
Su Ze, style Wenshi, hailed from Wugong in Fufeng commandery. As a young man he was noted for scholarship and character; filial-and-incorrupt and abundantly-talented nominations came, and the high office summoned him, but he declined every time. He first entered service as prefect of Jiuquan, then moved on to Anding and Wudu, 〈the Book of Wei says Su Ze was blunt and incorruptible and modeled himself on Ji An. The Wei Summary adds that his clan had long been eminent; when the capital districts collapsed in the Xingping years, he fled north to Beidi, half starved. He settled in Anding under the roof of the rich commoner Shi Liang. Shi Liang stinted on hospitality, and Su Ze swore, "Order will return before long. I will come back as prefect of this commandery and grind people like you under my heel." Later he withdrew with Ji Mao of Fengyi and others to the southern Taibai range, passing the days with his library. When he was appointed prefect of Anding, Shi Liang and his ilk tried to bolt. Su Ze got wind of it and sent word ahead, then received them with full courtesy. Wherever he served, his authority was remembered.
5
使 西 怀 西 西 西西 怀 西
On Cao Cao's march against Zhang Lu he passed Su Ze's jurisdiction, took a liking to him, and kept him as pathfinder for the host. After Zhang Lu fell, Su Ze quieted the Di peoples around Xiaqi, reopened the Hexi road, and was shifted to prefect of Jincheng. The district was shattered: officials and people were scattered, starving, and the tax rolls were thin. Su Ze nursed the county back with painstaking care. He reached out to Qiang and Hu bands, took their herds on fair terms, and used the meat and milk to feed the destitute and the old. He shared his own rations with the refugees; within weeks wanderers were streaming back until he had regained several thousand households. He then posted clear laws: break them and you died; obey them and you were rewarded. He went into the fields himself to show farmers how to sow; the harvest ran rich, and daily more people pledged allegiance. When Li Yue revolted in Longxi, Su Ze led allied Qiang and Hu to ring his walls until Li Yue sued for peace. After Cao Cao's death, Qu Yan of Xiping rose in revolt and proclaimed himself colonel protecting the Qiang. Su Ze mobilized troops to crush him. Qu Yan panicked and offered submission. Emperor Wen, crediting his service, added the colonelcy protecting the Qiang and ennobled him as a marquis within the passes. 〈The Wei Notable Officials Memorials preserves Emperor Wen's question to Yong inspector Zhang Ji: Su Ze, acting prefect of Jincheng, has already shown skill at calming the people and the tribes. I hear he marched west again to secure Huangzhong and stiffened Hexi— I am much pleased. Does Su Ze's record warrant a raise in rank and fief? Titles are serious business, which is why I put it to you. Answer me privately and do not leak this. Zhang Ji answered: Jincheng had been gutted by Han Sui's raids—corpses, refugees, and people driven into the hills or bandit gangs—until fewer than five hundred households remained. When Su Ze took office he healed the maimed county within and drew the scattered population back; the registers now list over a thousand households. The mixed Qiang bands of Liang and Shao had ridden with Han Sui; after Han Sui fell they spilled past the frontier walls. Su Ze coaxed them in waves until more than three thousand camps came back under the county; he treated them with equal parts firmness and grace, and they served the government loyally. When Qu Yan of Xiping first fomented treason, Su Ze marched out, seized him by the throat: Qu Yan handed over hostages, cut the rebels' grain, and yielded. He has shown he can succor commoners and keep Qiang and Hu in balance while holding absolute loyalty. Under an enlightened court, merit is always entered in the books. Promoting Su Ze with added rank and lands would reward faithful service and set a worthy example for the realm.
6
西 西
Qu Yan later roped in neighboring districts: Zhang Jin of Zhangye held prefect Du Tong hostage, Huang Hua of Jiuquan rejected prefect Xin Ji, and both men declared themselves prefect to answer the revolt. Meanwhile the three Hu confederations of Wuwei raided in concert, severing every highway. Guqiu Xing, the Wuwei prefect, sent Su Ze desperate pleas for help. The great families of Yong and Liang were sweeping Qiang and Hu herdsmen into Zhang Jin's camp, and local opinion held that Zhang Jin was unstoppable. Besides, Generals Hao Zhao and Wei Ping already held Jincheng under orders not to march farther west. Su Ze called in the county notables, Hao Zhao, and Qiang headmen and said: The rebels look formidable, but they are a patchwork force; many were dragooned and cannot all mean the same thing; Hit them at the fault lines and the loyal will peel away from the traitors; every man who comes to us tips the scales in our favor. We gain strength from every defection and double our fighting spirit; press the attack and we are bound to break them. If we sit still for the main host, the siege drags on, decent folk have no refuge, and they will slide into the rebel camp; once good and bad fuse, prying them apart becomes nearly impossible. We have imperial orders on paper, but exigency overrides routine; I am taking responsibility here. Hao Zhao and the rest agreed; they marched to relieve Wuwei, forced the three Hu groups to yield, and joined Guqiu Xing against Zhang Jin at Zhangye. Qu Yan heard the news and rode out with three thousand horse and foot to "reinforce" Su Ze—while actually planning a coup. Su Ze invited him in, cut him down at the parley, exposed the corpse to the troops, and his followers bolted. Su Ze then combined with the other columns, stormed Zhangye, executed Zhang Jin and his clique, and the city capitulated. Qu Yan's force broke; Huang Hua, terrified, freed his prisoners and sued for peace, and Hexi was quiet again. Su Ze then marched back to Jincheng. The court raised him to capital-district village marquis with a fief of three hundred households.
7
鹿 怀忿
He was called to court as palace attendant, sharing a desk with Dong Zhao. Dong Zhao once tried to nap on Su Ze's lap; Su Ze shoved him away. "My knee is not a cushion for flatterers," he said. When Cao Zhi and Su Ze learned the Wei had supplanted the Han, each donned mourning and wept; the emperor was told of the prince's tears, not Su Ze's. In Luoyang Emperor Wen once mused aloud, "I answered Heaven's call and took the succession in good order, yet someone was weeping—what did that mean?" Su Ze assumed the question was aimed at him; his beard bristled as he prepared a blunt defense. A gloss on Fu Xun's name marks the character the cited text with the fanqie spelling the cited text. Su Ze said, "I was not speaking of you, sir." He held his tongue. 〈The Wei Summary notes that attendants once waited on the emperor's toilet, which earned them the coarse nickname "pot-bearers," literally "tiger-cub holders." Ji Mao, a townsman of Su Ze, had lately served as a county magistrate and been parked in a sinecure. Ji Mao needled him: "There is more to a career than holding the imperial pot." Su Ze laughed back, "I could never copy you, limping along in that deer cart of yours." While Su Ze was still in Jincheng he heard the Han emperor had abdicated and assumed the sovereign had died, so he went into mourning; when he learned the old emperor still lived, he felt he had misread events and fell silent. Cao Zhi, brooding that he had lost his father's favor, wept in bitter resentment. Later, on an outing, Emperor Wen still smarted at Cao Zhi's slight and told his retinue, "Not every heart welcomed me; when I took the throne, someone in the empire was crying." Courtiers knew the barb was meant for the prince of Linzhi, but Su Ze believed it pointed at him. He started to dismount to offer an apology. Fu Xun caught his eye, and the truth dawned on him. Sun Sheng writes that a scholar must not serve what he despises nor despise what he serves; choices of office are never trivial. Su Ze had already sworn fealty to Wei, yet he nursed a double heart and meant to speak out—hardly the way a gentleman weighs staying or going. The Classic of Poetry says, "That man knows no constancy; his loyalty shifts this way and that." If even a husband who wavers loses his match, what of a subject who does the same?
8
西使 鹿
Emperor Wen asked whether, now that Jiuquan and Zhangye were open and Dunhuang had sent inch-wide pearls, more could be bought in. Su Ze answered, If your civilizing power fills China and your virtue reaches the sands, tribute will arrive unbidden; anything you must bargain for is not truly precious. The emperor had no reply. On a later hunt the fences failed and a deer bolted. Emperor Wen flew into a rage, straddled a camp stool, drew steel, rounded up every overseer, and prepared to behead them. Su Ze kowtowed. Ancient sages never killed men over game, he said. You are cultivating the virtue of Yao, yet you would execute a host of officers for a hunting mishap—I cannot accept that. I beg you to spare them, even if it costs my life! You are the kind of minister who speaks plain truth, said the emperor. He released them all. From then on the court walked softly around him. In Huangchu 4 he was transferred downward to chancellor of Dongping. He sickened on the road before reaching his post and died; he was posthumously titled Marquis Gang, "the Stern." His son Su Yi inherited the title. Su Yi died childless, so the fief passed to his brother Su Yu. Under the Xianxi reign Su Yu rose to Minister of the Ministry. 〈Su Yu, style Xiuyu, later served as Minister of Ceremonies and as Grand Household Grandee, per the Jin roster of offices. Shan Tao's petition praised him as loyal, steady, and shrewd. Pei Songzhi adds that Su Yu's son Su Shao, style Shisi, became tutor to the Prince of Wu. Shi Chong married Su Shao's elder sister. Su Shao's verses appear in the Jingu anthology. His younger brother Su Shen became General of the Left Guard.)
9
使西
Du Ji, style Bohou, came from Duling in the Jingzhao region. 〈Fu Xuan's work states that Du Ji was a descendant of the Han Imperial Counselor Du Yannian. Yannian's father Zhou relocated from Nanyang to Maoling; Yannian himself moved the line to Duling, where later generations stayed.) He lost his father early, suffered under a harsh stepmother, and still earned a name for filial devotion. At twenty he was merit clerk for the commandery and acting magistrate of Zheng county. Several hundred inmates languished in jail; Du Ji went in person, weighed each case, and turned them all loose. Not every ruling was perfect, yet the commandery marveled that so young a man had such breadth of mind. Recommended as filial and incorrupt, he became assistant administrator of Hanzhong. When the empire collapsed he resigned and took refuge in Jing Province, returning north only in the Jian'an years. Xun Yu brought him to Cao Cao's attention. 〈Fu Xuan records that Du Ji reached Xu belatedly after leaving Jing, spent the entire night talking with Palace Attendant Geng Ji, while Minister Xun Yu lived next door. Overhearing the voices, Yu was impressed and at dawn sent word to Geng Ji: "When a man of the kingdom is under your roof and you hide him, how do you justify your office?" Once Yu met Du Ji he treated him like an old friend and sponsored him at court.) Cao Cao named him rectifier under the minister of works, then colonel protecting the Qiang with credentials, and had him act as prefect of Xiping. 〈The Wei Summary says Du Ji nursed large designs from boyhood. He stayed several years in Jing; after his stepmother died and the roads to the capital region reopened, he carried her coffin north for burial. Brigands waylaid the cortege and everyone scattered except Du Ji. When they loosed arrows he shouted, "You only want goods—I have none; why waste shafts on me?" The robbers relented. Back home, Intendant Zhang Shi of Jingzhao—an old friend from Hedong—put him on staff as merit clerk. Zhang Shi once faulted him for being too easygoing and inattentive to detail, calling him slipshod and unfit for the clerkship. Du Ji muttered, "Unfit for merit clerk, perhaps—but fit to govern Hedong."
10
西 使 簿 使
Once Cao Cao had pacified Hebei, Gao Gan revolted in Bing province. The Hedong prefect Wang Yi had been recalled; locals Wei Gu and Fan Xian pretended they only wanted Wang Yi back but were secretly in league with Gao Gan. Cao Cao told Xun Yu, The western commanders trust their mountains and cavalry; call them out and they will turn on us. Zhang Sheng is raiding the Xiao-Mian corridor, has opened a line south to Liu Biao, and Wei Gu is riding that unrest—the damage could go deep. Hedong is boxed by ranges and the Yellow River; every neighbor is volatile—it is a hinge of the empire. Find me another Xiao He or Kou Xun to lock it down. Xun Yu said, "Du Ji is the man you need." 〈Fu Xuan adds that Xun Yu praised Du Ji for courage in crisis and wit in shifting ground—worth giving the post.) The court thereupon named Du Ji prefect of Hedong. Wei Gu sent thousands to hold the Shaan ford, barring Du Ji from the river. Cao Cao ordered Xiahou Dun to attack, but Dun had not yet arrived. Advisers told Du Ji to wait for the main host. Du Ji replied, Hedong holds thirty thousand families—not every one means to rebel. If we ram a column in now, the loyal majority have no champion and will panic into obeying Wei Gu. Left in charge, Wei Gu and his clique will fight to the last man. Lose the first clash and every border district will rise; the empire will never settle. Win the same way and we have slaughtered a whole commandery for nothing. Besides, they have not formally renounced imperial authority; they only ask for their old prefect—they will not harm the new appointee. If I drive in alone, I take them by surprise. Wei Gu is full of plots but slow to act; he will pretend to welcome me. Give me one month inside the walls to work on them and that will be enough. He slipped away by a side road and forded at Doujin. Commentary: the place-name graph the cited text is read like the cited text.) The Wei Summary says Du Ji and Wei Gu had mocked each other as boys, and Gu had looked down on him. Once, during a board game, Du Ji told Wei Gu, "Zhongjian, I am about to take Hedong from you." Wei Gu hitched up his robe and cursed him roundly. When Du Ji arrived as prefect, Wei Gu was still merit clerk of the commandery. Zhang Shi had earlier governed Jingzhao as intendant. Du Ji went out to welcome the metropolitan superintendent and met Zhang Shi at Huayin; by etiquette each should carry his name tablet. Zhang Shi sighed, "Only yesterday you were my clerk—today you are the general of a commandery!" Fan Xian wanted to execute Du Ji as a warning to everyone. 〈Fu Xuan records Fan Xian arguing, You mean to play the tiger yet shrink from blood—that is not how tigers behave. If we spare him now, he will haunt us later. To test Du Ji's nerve they beheaded the chief clerk and over thirty subordinates in his antechamber; Du Ji never flinched. Wei Gu then said, Slaying him wins nothing but a bloody reputation; besides, he is already in our grip. They went through the motions of installing him as prefect. Du Ji told Wei Gu and Fan Xian, You two are Hedong's pillars; I am relying on you to finish what we began. Still, ruler and minister each have a role; we rise or fall together—major policy must be thrashed out together. He named Wei Gu area commander, acting assistant prefect, and kept him as merit clerk; he put more than three thousand officers, clerks, and soldiers under Fan Xian's command. The plotters were delighted: they paid lip service to Du Ji while treating him as a figurehead. When Wei Gu wanted a general mobilization, Du Ji objected: Grand designs fail if you panic the people first. A mass levy will set everyone on edge; pay bounties and recruit quietly instead. Wei Gu agreed. The cash levy dragged on for weeks while every captain pocketed the bounty and sent a skeleton squad. Du Ji went back with another plea: "Men long for their hearths—send the staff home on rotation; you can always call them back in a crisis." Fearing a backlash, Wei Gu and Fan Xian agreed again. Loyal officers were scattered abroad, quietly ready to rally to Du Ji; the ringleaders' followers drifted home until the rebel host melted away. Then White Rider raiders hit Dongyuan, Gao Gan slipped into Huoze, Shangdang counties murdered their magistrates, Hongnong rose against its prefect, and the reinforcements Wei Gu had called for were still nowhere in sight. Du Ji knew the counties were with him. He rode out with only a few dozen horsemen, seized the strongpoint at Zhangpi, and watched town after town throw in its militia until he had four thousand men within weeks. Wei Gu, Fan Xian, Gao Gan, and Zhang Sheng besieged Du Ji in vain, then pillaged the countryside and came away empty-handed. When the imperial host arrived, Gao Gan and Zhang Sheng broke; Wei Gu and his confederates went to the block while their followers were pardoned and sent home to rebuild their farms.
11
While the empire's counties lay in ruins, Hedong was the first to recover and suffered the lightest damage. Du Ji ruled with a light hand and generous relief, letting the people find their own rhythm. When neighbors sued one another he heard them in person, stated the moral stakes, and sent them home to think; anyone still aggrieved could return to court. Village elders scolded the litigants: "When the prefect shows such patience, how dare you defy him?" After that, lawsuits all but disappeared. He ordered the counties to lift corvée for filial sons, chaste widows, and dutiful grandsons and to commend them publicly. He phased in rules for breeding cows, horses, and even backyard poultry and swine until every household knew the quotas. Farmers worked harder, and every kitchen had grain in the jar. Du Ji said, "The people are prosperous now; it is time to teach them." That winter he drilled the militia, opened a school, and lectured on the classics himself until the commandery took on a scholarly air. 〈The Wei Summary credits him with launching the academic career of the erudite Yue Xiang. Even today Hedong breeds more classicists than most commanderies—Du Ji's legacy.)
12
西
When Han Sui and Ma Chao rose, Hongnong and Fengyi saw whole districts go over to them. Hedong bordered the war zone, yet its people never wavered. At Puban Cao Cao drew his lines along the Wei opposite the rebels and fed his entire army from Hedong's granaries. After the rebels collapsed, more than two hundred thousand hu of grain remained in the bins. Cao Cao proclaimed, Prefect Du Ji is the man Confucius meant when he said of Yu, 'I can find no flaw in him." Raise his stipend to the full two-thousand-shi grade. When Cao Cao marched on Hanzhong he drafted five thousand Hedong men as porters; they swore among themselves, "We get only one life—we will not disgrace our prefect." Not a single bearer deserted him; such was the devotion Du Ji inspired. 〈The Du family memoir adds that General Liu Xun, darling of Cao Cao's court, swaggered like a prince. He once demanded fine jujubes from Du Ji, who put him off with polite excuses. After Liu Xun fell under the law, Cao Cao read his correspondence and sighed, "Du Ji never curried favor at the stove." He broadcast Du Ji's virtues to every commandery, saying, Confucius never spoke of Yan Hui without a sigh of love; a ruler should hitch his cart to the best horse he owns. Today I want every official to lift his eyes to the high hills and long for the straight path. When the Wei kingdom was founded, Du Ji became a minister of the Ministry of Personnel. After order returned he wrote again: Xiao He held Guanzhong and Kou Xun held Henei for the Han—you have matched them; soon I will move you into the remonstrance bureau; but Hedong is the sinew of my state, the treasury that steadies the world, so for now I must ask you to stay and anchor it. Du Ji governed Hedong for sixteen years and kept it first in the empire's rankings.
13
使 退
When Cao Pi took the kingship he ennobled Du Ji as a marquis within the passes. He was recalled to serve as minister of personnel. At his accession the emperor raised the fief to village marquis at Fengle. The patent carried one hundred households, 〈the Wei Summary notes that early in his prefecture he was ordered to enroll war widows. Other commanderies dragged in every woman who had remarried, leaving them wailing in the ditches. Du Ji sent only genuine widows, so his lists were short; when Zhao Yan succeeded him the rolls suddenly swelled. Emperor Wen asked Du Ji, "Your tallies were thin; Zhao Yan's are fat—why?" Du Ji answered, "I listed only the widows of the fallen; Zhao Yan is shipping out wives who still have husbands." The emperor and his attendants exchanged stricken glances.) He was appointed metropolitan commandant. On the Wu expedition he left Du Ji as minister steward to run the capital. Later, when the emperor moved to Xuchang, Du Ji again held the fort. Ordered to build an imperial war-barge, he trial-sailed it on the Tao River, hit a squall, and went down with the hull. The emperor wept for him. 〈The Wei Clan Annals says a child once told Du Ji, "The Director of Fates sends for you." Du Ji pressed him; the child said, I am hunting a substitute minister for you. Keep this secret! With that the apparition vanished. Twenty years passed before Du Ji mentioned the vision. He died the same day at sixty-two.) The court proclaimed, Ancient Ming drowned while serving the floods; Ji collapsed on a mountain while teaching the people to sow. 〈Wei Zhao's gloss on the Guoyu quotes the Mao preface: Ming, sixth in Xie's line, held the Xia water office and drowned in the line of duty. Ji is Hou Ji: he spread grain across the realm and died on Mount Heishui in the west. Thus Minister Steward Du Ji, proving the new fleet at Mengjin, went under with his ship—the price of utter loyalty. I mourn him deeply. He was posthumously named grand coachman and given the title Marquis Dai, "the Bearer." His son Du Shu inherited the title. 〈Fu Xuan says Du Ji was close to Grand Coachman Li Hui and Prefect Guo Zhi of Dong'an. Li Hui's son Li Feng courted every brilliant man in the empire. Guo Zhi's son Guo Chong had depth but no polish, so neighbors underestimated him. When Du Ji became minister steward, both fathers presented their sons in formal calls. After they left Du Ji sighed, Li Hui leaves no worthy heir; worse, his house is heading for extinction; Guo Zhi might as well be immortal—his son can carry the line. Contemporaries thought Du Ji had lost his judgment. After Li Hui died, Li Feng rose to palace secretary until the whole clan was executed. Guo Chong became prefect of Dai and quietly upheld his father's reputation; only then did the world admit that Du Ji could read character. The Wei Summary gives Li Feng's father as Yi—likely another name for Li Hui.)
14
His son: Du Shu
15
怀
Du Shu, style Wubo, served in the Taihe years as supernumerary gentleman at the yellow gates. 〈The Du family memoir says Du Shu and Li Feng of Fengyi entered office through their fathers' rank and had been friends since boyhood. As they came of age, Li Feng burnished his name for the crowd while Du Shu stayed blunt and plain—they wanted different things from life. Li Feng briefly became a capital celebrity, and Luoyang literati sang his praises. Men at court whispered that Li Feng was overrated and that Du Shu was the rough gem. Li Feng resented him for it. Du Shu let his nature show and refused to trim his sails to fashion. Li Feng climbed the ladder while Du Shu stayed home, unperturbed. Emperor Ming, noting that Du Shu was a senior minister's son, named him supernumerary cavalier attendant and soon moved him to the yellow gates.) Du Shu valued plain good faith over polish and was little known in his youth. At court he avoided cliques and worked only for the state. Whenever policy swayed, he cited the statutes and spoke plainly; Xin Pi and other attendants came to respect him deeply.
16
The court debated reforms, and Du Shu argued that old-style provincial inspectors—who spread the six articles and ruled by moral gravity—should not also hold military command if civil government was to thrive. Soon afterward General Who Guards the North Lü Zhao was also given Ji province, 〈Contemporary gossip names Lü Zhao, style Zizhan, as a native of Dongping. His eldest son Lü Xun, style Changti, served the chancellor and won the favor of Sima Zhao (posthumously King Wen). His second son Lü An, style Zhongti, befriended Ji Kang and died beside him. Another son, Lü Cui, style Jiti, became intendant of Henan. Lü Cui's son Lü Yu, style Jingyu, rose to imperial censor.) He therefore submitted a memorial:
17
广 使
No royal policy matters more than settling the people; the way to settle them is to make them prosperous. Wealth grows when agriculture is honored and spending is curbed. The two rebel regimes still stand. Armies march again and again—this is the season for soldiers to earn their keep. Yet belted scholars chase martial glamour, thump the table over Sunzi and Wuzi, while prefects ignore husbandry and drill like field marshals. Farmers rush to the ranks instead of the plow—hardly "honoring the root." The vaults shrink while offices multiply; the people weaken while taxes swell—this is not "curbing waste." Wei holds ten provinces yet the rolls are thinner than a single Han commandery once boasted, while Shu and Wu defy the throne, the steppe remains hostile, and every frontier burns at once; we are stretching one province's population across nine—like flogging a starved horse on a long road—and must husband every ounce of strength. Even Martial Emperor Cao, frugal as he was, could not arm every province; he kept armies in only some twenty commanderies. Today the border provinces are all garrisoned; only Yan, Yu, Si, and Ji still feed the treasury and pin the barbarians. I have argued that civil prefects who also command troops neglect the people—better to post professional generals and let prefects govern; yet Your Majesty has again given Lü Zhao military charge over Ji. Ji is our richest register, its farms and orchards fill the granaries, and it should not be turned into another camp. If the north needs a shield, name a field commander and leave the prefect free. The cost of a separate garrison matches that of a combined post anyway. Lü Zhao may be easy to replace; but men who excel at both war and civil rule are rare at court. From this we see the kingdom must pick men for posts, not posts for men. Fit officials bring even rule and clear justice; even rule makes the people prosper, and clear justice empties the jails. At your accession the empire closed barely a hundred cases a year; now the dockets pass five hundred. The population is stable; the code is no crueler. The only reading is slack government and unworthy prefects. Last season's cattle plague cost the realm two head in ten; the wheat crop failed halfway, and winter wheat never went in. If Shu and Wu stir on the frontiers, convoys cannot cover a thousand li in time. Will bigger armies fix that? More crack troops mean more mouths to feed—another disease, not a cure. The empire is a body: a stout trunk can survive weak limbs; Yan, Yu, Si, and Ji are that trunk today. I beg the four interior prefects to husband agriculture so the limbs do not starve the belly. Lone voices fail, unpopular truths stall, slander piles up, and the wise ruler does not always hear us year after year. Men who say such things are usually lowborn outsiders; and their counsel is hard for the throne to swallow. If only kin and favorites may advise, they will never risk the four obstacles to loyalty—an old, chronic ill.
18
The court also debated merit ratings for every civil and military officer. Du Shu held that misused talent helps nothing: we chase the wrong targets and neglect what the age requires. He wrote:
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使 使 使 便使
The Shangshu says, "Test them by deeds; thrice rate and promote or dismiss"—the classic tool of sage kings. Match talent to office and pay for results—like Wu Huo lifting a thousand pounds or Bo Le picking a racer. Six dynasties never codified it, seven sages left no template—I say we can follow the spirit though the letter cannot be perfect. The proverb runs, "Ages may breed rogues, not bad laws." If statutes alone sufficed, Yao and Shun would not have needed Ji and Xie, nor Shang and Zhou their Yi Yin and Lü Shang. Today's memorialists cite Zhou and Han precedents and Jing Fang's forms—they grasp the idea of merit review. Yet to think that alone will revive courteous rule and orderly government falls short. The urgent reform is to route talent through the four subjects, prove performance, then promote to county magistrate and up the ladder by merit and fiefs. Publish the inspectors' code, enforce it with sure rewards and certain penalties, and put the author in charge of drafting it. Grand councillors must be rated by their portfolios as well.
20
Ancient three dukes debated policy at court; inner ministers checked every slip—praise and blame alike were logged. The realm is too vast for one pair of eyes to scan. The ruler is the head, ministers the limbs of one body. Hall pillars are never hewn from one log; no empire rests on one man's wit. How then can grandees police themselves with checklists and expect universal peace! Commoners still die for friends who trust them; how much more should belted ministers at court serve more than a patron's whim or their own fame!
21
使 使退
Men who hold high stipend do not serve only to exalt the throne above Yao and Shun; they hope to rank with Ji and Xie themselves. The ancients feared not weak zeal for order but weak self-demand—and that rests on the sovereign. Yao and Shun delegated to Ji, Xie, Kui, and Long and punished failure—Gun drowned, the Four Fiends exiled. Ministers who toil for the state, defy great clans, judge fairly, and speak dangerous truths are plain to a wise throne. Those who collect pay in silence, dodge blame, and smooth every edge are equally visible. If safety rewards the idle and integrity invites suspicion, private gossip replaces public duty—even Confucius could not sort talent; what hope for ordinary men? Students today ape Legalists and call Confucians useless—exactly the moral rot founders must fear.
22
The merit plan was never adopted. 〈The family memoir adds that Li Feng was a regular attendant, Yuan Kan had just moved from the yellow gates to director of personnel, and Xun Yǔ had gone out as prefect of Dong commandery—all three were Du Shu's classmates and friends.)
23
Lian Zhao of Le'an won promotion on merit and loved to lecture the throne. Du Shu answered with a blunt memorial:
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使使 使
I note that Gentleman Lian Zhao charged Left Aide Cao Fan with mishandling a fine that should have crossed his desk. He added that every other culprit should be listed separately. Minister Director Chen Jiao confessed fault without quibbling, refusing neither penalty nor blame—his tone was painfully sincere. I grieve for what this does to the court. Sages fit any age and any people, yet they need wise helpers because they lead by the Way and ritual. They won the people afar and drew every minister's wit at hand. If today's appointees are the empire's best yet cannot give their all, you are not using men well; if they are not the best, you are not filling offices well. You burn midnight oil, yet chaos spreads and laws slacken—surely the limbs fail the head. The fault is not only disloyal ministers but masters who cannot drive them. Baili Xi seemed a fool in Yu yet shone in Qin; Ying Rang served the Zhonghang lord meekly but died for Zhi Bo—proof that the ruler makes the man. To say every minister is disloyal in a single breath is to slander the whole court; yet the pattern is plain enough to read. You have pinched the palace wardrobe and emptied the privy purse for the armies, and the court applauds—yet which intimate minister loses sleep over the treasury?
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使 广使 使
Wang Cai and the court musician Meng Si scandalized Luoyang until a petty clerk exposed them—while not one grandee had spoken up. Since your accession, has any metropolitan commandant or imperial censor truly policed malfeasance and awed the bureaucracy? If you believe there are no Ji or Xie today, must you wait for another age to birth them? Today's "worthies" already draw fat salaries, yet few serve the throne with one heart because power is divided and gossip paralyzes them. Loyalty does not require favor, nor favor loyalty. Why? Because men free from suspicion can do their jobs. Outsiders who praise or blame are always read as carrying private grudges, and palace gossips fan the flames. The same suspicion poisons every debate on policy. You should widen ministers' hearts, steel their integrity, and make them aspire to a place in the histories. Letting men like Lian Zhao snipe from inside will teach every minister to hug his desk and watch the realm drift—an example our heirs will curse.
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使 使 退 使 使
The Duke of Zhou warned Lu not to leave great ministers idle—not "use only the wise" but use everyone fit for the hour. Yao praised Shun for purging the Four Fiends without fussing over rank—guilt meant removal. Ministers do not admit incompetence; they blame you for not using them; nor do they admit dullness; they say you never ask. Why not apply Zhou's way of hiring and Shun's way of firing? Keep attendants and ministers at your curtain, in your carriage, answering your questions face to face until every man's mettle shows. Promote the able, retire the dull, and no one will coast. Debate policy yourself: each man will feel known, strive to repay you, and talent will sort itself by your use. Rule that way and nothing stalls. Fight that way and no campaign fails. In every war edict you ask, Who will shoulder this worry? The answer runs, "I will shoulder that worry myself." A later edict adds, "No one truly forgets self for the state—yet whoever puts the state first manages all the same." I honor your insight into human selfishness, yet you still trim the branches while the root rots. Talent is innate, and I grant that not every appointee fits his chair. A wise ruler makes the able sweat and keeps the inept out of harm's way. One bad pick is not always a crime; but when the whole court winks at the wrong man, that is obscene. You do their jobs for them and tutor them line by line—is that rule, or is the master carrying the servants? No pair of sages could govern long that way.
27
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You fret over palace leaks and patronage, so you copy Yi Yin's guest registry and post "bad" clerks at every gate; yet intimidation is not the same as integrity. Under Han Andi, Dou Jia hired Guo Gong's innocent nephew and still faced a storm of impeachments. Today Kong Xian hired the grand general's wild younger brother while the censorate stayed mute, sniffing for signals worse than taking bribes. False nominations are the great cancer of personnel. 〈Pei Songzhi identifies the grand general as Sima Yi.) The Jin shu names Sima Yi's fifth brother Sima Tong as a metropolitan clerk. Du Shu probably meant this Sima Tong. Sima Tong's son Sima Shun held the village marquisate of Longyang. At the Jin usurpation he refused the new mandate, lost his fief, and was banished to Wuwei.) Dou Jia had palace ties and Guo Gong was no pillar of state—yet the law still bit; compare that to today: you never enforce the rod that would choke off faction. Yi Yin's guest-book and bully gatekeepers are not tools of good government. Adopt this counsel and villains vanish—why nurture another Lian Zhao?
28
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Exposing crime is loyal work, yet the world despises informers who trade on spite. If you reward spite as "public spirit" and whisper campaigns as "integrity," which great man would stoop to clerkish backbiting? They know what is right and simply decline to do it. If everyone abandons the Way for gain, you court the very plague a throne fears—why not uproot it at the sprout? Men who second-guess your wishes to curry favor are shallow rogues angling for smiles, not statesmen who mean to settle the realm. Change the incentives and show them: do you think they would cling to spite and defy you? A minister who reads the sovereign's mood keeps his post; a lofty title is glory; a thousand-zhong salary is wealth. Even dullards love rank and pay and hate to provoke you—they bend only because the Way compels them. I thought you would pity honest men and trust them more, not elevate Lian Zhao's malice above theirs. Foreign foes watch for slips while the people starve—you must weigh every cost of rule and never grow careless.
29
Du Shu spent eight years at court speaking blunt truth like this.
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宿 宿
He left for Hongnong, then after a few years became chancellor of Zhao, 〈the Wei Summary says he ruled Hongnong with mild benevolence. On his transfer Meng Kang succeeded him as prefect. Meng Kang, style Gongxiu, came from Anping. During Huangchu his tie to Empress Guo's clan won him a place among the nine kin and a move to supernumerary cavalier attendant. The post usually went to brilliant scholars; Meng Kang slipped in through the harem and earned the nickname "A-Jiu." Meng Kang, once he had (No gloss.) He proved his wit while parked in sinecures; he read widely and began drafting sharp memorials—polished, pointed—until the court took him seriously. In Zhengshi he became prefect of Hongnong and colonel of the agricultural garrison. He kept his hands clean, praised the able, pitied the weak, cut lawsuits, and ruled along the grain of local wishes. Of two hundred clerks he sent a quarter home each spring rotation. He made no off-the-books promises; on tour he ordered surveillance aides to ready irrigation and forbade staff from laying out elaborate welcomes. To spare the county he told his escort to carry sickles, cut their own fodder, skip post houses, camp under trees, and keep the train under a dozen men. His commandery lay on a highway, so he fed travelers only when statute required; friends paid their own way. At first people doubted a man who had never run a commandery; yet his kindness and skill won songs from every clerk and farmer. Late in Jiaping he was recalled from Bohai prefect to palace secretary, then promoted to director.) Illness forced him to resign. 〈The Du memoir says Du Shu quit Luoyang, fortified the Yiyang ravine called One Spring, and drew families into its cliffs.) At Emperor Ming's death many petitioned for his recall.) He returned as Hedong prefect, then north-of-Huai army protector, and again quit on health grounds. Wherever he served he kept to large principles; in sheer love of the people he never matched his father. Soon he was named imperial censor.
31
When Du Shu came back from Zhao, Ruan Wu of Chenliu was also recalled from Qinghe, and both men played humble before the commandant of justice. Ruan Wu told him, You have the gifts for high office yet refuse to push; you could master the classics yet lack one driving aim—you have talent without a channel. Use this quiet spell to write a book of your own. At Zhangwu he drafted the eight-part Treatise on the Body. 〈The memoir says he ranked the ruler-minister bond first among human duties; speech and conduct as the root of character; law and policy as the tool of rule; and arms as the cure for slaughter. Ritual is the "body" of all things; when each finds its proper form, good follows—hence the title.) He also wrote Stirring Nature, a meditation on self-cultivation. In the fourth year of the record he died in banishment.
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In Ganlu 2 the nonagenarian Yue Xiang of Hedong petitioned to honor Du Ji's legacy, and the court was stirred. An edict ennobled Du Shu's son Du Yu as village marquis at Fengle with one hundred households. 〈The Wei Summary identifies Yue Xiang, style Wenzai. As a youth he loved books. Early in Jian'an he heard that Xie Gai of Nan commandery, who ran the imperial carriage office, mastered the Zuo Commentary, so he walked from Nanyang to Xu to study every knotty point—those seventy-two "Yue clan" questions survive as his work. When he went home, Prefect Du Ji, another scholar, named him literary libationer to train the young, and Hedong scholarship caught fire. Huangchu brought him a summons as court erudite. The new Imperial Academy had a dozen doctors who taught narrowly, rarely lectured, and mostly warmed seats. Only Yue Xiang taught all five classics; when students stumbled he drew diagrams in the dust with his cane, analogized until midnight, never lost his temper, and became famous across the north. He mastered astronomy and helped the grand clerk reset the calendar. Taihe promoted him to commandant of cavalry. Brilliant but no administrator, he served three reigns without a prefecture. In Zhengshi he retired old to his estate, drawing thousands of kinsmen and students.)
33
Du Shu's memorials and debates repay reading; this chapter keeps only those that bear on statecraft. 〈The family memoir names his brother Du Li, style Wuzhong. Sharp and subtle as a boy, he so impressed Du Ji that his father named him Li, "the Pattern." He died at twenty-one. Another brother, Du Kuan, style Wushu, was a quiet mystic, acute and addicted to antiquity. Raised in Luoyang as a great minister's son, he shunned office politics, hunted arcane learning, and drew the powerful to his door. Filial-and-incorrupt nomination made him a gentleman. He died at forty-two. He left many unfinished critiques; only his edited Liji and Zuo Commentary notes survive.
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婿
Du Yu, style Yuankai, married Sima Yi's daughter. Wang Yin's Jin History calls him a master of strategy and order, quoting his motto that virtue is beyond reach but deeds and books are not. He dismissed the Gongyang and Guliang as hair-splitting. He blamed older scholars for misreading Zuo Qiuming and letting the two lesser traditions muddy him. He wove the Zuo text into the Spring and Autumn Zuo Tradition Comprehensive Commentary, added the Explicated Cases, covenant maps, and the long calendar— a life's work finished in old age. Zhi Yu of the ministry said, Zuo wrote to gloss the Spring and Autumn, yet his book soon overshadowed the classic; the Explicated Cases were meant to serve that commentary, yet they illuminate far more—so they too stand alone. He became Jin's conqueror of the south, opened a staff, and held the Dangyang marquisate at eight thousand households. His son Du Xi, style Shigu, was left aide to the minister of personnel. The Jin Notables Appraisal calls Du Xi a man of stature. Cousin Du Bin, style Shijiang, a yellow-gates gentleman, died under Sima Lun's blade. Du Xi's son Du Yi, style Hongzhi, won early fame as aide to the prince of Danyang and died young.
35
Ruan Wu was another large-spirited genius. According to 〈the Ruan clan genealogy〉 Ruan Wu's father Ruan Chen, style Shixin, refused every summons yet wrote the Illustrations of the Three Rites that still circulate. The Du memoir styles Ruan Wu, style Wenye, as a learned, magnanimous scholar. He rose no higher than prefect of Qinghe. His brother Ruan Bing, style Shuwen, became intendant of Henan. He devoted himself to medicine and compiled a formulary. Ruan Bing's son Ruan Tan, style Hongshu, tutored the crown prince and commanded the east. Ruan Tan's brother Ruan Ke, style Shidu, Xun Chuo's Yanzhou notes say Ruan Tan was a nephew's line: when Tan died the elder brother should inherit, but the father favored Ke and forged the register so Ke took the title. Too young to protest, Ruan Tan grew up bitter, lived in plain cloth, and kept the mourning scarf even after taking office. He was gentle, punctilious about rite, steeped in scripture, and widely read. He tutored the prince of Puyang, became senior clerk to the guard general, then left office for mourning. Wang Yan, then guard general, mourned him bitterly.)
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西 怀 西 西 使 使 使
Zheng Hun, style Wengong, came from Kaifeng in Henan. His ancestor Zheng Zhong and Zheng Xing were celebrated classicists. 〈Xie Chen's Continued Han History gives Zheng Xing, style Shaogan, as remonstrance grandee. Zheng Zhong, style Zishi, rose to grand minister of agriculture.) Zheng Hun's brother Zheng Tai helped Xun You plot against Dong Zhuo, served as Yangzhou inspector, and died. 〈Zhang Fan's Han ji names him Zheng Tai, style Gongye. Clever and restless, he saw chaos coming and secretly befriended bold men. He owned four hundred qing yet ate humbly, yet his fame spread across Shandong. Filial-and-incorrupt and thrice summoned—he declined every post. When He Jin ruled, he named Zheng Tai gentleman of the masters of writing with the added title commandant of the imperial carriages. As He Jin prepared to purge the eunuchs he meant to call Dong Zhuo; Zheng Tai warned, Zhuo is cruel and insatiable—give him power and he will devour the court. With your prestige as regent you can execute the guilty yourself—you need no Zhuo. Delay breeds coup—the lesson is recent. He laid out the crisis; He Jin ignored him, so Zheng Tai resigned. He told Xun You, "He Jin is beyond helping." He Jin died, Zhuo seized the throne's strings, and deposed the boy emperor. When the eastern coalition rose, Zhuo called council to mobilize; every minister quailed and nodded. Zheng Tai feared feeding Zhuo's strength and said, "Rule rests on virtue, not spears." Zhuo snarled, "So soldiers are useless?" The room blanched for Zheng Tai. Zheng Tai backpedaled: I mean Shandong is not worth another spear. The east can link counties and raise men—yes, but the heartland has known peace since Guangwu; farmers have forgotten war; As Confucius said, throwing untrained crowds into battle is abandoning them—raw numbers mean nothing. That is my first point. You come from Liangzhou, have soldiered since youth, know every battlefield, and your name thunders across the age; with that aura you cow the people into submission—that is the second point. Yuan Shao is a palace-bred nobleman, soft as a woman; Zhang Miao is a stay-at-home worthy who never lifts his eyes from his mat; Kong Rong can talk a storm but cannot command or camp in the cold; none of them can cross blades with you—third point. If Shandong hid a Meng Ben, a Qing Ji, a defender like Tian Dan, a tactician like Liang or Chen Ping— you could give them a column—but I have heard of no such heroes. Fourth point. Even if they existed, rival lords would wrangle rank, kin would feud, each hoard troops and wait to see who falls—no shared nerve. Fifth point. The northwest has fought the Hu for years—women carry spears—think of their husbands; set that host against pampered easterners and you herd sheep into tigers—certain victory. Sixth point. Seventh: your shock troops are Bingzhou, Liangzhou, Xiongnu, Tuge, Qiang auxiliaries—names that terrify commoners, and you hold their leashes. Seventh point. Eighth: your generals are kinsmen and old comrades from Sanyuan to Xiakou, loyal and shrewd— (the gloss joins the preceding graph to the following phrase) —pitted against the hollow league of the east they are iron against straw. Eighth point. War kills three ways: disorder attacking order, vice attacking virtue, rebellion attacking right. You rule fairly, purged the eunuchs, and stand for loyalty; you bring three virtues against those three deaths—who can resist? Ninth point. The east has Zheng Xuan, the magnet for scholars; and Bing Yuan of Beihai, the pattern of integrity. If your foes asked those teachers, they would recall how strong Yan-Zhao fell to Qin and how the seven kingdoms stalled at Xingyang—much less now, under your bright rule and strong ministers: no rebel plot can win assent. Tenth point. If even one of these ten points persuades you, spare the realm a levy that drives desperate men to crime and cheapens your majesty. Zhuo smiled, named Zheng Tai a general, and sent him against the east. A whisperer said, "Zheng Tai is too clever and too close to the eastern league—arming him risks your neck." Zhuo stripped his command and kept him as a consultant. Later he joined Wang Yun's plot, escaped through Wuguan, and fled east. General Yuan Shu named him Yangzhou inspector, but he died on the way at forty-one.)
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Zheng Hun took his late brother Zheng Tai's son Zheng Mao to refuge in Huainan, where Yuan Shu honored them lavishly. Zheng Hun saw that Yuan Shu was doomed. Hua Xin, prefect of Yuzhang and an old friend of Zheng Tai, received Zheng Hun across the Yangzi. Cao Cao heard of his integrity, took him on staff, and moved him up to magistrate of Xiaqi and then Shaoling. The land was still at war; the people were restless and ignored farming. Parents could not feed newborns and routinely abandoned them. Zheng Hun seized nets and traps, put families to farming and sericulture, opened rice paddies, and enforced harsh bans on infanticide. At first they obeyed from fear; soon they grew prosperous and kept every child. Parents gave children the name Zheng to honor him. He joined the chancellor's staff and became prefect of left Fengyi.
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广 使 使
Liang Xing's bandits had seized five thousand families; counties abandoned their seats and huddled under the prefectural wall. Advisers wanted to withdraw into mountain forts; Zheng Hun said, Liang Xing is scattered in the hills. His followers are mostly dragooned peasants. We should open surrender and preach mercy. Hiding in cliffs only advertises fear. He rallied the county, rebuilt walls, and prepared a defense. He sent militia against the bandits with clear rewards: keep seventy percent of loot. Farmers rushed to hunt bandits and brought back captives and plunder. Robbers who lost families came begging to yield. Zheng Hun made them return stolen women before he reunited their own families, turning them against one another until the gang dissolved. Trusted envoys coaxed holdouts from the hills until each magistrate could return home and resettle his people. Liang Xing fled with the remnant to Fucheng. Cao Cao sent Xiahou Yuan; Zheng Hun led the county up the walls and cut off Liang Xing and his clique. When Jin Fu dragged two magistrates into Mount Wei, Zheng Hun smashed the band, freed the officials, and restored the loot. When Zhao Qinglong murdered the capital intendant Cheng Xiu, Zheng Hun sent killers who took his head. Four thousand households pledged allegiance; hill banditry ended and farms went back to work. He moved to prefect of Shangdang.
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使 湿 便洿
During the Hanzhong campaign Cao Cao named him intendant of Jingzhao. For new settlers he paired strong households with weak, trustworthy neighbors with widows, pushed farming, posted laws, and flushed out criminals. Farmers settled and theft stopped. His convoys fed the Hanzhong host better than any other district. He drafted no-flee colonists in Hanzhong. Cao Cao praised him back onto the chancellor's staff. At Cao Pi's accession he was censor, commandant of the consort horse, and prefect of Yangping and Pei. Both counties were swampy, flood-prone, and starving. Between Xiao and Xiang he built dikes and rice paddies. Locals protested; he answered, "Low ground wants irrigation—fish and rice will repay you." He worked beside them and finished the works in one winter. Harvests doubled rent and the people carved the "Zheng Dike" stele. He repeated the formula as prefect of Shanyang and Wei. Where wood was scarce he ordered elm hedgerows and orchards. Elms grew into walls and the orchards bore heavy fruit. Wei commandery looked like a garden grid; families grew rich.
40
Emperor Ming broadcast an edict of praise and promoted him to master of works. He stayed honest though his family went cold. At his death his son Zheng Chong became a gentleman. 〈The Jin Yangqiu names Zheng Tai's son Zheng Mao, style Linshu. Zheng Tai was close to Hua Xin and Xun You. Seeing Mao, a friend said, "Zheng Tai still lives in this son." He began as tutor to the prince of Linzi and rose to grand household grandee. In the seventh year of Taishi, he was offered the ministry of works; he refused and died at home. His son Zheng Mo, style Sixuan, The Jin Notables Appraisal calls him steady and plain, rising to minister of ceremonies. His brothers Zheng Zhi, Zheng Shu, and Zheng Xu all reached ministerial rank. Zheng Qiu was incorrupt, served as right vice director of personnel and ran appointments. His brother Zheng Yu became a minister.)
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西 使 西 使 西 使
Cang Ci, style Xiaoren, came from Huainan. He began as a county clerk. Cao Cao opened Huainan garrison farms and named Cang Ci colonel who pacifies and gathers. Late in Huangchu he governed Chang'an with frugal discipline and won awe and love. Taihe moved him to Dunhuang prefect. Dunhuang had gone twenty years without a prefect; magnates ruled by custom. Earlier prefects like Yin Feng left the magnates alone. Cang Ci humbled the great houses and nursed the poor—justly. Magnates hoarded land while commoners had none; He reallocated taxes by household until each paid a fair share. Lawsuits had piled up under the prefecture; He toured the docket, flogged petty cases, and executed fewer than ten men a year. Western traders wanted in, but magnates blocked the road; when trade opened, the houses cheated until grievances festered. The Hu seethed until Cang Ci soothed them. He issued passes to Luoyang, traded fairly from the treasury for those leaving, and escorted caravans until Hu and Han alike praised him. He died in post; the county mourned like family and hung his portrait. Western Hu gathered at the Wuji colonel's yamen, gashed their faces in grief, and built shrines to him. 〈The Wei Summary says Wang Qian of Tianshui followed Cang Ci but never matched him. Jincheng's Zhao Ji was worse still. In Jiaping Huangfu Long of Anding became prefect. Dunhuang farmers flooded fields to mud before plowing. They lacked drill-plows and wasted labor for thin yields. Huangfu Long taught drill-plows and rotation; labor halved and yields rose fifty percent. Women wasted a bolt on pleated skirts; he banned the style and saved uncounted cloth. Locals said Huangfu Long lacked Cang Ci's iron hand but matched his care for the people.〉
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From Cao Cao to Xianxi, Wu Guan, Ren Huan, Yan Fei, Linghu Shao, and Kong Yi were model two-thousand-shi officials. 〈Pei Songzhi notes no sources for Wu Guan and Ren Huan.)
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The Wei Summary gives Yan Fei, style Wenlin. He was learned and capable. The chancellor made him heir's groom; Huangchu moved him to the yellow gates, then intendant of Jingzhao. After Ma Chao's raid the people shunned farming; a string of short-sighted prefects did nothing lasting. Yan Fei ordered straight field grids and mulberry orchards. Few families owned carts or oxen. He had them harvest cart timber in off months and teach each other to build wagons. Families without oxen raised pigs to sell for cattle. They grumbled at first; within two years every home had a wagon team. He founded a school and remitted corvée for students. He planted a county garden tended by clerks in spare hours. At rent time each wagon brought two bundles of fuel so clerks could thaw ink in winter. Custom improved until clerks and people left each other alone. While Fengyi and Fufeng starved on ruined roads, Jingzhao led Yongzhou's ten commanderies in order and plenty. His honesty made the people dread a transfer. In Qinglong Sima Yi's army markets bullied Chang'an folk until Yan Fei complained. Sima Yi flogged the market superintendent a hundred strokes in Yan Fei's presence. The garrison farm colonel nudged Yan Fei to apologize. Yan Fei refused: You hold the western mandate to treat all fairly—not to play favorites. The colonel elbowed me to apologize; if I did, I would betray your intent. Sima Yi then tightened discipline. Army and county thereafter kept their spheres. Promoted to Pingyuan, he was mobbed by weeping people for ten days, then fell ill east of Xiao. Homesick for Jingzhao, his kin urged him to rally for Pingyuan. He answered, "My heart is not in Pingyuan—why not say Jingzhao?" He died en route, certificate reading Pingyuan. Jingzhao mourned him with a stele that is praised to this day. Linghu Shao, style Kongshu, his father was Wuhuan colonel under Han. Early in Jian'an he left home to live in Ye under the Yuans. In the ninth year he was caught in Mao city of Wu'an. Cao Cao took Ye and besieged Mao. The fall captured Linghu Shao and a dozen others for execution. Cao Cao noticed their gentry dress, recognized Linghu Shao's father, spared them, and took them as staff. He served several prefectures, then chancellor's chief clerk, then Hongnong prefect. He was icy honest; his family rarely visited the yamen. He taught virtue, forgave faults, shunned litigation, and spoke freely with staff. With no local scholars he sent clerks to Hedong to study under Yue Xiang, then opened a county school. Hongnong scholarship revived. Huangchu summoned him to the Feathered Forest, then tiger guard general; he died in three years. His nephew Linghu Yu seemed destined for glory, but Linghu Shao warned, "Yu is reckless and overreaching—he will ruin our house." Linghu Yu resented the remark. Years later Linghu Yu had risen with a solid name. Linghu Yu needled him: "You said I would fail the clan—how do I look now?" Linghu Shao stared in silence. Privately he told his family, Linghu Yu has not changed. He is still headed for ruin. I only wonder whether I will live to share the blame; or whether it will fall on you. Within a decade Linghu Yu was Yanzhou inspector and joined Wang Ling's coup to depose the emperor—his clan was extirpated. His son Linghu Hua, a Hongnong aide, escaped guilt as a distant cousin.
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鸿
The Kong genealogy names Kong Yi, style Yuanjun, as Confucius' heir. His great-grandfather Kong Chou, style Yuanju, was Chen chancellor. Han Huan built a Laozi temple at Lai hamlet in Ku county and painted Confucius on the wall; Kong Chou set a Confucius stele there that still stands. Kong Yi's forebears were all two-thousand-shi; he remonstrated as supernumerary cavalier attendant. The text is in the Annals of the Three Young Emperors. He rose to grand herald. His son Kong Xun, style Shixin, became Jin's general who pacifies the east and commandant of the guards.)
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Appraisal
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Ren Jun fed Cao Cao's armies from the first uprising until the bins were full. Su Ze ruled and fought with equal steel. Du Ji mixed mercy and force to heal the people. Zheng Hun and Cang Ci knew how to nurse a county. Each belongs among Wei's great prefects. Du Shu's essays on statecraft still repay reading.
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