Yan: Notes |
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The Events of the 310s BC in Yan The Historical Records, after mentioning a failed attack on Qin by Yan and allies in a regnal year equated with 318 BC in the annual tables in ch. 15 (the 3rd year of king Kuài of Yan in ch. 34, the 7th royal year of Huìwén wáng (惠文王) of Qin in ch. 5, etc.), states that the king abdicated (ràng|讓; ch. 5 and 15) in favor of his minister, or at least subordinated the country to him (shǔ|屬; ch. 34). In the Historical Records, ch. 34, no year is indicated, implying that this happened in the same year as the preceding events, 318 BC. According to the annual tables (ch. 15), the event took place in the king's 5th year (equated with 316 BC). A reversal of roles between the ruler and the minister of Yan is also reported in ch. 43 under the 10th year of Wǔlíng wáng (武靈王) of Zhao (equated with 316 in the Historical Records, ch. 15, but adjusted to 315 BC). [1] In the Historical Records, ch. 5, however, the abdication is reported as such in the 11th royal year of Huìwén wáng of Qin (as above equated with 314 BC). The minister is then given a rule of variously one (ch. 43), two (ch. 15) or three years (ch. 34), ending accordingly in 314 (adjusted from 315), 314, 315, or one to three years after 314 BC (ch. 5). The annual tables (ch. 15) simply state that the ruler, Kuài, the crown prince and the minister died in the same year. Ch. 34 specifies that the crown prince, Píng (平), led a failed coup against the minister, which was eventually followed by an intervention by neighboring Qi, in the course of which Kuài was killed. The Contemporary Bamboo Annals, which dates the intervention to the 1st year of Yǐn wáng (隱王) of Zhou (314 BC), indicates that it was prompted by the minister killing the crown prince and that the minister was then executed for treason by the intervening forces. The chapters 15 and 34 of the Historical Records then give a two-year interregnum that ended with the people of Yan enthroning prince Píng as the new king of Yan. The Historical Records, ch. 43, on the other hand, reports that in the 10th year of Wǔlíng wáng (武靈王) of Zhao (315 BC as explained below), the State of Zhao, rather than the people of Yan, picked the new king and that the choice fell on prince Zhí (職), rather than Píng, who, after all, had already been executed after the failed coup against the minister. Epigraphic evidence [...] appears to corroborate that. |
- The Historical Records, ch. 43, dates the abdication of Wǔlíng wáng (武靈王) of Zhao to day wù shēn (戊申) in the fifth month of his 27th year (equated with 299 BC in the Historical Records, ch. 15). However, there was no wù shēn in the fifth month of 299 BC. While wù shēn might be a mistake for wù chén (戊辰) or gēng shēn (庚申), which there were, a much more likely explanation is that the day is correct but that the year is not. In the following year, 298 BC, wù shēn was the first day of the fifth month, corresponding to 7 Apr 298, and indicating that the abdicating king's last year was actually changed (calendrically) into the first year of his successor, Huìwén wáng (惠文王). Such an unusual transition would explain the one-year misalignment of this and the preceding reigns in the Historical Records, ch. 15.