Jia Chong

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Jia Chong ( Chinese  贾充 , Pinyin Jiǎ Chōng ; * 217 ; † 282 ), majority name Gōnghé ( Chinese  公 闔 ), formally Prince Wu von Lu ( Chinese  魯武公 , Pinyin Lǔ Wǔgōng ) was a general of the Wei Dynasty at the time of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China . He was one of the highest officials under the rule of the Jin Emperor Wu .

Early life and Wei career

Jia Chong's father was the honored Wei general Jia Kui . He remained without children for a long time and was all the more happy about the birth of his son in old age. Jia Chong inherited the marquise title of his father after his death and then served the regents Sima Shi and Sima Zhao . In 257 he was commissioned by Sima Zhao to explore General Zhuge Dan's attitude towards the Sima family. When Jia Chong raved about Sima Zhao in front of Zhuge Dan, the latter rejected him, and back in the capital Luoyang , Jia Chong warned the regent that Zhuge Dan would not submit. Sima Zhao summoned Zhuge Dan to the capital, but the general started a riot that was soon stifled. From then on, Sima Zhao was very fond of Jia Chong.

In 260, Emperor Cao Mao, enraged by Sima Zhao's influence, attempted a coup d'etat against the regent. Sima Fous ( Chinese  司馬 伷 ) troops couldn't do anything, but Jia Chong stood in the way of the emperor. Finally he authorized his officer Cheng Ji ( Chinese  成 濟 ) to kill the emperor. The people demanded the execution of the two, and after careful consideration, Sima Zhao decided to have Cheng Ji and his family executed, but to spare Jia Chong.

Jia Chong also played an important role in the suppression of the Zhong Hui uprising in 264. He was given the task of opposing Zhong Hui should he attempt an attack on the capital. However, Zhong Hui was soon betrayed and killed by his own men.

Jin career

Even after Sima Yan deposed the last Wei emperor Cao Huan in 265 and founded the Jin dynasty, Jia Chong was one of the key figures at the court. He was appointed Prince of Lu and commissioned by the emperor to draft the criminal law for the Jin empire, which is said to have been much milder than that of the Wei Dynasty. However, only the nobles benefited from the laws, as they were implemented unequally.

Officials Ren Kai ( Chinese  任 愷 ) and Yu Chun ( Chinese  庾 純 ) were Jia Chong's declared enemies at court. In 271 they managed to send him to fight against the Xianbei ruler Tufa Shujineng ( Chinese  禿髮 樹 機能 ). Jia Chong was able to avert this, however, by getting his wife to flatter Empress Yang Yan and propose his daughter Jia Nanfeng as crown princess. The connection was made and Jia Nanfeng married the developmentally disturbed Crown Prince Sima Zhong . A year later, Jia Chong repaid his adversaries and had them expelled from the government.

When Emperor Wu was ready to conquer the Wu Empire in 279 , Jia Chong advised against it and warned that Wu was too big and too impassable to invade. The emperor did not listen to him and even forced him to lead the six-move attack. Otherwise he, the emperor himself, would lead the attack. Jia Chong submitted, but hesitantly advanced with the army. After some notable successes in 280, Jia Chong asked again to be allowed to break off the campaign. He had already taken the western half of the Wu Empire. When his petition to the emperor was on its way, the Wu emperor Sun Hao surrendered to him . Jia Chong, ashamed of his misjudgment of the situation, offered to resign, but Emperor Wu declined and instead rewarded him for his brilliant success.

Family life

Jia Chong's first wife Li was the daughter of Li Feng ( Chinese  李豐 ) whom Sima Shi 254 suspected of plotting against him with the Emperor Cao Fang . When Li Feng was executed that same year, Ms. Li had two daughters: Jia Bao ( Chinese  賈 褒 ) and Jia Yu ( Chinese  賈 裕 ). To prove his allegiance to the Sima family, Jia Chong cast out his wife, who was banished. His second wife, Guo Huai ( Chinese  郭槐 ), whom he married soon after, gave birth to two more daughters, Jia Nanfeng and Jia Wu ( Chinese  賈 午 ), and a son, Jia Limin ( Chinese  賈黎民 ). However, he was soon to perish from his mother's jealousy. One day while the nurse was holding the two-year-old, Jia Chong returned home from work and hugged his son. Guo Huai saw this and suspected an affair between her husband and the wet nurse. She killed the supposed rival, and her son was too unhappy about the loss of the wet nurse that he soon fell ill and died. Jia Chong was thus without an heir.

After ascending the throne, Emperor Wu announced a general amnesty that allowed Jia Chong's first wife to return. Because he suspected that Jia Chong would like to marry her again, the emperor allowed him to have two wives. But Jia Chong refused for fear of his second wife and did not let his older daughters soften her. He had his divorced wife built an estate but never visited her. Guo Huai had the property monitored around the clock out of suspicion in order to catch her husband. She once visited Ms. Li herself, but she stumbled on the threshold and fell at her feet. After this faux pàs she was never seen there again.

After his daughter Jia Nanfeng became Crown Princess, Jia Chong also wed his eldest daughter Jia Bao to a prince: Sima You, the younger brother of Emperor Wu, who was thought to be the most gifted of the princes. When Emperor Wu fell ill, the people and officials hoped that he would appoint Sima You as his heir to the throne. Xiahou He ( Chinese  夏侯 和 ), the mayor of Luoyang, asked Jia Chong to ask the emperor personally, but Jia Chong refused.

death

When Jia Chong became seriously ill in 282, the Emperor granted him the favor of a visit from the Crown Prince. After his death, Guo Huai tried to have her son Jia Limin posthumously adopt Jia Wu's son Han Mi ( Chinese  韓 謐 ) so that he could inherit the Principality of Lu. Although this request was very unusual, Emperor Wu granted it. The official Qin Xiu ( Chinese  秦 秀 ), who chose the posthumous names of the higher officials, suggested Jia Chong Huang ( Chinese    - "who twists the law"), but the emperor changed it to Wu ( Chinese    - " warlike ").

When Ms. Li passed away, Jia Nanfeng, now Empress, refused to allow her to be buried with her husband. Ms. Li was only given this after the deposition and poisoning of the emperors (300). It is believed that Guo Huai was first buried with her husband; whether her body remained there after 300 is unclear.