素節 Sùjié

Prince of Xu

Sujie, Prince of Xu, was first made Prince of Yong and appointed Governor of Yong Prefecture. While still a child with his hair in tufts, he could recite a thousand words of text a day. He studied under Xu Qidan, and spurred himself on to work hard, and the emperor loved him. He was moved to Prefect of Qizhou and changed to Prince of Xun. When his mother was slandered and put to death, Sujie was sent out as Prefect of Shenzhou. At the beginning of Qianfeng an edict said that Sujie was ill and need not come to court. In fact he was not ill, so he wrote a Treatise on Loyalty and Filial Piety to clear himself. Zhang Jianzhi, Adjutant of the Granaries Section, reported it, hoping the emperor would see through the slander, but Empress Wu was all the more displeased. Sujie was charged with taking bribes, reduced to Prince of Poyang, had seven tenths of his fief households cut, and was moved to live at Yuan Prefecture, barred from office for life. In the third year of Yifeng he was made Prefect of Yue Prefecture and changed to Prince of Ge, then moved again to another title, and served as Prefect of three prefectures. He and Shangjin were arrested together and sent to the capital. On the road he heard people weeping for a death in mourning, and said to those with him, "To die of illness, how could one get that? Why should they weep?" At the Longmen post station he was strangled, aged forty-three, and was buried with the rites of a commoner. His sons Ying and others, nine in all, were put to death together; only Lin, Guan, Qiu and Qingu, being still young, were held for a long time in prison at Lei Prefecture. When Zhongzong was restored, Sujie's old title was restored posthumously, and he was also given the posthumous titles Commander Unequalled in Honour and Prefect of Xu Prefecture, and buried as an attendant in the Qian Tomb. An edict made Guan Prince by Succession, with an actual fief of four hundred households. At the beginning of Kaiyuan, Lin was made Prince of Yue by Succession and Qiu Prince of Ze by Succession. Lin rose to General of the Right Gate Guard, and his son Sui was enfeoffed as Duke of Kui. Guan became Chief Minister of the Court of the Imperial Regalia; because he had kept Shangjin's son from being enfeoffed, he was demoted to Lieutenant Prefect of Ezhou. An edict then ordered that all who had been adopted out to succeed as princes in other lines return to their own lines. So Yi, Prince of Jiang by Succession, was made Prince of Xin'an; Yu, Prince of Shu by Succession, Prince of Guanghan; Che, Prince of Mi by Succession, Prince of Puyang; Zhen, Prince of Cao by Succession, Duke of Ji; Ju, Prince of Zhao by Succession, Prince of Zhongshan; and Jizong, Prince of Wuyang, Duke of Li. Guan rose through several posts to Supervisor of the Household of the Heir Apparent. When he died he was given the posthumous title Grand Area Commander-in-chief of Shu Commandery. His two sons, Jie and Xu, were both young, so Yi, son of Qiu, was made his heir. In the fourteenth year of Tianbao Jie at last inherited the title of prince. Edit