Empresses and consorts selections from Chen Shou's Records of the Three States with Pei Songzhi's commentary |
 |
| 1. |
| 2. |
|
| 4. |
| 5. |
|
|
| I. |
| II. |
|
| 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. | Chapter 4: Empresses and Consorts of the Three States |
| 5. |
| 2. |
|
 | Empresses and consorts |  |
Chapter 4: Empresses and Consorts of the Three States
On the question of Chen's selections for the fascicles we have translated, see
"Who Is Included?" in Chapter 5 below. Given the appearance of strong,
frequently martial women in genres such as chuanqi [OMITTED] (classical language
tales), one might expect to find a woman as intriguing as Lady Sun embellished
in fiction. The Lady Sun of the San guo zhi pinghua [OMITTED] [Historical
Narrative of the Three States] and the Lady Sun of the San guo zhi yanyi [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] [Romance of the Three States] are quite different figures from the
Lady Sun of Records of the Three States. In the Historical Narrative, she is
depicted as a clever fifteen-year-old maiden who helps Liu Bei escape an
assassination plot by Zhou Yu [OMITTED] (175-210) of Wu in which she is the bait.
In this version, Sun Quan initially supports Zhou's plot, but on meeting Liu
is so impressed that he sees advantages in becoming his brother-in-law. In the
Romance, Lady Sun is described as an amazon surrounded by armed
handmaidens, but she is loyal to Liu and helps him escape Zhou's trap. In this
version, however, her brother is so angry at her helping Liu that he orders his
soldiers to kill her. She escapes and accompanies Liu to Jing province. The
Romance has her attempt to return to Wu later with Adou [OMITTED] (Liu Shan),
the heir apparent, because she has been falsely informed that her mother is
dying and wishes to see her and the boy. This is another of Zhou Yu's schemes
to wrest Jing province from Liu Bei, this time by taking the boy hostage. In
one of the most celebrated sections of the Romance, Zhao Yun [OMITTED] (d. 229)
rescues the lad in the middle of the Yangtze, and Lady Sun continues on to
Wu unaware of the plot. See San guo zhi pinghua, 73-76; San guo yanyi,
1:459-472, 2:520-523; Roberts, Three Kingdoms, 409-420. If, as Andrew Lo
suggests, the Romance did not derive from the pinghua but "must be set in
[the] written tradition that precedes Song-Yuan oral forms," it would be
interesting to know at what point and how the metamorphosis of Lady Sun
occurred. See Lo, "San-kuo-chih yen-i," 669.
Note, too, that the behavior of the earlier Caos seems to parallel Cao Cao's
attitude toward the selection of men for office. He is famous for his three "Qiu
xian ling" [OMITTED] [Edicts on Seeking the Worthy], in which he argues that
ability—not virtue or social status—should be the sole qualification for official
employment. See Sgz, 1.32, 44, and 49-50, Pei quoting Wang Chen's [OMITTED]
(d. 266) Wei shu [OMITTED] [Wei History]. See also Kroll, "Portraits of Ts'ao Ts'ao,"
17-19.
Admittedly, Cao Cao married Empress Bian long before he could have
imagined the power he would ultimately hold. He had been dismissed from
office and had gone home to Qiao [OMITTED] in 178, and the following year he married
her there.
Such is the conclusion of the Crespigny in Generals of the South, 294 n. 8.
In this note, de Crespigny conveniently summarizes the data from the Records
of the Three States about Liu Bei's wives.
Sgz, 32.874, 38.969; Hygz, 6.511. See also Ch'ü, Han Social Structure, 116,
121, 147, 345 n; Liu, Han dai hunyin zhidu, 151, 157; Tang, "Clients and
Bound Retainers in the Six Dynasties Period," 112-113, 127.
There is no biographical entry for this wife or wives. Lady Gan's [OMITTED] biography
says that during this period Liu Bei "was bereaved of a primary wife on several
occasions." See Fascicle 34.905 below. Cf. de Crespigny, Generals of the South,
295 n.
See Empress Wu's biography in Fascicle 34.906 below. Ch'ü, Han Social
Structure, 43; Liu, Han dai hunyin zhidu, 151, 158; Tang, "Clients and Bound
Retainers in the Six Dynasties Period," 112-113, 127.
On the Liu ruling house, see Appendix I, Table 4. In addition to his natural
sons, Liu Bei had an adopted son, Liu Feng [OMITTED] (192-220). When Liu Bei
first arrived in Jing province (201), he did not yet have an heir, so he adopted
a son of the marquis of Luo [OMITTED], surnamed Kou [OMITTED], who was related by
marriage to the Lius [OMITTED] of Changsha [OMITTED]. In 211, Liu Bei attacked Liu Zhang
[OMITTED] (d. 219), the provincial shepherd of Yi province. Liu Feng, at the time
only twenty, proved to be a skilled and exceptionally energetic soldier. Once
Yi province had been subjugated, Liu Bei appointed him leader of the palace
gentlemen of the adjunct army (fujun zhonglangjiang [OMITTED]) and
ordered him to join the administrator of Yidu [OMITTED] commandery, Meng Da
[OMITTED] (d. 228), in taking Shangyong [OMITTED] commandery. Once Shangyong
commandery administrator Shen Dan [OMITTED] had surrendered and sent members
of his family to Liu Bei's capital at Chengdu as hostages, Feng was promoted
to general of the adjunct army (fujun jiangjun [OMITTED]) and would seem
surrounded Fancheng [OMITTED] and Xiangyang [OMITTED] and sent repeated
appeals to Liu Feng and Meng Da for assistance, they refused. They gave as
a reason that their areas had only recently been subjugated, so they were not
yet able to move. Moreover, Liu Feng and Meng Da had a serious falling out,
and Meng took his army and went over to the Wei, who rewarded him
handsomely with titles and position.
Meng wrote to Liu Feng, pointing out that Feng's relationship to Liu Bei
was not one of flesh and blood and noting that since Liu Shan had been made
heir apparent, there had been a cooling of Liu Bei's feeling toward Feng. He
told Feng that as Liu Bei moved to consolidate his position, he would be
suspicious of outsiders. For the moment, Meng said, Feng was safe because
he was distant from the capital; once he returned, he would be in danger. Meng
urged Feng to come over to the Wei. He would succeed to his natural father's
position of marquis of Luo, which could not be construed as a betrayal of
his family. Feng ignored the advice. Shen Yi [OMITTED], younger brother of Shen
Dan, rebelled against Feng and drove him back to Chengdu. Shen Yi, too, went
over to the Wei, and just as Meng had predicted, Liu Bei turned on his adopted
son.
Liu Bei condemned Liu Feng for his maltreatment of Meng Da and for failing
to go to the aid of Guan Yu. To make matters worse, Zhuge Liang considered
Feng to be recalcitrant and thought he would be difficult to control once Liu
Shan succeeded Liu Bei. He therefore advised Liu Bei to get rid of him. Liu
Feng was compelled to commit suicide (Sgz, 40.991-994, 41.1016; Hygz,
2.128, 134, 139; Zztj, 69.2180; Fang, The Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms,
1:7-8, 29, 31).
When he was newly installed on the throne, Liu Shan wanted to choose women
to fill the rear halls. Dong Yun [OMITTED] (d. 246), palace attendant (shizhong [OMITTED]
[OMITTED]) and concomitantly general of the gentlemen of the household as rapid as
tigers (huben zhonglang jiang [OMITTED]), had been charged by Zhuge Liang
with providing guidance to the immature sovereign. Dong pointed out that
in antiquity the Son of Heaven had no more than twelve wives and that there
was already a full complement in Liu's harem. Since it would not be appropriate
to add any, Dong refused to consider the matter further. As a consequence,
Chen says, Liu's respect and awe for Dong increased (Sgz, 39.986; Hygz,
7.573). Still, Liu was very fond of his harem and, Dong's advice notwithstanding,
allowed it to swell.
Yu Huan's [OMITTED] Wei lüe [OMITTED] [Wei Epitome] contains an interesting story about
Zhang Fei and the mother of Liu Shan's wives:
[Xiahou [OMITTED]] Ba [OMITTED], appellative Zhongquan [OMITTED]: [His father]
Xiahou Yuan [OMITTED] was killed by the state of Shu, so Ba was always
resentful and wanted to take revenge on Shu. During the Huangchu
period [A.D. 220-226], he was made lieutenant general (pian jiangjun
[OMITTED]). During the Ziwu [OMITTED] campaign, Ba was put in the
vanguard. He advanced to Xingshi [OMITTED], was surrounded, and took
refuge in a winding valley. When the Shu officers observed and
realized that it was Ba, they ordered their soldiers to attack him. Ba
himself fought within the abatis. He ultimately was rescued. Later,
Longxi [OMITTED], where his succor of the troops and the non-Chinese
won over the hearts of both. In the mid-Zhengshi [OMITTED] reign period
[240-249], he replaced Xiahou Ru [OMITTED] as commissioner over the
army attacking Shu (zheng Shu hujun [OMITTED]) and was in
command of attacking the West. The general attacking the West
(zheng xi jiangjun [OMITTED]) at the time, Xiahou Xuan [OMITTED], was
nephew to Ba, and Xuan was a maternal cousin (waidi [OMITTED]) to Cao
Shuang [OMITTED]. When King Xuan of the Simas [OMITTED] executed Cao
Shuang, he summoned Xiahou Xuan, who went back east. When
Ba heard that Cao Shuang had been executed and that Xuan,
moreover, had been summoned, he assumed that disaster would
certainly come to him and was inwardly fearful. Furthermore, Ba
earlier had not been on good terms with Inspector of Yong Province
(Yongzhou cishi [OMITTED]) Guo Huai [OMITTED] [d. 255], and when Guo
succeeded Xiahou Xuan as general attacking the West, Ba was
especially dismayed and fled to Shu. Hurrying southward toward
Yinping [OMITTED], he got lost and entered a deep valley. His provisions
exhausted, Ba slaughtered his horse and went on on foot. He injured
his feet and lay down beneath a crag. He sent someone to look for
the route, but did not discover which way to go. Shu learned of this
and sent someone to welcome Ba.
Back in Jian'an 5 [200-201], when Ba's niece was thirteen or
fourteen years old in her home commandery, she had gone out to
gather firewood and was abducted by Zhang Fei. Zhang realized that
she was a girl of good family, so he took her to wife, and she bore
him a daughter, who became Liu Shan's empress. Formerly, when
Xiahou Yuan had just died, she asked permission and went to bury
him. When Xiahou Ba entered Shu, Liu Shan met with him and
explained, "Your father met his death in action. It was not by my
father's blade." He pointed to his son, saying "He is a sororal nephew
of the Xiahou." He was generous in bestowing rank and favor on
Ba.
Cf. Zztj, 69.2188; Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 2:60-61. We
are indebted to Rafe de Crespigny for bringing this passage to our attention.
The "Ziwu campaign" refers to Cao Zhen's [OMITTED] attack on Shu in 230, when
he followed the Ziwu Road southward from Chang'an (Sgz, 9.282). Xingshi
was north of modern Yang xian [OMITTED] in Sichuan province, on the southern
reaches of the Qinling [OMITTED] mountains. Longxi was near modern-day Longxi
in Gansu province.
The history of the Sun rise to domination of the South and the family's
metamorphosis from a military family to a ruling dynasty is described in de
Crespigny's Generals of the South. See Table 5 of Appendix I for the Suns as
the ruling house of Wu. For Sun Jian himself, de Crespigny has translated the
biography from Records of the Three States in his The Biography of Sun Chien.
Shi shuo xin yu [OMITTED] [A New Account of Tales of the World] says, "The
four lineages of Wu used to be characterized as follows: `The Zhangs are
commentary quotes the "Forest of Elites" ("Shi lin" [OMITTED]) chapter of the
Chronicle of Wu (Wu lu [OMITTED]): "In Wu there are the Gus, the Lus, the Zhus,
and the Zhangs, who make up the `four lineages.' During the Three States these
four greatly flourished" (Mather, Shih-shuo Hsin-yü, 243 [modified]; Xu,
Shishuo xinyu jiao jian, 8.268).
An excellent history of the development of these families is Fang, Wei Jin
Nanchao Jiangdong shijia dazu shulun. Our discussion owes much to Fang.
See also Wan, Wei Jin Nanbeichao shi lungao, 67-68; Tian, "Sun Wu jianguo
de daolu."
These attitudes, albeit for a somewhat later period, are well described in
Mather, "Intermarriage as a Gauge of Family Status in the Southern
Dynasties," 218-220.
Lesser families who did not cooperate with the Suns suffered for it. An example
is Shen You [OMITTED] (176-204). See Sgz, 47.1117, Pei quoting the Chronicle of
Wu.
A fuller appreciation of the extensive Sun marital connections with Wu elite
families can be gained from the more comprehensive tables in Liu, Han dai
hunyin zhidu, 230-232.
See, for example, tables 51 and 52 in Liu, Han dai hunyin zhidu, 230. The
fact that some of the more prominent families were willing to conclude
marriages with the Suns did not mean that all of the Wu elite found them
acceptable or rushed to form such connections. On the social position of the
Suns and their relations with the Wu elite, see the discussion in Tang, "Sun
Wu jianguo ji Han mo Jiangnan de zongbu yu Shan Yue," 19-20, and de
Crespigny, Generals of the South, 493-513.
Sgz, 15.1381-1383, 28.786-787, 48.1154-1155, 50.1200. See Fascicle 50,
notes 63, 65, and 68 below.
The background of the Xus is unclear, but given that Xu Zhen (Lady Xu's
grandfather) and Sun Jian were close friends and that Xu Kun [OMITTED] (Lady
Xu's father) fought alongside Sun Ce, it seems reasonable to conclude that the
family owed its position largely to military service.
See also Chapter 3. This motif is supported by another incident that is redolent
of the story of Zhou and Daji recounted in Chapter 3: `One of Hao's favorite
concubines occasionally sent people to the market to seize money and goods
from the common folks. Leader of the Gentlemen of the Household Directing
the Markets (si shi zhong lang jiang [OMITTED]) Chen Sheng [OMITTED] had up
to now been a favored subject of Sun Hao. Relying on Hao's favorable
treatment, he punished her according to the law. The concubine reported the
off Chen's head with a red-hot saw and dumped his body at the foot of
Panorama Cliff" (Sgz, 48.1170; Zztj, 80.2533). This was not the only time
Sun Hao ordered such a horrible execution. See Zztj, 80.2540.
For Madam Yu's remarks, see the biography of Empress Mao in Fascicle 5.167
below. See also Liu, Han dai hunyin zhidu, 150-151.
On Madam Ren, see the Wei History in commentary [I] in Fascicle 5.159 below.
On Madam Yu, see the biography of Empress Mao in Fascicle 5.167 below.
See also Liu, Han dai hunyin zhidu, 150.
Zhang Fei's wife had not, of course, married Zhang willingly. See note 21
above. The biography of her father Xiahou Yuan indicates that the family was
descended from one of Gaozu's most important supporters, Xiahou Ying [OMITTED]
[OMITTED] (Sgz, 9.267, 270).
HHs, 49.1658. On Zhongchang Tong's political ideas and his Frankly
Speaking, see Balazs, "Political Thought and Social Crisis at the End of the
Han Dynasty" 213-225.
Sgz, 2.80; Fang, The Chronicles of Three Kingdoms, 1:105-106, 124. See also
Mansvelt Beck, "The Fall of Han," 366. Records of the Three States does say,
however, that Empress Guo was a shrewd strategist and that she occasionally
gave Cao Pi advice. See Sgz, 5.164 (translated at Fascicle 5.164 below).
See note 37 above and, on Sun Jian's younger sister, the biography of Lady
Xu at Fascicle 50.1197 below.
On Lady Sun, see the preceding discussion and note 3 in this chapter, and
Fascicle 34, note 23 below.
See the Wei Epitome passage in Fascicle 5 at commentary [E] below. See also
Sgz, 24.686; Fang, The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:487.
Sgz, 3.104-105. For another translation of the pertinent passage, see Fang,
The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, 1:487. Hucker notes that cairen was
"a designation occasionally awarded to an imperial consort; in [the period in
question, it] ranked from 1,000 bushels down" (Hucker, A Dictionary of
Official Titles in Imperial China, no. 6830). On the titles of women in the
Wei harem, see Fascicle 5.155-156 and Table 1 of Appendix I.
| Empresses and consorts | |