釋氏稽古略 1.99

1.99

Son of Zhongkang. Expelled by Yi, he lost his state and lived in Shangqiu, present-day Guide Prefecture in Henanfu Circuit. He relied on clans of the same surname, the Zhenguan and Zhenxun. Yi set himself up as ruler under the title of Youqiong. Houyi moved from Chu to Qiongshi, and relying on the Xia clan, he took over the administration of Xia. He did not cultivate the people's affairs, indulging in hunting wild beasts across the plains. He discarded the worthy and did not employ them, trusting instead the slandering son of the Boming clan, Han Zhuo. Han Zhuo practiced flatteries within and distributed bribes without, hoodwinking the people while also deceiving Yi. While Yi hastened to a peasant house, the multitude killed Yi and boiled him to feed him to his son; his son could not bear to eat him and was killed at the gate of Qiong. Yi reigned for eight years. Han Zhuo took over Yi's household without changing the title of Youqiong, and fathered Jiao and Yi. Zhuo sent Jiao to kill the Zhenguan and Zhenxun clans and destroy King Xiang of Xia. Xiang's queen was the daughter of the ruler of the state of Youreng, and was just then pregnant; she escaped through a water gate, returned to Youreng, and gave birth to Shaokang. Zhuo placed Jiao at Guo and placed Yi at Ge. When Shaokang grew up, he became Master of Herds in Reng. Jiao sought him, so he fled to Youyu and became Master of the Kitchens. The ruler of Yu gave him two Yao daughters in marriage and enfeoffed him at Lun, with one cheng of land (ten li) and one lü of men (five hundred men). Spreading his virtue, he rallied the Xia multitude. A surviving minister of the Xia, Mi, arrived from the Ge clan, gathered the remaining people of the two states, destroyed Zhuo, and enthroned Shaokang. Shaokang sent his minister Nü'ai to destroy Jiao at Guo, and sent his son Ji Zhu to destroy Yi at Ge. Thereupon Youqiong was extinguished. Zhuo reigned for thirty-two years. Sima Zhen's Suoyin commentary to the Records of the Grand Historian says: 'Wei Zhuangzi in the Zuo Commentary says: "After Emperor Xiang was usurped and killed, the period between under the two clans of Yi and Zhuo spanned roughly thirty to forty years, yet this Basic Annals does not speak of it at all, merely stating that Emperor Xiang died and Shaokang was enthroned, which is exceedingly careless and brief."' Xiang was on the throne for twenty-eight years.