湛 Zhàn

Zhan, Prince of Shu, had the sons Boyi and Fengci. Edit

Boyi, Prince Gong of Longxi, was made a prince as a matter of course together with Fengci at the start of Wude. Under Gaozong he was promoted step by step to Minister of Rites and Specially Advanced. He was arrogant and extravagant and did not keep to the law; he had several hundred singing girls and concubines, who trailed gauze and silk, and he feasted on fine grain and meat and gave himself over to music for his pleasure. His younger brother Fengci was also dissolute and unrestrained, and both were despised by the emperor, who once said: "If even an enemy of mine has merit, I still employ him; how much more my own kin? You princes keep close to petty men and do nothing but wrong. I have not heard that you study the ancient records of the former kings; how are you to become good?" He gave each of them two hundred bolts of silk to buy books, to shame them sharply, but they could not master themselves. When Boyi died, he was posthumously made Commander Unequalled in Honor and Area Commander-in-chief of Jing Prefecture. Edit