國貞 Guózhēn

Xiaotong's great-grandson was Guozhen. Edit

Guozhen's father Guangye was Administrator of Jianzhou. Guozhen was firm and upright and had talent as an official. In the Qianyuan era he was promoted from Magistrate of Chang'an to Governor of Henan. When Shi Siming attacked the Eastern Capital and Li Guangbi fortified Heyang, Guozhen led his officials west to Shan Prefecture. After a few months he was summoned to be Governor of Jingzhao. Edit

Early in Shangyuan he was appointed Military Commissioner of Jiannan, then summoned to be Director of the Palace Administration. As Minister of Revenue, holding the commission of authority, he was made Commander-in-chief and Disposition Commissioner of the troops of the field armies of the military commissions of Shuofang, Zhenxi, Beiting, Xingping and Chen-Zheng and of the Hezhong commission, with his seat at Jiang. Soon he was also made Surveillance and Disposition Commissioner of Jin, Jiang, Ci, Xi, Qin and other prefectures. When he arrived, provisions were short, and what was in store was old and rotten; the people were poor and he could not bear to levy from them at once, so he reported the matter to the throne. But there was clamour and slander in the army, and the shock-troop officer Wang Zhen, taking advantage of the men's resentment, deceived them, saying, "Get your baskets and spades ready for labour service." The men were all enraged, and at night they burned the headquarters gate. His attendants ran to tell him and begged him to hide, but Guozhen said, "I have been commanded to be a general; how can I abandon the city?" When they begged insistently, he fled into the prison. Zhen led the men to seize him, set food before him and said, "Is it right to feed us this and then work us as labourers?" Guozhen said, "You and I are just now campaigning against the rebels; what labour service would there be? It is precisely because the stored provisions are rotten and scant that I have already appealed to the court. What wrong have I done you?" The men were won over by his words and were about to leave. Zhen said, "If the Commander-in-chief does not die, we are finished!" He then killed him, together with his two sons and three senior generals. Edit

An edict put Guo Ziyi in his place. Guozhen was honest and clean and good at applying the law, and was known in his time as an able official, but he was harsh in controlling his subordinates; so his troops longed to have Ziyi, and Zhen was able to give free rein to his wickedness. When Ziyi arrived, Zhen thought he would be rewarded, but Ziyi said angrily, "You murdered your commanding general on the very border of the rebels. Had the rebels taken advantage of the gap, there would be no Jiang left. And you want credit for it?" He had him beheaded at once as a public example. An edict posthumously made Guozhen Grand Area Commander-in-chief of Yang Prefecture. Edit

His son Qi has his own biography. Edit

Xiaojie's great-grandson Hao lost his father when young and served his mother with filial devotion. He began as Assistant Magistrate of Zhijiang, and the Administrator of Jing Prefecture, Zhang Jianzhi, said, "A thousand-li colt of the imperial clan, and I have found him!" He was promoted step by step to Vice Minister of the Court of the Imperial Guards. In mourning for his mother he became gaunt and wasted, and until the mourning ended his household never saw him talk or laugh. He was on loving terms with his elder brother Sheng and younger brother Yun. Edit

Early in Kaiyuan he became Prefect of Ruzhou, and his government was strict and simple and won him a name for good administration. When his brothers came from the Eastern Capital to visit him, he would always go out to them in shabby clothes, so that no one in the prefecture knew who they were; such was his integrity and caution. After four promotions he became Vice Director of the Chancellery and Acting Military Commissioner of the armies north of Taiyuan. In Taiyuan it was the custom for followers of the Buddhist teaching not to bury their dead but to leave the bodies out in the countryside to feed birds and beasts, and the place was called the "Yellow Pit". There were several hundred dogs there that had grown used to eating corpses and had become a great menace to people, and the officials did not dare to stop it. When Hao arrived he sent men to catch the dogs and kill them, proclaimed strict prohibitions and made the people pledge not to do it again, and so the custom was ended. In the twenty-first year, as Minister of Works holding the commission of authority, he went as envoy to Tibet. On his return, Princess Jincheng asked that the border be made clear, and stones were set up on the Red Ridge as markers, so that the covenant was made firm. When he came back, because his mission had carried out the emperor's intentions, he was promoted again, to the Ministry of Personnel. Edit