淮南衡山列传 — Shiji

King Ao of Zhao did not dare bring her into the imperial palace, but instead had an outer residence built for her. When the conspiracy of Guan Gaofeng and his associates at Boshan was discovered, the authorities arrested the King and seized all his mother's brothers and palace ladies, imprisoning them in Henan. Chang's mother was also imprisoned. She told the officials, "I was favored by the Emperor and am with child." The officials reported this to the Emperor, but he was still furious at the King of Zhao and did not attend to her case. Chang's maternal uncle Zhao Jian enlisted Marquis Piyang to plead with Empress Lü, but the Empress, out of jealousy, refused to intercede. Marquis Piyang did not press the matter.

When Chang's mother had given birth to him, she flew into a rage and took her own life. The officials brought the infant Chang before the Emperor, who, filled with regret, ordered Empress Lü to raise the child. He buried Chang's mother in Zhending, where her family originated—her father had been a magistrate there for generations.

In the eleventh year of Gaozu's reign, when Huainan King Qingbu rebelled, the Emperor installed his son Chang as King of Huainan, granting him the territories formerly held by Qingbu—all four commanderies. When the Emperor personally led the campaign that destroyed Qingbu, Chang succeeded to the throne. Deprived of his mother in childhood, Chang had always relied on Empress Lü, and during the reigns of Emperor Hui and Empress Lü he enjoyed her protection and came to no harm. Yet he harbored a secret grudge against Marquis Piyang, though he dared not express it.

Chang possessed great physical strength, capable of hoisting a ceremonial cauldron. He called on Marquis Piyang, who received him. Chang produced an iron mace from his sleeve and struck the Marquis. He then ordered his attendant Wei Jing to behead him. Chang fled to the palace gates, bared his chest, and prostrated himself in apology:

Emperor Wen, moved by his evident distress and because of their kinship, did not punish him, granting him a pardon.

In the sixth year, he ordered some seventy men, including one called Dan, together with the heir of Marquis Cipu Chai Wu, to plot rebellion. They secured forty supply carts and planned to travel to Gu Kou, sending envoys to Min Yue and the Xiongnu. When the scheme was uncovered and investigated, an envoy was sent to summon the King of Huainan.

Upon his arrival in Changan, the officials presented their charges: "Huainan King Chang has repudiated the former Emperor's laws, defied the Emperor's summons, behaved without restraint, ridden in yellow-canopied carriages reserved for imperial use, modeled himself on the Son of Heaven, created his own laws and decrees, and ignored Han regulations. He has appointed his own officials, installing his palace attendant Chun as Chancellor. He has gathered Han's condemned criminals and fugitives, harboring them in secret residences, establishing households for them, bestowing wealth, titles, lands, and residences upon them. Some have even received the rank of Marquis of the Interior. He has used his position for personal gain.

The emperor heard of this and sighed, saying: 'Yao and Shun banished their own kin; the Duke of Zhou put Guan Shu and Cai Shu to death—yet the world called them sages. Why? Because they did not let private feeling harm public justice. Would the world think that I coveted the Huainan king's lands?' He then moved the King of Chengyang to rule the former territory of Huainan, posthumously honoured the Huainan king with the title of King Li, and established an enclosure and rites for him according to the ceremonies of a feudal lord. In the sixteenth year of Emperor Wen of the Xiaowen era, he moved King Xi of Huainan back to his old territory in Chengyang. The emperor pitied King Li of Huainan for abandoning the laws and going astray, thus losing his state and dying young, so he enfeoffed his three sons: Liu An, Marquis of Fuling, as King of Huainan; Liu Bo, Marquis of Anyang, as King of Hengshan; and Liu Ci, Marquis of Yangzhou, as King of Lujiang. All received back the lands that had belonged to King Li, divided into three parts.

"When Chang was ill recently, the Emperor, concerned for him, sent envoys with letters and dried dates. Chang refused the gift and would not receive the envoy. When the southerners of Lujiang rebelled and Huainan's officials and troops were sent to suppress them, the Emperor, sympathizing with the Huainan people for their hardship, sent five thousand bolts of silk for the weary soldiers. Chang again refused, lying: 'There are no weary soldiers.' When the southern man Wang Zhi sent an emissary bearing a jade disc, Warden Jian burned the letter without reporting it to the Emperor. When officials requested that Jian be summoned for questioning, Chang would not release him, lying: 'Jian is ill.'

"Chun petitioned the King, requesting permission to appear before the Emperor. The King flew into a rage: 'You wish to abandon me and attach yourself to Han!' The King deserves execution. We respectfully request that he be tried according to law."

The Emperor decreed: "I cannot bear to apply the full law to the King. Let the Marquises and two-thousand-bushel officials deliberate."

The officials replied: "We have carefully deliberated with forty-three officials including Marquis Ying and others, and all agree: Chang has violated the legal code, defied the Emperor's summons, secretly gathered followers and conspirators, generously sustained fugitives, and intended to cause trouble. Our judgment is that the law should be applied."

After this, he lamented, "I practiced benevolence and righteousness, yet my fief was reduced. I am deeply ashamed of this." However, after the King of Huainan's territory was reduced, his plotting of rebellion intensified. Whenever envoys traveling via Chang'an came and spread wild and delusive talk, saying that the emperor had no sons and that Han was in disorder, he was delighted; if they said the Han court was well-governed and the emperor had sons, the king would become angry, considering it falsehood, not true. The king, day and night, together with Wu Bei, Zuo Wu, and others, examined maps of the realm, planning the routes by which his troops would invade.

The Emperor decreed: "I cannot bear to apply the full law to the King. Let him be pardoned and stripped of his title."

I have heard that when Wu Zixu remonstrated with the King of Wu and the King of Wu would not adopt his advice, he said, 'I now see elaphures roaming on the terrace of Gusu.' Today I also see thorns growing in the palace, and dew soaking the robes. The King became angry, bound Wu Bei's parents, and imprisoned them for three months. Then he summoned him again, asking, 'General, will you consent to me?' Wu Bei replied, 'No, I have merely come to draw plans for Your Majesty. I have heard that the keen of hearing perceive sound where there is no sound, and the keen of sight see what has not yet taken shape. Therefore, the sage succeeds in all his undertakings. In ancient times, King Wen of Zhou made a single move and his achievements shone forth for a thousand generations, placing him among the Three Dynasties. This is what is called acting in accord with the will of Heaven, so that all within the seas followed him without prior arrangement. This is something that can be perceived across a thousand years.'

The Qin dynasty, with its century-old foundation, and the recent states of Wu and Chu, are sufficient to illustrate the survival and destruction of a state. I dare not avoid the execution that befell Wu Zixu; I only hope that Your Majesty will not listen as the King of Wu did. In the past, Qin cut off the way of the sages, killed scholars of arts, burned the Odes and Documents, abandoned ritual and righteousness, esteemed deceit and force, relied on punishments, and transported grain from the coastal regions to the West River. At that time, men toiled at plowing but had not enough to eat the dregs, women spun and wove but had not enough to cover their bodies.

He dispatched Meng Tian to build the Great Wall, stretching several thousand li from east to west. The troops exposed in the field regularly numbered several hundred thousand. The dead were countless; corpses lay strewn for a thousand li, blood flowed by the acre. The common people were exhausted, and among every ten households, five desired to rebel. The people of Qin suffered bitterly, and the realm resounded with resentment. Thus, the people's hearts grew alienated, and the seeds of disaster lay hidden. Qin perished after only two generations, leaving nothing but eternal regret. Many plotted rebellion. Then the realm fell into turmoil and unrest; the people could not survive. Resentment echoed everywhere, the four seas seethed, and wailing filled the land.

The officials implored: "The King has committed great crimes worthy of death. The Emperor's mercy has pardoned him and stripped his title. We request that he be exiled to the postal station at Yanqiao in Qiao County, Sichuan. His sons and mother may accompany him. A residence shall be built for them, with provisions of grain, firewood, vegetables, salt, fermented beans, and cooking vessels, mats, and bedding provided."

He also sent Wei Tuo across the Five Ranges to attack the Baiyue. Wei Tuo, knowing that the central regions were utterly exhausted, stopped there and made himself king, refusing to return. He sent a letter to the Qin First Emperor, requesting thirty thousand women without husbands to sew and mend for the soldiers. The Qin Emperor approved fifteen thousand. Thereupon the people's hearts scattered and crumbled like tiles; among every ten households, seven desired to rebel. A visiting advisor said to Emperor Gaozu: "The time has come." Emperor Gaozu replied: "Wait. A sage will arise from the southeast." Within a year, Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rose up. The realm fell into great chaos, and flames of war sprang up everywhere.

The officials implored: "The King has committed great crimes worthy of death. The Emperor's mercy has pardoned him and stripped his title. We request that he be exiled to the postal station at Yanqiao in Qiao County, Sichuan. His sons and mother may accompany him. A residence shall be built for them, with provisions of grain, firewood, vegetables, salt, fermented beans, and cooking vessels, mats, and bedding provided."

This means that King Zhou had long ago cut himself off from the realm; it was not on the day of his death that the realm abandoned him. Now your servant privately grieves that Your Majesty has cast aside the rank of a lord of a thousand chariots. You will surely be given a letter ordering your death, serving as the first among your ministers to die in the Eastern Palace. Then, stifled resentment swelled and could not be voiced; tears filled his eyes and streamed down his face. He immediately rose, strode up the steps, and departed. The king had a son by a concubine named Buhai, the eldest son, but the king did not love him. The king, queen, and crown prince all did not count him as a son or older brother.

Buhai had a son named Jian. He was talented and spirited, often resentful that the Crown Prince ignored his father; he also resented that at that time all the feudal princes could enfeoff their brothers and sons as marquises, but the King of Huainan had only two sons, one became Crown Prince, and Jian's father alone was denied a marquisate. Jian secretly gathered supporters, planning to accuse and bring down the Crown Prince so that his own father could replace him. The Crown Prince learned of this, and had Jian arrested, imprisoned, and flogged many times. Jian was fully aware of the Crown Prince's plot to kill the Commandant of the Kingdom, so he sent his friend Zhuang Zhi of Shouchun to submit a written petition to the Son of Heaven in the sixth year of Yuanshuo, saying: “Poisonous medicine is bitter to the mouth but good for the illness; loyal advice is harsh to the ear but good for conduct.”

Now Liu Jian, grandson of the King of Huainan, is a man of outstanding ability. The Queen of Huainan, Tu, and her son Crown Prince Liu Qian constantly envied and plotted to harm Jian. Jian's father, Liu Buhai, was innocent, yet they repeatedly seized and imprisoned him without authority, intending to kill him. Since Jian is still alive, he can be summoned and interrogated; he knows all the secret dealings of the Huainan kingdom. When this letter reached the Emperor, he handed the matter to the Commandant of Justice, who in turn sent it to the governor of Henan to investigate. At that time, Shen Qing, grandson of the late Marquis of Piyang, was on good terms with Chancellor Gongsun Hong. Resentful that King Li of Huainan had killed his grandfather, Shen Qing presented the Huainan case to Hong in a highly exaggerated manner. Gongsun Hong then suspected Huainan of plotting rebellion and pursued the case with great rigour.

When the Henan Commandery was handling a case, the interrogation implicated the Crown Prince of Huainan and his associates. The King of Huainan was worried about this and wanted to launch a rebellion. He asked Wu Bei, "Is the Han court in order or in chaos?" Wu Bei said, "The realm is at peace." The King was displeased and said to Wu Bei, "How can you say the realm is at peace?" Wu Bei replied, "I have privately observed the governance of the court: the propriety between ruler and minister, the affection between father and son, the distinction between husband and wife, the order between elder and younger—all are properly maintained. His Majesty's actions and decisions follow the ancient ways of governance, and there is no deficiency in customs and moral standards. Rich merchants carrying valuable goods travel all around the realm, with no road blocked, so the way of trade and circulation is practiced. Nanyue has submitted and paid homage, the Qiang and Bo tribes come to offer tribute, Dong'ou has surrendered, the territory of Changyu has been expanded, Shuofang Commandery has been opened up, and the Xiongnu have had their wings broken and wounded, losing support and unable to recover. Although it does not yet match the era of supreme peace in ancient times, it can still be considered well governed."

The king grew angry, and Wu Bei confessed his crime deserved death. The king then asked Wu Bei, 'If war breaks out east of the mountains, the Han will surely send the Grand General to command troops and control the region. In your opinion, what sort of man is the Grand General?' Wu Bei replied, 'My friend Huang Yi once followed the Grand General against the Xiongnu. When he returned, he told me: "The Grand General treats scholars and officials with courtesy, shows kindness to the soldiers, and everyone is glad to serve him. He gallops up and down mountains as if flying, his abilities far surpassing ordinary men." I think with such exceptional talent and his experience in leading troops, he would not be easy to withstand. Moreover, the messenger Cao Liang, back from Chang'an, said that the Grand General's orders are clear, he is brave before the enemy and always goes ahead of his soldiers. When the army rested, if a well was being dug but water had not yet been reached, he would not drink until all his soldiers had water. After a campaign, he would cross the river only after all his troops had crossed.'

The gold and silk bestowed by the Empress Dowager he distributed entirely among his army officers. Even the famous generals of antiquity could not surpass this. The King of Huainan was silent. Seeing that Wu Jian had already been arrested and investigated, the King feared that his state's secret plot would soon be exposed and wanted to launch a revolt. Yet Wu Bei again deemed it difficult, so the King asked him once more: ‘Do you think the King of Wu was right or wrong to raise troops?’ Wu Bei replied: ‘I consider it wrong. The King of Wu, exalted and wealthy as he was, acted improperly; he died at Dantu, his head and feet were in different places, and none of his descendants were spared. I have heard that the King of Wu deeply regretted it. I urge Your Majesty to ponder this carefully and not repeat the regrets of the King of Wu.’

The conspirators were executed to the last man.

Chang was then sent into exile, traveling in a covered carriage, transferred from county to county along the route. At this point, Yuan Ang advised the Emperor: "Your Majesty has always indulged the King of Huainan, failing to appoint him strict tutors or guardians, which is why things have come to this. Moreover, the King of Huainan is stubborn. If he is suddenly broken by this hardship, I fear he may fall ill and die from exposure along the way. Your Majesty will be branded as the brother-killer—what then?"

Chang said to his attendants: "Who says your lord is brave? How could I be brave! It was my arrogance that prevented me from hearing of my own faults, and that brought me to this pass. In one lifetime under heaven, how could I endure such humiliation!"

He refused to eat and died.

When the carriage reached Yong, the County Magistrate opened the sealed report and informed the Emperor that Chang had died. The Emperor wept bitterly. He said to Yuan Ang: "I did not heed your counsel, and in the end I have lost the King of Huainan."

Because of this, the King of Hengshan was incensed, and together with Xi Ci and Zhang Guangchang he conspired, seeking men skilled in military strategy and astrological observations. Day and night they encouraged the King in secret plotting of rebellion. After Queen Chengshu died, Xu Lai was made queen. Consort Jue was also favored. The two were jealous of each other, and Consort Jue then slandered Queen Xu Lai before the Crown Prince, saying, ‘Xu Lai had a maidservant use black magic to kill the Crown Prince’s mother.’ The Crown Prince harbored resentment against Xu Lai in his heart. When Xu Lai’s elder brother came to Hengshan, the Crown Prince drank with him and stabbed him with a blade, wounding the Queen’s brother. The Queen, resentful and furious, repeatedly slandered and maligned the Crown Prince before the King.

Yuan Ang replied: "Nothing can be done about it now. May Your Majesty take comfort."

"What is to be done?" asked the Emperor.

"Only by executing the Chancellor and the Imperial Historian and presenting their heads to the realm can this be resolved."