95
The Shi Le's nephew Shi Jilong, because his name
(Shi Hu 石虎) violated
a taboo imposed
on the Emperor Tai-zu temple name, is called by a nickname
(Jilong 季龍). His
(paternal) grandfather's
name was Beye and his father's name was Koumi
(寇覓) .
Shi Le's father [Zhouge] Zhu
(aka Zhouhezhu
周曷朱, orig: [Zhouge]chju) adopted a little Shi
Jilong, and some therefore say that he was a younger brother of Shi Le
(If Shi Jilong was
a younger brother of Shi Le, he would belong to the Left Wing,
eligible for succession in order of seniority, and not to the Right Wing non-eligible for
succession). When Shi Le was six or seven years old, someone who by a man's face could well tell his fate, said: “The
appearance of this boy is amazing, his bones speak of a rise, he will be so grand,
that it is even impossible to tell.”
In the Yung-xin reign era (304-306) Shi Le and Shi Jilong
lost each other.
Later, Liu Kun, sent Shi Le's mother, the born Wang, and Shi Jilong, who was 17 years old,
to Gepo. Shi Jilong was distinguished by cruelty, he loved mounted hunting, indulged without a measure in
wicked entertainment.
96
He especially loved to shoot balls from a crossbow, and many times he was shooting at warriors, and
among the troops it was considered a true calamity. Having reported about this to the born Wang,
Shi
Le wanted to kill Shi Jilong, but the born Wang replied: “A bull destined to
pull a heavy load, while being a calf, happens to break many carts, it should
be treated leniently.” At the age of eighteen years old, Shi Jilong changed the
old habits.
Shi Jilong, with a height of 7 chi and 5 cuns
(7.5 x 23 cm = 172 cm) was quick, good archer and rider,
by his courage he surpassed all his contemporaries, so all upper officials and his family
treated him with respect and fear. Shi Le attitudinized Shi Jilong with great
approval, and appointed him a Commander Punishing Despicable Enemies.
Shi Jilong was married to a younger sister of the commander Guo Jung, but
he was enticed by a slave
girl from the family of an actor Zheng Yintao, he showered his love on her, so he killed the born
Guo. Then he
married a born Cui from Qinghe county, but Zheng Yintao also defamed her, [Cui] was also killed.
That's how cruel was Shi Jilong! If among the troops turned out someone equal in daring and skills
in developing plans with him, Shi Jilong would immediately find a suitable opportunity and
kill him, thus destroying very many people at different times. As to the towns and
rampart-fortified settlements he took, without sorting out who was good and who was bad,
he buried
alive
adult men and women, beheaded, and very few people were left alive.
Although Shi Le repeatedly rebuked and admonished Shi Jilong, he continued acting as
before. However, Shi Jilong commanded his troops sternly, without niggling fuss, nobody dared to violate his orders, and when the warriors received orders to
attack, no matter how the enemy jigged, it could not resist them. On that account, Shi Le
was benevolent to Shi Jilong, trusted him with more and more confidence, and delegated to him the
conduct of punitive expeditions.
When Shi Le lived in Xiangguo (襄國, in modern county town Xintai
in the Hebei province, orig.: Siango), he appointed Shi
Jilong a governor of Weijun district with a seat in Yecheng, and later raised him to the title Fanyan-hou.
Accepting a title of Great Shanyu, and having ascended a throne of the Zhao
possession ruler,
Shi Le appointed Shi Jilong a chief assistant of the Shanyu, and Grand Commander for all military
affairs of the Emperor's bodyguards, and then transferred him to the courtier position,
giving him a right to establish an office, and raised in the title of Zhongshan-gun .
Illegally
adopting the high title, Shi Le appointed Shi Jilong a Great Commander, and Chief of the State
Chancellery, raised his title to Wang, and granted a possession numbering 10 thousand
households.
97
Surpassing by his merits all contemporaries, Shi Jilong was himself saying that after Shi Le's
ascension to the emperor throne he would become a Great Shanyu, but Shi Le appointed to that post his son Shi Hun. This is a very angry Shi Jilong, and in a
secret conversation with his son, Shi Sui, he said: “Since the ruler established a
capital in Xiangguo, he was only giving instructions while he sat idly by while I faced
arrows and stones for over
twenty years. In the south, I captured, Liu Yue, in the north
I drove away hair braiders (Northerners), in the east I quelled the lands [of the former possessions] Qi
and Lu, in the west
I restored order in the Qinzhou and Yongzhou provinces, and also conquered and destroyed 13
provinces. Creation of the possession Great Zhao is a deed of my hands, so I really could have
hoped to receive a post of the Great Shanyu, but he handed it over to a greenhorn chick. Every time
when I think of
it, I cannot sleep or eat. I will wait till the ruler leaves the palace late,
1 and then
will not leave alive none of his descendants”.
In the first year of Xian-kan reign era (335), when Shi Jilong deposed Shi Le son
Shi Hun, all high officials began persuading him to take a high title. Shi Jilong
published a paper which stated: “The House of the ruler is experiencing numerous
difficulties, Haiyang-wang willfully vacated the throne, in the land of the four seas are
happening serious
events, therefore humbly bowing my head I yield to the pressure exerted on me. However, I
heard that someone who acts in accordance with the laws of the Heaven and Earth is called
Huang (ruler.
- V.T.) and the one whose virtues are in accordance with the wishes of the spirits and people
is called da
(emperor. - V.T.) . I dare not hear about the title huangdi
3 (ruler-emperor. -
V.T.), and for now I can only accept the title of Acting Zhao Tien-wang - Wang, ruling
the Zhao possessions at the will of the Heaven, to saytisfy the desires of the Heaven and people”. After that Shi Jilong announced
amnesty in the territory under his control, and changed the name of
the of the reign era to Jian-wu.
Shi Jilong sons:
Shi Sui (石邃), original heir apparent, executed by Shi Jilong in 337, appointments: Prince
of Qi (330), Crown Prince of Wei (333), Crown Prince (337)
Shi Xuan (石宣), second heir apparent, executed by Shi Jilong in 348, appointments: Prince
of Hejian (333), Crown Prince (337)
Shi Tao (石韜), assassinated by Shi Xuan in 348, appointments: Prince of Le'an (333), Duke
of Qin (337)
Shi Zun (石遵), assassinated by Shi Jian in 349, appointments: Prince of Qi (333), Duke of
Pengcheng (337), Prince of Pengcheng (349), Emperor for 183 days (348-349)
Shi Jian (石鑒), assassinated by Shi Min in 349, appointments: Prince of Dai (333), Duke of
Yiyang (337), Prince of Yiyang (349), Emperor for 103 days (349)
Shi Bao (石苞), executed by Shi Jian in 349, appointments: Prince of Leping (333), Duke of
Leping (337), Prince of Leping (349)
Shi Bin (石斌), executed by Empress Liu in 349, appointments: Prince of Pingyuan (330),
Prince of Zhangwu (333), Duke of Yan (337), Prince of Yan (349)
Shi Ting (石挺), appointments: Prince of Liang (330, killed by Guo Quan 郭權 in battle
in 333)
Shi Zhi (石祇), assassinated by Shi Min in 351, appointments: Prince of Xinxing, later
emperor (349-351)
Shi Kun (石琨), executed by Jin Emperor Sima Dan in 352, appointments: Prince of Ruyin
Shi Shi (339–349, 石世), third heir apparent, executed by Shi Zun in 349, appointments:
Duke of Qi, Crown Prince (348), Emperor for 33 days (348), Prince of Qiao (譙王) |
Shi Jilong appointed Kui Ann a courtier, Great Commander, and a Chief of the State
Chancellery, appointed Guo Yin a Head of the Public Works, appointed Han Xi a Left
Assistant Chief of the State
Chancellery, appointed Wei Gai, Feng Mo, Zhang Chun and Cao Xian the heads of various departments of the
State Chancellery, appointed Shen Zhong a courtier, Lan Yin a Palace Advisor and Wang Bo -
a Chief of the Palace Secretariat. The remaining civilian and military officials received
titles and positions depending on thier merits. The Shi Jilong's son Shi Sui was declared
a heir to the throne.
Because there was a prediction: “The Son of the Heaven should come from the northeast”, Shi
Jilong prepared imperial chariots, went to Xindu and returned. Separating Lucian
possession from the Yintao county 4, Shi Jilong
conjured a Tinjia county (county where have stopped the imperial chariot . -
V.T.).
98
In the Xuzhou province (徐州) belonging to Shi Jilong a clerk 5
Chu Zun killed the provincial governor Guo Xiang and heading the Pengcheng district his submitted
to the Jin dynasty. Shi Jilong sent a commander Wang Lan to attack him, after which Chu Zun fled
to the land south of the river Huaishui.
Shi Jilong, engrossed in entertainments, abandoned the governance affairs and
engaged in large
construction projects; he ordered Shi Sui to review and approve the reports of the Head of State
Chancellery, to appoint provincial pastors and rulers of the districts, to perform sacrifices in the
outskirts of the capital and in the temple of the ancestors, and personally examined only
the cases involving
punitive expeditions and attacks, and the death sentences.
A tower Guanshengtai collapsed, for that Shi Jilong killed the head of the artisans
6 Jen (pin. Ren) Wang and
ordered to restore the tower, making it twice as high.
Shi Jilong, personally leading the troops, in the south undertook a foray into the Liyan
[district]
7,
and turned back reaching the Yangtze. The foray caused a great excitement in the Jin
capital 8.
Shi Jilong sent Shi Yue with a rank of Commander Punishing Contemptible Enemies in a
raid on Zhonglu county 9; then in Xianyan [Shi
Yue] surrounded Huan Xuan with a rank of
Commander-Pacifier of the North. Mao Bao with a rank of Commander Assisting the
State, a Head of Southern Bodyguards Wang Guo, and Commander of the Troops Punishing the
West Wang Qianqi marched to help Huang Xuan leading the troops of the Jinzhou province and
encamped in the
Zhangshan county 10. For twenty days Shi Yue
fought with them offensive and defensive battles, but
then because of the hunger and diseases turned back.
Because of the large quantity of the incoming taxes and difficulties with their transportation, Shi
Jilong ordered to collect annually in the central warehouses a thousand of thousands xy
of grain, and store the
rest of the grain on the banks of the rivers.
The
Jin commander Chunyu An in the Lanie district belonging to Shi Jilong attacked the Feixian county 11,
and returned with prisoners and booty.
Shi Sui's wet nurse Liu Zhi became prominent in the past because she knew the art of shaman
(或巫师 = lancer + wizard/military [bu] + master), and
when she had reared Shi Sui she gained a special favor of Shi Jilong, started taking bribes, participate
in the discussion of various subjects, suppress with her power everybody at the court, so
most
of the Shi Jilong courtiers and favorites became those due to her. Shi Jilong
bestowed on Liu Zhi a title of Yicheng-jun (The title/name
Yicheng appear to arise during 16 States period, and if it does not have a suitable
Chinese etymology, there is a suitable Türkic etymology in ilchi/ilchu = regent dated to
approximately the same period, and connected with Hunnic state structure).
Shi Jilong published a paper where he order persons who buy their way out of
punishment to pay money instead of valuables and fabrics, and in the abscence of money to
deliver grain at
prevailing market prices, to be brought to warehouses on the banks of
rivers.
99
In the eight districts of the Jizhou province fell hail, causing great damage to the harvest,
therefore Shi Jilong published a where he sharply reprimanded himself for
past mistakes. Then he sent censors to distribute wheat stored in warehouses along the river
banks, as a seed, and freed from duties for one year the areas particularly hard-hit by
the hail.
Shi Jilong was going to move to Yecheng, and therefore a head of the State Chancellery asked the chief
of the ritual department to report about it in the temple of the ancestors. Shi Jilong
said: “In ancient times, when some great undertaking was planned, that was always
reported in the temple of the ancestors, but the sacrificial vessels were not set in
front of the
altar for sacrifices to the spirits of the Earth and plants. Let the head of the State
Chancellery to discuss this issue in detail, and report the results to me”. The high officials
asked to order the Great Commander to report on the Shi Jilong relocation to the
altar for sacrifices to the spirits of the Earth and plants, and Shi Jilong agreed with
that. When
Shi Jilong moved into the palace in Yecheng, everywhere passed timely rains, and delighted Shi
Jilong pardoned everyone, up to the sentenced to death.
A Chief of the Healing department Jie Fei (杰飛) made a south-pointing carriage
(or chariot), and
for displaying a great ingenuity in that, Shi Jilong granted him a title of hou without
land possession and generously rewarded
him (Apparently, there is a discrepancy that can lead to different interpretations;
V.S.Taskin phoneticises the name Jie like 羯, and J.Needham spells the name Xie 谢飞; since
the Later Zhou was a Hunnic Jie state, the name Jie would point to a Kiyan origin of
the ingenuous master, further supported by the annalistic sources that specifically ascribe the south-pointing chariot
workmanship to the Qiang artisans, who also definitely bear a Hunnic flavor).
It was established for the first time that the courtiers riders waiting on at the court, and
the people holding more senior positions, can travel in light chariots drawn by one horse,
and those bearing the titles of wangs and guns during sacrifices in the vicinities of the
capital can ride the Emperor's escort chariots drawn by four horses, flying the flags depicting phoenixes
(fenghuang ~ Chinese phoenix ~ Firebird) and eight festoons, and at
the palace audiences on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month can ride light chariots drawn by one horse.
At that time the Tibetan (Qiang,
with Kiyan twist) leader Bo Gouda,
hidden behind the shields of the rugged natural
barriers, was not coming to the court with expression of submission, so Shi Jilong
sent his son Shi Bin with a title Zhanu-wang heading 20 thousand horsemen and
troops from the Qinzhou and Yongzhou provinces to punish him.
Shi Jilong went to Chanle district 12 and Weiguo
county, and where the crops were not cultivated and mulberry trees planted, demoted local officials before returning back.
100
In the second year of the Xian-kan reign era (336), Shi Jilong ordered his staff
commander Zhang Mi to transfer from Luoyang to Yecheng the bells and their hanging racks, figures
of the Nine Dragons, a statue of Wen-jung, copper camels, and feylians
13. [In transition]
one bell sunk in the Huanhe, then were gathered three hundred men who knew how to swim
and dive, they tied bell with thick rope woven of bamboo-bark, and then with
a hundred oxen and hoist pulled it out from the water. For transportation of the bells [across
Huanghe] was built a vessel capable of raising 10,000 hu of grain, and then a four-wheeled cart,
which was leaving ruts of four wide chi (10 cm)
and two chi deep, delivered them to
Yecheng. Very
pleased Shi Jilong pardoned all who had been sentenced to two years,
presented officials with grain and fabrics, and raised common people by one grade in titles.
Shi Jilong published a paper which stated: “Every three years the merits shall be
verified, and in accordance with it the stupid and smart
14 shall be promoted or demoted in their
positions - this
is the invariable rule left by late rulers that ensures successes and failures in the
affairs of governance.
When during the Wei dynasty (Cao Wei 魏朝, 220-265 AD) was first established a system of nine
service grades, according to
which once every three years was conducted impartial approval in positions, and although that
system was not totally perfect, it is a fair law for those wearing badges under the belt 15,
a clear
mirror reflecting qualities of the people . Starting with present time let this system continue
to be used without modifications. The late Emperor (Shi Le)
established the governance of the Celestial, so again is reestablished the use of
the yellow paper 16. With regard to the selection and
nomination of civil servants, the most important is the attestation, and to date have
passed
three years as was done the impartial approval in positions. Those conducting confirmation
for the office should promot the good and dismiss the bad, but in a way agreeable to the
members of all nine philosophical thoughts. After
selection, the palace secretariat and court administration should carry out verification
[of the candidate] in three aspects 17 and
announce the results, after which the appointment takes
effect. Let my words be entered in the edict, and the censors are required to indict in
crime and report to me about those who do not abide the selection rules with respect”.
The chief of hair braiders (Northerners) 18 Yu Ju led 30
thousand people to surrender to Shi Jilong. Shi Jilong gave Yu Ju and other thirteen
chiefs who personally established relations with Zhao-wang (title of Shi Jilong . -
V.T.) the titles of le hou and resettled their people in six
provinces,
including Jizhou and Qingzhou provinces (This does not
necessarily mean that anybody moved an inch, this is a confirmation formula that must
have fossilized long before the 3rd c. AD, the formula keeps popping up across times and
ethnic definitions, it was chiseled in stone on the Kul Tefin stella).
At that time were numerous labor levies, the military campaigns had no end,
besides the grain price went up because of prolonged drought, a price of
two dou (2 x 10 l = 20 l) of husked rice reached one
jin (500-600 g) of gold, the people
with no means of sustenance were pleading for help.
101
In addition, Shi Jilong adopted Jie Fei proposal, and began dropping stones into Huanhe south of
Yecheng, to build a suspension bridge, and though the costs of
the work were expressed in thousands of tens of thousands of coins, the construction could not
be completed. Because those employed in the works very starving, the construction was halted.
Shi Jilong ordered the heads of the large and small counties
19 to lead healthy adult males
to gather acorns in the mountains and catch fish in the lakes, to assist the elderly and
young, but what was collected was seized by influential houses, while the ordinary people
were getting nothing.
By that time was finished the construction of the Taiudian palace in Xiangguo and the
East and West palaces 20 in Yecheng. The Taiudian
palace foundation height was 2
zhang and 8 chi (4.8 m), and it was tiled with multicolored stones. Beneath it was dug out
a space for
500 guards. The length of the palace from east to west was 50
(60 m), and from south to north, 65
bu (80 m). The roof was covered with glazed tiles with gold patterns and inscriptions on the
sides, around stood silver-plated columns and golden-plated pillars, hung curtains of pearl,
the jasper
adorned the walls, everything was done with amazing art and craftsmanship
(We can observe syncretism in the description, the Chinese
traditions of mansion construction blended with Türkic nomadic penchant for color,
elaboration, and opulence, also noted by Prisk a century and a half later at the Western
Huns' Atilla court in modern Hungary).
In addition, Shi Jilong selected girls from families of officials and commoners, at
the Lingfengtai terrace built for them nine palatial buildings located behind the
Xianyandian palace. In total there were over 10 thousand women, adorned with rare jewels and
dressed up in silks. In the palaces were appointed female officials divided into 18
grades, who were teaching the girls divination by the stars [for prediction of lucky and
unlucky events], and the art of archery from horseback and from the ground
(This is a most interesting tidbit: Shi Jilong inherited a state
numbering 3 million people, with an even split of 1.5 million of Chinese and
Hunnic-circle nomads; the nomadic tradition of raising children on the horse
irrespectively of the gender was definitely inherent to the Türkic Huns and Dis, and might have
had penetrated the originally Mongol, Tungus, and Tibetan tribes blended with the Huns;
thus about half of the 10,000 girls were brought up in the saddle and from the childhood trained in archery; the other half from the sedentary Chinese households grew up in the
tradition of utter gender submission, and must have been in stark contrast with the
assertive and capable nomadic girls; the Chinese annalists noted a dazzling fact that Shi
Jilong was not satisfied with the subservient elegancy of the culturally Chinese
concubines, and tried to improve them by teaching them nomadic skills of reading stars,
so necessary in the wide-open steppe, and archery).
In an astronomical observatory was appointed a female Great Astrologer to monitor lucky
and unlucky omens, and to verify the validity of the predictions by the Great Astrologer
of the opposite sex. Then was created a female escort corps, carrying standards decorated
with feathers and playing percussive and wind instruments, and they played a skillfully as
the musitions of the opposite sex. The districts and possessions were not allowed
to study art of fortunetelling, and those who dared to violate the prohibition were subjected
to execution (This is another most interesting and multi-faceted
tidbit:
Appointment of a female scientist as a Great Astrologer runs counter to the Chinese culture to its extreme; the Chinese culture did not know
female literacy, or a female role outside of the strictly female household functions,
which included hard labor; on the opposite, the Türkic nomadic society not only did not have gender discrimination, but was still
maternalistic, and it took centuries and millennia of changes to mostly discard the
maternalistic traditions; in the Türkic nomadic society the fortunetelling and healing was as much female talent as
male, if not even more; Shi Jilong had good reasons not to trust the Chinese astrologers
and fortunetellers, legendary for erroneous predictions, and probably suspected in
disloyalty, and equally good reasons to trust the time-tested Hunnic traditional female
fortunetellers; the superstition penetrated the Türkic etiology to the last bone; in the
atmosphere of superstition the role of the fortunetelling astrologer was of supreme
importance for the state and personally
The chances that Shi Jilong came up on his own with the idea of the female Swiss Guard
troops are small; much likelier that he continued a tradition that escaped prior
annalists, a tradition peculiar to the Türkic nomadic society; we have resemblances in
the Amazons, in the Scythian tradition of recognizing a girl as a woman not after a first
battle, but after she have
killed her first enemy; in the Bulgarian tradition of bride-to-be combat wrestling with a
pretender for a marriage that outlived Islam; in the general Türkic nomadic tradition of
women fighting in the ranks of the warriors; it is much likelier that the roots of the
Shi Jilong's female guard troops must have come from the older traditions. It is clear
that Shi Jilong was only half-right, his Kulturträger undertaking was utterly naïf in
thinking that drafted people with bound feet would be able to ride horses and stand their
ground like his compatriots would, if that, and not a showmanship, was his expectation
A ban on free-lancing, institutionalized by tradition fortunetelling seems to be a first
historical attempt to control the mass media. In the framework of the Türkic tradition,
the people's fortune is concentrated in the persona of the leader, selected and deposed
by the will of Tengri. A bad luck for the people indicates a will of Tengri to change the
ruling monarch, the deposition normally follows, with accompanied likely loss of life; a
started rumor that blames the monarch's missteps for the country's misfortunes might
spread like a wildfire, and a ban on uncontrolled fortunetelling may be the only device
at the monarch's disposal to preserve his life and the throne. This ban flies in the face
of the people's beliefs, mentality, and traditions, since the good and bad omens are so
ingrained in the Türkic nomadic daily life that the ban would have to sanitize
practically every activity and movement. The underlying system of beliefs populates
everything around with its own soul, from a single leaf to tree to forest to mountain,
and the life in that crowd required as many do's and don'ts, which is a soil where all
kinds of omens arise and interlink with private life, and bring about consequences. This
uncontrollable system of beliefs is overplayed on the paranoid psyche of the usurper. A
ban on fortunetelling is in essence a global gag order).
The Left Warden of the imperial cemetery Chenggong Duan made an outdoor lamp,
mounted at the end of a huge pillar with a height of more then 10 zhangs
(23 m). At the top of the column was a circle where the oil was poured, and
at the bottom was a circle where people stood, and both circles were
connected with thick ropes. Shi Jilong tested the lamp and remained very pleased.
102
The senior upbringer of the heir to the throne 21 Kui An headed 509 civil and military officials in urging Shi Jilong to take the high title, but just as Shi Jilong entered the lower ring, the oil from the upper circle leaked, and seven people were killed. It terribly affected Shi Jilong, and horribly
angered
him, he beheaded Chenggun Duan at the Changhemen gate.
Then, following the established rules that existed during the Yin and Zhou
22 dynasties, in the
third year of an of the Xien-kan reign era (337), Shi Jilong illegally usurped the
title of Da Zhao tian-wang, i.e. Wang ruling Great Zhao possession by the will of the
Heaven,
ascended the throne at the southern outskirts of the capital, and announced a large amnesty
covering everybody up to the sentenced to death. Shi Jilong grandfather Beye was
posthumously given a
title of Emperor Wu huangdi, and his father Koumi was given a temple title Tai-zun and
a posthumous title of Emperor Xiao huangdi. Shi Jilong's wife, the born Zheng, was declared
a tian-wang huanhou 23, and his son Shi Sui was
declared a heir to the emperor occupying a post of wang ruling by the will of the Heaven.
The members of Shi Jilong's family (i.e. his sons . - V.T.]
who had titles of wangs, were demoted to the title of district guns, and members of his
family ruling possessions and carrying titles of wangs were demoted to the county hous.
The officials received
titles and appointments for the positions depending on their merits.
Over 500 households exiled from the Taiyuan district to the works revolted against [Shi
Jilong] and fled to the Black Tibetans (Qiang,
with Kiyan twist).
Han Qiang, a native of Chanchen in the Wuxiang county, found an Imperial Seal of black
jasper the size of 4 cuns and 7 fens in a square with a handle in a form of a turtle, and
gilded
letters, which he delivered to the Yecheng and presented to Shi Jilong. Shi Jilong appointed Han
Qiang a commander of the Mounted Guards 24 and
exempted his family from levies.
After that, Kui An and others again began convincing Shi Jilong to accede to the throne,
saying: “We want to respectfully note that the possession of the Great Zhao is favored by
the
element of water, and really the black turtle is an omnipotent spirit of water, and the
jasper is a most precious stone. The number of fens symbolizes the seven main luminaries
25, and the
number of cuns points to the four directions: it is not good to keep violating for a long time
the clearly expressed will of the Great Heaven. Pray, order the officials to choose a
fortunate day,
develop a necessary ceremonial, prepare regalia, and we will respectfully, without a fear of
death, deliver to you the high title of Emperor”.
Shi Jilong has published a paper which stated: “You, resorting to excessive praise, many
times forced me to accede to the throne, but consideration of these proposals only
increased in me a sense of shame: accession to the throne is not what I am dreaming of.
Immediately cease such discussions!
103
Now, when the spring field work just started, nobody in the capital and beyond
will not be impressed [with my accession to the throne]”. The head of the palace secretariat
Wang Bo, praising Shi Jilong, presented an “Ode on a black imperial seal”. [It should be said] that
that stamp was chiseled by Shi Jilong himself still during the life of Shi Hun, and now Han Qiang
found it and presented it.
Since Shi Sui was managing all affairs, he fell into drunkenness and debauchery,
became arrogant and vicious. Sometimes he would depart to the field and would come back only when
it was time to hang up flutes in their places, sometimes he was leaving at night to the houses
of
the palace servants and fornicated with their wives and daughters. Having dressed up
beautiful palace maids, he was beheading them, and laying the bleeding corpses on a tray, and
he was exposing them for everybody's observation. In addition, Shi Sui was coming
intimate with the Buddhist mendicant nuns, bikshuni, who were distinguished with beauty,
entered in a carnal connection with them, and then would kill them, cook their
meat, mix it with lamb and beef, and ate it, and also bestowed that meat to the courtiers,
demanding that they had a taste of it. Shi Xuan (石宣,
orig.: Suan) with the title He-jian gun, and Di Tao with the title Lean-gun, both
ingratiated Shi Jilong favor, so Shi Sui
hated them as his enemies.
Shi Jilong himself was mired in drinking, he was indulging in the palace entertainments, so
he used his power and imposed punishments violating the existing rules, and Shi Sui reported to him
only those cases which he found needed to report, but Shi Jilong was angrily exclaiming: “Is it necessary to report about such trifles?” And sometimes, when he was not reported
to about
something, he was shouting again in anger: “Why you have not reported?”, after which he reproached Shi Sui
with
swearings, and flogged him with sticks, and that happened several times a
month. That was arousing a popping anger in Shi Sui, and once he said in a secret conversation
to the always
accompanying him Wu-qiun, Chan-shen, and the tutor of his heir son Li Yan: “The
Emperor is hard to please, I want to do as did Maodun, 28 will you follow me?” Li Yan and others bowed to the ground,
not daring to say anything.
Shi Sui (in 337 AD), under a pretense of an illness, dropped running the affairs, and leading more than 500
riders of the palace servants, and civil and military officials, went to a
feast in the house of Li Yan, during which he told him and others: “I want to go to
the Jizhou province and kill Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan),
anyone who does not follow me will be beheaded!” (Obviously, Shi
Sui entourage consisted entirely of the nomadic riders, i.e. predominantly of the Jie
Huns, en mass the Chinese were not riders, and definitely not fighters able to assault
the provincial cavalry troops. The Shi Sui story allows a peek into the cross-section of
the Hunnic state) When Shi Sui rode a few li, the accompanying him riders
fled, and Li Yan, bowing to the ground, started admonishing him persistently to abandon his intention,
after which the deadly drunk Shi Sui
came back. Shi Sui's mother, the born Zheng, learning about the incident, secretly sent to
Shi Sui an eunuch with expression of a censure, but the angry Shi Sui killed her messenger.
104
On hearing that Shi Sui is sick, Shi Jilong sent a woman close to him, who served as
a Department Chief of the State Chancellery, to find out what's going on. Shi Sui ordered
the woman to approach
for a conversation, and then drew his sword and hacked her to death. The enraged Shi Jilong
seized Li Yan and others for interrogation. Li Yan told him everything from the beginning to
the end, after which Shi Jilong executed more than 30 people, including Li Yan, and
imprisoned Shi Sui in the Eastern Palace, but soon pardoned him and summoned him to the
Eastern Room of the
Taiudian palace. Appearing at the audience, Shi Sui did not apologize, and soon quietly
left. Shi Jilong sent a courier to tell Shi Sui: “The heir to the throne must
appear at the audience in the Middle Palace, how can you leave quietly?” But Shi Sui still
willfully left, paying no attention to the admonition. Quite angry, Shi Jilong demoted Shi Sui to
a commoner. That same night (in 337 AD) he killed Shi Sui, his wife,
the born Zhang, and 26 of
his sons and daughters; all of them were buried in the earth in a common coffin. Then he
executed more than 200 of Shi Sui court attendants and his supporters, the born Zheng (a wife
of Shi
Jilong. - V.T.) was demoted to the title of Donghai taifei, the son [of Shi Jilong] Shi Xuan
(石宣, orig.: Suan) was proclaimed a heir
to the emperor, holding the office of a wang and the ruling by the will of the Heaven, and
the mother of Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan),
the born Du with a rank of zhao-yi concubine, and was proclaimed a wife of the emperor holding
a post of a wang and ruling by the will of the Heaven.
Hou Ziguan, a native of the Anding county, distinguished by handsome appearance from an early age, declared himself
a heir of the Buddha, and apprized that he came from
the great state of Daqing (Daqing Mountain, Pingxiang County, Guangxi province, China
(22°N, 106°E ? ) and should rule a small state Xiaoqing
(?). Changing his surname and
name to Li Ziyang, Hou Ziguan settled without a definite occupation on the house of Yuan
Chimei, a native of the Huxian county, he showed his magic power, for his predictions
to some extent were true, therefore Yuan Chimei, who believed and respected him, gave
him in wives his two daughters, and together they began organizing a tumult. The natives
of the Jinzhao county Fan Jing, Zhu Long, Yan Chen, and Xie Lezi gathered on the Mount
Dunanshan several thousand people, and Li Ziyang pronounced himself a Great Emperor,
established the Lung-xin reign era, appointed Yuan Chimei and Fan Jing a Left and
Right top aides of the Emperor, appointed Zhu Long and Yan Chen a Left and Right Great Commanders,
and appointed Xie Lezi a Great Commander. Shi Guang, with a title of Commander-Ruler of
the West, attacked Li Ziyang and beheaded him, and notably from the Li Ziyang throat was no
bleeding, and after more than ten days the complexion of his face was no different from its color
during his
life.
105
Shi Jilong was going to launch a campaign against Syanbi leader Duan Liao
(in 337 AD), who was in the
Liaoxi district, and therefore he assembled 30 thousand brave and strong warriors, and bestowed
on all of them a
title “bodyguards jetting up like a dragon”. [At that time] Duan Liao sent his
younger cousin Duan Quyun (pronounced Qiuy-yun/Öþéþíü) to make a surprise attack on the Yuzhou province, and
because of that the ruler Li Meng of that province fled to Yijin. Then Shi Jilong gave Tao
Bao a title of commander who crossed a sea
27, and gave Wang Hua
the title of commander who crossed river Lyaoshui 28, and heading 100 thousand
warriors loaded on boats they advanced at the crossing at the settlement Piaoyu
29. Zhi
Xiong (orig.: ×æè Ñþí, i.e Zhi the Hun) received a
rank of a “Great Commander Rising up to the Sky Like a Dragon”, and Yao Yichjung
(~Ich Jung = Two Huns) 30, who received the rank of
“commander of troops surpassing all”, were in the vanguard, commanding a 100-thousand infantry and riders.
When Shi Jilong troops stopped in Jintao, and Zhi Xiong invaded deeply into the
Ceng district, the governors of the Yuyan district Ma Bao, of the
Daijun district Zhang Mu, of the Beiping district Yang Yu, and of the
Shanggu district Hou Kan, appointed by Duan Liao, surrendered to Shi Jilong with more than 40 cities and their troops. Zhi Xiong attacked the city Anci 31,
where he beheaded Nalouci, the leader of the (Syanbi Duan) horde.
The frightened Duan Liao left the Lingzhi county and fled to the Miyunshan mountains. The
Duan Liao's Left and Right
senior officials Liu Qun and Lu Chen, and the troop commander Cui Yue sealed the storerooms
and sent a courier [to Shi Jilong], asking for permission to surrender. Shi Jilong sent
commanders Guo Tai and Ma Qiu in the head of 20 thousand lightly armed horsemen in pursuit
of Duan
Liao, and they overtook and captured in a battle in the Miyunshan mountains his mother
and wife, and slaughtered 3 thousand troops. Duan Liao galloped away alone, and hid in a
remote area, from where he sent his son Qitezhen to Shi Jilong with a petition and famous horses,
which were accepted. After that, Shi Jilong relocated more than 20
thousand households owned by Duan Liao to the Yongzhou, Sizhou, Yanzhou, and Yuizhou
provinces, and raised in positions
all who had abilities.
Earlier, the Northern Shanyu Yihuey was expelled by the Syanbi leader Go Na, but after
quelling
of the Liaoxi district, Shi Jilong sent commander Li Mu, who attacked Go Na, and
inflicted a defeat; [Shi Jilong] reinstalled Yihuey a Shanyu and returned. Arriving to
the Duan Liao palace, Shi Jilong conferred titles and awards, depending on the merits
of each man (Shi Jilong intervention in the conflict between
Syanbi and Northern Huns indicates that Shi Jilong was at least de-facto a Great Shanyu
of the reunited Huns).
It should be said that in the past Mujun Huang (Pin. Murong
Huang) 32 and Duan Liao
quarreled, so
Mujun Huang (in 337 AD) sent to Shi Jilong an envoy, expressing a desire to recognize himself as his servant,
talking about a need to attack Duan Liao, and asked for permission to join Shi Jilong,
with all his existing troops.
106
But when Shi Jilong troops came to Lingzhi county, Mujun Huang troops still did not
set out, so Shi Jilong wanted to attack him. Fotu Den (aka
Buttocho 佛図澄, pin. Fu Tucheng, orig.: Ôîòó Äýí) from the of
Tianzhu possession (from India . - V.T.) stepped forward and said:
“Yan is a happy possession, for its ruler is virtuous, military
force should not be used against it.” With his face changed, Shi Jilong replied: “If such forces like mine attack the city,
no one can resist! If such troops like mine are fighting, no one can resist me! Where the miserable fool [Mujun
Huang] can escape to!”
The great astrologer Zhao Lan was strongly discouraging Shi Jilong from the attack, he
said: “Over the Yan dynasty land stands Jupiter 33, if the troops
go to the campaign, they will not succeed, a misfortune will surely fall on them”. The enraged Shi Jilong
flogged Zhao Lan with a whip, and demoted in his position to the
head of the Feizhu county.
Moving his troops forward, (in 338 AD) Shi Jilong
attacked the (Former Yan capital) city Jicheng
(棘城, in modern Jinzhou, Liaoning), but could not take it for more than ten
days. Mujun Huang ordered his son Mujun Ke(慕容恪) to
march in the morning from the city at the head of 2 thousand Hu riders, bring Shi Jilong
to battle, while he would create an appearance of sortie from all city gates by the
troops numerous like clouds in the sky. Strongly scared Shi Jilong fled, abandoning the
arms. After that, Shi Jilong summoned Zhao Lan and restored him in his post of the great
astrologer (Fang Xuanling in his Jinshi “History of Jin dynasty”
used the term Hu exclusively for the Huns, accordingly the Hu cavalry represents the Hun
cavalry, pointing to composite compound of the Syanbi people, and to the presence of a
Hunnic layer in their society).
Returning from Lingzhi, Shi Jilong passed through the Yijin, and, unhappy that
the city walls were too strong, demolished them. Upon return, Shi Jilong visited Shi Le
grave, received high officials at an audience in the front hall of the Jiandedian palace in
Xiangguo, and thanked the civil and military officials who participated if the campaign, depending on the merits of each. Arriving
to Yecheng Shi Jilong performed a ceremony in the temple
of the ancestors on the occasion of the return from the campaign, and granted the Chief of the State
Chancellery and the department heads the seized captives.
Shi Jilong conceived to attack Chanli, 34 and
ordered Cao Fu with the rank of commander who crossed river Lyaoshui, to cross to lead
the troops of the Qingzhou province to cross the sea and stage in the Taduncheng city. Due to
the low water level in the river,
Cao Fu turned back and encamped on the sea island where Shi Jilong transported over three
million hu of grain (30,000 m3) provision. In addition, Shi Jilong ordered to deliver on three hundred
ships to the Gaozuli possession three hundred thousand hu of grain
(3,000 m3), ordered Wang Dian,
who served as a chief of bodyguards in charge of agriculture 35,
to head more than 10 thousand warriors to establish grain farming settlements along the
coast, and was ordered to simultaneously build a thousand ships in the Qingzhou province.
Shi Jilong ordered Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan) to head 20 thousand infantry and riders
to attack the Syanbi leader Humotou, located in the Shofan district. Shi Xuan
(石宣, orig.: Suan) defeated Humotou and beheaded more than 40 people.
107
In the eight districts of the Jizhou province appeared lots of locust, and the
bailiff for criminal cases asked for permission to accuse in that the local
administration. Shi Jilong said: “This happened
because of a breach of the harmony in the affairs of governance, caused by my lack of virtues,
but they want to pass the blame for the happened disaster to the local administration. Is that the way
done by [the founder of the Xia Dynasty] Yu and [the founder of the Yin dynasty] Chentang,
who blamed it all on themselves? The bailiff for criminal cases have not told the truth in the
eyes to help me achieve what I do not have, and shifted the blame on the innocent, which has
increased further my responsibility. Let him perform his duties of the bailiff for
criminal cases, but let him walk in the white robes of a commoner”.
Shi Jilong additionally granted to his son Shi Tao, who served as Prude, a guardian of
the moral police 36, a brass gong, a yellow halberd,
an imperial chariot, and the imperial banner
with nine festoons.
It should be said that in the past Shi Jilong ordered Sheng-gui with a title
Xiangcheng-gun, and Yuegui with a title Shangyun-gun, to head the
garrison troops in Chang'an. Both Guis accused Shi Guang with a rank of
Commander-Governor of the West that he secretly provides indulgencies, conceiving
secretly a malicious affair. Very angry, Shi Jilong summoned Shi Guang, and killed him
when he arrived.
Duan Liao, who was in the Miyunshan mountains, sent [to Shi Jilong] a courier, falsely
claiming a desire to surrender. Believing Duan Liao, Shi Jilong ordered Ma Qui with the
rank of Commander Punishing the East, to meet him at a distance of 100 li from the place
of his staging. Shi Jilong ordered Ma Qui: “The acceptance of surrender is comparable
with expectation of the enemy, be careful, commander!”
At the same time Duan Liao sent a courier to Mujun Huang, expressing his desire to
surrender. The messenger relayed: “The Hu (胡)
(Shi Jilong . - V.T.) is greedy, but not prudent.
I asked him for permission to surrender and asked to meet me, and he does not suspect
anything. Hiding troops in ambush and intercepting them coming to see me, may achieve success”. Mujun
Huang ordered his son Mujun Ke to hide in ambush in the Miyunshan mountains. When Ma Qui,
who had 30 thousand men, was marching to meet Duan Liao, he was unexpectedly attacked by Mujun
Ke, lost of each ten 6-7 killed warriors and fled on foot. The report about the
incident, received during a meal, so alarmed and angered Shi Jilong that he spat out
the food and stripped Ma Qui of his posts and titles.
Shi Jilong published a paper where he ordered districts and possessions to establish a
post of an expert scientist on Five Books (an analog to
Pentateuch) 37.
108
It should be said that earlier Shi Le established a post of Higher and Lower
school scholar, and therefore was now restored the post of a scholar for the school for the sons and younger
brothers of the highest officials and an assistant scholar for the school for the sons and younger
brothers of the highest officials helping in teaching
33.
Because the department of rank assignments in the selection and nomination of officials
was dismissing the old, known for their virtues, and advanced the youth belonging to the influential homes, who
were offered great posts, Shi Jilong fired the department of chief Wei Cho, and lowered
him to the level of a commoner.
Shi Jilong appointed the heir to the throne Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan)
à Great Shanyu, and allowed to exhibit flags and
banners of the Son of the Heaven (Considering a major
devaluation of the Shanyu title
within and outside of the Hunnic sphere, even the transition of the Shanyu to Great
Shanyu at that time was apparently past its prime, and to acquire a significance of the supreme
leader was already necessary to use the Chinese nomenclature; functionally, the title of
Shanyu as a leader of all Hunnic and subordinated tribes, in the Chinese disguise,
remained valid with all its appurtenances. All descending titles devolved accordingly,
the leaders of unions were Great Shanyus, the tribal leaders were Shanyus, and indigenous
supreme titles were being developed. The downhill process was started by the pretender
Huhanie, who adopted a splinter Shanyu title).
Shi Jilong gave Kui An a title of Grand Commander for Punitive Expedition, and
(in 339 AD) ordered
him at the head of five generals to raid with 50 thousand infantry and horsemen the northern outskirts of the Jinzhou and Yang-zhou provinces. Shi Min defeated
the Emperor (Jin. - V.T.) troops on the southern bank of the river Mianyiui 39
and killed [the Jin] commander Cai Huai. A commander of Shi Xuan (石宣,
orig.: Suan) Zhu Bao defeated the
Imperial troops near the city Baishi, 40 and in the battle
were killed the Jin commanders Cheng Bao, Tung Xuan, Hao Zhuang, Sui Xiang, and Cai Xiong (orig.:
Öàé Ñþí, i.e Cai the Hun).
The Shi Jilong commander Zhang Hedu
attacked the city of Zhucheng 41 and took it by storm, and then to the north of Zhucheng
defeated the Jin commander Mao Bao, who lost more than 10 thousand warriors killed. The
advancing Kui An. took a place Hutin, after which the Jin commander Huang Chung and the governor of the Lian
district Zheng Jin
surrendered to him. Then, taking 70 thousand households, Kui An returned.
At that time the influential relatives of the ruling house were seizing other's property, and
were openly accepting bribes for their services, which troubled Shi Jilong. So he
promoted his palace censor 42 Li Ju to the
position of Assistant of Chief Censor 43, and
started totally trusting him. Then all
officials were trembling with fear, and tranquility settled in the provinces and districts. Shi
Jilong said: “We heard that a good civil servant is like a wild beast: when he,
lifting his feet high, walks on the road, the jackals and wolves
44 yield him the way, indeed it
is so!”
Wang Zhuo with a rank of commander-governor of the distant lands, presented a petition
which said that after the noble houses of the Yongzhou and Qinzhou provinces were relocated
to the east, they were levied with a duty to carry border service, but now their
descendants are wearing clothing and headgear of officials, and they should be excluded from the general
rule and exempt from that levy. Shi
Jilong accepted the offered advice. Since then, 17 families, including the families Huanfu, Hu, Liang, Wei,
Du, Niu and Xin were excluded from military lists, their members were appointed and
discharged based on personal merits on a par with the old clans, and those desiring to separate and
return to their native lands were given permission to do so. However, this rule dod not apply
to those not belonging to that category.
109
Shi Jilong appointed Li Nun with a rank of Commander Comforting Troops a
plenipotentiary imperial ambassador, asked him to oversee all military affairs in the Liao-xi and Beiping
districts, gave him a title of Commander Punishing the East, and
a position of the Yinzhou province pastor with a seat in
Lingzhi.
At that time occurred a severe drought, and a white rainbow crossed the whole sky,
45 and
Shi Jilong issued a paper which stated: “While we are on the throne for six
years, but the uppers failed to achieve harmony with the celestial phenomena, and the
lowers failed to help ordinary people, and that led to changes of the stars and rainbow.
I command each officer to submit their sealed proposals. I am lifting the bans imposed on
the mountains located in the west, and am cancelling, except for annual deliveries to the court, the
bans on harvesting the reeds, fishing and salt mining. Those high officials with titles
of guns and hous, and provincial pastors should not seize mountains and lakes, and
deprive people of benefits” (This proclamation reflects the
Hunnic notion that Shanyu as a head of state is selected by the Almighty, called Tengri,
with a sole purpose to ensure a wellbeing of the people; the tenure of the Shanyu lasts
as long as the Heaven favor him, and its disfavor is demonstrated in natural calamities
that fell on his people; thus, every natural calamity may be a cause for the removal of
the reigning Shanyu, and quite a few Shanyus and Kagans paid with their lives for a
failure to ensure general wellbeing. Shi Jilong must have been especially sensitive to
this tradition because of his status of illegitimate usurper. In contrast, the Chinese
tradition has nothing of the kind).
Then Shi Jilong published another paper, which stated: “In the past, when in the Fanguo and
Mianchi were just installed smelting furnaces, there were transferred people sentenced
to hard labor, which was a temporary measure to meet immediate needs. But the authorities
continued to do so in the future, turning a temporary measure into a standing rule, which
caused a universal grumbling. From now all perpetrators of crimes sentenced to
exile should be reported, it is prohibited to arbitrarily assign them to works. All prisoners
of the prisons in the capital, except for murderers, should be sent into exile depending on the
circumstances”. On the same day came a
highly needed rain.
Shi Jilong, going to embark on a punitive expedition against Mujun Huang, ordered
Sizhou, Jizhou, Jinzhou, Xuzhou, Yuzhou, Bingzhou, and Yongzhou provinces to collect from each household three
out of each five draft animals, and two out of each four draft animals,
including the households exempted of the levies, so that together with the forces present in
the Yecheng, to bring the overall troops number to 500 thousand strong, and also to
build 10 thousand boats for transporting by Huanhe to the sea to the Anlechen city 11 thousand hu
of grain and beans to provision the troops, which were to participate in the punitive
expedition. In addition, from the Liaoxi,
Beiping, and Yuyan districts were relocated over 10 thousand households to the Yanzhou, Yuizhou, Yongzhou and Lozhou
provinces.
110
After Shi Jilong illegally came to the throne, the department in charge of selection
of officials was proposing candidates moving to other posts, and reported them to the
approval of the Chief of the State Chancellery and his aides. If the choice fell
on a wrong person, the responsibility for it fell on the head of the State Chancellery and his assistants, and
the head of rank assignment department and its officials were presumed innocent. At the time of these
events, the chief of the rank assignment department Liu Zheng found that such a system violates the very
essence of certification, and told about that [to the emperor]. The enraged Shi Jilong
had officials
reprimanded, and additionally granted Liu Zheng the post of palace adviser with
a gold seal on a dark red cord 46.
Shi Jilong arrived in Yuanyan tower and conducted a large review of troops on a military
field.
Mujun Huang made a surprise attack on the Yuzhou and Jizhou provinces, captured more
than 30 thousand households and returned. The governor of Yuzhou province Shi Guang was accused of
cowardice and withdrawn.
Shi Jilong bestowed to the summoned by an imperial decree to the service, but not
assigned an official position 47 Xin Mi a little table with
a verge 48, clothing, and 500 hu of grain, and
ordered the Pinyuan district to build [for Xin Mi] a compound, like the noble people have.
It should be said that earlier, a Li Shou's 49 commander
Li Hong (orig.: Hun) fled from the Jin dynasty to Shi Jilong. In that
connection, Li Shou sent to Shi Jilong a letter asking to extradite Li Hong (orig.: Hun),
addressing it this way: “To master Shi entitled Zhao-wang”. That caused Shi
Jilong's discontent, he handed the letter for discussion to the high officials, and most of the high officials expressed
different opinions.
During the discussion, the inspector of the palace secretariat Wang Bo said: “Now Li
Hong (orig.: Hun) swears with his life that if his soul
would return to the land under authority
of the Cheng-han dynasty, he would gather and lead his clan, and together with all its members
would submit to your beneficial influence. If you send him off and it all would really happen the way he said,
then not even troubling a single battalion of 500 warriors, and remaining in place, we can
establish peace in the Liangzhou and Yizhou provinces, but if he now says one thing and then
would depart from his words, we would lose only one man, the fugitive himself. Li Shou
has a title equal in brilliance to the sun and moon, possesses one of the corners of the world, so if we
would send him the imperial order, he may dare to respond with disobedience, and then the
Jungs(戎) in outlying boonies will scoff at us.
111
Li Shou should be answered with a letter, and he should be sent a gift of arrows with
shafts of the ku tree wood, that he would not forget that we, in the distant vast lands,
are always
able to come to him!” After that, Li Hong (orig.: Hun) was sent
with various gifts to Li Shou.
Shi Jilong appointed Shi Tao a great commander, and in turn he with the heir to the
throne Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan)
was
reviewing and approving reports of the Chief of the State Chancellery.
From the Yuzhou province eastward to the Baylang river began extensive construction of
farming
settlements.
Zhang Jun, fearing the power of Shi Jilong, sent to his court an assistant province governor Ma
Shen. Initially, Shi Jilong was very glad, but when he got acquainted with the
petition, it contained a lot of disrespectful, arrogant expressions, so in a fury
Shi Jilong wanted to behead Ma Shen. Then, stepping forward, a courtier Shi Pu said: “Only
the Danyang county can cause you misfortunes, and what can do small lands on the
right bank of the Huanhe? If you behead Ma Shen, a punitive expedition against
Zhang Jun would become inevitable. And in that case it would be necessary to take half of the troops
intended for a punitive expedition to the south, and that would only prolong by several
years the life of the Jin ruler and his servants in Jiangye. A victory over Zhang Jun
would not confirm
your military talents, and a failure will make all aliens to laugh at you, so better take
things as they are, and show generosity to Zhang Jun. If he would change his intentions, apologize for
the mistakes and start performing his duties as a servant, nothing more should be desired! If, however,
he would remain in error and not recognize his mistakes,
to punish him is never too late”. Shi Jilong changed
his intention.
When Li Hong (orig.: Hun) arrived in the land of Shu under the authority of the
Cheng-han dynasty, Li Shou, wanting to show off to the people on the territory under his
control, issued a decree which stated: “To my court appeared a Jie ambassador, with offerings
of arrows with shafts of the ku tree. Upon hearing that, Shi Jilong became furious,
expelled Wang Bo from his post, and ordered him to serve as an inspector of the palace secretariat, but
in the white robes of the commoner.
Cheng-han before 347 AD
Shi Jilong, always ready to resort to weapons, banned keeping horses, they were few
in his possession, and commanded to chop violators in two by the waist. This way from the
population were collected over 40 thousand horses in favor of the state. At the same time he led broad construction of the palace premises, and in
the Yecheng were built more than 40 towers, and
in the Chang'an and Luoyang were built two palaces, at the construction of which was
engaged more than 400 thousand people (The number of 40,000 horses must represent the horses of the
sedentary, mostly Chinese population. The 1,400,000 horse husbandry subjects could not
possibly be stripped of their horses, they were a backbone of the state, and not a meek
backbone. The same with the 400,000 labor levy, it would not be imaginable to draft and
contain such nomadic force).
112
In addition, Shi Jilong ordered four provinces south of the Huanhe to prepare
necessities for a campaign in the south, the Bingzhou, Shozhou, Qinzhou, and Yung-zhou
provinces prepare necessities for punitive action in the west, the Qingzhou, Jizhou and
Yuzhou provinces to ensure execution of the plans
connected with the march to the east 50. In all areas, every household
had to furnish two out of every three draft animals, and three out of every five
men. More than 500 thousand people participated in all areas in the manufacture of
weapons 51. In addition, those
with the titles of wangs and guns,
the pastors and governors of the provinces were competing with each other to gain wealth,
so every seven households out of ten were unable to attend to their own work. One
hundred seventy thousand boaters drowned in the rivers, a third of the troops was killed by
wild animals (Rather, one third of the troops in the 500,000-men
army died of drowning and wild animals).
Taking advantage of people's grumbling Li Hong (orig.: Hun), a native of the Beiqiu
county, declared
that his surname and name match the magic predictions, and began gathering cunning
supporters around him, and appointing officials, but their plan became known; after that Li Hong (orig.: Hun) was executed along with several thousand
families that joined him.
Shi Jilong indulged in hunting without a limit, leaving the palace in the morning
and returning in the evening, he frequently dressed in other's clothes and inspected
construction sites. Exhorting him not to do that, the courtier Wei Xiao said: “As me
your servant heard, the one who has a fortune of ten thousands jins of gold
(5-6 tons) does not sit
under an eave of the roof 52, and a ruler who has
10,000 chariots
53 does not go where he can run into a danger. You, Sire, have the wisdom and military talents bestowed
by the Heaven, you occupied by force the land among four seas, the Sky and the Earth support
you, and there is nothing that would cause your anxiety. However, when a white dragon
turned into a fish, he suffered a misfortune from the hand of Yui Qie
54, and when the dragon
secretly left the sea he had to endure suffering in Gepo 55.
I deeply hope, Sire, that you would bring the palace in order 56,
would start cleaning the road from the passers-by during outings, and would view what has happened with two unusual creatures as a lesson for yourself.
The high position that you occupy in the Celestial can not be disregarded, the places
where you could be threatened with a halberd or ax should not be giddily visited. If one day
would break out
a rebellion raised by madmen, even if you possess bravery of a soaring dragon, you still
would not
have time to use it, let alone your wise advisors would not even have time to develop
necessary plans!
In addition, since ancient times all omniscient rulers endeavored to build palace premises only
during intervals between the three seasons of the agricultural year, so they did not
hinder people to work.
113
A now large works are carried out in the days when is needed a weeding of the crops or
planting of seedlings, the labor conscription is served in the months when is needed to harvest, and the corpses of
people who died a violent death [for non-appearance at the assembly point] lie in rows,
on the roads everywhere stands a murmur of discontent; indeed it can not be tolerated by
an omniscient sovereign or a humane ruler! [Remember that] once a wise ruler, the Han Emperor
Ming-di, stopped the
construction of the Deyangdian hall when he barely heard the words of Zhongli
57. I, your servant,
am truly ashamed before the men of the old that I can not find convincing words, but you,
Sire,
surpass the previous rulers, and so should condescend to me and consider my
[pathetic] words”. Having pondered about Wei Xiao speach, Shi Jilong approved it,
presented Wei Xiao
with grain and fabrics, but the construction continued on an even larger scale, and the secret
inspection of the work was conducted as before.
The
Right Assistant Chief of the State Chancellery Zhang Li who headed five departments in
charge of various brunches of troops, 56 and run
the most important military affairs, wishing to ingratiate Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan),
said: “Now the number of officeholders and warriors at the guns and hous is
above all measures, it should be gradually reduced in order to enhance the authority of
the heir to the throne”. Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan),
who for long hated Shi Tao because that enjoyed a love of Shi Jilong, was very pleased and
ordered Zhang Li to submit a report on reduction of civil servants in the offices of high
officials, [the report] said: “Qin-gun (the title of Shi Tao. - V.T.),
Yan-gun (the title of Shi Bin. - V.T.), Yiyang-gun (the title of Shi Jian. - V.T.) and Lepin-gun (the title
of Shi Bao. - V.T.) are allowed to appoint 197 officeholders in the
departments, and to have 200 warriors at their staffs; all occupying lower positions
may have one-third of the personnel, and the remaining warriors numbering 50 thousand
men are to be handed over to the Eastern Palace”. That caused a grumble of all guns, and
caused major discords.
Shi
Jilong ordered Zhang Ju with a rank of Commander Punishing the North to depart from the Yanmen
district to punish the leader of the hair braiders (Northerners) Yuju (orig.:
Yuijui), who was [soon]
defeated.
Shi Jilong, thinking to campaign in the land south of the Yangtze, issued a decree, under
which every five warriors recruited to participate in the campaign should furnish
one wagon and two oxen, and each warrior should bring 15 hu of rice and 10 pieces of silk,
and those not fulfilling these supplies were to be beheaded. The population that found
itself in extremely difficult situation was selling children to cover the procurement of military supplies, and still
could not leave to the troops, on the trees along the roads were dangling bodies of
suicidal hangings, but the requirements of the supplies were not seizing.
114
At that time from the Qingzhou province was reported that a stone sculpture of an
animal, which stood north of the city Pingling in the Jinan district, at night suddenly shifted to a Shanshigou
ravine, south-east of the city. The animal, judging by the tracks left, followed more
than a thousand wolves and foxes that trod a path. Very pleased, Shi Jilong said: “The
beast is me
59.
The move of the statue from the north of Pingling to the south-east shows that the Heaven wants me to pacify
the land south of Yangtze. The will of the Heaven can not be violated, so I am ordering
to gather troops in the coming year from all provinces, and I myself will lead six armies in
accordance with the happy omen, expressed in the well-trodden path”. All officials were
congratulating Shi Jilong, 107 men presented odes entitled “Ode about the virtuous
emperor”.
At that time sharply increased a number of unusual events. On the Mount Taishan
a stone went ablaze, extinguishing after eight days. In the Donghai county a large stone by itself went
airborne,
with blood streaming near it. Between the stones in the mountains to the west of Yecheng emerged a stream of
blood longer than 10 bu, with a width of 2 chi. The images of the ancient sages in
the Taiudian hall turned into Hus (胡), and after ten-something days their heads sunk into their
shoulders. All that made a very bad impression on Shi Jilong, and Fotu Den
(aka Buttocho, ca. 235-348), while explaining these
omens to him, was dripping tears (How can you tell apart a Hu
from the ancient Chinese sages? Hu is hairy; with a prominent nose; with deep-set eyes;
with lighter hair; with lighter eyes; dressed in kaftan with lapel closing on the left;
wearing trousers; wearing boots; wearing a leather belt with a metal buckle; wearing a
distinct conical felt hat; men and women dress the same. The Chinese images tend to show a full body completely
attired,
the difference must have been striking. By 333 AD, Fotu Den/Buttocho was working for the Shi
family for 23 years, and supposedly was 98 years old, his eyes could be running constantly).
Liu Ning (劉寧) with a rank of Commander
Pacifier of Distant Lands, attacked the city Wudu
60 and Didao 61, and took them by storm.
Shi Jilong sent (333 AD) Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan) to punish
Syanbi leader Huguti, and he inflicted on him a
severe defeat, killing over 30 thousand warriors (For the whole
Syanbi
people guesstimated at 500,000 people, and more so for a horde of Huguti guesstimated at
210,000 people, the loss of 30,000 heads of household is a terrible wound).
The chief of task assignments for palace officials 62
Shen Bian enjoyed a love of Shi Jilong, but was close to Shi Xuan. Displaying smarts in debates and
an ability to make wise decisions, he was in charge of most secret and important
matters. Because Shi Jilong did not review incoming reports, Shi Xuan
(石宣, orig.: Suan) had sunk in drunkenness and spent time on the female half of the palace, and
the drank Shi
Tao indulged in hunting, and Shen Bian decided all cases related to executions and pardons, appointments and
dismissals. Using that power, Shen Bian stifled everybody as the court and outside of it, most of the provincial
governors and those who had a salary of two thousand dans of grain a year were receiving appointment
from his hands; everybody, including the nine senior
officials 63, on seeing just the dust
[from his carriage] hurried up to reverently congee before him, and only little more than ten persons, including courtiers
Zheng Xi and Wang Qian, and the palace servants Lou Chen and Cui Yao,
held equal with him.
Shi Jilong again gathered more than 14 thousands horses belonging to the regional
and district officials, and distributed them among the commanders at the checkpoints for
their reinforcements.
All owners of the horses were exempted from levies for a year.
115
Yuwen Gui (宇文貴 ?) with a rank of Commander Ruler of the
North, seized and delivered to Shi
Jilong a son Duan Liao, Duan Lan; he himself also surrendered to the ruler
(to Shi Jilong?) and presented him with 10
thousand of fine trotters.
Shi
Jilong appointed Zhang Fudu, with a title of Commander Queller of the West, a
plenipotentiary imperial ambassador and a Grand Commander of all military affairs for punitive expeditions,
and ordered him to lead an attack by 30 thousand infantry and riders
on the Liangzhou province. When Zhang Fudu crossed Huanhe, he joined a mighty
battle with the Zhang Jun's commander Xie (泄, 謝) Ai, and was defeated.
That Xie, pronounced Se, represent an ethnic name is little doubt; a great number of
the Chinese names are versions of the ethnic names, from different locations, different
traditions of writing, and likely from different languages and dialects; the name Xie is
controversial in terms of the Chinese history; it was noted that Zhou justified their
conquest of the Shang by asserting that the Shang had replaced the Xia, i.e. justifying
their conquest by the right of priority, and claiming the descendency of the Zhou from
Xia; while Shang was associated with the east, the Xia was associated with the west; many
aspects of the Xia were opposite of traits believed to be emblematic of the Shang; on top
of that the traditional Chinese chronology is also controversial, there are indications
that not only the standard Chinese concept of ethnical continuity projected into
illiterate period is false, but the dating is implausibly exaggerated. With these
premises, it was suggested that the Sai/So/Se塞 (pin. Sai; Old Chinese *Sək; who knows how
Saka pronounced their name, and how different neighboring tribes vocalized their name)
may be associated with the Chinese Xia and later Yin and Zhou, ascending to the
mythological period of the Chinese history; that they not only integrated with the
Chinese, but also survived as distinct people is evidenced by the direct records
testifying that the Ashina Türks were a branch of the Sai people. There is high
confidence that the Chinese Sai refer to the Saka tribes, identified as Eastern
Scythians, and comprising on the western end of their territory the tribes of
Massagets/Masguts and Alans. Both Sai and Alans (Ch. Lan 阿蘭 = A 阿 + Lan 蘭) were members
of the Eastern Hun confederation, and both had a tint of Mongoloidness that predated
anthropological finds of the 1st millennium BC.
It is true that these constructs are speculative, and may never be concluded; but at
the same time they are not any more speculative then the ethnical constructs within
Indo-Europeism that enjoyed wide circulation and are inherently innately contradictory,
frequently misleading, and sometimes openly absurdous or delirious. |
Although Shi Jilong was ignorant, rude and devoid of virtue, yet he revered science
that was studying classic books, so he sent scholars from the school for the sons and
younger brothers of the highest officials to Luoyang to copy the texts of classic books,
carved on stone 64, and to correct according to
them the books stored in the palace library. The cupbearer scientist from the school for
the sons and younger brothers of the upper officials Nie Xiong (orig.:
Íå Ñþí, i.e Nie the Hun) wrote notes to the Chun-Qiu chronicle in the Gulian
edition 65, which were exhibited in the temple
of the science 66.
Shi Bin with a title Yang-gun was drinking without restrain, and indulged in
hunting, from where he was returning only when it was time for hanging up the wind
instruments in their places. Zhang
Hedu with a rank of Commander Punishing the North, believed that in the defense of the
borders is necessary to be on guard, and repeatedly admonished Shi Bin, but infuriated Shi Bin
insulted him. Upon hearing this, the enraged Shi Jilong punished Shi Bin with a hundred blows
with stick, and sent a clerk of the palace secretariat Li Yi with a credential badge
to monitor the actions of Shi Bin. Shi Bin continued to act as he wished, therefore
following the law Li Yi tried to stop him with a yell, but the angry Shi Bin killed him. He
also wanted to kill Zhang Hedu, but that fled under heavy guard to Shi Jilong, and told him
everything. Shi Jilong handed the department chief of the State Chancellery Zhang Li a
credential badge and ordered to head horsemen to punish Shi Bin. Shi Bin was punished
with three
hundred lashes, relieved of his position, and was ordered to stay at home. More than a dozen
of his close people were executed.
In the beginning of the Jian-yuan reign era (343-344), during a feast Shi Jilong
organized for high officials in the front hall of the Taiudian palace, over one hundred white geese
descended south of the horse road. Shi Jilong ordered to shoot the geese, but none of
them was shot.
116
At that time Shi Jilong was going to embark on a punitive expedition to the three
sides of the world, so from all provinces were gathered over a thousand of thousands warriors.
The great astrologer Zhao Lan told Shi Jilong in a secret conversation: “The fact that
the geese landed next to the palace indicate that the palace premises would be deserted,
the campaign should not be undertaken” 67. Taking that advice, Shi Jilong
ascended the Xuanwuguan tower, conducted a large review of the troops, and lifted the martial law
(Considering the damage a million of scared peasants could
inflict, the geese literally saved China).
Shi Bin with the title Yang-gun was appointed a plenipotentiary imperial ambassador, a courtier,
a Great Troops Commander, and a manager of the State Chancellery.
Were established military ranks of the Left and Right jungzhao jiangjun and
Military Commander Shining with Military Virtues, [these ranks] were higher then the Left
and Right Commanders of the armed guards; at the Eastern Palace were formed the
ranks of the Left and Right Troops Commander, [these ranks] stood above the ranks of
the four Commanders guarding the heir to the throne; was installed a position of a senior
palace adviser, which stood above the Left and Right palace advisers; for the military commanders
were formed the
rank of zhenwei jiangjun, standing above the rank of the
Commander of Chariots and Cavalry.
At that time, Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan)
fornicated and was brutal, but nobody dared to report on
it. The head of the troops Wang Lang told Shi Jilong about him: “Now, at the height of
the winter,
when snow piles and is cold, the heir to the throne is forcing people to cut lumber for
the palace construction and drag it to the banks of the river Zhanshui. Tens of thousands of people
are working, the people of sigh heavily, you, Sire, should under a pretext of hunting trip see what
is happening, and stop the work”. Shi Jilong
did as advised Wang Lang, but soon Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan) learned that it
all was orchestrated by
Wang Lang.
That angered him, and he wanted to kill Wang Lang, but could not find an excuse. It
happened that Mars entered the constellation Fang 68, and [the great astrologer]
Zhao Lan on orders of Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan)
told Shi Jilong: “The lands of the Zhao dynasty are under the Mao constellation
69, and its leader can
not be indifferent to the position of the Mars. For the constellation Fang, i.e.
Residence, symbolizes the
Son of the Heaven, and Mars can bring it considerable troubles. To prevent possible
troubles is needed a noble high official named Wang” 70.
Shi Jilong asked: “Who can prevent trouble?” After a long silence Zhao Lan responded: “There is
no one nobler than the head of the troops Wang Lang”. Shi Jilong, who
felt sorry for Wang Lang (besides, he doubted whether his death would be beneficial), said:
“Who is the next”. Zhao Lan responded: “The next can only be the inspector of the palace
secretariat Wang Bo”.
117
Soon after that Shi Jilong published a paper where he, recalling the past Wang Bo's
wrongdoing when he offered to send Li Hong (orig.: Hun)
to Li Shou with arrows of the ku tree, ordered to chop Wang Bo and his four sons
in two along the waist, and throw the corpses into the Zhanshui river; all this in order to avert the disaster that
the Mars could bring down on
him. Soon, regretting that Wang Bo was unjustly executed, Shi Jilong granted him
a post of the Chief of the Public Works, and raised his grandchildren to the titles of hou.
Yin Nun
[in Shi Jilong service] with a rank of Commander Queller of the North attacked
belonged to Mujun Juan city Fancheng, but did not take it and went back, for which he was
demoted
to a status of a commoner.
At that time from the main sacrificial altar rose a white rainbow, which stretched south-east
of the Fenyanmen gate, rose to the sky, and disappeared after hanging there for more than ten
ke
71. On that occasion, Shi Jilong issued a paper which stated:
“In ancient times, the wise rulers governing the Celestial, saw justice as main
objective, and took humanity and mercy as the
basis for re-education of the people, by which they helped to establish
harmony among people and glorify the spirits. I, unworthy, despite that govern all parts of the state,
therefore I am always in fear, afraid to commit
negligence, worrying at all times with thoughts on how to follow the example of the
virtuous men who
lived in ancient times. So I often issue papers on lifting levies and taxes, about
the rest for the ordinary people, I am striving to humbly take care of the people, to
excel in that, and to report on the achievements to the three luminaries [sun, moon, stars]. But in
spite of everything, when I came to the middle age, started occurring a variety of natural
disasters, the heavenly bodies are changing places, seasons come in a wrong
time. All of this happens because the people grumble at the bottom, and their
complaints gain sympathy of the almighty Heaven; the cause of course is in my lack of wisdom,
but also [guilty are the] officials, unable to help me. Once the adviser of the Chu possession restored
order in the affairs of governance, and the floods immediately stopped; a high official
of the Zheng possession reinforced the moral footing, and the unlucky omens disappeared
by themselves.
That happened because the governor's closest associates, his hands and feet, sought to
replace the disasters with prosperity. And now every high official and officeholder seek to
cheat the state, in silence, with folded arms watching successes and setbacks, but is that
what the ruler hopes to get from his aides and officials! Let each of them submit a sealed report and
state in it about everything, hiding nothing”. After that
the Fenyanmen gates were closed and started to be opened only on the first day of the first
moon, and at the Lingchangjin crossing were built two altars for sacrifices to the Heaven
and performing of five sacrifices for the coming
yearly seasons 72 (This
opus clearly displays the Hunnic traditional obligation to provide for the wellbeing of
the people by the Shanyu, his tenure defined by the will of the Heaven, and the omens
that demonstrate that his tenure is over and it it is time to elect a new replacement
favored by the Heaven. The pathos of the opus is quite compatible with the later Kul
Tegin and Bilge Kagan inscriptions).
118
Li Shou surrendered to Shi Jilong at the head of the Jianning, Shanyun, Hangu, Bazheng,
and Xintung districts.
It should be said that earlier Shi Jilong started building at the Linchangjin
crossing a bridge across Huanhe, and procure stone for the central pillars of the bridge.
However, the stones, large or small, were carried away by the current, and despite
the efforts expended by thousands and thousands of the laborers, the construction could not
be finished.
Shi Jilong sent an envoy to offer a sacrifice and sink jasper in the Huanhe, but the
jasper thrown into
the water suddenly surfaced and landed on a sandbank. At the same time struck an earthquake,
came a high tide, all constructions at the crossing collapsed, and
under the rubble died more than a hundred people. Very angry, Shi Jilong beheaded
the masters who did the work, and stopped the construction.
Shi Jilong ordered Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan) and Shi Tao to
review cases day by day in sequence, and make decisions on
their own, without reporting cases about clemency, executions, appointments and dismissals.
Exhorting Shi Jilong, the prude Shen Zhong said: “The rewards and punishment are always held
by the
all-powerful emperor, the title and insignia associated with it are extremely important,
the power based on them can not be given to others, because [the power] allows to fight with treachery,
to intercept unwanted in the very beginning, and demonstrate the force of law. The heir
destined to take
the throne after you must from the morning till the evening care of his parents, and
not take part in the affairs of the governance. Once a commoner Shi Sui suffered a
calamity because he intervened in the affairs of the governance.
Thus, there is no need to go far for the warning, the [bad] example should not be imitated.
Besides, the division of power between two individuals often bring trouble. The strifes,
caused by Zu-tui 73 during the Zhou dynasty, and
turmoil raised by Shu-duan 74
in the Zheng possession occurred because the rulers showed love to those who
lack moral principles, and that led to unrest in the possessions and murder of the relatives. I
hope that you, Sire, would pay attention to my words”. Shi Jilong did not accept the
advice (The advice advocated a Chinese model, where children of
many concubines are disenfranchised from the governance, and the officials in charge of
the state are not blood relatives of the monarch. The Türkic model is based on a dynastic
marital union, all offsprings are involved in the governance, and are lined up in
positions by their seniority in the lateral succession order. Violation of that order
makes succession illegitimate, and for better or for worse the seniority order must be
maintained to ensure perpetuation of the dynastic clan. The closeness of the blood
relations in the Türkic governance scheme is paramount. The Jie Hun state was organized
along the Hunnic lines).
The warden for the affairs of the heir to the throne palace
75 Sun Zheng appealed to
the courtier Cui Yao: “I suffer from an eye disease, how can I be cured?” Cui Yao
was always snubbing Sun Zheng, he decided to make fun of him, and said: “You will be healed if you put
your eye in urine.” Sun Zheng said: “How is it possible to put an eye in the urine!” Cui Yao
replied: “You have deeply sunken eyes, they can be very easily filled with urine.” Extremely annoyed, Sun
Zhen reported this to Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan). Upon hearing this,
Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan), who of all the Shi
Jilong's sons had a most pronounced Hu (胡) appearance with deep-set eyes, flew into a rage and
executed Cui Yao together with his sons.
119
Sun Zhen, using Shi Xuan's
love (石宣, orig.: Suan), was actively intervening in the
court politics, but now, after execution of Cui Yao, everybody, up to the high officials, feared him, and
on meeting with
him averted the gaze.
The son of Shi Jilong, Shi Jian with the title Yiyang-gun, at that time
ruled the lands
between four checkpoints, introduced numerous labor levies and imposed heavy taxes, which led to a breakdown of
the order in the areas west of the Hanguguan checkpoint. Li Song, a friend of
Shi Jian, persuaded him to pluck long hair from the civilian and military officials,
and make from them laces for the hats, and to give the remaining hair to the palace maids.
A senior
officeholder took the hair and reported everything to Shi Jilong, who came into a terrible rage
and
appointed the Right Assistant Chief of the State Chancellery Zhang Li left a senior official, punishing the
west, gave him the rank of Commander Jetting Up into the Sky Like a Dragon, a post of the Yuzhou province governor of Yun- Zhou, and send him to check, and
everything turn out to be as said the senior official. Shi Jian was recalled to Yecheng, and Li
Song was captured and handed over to the chief of the judicial department. Instead
of Shi Jian, Shi Bao was appointed to rule the
Chang'an, and from the Yongzhou, Lozhou, Qinzhou, and Bingzhou provinces were sent 160
thousand people for construction of the wall around the Weiyangun palace in Chang'an.
Shi Jilong loved hunting, but over the years
he put on weight, and could not climb into
the saddle, and so he made a thousand hunting chariots, and the length of the shafts was 3
zhangs (7 m), and the height of the chariots
was 1 zhang (2.3 m) and 8 chi
(18 cm). In addition, were made 40 chariots to
kill ferocious animals with the height of 1 zhang (2.3 m) and 7 chi
(16 cm), on them from three sides stood two-story moving towers. When the
date for the encircling hunt was set, were erected barricades, stretching from the
Lingchangjin ferry (Yanjing, modern Beijing, Huanhe crossing,
aka Dae crossing, 40°N 116°E) to Xinyang (32°N 114°E,
distance from Yanjing 900 km) and in the
east reaching Yandu (33°N 120°E, distance from Xinyang 570 km,
distance from Yanjing 850 km; triangle area ~ 250,000
km2)
77, and
the censors were ordered to check the number of birds and animals in the pen. Harming the animal
was regarded as the crime, and the perpetrators were punished up to a death sentence, so
the censors punished and pardoned on their own whim. If ordinary people had beautiful
daughters, or good bulls and horses, and the censors, no matter how much they demanded could not
get them, they would make false accusations of harming animals, and so every time they
were sentencing to
death more than a hundred families; so the people in the Haizhou
(North of modern Jiangsu province ?, 35°N 119°E),
Daizhou (centered at modern Xinzhou City, Shanxi province, 39°N
113°E), Hezhou (河州, centered at modern Linxia City,
Gansu province, 36°N 103°E) and Jizhou provinces knew no rest. In addition, 260 thousand
people from these provinces were
sent to the construction of the palace in Luoyang, and more than 20 thousand bulls
belonging to the residents were sent for the disposal of the supervisor of pastures in the
Shozhou province (The role of encircling hunts in the social
life of the Türkic societies and in military training is well documented, but even
rudimentary details are badly missing. An encircling hunting range 5° wide and 9° long is
beyond any imagination, and definitely belongs to the Guinness book. The technique of the
encircling hunts could only develop in the steppe and by the horse riding society , since
any natural obstacle provided an escape route for the herded wildlife. Probably, the
prototype for the encircling hunts was trap fishing, as all Türkic tribes are known to
originate as riverbank inhabitants, and the evidence of the net fishing has a Stone Age
history. In the modern world, the elements of the mounted hunting survived only in the
world of the British nobility, and it is still continuously practiced in the surviving
Türkic tribal steppe and forest-steppe societies not encumbered by agricultural
colonization. Out of necessity, the traditions of the encircling hunts and levirate
marriage were revived in the Kazakhstan steppes during the WWII.).
120
The number of ranks for the [Imperial] concubines
was increased to 24, for the concubines in the
Eastern Palace was increased to 12, and for the concubines belonging to the rulers of more than 70
possessions with the titles of guns and hous was set at nine ranks. Prior to that,
among the population
were drafted over 30 thousand women between the ages of 13 and 20, who were divided into
three groups for distribution to the palaces. The districts and counties, seeking to please
Shi Jilong, tried to choose the most beautiful, and more than 9 thousand women were torn
off from their husbands. Therefore, the influential houses resorted to threats,
seeking beautiful others' women, most of whom ended their lives with suicide. In addition, on
secret orders of Shi Xuan (石宣, orig.: Suan) and others
with titles of guns were conscripted at least 10
thousand women who were gathered in the palaces in Yecheng. Shi Jilong , who appeared on the lawn in
front of the main hall of the palace for selection of women was very pleased,
and granted the 12 officials who were sent to their recruitment a title of le-hou. From the
beginning of the recruitment of the women to their delivery to Yecheng, the number of
those killed,
and the husbands who committing suicide when their wives were taken away, exceeded 3 thousand people
(I.e. to deliver 10 thousand women to Yecheng cost another 3
thousand lives. The number of collateral victims to deliver 30 thousand women to Xiangguo
probably was not in the official records. It should be noted that the treatment of the
Chinese population was consistent with other records on the treatment of the dependent
sedentary population by the nomadic masters, the root of the treatment was that the
dependent population was viewed as chattel, be that horses, oxen, or people; they were
planted, cultivated, driven, and harvested as needed. Exactly identical picture the Huns,
Avars, and Bulgars presented in Europe, driving and treating Slavs as chattel, endowing
them with their language, and possibly germinating Slavs out of the southern Baltic
population. That page of history was thoroughly avoided in the past Slavic studies,
creating a gaping historical lacuna between the 3rd and 9th cc. AD).
In the Jinzhou province, on which land in the past was located the Chu possession, in
the Yangzhou and Xuzhou
provinces, almost all people had fled their homes and were raising mutinies, and although the
district governors and
county heads were accusing people in crimes, they could not calm the people, so more than
50 [officials] were thrown into prisons or executed. A palace adviser with a gold seal on a
dark red cord Lu Ming during his shift at the palace started strongly admonishing Shi Jilong, but
terribly angered Shi Jilong ordered the guards jetting up like dragons to drag Lu Ming
out and kill him. From that time, the court officials clamped their mouths and began
inducing each other to serve only for the salary.
Escorted by a thousand horsewomen
with dark red bands on their heads, in embroidered silk trousers, girdled with engraved gold and silver belts,
in embroidered boots,
Shi Jilong
often went for entertainment to the Simaguan tower 78.
On the tower were mounted wooden phoenixes,
in their beaks was inserted colored paper for imperial edicts. The phoenixes were revolving,
and it seemed that they were floating in the air.
Shi Jilong sent, a governor of
Liangzhou province Ma Qui and others to attack Zhang Chonghua
79.
An official of the State Chancellery Zhu Gui conflicted with the palace chamberlain Yan Sheng. At that time
fell prolonged torrential rains, the roads turned to mud and became
impassable. Using that, Yan Sheng slandered Zhu Gui, stating that he is not fixing the roads,
and besides he is rumoring on the politics of the court.
121
After that, Shi Jilong killed Zhu Gui, and then were instituted articles on punishment for gossiping and rules for penalties for secret conversations, the officials were allowed to
report on their superiors, the slaves were allowed to report on their owners, and with
every day the punishments were
applied more widely. Everybody up to the highest officials during audiences at the palace were
only exchanging glances, and stopped asking each other about happy or
sad events.
When Zhu Gui was thrown into prison, Fu Hun 80 with a rank of
Commander Surpassing
All Troops said, exhorting Shi Jilong: “As I, your servant, heard, a wise ruler governing the Celestial makes
at his palace clay steps three chi high
(3 x 23 cm = 70 cm),
covers the roof with reeds leaving the ends uncut, eats monotonous
food, does not impose penalties because they are not needed. [On the other hand,] the
ruler who faces demise, in governing the land among the four seas, has palaces so
high that it seems that they are about to collapse, and pavilions decorated with jasper, uses
chopsticks of ivory and cups of jade, severs people's shins and dissects their chests to
see their hearts 81, turns the flesh of wise men
into jerky 82 and dissects the bellies of pregnant,
hence his demise comes so soon.
Now in Xiangguo and Yecheng are enough palaces for you, the Emperor,
to live in them,
why would you build palaces in Chang'an and Luoyang? You are excessively indulging in hunts,
have a
passion for female beauty, and from that started the end of the three dynasties
83.
Besides, you suddenly built a thousand hunting chariots, you are keeping wild animals in
the area of
tens of thousands li, took away 100 thousand of other men's wives and daughters to
fill your palaces.
The official of the State Chancellery Zhu Gui, a high official
loyal to you, on charges that he fail to repair the roads by law has to be subjected to severe punishment. But
the disaster, a rain pouring for 70 days, is due to the fact that you, Sire, by your policy violated
a
harmony between the dark and light elements. The sky cleared just in the last two days,
and even a thousand of thousands of heavenly warriors would not be able during that period
to bring the roads in order, and what can be said about the people! If you are going to
be punishing like that, what would the
historians write about it, how the Celestial would take it? I am humbly begging you, stop
the works done by the levied for labor duties, free the women conscripted for the palaces,
pardon Zhu Gui, and satisfy by that the aspirations of the people!”
After perusing the words of Fu Hong (orig.: Hun), Shi Jilong remained dissatisfied. Fearful of the
truthfulness of these words, with unhappy face he dismissed them, but did not blame Fu Hun. Nevertheless, the construction work in the two capitals
were
suspended.
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