琛 Chēn

Chen, Prince of Xiangwu Commandery, was styled Zhongbao. He was plain, slow of speech and had little learning. At the beginning of the Yining era of Sui he was enfeoffed as Duke of Xiangwu Commandery, and with Zheng Yuanshu, Chief Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, he took female entertainers as gifts to the Turkish Shibi Qaghan to arrange a marriage alliance. Shibi treated him with courtesy, gave him rich presents, and sent Gutulu Tegin with Chen to come to court with tribute; Chen was made Vice Minister of Justice. At the beginning of Wude he was first made a prince, and served in turn as Area Commander of the three prefectures of Li, Pu and Jiang. When Song Jingang took Kuai Prefecture and many of the Jihu rebelled, an edict sent Chen to hold Xi Prefecture. His government was lenient and simple, and both the tribal peoples and the Chinese loved him and found it convenient. When he died, his son Jian inherited the princedom and, by the rule, was reduced to duke. Edit