Feng Xu 封諝 was a Regular Palace Attendant and though he was favoured by Emperor Ling, he and Xu Feng 徐奉 became members of Zhang Jue's religious sect and had connections with Large Division leader Ma Yuanyi 馬元義.
Biography[]
At the end of the year 183 A.D. spiritual Yellow Turban leader Zhang Jue had gathered hundreds of thousands of followers and spread them over thirty-six Divisions. One of these Divisions was based in Luoyang itself and was led by Ma Yuanyi. This Division was a Large Division, meaning Ma Yuanyi had over 10.000 followers under his command. The exact number is not not known, but it is stated he and some others had collected several ten thousand men from Jing and Yang provinces.[3]
Within Luoyang Ma Yuanyi gained the support of the Regular Palace attendants Feng Xu and Xu Feng and several other eunuchs joined him in his plans for a coup at the capital to coincide with rebellion throughout the empire.[2][4]
Some time later Zhang Rang 張讓 and some of his eunuchs were enfeoffed as marquises and treated with great favour. From this, the eunuchs became completely confident of their position, and they built themselves great houses that rivalled the imperial palace. When Feng Xu and Xu Feng were found out, however, the Emperor turned on his eunuch attendants and said:
"You people always said it was the men of faction who plotted rebellion, and you had me proscribe them from office and some of them were executed. But now it appears that the men of faction are servants of the state and it's you people that follow Zhang Jue. Why shouldn't I have you beheaded?"[5]
After this, Feng Xu and Xu Feng are not mentioned anymore in historical sources. Professor Rafe de Crespigny has listed their deaths in the year 184.[1]
Notes[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Fan Ye, History of the Later Han, chapter 71.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rafe de Crespigny, A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kigndoms, Biography of Feng Xu, page 376. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "HdOFengXu" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Rafe de Crespigny, Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling, Guanghe 6.
- ↑ Leban, Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei, page 81.
- ↑ Rafe de Crespigny, Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling, Zhongping 1.
Sources[]
- de Crespigny, Rafe. A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms. Leiden: BRILL, 2007.
- —. Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling. Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1989.
- —. To Establish Peace. Canberra: Faculty of Asian Studies, The Australian National University, 1996.
- Fan Ye 范曄 (398–445). Hou Han shu 後漢書 "History of the Later Han".
- Leban, Carl. Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei: The Early Years. Columbia University, Ph. D., 1971.
- Sima Guang 司馬光 (1019–1086). Zizhi tongjian 資治通鑑 "Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government".