Jin Midi

Jin Midi was born a Xiongnu prince, the son of the Xiutu king. He died a marquis of the Han and regent for a child emperor.^[1] The Han Shu gives him a chapter of his own, chapter 68, together with Huo Guang, the other regent.^[1] It calls him Jin Midi and gives his courtesy name as Weng Shu. It says that he was by origin the crown prince (太子) of the Xiutu king.^[1]

The Xiutu king and the golden image

The Xiutu king and the Hunye king controlled the western territories of the Xiongnu realm.^[2] In the Yuanshou period, the Han general Huo Qubing attacked the Xiongnu lands of the Right. He took many heads. He also captured the golden image with which the Xiutu king sacrificed to Heaven (祭天金人).^[3] The chapter closes with a remark on the family’s surname. It says that the Xiutu king had made the golden man the lord (主) of the sacrifice to Heaven. This was the reason the Han gave the family the surname Jin, “gold”.^[1] Later commentators explained the image. In the third century Wei Zhao said that the Xiongnu made the golden man as the lord of their sacrifice to Heaven.^[4] The reading as a Buddha image begins in the fifth century with Cui Hao, who took the golden man for the Buddha figures of his own day.^[4]

Taken captive

That summer, Huo Qubing went west again, past Juyan. He attacked the Qilian mountains with great success. In the autumn, the chanyu grew angry that the Han had so often beaten the Hunye and Xiutu kings in the west. He called them to him to put them to death. The two kings were afraid and planned to surrender.^[5] The Xiutu king changed his mind. The Hunye king killed him and led his people over to the Han. The Hunye king was made a marquis.^[1]

Jin Midi’s father had been killed for refusing to surrender. Jin Midi, his mother the consort (閼氏) and his younger brother Lun were taken into the imperial service. They were sent to the Yellow Gate to raise horses. He was fourteen.^[1]

Rise at the court

Some time later, the emperor Wudi held a feast. He had horses led past the hall, with the ladies of the palace standing on both sides. Jin Midi and several dozen others led the horses across the courtyard. All the others stole glances at the women. Jin Midi alone did not dare.^[1]

Jin Midi was eight feet two inches tall and had a stern face. His horses were fat and sleek. The emperor marvelled and asked who he was. Jin Midi told him his whole story. The emperor found it remarkable. On that same day he gave Jin Midi a bath, clothes and a cap, and made him overseer of the stables. Jin Midi then rose to palace attendant, commandant of the imperial son-in-law’s cavalry (駙馬都尉) and counsellor of splendid happiness (光祿大夫).^[1] The text says that once he was close to the emperor, he never made a mistake. The emperor loved and trusted him. He rewarded him with gold again and again. When he went out, he took Jin Midi into his carriage. At home he kept him at his side.^[1] Highborn relatives complained in secret that His Majesty had come by a barbarian boy and now honoured him above others. The emperor heard of it and treated Jin Midi more generously.^[1]

His mother

Jin Midi’s mother taught her two sons with a strict sense of order. The emperor heard of it and approved. When she died of illness, the emperor ordered her portrait painted in the Ganquan palace and labelled “the Xiutu king’s consort”. Each time Jin Midi saw the portrait, he bowed, turned toward it, wept, and then went on.^[1]

His eldest son

The emperor loved Jin Midi’s sons, and they played about him. One of them once came up behind the emperor and put his arms round his neck. Jin Midi, standing in front, saw it and fixed his eyes on the boy. The boy ran off crying “Father is angry”. The emperor asked Jin Midi why he was angry with his child.^[1] Later, when the boy was grown and had become careless, Jin Midi saw him playing with palace women below the hall. He hated the licence and killed him. It was his eldest son. The emperor was furious. Jin Midi bowed his head to the ground and told him in detail why he had done it. The emperor grieved and wept. Afterwards he held Jin Midi in respect.^[1]

Mang Heluo

Mang Heluo had been a friend of Jiang Chong, who had brought down the crown prince. Heluo’s brother Tong had won a fief by fighting hard when the prince was put down. Later the emperor learned that the prince had been wronged. He wiped out Jiang Chong’s kin and associates. Heluo and his brothers feared that it would reach them. They decided on treason.^[1] Jin Midi saw something unusual in Heluo’s manner. He watched him in secret, going up and down with him wherever he went. Heluo noticed this. For a long time, he found no opening.^[1]

The Han Shu places the revolt in the sixth month of the first year of Houyuan, 88 BC. It names Jin Midi, Huo Guang and Shangguan Jie as the men who put it down.^[6] The emperor was staying at the Linguang palace. Jin Midi lay ill in his hut. Heluo and two of his brothers forged an order by night. They killed the messenger and called out troops. At dawn, before the emperor had risen, Heluo came in from outside. Jin Midi had gone to the privy and felt uneasy. He at once went in and sat down by the inner door.^[1]

After a little while, Heluo came up the east side-chamber with a drawn blade in his sleeve. He saw Jin Midi, and his face changed. He ran for the bedchamber, struck a precious zither and fell. Jin Midi caught him in his arms and called out that Mang Heluo was in revolt. The emperor sprang up. The guards drew their swords. However, the emperor feared to hit Jin Midi too, and he forbade them to strike. Jin Midi threw Heluo down below the hall. Heluo was bound.^[1] The inquiry found all the conspirators guilty. From then on, the text says, Jin Midi was known for loyalty and filial feeling.^[1]

Regent

For decades, Jin Midi stood at the emperor’s side. He never let his eyes rove or glance at the emperor with disrespect. When the emperor gave him women released from the palace, he did not dare go near them. When the emperor wished to take his daughter into the harem, he refused. The emperor found him more remarkable for it.^[1]

When the emperor fell ill, he charged Huo Guang with the care of the child heir. Huo Guang deferred to Jin Midi. Jin Midi said that he was a foreigner. He said that his rule would make the Xiongnu think little of the Han. He therefore became Huo Guang’s deputy. Huo Guang married his daughter to Jin Midi’s heir Shang.^[1] The table of officials lists Jin Midi as general of chariots and cavalry in the second year of Houyuan, 87 BC. It remarks that he died within the year.^[7]

The emperor’s will had named him marquis of Du for the capture of Mang Heluo. Jin Midi declined because the new emperor was a child. After more than a year as regent, he fell gravely ill. Huo Guang asked that the marquisate be conferred. The seal and ribbons were put into his hands as he lay in bed. He died a day later. The court gave him burial vessels and a grave plot. It sent him to Maoling with an escort of light chariots and armoured soldiers in battle order. His posthumous name was Jing.^[1]

The line

Jin Midi’s sons Shang and Jian both served as palace attendants. They shared the child emperor’s quarters. When Shang inherited the marquisate and wore two ribbons, the emperor asked Huo Guang whether the two brothers might not both wear two ribbons. Huo Guang answered that Shang had inherited from his father. He added that by the covenant of the former emperor only merit earned a marquisate.^[1] When the troubles of the Huo family began under the emperor Xuan, Shang wrote to put away his wife. He was the one who escaped punishment.^[1] The text follows the line to the Yuanshi period. The extinct marquisate was then revived by naming a grandson of Jian marquis of Du.^[1]

Jin Midi’s two sons rose to honour. His line, however, declined in the grandsons’ generation. His brother Lun died young. Lun’s descendants flourished. Lun’s son Anshang helped expose the plot of Yanshou, king of Chu. When the Huo family rose in revolt, he closed the palace gates to its kinsmen. He was made a marquis.^[1]

The Han Shu’s judgement ends the chapter. Jin Midi, it says, came from a barbarian state that had perished. He was a captive held at the Han court. Yet he moved the ruler by sincere reverence and made his loyalty known. He won merit as a senior general and handed his fief to his heirs. His house was famed for loyalty and filial feeling for seven generations as inner attendants.^[1]