Jinting Han people

It is a common understanding that the mandate of heaven is fickle, dynasties rise and fall in succession. Emperor Wen of Wei, Cao Pi, once lamented the rise and fall of the Han dynasty and stated in his "Final Edict": "From ancient times to the present, there has never been a country that did not perish, nor a tomb that was not dug up." As it turned out, less than fifty years after he ascended the throne, the Cao Wei dynasty fell into the hands of the Sima family.

But as Sima Qian, the Grand Historian, said, "Death is inevitable for everyone, but some deaths are heavier than Mount Tai, while others are lighter than a feather. The same is true for nations."

Han Dynasty scholars often spoke of the rule of the Three Dynasties, comparing it to the laws of the sage kings, discussing the gains and losses of various states during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and condemning the various tyrannical policies of the Qin state. Even today, when people comment on current events and discuss politics, they invariably praise the Han Dynasty. After all, throughout history, only the Han Dynasty has been able to unify the country and achieve long-term stability. Especially now, with the decline of the Jin Dynasty and the fragmentation of the empire, people's yearning for the Han Empire and for the harmonious relationship between the emperor and his ministers in the Shu Han court has reached an unprecedented level.

However, fate is fickle; not only does destruction occur, but so does resurgence. The Xia dynasty suffered the calamity of Han Zhuo, but was later restored by Shao Kang; the Zhao state experienced the ruin of its clan, but was eventually rebuilt by an orphan. This shows that even a fallen nation can be restored, and a state can rise again after a period of decline—this is not mere speculation. Although one may encounter unbearable hardships at times, as long as one perseveres and never gives up, one will eventually see the light at the end of the tunnel.

On the day of Jiazi in the ninth month, forty-three years after the fall of the Han Dynasty, in Chengdu, a group of sixty-eight people, led by Lai Zhong, former military advisor to the Han army, and including He Pan, former Grand Herald of the Jin Dynasty; Liu Kun, former Commandant of the Capital Region; Liu Shen, former Governor of Yongzhou; Huangfu Zhong, former Governor of Qinzhou; Yang Maosou, Duke of Qiuchi; Li Ju, former Prefect of Hedong; Zhang Guang, former Prefect of Shiping; Wei Bo, former Prefect of Beidi; Zhuge Jing, former Prefect of Nan'an; Hou Fu, former Prefect of Jiangyang; Yang Qian, former Prefect of Badong; and He Guan, former Prefect of Ba Commandery, urged Liu Xian, Duke of Anle, to ascend the throne. Their words were:
"I have heard that Heaven created the people and established rulers to govern them, so that they may stand between Heaven and Earth and govern the common people. Wise emperors and enlightened kings have observed this, knowing that Heaven and Earth cannot lack food, so they humble themselves to serve them; knowing that the people cannot be without a master, they have no choice but to govern them."

"We humbly acknowledge that Emperor Taizu Gao established the dynasty through military prowess and divine virtue; Emperor Taizong Wen was benevolent and brought peace to the land; Emperor Shizong Wu expanded the territory and expelled the barbarians, his power reaching the four seas; and Emperor Zhongzong Xiaoxuan brought prosperity to all nations, his glory shining for posterity. Six generations of emperors have shone brightly, four sages have followed in their footsteps, their achievements surpassing those of the Three Sovereigns, their virtues exceeding those of the Five Emperors, their benevolence comparable to that of the Yu dynasty, and their legacy surpassing that of the Zhou dynasty."

"Since the reign of Emperor Yuancheng, the country has faced numerous hardships and upheavals. During the period of mourning and peace, the atmosphere was extremely dark and oppressive. The emperor lost control of the palace and ascended to the throne, which led to Wang Mang's usurpation. The country was shrouded in darkness and its fate was as precarious as a broken tassel. I humbly beseech Emperor Guangwu to raise his arm and restore the glory of the White Water Palace, to extend his benevolence to the universe and to establish his merits above all. May the three luminaries be restored from darkness and the divine regalia be revealed again."

"I humbly submit that Emperor Xianzong Xiaoming and Emperor Suzong Xiaozhang upheld the Way and proclaimed righteousness, bringing peace and prosperity to the land. However, since the reigns of Emperors Huan and Ling, the imperial authority has been lax, making governance difficult and causing the state to waver. Dong Zhuo and Cao Cao deceived the world to save it, but in reality, they were traitors, leading to the disasters of deposing and killing emperors, and the harm of poisoning and usurping the throne."

"We humbly submit that our revered ancestor, Emperor Zhaolie, risked his life to bring peace to the holy dynasty, exerting himself wholeheartedly and leading the people in upholding the Han dynasty. He raised his sword in western Sichuan, hoping that Heaven would avert disaster and allow him to recapture the old capital. But alas, misfortune followed one after another, the rites and music collapsed, and the illustrious Zhou dynasty was reduced to a scoundrel. Whenever we peruse the historical records and examine the past, we find that the extreme misfortune and the decline of morality since the beginning of written history have never been so severe!"

"I have heard that darkness and light alternate, fortune and misfortune complement each other, the Mandate of Heaven remains unchanged, and the cycle of fate has its course. Now, the Sima clan's infighting has brought calamity to the land, the barbarian invaders have disrupted the dynasty, and the Jin court has been forced to relocate. Behold the corpses floating in the Luo River and the bronze camels amidst thorns, this is called the calamity of the princes' cruelty, but it is truly retribution that has not yet come!"

"Your Highness, your divine virtue is connected to the mysterious heavens, and your holy appearance is in harmony with the two principles of yin and yang. You have been ordained for this era and will continue the destiny of a thousand years. Auspicious omens are a sign from heaven and man; signs of revival are prophetic and recorded in history. You have endured the pain of national subjugation and the humiliation of peace and prosperity. You were imprisoned in Luoyang and have now developed your wisdom. You have resided in Guanzhong and have now displayed your divine martial prowess."

"Your Highness, by pacifying Hedong and conquering the former Shu, you subdued the rebels with virtue and punished them with law. You subdued the raging insurmountable Sun Xiu and pacified the great danger Zhang Fang. Li Xiong thus submitted, emulating the respect of Tian Heng. Luo Shang, lacking virtue, was beheaded, and Ou cut off the snake's tail. All officials were well-governed, and the government was peaceful. In the past, the prosperity of Shao Kang was praised in the Xia Dynasty's teachings; the restoration of King Xuan was celebrated in the Zhou Dynasty's poems. Moreover, your great achievements are displayed before Heaven, and your brilliance shines across the four seas. The people are grateful and all are happy to submit. Wherever your teachings reach, they all wish to be your subjects!"

"Moreover, among the descendants of Emperor Gaozu, only Your Highness is worthy of this mandate; there is no other. Heaven has ordained the Han Dynasty, and there must be a ruler to preside over the Han sacrifices. Who else but Your Highness will be the one to uphold the Han sacrifices!"

After submitting his memorial to the prefectural government, Liu Xian declined the throne three times as was customary. The officials submitted memorials three times in response. It was not until the year Jiaxu that Liu Xian finally replied, "I am of little virtue and have only just pacified one corner of the country. The nine provinces are not yet settled. How can I achieve great things? I may temporarily assume the throne to answer the questions of the world."

So, on the day of Gengchen in September, following the precedent of his great-grandfather Liu Bei declaring himself King of Hanzhong, Liu Xian, the Duke of Anle, ascended the throne at Wudan Mountain. At that time, the people of Chengdu, filled with curiosity, came to watch. These refugees who had once followed the Way of the Celestial Masters had all returned to Chengdu, and tens of thousands of people crowded the altar. Soldiers maintained order, causing some noise, but when Liu Xian slowly walked along the main road with Fan Changsheng into the altar, the crowd instantly quieted down.

At this moment, Liu Xian wore an eight-tassel crown made of pure white pearls and jade, a black upper garment, and a crimson lower garment, embroidered with mountains, dragons, flowers, insects, algae, fire, rice grains, axe (a type of jade axe pattern), and the Nine Symbols of the Axe on the front and back. He wore a leather belt around his waist, a sword with a seal, and a red ribbon with a gold seal. Whether viewed from afar or up close, he was truly exceptionally heroic.

Then, under Fan Changsheng's guidance, Liu Xian first offered sacrifices to his ancestors at the Temple of Heaven, posthumously honoring his grandfather, Duke Anle, as Emperor Xiaohuai. Afterwards, he recited scriptures in public, followed Fan Changsheng around the Seven Star Lamp eighty-one times, and then sat down again. Fan Changsheng sprinkled sweet dew on Liu Xian, presented another memorial to the Heavenly Emperor, and finally, in front of everyone, bestowed upon Liu Xian a talisman and sword, saying, "The Heavenly Emperor has sent word that Your Majesty, with divine martial prowess, has fulfilled the appointed time. Heaven's will govern the land; you should use military force to pacify the nine provinces, prioritizing civil over military force, to achieve the Great Peace and True Lordship."

The people present couldn't hear or understand what was said before. But they finally heard the last four words, "True Lord of Peace." At the same time, the blue banner of the True Lord of Peace that Li Xiong had given to Liu Xian was unfurled on the altar, creating a striking contrast with the red Han banner beside it.

As people watched this scene, all sorts of wonderful fantasies welled up in their minds, causing them to look at Liu Xian with happy eyes. Without anyone organizing them, they spontaneously cheered, their shouts like wild songs, lingering in the Chengdu sky for a long time.

After the sacrificial ceremony, the officials under the Duke of Anle lined up to offer their congratulations, followed by the local dignitaries. After receiving them, Liu Xian remotely honored Liu Xun as his "King Father" and then bestowed generous rewards upon the meritorious officials.

At this time, Liu Xian still adhered to the Han system and placed the Three Dukes in high esteem. Therefore, he appointed Yi Zhong as Minister of Works, He Pan as Grand Commandant, and Yang Maosou as Minister of Education.

These three men were all born during the Shu Han period and made significant contributions to the reconstruction of the state, so Liu Xian appointed them to these positions. However, the Three Dukes positions at this time were the same as those in the Later Han Dynasty; they were merely symbolic of high status and did not actually hold any real power.

He also appointed Li Ju as General of the Guards, Liu Kun as General of the Vanguard, Yang Nandi as General of the Rear, Liu Shen as General of the Left, and Huangfu Zhong as General of the Right.

These five men were the five major allies Liu Xian had secured within the Jin court. Their support was undeniable, bringing Liu Xian not only substantial amounts of money, provisions, and troops, but also crucial political assistance. Therefore, they could be considered the five major factions within the Hanzhong army. Appointing them as the Five Generals was entirely justified.

Below the five generals are the thirteen miscellaneous generals.

They are: General Zhang Guang, General Gongsun Gong, General Zhuge Yan, General Yang Jiantou, General Wei Jun, General Mao Bao, General Huan Yi, General Zhang Qi, General Xi Jian, General Suo Lin, General Huangfu Dan, General Guo Fang, and General Meng Tao.

These men had all rendered outstanding service to Liu Xian in establishing his state, having participated in at least one or two major battles of life and death, demonstrating their exceptional leadership abilities. However, because their status and prestige were far inferior to the Five Generals, they were relegated to this position. Below them were mid-level officers such as the Lieutenant General and Colonel. Newly recruited figures like Fei Hei, Wen Shuo, and Zhang Bao, former members of the Chengdu Kingdom, and Yan Yi, Ji Lang, and other Yan figures recruited in Guanzhong, were less experienced and had fewer merits, thus occupying these positions.

It's worth mentioning that Guo Mo should have originally been among the ranks of miscellaneous generals. However, because he had previously embezzled some gold and silver, Liu Xian stripped him of his generalship and instead appointed him as the General of the Imperial Guards, a position above those mid-level officers, but with a title below that of miscellaneous generals. Hopefully, Guo Mo will learn from this experience.

The appointment of these military ranks, like that of the Three Dukes, was primarily used to display rank and status, and did not represent actual position or power. The actual extent of power within the military depended on the number of soldiers under one's command and whether one held concurrent important local positions.

Liu Xian's main approach to building the power system of Han China was to strengthen central authority, weaken the independence of local forces, and integrate the upper and lower levels as much as possible. Therefore, he largely followed the Jin dynasty's model, establishing the Ministry of Personnel (Shangshu Sheng), the Secretariat (Zhongshu Sheng), and the Chancellery (Menxia Sheng) within the kingdom. Their functions were also similar: the Secretariat drafted decrees, the Chancellery reviewed them, and the Ministry of Personnel implemented them.

Of course, in terms of the specific structure, Liu Xian still made some adjustments to some parts that were not suitable according to actual needs.

The Jin dynasty divided the Ministry of Personnel into six departments: the Ministry of Personnel, the Palace Attendants, the Five Armies, the Land Administration, the Department of Finance, and the Left Civil Affairs Department. Each department was headed by a Minister. The Minister of Personnel was in charge of personnel affairs nationwide, the Minister of the Palace Attendants was in charge of personnel affairs within the palace, the Minister of the Five Armies was in charge of military affairs nationwide, the Minister of the Land Administration was in charge of land reclamation nationwide, the Minister of Finance was in charge of specific financial expenditures, and the Left Civil Affairs Department was in charge of household registration and civil appeals nationwide.

Given Liu Xian's current situation, there was no need to separate the personnel in the palace from those in the country, so the Palace Affairs Office was abolished; the functions of the Revenue and Civil Affairs Offices overlapped slightly, so they were merged to form the Ministry of Revenue Office; since Shu needed to manage floods for a long time and manpower was needed to repair roads and cities, a separate Works Office was established; finally, the Official Management Office was established to manage the salt and iron trade and Shu brocade trade throughout the country and to stabilize prices. If the Wuzhu coin could be reissued in the future, it would also be assigned to this office.

After confirming the organizational structure, Liu Xian appointed Li Ju as Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, Li Sheng as Grand Secretary, and He Pan, Zhuge Jing, and Fan Ben as Attendants-in-Ordinary. Lu Yun was appointed Left Vice Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, Fu Chang Right Vice Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, Xi An Minister of Personnel, Zhang Gu Minister of War, Lü Quyang Minister of Works, Cao Miao Minister of Agriculture, Ruan Fang Minister of Revenue, and Xue Xing Minister of State Affairs. This was Liu Xian's initial list of officials in the three ministries, mostly veterans who had followed him since the time of the Sili Prefecture.

After the establishment of the three provinces, they were already able to cover most of the practical affairs in the country. However, considering the need to appease the talent pool in Shu, Liu Xian also established the Nine Ministers, who handled practical affairs under the coordination of the Ministry of Personnel. They were Xue Yi, Grand Master of Ceremonies; Liu Xuan, Minister of the Imperial Clan; Du Pi, Commandant of the Guards; Sun Xi, Grand Master of the Palace; Li Ci, Minister of Justice; Yan Zuan, Grand Herald; He Guan, Minister of the Imperial Treasury; Wen Yan, Minister of the Imperial Household; and Chen Hui, Minister of Agriculture.

At the same time, in order to ensure official conduct and correct illegal activities, Liu Xian actually appointed Liu Kun as the Commandant of the Capital Region and Liu Shen as the Grand Censor to supervise the operation of the Chengdu bureaucracy.

Locally, Liu Xian abolished the Liangzhou system and restored Dayizhou, appointing himself as the governor of Yizhou. All fourteen prefectures in the country were directly governed by the imperial court, and the separation of military and political affairs in the prefectures and counties was further promoted.

Therefore, Liu Xian restored the four-command system of Shu Han. County commanderies still had county lieutenants and commanders responsible for military affairs such as conscription, training, and maintaining order, but their status was significantly different. While prefects and county magistrates remained county officials, they only had the right to advise the county lieutenants and commanders, not to directly command them. These commanders and county lieutenants were mostly concurrently held by generals or colonels, with only a few exceptionally capable prefects able to hold these positions themselves. Furthermore, once in charge of military affairs, they would all directly obey the command of their superior commanders.

Wei Jun served as the governor of Nanzheng, in charge of the military affairs of the three prefectures of Hanzhong, Wudu and Yinping.
Yang Nandi served as the governor of Langzhong, in charge of the military affairs of the three prefectures of Zitong, Baxi, and Guanghan;
Zhang Guang served as the Governor of Jiangzhou, in charge of the military affairs of the three prefectures of Fuling, Ba, and Jiangyang.
Huangfu Zhong was appointed as the Governor of Bidao, temporarily in charge of the military affairs of Jianwei County, and prepared for the southern expedition to Ningzhou.

The military affairs of the remaining prefectures were directly commanded by Li Ju, the General of the Guards and concurrently the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat.

The above basically summarizes the appointment of officials during Liu Xian's founding of the state. This was undoubtedly a major adjustment to the power structure. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Liu Xian reorganized the various factions under the former Duke's Mansion in order to unite all parties, enhance cohesion, and strengthen the state's control over the local areas.

Taking this opportunity, he recalibrated weights and measures and promulgated new laws.

Influenced by Liu Song, Liu Xian insisted that the law should be rigorous and detailed, and that all criminal cases should be tried in accordance with the written law. If the law did not provide for a specific case, it would be reported to the court for discussion. After the discussion, the law would be amended first, and then implemented. As a result, the new law was quite lengthy, consisting of ten chapters, more than nine hundred articles, and over thirty thousand words, nearly half again as long as the Tai Shi Law previously implemented by Sima Yan.

Its main characteristic is that, under detailed criminal charges, punishments are divided into five levels: death, exile, penal servitude (labor service), caning, and whipping. The law did not reinstate corporal punishment, but its enforcement was extremely strict, applying equally to servants and commoners. It abolished the Eight Deliberations system, which favored the powerful and wealthy, but allowed for mitigating offenses through merit, thus preserving the lives of the majority as much as possible. Because it was based on the legal insights left by Liu Song, it was known at the time as the *Ziya Law*.

At this point, Liu Xian granted a general amnesty and changed the era name to Qiming.

The matter of the reign title actually went through quite a bit of discussion. Fan Changsheng initially suggested that Liu Xian use Yuheng (玉衡) to symbolize his divine protection and the emperor's favor. However, Liu Xian felt that this reign title was too weak, implying that all gains and losses were attributable to fate, so he abandoned it. He Pan then suggested using the Jianyan (建炎) reign title, which could express the new court's ambition to rebuild the Han dynasty's virtue of fire. Liu Xian was quite interested, but after consideration, he felt it had too much superstitious connotation and abandoned it again.

After much deliberation, Liu Xian finally settled on the era name "Qiming." These two characters seem unremarkable, yet they carry the meaning of restoring morale and, more importantly, the ambition to rebuild the Han dynasty and restore peace. Most importantly, this served as a reminder to Liu Xian that he would never change the era name before unifying the Nine Provinces.

The coronation ceremony finally concluded, and Liu Xian led his entourage into the Wudan Palace, where he bestowed the titles of Queen upon his wife Cao Shangrou, Lady Yang Hui'ai and Lady Li Zhaorong, Duke of Longxi upon his eldest son Liu Lang, Princess Hongnong upon his eldest daughter Liu Lingyou, and Crown Prince upon his second son Liu Cheng. The remaining members of his clan were granted titles of nobility, but these were merely nominal and without real power.

This was the final step in becoming king, and from this moment on, Liu Xian had finally officially established his kingdom.

That year, Liu Xian was thirty-four years old. Looking across the land, in terms of a well-established system and effective governance, he was undoubtedly the leader among all warlords. (End of Chapter)