Shi Shi

Biography

Origin and Enfeoffment

Shi Shi was born in the 5th year of Jianwu (339) of Later Zhao. His mother, Liu, was originally the youngest daughter of Liu Yao, Emperor of Former Zhao, enfeoffed as Princess of Anding. In the 2nd year of Taihe (329), before Later Zhao conquered Former Zhao, General Zhang Chai of the Rongzhao troops captured Liu, who was only twelve years old, when he took Shanggui. Liu was taken as a concubine by Shi Hu due to her outstanding beauty and was deeply favored. After Shi Shi was born, he was immediately enfeoffed as Duke of Qi by Shi Hu.

Establishment as Crown Prince

In the 14th year of Jianwu (348), Shi Hu was advanced in age and frequently ill. Zhang Chai considered that Shi Hu's previous two establishments of Crown Princes (Shi Sui and Shi Xuan) had led to disorder due to their mothers' lowly origins, and that Shi Hu was senile in his later years, so he intended to support Shi Shi as the heir, so that Liu could become Empress Dowager and he could serve as regent.

Zhang Chai advised Shi Hu, stating that one should choose a candidate with "noble mother and filial son" to establish as Crown Prince. Although Shi Hu outwardly declined, he had already made up his mind in his heart. When he discussed with the ministers in the Eastern Hall, he lamented that he had "only produced vicious and reckless sons," believing that Shi Shi was only ten years old, and by the time he was twenty, he would be old, so the tragedy of patricide would not be repeated. Thus, Shi Hu and Zhang Ju, Li Nong reached an agreement, ordering the dukes and ministers to submit memorials requesting the establishment of Shi Shi as Crown Prince.

Cao Mo, the Grand Minister of Agriculture, refused to sign the memorial, believing that "the heavy vessel of the realm should not be entrusted to a young person." Although Shi Hu called Cao Mo a loyal subject, he insisted on his own view and ultimately established Shi Shi as Crown Prince, and established Liu as Empress. At the same time, Tiao You, the Grand Minister of Ceremonies, was appointed Grand Tutor, and Du Guo, the Grand Master of Splendid Happiness, was appointed Junior Tutor, responsible for educating the Crown Prince.

Accession After Father's Death

On the 23rd day of the 4th month of the 1st year of Taining (349), Shi Hu died. The Crown Prince Shi Shi immediately ascended the throne, honoring Liu as Empress Dowager. Liu presided over the court and held great power, appointing Zhang Chai as Grand Councilor. Zhang Chai declined the appointment and requested that Prince of Pengcheng, Shi Zun, and Prince of Yiyang, Shi Jian, be appointed Left and Right Grand Councilors to appease them. Liu listened to this suggestion.

Deposition and Execution

Shi Zun was stationed in Henan at the time. Upon hearing the news of Shi Hu's death, Yao Yizhong, Fu Hong, Shi Min (Ran Min), Liu Ning, and other generals met Shi Zun on their return from punishing Liang Du. They advised Shi Zun to proclaim himself emperor, pointing out that the capital's guards were empty, and if he denounced Zhang Chai's crimes, someone would surely defect to welcome him. Shi Zun listened to the advice, dispatched troops from Li City, leading an army of ninety thousand straight to the capital Ye City, with Shi Min as the vanguard.

Zhang Chai was terrified upon hearing that Shi Zun had raised troops and urgently recalled the troops besieging Shangbai. However, the venerable elders and Jie soldiers in Ye City believed Shi Zun was coming to mourn, and many climbed over the city walls to go out and welcome him; Zhang Chai could not stop them even with the threat of beheading. Zhang Li also led two thousand Long Teng guards to break through the checkpoints to welcome Shi Zun.

Liu was very frightened and summoned Zhang Chai into the palace to weep and ask for a countermeasure. Zhang Chai was flustered and could only agree to Liu's suggestion to grant Shi Zun a high position to appease him. Liu then issued an edict appointing Shi Zun as Grand Councilor, leading the Grand Marshal, Grand Commander, supervising all military affairs inside and outside, supervising the affairs of the Secretariat, adding the Yellow Axe and Nine Bestowments, and increasing ten commanderies as his fief.

On the 14th day of the 5th month, Shi Zun arrived at Anyang Pavilion; Zhang Chai came out to welcome him and was immediately arrested by Shi Zun. On the 15th day of the 5th month, Shi Zun, wearing armor, entered Ye City through the Fengyang Gate, ascended the front hall of Taiwu to vent his grief, and then executed Zhang Chai and exterminated his three clans at the Pingle Market. Shi Zun, borrowing Liu's order, used the excuse that "the successor is young and naive, not capable of bearing the burden" to proclaim himself emperor.

On the 16th day of the 5th month, Shi Zun enfeoffed Shi Shi as Prince of Qiao, with a fief of ten thousand households, and deposed Liu to the title of Grand Consort. Shortly thereafter, Shi Shi and Liu were both killed by Shi Zun. Shi Shi had reigned for only thirty-three days.

Shi Shi's mother, Lady Liu, was a daughter of Liu Yao, emperor of the Former Zhao. Taken at Shanggui when Zhang Chi stormed the town at twelve, she was beautiful and became a favorite of Shi Hu, bearing Shi Shi in 339, whereupon the boy was made Duke of Qi.

In 348 Zhang Chi, seeing Shi Hu old and ill, wished to make Shi Shi his heir so that Lady Liu would be empress dowager and he himself regent, and urged Shi Hu that his two previous heirs had mothers of low birth and that this had bred endless trouble, so that he should now choose one whose mother was noble and who was himself filial. Shi Hu answered that he knew where the heir lay, and later, deliberating in the eastern hall, said he would wash out his bowels with three bushels of pure ash for having begotten only wicked sons who wanted to kill their father before they were twenty; Shi Shi was ten, and by the time he was twenty Shi Hu would be old. He then agreed with Zhang Ju and Li Nong to have the ministers memorialize for Shi Shi as heir. The grand minister of agriculture Cao Mo refused to sign, and when Shi Hu sent Zhang Chi to ask why, he bowed to the ground and said the realm's great vessel should not be given to a child, which was why he dared not sign; Shi Hu called him loyal but uncomprehending of his purpose. Shi Shi was made heir apparent, Lady Liu empress, and Zhang Ju and Li Nong charged with his instruction.

On the twenty-third day of the fourth month of 349 Shi Hu died and Shi Shi took the throne, honoring Lady Liu as empress dowager. She held court with imperial authority and made Zhang Chi chancellor; he declined and asked that Shi Zun, Prince of Pengcheng, and Shi Jian, Prince of Yiyang, be made chancellors of left and right to pacify the clan, and she agreed. When Shi Zun reached Henei and learned of his father's death, he met Shi Min, Liu Ning, the guards general Wang Luan and the general Zhang Hede at Licheng, who urged him that he was the eldest and most able, that the late emperor had once meant him for the succession and had only been misled in his dotage by Zhang Chi, that a woman now ruled and a favorite monopolized the government while the capital's defenses were thin, and that if he denounced Zhang Chi's crimes and marched, the gates would open to him; Shi Zun took their advice.

In the fifth month of 349 Shi Zun marched from Licheng on Ye, the governor of Luozhou, Liu Guo, bringing the troops of Luoyang to join him. When the proclamation reached Ye, Zhang Chi in terror recalled the army besieging Shangbai. On the eleventh day Shi Zun camped at Dangyin with ninety thousand men and Shi Min as vanguard. Zhang Chi meant to go out and stop him, but the elders of Ye and the Jie soldiers said that the Prince of Pengcheng was coming to mourn and must be met outside the city, and that they would no longer hold it for Zhang Chi; they climbed over the walls in crowds and his threats of beheading could not stop them, and even Zhang Li broke through the barriers with two thousand of the dragon guards to welcome Shi Zun. In fear Lady Liu summoned Zhang Chi and asked him weeping what was to be done, and could only issue an edict making Shi Zun chancellor with the grand marshalship, grand command, command of all forces within and without and direction of the Secretariat, with the yellow battle-axe, the nine bestowals and ten additional commanderies. On the fifteenth day Shi Zun entered Ye in armor by the Fengyang gate, mounted the Taiwu front hall and wept and stamped in mourning, then withdrew to the eastern pavilion; Zhang Chi was killed in the Pingle market and his clan exterminated to the third degree. By Lady Liu's order he declared that the heir was young, that his elevation had been the late emperor's private affection and that the state could not rest on him, and that Shi Zun should succeed; after thrice declining and the ministers' earnest urging he took the throne in the Taiwu front hall, proclaimed a general amnesty and lifted the siege of Shangbai. On the sixteenth day Shi Shi was made Prince of Qiao with ten thousand households and treated without the forms of a subject, Lady Liu was reduced to princess dowager, and before long both were killed. Shi Shi had reigned thirty-three days, the shortest reign of the Later Zhao.

Shi Shi's accession was the climax of the Later Zhao's succession crisis. Shi Hu had made first Shi Sui and then Shi Xuan heir apparent, and both were executed for offenses, the case of Shi Xuan implicating so many that the staff of the Eastern Palace was largely destroyed, gravely weakening the clan and the ministers. In his last years Shi Hu, fearing strife among his sons yet unwilling to choose an elder prince, followed Zhang Chi's proposal and made his ten-year-old son heir, thinking that by the time the boy was twenty he himself would be old; his purpose was to prolong his own arrangements through a child sovereign, but the effect was to let Shi Zun and Shi Min take up arms in the name of mourning. After Shi Shi was deposed and killed, Shi Zun and Shi Jian came to the throne in turn, each dying in internal strife before long; Shi Min changed his surname to Ran and founded Ran Wei, and the Later Zhao came to an end. Shi Shi's thirty-three-day reign is often cited to illustrate the turbulence of the dynasty's last years and the consequences of a disordered succession.

Among Shi Hu's sons, Shi Sui and Shi Xuan were both put to death, Shi Shi, Shi Zun and Shi Jian all died by violence, Shi Bin was executed on a forged edict, and Shi Zhi was killed by one of his own officers — scarcely one died in his bed. From Shi Le's founding of the Later Zhao to Shi Zhi's death was barely thirty years, in which the throne changed hands repeatedly and mostly by slaughter; Shi Shi's origins and end are a miniature of that history. No posthumous name or burial place for him is recorded.

When Shi Zun took his place he used the empress dowager's order to say that the heir was young, that his elevation had been the late emperor's private favor and that the state was too heavy for him — words that serve as a footnote to the succession struggles of the Later Zhao's last years.

No era name for his brief reign is clearly recorded either.

Major Activities

Brief Accession

Shi Shi was the fourth emperor of Later Zhao and one of the monarchs with an extremely short reign during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. He was only ten years old when he ascended the throne and completely lacked the ability to govern independently; the great power of the court was controlled by his mother, Empress Liu, and the powerful minister Zhang Chai. This situation of "a woman presiding over the court and a treacherous minister in power" quickly triggered military conflict within the imperial clan.

Victim of Political Turmoil

Shi Shi's fate deeply reflected the chaos of Later Zhao's late-period politics. Zhang Chai supported Shi Shi for his own benefit of serving as regent, while Shi Zun raised troops to compete for the imperial throne. During Shi Shi's reign, morale in Ye City was unstable, and the garrison soldiers were unwilling to die for Zhang Chai, leading to Zhang Chai's swift defeat and death. Shi Shi ultimately became a victim of the power struggle, being deposed and killed along with his mother.

Personal Relations

• Father**: Shi Hu (Emperor Wu of Later Zhao)
• Mother**: Liu (Princess of Anding, daughter of Liu Yao, Emperor of Former Zhao)
• Brothers**:
• Shi Sui (Former Crown Prince, killed)
• Shi Xuan (Later Crown Prince, killed)
• Shi Jian (Emperor of Later Zhao)
• Shi Zun (Emperor of Later Zhao, killer of Shi Shi)
• Shi Zhi (Emperor of Later Zhao)
• Shi Bao (Prince of Leping)
• Shi Tao (Duke of Qin)
• Shi Bin (Prince of Yan)
• Shi Ting (Prince of Liang)
• Shi Kun (Prince of Ruyin)
• Shi Chong (Prince of Pei)

Historical Assessment

• Shi Zun: "The successor is young and naive, appointed by the late emperor out of private favor; the imperial enterprise is extremely heavy, and he is not capable of bearing it." (Meaning: The son who succeeded is young and ignorant; he was established by the late emperor out of private affection. The responsibility of the imperial throne is great, and he cannot bear it.)