University of Virginia Library

THE DEATH OF EMPRESS ZHEN: A CASE STUDY

The previous section described how the political context in which
Chen Shou wrote may have impinged upon his history. One of the
biographies translated herein provides an excellent example of how
various influences operated on him, while also giving some insight into
the interplay between Chen's work and that of other historians of
the period. These forces and the historiographical tendencies of Chen
and others, which can be appreciated thanks to Pei Songzhi's commentary,
are particularly evident in the biography of Empress Zhen the
Illustrious of the Civilizing Emperor (Wen Zhao Zhen huanghou [OMITTED]
[OMITTED]).[81]

The essential outlines of the story are as follows: Empress Zhen was
initially the wife of Yuan Xi. When her husband went off to govern
You province [OMITTED], she stayed behind in Ji province [OMITTED] to care for
her mother-in-law. When the Cao armies captured Ye [OMITTED], the seat of
Ji province, she was discovered by and subsequently married to Cao

Pi, the future Emperor Wen of Wei. She bore Cao Rui, who would
become Emperor Ming. After Cao Pi acceded to the imperial throne,
Zhen gradually fell out of favor and was replaced by Lady Guo, who
was later named empress in her stead. Empress Zhen was unhappy with
this turn of events and apparently became increasingly difficult.
Emperor Wen grew angry with her and ordered her to commit suicide.
Subsequently, Cao Rui came to the throne. He had her reinterred in
a more lavish tomb and bestowed extensive honors on her family, in
some cases posthumously.

The body of Records of the Three States contains a fairly complete
though terse version of the story, while Pei's commentary cites
sometimes fuller, sometimes alternative versions. The works Pei cites
include two that antedate Chen's work, as well as some written not
long after his death. The first of these is Wang Chen's Wei History,
which deals with the later part of the Zhen story, the events surrounding
her death:

Wang's account of the events surrounding Empress Zhen's death
seems almost perfunctory. From it one gains the impression that,

contrary to being unhappy with Empress Zhen, the emperor wanted
to honor her, and it was only her reluctance that prevented him from
doing so. Even so, he did not entirely give up and and planned to pursue
the matter again later, being thwarted only by the empress's death.
According to Wang, Cao Pi was anguished by the passing of a devoted
spouse and posthumously bestowed the honors of an empress on her.
As we shall see, this version is quite at odds with other accounts of
the empress's death.

The second text that contributes a passage to the story of Empress
Zhen is the Wei Epitome. It describes the initial encounter between Cao
Pi and the future Empress Zhen:

There is another fragment from Yu Huan's Wei Epitome quoted by
Pei Songzhi concerning events following the death of Empress Zhen:

Yu Huan's account here is fairly straightforward, and though clearly
embellished, it is no more so than normal among historical texts of
the period, including the official histories.

Chen Shou's account, written sometime after 265, is the only one
extant that covers Empress Zhen's entire life. It comprises three parts:

The first discusses the empress's family antecedents, tells us that she lost
her father at an early age, and offers a formulaic anecdote that
demonstrates her precocity. The second part, which is of about equal
length to the first, is a terse recounting of her marriage to Yuan Xi and
then to Cao Pi, her giving birth to Cao Rui and the Princess of
Dongxiang (Dongxiang gongzhu [OMITTED]), and then her loss of favor
and death. These latter are described in the following terms:

The third part of her biography, which is three times the combined
length of the first two sections, describes the events after her death,
primarily her reinterment and the honors granted her relatives. In
contrast to the preceding sections, this one is rather detailed.
Considerable space is devoted to the erection of a temple in her memory,
and the memorial proposing it is quoted in full. This is followed by
still further description of the honors bestowed on the empress's
relatives, a number of whom were made marquises. Interestingly,
Emperor Ming made Empress Guo's younger cousin Guo De [OMITTED] the
posthumous son of Empress Zhen's deceased grandnephew Zhen
Huang [OMITTED] and had him take the surname Zhen.

At first glance, Chen's account of all this seems straightforward
enough. But on reexamination, one is struck by the juxtaposition of,
on the one hand, the favor shown Lady Guo and the Ladies Li and
Yin and, on the other hand, Empress Zhen's behavior, which led to
the emperor's dissatisfaction with her and his ordering her to commit
suicide. Add to this the lengthy description of Emperor Ming's
rehabilitation of his mother and her relatives, which clearly gives the
impression of the rectification of an injustice, and it seems clear that
Chen is conveying a discreet message. This becomes even more certain
when he writes in the biography of Empress Guo that "the death of
Empress Zhen resulted from the favor shown Empress Guo."[86] His
assertion is echoed by Xi Zuochi's Han-Jin Spring and Autumn Annals:

Xi wrote during the Eastern Jin, and there is always the possibility
that distance from the actual event encouraged a certain amount of
distortion and elaboration. But we need only recall the passage from
the Wei Epitome cited earlier to realize that the shift in Emperor Wen's
favor to Empress Guo entailed more than a new attraction piqued by
the infusion of fresh blood into the seraglio: Empress Guo had actively
undermined Empress Zhen's position. There can be no question that
Xi's account is close to the truth. But what does that suggest about
Chen's version?

The two quotations from the Wei Epitome provided by Pei Songzhi
are just snippets from what was a complete text, and on reading them,
one is certain that Yu Huan might very well have included an account
of Empress Guo's actions against Empress Zhen. After all, the Epitome
does refer to Empress Zhen's having been slandered, to her having been
improperly coffined, and to her disheveled hair covering her face. As
indicated earlier, the Epitome was one of the sources available at the
time Chen Shou was writing Records of the Three States, and he is
assumed to have consulted it.[88] There can be no doubt, then, that he
intentionally muted his account of Empress Guo's treatment of Empress
Zhen. Unlike Wang Chen, however, he did not suppress it entirely. He
left the alert reader clues to what had actually occurred; if necessary,
his account might be fleshed out by recourse to unofficial works such
as the Wei Epitome.

Even so, the question remains: Why did Chen Shou decide not to
use all that was available to him and write the complete story of the
events surrounding Empress Zhen's death? The Qing scholar He Zhuo
speculates that Chen was reluctant because the Guos were still influential
when Chen was writing.[89] This would probably have made any
reasonable person cautious. But Chen's situation was further complicated
by policy differences in the government. Let us recall that Chen
was a protégé of Zhang Hua. Although Zhang was widely respected

for his abilities, his own origins were relatively humble, and his power
to protect Chen would have been limited. When it came to one of the
most important issues of the day—whether or not to attempt the
conquest of Wu—Zhang was in opposition to both Xun Xu, as noted
earlier, and Jia Chong. In 265, Shu had been defeated and absorbed
by Wei, but Wu was still independent more than ten years later.
Emperor Wu of Jin (Sima Yan) wanted to attack the southern state.
A number of high-ranking officials—including Jia and Xun—were
opposed, while Zhang and others strongly endorsed the plan. In a
memorial to the emperor, Jia and Xun insisted that such an effort was
doomed to failure. The emperor apparently did not agree, for he
ordered Jia to lead the attack. When the campaign experienced logistical
difficulties, Jia and Xun unsuccessfully called for Zhang's execution
because he was responsible for planning grain transport. The Jin
armies were ultimately victorious, however, much to the chagrin of Jia
Chong, who feared that he would now fall into disfavor.[90] Even though
the emperor seems to have been willing to overlook Jia's behavior, this
surely did little to improve Jia or Xun's feelings toward Zhang and
Chen.

In addition to policy differences, there were deeper and more
intensely personal differences that could have affected Chen's work.
Zhang and Chen found themselves embroiled in bitter factional
struggles at court revolving around Jia Chong and his daughter, Jia
Nanfeng [OMITTED] (d. 300), the consort of the future Emperor Hui [OMITTED]
(Sima Zhong [OMITTED]).[91] Xun Xu and his father, Xun Yi, were closely
allied with Jia. Both father and son had proposed that Jia's daughter
be married to the mentally deficient heir apparent Sima Zhong, an idea
for which Xun Yi was widely ridiculed.[92] Zhang Hua, in contrast, later
supported Empress Dowager Yang when Empress Jia sought to have
her executed.[93] As Zhang's protégé, Chen would have found himself
willy-nilly in opposition to the Jia family and its supporters.[94]

Given the context in which Chen wrote his history, then, he could
have expected his work to be carefully scrutinized by people who were
not entirely sympathetic to him.[95] Although according to one account
Xun Xu praised Chen's Record of Ancient States, the same source says
that something in Chen's history of the Wei displeased Xun and led
him to prevent Zhang's gaining Chen an appointment at court.[96] As
noted earlier, considering the prominence of the Xun family in the work,
there were probably numerous opportunities for Xun Xu to take
offense. Even so, what irritated Xun may well have been Chen's treatment
of Empresses Zhen and Guo. Although the details differ, this
episode is in many ways analogous to Empress Jia's treatment of
Empress Yang, and Chen's account could be taken as an implied criticism

of Empress Jia. Moreover, his lengthy description of the honors
bestowed on the Zhen family by Emperor Ming might be seen as a
hint that members of the Yang family deserved similar consideration.[97]
Chen's handling of the Empress Guo affair could also have been
interpreted as being critical of Xun's father, Xun Yi, who had
collaborated with Wang Chen on the Wei History.[98] As we have seen,
the Wei History omitted any mention of Empress Guo's treatment of
Empress Zhen.[99] Chen's circumspection notwithstanding, under such
circumstances his account could not have avoided offending Xun.

Of course, we can never know for certain Chen's reasons for writing
as he did. But the contexts and constraints with which he had to deal
are clear. In hindsight, it would be easy to fault him for not living up
to ideal historiographical standards. But it should be remembered that,
in addition to the political context in which he wrote, history as a field
was still developing and had not come completely into its own.[100] In
any case, Chen did not do all that badly. Despite the pressures and
limitations to which he was subject, he managed to give sufficient
information and leave adequate clues to enable his readers to discern
the truth. This at least seems to have been Pei Songzhi's conclusion when
he compared Chen's version of the Empress Zhen story with that of
Wang Chen:

Fang Xuanling [OMITTED] (578-648) and the other compilers of the Jin
History agreed. They noted that the Wei History by Wang Chen (and
Xun Yi) had covered up a great deal and that it "was not like the true
record of Chen Shou."[102] Fang and his collaborators may indeed have
been thinking in part of Chen's treatment of Empress Zhen when they
wrote in their appreciation of Chen and other Jin historians:

In summary, although Records of the Three States has some
shortcomings—shortcomings that led Pei Songzhi to compile his
commentary—as early as the late Six Dynasties and Tang, Chen Shou
was recognized as an outstanding historian who had succeeded, under
difficult circumstances, in preserving his integrity by producing an artful
history that withheld little from the accomplished reader.