1
張紘字子綱，廣陵人。 少遊學京都， 〈吳書曰：纮入太學，事博士韓宗，治京氏易、歐陽尚書，又於外黃從濮陽闓受《韓詩》及《禮記》、《左氏春秋》。〉 還本郡，舉茂才，公府辟，皆不就， 〈吳書曰：大將軍何進、太尉硃俊、司空荀爽三府辟為掾，皆稱疾不就。〉 避難江東。 孫策創業，遂委質焉。 表為正議校尉， 〈吳書曰：纮與張昭並與參謀，常令一人居守，一人從征討，後呂布襲取徐州，因為之牧，不欲令纮與策從事。 追舉茂才，移書發遣纮。 纮心惡布，恥為之屈。 策亦重惜纮，欲以自輔。 答記不遣，曰：「海產明珠，所在為寶，楚雖有才，晉實用之。 英偉君子，所遊見珍，何必本州哉？」〉 從討丹揚，策身臨行陳，紘諫曰：「夫主將乃籌謨之所自出，三軍之所繫命也，不宜輕脫。 自敵小寇，願麾下重天授之姿，副四海之望，無令國內上下危懼。」
Zhang Hong, whose courtesy name was Zigang, came from Guangling. While still young he went to the capital to pursue his studies. 〈The Wu chronicle adds that he enrolled in the Imperial Academy under the erudite Han Zong, took up the Jing school's Book of Changes and the Ouyang recension of the Documents, and at Waihuang learned from Puyang Kai the Han Odes, the Record of Rites, and Zuo's Commentary.〉 Back in Guangling he earned nomination as flourishing talent and received summons from the great ministries—but he declined every appointment. 〈The same source records that He Jin, Zhu Jun, and Xun Shuang all tried to hire him as a clerk; each time he pleaded illness and stayed home.〉 He crossed the river to escape the turmoil in the north. When Sun Ce was carving out his new lordship in the southeast, Zhang Hong entered his service at once. Sun Ce had him recommended as Colonel of Correct Counsel. 〈The Wu documents note that Hong and Zhang Zhao shared strategic counsel, with one usually left to hold the rear while the other rode with the army—until Lü Bu seized Xu Province and made himself its governor, after which Lü kept Hong from accompanying Sun Ce. Lü Bu then nominated Hong again for flourishing talent and ordered him north with an official summons. Hong despised Lü Bu and refused to humble himself to him. Sun Ce prized him just as highly and wanted him at his own side. Sun Ce wrote back refusing to release him, arguing that fine pearls are treasure wherever the sea casts them up, and that "though Chu may boast talent, it is Jin that puts it to use"—talent is not a monopoly of one region. A true man of stature wins regard wherever he goes; he need not hail from our own commandery alone."〉" When he followed on the campaign against Danyang, Ce personally entered the ranks of battle; Hong remonstrated, saying, "The commander is that from which plans proceed of themselves and to which the life of the three armies is tied; it is not fitting that he should lightly expose himself. Even against a petty foe, he urged, Sun Ce should guard the authority Heaven had invested in him, answer the expectations of the realm, and spare the court the terror of seeing its chief constantly in the thick of the fight."
2
紘建計宜出都秣陵，權從之。 〈《江表傳》曰：纮謂權曰：「秣陵，楚武王所置，名為金陵。 地勢岡阜連石頭，訪問故老，雲昔秦始皇東巡會稽經此縣，望氣者云金陵地形有王者都邑之氣，故掘斷連岡，改名秣陵。 今處所具存，地有其氣，天之所命，宜為都邑。」 權善其議，未能從也。 後劉備之東，宿於秣陵，周觀地形，亦勸權都之。 權曰：「智者意同。」 遂都焉。 獻帝春秋云：劉備至京，謂孫權曰：「吳去此數百里，即有警急，赴救為難，將軍無意屯京乎？」 權曰：「秣陵有小江百餘里，可以安大船，吾方理水軍，當移據之。」 備曰：「蕪湖近濡須，亦佳也。」 權曰：「吾欲圖徐州，宜近下也。」 臣松之以為秣陵之與蕪湖，道里所校無幾，於北侵利便，亦有何異？ 而云欲闚徐州，貪秣陵近下，非其理也。 諸書皆云劉備勸都秣陵，而此獨雲權自欲都之，又為虛錯。〉 令還吳迎家，道病卒。 臨困，授子靖留箋曰：「自古有國有家者，咸欲修德政以比隆盛世，至於其治，多不馨香。 非無忠臣賢佐暗於治體也，由主不勝其情，弗能用耳。 夫人情憚難而趨易，好同而惡異，與治道相反。 《傳》曰：『從善如登，從惡如崩』，言善之難也。 人君承奕世之基，據自然之勢，操八柄之威，甘易同之歡， 〈《周禮太宰職》曰：以八柄詔王馭群臣。 一曰爵，以馭其貴。 二曰祿，以馭其富。 三曰予，以馭其幸。 四曰置，以馭其行。 五曰生，以馭其福。 六曰奪，以馭其貧。 七曰廢，以馭其罪。 八曰誅，以馭其過。〉 無假取於人； 而忠臣挾難近之術，吐逆耳之言，其不合也，不亦宜乎！ （雖） 則有釁，巧辯緣間，眩於小忠，戀於恩愛，賢愚雜錯，長幼失敘，其所由來，情亂之也。 故明君悟之，求賢如饑渴。 受諫而不厭，抑情損欲，以義割恩，上無偏謬之授，下無冀之望。 宜加三思，含垢藏疾，以成仁覆之大。」 時年六十卒。 權省書流涕。
Zhang Hong urged Sun Quan to make Moling his capital, and Quan accepted the advice. 〈The Jiang biao zhuan states: Hong said to Quan, "Moling was established by King Wu of Chu and was named Jinling. The ground runs in a chain of heights toward Stone City; elders say that when the First Emperor toured east his geomancers read Jinling's breath as fit for an imperial seat, so he cut the ridge-line and renamed the place Moling. The traces of the place are still present, the ground still has that qi—it is Heaven's mandate; it ought to be the capital." Quan praised the plan but did not adopt it immediately. Later Liu Bei came east, stayed at Moling, walked the ground himself, and urged Sun Quan to move the court there as well. Sun Quan replied, "Wise men read the land the same way." He then made Moling his capital. The Annals of Emperor Xian states: When Liu Bei reached Jing, he said to Sun Quan, "Wu is several hundred li from here; if there is sudden alarm, rushing to the rescue is hard—has the General no thought of stationing troops at Jing?" Quan said, "Moling has a small river over a hundred li on which large ships can be anchored; I am just now organizing the navy and ought to move my base there." Bei said, "Wuhu is close to Ruxu—that is also excellent." Quan said, "I intend to strike toward Xu Province and ought to be close to the lower reaches." Pei Songzhi objects that Moling and Wuhu are scarcely different in marching distance for a northern offensive. To argue that Quan chose Moling chiefly to keep an eye on Xu Province is strained logic. Every other account credits Liu Bei with the Moling plan; only this passage says Quan acted on his own—another slip of the brush, in Pei's judgment. Ordered back to Wu to fetch his household, he took sick en route and died. On the verge of death he handed his son Jing a parting note, saying, "From antiquity, those who had states or households all wished to cultivate virtuous government so as to rival the height of a flourishing age; as for their actual rule, most did not achieve a fragrant reputation. The fault, he insisted, was seldom for lack of loyal advisers who understood statecraft, but because sovereigns surrendered to appetite and would not heed them. Human nature flees hardship for ease and conformity for dissent—the very opposite of sound rule. As the Classic says, virtue is an uphill climb and vice a downhill run—the good is simply harder won. A ruler sits on ages of accumulated power, leans on inherent advantage, holds the eight levers of control described in the Zhou li, yet still craves easy consensus— 〈the Grand Steward's chapter lists eight "handles" by which the throne steers its officials. First, rank and title to secure their standing. Second, stipends to secure their fortune. Third, gifts to bind their gratitude. Fourth, placement in office to shape their conduct. Fifth, sparing life to preserve their good fortune. Sixth, stripping wealth to humble the over-rich. Seventh, removal from office to answer their guilt. Eighth, capital punishment to answer grave fault."〉 He fancies he owes nothing to counsel drawn from outside himself— —while loyal ministers bring awkward remedies and blunt speech; no wonder they so often fall out of step with their lord. Even then— —fault-finding thrives, flatterers exploit every crack, petty loyalty dazzles the ruler, private affection clouds judgment, wise and foolish are mixed, and proper order between old and young collapses; passion is always the root of the chaos. A clear-sighted ruler sees that danger and hunts talent as hungrily as a starving man seeks food. He welcomes criticism without tiring, reins in appetite and affection, and lets duty cut through private ties, so that appointments above stay fair and no one below nurses vain hopes of pull. You ought thrice to reflect, endure shame and harbor resentments, so as to accomplish the great canopy of benevolent oversight." He died that year at the age of sixty. Sun Quan wept when he read the testament.
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紘著詩賦銘誄十餘篇。 〈《吳書》曰：纮見柟榴枕，愛其文，為作賦。 陳琳在北見之，以示人曰：「此吾鄉里張子綱所作也。」 後纮見陳琳作武庫賦、應機論，與琳書深嘆美之。 琳答曰：「自僕在河北，與天下隔，此間率少於文章，易為雄伯，故使僕受此過差之譚，非其實也。 今景興在此，足下與子佈在彼，所謂小巫見大巫，神氣盡矣。」 纮既好文學，又善楷篆，與孔融書，自書。 融遺纮書曰：「前勞手筆，多篆書。 每舉篇見字，欣然獨笑，如復睹其人也。」〉 子玄，官至南郡太守、尚書。 〈《江表傳》曰：玄清介有高行，而才不及纮。〉 玄子尚， 〈《江表傳》 （曰） 稱尚有俊才。〉 孫皓時為侍郎，以言語辯捷見知，擢為侍中、中書令。 皓使尚鼓琴，尚對曰：「素不能。」 敕使學之。 後宴言次說琴之精妙，尚因道「晉平公使師曠作清角，曠言吾君德薄，不足以聽之。」 皓意謂尚以斯喻己，不悅。 後積他事下獄，皆追此為詰， 〈環氏《吳紀》曰：皓嘗問：「詩云『汎彼栢舟』，惟栢中舟乎？」 尚對曰：「詩言『檜楫松舟』，則松亦中舟也。」 又問：「鳥之大者惟鶴，小者惟雀乎？」 尚對曰：「大者有禿鶖，小者有鷦鷯。」 皓性忌勝己，而尚談論每出其表，積以致恨。 後問：「孤飲酒以方誰？」 尚對曰：「陛下有百觚之量。」 皓云：「尚知孔丘之不王，而以孤方之！」 因此發怒收尚。 尚書岑昬率公卿已下百餘人，詣宮叩頭請，尚罪得減死。〉 送建安作船。 久之，又就加誅。 初，紘同郡秦松字文表，陳端字子正，並與紘見待於孫策，參與謀謨。 各早卒。
Zhang Hong left behind more than ten pieces of verse and commemorative prose—odes, rhapsodies, inscriptions, and laments. 〈The Book of Wu notes that he wrote a rhapsody on a rosewood pillow whose grain charmed him. Chen Lin in the north saw it and showed it to people, saying, "This is the work of Zigang from my home region." When Hong later read Chen's Armory Rhapsody and Discourse on Seizing the Moment, he wrote Chen a letter of unstinting admiration. Lin replied, "Since your servant has been north of the Yellow River, separated from the world, in this region literature has generally been scarce, so it is easy to stand as chief bull—therefore they have made your servant receive these excessive praises, which are not the reality. With Yu Fan here and you and Zhang Zhao there," he added, "it is the little shaman meeting the great one—every pretense of skill collapses." Hong was not only a lover of letters but a fine calligrapher in standard and seal scripts, and he penned his own correspondence to Kong Rong. Rong sent Hong a letter, saying, "Before this you took trouble with your own hand, mostly in seal script. opening the scroll felt like meeting the writer in person."〉" His son Zhang Xuan rose to governor of Nan commandery and ministerial secretary at court. 〈The Jiangbiao zhuan adds that Zhang Xuan was scrupulous and high-minded, though he lacked his father's brilliance. Xuan was succeeded by his son Shang— 〈the Jiangbiao zhuan records— —that the younger Zhang Shang possessed exceptional talent. Under Sun Hao he began as a gentleman cadet, then won promotion to palace attendant and chief secretary for his ready tongue. Hao ordered Shang to play the zither; Shang replied, "Plainly I cannot." The emperor ordered him to learn. Later, during a banquet when talk turned to the fineness of the zither, Shang thereupon cited that "Duke Ping of Jin ordered Music Master Kuang to perform the Qingjiao air; Kuang said my lord's virtue was thin and not sufficient to hear it." Hao assumed Shang was likening him to Duke Ping and took offense. When Shang later fell into jail on accumulated charges, interrogators kept circling back to that banquet remark. 〈Huan Kai's Wu ji records Hao quizzing him whether the Classic's "cypress boat" meant only cypress wood would do. Shang replied, "The ode also speaks of 'oak oars and pine boat,' so pine also makes boats fit for the river." He also asked, "Among birds the great ones are only the crane; are the small ones only the sparrow?" Shang replied, "There are greater birds such as the condor, and smaller ones such as the wren." Because Hao could not bear anyone to outshine him while Shang habitually one-upped him in debate, resentment piled up. Later he asked, "With whom do you compare my drinking?" Shang replied, "Your Majesty has the capacity of a hundred goblets." Hao said, "Shang knows that Confucius never became king, yet compares me to him!" On that pretext Hao had him arrested. Cen Hun led more than a hundred officials from the Three Excellencies down in a gate vigil that commuted Shang's sentence from death. He was banished to Jian'an to labor in the shipyards. Months later further charges brought his execution. Earlier, Hong's countrymen Qin Song (Wenbiao) and Chen Duan (Zizheng) had stood with him in Sun Ce's favor and shared in his strategic counsel. Both men died young.
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嚴畯字曼才，彭城人也。 少耽學，善《詩》、《書》、三《禮》，又好《說文》。 避亂江東，與諸葛瑾、步騭齊名友善。 性質直純厚，其於人物，忠告善道，志存補益。 張昭進之於孫權，權以為騎都尉、從事中郎。 及橫江將軍魯肅卒，權以畯代肅，督兵萬人，鎮據陸口。 眾人咸為畯喜。 畯前後固辭：「樸素書生，不閒軍事，非才而據，咎悔必至。」 發言慷慨，至於流涕， 〈志林曰：權又試畯騎，上馬墮鞍。〉 權乃聽焉，世嘉其能以實讓。 權為吳王，及稱尊號，畯嘗為衛尉，使至蜀，蜀相諸葛亮深善之。 不畜祿賜，皆散之親戚知故，家常不充。 廣陵劉穎與畯有舊，穎精學家巷，權聞徵之，以疾不就。 其弟略為零陵太守，卒官，穎往赴喪，權知其詐病，急驛收錄。 畯亦馳語穎，使還謝權。 權怒廢畯，而穎得免罪。 久之，以畯為尚書令，後卒。 〈吳書曰：晙時年七十八，二子凱、爽。 凱官至昇平少府。〉 畯著《孝經傳》、《潮水論》，又與裴玄、張承論管仲、季路。 皆傳於世。 玄字彥黃，下邳人也，亦有學行，官至太中大夫。 問子欽齊桓、晉文、夷、惠四人優劣，欽答所見，與玄相反覆，各有文理。 欽與太子登遊處，登稱其翰採。
Yan Jun, courtesy name Mancai, came from Pengcheng. Devoted to learning from boyhood, he mastered the Odes, the Documents, and the three ritual texts, and loved Xu Shen's Shuowen dictionary as well. He crossed south with the refugees, forming with Zhuge Jin and Bu Zhi the region's best-known trio of scholars. Plainspoken, warm, and earnest, he gave friends candid counsel in the hope of doing genuine good. Zhang Zhao introduced him to Sun Quan, who named him cavalry commandant and secretary-adviser. When Lu Su died, Quan tried to put Yan Jun in his place at Lukou with a ten-thousand-man army. The court congratulated him on the promotion. Jun firmly declined before and after, saying, "I am a rustic scholar, not practiced in military affairs; if I take a post beyond my ability, remorse is bound to follow." He argued himself hoarse to the point of tears— 〈—and the Zhi lin adds that when Quan made him mount a horse to prove himself, he tumbled straight off the saddle. Sun Quan yielded to his pleas, and later generations honored him for declining a post he could not honestly fill. After Quan became King of Wu and then emperor, Yan Jun served as commandant of the guards and envoy to Shu, where Zhuge Liang formed the highest opinion of him. He never stockpiled salary or largesse, passing every coin to relatives and old friends until his own house often ran short. Liu Ying of Guangling, Yan Jun’s longtime friend, was a recluse scholar of deep learning; when Sun Quan summoned him he pleaded sickness and stayed away. When Liu Ying’s brother Liu Lüe died in office as governor of Lingling, Liu Ying traveled south for the funeral—whereupon Quan, seeing through his old excuse, had him arrested by express courier. Yan Jun raced word to Liu Ying urging him to hurry back and make his peace with the throne. Quan stripped Yan Jun of office in his fury, yet spared Liu Ying once the man presented himself. Years later Yan Jun was recalled as director of the secretariat; he died in that role. 〈The Book of Wu records that he was seventy-eight at his death and left two sons, Kai and Shuang. Yan Kai rose to junior guardian of the Shengping workshops.〉 Yan Jun wrote a commentary on the Classic of Filial Piety, a treatise on tides, and exchanged essays with Pei Xuan and Zhang Cheng on Guan Zhong and Zilu. All of these works survived in circulation. Pei Xuan, courtesy Yanhuang, came from Xiapi; he was another scholar of substance who reached the post of palace counselor. Pei Xuan once pressed his son Pei Qin to rank Duke Huan, Duke Wen, Boyi, and Liu Xiahui; father and son argued the point at length, each line of reasoning tightly woven. Pei Qin kept company with the heir apparent Deng, who admired the brilliance of his writing.
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程秉字德樞，汝南南頓人也。 逮事鄭玄，後避亂交州，與劉熙考論大義，遂博通五經。 士燮命為長史。 權聞其名儒，以禮徵，秉既到，拜太子太傅。 黃武四年，權為太子登娉周瑜女，秉守太常，迎妃於吳，權親幸秉船，深見優禮。 既還，秉從容進說登曰：「婚姻人倫之始，王教之基，是以聖王重之，所以率先眾庶，風化天下，故《詩》美《關睢》，以為稱首。 願太子尊禮教於閨房，存《周南》之所詠，則道化隆於上，頌聲作於下矣。」 登笑曰：「將順其美，匡救其惡，誠所賴於傅君也。」 病卒官。 著《周易摘》、《尚書駁》、《論語弼》，凡三萬餘言。 秉為傅時，率更令河南徵崇亦篤學立行云。 〈吳錄曰：崇字子和，治《易》、《春秋左氏傳》，兼善內術。 本姓李，遭亂更姓，遂隱於會稽，躬耕以求其志。 好尚者從學，所教不過數人輒止，欲令其業必有成也。 所交結如丞相步騭等，咸親焉。 嚴畯薦崇行足以厲俗，學足以為師。 初見太子登，以疾賜不拜。 東宮官僚皆從諮詢。 太子數訪以異聞。 年七十而卒。〉
Cheng Bing, courtesy Deshu, was a native of Nandun in Runan. He studied under Zheng Xuan, then fled south to Jiaozhou, where debates with Liu Xi on the great texts gave him command of the entire Five Classics corpus. Shi Xie named him chief clerk of his staff. Sun Quan, hearing his reputation, summoned him with full ceremony and, on his arrival, made him grand tutor to the crown prince. In Huangwu 4, when the heir took Lady Zhou’s daughter as his bride, Cheng Bing—as minister of the heir’s household—escorted her from Wu while Sun Quan himself boarded his boat to honor him. After the wedding Cheng Bing quietly lectured the heir: marriage begins the moral order that kingship rests on, which is why sage-kings treated it as the lever that moves the people—hence the Odes open with “Guan ju. He urged the prince to let ritual govern the inner chambers and to live up to the virtues hymned in the “Zhou nan,” so that reform would start at court and praise spread through the realm.” The heir smiled and answered, “Then I shall rely on my tutor both to encourage what is right and to check what goes wrong.” Cheng Bing died of illness while still in office. His published scholarship—Selections from the Changes, critiques of the Documents, and glosses on the Analects—ran to over thirty thousand graphs. While Cheng Bing tutored the heir, Zheng Chong of Henan—director of the office that kept palace gate hours—was another scholar noted for learning and upright living. 〈The Wu lu records that Zheng Chong, courtesy Zihe, mastered the Changes and Zuo’s Commentary and dabbled in esoteric arts as well. Born a Li, he adopted a new surname during the wars and withdrew to Kuaiji, supporting himself by the plow while he pursued his studies. Admirers sought him as a teacher, but he took only a handful of pupils at a time, stopping enrollment until each had truly mastered his lesson. Men like Chancellor Bu Zhi, who counted him a friend, treated him almost as family. Yan Jun memorialized that Zheng Chong’s character could reform local morals and his erudition qualified him to instruct the heir. At his first audience with the crown prince he was excused from full prostration on grounds of ill health. Every member of the heir’s household staff came to him for advice. The prince often dropped in to draw out his store of curious learning. He died at the age of seventy.〉
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薛綜字敬文，沛郡竹邑人也。 〈吳錄曰：其先齊孟嘗君封於薛。 秦滅六國，而失其祀，子孫分散。 漢祖定天下，過齊，求孟嘗後，得其孫陵、國二人，欲復其封。 陵、國兄弟相推，莫適受，乃去之竹邑，因家焉，故遂氏薛。 自國至綜，世典州郡，為著姓。 綜少明經，善屬文，有秀才。〉 少依族人避地交州，從劉熙學。 士燮既附孫權，召綜為五官中郎 （將） ，除合浦、交阯太守。
Xue Zong, courtesy Jingwen, hailed from Zhuyi county in Pei commandery. 〈The Wu lu traces the clan to the fief of Xue granted to Lord Mengchang of Qi. When Qin swallowed the rival kingdoms the house lost its ancestral cult, and the clan scattered. The Han founder, marching through Qi, hunted up Lord Mengchang’s surviving grandsons Ling and Guo and meant to restore their title. The two brothers each refused the honor, withdrew to Zhuyi, and adopted the place-name Xue as their new surname. From Xue Guo to Xue Zong every generation held provincial posts, making them one of the great houses of the southeast. Xue Zong mastered the classics young, wrote polished prose, and earned nomination as flourishing talent.〉 As a boy he followed a kinsman into refuge in the far south and read under Liu Xi. Once Shi Xie acknowledged Sun Quan’s overlordship he appointed Xue Zong captain of the household gentlemen (the title included the rank of general) and then named him governor of Hepu and Jiaozhi in succession.
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時交土始開，刺史呂岱率師討伐，綜與俱行，越海南征，及到九真。 事畢還都，守遏者僕射。 西使張奉於權前列尚書闞澤姓名以嘲澤，澤不能答。 綜下行酒，因勸酒曰：「蜀者何也？ 有犬為獨，無犬為蜀，橫目苟身，蟲入其腹。」 〈臣松之見諸書本「苟身」或作「句身」，以為既云「橫目」，則宜曰：「句身」。〉 奉曰：「不當復列君吳邪？」 綜應聲曰：「無口為天，有口為吳，君臨萬邦，天子之都。」 於是眾坐喜笑，而奉無以對。 其樞機敏捷，皆此類也。 〈《江表傳》曰：費禕聘於吳，陛見，公卿待臣皆在坐。 酒酣，禕與諸葛恪相對嘲難，言及吳、蜀。 禕問曰：「蜀字云何？」 恪曰：「有水者濁，無水者蜀。 橫目苟身，蟲入其腹。」 禕復問：「吳字云何？」 恪曰：「無口者天，有口者吳，下臨滄海，天子帝都。」 與本傳不同。〉 呂岱從交州召出，綜懼繼岱者非其人，上疏曰：
While the southern frontier was still being pacified, Xue Zong sailed with Inspector Lü Dai’s expeditionary force as far as Jiuzhen. After the campaign he came back to court as supervisor of the palace gate corps and vice director of the secretariat. At a state banquet the Shu envoy Zhang Feng punned viciously on Palace Writer Kan Ze’s name until Ze was speechless. Xue Zong, moving along the line with the wine ewer, stopped at Zhang Feng and asked, “Tell me—what is this ‘Shu’ of yours? He delivered the old character riddle: add the dog radical and the graph means “isolation”; strip it away and you have “Shu”—a creature with sidelong eyes, a bent torso, and a crawling thing in its gut.” 〈Pei Songzhi notes that manuscript copies of the riddle variously write the third phrase as gou shen or ju shen; since the couplet already speaks of “sideways eyes,” he judges ju shen the reading that preserves the pun.〉 Zhang Feng shot back, “Shall I dissect the character ‘Wu’ for you next?” Xue Zong answered instantly: “Remove the mouth and you read ‘heaven’; add the mouth and you read ‘Wu’—the ruler of myriad domains, the very seat of the Son of Heaven.” The hall roared with laughter while Zhang Feng could find no reply. His wit was always as quick and sure as that. 〈The Jiangbiao zhuan tells how Fei Yi of Shu, on embassy to Wu, mounted the dais with the full Wu court in attendance. Late in the feast Fei Yi and Zhuge Ke traded barbed compliments about their two states. Fei Yi opened with, “How would you parse the graph for ‘Shu’?” Ke answered, “With water it is zhuo, 'murky'; without water it is Shu. Same punch line as before: slanted eyes, a crooked carcass, and a bug in the belly.” Fei pressed him: “And the graph for ‘Wu’?” Ke replied, “Lose the mouth and you read ‘heaven’; add it back and you read ‘Wu’—the realm that fronts on the boundless sea, the Son of Heaven’s own capital.” The wording differs slightly from the version preserved in this biography.〉 When Lü Dai was recalled from the south, Xue Zong feared a bad successor and drafted a long memorial that began:
8
昔帝舜南巡，卒於蒼梧。 泰置桂林、南海、象郡，然則四國之內屬也，有自來矣。 趙佗起番禺，懷服百越之君，珠宮之南是也。 漢武帝誅呂嘉，開九郡，設交阯刺史以鎮監之。 山川長遠，習俗不齊，言語同異，重譯乃通。 民如禽獸，長幼無別，椎結徒跣，貫頭左衽，長吏之設，雖有若無。 自斯以來，頗徙中國罪人雜居其間，稍使學書，粗知言語，使驛往來，觀見禮化。 及後錫光為交阯，任延為九真太守，乃教其耕梨，使之冠履； 為設媒官，始知聘娶； 建立學校，導之經義。 由此已降，四百餘年，頗有似類。 自臣昔客始至之時，珠崖除州縣嫁娶，皆須八月引戶，人民集會之時，男女自相可適，乃為夫妻，父母不能止。
Ancient Shun toured the south and died at Cangwu. The Qin organized Guilin, Nanhai, and Xiang commanderies, so that southern belt has owed allegiance to the center since high antiquity. Zhao Tuo built his power at Panyu and cowed the Yue chieftains; the country beyond the Pearl River begins there. Han Wudi crushed Lü Jia, carved nine commanderies from the land, and posted an inspector to watch over them. Rugged terrain and alien tongues mean everything must pass through chains of interpreters. The natives once lived almost like animals—no respect for age, topknots and bare feet, tattooed foreheads and left-lapped robes—so that even when the Han posted magistrates they barely registered. Later exiles from the interior were settled among them, taught a little script and speech, and linked by courier routes to court culture. Governors such as Xi Guang in Jiaozhi and Ren Yan in Jiuzhen introduced plow oxen, hats, and shoes. They set up marriage brokers so that weddings followed ritual rather than impulse. They opened schools and drilled the people in the classics. For the four centuries since, something like civilization has taken root. When I first reached the coast I found that in Zhuya, outside the few registered county marriages, every household had to file rosters in the eighth month; at the festival fair young people paired off with whomever they chose, and families could not interfere.
9
交阯糜泠、九真都龐二縣，皆兄死弟妻其嫂，世以此為俗，長吏恣聽，不能禁制。 日郡男女夥體，不以為羞。 由此言之，可謂蟲豸，有靦面目耳。 然而土廣人眾，阻險毒害，易以為亂，難使從治。 縣官羈縻，示令威服，田戶之租賦，裁取供辦，貴致遠珍名珠、香藥、象牙、犀角、玳瑁、珊瑚、琉璃、鸚鵡、翡翠、孔雀、奇物，充備寶玩，不必仰其賦入，以益中國也。 然在九甸之外，長吏之選，類不精核。 漢時法寬，多自放恣，故數反違法。 珠崖之廢，起於長吏睹其好發，髡取為髲。 及臣所見，南海黃蓋為日南太守，下車以供設不豐，撾殺主薄，仍見驅逐。 九真太守儋萌為妻父周京作主人，並請大吏，酒酣作樂。 功曹番歆起舞屬京，京不肯起，歆猶迫強，萌忿杖歆，亡於郡內。 歆弟苗帥眾攻府，毒矢射萌，萌至物故。 交阯太守士燮遣兵致討，卒不能克。 又故刺史會稽朱符，多以鄉人虞褒、劉彥之徒分作長吏，侵虐百姓，強賦於民黃魚一枚收稻一斛，百姓怨叛，山賊並出，攻州突郡。 符走入海，流離喪亡。 次得南陽張津，與荊州牧劉表為隙，兵弱敵強，歲歲興軍，諸將厭患，去留自在。
In Miling and Dulang counties a younger brother inherited his elder brother’s widow by custom, and weak officials simply looked the other way. In that commandery men and women mingled naked in public without a blush. By central standards they behaved like beasts—yet they still possessed human faces. The region is vast, the population large, the jungles venomous and the paths treacherous—easy to revolt and hard to govern. Imperial policy therefore governs them lightly—enough awe to keep the peace, modest land taxes, while the real profit lies in pearls, incense, ivory, horn, tortoiseshell, coral, glass, parrots, kingfisher plumes, peacocks, and other curios for the palace workshops rather than in squeezing the fields for grain. Because the region lies beyond the Nine Provinces, appointments there have seldom been vetted with care. Under the lax Han code many governors ran wild, which is why the south rose again and again. Zhuya was struck from the rolls after an official shaved women’s hair to sell as wigs—an outrage that sparked revolt. I myself saw Huang Gai of Nanhai, posted to Rinan, beat his chief clerk to death over a stingy welcome banquet and get chased out by the locals. Dan Meng of Jiuzhen threw a banquet for his father-in-law Zhou Jing and the senior staff; the wine flowed and musicians played. When the merit clerk Fan Xin tried to pull Zhou Jing into a round dance and Zhou refused, Fan kept badgering him until Governor Dan Meng caned Fan to death on the spot. Fan Xin’s brother Fan Miao then stormed the yamen with archers and riddled Dan Meng with poisoned bolts. Shi Xie of Jiaozhi sent troops to punish the mutineers but could not break them. Earlier Inspector Zhu Fu of Kuaiji packed the districts with hometown cronies like Yu Bao and Liu Yan, taxed a bushel of rice for every cheap yellow fish, and drove the people into the hills until bandit armies stormed every yamen. Zhu Fu fled offshore and died a wanderer. Zhang Jin of Nanyang feuded with Liu Biao, fielded too few men against too many, and wore his generals out with endless campaigns until they came and went as they pleased.
10
津小檢攝，威武不足，為所陵侮，遂至殺沒。 後得零陵賴恭，先輩仁謹，不曉時事。 表又遣長沙吳巨為蒼梧太守。 巨武夫輕悍，不為恭服。 （所取） （輒） 相怨恨，逐出恭，求步騭。 是時津故將夷廖、錢博之徒尚多，騭以次鋤治，綱紀適定，會仍召出。 呂岱既至，有士氏之變。 越軍南征，平討之日，改置長吏，章明王綱，威加萬里，大小承風。 由此言之，綏邊撫裔，實有其人。 牧伯之任，既宜清能，荒流之表，禍福尤甚。 今日交州雖名粗定，尚有高涼宿賊； 其南海、蒼梧、鬱林、珠官四郡界未綏，依作寇盜，專為亡叛逋逃之藪。 若岱不復南，新刺史宜得精密，檢攝八郡，方略智計，能稍稍以漸 （能） 治高涼者，假其威寵，借之形勢，責其成效，庶幾可補復。 如但中人。 近守常法，無奇數異術者，則群惡日滋，久遠成害。 故國之安危，在於所任，不可不察也。 竊懼朝廷忽輕其選，故敢竭愚情，以廣聖思。
Too weak to impose discipline, he was mocked, mutinied against, and finally killed. Lai Gong of Lingling, a kindly elder, understood nothing of realpolitik. Liu Biao then sent the brawler Wu Ju from Changsha to govern Cangwu. Wu Ju was a swaggering soldier who refused to defer to Lai Gong. The damaged line here probably recorded the exactions Wu Ju’s officers took from the people. A second lacuna likely meant that the two sides clashed again and again. They turned on each other in hatred, drove Lai Gong out, and demanded that Bu Zhi be sent to replace him. Zhang Jin’s old officers—men like Yi Liao and Qian Bo—were still numerous; Bu Zhi uprooted them one by one until order was restored, only to be recalled himself just as the reins tightened. Lü Dai’s arrival coincided with the Shi family’s rebellion in the south. Once the southern armies had pacified the region, the court replaced local strongmen, spelled out imperial law, and projected authority until every rank fell into line. The episode shows that the frontier really did need—and sometimes got—governors equal to the task. A border province demands an honest, able hand; out past the wilds, success or ruin weighs twice as heavy. Jiaozhou may look quiet on the map, but Gaoliang still shelters veteran outlaws. Nanhai, Cangwu, Yulin, and Zhuguan remain half-tamed—bandit nests that welcome every deserter from the law. If Lü Dai stays north, his successor must be a meticulous man who can tighten all eight southern commanderies and advance reform step by step (the lacuna likely read “to be able” to complete the previous clause) —whoever pacifies Gaoliang must be backed with real rank, given leverage, and held to results if the south is ever to heal. If you send merely average talent, someone who enforces the letter of routine statutes without imagination will let corruption spread until it becomes a chronic plague. The realm’s fate rides on these appointments; the choice deserves the closest scrutiny. I fear the capital may treat the posting as routine; I therefore presume to speak plainly in hope of widening Your Majesty’s counsel.
11
黃龍三年，建昌侯慮為鎮軍大將軍，屯半州，以綜為長史，外掌眾事，內授書籍。 慮卒，入守賊曹尚書，遷尚書僕射。 時公孫淵降而復叛，權盛怒，欲自親征。 綜上疏諫曰：
In Huanglong 3 Sun Lü, marquis of Jianchang, camped at Banzhou as general who guards the army and took Xue Zong as chief clerk—Zong ran day-to-day business abroad and tutored him with texts at home. After Sun Lü died, Xue Zong entered the secretariat as supervisor of public bandits and soon rose to vice director. Gongsun Yuan’s renewed defection so enraged Sun Quan that he meant to take the field himself. Xue Zong answered with a long memorial that opened:
12
夫帝王者，萬國之元首，天下之所繫命也。 是以居則重門擊柝以戒不虞，行則清道案節以養威嚴，蓋所以存萬安之福，鎮四海之心。 昔孔子疾時，托乘桴浮海之語，季由斯喜，拒以無所取才。 漢元帝欲禦樓船，薛廣德請刎頸以血染車。 何則？ 水火之險至危，非帝王所宜涉也。 諺曰：『千金之子，坐不垂堂。』 況萬乘之尊乎？ 今遼東戎貊小國，無城池之固，備御之術，器械銖鈍，犬羊無政，往必禽克，誠如明詔。 然其方土寒埆，谷稼不殖，民習鞍馬，轉徙無常。 卒聞大軍之至，自度不敵，鳥驚獸駭，長驅奔竄，一人匹馬，不可得見。 雖獲空地，守之無益，此不可一也； 加又洪流滉瀁，有成山之難，海行無常，風波難免，倏忽之間，人船異勢。 雖有堯、舜之德，智無所施，賁、育之勇，力不得設，此不可二也； 加以鬱霧冥其上，鹹水蒸其下，生流腫，轉相洿染，凡行海者，稀無斯患，此不可三也。 天生神聖，顯以符瑞，當乘平喪亂，康此民物； 嘉祥日集，海內垂定，逆虜凶虐，滅亡在近。 中國一平，遼東自斃，但當拱手以待耳。 今乃違必然之圖，尋至危之阻，忽九州之固，，肆一朝之忿，既非社稷之重計，又開闢以來所未嘗有，斯誠群僚所以傾身側息，食不甘味，寢不安席者也。 惟陛下抑雷霆之威，忍赫斯之怒，遵乘橋之安，遠履冰之險，則臣子賴祉，天下幸甚。
The Son of Heaven is the pivot of every kingdom; all lives depend on his person. At court he multiplies gates and night watches; on campaign he clears roads and slows the train—all to keep catastrophe at bay and reassure the realm. Confucius once spoke bitterly of sailing away on a raft; Zilu brightened at the thought, only to be told he was not the man for such an errand. When Han Yuandi wanted to ride the war-barges, Xue Guangde offered to slit his own throat to stop the chariot wheels. Why? Wind and waves are the deadliest odds a sovereign can face. The proverb runs, “A prince’s son does not lounge under a risky cornice.” How much truer for the rider of ten thousand chariots? Liaodong is a barbarian backwater—no walls, no drill, arms that would not cut butter, command like a flock without a shepherd. Your edict is right: a strike would crush them. Yet the ground is poor, crops fail, and the people live in the saddle, drifting wherever pasture leads. Word of a host marching north will send them flying before you can fix a battle line—you may win only empty steppe. Empty grassland is the first reason the venture is hollow; second, the ocean between you and them is a wall of storms like Cape Chengshan—ships vanish in a squall’s blink; second, even Yao and Shun could not govern a deck in a typhoon, nor could Meng Ben’s brawn trim a sail— third, fog, brine, ship fever, and plague ship to ship—no fleet escapes the southern sea unscathed. Heaven marked you as sage to end turmoil and heal the folk; good omens pile up at home while the traitor in the north withers; pacify the heartland and Liaodong falls without a spear cast—only fold your hands and wait. Yet now you would spurn the sure path, brave the deadliest straits, shrug off the empire’s inner defenses, and vent a morning’s temper—a gamble the altars have never seen and one that keeps every minister sleepless and sick at heart. Check the thunder of your anger, choose the firm bridge over thin ice, and your servants will live secure—the realm will count itself blessed.
13
時群臣多諫，權遂不行。
The court chorus joined Xue Zong’s plea, and Sun Quan gave up the expedition.
14
正月乙未，權敕綜祝祖不得用常文，綜承詔，卒造文義，信辭粲爛。 權曰：「復為兩頭。 使滿三也。」 綜復再祝，辭令皆新，眾咸稱善。 赤烏三年，徙選曹尚書。 五年，為太子少傅，領選職如故。 〈吳書曰：後權賜綜紫綬囊，綜陳讓紫色非所宜服，權曰：「太子年少，涉道日淺，君當博之以文，約之以禮，茅土之封，非君而誰？」 是時綜以名儒居師傅之位，仍兼選舉，甚為優重。〉 六年春，卒。 凡所著詩賦難論數萬言，名曰《私載》，又定《五宗圖述》、《二京解》，皆傳於世。
On the yichou day of the first month Sun Quan told Xue Zong to avoid stock phrases in the ancestral prayer; Zong improvised lines so brilliant that the court murmured approval. The emperor said, “Give me another couplet—two heads. And stretch the whole thing to three.” Zong offered two more prayers in fresh language, and everyone praised him. In Chiwu 3 he moved to head the bureau of appointments. Two years later he became junior tutor to the crown prince while keeping his personnel portfolio. 〈The Wu chronicle adds that when Sun Quan gave him a purple ribbon bag Xue Zong demurred as over-ranked; Quan answered that the young heir needed a scholar of his stature to teach letters and ritual—“who else should wear the colors of high enfeoffment?” Thus Xue Zong stood as the heir’s preceptor and chief talent scout—an office doubly honored.〉 He died in the spring of the sixth year of that reign. His literary remains—odes, rhapsodies, and essays gathered as Private Collation, plus his Five Clans Chart and Explaining the Two Capitals—ran to tens of thousands of characters and stayed in circulation.
15
子珝，官至威南將軍，徵交阯還，道病死。 〈《漢晉春秋》曰：孫休時，珝為五宮中郎將，遣至蜀求馬。 及還，休問蜀政得失，對曰：「主闇而不知其過，臣下容身以求免罪，入其朝不聞正言，經其野民皆菜色。 臣聞燕雀處堂，子母相樂，自以為安也，突決棟焚，而燕雀怡然不知禍之將及，其是之謂乎！」〉
His son Xue Xu became general who awes the south but took sick and died on the march home from Jiaozhi. 〈The Han-Jin chunqiu notes that under Sun Xiu, Xue Xu served as colonel of the household gentlemen of the five palaces and rode to Shu to buy horses. When he returned, Xiu asked him about the gains and losses of Shu’s government; he answered: “The ruler is dim yet knows no fault; ministers keep their persons to escape guilt; entering their court one hears no straight words; passing their fields the people all wear the look of famine. Swallows in the rafters,” he added, “nest and chirp while the chimney smolders—surely Shu is that heedless brood!”〉”
16
子瑩
His younger son was Xue Ying.
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惟臣之先，昔仕於漢，奕世綿綿，頗涉臺觀。 暨臣父綜，遭時之難，卯金失禦，邦家毀亂。 適茲樂土，庶存孑遺，天啟其心，東南是歸。 厥初流隸，困於蠻垂，大皇開基，恩德遠施。 特蒙招命，拯擢泥污，釋放巾褐，受職剖符。 作守合浦，在海之隅，遷入京輦，遂升機樞。 枯瘁更榮，絕統復紀，自微而顯，非願之始。 亦惟寵遇，心存足止，重值文皇，建號東宮，乃作少傅，光華益隆。 明明聖嗣，至德謙祟，禮遇兼加，惟渥惟豐。 哀哀先臣，念竭其忠，洪恩未報，委世以終。 嗟臣蔑賤，惟昆及弟，幸生幸育，托綜遺體。 過庭既訓，頑蔽難啟。 堂構弗克，志存耦耕。 豈悟聖朝，仁澤流盈。 追錄先臣，愍其無成，是濟是拔，被以殊榮。 珝忝千里，受命南征，旌旗備物，金革揚聲。 及臣斯陋，實暗實微，既顯前軌，人物之機。 復傅東宮，繼世荷輝，才不逮先，是忝是違。 乾德博好，文雅是貴，追悼亡臣，冀存遺類。 如何愚胤，曾無彷彿！ 瞻彼舊寵，顧此頑虛，孰能忍愧，臣實與居。 夙夜反側，克心自論，父子兄弟，累世蒙恩，死惟結草，生誓殺身，雖則灰隕，無報萬分。
My forebears served the Han for generations and rose into the palace bureaucracy. My father Xue Zong lived when the Liu house lost the mandate and the empire shattered. He found refuge in this happier south, clinging to life until Heaven turned his face toward the Wu court. First he was a landless client on the barbarian frontier; then the Grand Emperor of Wu raised him from the mire and showered favor. Summoned from obscurity, he shed commoner dress for silks, tally, and seal. From governor of Hepu at the ocean’s edge he entered the capital and climbed to the inner councils. A dead branch bloomed anew, a snapped thread respooled—riches he had never dared dream. Twice favored, he knew when to be content; twice crowned with office—junior tutor when the Eastern Palace was founded—his glory redoubled. The luminous heir-apparent, humble in supreme virtue, heaped rites and gifts upon him. Yet my father died with the dynasty’s debt to him still unpaid. I, meanest of men, and my brothers owe our very bodies to Xue Zong’s line. His courtyard lessons could not pierce my stubborn dullness. I could not inherit his statesmanship; I only wished to farm in peace. I never dreamed the sacred court would flood us again with grace. It remembered my father’s service, pitied his broken work, and lifted his sons with singular honors. My brother Xue Xu bore a general’s baton a thousand li from home—full panoply, drums and mail ringing. I, coarse and dim, was still shown the path my father walked—the hinge of men and policy. Again named tutor to the heir, I inherit favor I cannot repay—talent far short of my father’s, I stand ashamed. Your Qian virtue cherishes letters and mourns the dead minister, hoping to keep his seed alive. Yet how unlike him is this foolish son! I look from his old honors to my hollow self—who could bear the shame? I cannot. Night and day I turn on my mat: our house has piled up grace life after life—dead, I would tie the knot of gratitude; living, I would give my marrow—yet ash could not repay the debt.
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是歲，何定建議鑿聖谿以通江淮，皓令瑩督萬人往，遂以多盤石難施功，罷還，出為武昌左部督，後定被誅，皓追聖谿事，下瑩獄，徙廣州。 右國史華核上疏曰：
That year He Ding urged cutting the Sheng Creek channel between the Yangzi and Huai; Sun Hao put Xue Ying in charge of ten thousand laborers until boulders stalled the work. After Ying was demoted to colonel of the left at Wuchang, He Ding’s execution brought the canal scandal back to light—Hao jailed Ying and shipped him to Guangzhou. Right national historian Hua He answered with a memorial:
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臣聞五帝三王皆立史官，敘錄功美，垂之無窮。 漢時司馬遷、班固，咸命世大才，所撰精妙，與六經俱傳。 大吳受命，建國南土。 大皇帝末年，命太史令丁孚、郎中項峻始撰《吳書》。 孚、峻俱非史才，其所撰作，不足紀錄。 至少帝時，更差韋曜、周昭、薛瑩、梁廣及臣五人，訪求往事，所共撰立，備有本末。 昭、廣先亡，曜負恩蹈罪，瑩出為將，復以過徙，其書遂委滯，迄今末撰奏。 臣愚淺才劣，適可為瑩等記注而已，若使撰合，必襲孚、峻之跡，懼墜大皇帝之元功，損當世之盛美。 瑩涉學既博，文章尤妙，同寮之中，瑩為冠首。 今者見吏，雖多經學，記述之才，如瑩者少，是以慺慺為國惜之。 實欲使卒垂成之功，編於前史之末。 奏上之後，退填溝壑，無所復恨。
I have read that every sage-king kept scribes to set down deeds for posterity. Han’s Sima Qian and Ban Gu were geniuses of their age; their histories rank beside the classics. Great Wu took the mandate and planted its capital in the southern soil. Late in the Grand Emperor’s reign he set Ding Fu and Xiang Jun to drafting the Book of Wu. Neither man had a historian’s gift; their draft was not worth preserving. The Lesser Emperor later added Wei Yao, Zhou Zhao, Xue Ying, Liang Guang, and myself—five scholars—to comb the archives and assemble a full chronicle. Zhou Zhao and Liang Guang died early; Wei Yao fell to treason; Xue Ying was sent out as a general and then exiled for fault—the manuscript stalled and has still not been completed and memorialized. I am too shallow to do more than annotate for Xue Ying; if forced to compile, I would repeat Ding Fu’s failure and blot the Grand Emperor’s glory. Xue Ying’s erudition is vast and his prose the finest of our circle. Plenty of officials know the classics; almost none can narrate like he—hence my fear for the history itself. Let him finish the book and append it to the dynastic record—that is my plea. Once it is done I may die in a ditch without regret.
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皓遂召瑩還，為左國史。 頃之，選曹尚書同郡繆禕以執意不移，為群小所疾，左遷衡陽太守。 既拜，又追以職事見詰責，拜表陳謝。 因過詣瑩，復為人所白，雲禕不懼罪，多將賓客會聚瑩許，乃收禕下獄，徙桂陽，瑩還廣州。 未至，召瑩還，復職。 是時法政多謬，舉措煩苛，瑩每上便宜，陳緩刑簡役，以濟育百姓，事或施行。 遷光祿勳。
Sun Hao recalled Xue Ying as left national historian. Soon after, Miao Yi of the same bureau—stubborn in principle—was slandered into the governorship of Hengyang. Summoned to account for his conduct, he filed a humble apology. Stopping to visit Xue Ying, he was accused of plotting; Yi went to jail in Guiyang while Ying was sent back to Guangzhou. Ying had not reached exile when the emperor recalled him to office. As Wu’s laws grew cruel and petty, Ying repeatedly urged lighter penalties and shorter labor levies to spare the people—some of it heeded. He rose to supernumerary household grandee.
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天紀四年，督軍征皓，皓奉書司馬由、王渾、王濬請降，其文，瑩所造也。 瑩既至洛陽，特先見敘，為散騎常侍，答問處當，皆有條理。 〈干寶《晉紀》曰：武帝從容問瑩曰：「孫皓之所以亡者何也？」 瑩對曰：「歸命侯臣皓之君吳也，暱近小人，刑罰妄加，大臣大將，無所親信，人人憂恐，各不自保，危亡之釁，實由於此。」 帝遂問吳士存亡者之賢愚，瑩各以狀對。〉 太康三年卒。 著書八篇，名曰《新議》。 〈王隱《晉書》曰：瑩子兼，字令長，清素有器宇，資望故如上國，不似吳人。 歷位二宮丞相長史。 元帝踐阼，累遷丹楊尹、尚書，又為太子少傅。 自綜至兼，三世傅東宮。〉
In Tianji 4, when the Jin commanders marched against Sun Hao, Hao sent surrender letters to Sima You, Wang Hun, and Wang Jun—Xue Ying drafted every line. At Luoyang he was received before other captives, named supernumerary gentleman cavalry attendant, and answered the Jin court’s questions with crisp logic. 〈Gan Bao’s Jin ji states: The Martial Emperor casually asked Ying, “What was the reason Sun Hao perished?” Xue Ying answered that when Sun Hao—already reduced to the surrendered “marquis who handed over his fate”—still ruled Wu, he surrounded himself with small men, lashed out with arbitrary penalties, and trusted neither his chief ministers nor his field commanders, so that everyone lived in dread and no one felt safe; the seeds of Wu’s fall lay there. Emperor Wu went on to ask which Wu scholars still living or dead had been worthy or wanting, and Ying gave him a candid report on each.〉 He died in Taikang 3 (282 CE). He left eight essays collected under the title New Discussions. 〈Wang Yin’s Jin shu adds that Xue Jian, courtesy Lingzhang, was austere and dignified, with the polish of a capital scholar rather than a southerner. He rose through the chief clerkships under the Jin chancellors of the Two Palaces. After Emperor Yuan took the throne, Xue Jian climbed step by step to governor of Danyang, palace attendant, and once more junior tutor to the heir. From Xue Zong to Xue Jian, three generations of the family tutored the crown prince.〉
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作者評論
Author’s appraisal
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評曰：張紘文理意正，為世令器，孫策待之亞於張昭，誠有以也，嚴、程、闞生，一時儒林也。 至畯辭榮濟舊，不亦長者乎！ 薛綜學識規納，為吳良臣。 及瑩纂蹈，允有先風，然於暴酷之朝，屢登顯列，君子殆諸。
The historian’s verdict: Zhang Hong combined sound doctrine with principled judgment—a statesman the age could use; that Sun Ce ranked him just below Zhang Zhao was no accident. Yan Jun, Cheng Bing, and Kan Ze belonged to the best scholarly cohort of their time. Yan Jun’s refusal of high office to save an old friend marks him as a true elder in the best sense. Xue Zong’s erudition, judgment, and openness to counsel made him one of Wu’s ablest ministers. Xue Ying, carrying on his father’s historical work and example, lived up to the family tradition, yet he rose again and again under a brutal tyrant—something that would give any scrupulous observer pause.