承乾 Chéngqián

Prince of Changshan

Chengqian, Prince Min of Changshan, styled Gaoming, was born in the Chengqian Hall and was named after it. In the third year of Wude he was first made Prince of Changshan Commandery, enfeoffed at the same time as the Princes of Changsha and Yidu. Soon he was moved to Zhongshan. When Taizong took the throne, he was made Crown Prince. At barely eight years old he was exceptionally quick and bright, and the emperor loved him. During the period of mourning the emperor had him decide the ordinary business of government, and he showed a grasp of essentials; afterwards, whenever the emperor went on a progress, he was left as regent. As he grew up he came to love music, women and idle pleasure, but he feared the emperor and hid what he did. At court his words were earnest and always about loyalty and filial piety, but once he withdrew he was familiar and dissolute with a crowd of ne'er-do-wells. When those about him remonstrated, he would sit up straight with a solemn face and blame himself bitterly, glossing over his faults with a ready tongue, so that the remonstrators had scarcely time to bow and answer; thus everyone thought him worthy and no one saw through him. Later his misdeeds gradually became known. His palace officials, such as Kong Yingda, Linghu Defen, Yu Zhining, Zhang Xuansu, Zhao Hongzhi, Wang Renbiao and Cui Zhiji, were all chosen from across the realm, and each time they admonished and argued with Chengqian, the emperor always rewarded them richly with gold and silk, hoping thereby to spur Chengqian's heart. Chengqian was arrogant and would not reform, and often sent men to plot against them in secret. At that time Tai, Prince of Wei, had a fine reputation, and the emperor loved and valued him. Chengqian had a bad foot and walked poorly, and fearing that he would be deposed he fell out with Tai. Tai for his part schemed to take the place of the eldest, and each built up a faction. In the Eastern Palace there was a boy entertainer of fine looks whom Chengqian doted on. When the emperor heard of it he was furious, had the boy seized and killed, and several people were put to death for it. Chengqian believed that Tai had informed on him and bore a deep grudge. He could not stop thinking of the boy; he built a room and had his likeness painted, gave him a posthumous office and set up a stele, raised a grave mound for him in the park, and sacrificed to him morning and evening. Chengqian would pace about the place with tears streaming down, growing ever more resentful, and claimed illness and did not attend court for months on end. He also had dozens, even a hundred, of his household slaves learn music and copy the mallet-shaped topknots of the barbarians; he cut coloured silk to make dancing clothes, had them climb poles and leap among swords, and the sound of drums went on day and night without stopping. He made great bronze braziers and six-course cauldrons, and recruited runaway slaves to steal other people's oxen and horses; he watched them boiled and singed himself, and called the menials he favoured to eat with him. He also loved the Turkic language and dress. He chose men who looked like barbarians, dressed them in sheepskins with braided hair, five men to a camp, and set up felt tents; he made five wolf-head banners, issued halberds and drew them up in formation, hung pennants, and set up a yurt to live in himself, making the camps gather sheep to boil, and they drew their knives and cut meat to feed one another. Chengqian once played a dead khagan, making the crowd wail and gash their faces and gallop their horses in circles around him. Suddenly he got up again and said, "If I had the realm, I would lead tens of thousands of horsemen to Jincheng, then loosen my hair and give myself to Simo as a shad [Turkic commander]. Would that not be a delight?" Those about him whispered to one another that it was an evil portent. He also folded felt to make armour, set out red banners and drew up troops in formation, sharing the command with Yuanchang, Prince of Han, and they made sport of shouting, striking and stabbing. Those who did not obey orders were tied to trees and flogged, sometimes to death; for lighter offences they were castrated. He once said, "When I am Son of Heaven I shall indulge my desires. If anyone remonstrates, I will kill him; once I have killed five hundred, will it not be settled?" He also summoned the strongman Feng Shijin, Deputy Commander of the Left Guard, and the assassins Zhang Shizheng and Hegan Chengji to plot the murder of Tai, Prince of Wei. This failed, and so with Yuanchang, Hou Junji, Li Anyan, Zhao Jie and Du He he cut his arm to swear in blood, and they plotted to enter the Western Palace with troops. In the seventeenth year of Zhenguan, You, Prince of Qi, rebelled at Qi Prefecture. Chengqian said to Chengji and the others, "The west wall of my palace is only twenty paces of thorns from the inner palace. How could it be compared with Qi Prefecture?" Just then Chengji was imprisoned and due to die for his involvement with the Prince of Qi, and he reported the plot. The emperor ordered Zhangsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Xiao Yu, Li Ji, Sun Fujia, Cen Wenben, Ma Zhou and Chu Suiliang to try the case jointly. Chengqian was deposed and made a commoner and moved to Qian Prefecture. He died in the nineteenth year; the emperor suspended court for him and had him buried with the rites of a duke of the state. His son Xiang was Administrative Aide of Huai Prefecture, and Jue was Lieutenant Prefect of Ezhou. In the Kaiyuan era, Xiang's son Shizhi became chief minister, and Chengqian was posthumously restored to his original princedom, and Xiang was posthumously made Area Commander-in-chief of Yue Prefecture and Duke of Xun. Edit