慎 Shèn

Prince of Ji

Shen, Prince of Ji, was first made Prince of Shen and later transferred to Ji, with a fief of eight hundred households. In the Zhenguan period he was appointed Prefect of Xiang Prefecture, and because his administration was rated the best, the Son of Heaven sent him a letter under the imperial seal commending and encouraging him, and the people set up a stone in praise of his virtue. In the twenty-third year his fief was increased to a thousand households. At the beginning of Wenming he rose step by step to Grand Preceptor of the Heir Apparent and Prefect of Bei Prefecture. As a young man Shen loved learning and was skilled in astronomy and calendrical calculation; he was as famous as the Prince of Yue, and people of the time spoke of "Ji and Yue". When Zhen [the Prince of Yue] joined with the other princes to raise troops, Shen knew that the time was not ripe, and he alone refused to join them. When the princes were about to be executed he was spared, but his surname was changed to "Hui" [viper], and he was carried off in a cage cart and banished to Ba Prefecture; he died on the way. He had seven sons: Xu, Cong, Rui, Xiu, Xian, Qin and Zheng. Xu and Xiu were the best known. Xu was made Prince of Dongping, served as Prefect of Hezhou, and died. Cong was Prince of Yiyang, Rui Duke of Chu, Xiu Duke of Xiangyang Commandery, Xian Duke of Guanghua Commandery, and Qin Duke of Jianping Commandery; all five were killed by Empress Wu. At the beginning of Shenlong, Zheng was made to succeed to the princely title and was raised to General of the Left Courageous Guard; he died, and his son Xingtong succeeded him. Cong had three sons: Xingyuan, Xingfang and Xingxiu. Cong and his two younger brothers had died together at Guilin. In the fourth year of Kaiyuan, Xingxiu asked to go in person to bring back their coffins. When he arrived, there was no grave mound or tree to mark them, and people said they could never be found again. Xingxiu went back and spread a mat on the ground to pray. That night he dreamed that the prince was riding in a boat, and the boat split in two. Later, going out into the countryside, he saw that the eastern islet was cut through in the middle, and then he understood. Also, one night the bolt of the lock on the spirit hall bent of itself, and on the key there were finger marks, one single and two side by side. He had a diviner cast the stalks, who said: "'Bent', as a written character, is made of 'corpse' and 'come out'. 'Finger' means 'to show'. One single and two side by side means three coffins. The late prince has told you." So he hurried to the place and dug, and it was as the diviner had said, except that one part alone was missing. Xingxiu wailed and lay down to sleep, and dreamed that Cong told him: "It is on the islet south of the Luo." The next day he found it directly south of the burial place. So he brought the three bodies home, and they were buried as attendants at the Zhao Mausoleum; Cong was posthumously made Prefect of Chen Prefecture. In the Yongchang period, Xingyuan and Xingfang were banished to Xi Prefecture. When the commissioners of the Six Circuits arrived, Xingyuan was to be executed first. Xingfang, being young, should have been pardoned, but he clung to his brother and asked to die in his place, and so died together with him. The people of the south-west said that he died for brotherly devotion. Shen's daughter, the County Princess of Dongguang, was only eight years old when she heard that Shen was ill, and she would not eat. Her father, pitying her, falsely told her that he had recovered, but she saw from his face that he was not yet well, and would not touch food in the end. Everyone in and outside the household praised her. When grown, she married Pei Zhongjiang, Counsellor to the Heir Apparent. At that time the consorts and princesses mostly relied on their rank and vied with one another in luxury and pleasure; the princess alone was frugal and plain. Her sisters mocked her, saying: "The point of wealth and rank in life is to have one's way. Why do you alone labour and live hard? What do you hope for?" She replied: "From childhood I have loved the rites, and now I practise them without deviation; what is that if not having my way? Besides, since ancient times worthy consorts and virtuous ladies have been known for respect and modesty, while arrogance and self-indulgence ruin virtue. And honour, favour, rank and splendour are things that come by chance; can one rely on them to lord it over others?" When the prince died, she wailed in grief and vomited several pints of blood. After the mourning was over, she used no hair oil or cosmetics for twenty years. From the Chuigong period on, the princes, consorts and princesses who had been killed had all been hastily buried in straw. At the beginning of Shenlong, an edict ordered the prefectures and counties to search everywhere for them, to sacrifice to them with offerings of animals, and to restore their offices and titles, and the princes were all buried as attendants at the Zhao and Xian Mausoleums. When the princess heard this, she was overcome with emotion, and she died, charging her son: "Thank our kinsfolk for me. The bitter wrong has been avenged, and I can go down to see the late prince without regret!" Zhongzong held mourning for her at the Zhangshan Gate and issued an edict in her praise. Edit