[snowybeagle]

According to Accounts of the New World (世新说语), Jia Chong (贾充) actually had a beautiful daughter too by the name of Jia Wu (贾午).

I had always wondered why he chose a daughter who was said to be dark and ugly and mean and had to maneouvred so hard to marry her to the Crown Prince. It was like entering a stiff competition with a handicap.

The story above might shed some light on the matter, that he had a beautiful daughter in Jia Wu but became unavailable through events beyond his control, and had no choice but to deploy the ugly daughter Jia NanFeng (贾南风).

The story : (南朝宋.刘义庆<世新说语.惑溺>第三十五-贾女香)

Jia Chong had risen high in the service of the Wei (魏) dynasty, and was closed to the Sima (司马) clan. After the Sima clan usurped the throne and established the Jin (晋) dynasty, Jia Chong was appointed the post of SiKong (司空), equivalent to a premier. Thus, he enjoyed great prestige and power.

A native of NanYang (南阳) by the name of Han Shou (韩寿) sought to enter service under Jia Chong. Noting his fine-looking appearance and outstanding learnings, Jia Chong appointed him as a Zhu Bu (主簿), which was a steward. Whilst attending to guests, Han Shou was oft required to accompany Jia Chong.

Jia Chong had a young daughter Jia Wu who was then 18 years of age. During banquets hosted at the residence, she would peek from behind a screen. When she sighted Han Shou, she sighed at his good looks and wished she could marry him.

Despatching her maid Cui Hong (翠 红), she learned of Han Shou's identity. The news brought her joy and worry. Happy that he lived within the same residence, she was aware of the nigh impossibility to meet due to the divide of the inner and outer residence.

Falling lovesick, she could not get up and no physician could diagnose her illness, much less cure it. Only her maid Cui Hong suspected the cause, and confirmed upon hearing her call Han Shou's name in delirium.

Cui Hong secretly visited Han Shou at his home and told him what was ailing her her mistress. He was delighted and got her to arrange for him to see Jia Wu.

That night, Jia Wu dressed herself to await Han Shou, who was smuggled into Jia Wu's chambers by Cui Hong at the second watch.

During their time together, Han Shou whiffed an unusual intoxicating fragrance from beneath the covers. He learnt from Jia Wu that it was a perfume which formed part of the tributes submitted to the Imperial Court from the western regions. The emperor Sima Yan (司马炎) had especially awarded some to Jia Chong, from whom she obtained it. She had kept it until that night before using it.

Seeing Han Shou liked the fragrance, she gave some to him, wrapped in a satchel. Han Shou left just as dawn approached, hiding the fragrance in his bosom and kept it at home.

Unexpectedly, the fragrance persisted after contact with the human body. Han Shou carried the fragrance with him through his daily routines, arousing the attention and speculation of his colleagues.

Jia Chong also noticed the smell on Han Shou and thought it was similar to the tribune perfume. Upon private inquiry, he learned that the emperor had only awarded the perfume to himself outside the Imperial harem. Jia Chong himself had only distributed some to his wife and daughters.

Suddenly, he recalled his daughter Jia Wu being ill some time ago, and her recent sudden recovery. Jia Wu's demeanour was also different from the past, with a blissful expression not seen before. Jia Chong suspected an affair between her and Han Shou, but wondered how Han Shou could have penetrated the tightly guarded household.

After much thinking, he ordered his servants to conduct a search around the residence, on the pretext of locating a thief. They found human tracks near the northeastern wall, which happened to be near Jia Wu's chambers.

The next day, Jia Chong interrogated Jia Wu's personal maid, Cui Hong. Under a combination of threats and bluffs, Cui Hong confessed everything.

Jia Chong hurriedly discussed the matter with his wife Guo Huai (郭槐). Guo Huai was uncertain and summoned Jia Wu for questioning. Jia Wu owned up to the affair and announced that she'll marry no one else but Han Shou.

Jia Wu was Guo Huai's favourite and the mother could not bear to reproach her further. Instead, Guo Huai persuaded Jia Chong to accept the fact and marry Jia Wu to Han Shou, and thus protect the reputation of the family.

Jia Chong also thought he had little alternative, and sent a matchmaker to Han Shou. Han Shou married into the family and finally tie the nuptial cord with Jia Wu.

Reading the story, I could only wonder what would happened if Jia Wu had been unmarried and selected by Jia Chong to marry Sima Zhong (司马衷) instead!

[Yun]

The son of Han Shou and Jia Wu was named Han Mi, but he switched to taking his mother's surname because the connection with the Empress' family would give him more prestige. He became one of the most powerful and corrupt ministers in the imperial court, and had a bitter feud with the Crown Prince Sima Yu (who was not Jia Nanfeng's natural son).

Guo Huai, Jia Nanfeng's mother, tried to resolve the bad blood between Jia Mi and Sima Yu by letting Sima Yu marry Jia Mi's sister (and thus be related to the Jia family by marriage). But Jia Wu (the girl's mother) and Jia Nanfeng both objected to this, and got State Secretary Wang Yan's younger daughter as Sima Yu's wife instead. To make matters worse, Sima Yu had heard that Wang Yan's elder daughter was beautiful but the younger was not. Jia Nanfeng then helped arrange for Jia Mi to marry the elder daughter! This intensified Sima Yu's hatred of the Jia family.

Jia Wu and Han Shou had another infant son named Han Weizu in 300, and Jia Nanfeng used this baby in her plot to frame and destroy Sima Yu. She claimed to be close to giving birth to a child, and then had Han Weizu brought into the palace so that she could use him as a fake child to make Sima Yu lose his legitimacy as Crown Prince (he was after all only the son of a concubine).

While Sima Yu was drunk, Jia Nanfeng's henchmen got him to copy out a letter in which he demanded that Sima Zhong hand over the throne to him, otherwise he would personally kill his own father and Empress Jia too. Using this evidence, Jia Nanfeng had Sima Yu deposed and imprisoned. Wang Yan, who was famous for staying out of political matters despite being a minister, simply asked for his younger daughter to divorce Sima Yu. Miss Wang was heartbroken, although it seems that Sima Yu didn't love her much - he was more fond of his concubine Jiang Jun, who had borne him a son.

In 300, Sima Lun launched a coup and overthrew Jia Nanfeng, and she was soon executed. Jia Wu, Han Shou, Jia Mi, his sister, and Han Weizu were all killed. Probably Jia Mi's wife, the beautiful elder daughter of Wang Yan, was unable to escape the slaughter too. Sima Lun then tried to make himself emperor - the last straw that sparked off the terrible War of the Princes.

Wang Yan's younger daughter continued living in the imperial palace because Sima Yu's reputation was restored by Sima Lun (so as to negate the legitimacy of Jia Nanfeng's actions). In 311, when Luoyang fell to the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu prince Liu Yao gave her to his general Qiao Shu as a prize, but she drew her sword and threatened Qiao, saying, "I'm the daughter of the Grand Marshal [Wang Yan had been Grand Marshal until captured and killed by Shi Le at the Ningping/Kuxian disaster] and the wife of the Crown Prince, and I will never let myself be violated by a barbarian." Qiao then had her killed. Her name was Wang Huifeng, and while she may not have been pretty like her sister, the Jin Shu records that she was chaste and refined, with a strong personality.

[karewa]

Hey Snowybeagle...nice interesting story....

Where do u guys find such stories ??? i wanna read as well....

[snowybeagle]

karewa, on Apr 2 2005, 11:34 PM, said:

Hey Snowybeagle...nice interesting story....
Where do u guys find such stories ??? i wanna read as well....

Thanks. I translated it from a 2-volume book titled 中国典故故事.
Published 1993 or 1994 by 上海人民美术出版社.

[Yun]

BTW, Guo Huai 郭槐, the mother of Jia Nanfeng and Jia Wu, was Jia Chong's second wife. His first wife was Li Wan 李婉 (personal name Shuwen 淑文), the daughter of Li Feng 李丰. Li Wan was pretty, highly intelligent and of good character, but when Li Feng was executed for plotting against Sima Zhao, Jia Chong divorced her and she was exiled to the Lelang 乐浪 Prefecture in northern Korea. Jia then married Guo Huai, the daughter of Guo Pei 郭配, the Prefect of Chengyang 城阳.

Later, Li Wan was pardoned in a general amnesty, and returned to Luoyang. Sima Yan actually gave Jia Chong permission to remarry her and have two wives - a Left Wife 左夫人 and Right Wife 右夫人. Jia Chong's mother, Lady Liu 柳, also urged him to take Li Wan back. But Guo Huai was extremely jealous (a trait that probably passed on to Jia Nanfeng), especially since she had heard of how good Li Wan was. She threw a tantrum and Jia Chong had to have a separate residence secretly built for Li Wan somewhere else in the city. Guo Huai later found out about this and assigned a servant to go looking for Jia Chong everytime he left the house, to make sure he wasn't visiting Li Wan. Out of fear of Guo Huai, Jia Chong never dared to see Li Wan again.

Li Wan had borne Jia Chong two daughters - Jia Bao 贾褒 (also known as Jia Quan 贾荃) and Jia Yu 贾裕 (also known as Jia Jun 贾濬). They stayed with Jia Chong when their mother was in exile, and before Li Wan left for Lelang she had written a book called "Instructions for my Daughters" 《女训》 (also known as 《典式》) to educate them in her absence. The book remained famous as an educational text for girls for more than a century after that.

Jia Quan/Bao later became the wife of Sima You 司马攸, Sima Yan's popular brother who had been adopted over as Sima Shi's posthumous son. Jia Quan and Jia Jun hoped that Sima You's position would help persuade Jia Chong to remarry their mother. They frequently cried loudly and begged Jia Chong to let visit Li Wan, but Jia Chong refused, knowing that Guo Huai would never allow it. In 272, when Jia Chong was about to be sent to the far west to suppress the rebellion of the Xianbei Tufa Shujineng, the ministers held a farewell party for him. Fearing that their mother would never again have a chance to come home after Jia Chong left Luoyang, Jia Quan and Jia Jun went to the party and kowtowed till their foreheads bled, appealing to Jia Chong and the ministers present on their mother's behalf.

The ministers, seeing the wife of a Prince (Sima You) behaving in such a humiliating manner, were astounded and quickly left the party. Jia Chong was both embarrassed and shocked, and could only order his attendants to bring the two girls home. In any case, Jia Chong was soon able to scheme his way out of the dangerous anti-rebellion assignment (which his rivals had recommended him for, hoping he would be killed) by getting his other daughter Jia Nanfeng married to the Crown Prince Sima Zhong. Since he was now the future emperor's father-in-law, he had to stay in Luoyang.

Sima Yan now decreed that since the future empress' mother was jealous of Li Wan, Li should never again be allowed to see Jia Chong. Jia Quan was so distressed by this that she fell ill and soon died (she thus died before Sima You himself was persecuted to his death by a jealous and insecure Sima Yan). After both Jia Chong and Li Wan died, Jia Jun continued appealing for them to be buried together, but it was only after Jia Nanfeng was overthrown and killed that Li Wan's coffin was finally re-buried at Jia Chong's tomb.

[snowybeagle]

*whew* prime material for Taiwanese drama serial ...

Jia Chong seemed plagued by female kin entanglements ... but it's probably his own fault anyway.