梁孝王世家

King Xiao of Liang, whose personal name was Wu, was a son of Emperor Wen and shared a mother with Emperor Jing. Their mother was Empress Dowager Dou.

Emperor Wen had four sons in all: the eldest was the Crown Prince, who became Emperor Jing; the second was Wu; the third, Can; the fourth, Sheng. In the second year after Emperor Wen took the throne, he made Wu King of Dai, Can King of Taiyuan, and Sheng King of Liang. Two years later, the King of Dai was transferred to become King of Huaiyang. All of Dai was given to the King of Taiyuan, who took the title King of Dai. Can reigned for seventeen years and died in the second year of the Later period of Emperor Wen, with the posthumous title King Xiao. His son Deng succeeded as King Gong of Dai, reigning twenty-nine years until the second year of Yuanguang. His son Yi succeeded as King of Dai. After nineteen years, Han extended the passes and set Changshan as the boundary, transferring the King of Dai to rule as King of Qinghe. The transfer took place in the third year of Yuanding.

Originally, Wu had been King of Huaiyang for ten years when King Sheng of Liang died, receiving the posthumous title King Huai of Liang. King Huai had been the youngest son and was loved with a special affection beyond the other sons. The following year, Wu, King of Huaiyang, was transferred to become King of Liang. His first year as King of Liang was the twelfth year of Emperor Wen. From his original enfeoffment, Wu had been a king for eleven years already.

In his fourteenth year as king, the King of Liang came to court. In his seventeenth and eighteenth years, he came to court in consecutive years and stayed. The following year he returned to his kingdom. In his twenty-first year he came to court again. In his twenty-second year, Emperor Wen died. In his twenty-fourth year he came to court; in the twenty-fifth, he came again.

At this time the Emperor had not yet appointed a crown prince. During a private banquet, the Emperor said casually to the King of Liang: "After ten thousand years, I shall pass the throne to you." The king declined with polite protests. Though he knew these were not words sincerely meant, he was privately delighted. The Empress Dowager felt the same.

That spring, the seven kingdoms — Wu, Chu, Qi, Zhao, and others — rebelled. Wu and Chu first struck Liang at Jibi, killing tens of thousands. King Xiao of Liang defended Suiyang from behind its walls, sending Han Anguo, Zhang Yu, and others as his Great Generals to resist Wu and Chu. Wu and Chu treated Liang as a barrier and dared not push past it westward. The standoff with Grand Commandant Yafu lasted three months. When Wu and Chu were destroyed, Liang's kills, captures, and seizures were roughly equal to those of the central Han forces.

The following year, Han appointed a crown prince. Thereafter, Liang was the closest royal kinsman, had distinguished military merit, and was a great kingdom occupying the richest land in the realm. Its territory bordered Mount Tai to the north and reached Gaoyang to the west — over forty cities, mostly large counties.

King Xiao was Empress Dowager Dou's youngest son, and her love for him knew no bounds — the gifts and rewards showered upon him were beyond reckoning. The king built the Eastern Park, covering over three hundred li on each side. He expanded Suiyang city by seventy li. He constructed great palace complexes and covered walkways stretching over thirty li from the palace to the Terrace of Ping. He was granted the Son of Heaven's banners and standards. When he went out, a thousand chariots and ten thousand horsemen followed. He hunted east and west in a style rivaling the Son of Heaven's. When he departed, the cry was 'Clear the road!'; when he returned, 'Alert!' He summoned talented men and wandering persuaders from all four directions, especially from east of the mountains. All came without exception — men like Yang Sheng, Gongsun Gui, and Zou Yang of Qi.

Gongsun Gui specialized in devious and unorthodox schemes. Upon first meeting the king, he was given a thousand catties of gold, rose to the rank of Commandant, and was styled "General Gongsun" in the kingdom of Liang. Liang manufactured weapons — crossbows, bows, and spears — numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Its treasury held nearly a hundred billion in cash, and its pearls, jade, and precious objects exceeded those of the capital itself.

In the tenth month of his twenty-ninth year, King Xiao of Liang came to court. Emperor Jing sent an envoy with the imperial tally and a four-horse imperial carriage to welcome the King of Liang at the pass. After the audience, the king petitioned to stay, citing the bond with the Empress Dowager. He entered the palace and rode the same carriage as Emperor Jing, went out hunting with him in the same chariot, and shot game in the Shanglin Park. Liang's Attendants of the Palace, Gentlemen, and Masters of Ceremony were registered and permitted to pass freely through the Son of Heaven's palace gates, no differently from Han court officials.

In the eleventh month, the Emperor deposed Crown Prince Li. Empress Dowager Dou secretly wished to make King Xiao the heir. But the great ministers, including Yuan Ang, remonstrated with Emperor Jing. The Empress Dowager's proposal was blocked on principle, and she did not raise the matter of making the King of Liang the heir again. Because the affair was kept secret, the world did not know of it. The king took his leave and returned to his kingdom.

In the fourth month of that summer, the Emperor installed the King of Jiaodong as crown prince. The King of Liang bore a grudge against Yuan Ang and the ministers who had blocked him, and secretly conspired with Yang Sheng, Gongsun Gui, and their associates to send assassins to murder Yuan Ang and more than ten other officials.

A hunt for the assassins was launched but they were not found. The Son of Heaven suspected the King of Liang. When the investigation traced the assassins, they proved to be Liang's agents. Envoys were dispatched in such numbers that their carriages were visible one after another along the road. They conducted a thorough investigation of Liang and sought to arrest Gongsun Gui and Yang Sheng. The two hid in the king's inner palace. The envoys pressed the two-thousand-bushel officials urgently. The Chancellor of Liang, Xuanqiu Bao, and the Internal Secretary Han Anguo remonstrated with the king, and the king finally ordered Sheng and Gui to kill themselves and surrendered their bodies.

The Emperor harbored deep resentment against the King of Liang. The king was terrified. He sent Han Anguo to approach the Elder Princess, who interceded with the Empress Dowager on his behalf. Only then was the matter resolved.

The Emperor's anger gradually subsided. The king petitioned to come to court. Upon reaching the pass, Mao Lan advised the king to enter in a plain cloth-covered cart with only two riders, and to hide in the Elder Princess's garden. Han sent envoys to welcome the king, but he had already slipped through the pass. His carriages and cavalry were all outside; no one knew where the king was.

Empress Dowager Dou wept: "The Emperor has killed my son!" Emperor Jing grew anxious and fearful. Then the King of Liang prostrated himself on the executioner's block beneath the palace gate, begging forgiveness. At this the Empress Dowager and Emperor Jing were overjoyed, wept together, and relations were restored as before. All the king's attendants were summoned through the pass.

Yet Emperor Jing kept the king at greater distance from that point on, and no longer shared his carriage.

In the winter of his thirty-fifth year, the king came to court again. He petitioned to stay, but the Emperor refused. He returned to his kingdom in a state of listless melancholy. While hunting to the north at Mount Liang, someone presented a cow with a foot growing from its back. The king took this as a dire omen. In the sixth month, he fell ill with a fever and died after six days. He was given the posthumous title King Xiao ("the Filial").

King Xiao had been devoted and filial. Whenever he heard the Empress Dowager was ill, he could not eat and could not sleep, and always wished to stay in Chang'an to attend her. The Empress Dowager loved him in return. When she learned the King of Liang had died, she wept with extreme grief and refused to eat, saying: "The Emperor has indeed killed my son!"

Emperor Jing was stricken with sorrow and fear, not knowing what to do. He consulted with the Elder Princess and decided to divide Liang into five kingdoms, installing all five of King Xiao's sons as kings and granting all five daughters revenue from bath-towns. When this was reported to the Empress Dowager, she was pleased and took one more meal on the Emperor's behalf.

The eldest son Mai became King of Liang — King Gong; Ming became King of Jichuan; Pengli became King of Jidong; Ding became King of Shanyang; Bushi became King of Jiyin.

Before King Xiao died, his wealth was counted in hundreds of millions, beyond reckoning. Upon his death, the treasury still held over four hundred thousand catties of gold, with other assets to match.

In the third year of King Gong of Liang, Emperor Jing died. King Gong reigned seven years and died. His son Xiang succeeded — this was King Ping.

In the fourteenth year of King Ping, Xiang: his mother was Dowager Chen. King Gong's mother was Dowager Li. Dowager Li was King Ping's paternal grandmother. King Ping's consort was Queen Ren. Queen Ren was greatly favored by King Ping.

In King Xiao's time, there had been a lei ritual vessel worth a thousand catties of gold. King Xiao had instructed his descendants to preserve it carefully and never give it away. Queen Ren heard of the vessel and coveted it. The king's grandmother, Dowager Li, said: "The late king's command forbids giving the lei vessel to anyone. Other gifts, even worth a hundred billion, are yours to give as you please." Queen Ren insisted on having it. King Ping simply ordered someone to open the treasury, take the lei vessel, and give it to Queen Ren.

Dowager Li was furious. When a Han envoy arrived, she wished to present her case, but King Ping and Queen Ren blocked her, shutting the gates. Dowager Li struggled at the door and her fingers were injured. She was unable to see the Han envoy. Dowager Li, for her part, had been conducting secret affairs with the Director of the Kitchen and the Palace Gentleman Yin Ba, among others. The king and Queen Ren used this to pressure Dowager Li into silence about her own illicit conduct. She fell ill and died. During her illness, Queen Ren never inquired after her health; after her death, she observed no mourning.

During the Yuanshuo period, a man of Suiyang named Lei Anfan killed his enemy — a man who had insulted his father — in the carriage of a guest of the Governor of Huaiyang. The governor was furious and censured the two-thousand-bushel officials of Liang. They searched urgently for Anfan and arrested his relatives. Anfan, who knew the kingdom's secrets, filed a report of irregularities, fully revealing the king's quarrel with his grandmother over the vessel. Officials from the chancellor down had known of the matter and sought to use it against the Liang administration. The report reached the Son of Heaven, who sent investigators to verify it. It was confirmed.

The court ministers petitioned to depose Xiang as a commoner. The Son of Heaven said: "Dowager Li had illicit conduct, and the King of Liang had no good tutors — hence he fell into impropriety." He reduced Liang by eight cities and had Queen Ren's head displayed in the marketplace. Liang retained ten cities. Xiang reigned thirty-nine years and died, with the posthumous title King Ping. His son Wushang succeeded as King of Liang.

King Ming of Jichuan was a son of King Xiao of Liang. In the sixth year of the middle period of Emperor Jing, he was made King of Jichuan from his former title as Marquis of Huanyi. After seven years, he was convicted of shooting and killing his Commandant. The Han authorities requested execution, but the Son of Heaven could not bear to kill him. Ming was deposed to commoner status and relocated to Fangling. His territory reverted to Han as a commandery.

King Pengli of Jidong was a son of King Xiao of Liang, made King of Jidong in the sixth year of the middle period of Emperor Jing. After twenty-nine years, Pengli was arrogant and violent, devoid of any royal propriety. At dusk he would go out privately with his slaves and dozens of fugitive youths to rob and murder people, seizing their property for sport. Over a hundred of his victims were eventually discovered. Everyone in the kingdom knew of it; no one dared go out at night. The sons of the victims filed petitions. The Han authorities requested execution, but the Emperor could not bear it. He deposed Pengli to commoner status and relocated him to Shangyong. His territory reverted to Han as Dahe Commandery.

King Ai of Shanyang, Ding, was a son of King Xiao, made King of Shanyang in the sixth year of the middle period of Emperor Jing. He died after nine years without an heir. The kingdom was abolished and reverted to Han as Shanyang Commandery.

King Ai of Jiyin, Bushi, was a son of King Xiao, made King of Jiyin in the sixth year of the middle period of Emperor Jing. He died after one year without an heir. The kingdom was abolished and reverted to Han as Jiyin Commandery.

The Grand Historian says: King Xiao of Liang, though he ruled rich territory through the favor of kinship, benefited from the Han dynasty's flourishing and the people's prosperity, and so was able to amass his wealth, expand his palaces, and match his carriages and robes to those of the Son of Heaven. Yet this, too, was overstepping.

Chu Shaosun says: When I served as a Palace Gentleman, I heard this from elderly officials of the palace halls who delighted in such matters. In my humble opinion, what caused King Xiao of Liang to harbor resentment and contemplate wrongdoing was something that originated at court itself. The Empress Dowager, being a woman ruler, wanted the King of Liang to be made heir out of love for her youngest son. The great ministers did not speak up firmly and at the right moment about why this was impermissible; instead they pandered to her wishes and attended to trivia, hoping for private rewards — they were not loyal ministers. If they had all spoken as plainly as Dou Ying, the Marquis of Weiqi, how could there have been later calamity?

At a private banquet with the king, in attendance on the Empress Dowager, Emperor Jing said: "After ten thousand years, the throne shall pass to the King." The Empress Dowager was delighted. Dou Ying, standing before them, struck the ground and said: "The laws of Han provide that the throne passes to a son, then to a legitimate grandson. By what right does the Emperor pass it to his brother and willfully violate the covenant of Emperor Gao!" Emperor Jing fell silent. The Empress Dowager was displeased.

In ancient times, King Cheng of Zhou stood with his young brother under a tree, picked a paulownia leaf, and gave it to him, saying: "I shall enfeoff you with this." The Duke of Zhou heard of it and came before the king: "The Son of Heaven enfeoffs his brother — excellent." King Cheng said: "I was only playing." The Duke of Zhou said: "A ruler does not make idle gestures. He must not speak in jest. What he says, he must carry out." The young brother was accordingly enfeoffed with Ying. From that day until his death, King Cheng never again dared speak in jest; what he said, he carried out. The Classic of Filial Piety says: "Speak nothing that is not in accord with law; do nothing that is not in accord with the Way." These are the canonical words of the sages. The ruler ought not to have spoken fair words to the King of Liang. The king, bolstered by the Empress Dowager's authority, had grown arrogant over time. He heard Emperor Jing's fine words about passing the throne after ten thousand years, yet they were never fulfilled.

Moreover, when feudal kings come to court, Han law requires only four audiences: an initial informal audience upon arrival; a formal audience on the first day of the first month to present hides, jade, and felicitations; a banquet with gifts three days later; and a final informal audience two days after that, followed by departure — a total stay of no more than twenty days. Informal audiences are held within the restricted gates, with drinking in the inner quarters, where ordinary officials are not admitted. Yet the King of Liang came west to court and stayed nearly half a year, riding the same carriage as the sovereign going in and going out. To dangle great promises and then fail to honor them, so that the man gives voice to resentment and plots treason, and only then fret about it — is that not short-sighted? Only a man of great virtue knows when to step back. Under Han ceremonial law, kings and marquises who come for the New Year audience typically come one king and four marquises at a time, once every decade or so. Yet the King of Liang came to court almost every year and stayed for extended periods. The common saying goes: "A spoiled child is an unfilial one" — and that is no idle saying. For this reason, feudal kings should be provided with good tutors and ministers of frank counsel, men like Ji An and Han Changru, who dare to speak bluntly — then how could disaster occur?

I have heard the following account: When the King of Liang came west to court and visited Empress Dowager Dou for a private audience, he and Emperor Jing sat together attending the Empress Dowager. They spoke intimately. The Empress Dowager said to the Emperor: "I have heard that the Way of Yin favored closeness of kin, and the Way of Zhou favored reverence for rank — but the principle is one. Let the royal carriage and the grand equipage rest with King Xiao of Liang as my trust." Emperor Jing rose on his mat and said: "Agreed."

After the drinking ended and they withdrew, the Emperor summoned Yuan Ang and other great ministers versed in the classics: "The Empress Dowager spoke thus — what does she mean?" They all replied: "The Empress Dowager intends to make the King of Liang the imperial heir." The Emperor asked for their analysis. Yuan Ang and others said: "The Yin Way of favoring kin means installing a brother. The Zhou Way of favoring rank means installing a son. The Yin Way was plain and modeled on Heaven — it favors those who are close, hence installs a brother. The Zhou Way was refined and modeled on Earth — reverence means respecting origins, hence installs the eldest son. Under Zhou practice, if the crown prince dies, the legitimate grandson succeeds. Under Yin practice, the brother succeeds."

The Emperor asked: "In your judgment, which applies?" They all replied: "Han currently follows Zhou. Under Zhou law one cannot install a brother — one must install a son. This is precisely why the Spring and Autumn Annals criticizes Duke Xuan of Song. Duke Xuan died and passed the state to his brother instead of his son. When the brother died, he returned it to the elder brother's son. The brother's son contested this, claiming he should succeed his own father, and assassinated the brother's nephew. The state fell into chaos and the disasters continued for five generations. Hence the Spring and Autumn Annals says: 'The noble man values adherence to the correct. Song's misfortunes were Duke Xuan's making.' Let us see the Empress Dowager and explain this."

Yuan Ang and the others went in to see the Empress Dowager: "Your Majesty wishes to install the King of Liang. When the King of Liang dies, whom will you install then?" The Empress Dowager said: "I will install the Emperor's son again." Yuan Ang and the others reported the case of Duke Xuan of Song, whose failure to install the rightful heir produced disasters lasting five generations — showing that small indulgence harms the greater principle. The Empress Dowager understood and relented, immediately sending the King of Liang back to his kingdom.

But the King of Liang learned that the argument had originated with Yuan Ang and the other ministers. He harbored a grievance and sent men to kill Yuan Ang. When the assassin struck, Yuan Ang turned and said: "I am the one called General Yuan — are you sure you have the right man?" The assassin said: "You are the one!" He stabbed him and left his sword in the body.

Examining the sword, it was newly polished. Inquiries among the sword-grinders of Chang'an produced a craftsman who said: "A certain young gentleman from Liang brought this sword to be polished." From this the connection was discovered, and envoys were sent to pursue the matter. In all, the King of Liang had wanted to assassinate over ten senior officials. The investigating clerks traced the conspiracy to its root, and clear evidence of a treasonous plot emerged.

The Empress Dowager refused to eat and wept day and night without stopping. Emperor Jing was deeply worried and consulted the ministers. The ministers advised sending officials versed in the classics to handle the investigation, as only such men could resolve the situation. Tian Shu and Lü Jizhu were dispatched. Both were learned in the classics and understood the great rites. On their return, they stopped at the post station at Bachang, set fire to all the documentary evidence of Liang's treasonous statements, and came before Emperor Jing empty-handed.

The Emperor asked: "What is the verdict?" They replied: "The King of Liang knew nothing of it. The perpetrators were solely his favored ministers Yang Sheng, Gongsun Gui, and their associates. They have been duly executed. The King of Liang is unharmed." Emperor Jing was delighted: "Go at once and report to the Empress Dowager." When the Empress Dowager heard, she immediately sat up, ate a meal, and her spirits were restored.

Hence it is said: Those who master the classics and understand the great rites of past and present are fit to serve as one of the Three Excellencies or as a close attendant of the ruler. Men of narrow experience are like those who peer at heaven through a tube.