德昭 Dézhāo

Before this, in the Xining period, an edict had enfeoffed Congshi, grandson of Prince Kanghui of Chu, as Prince of Anding Commandery, to carry on the sacrifices to Taizu. When Congshi died, Shizhun, great-grandson of Prince Yi, succeeded as Prince of Anding Commandery. Shizhun was the son of Congai. He was forgiving within and stern without, and had no taste for fine silks, gold or jade; whenever the Son of Heaven performed the suburban or ancestral-temple sacrifices, he always took part. From Surveillance Commissioner of Jinzhou he was appointed Military Commissioner of the Baojing Army. He died at sixty-eight, and was posthumously made Commander Unequalled in Honour and posthumously enfeoffed as Prince of Cheng. Shikai succeeded to the title. Edit

Shikai, great-grandson of Dezhao

Shikai was the son of Conghui and grandson of Weihe. At seven or eight he could recite ten thousand words a day, and when he grew up his learning was broad and thorough. He served his stepmother with filial devotion, and raised his orphaned nephews as his own sons. A household official, Wu Shen, on becoming a censor, recommended him for his learning and conduct; he was ordered to sit the examination at the Academy of Scholarly Worthies, but though summoned repeatedly he did not go. Shenzong praised him as exceptional and called him to an audience in a side hall, where he discussed a great many matters. At that time, when posts among the officials of the imperial clan households fell vacant, no request was made at once to fill them, but other officials were set to act in them, so that private solicitation went on openly. When daughters of the imperial clan were to be married, rich and powerful families took them for money, and there was no longer any selection. Shikai spoke of all this, and the emperor approved and accepted it, and wished to make him Chief of the Imperial Clan Court; he firmly declined, and was promoted by one grade instead. What he had set out was made into regulations. He rose to Acting Military Commissioner of the Fengguo Army. When he died he was posthumously made Commander Unequalled in Honour and posthumously enfeoffed as Prince of Xin, with the posthumous name Xianmin. Shixiong succeeded him. Edit

Shifu, great-grandson of Dezhao

Shifu was the son of Congxin. He rose to Military Commissioner of the Jiqing Army. When he died he was posthumously made Prince of Yi. Lingdang succeeded to the title. Lingdang was a great-grandson of Prince Kanghui of Qin. Edit

Weihe, son of Dezhao

Weihe, styled Zili. In the first year of Duangong he was made General of the Right Militant Guard, and served in turn in the Right Courageous Guard, the Divine Martial and Dragon Martial Armies, and as General of the Right Guard. In the first year of Dazhong Xiangfu he was given the post of Prefect of Cheng Prefecture. In the fourth year he was promoted to General-in-Chief of the Right Personal Guard. He died in the sixth year, aged thirty-six. He was posthumously made Defence Commissioner of Ru Prefecture and Marquis of Linru. In the second year of Mingdao he was further posthumously made Acting Military and Surveillance Commissioner of the Yongqing Army and posthumously enfeoffed as Duke of Qingyuan Commandery. Edit

Weihe had a refined love of learning; his poems were quite clear and elegant, he was skilled at letters and calligraphy, and he took his ease among the classics and records. He conducted himself by ritual and law, and the imperial clan held him in high esteem. He once wrote poems matching the emperor's own, and the emperor praised them for their reason and taste. When he died, the emperor said to the grand councillor Wang Dan and others, "Weihe loved literature and studied hard, and was also careful and honest; he was the flower of the imperial clan. How unfortunate that his life was so short!" He sighed and grieved for a long time, until he shed tears. Twenty-two scrolls of Weihe's writings were collected; the emperor wrote a preface for them himself, and they were kept in the Imperial Archives. His sons were Congshen and Conghui. Edit

Congshen, son of Weihe

Congshen ended as Defence Commissioner of Fuzhou, and was posthumously made Acting Military and Surveillance Commissioner of the Ningguo Army and Duke of Xuancheng Commandery. He was once struck from the register for adultery, but was soon restored to office. Edit

Conghui, son of Weihe

Conghui ended as General-in-Chief of the Left Imperial Insignia Guard and Militia Commissioner of Tai Prefecture, and was posthumously made Surveillance Commissioner of Xiang Prefecture and Marquis of Xiangyang. His son was Shikai, Prince of Anding Commandery, whose story is told above. Edit

In the first year of Shaoxing an edict said: "The Emperor Taizu founded the dynasty and handed down the line, and his virtue covers ten thousand generations. The Divine Ancestor [Shenzong] decreed that one of his descendants be enfeoffed as Prince of Anding Commandery, never to be broken off through the generations. Now that fief has lapsed, and We deeply regret it. Let the officials concerned submit the name of the man who ought to be enfeoffed, and carry it out according to precedent." At that time the descendants of the two princes of Yan and Qin contended for the succession. Wang Juzheng, Vice Director of a Bureau of the Ministry of Rites, said in a memorial, "The Prince of Yan is the nearer kin, the eldest son of Taizu; his descendants should succeed to the fief." The debate was settled on that. From Shaoxing to Jiading, fifteen men succeeded to the fief; only Lingzhi, Linggang, Linghen and Lingjin left any notable record; the rest simply carried on the line, cautious and unremarkable, with nothing worth mentioning. Edit

Linggang, great-great-grandson of Dezhao

Linggang, in the fifth year of Shaoxing, succeeded to the fief from the post of Military Director-in-chief of the Shaowu Army, and was made Surveillance Commissioner of Huazhou; soon after he was appointed Associate Administrator of the Great Office of Imperial Clan Affairs. He died a year later. Edit

Lingjin, great-great-grandson of Dezhao

Lingjin was the son of Shizhi, Duke Xiaomu of Jia. He was widely learned and had a reputation for writing well, and was selected through the school examinations in the second year of Daguan. At the beginning of Jingkang he was Vice Director of the Directorate for Armaments. He was stripped of office for speaking on affairs against the imperial will. In the seventh year of Shaoxing he was recalled as Vice Director of the Bureau of Personnel Evaluation [in the Ministry of Justice]. When Zhang Jun was dismissed, Lingjin asked for an audience to urge that Jun be kept; the remonstrance official Shi Gongkui charged that Lingjin was currying favour with a great minister, and he was dismissed again. Long after, when he came to Lin'an on some business, the Vice Censor-in-chief Li Wenhui impeached Lingjin: "Formerly he pleaded on behalf of a great minister, and now he is running about again making private requests." An edict sent him to the Ministry of Personnel. The Ministry found Lingjin in the right, and memorialised that he be appointed Vice Prefect of De'an Prefecture; he was promoted to Prefect of Quan Prefecture (acting). In a county belonging to Quan there was the old house of the recluse Qin Xi, and the Tang grand councillor Jiang Gongfu was buried beside the county seat; Lingjin built a hall where both were worshipped together, and the people of the prefecture were moved by his example. He went home and lived at Sanqu. Once, with guests gathered, he looked at the inscription for Qin Gui's family temple and recited aloud the line, "The blessings of a gentleman are cut off after five generations." The Vice Prefect Wang Zhaoxi, husband of the daughter of Qin Gui's elder brother, was already suspicious of Lingjin, and prompted the school instructor Mo Ji to accuse Lingjin of saying that the sun and moon had no light, slandering the government of the court. The Attending Censor Dong Deyuan, taking the hint, impeached him and falsely charged him with taking bribes for private gain. An edict sent Lingjin to prison; the investigation found no evidence, so Lingjin was sentenced for slander and insolence, deprived of one grade of office and dismissed from his post, and the Southern Outer Office of Imperial Clan Affairs was ordered to keep him in custody. Qin Gui appointed Wang Zhaoxi Superintendent in Hunan as a reward, and, bearing a grudge against Lingjin, was determined to have him put to death. Earlier, when Zhao Ding's son Fen passed through Qu on his way home, Lingjin had given him a parting gift; the Attending Censor Xu Zhe, following Qin Gui's wishes, falsely charged that Lingjin and Fen had a secret plot and were spying on the court's confidential business. Fen was arrested and sent to the Court of Judicial Review and made to confess falsely to plotting rebellion with Zhang Jun, Li Guang and others, with Lingjin a party to it. When the case was submitted, Qin Gui was too ill to review it, and so Lingjin escaped. After Qin Gui died, Lingjin's rank was restored. In the twenty-sixth year he was made Surveillance Commissioner of Mingzhou and succeeded to the fief. Pleading illness, he asked to take charge of the sacrifices at the shrine of the Prince of Yan, and this was granted. Soon after he was given the additional title of Commissioner of Proclamation of the Qingyuan Army. He died in the twenty-eighth year and was posthumously made Commander Unequalled in Honour. Edit

Lingde, great-great-grandson of Dezhao

Lingde was a Gentleman for Martial Virtue in the first year of Qiandao. At that time Linghen, Prince of Anding Commandery, was transferred to the civil ranks, and the Great Office of Imperial Clan Affairs memorialised that Lingde be made Commissioner of Proclamation of the Dingwu Army and succeed to the fief. Lingde was so poor that he could hardly make his way out of Shu. In the seventh year Lingde died; Lingpeng ought to have been enfeoffed, but he was sunk in wine, music and women and was not fit to succeed. An edict had the Gentleman for Martial Virtue Lingtai succeed to the fief, and he was appointed Surveillance Commissioner of Jinzhou. When Lingtai died, there was no one among the descendants of the Prince of Qin who ought to succeed; the Gentleman for Martial Wings Zidong belonged to the line of the Prince of Yan and was also the eldest, so he succeeded to the fief. When Zidong died, in the ninth month of the ninth year, the Gentleman for Loyal Instruction Zirong succeeded and was made Surveillance Commissioner of Rongzhou. He died in the second year of Shaoxi, aged over eighty. In the tenth month of the first year of Qingyuan, the Gentleman for Loyal Assistance Zigong succeeded and was made Surveillance Commissioner of Lizhou. When Zigong died, in the seventh month of the second year of Jiading, Zidi succeeded and was made Surveillance Commissioner of Jinzhou. In the eleventh month of the fourth year, Boxu succeeded and was made Surveillance Commissioner of Xuan Prefecture. In the tenth month of the first year of Jiading, Bozhu succeeded and was made Surveillance Commissioner of Fuzhou. In the eleventh month of the eighth year, Boze succeeded and was made Surveillance Commissioner of Tan Prefecture. Edit