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A Reading of Hou Jing's Rebellion in Zizhi

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A Reading of Hou Jing's Rebellion in Zizhi 200 mark strange CHAPTER SEVEN A READING OF HOU JING’S REBELLION IN ZIZHI TONGJIAN (COMPREHENSIVE MIRROR TO AID GOVERNMENT): THE CONSTRUCTION OF SIMA GUANG’S IMPERIAL VISION Mark Strange Reading Zizhi tongjian On the bing chen day of the third month [13 April], [Emperor Wu of Liang] erected an altar in front of the Taiji Hall to declare to Heaven and Earth that [Hou] Jing had violated their pact. The beacons were then lit and the drums sounded. Originally, on the day when the imperial palace had closed its gates, its men and women had numbered in excess of a hundred thousand, over twenty thousand of whom had been fighting men. But having been under siege for so long, many people’s bodies had swollen up and they had problems breathing. Eighty or ninety per cent of the population had died and those manning the palace walls—not even four thousand—were all emaciated and exhausted. Corpses were strewn about, filling the streets without any prospect of burial. Decay and [the corpses’] effluent filled the gutters. Yet people still set their hearts on relief from outside. All Liu Zhongli did meanwhile was gather together his concubines and singing girls to lay on banquets and make merry with them.1 Every day the generals went with requests to go into battle, but Zhongli refused permission. Jun, Marquis of Annan, urged Lun, Prince of Shaoling: “The city is in such great danger yet the Commander-in-chief does not come to its rescue. In the unlikely event that something untoward were to happen, how would you have the face to stand among your contemporaries? What would be best now would be to divide the army along three routes and attack the rebels while they are off guard. We could realise our ambitions in 1 Liu Zhongli (d.550+) was a senior Liang commander at the time of Hou Jing’s siege of the Liang imperial palace. He gained a reputation for bravery when young, although he does not display that trait here. His biographical details appear in: Yao Silian, Liang shu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1973), 43: 611-2; Li Yanshou, Nan shi (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1975), 38: 992-4. zizhi tongjian 201 this way.” Lun did not follow his advice.2 Liu Jin scaled the palace walls and addressed Zhongli: “Both your ruler and your father are in trouble. If you are unable to make an effort now, then what will they say about you in a hundred generations’ time?”3 Zhongli took no notice of him. The emperor asked Jin for a strategy. He replied: “Your Majesty has Shaoling and I have Zhongli. Both are disloyal and unfilial. How will the rebels ever be pacified?” … Hou Jing subsequently channelled the waters [of Lake Xuanwu] to in front of the stone fortifications and attacked the city night and day along all routes. Jian, heir to Shaoling, was stationed at the Tai-- yang Gate but spent his days gambling with dice and drinking, giving no thought to his officers and men. His clerks, Dong Xun and Xiong Tanlang, resented him. On the ding mao day [24 April], as night drew towards dawn, Xun and Tanlang led [Hou] Jing’s men over the city walls by a tower in the north-west section. Que, Marquis of Yong’an, resisted strongly but he was unable to fight them off. He burst through the door [of the imperial palace] and announced to the emperor: “The city has fallen!”4 These events took place in 549. Three years earlier, in 546, the military commander Hou Jing had been attacked by troops from his native Eastern Wei after he had failed in an attempt to defect to the rival state in the north, Western Wei. He had fled to the city of Shouyang in the territory of the southern Liang dynasty.5 From there he had led a rebellion with the aim of taking the Liang 2 Xiao Lun (519-551) was the son of Emperor Wu and a Liang imperial prince. His official biographies portray him as intelligent but criminal and subversive, Liang shu, 3: 70, 3: 76, 29: 431-7; Nan shi, 53: 1322-6. These descriptions find sup-- port in “Apology for the detention of the Prince of Shaoling in custody” by Xiao Lun’s brother, the Liang Crown Prince Xiao Gang: “The subject Lun is not far off acting like a ruffian of the night in his habits. He is unable to change. The repeated instances of his criminal behaviour are self-evident and well-known, and he has been punished three times,” in Ouyang Xun, Yiwen leiju (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1959), 54: 9a. 3 Liu Jin (d.549) was Liu Zhongli’s father. He was responsible for the education of the Liang Crown Prince and appears in the official histories as loyal to Emperor Wu: Liang shu, 43: 611; Nan shi, 38: 992. 4 Sima Guang, Zizhi tongjian (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1956), 162: 5008-9. Further references to this edition will appear as ZZTJ. 5 Shouyang was located in modern Shou County, Anhui Province. It lay approxi-- mately 190 kilometres northwest of the Liang capital at Jiankang (modern Nanjing), occupying a position between there and Hou Jing’s former territorial base in East-- ern Wei. The city’s strategic importance at this time is suggested by its frequent appearance in connection with military affairs in the official histories. The city also appears as Shouchun in sources dealing with this period, cf. Fang Xuanling et al., Jin shu (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju), 1974, 1: 23..
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