孝恭 Xiàogōng

Xiaogong, Prince Yuan of Hejian, was steady and quick-witted when young, with judgement and breadth of mind. Edit

When Gaozu had taken the capital, he appointed Xiaogong by edict Commissioner for Summoning and Pacifying Shannan. He went to take Ba and Shu and brought over thirty prefectures to submission. He advanced and attacked Zhu Can, broke him and captured his followers. His generals said, "Can's men eat human flesh; they are savage bandits. We ask to bury them alive." Xiaogong said, "No. At present every walled city is our enemy. If we kill those we capture, who among their leaders will ever surrender to us afterwards?" He let them all go. From then on, wherever his proclamations reached, places submitted at once. Edit

The next year he was appointed Area Commander of Xin Prefecture, with authority to make provisional appointments on the emperor's behalf. At that time Xiao Xian held Jiangling. Xiaogong several times put forward plans against Xian, and the emperor praised and adopted them. He was raised to Prince of Zhao Commandery, and Xin Prefecture was renamed Kui Prefecture. He then built ships and warships on a great scale and trained in naval warfare. It happened that Li Jing was sent to Jiangnan, and Xiaogong relied on his counsel and made plans against Jiangling. He summoned all the sons and younger brothers of the chieftains of Ba and Shu and gave them posts, outwardly as a mark of favour but in truth as hostages. Soon he was promoted to Area Commander of the Jing-Xiang Circuit, and leading twelve armies by water and land he set out from Yiling, broke two of Xian's garrisons, and set the warships he took adrift in the river. His generals said, "Ships we capture should serve our own use; to throw them away only helps the enemy. Why do this?" Xiaogong said, "Xian's territory reaches the mountain ranges to the south and borders Dongting to the east; the land is rugged and his men are many. If we have not taken the city when his relief armies arrive, we shall be threatened from within and without, and however many ships we have, what use will they be? Now when Xian's garrisons along the river see ships covering the river as they come down, they will surely think Xian has already been defeated and will not advance at once; they will send scouts back and forth and so delay the time of relief, and by then we shall have taken Jiangling." Soon the relief forces reached Baling, saw the ships, hesitated and did not advance. Xian, cut off from within and without, surrendered. The emperor was pleased, promoted Xiaogong to Grand Area Commander of Jing Prefecture, and ordered that a picture of the defeat of Xian be painted and presented to him. Edit

In governing Jing, Xiaogong set up military farms and established copper foundries, and the people benefited from them. He was promoted to Left Vice Director of the Branch Department of State Affairs of the Xiang Prefecture Circuit. At the time the lands beyond the mountain ranges had not yet been pacified, so he sent out envoys in several directions to soothe and gather the people, and forty-nine prefectures came over and submitted; the orders of the court then reached all the way to the Southern Sea. Edit

Before long Fu Gongshi rebelled and raided Shouyang, and Xiaogong was made Field Commander-in-chief by edict to attack him. He led his troops toward Jiujiang, and Li Jing, Li Ji, Huang Junhan, Zhang Zhenzhou and Lu Zushang all took their orders from him. As they were about to set out, he gave a great feast for the officers and men, and the water in a cup turned into blood. Everyone present turned pale, but Xiaogong was quite calm and said slowly, "Fortune and misfortune have no fixed root; they come only as they are called! When I look at myself, I have wronged no one, so do not add to your worries, gentlemen. Gongshi's crimes are full to the brim, and now we rely on the dread majesty of the throne to call him to account. The blood in the cup is surely an omen that the rebel minister will lose his head!" He drank it all, and the hearts of the men were set at ease. Gongshi's general Feng Huiliang and others held the passes and sought battle, but Xiaogong held his walls and did not go out, and sent a surprise force to cut their supply roads. The rebels grew hungry and came up against his camp by night, but Xiaogong lay still and did not move. The next day he had weak soldiers knock at the rebels' ramparts to provoke them, while Lu Zushang drew up picked cavalry in formation to wait. Soon the soldiers fell back, and the rebels chased the fleeing men with a great clamour, ran into Zushang's army, fought it at close quarters and were utterly defeated. Huiliang fell back to hold Mount Liang, and Xiaogong, taking advantage of his victory, broke his outlying garrisons; the rebels who drowned leaping into the water were counted in thousands. Gongshi, at the end of his resources, abandoned Danyang and fled; horsemen chased him to the end and took him alive, and Jiangnan was pacified. A letter under the imperial seal praised Xiaogong, and he was given a first-class mansion, two troupes of female musicians, seven hundred slaves and treasures and curios beyond count. He was promoted to Left Vice Director of the Branch Department of State Affairs of the Southeast Circuit. When the branch department was abolished, he was made instead Grand Area Commander-in-chief of Yang Prefecture. Edit

Xiaogong had twice broken great rebel forces, and everything from the Huai in the north, taking in the Yangzi to the east and across the mountain ranges to the south, was under his command. Wishing to impress distant peoples with his majesty, he built a mansion at Shitou City and set out quarters and patrols to guard himself. Someone falsely accused him of rebellion, and he was summoned back and questioned quite sharply by the censorial officials; since nothing was found against him, he was pardoned and made Chief Minister of the Court of the Imperial Clan. He was given a fief with an actual income of twelve hundred households. He served in turn as Area Commander-in-chief of Liang Prefecture and Prefect of Jin Prefecture. Early in Zhenguan he was made Minister of Rites, and his princedom was changed to Hejian. Edit

He was by nature extravagant and lavish, with more than a hundred singing and dancing girls in his rear quarters; but he was tolerant, forgiving and modest, with no air of boasting, and for this Taizong was close to him and valued him as no one else in the imperial clan. He once said to someone, "The place where I live is very grand and splendid, but that is not what I wanted. I should build another place that is just roughly enough for my needs. After I die, if my sons have ability, it will be easy for them to keep; if they have none, it will not be something others will covet." In the fourteenth year he died suddenly in the middle of a drinking party, aged fifty. The emperor wept bitterly for him, granted him posthumously the titles of Grand Minister of Works and Area Commander-in-chief of Yang Prefecture and a posthumous name, and he was buried as an attendant at the Xian Mausoleum. Edit

At the beginning, when the Sui fell and bandits filled the empire, it was Taizong who put them all down in person; his counsellors and bold commanders were all under his banner, and no general had merit of his own from an independent command. Only Xiaogong, it is said, made his name by merit on his own front. His sons were Chongyi and Hui. Edit

Chongyi succeeded as prince, but his title was reduced to Duke of Qiao. He served in turn as Prefect of the two prefectures of Pu and Tong and as Chief of Staff of the Area Command of Yi Prefecture, and was known for his authority. He ended his career as Chief Minister of the Court of the Imperial Clan. Edit