Bian Qu (Yin bundle), a famous minister of the Jin Dynasty, died in martyrdom for his country, and his two sons also died for their country, following the example of their father. The family of Bian Qu quarters can be said to be full of loyalty and filial piety and martyrdom.
Bian Qu quarters came from a famous family, his father Bian Cui and his brothers, a total of six people, a total of the Zai Fu, known as “Bian’s six dragons”. Bian Qu quarters was successful in his studies and enjoyed a good reputation by the time he was 20 years old.
In 311, the Yongjia Rebellion occurred in the fifth year of Yongjia, when the former Zhao army broke into Luoyang, the capital of Jin Dynasty, and took the Emperor Huai of Jin captive. Pei Dun, the brother of Bian Qu’s wife Pei, was the governor of Xuzhou, so Bian Qu went to join Pei Dun. Pei Dun made Bian Qu quarters act as the minister of Guangling.
After the establishment of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Bian Qu quarters held the positions of prince’s chancellor and imperial chancellor. He was straightforward, not afraid of the powerful and noble, and did his best to maintain the court, so he was quite respected by the princes and ministers.
Bian Qu quarters was dedicated to his work, and took it as his duty to correct the national style and to regulate the world, and always refused to go with the flow. Therefore, someone once asked Bian Qu quarters: “Seeing that you are never at ease and comfortable, often like carrying bricks and stones, is this too hard?”
Bian Qu quarters was dedicated to his duties and had foresight. Yu Liang, a minister of the same dynasty, thought that the general Su Jun was violent and cruel, and now that he had his troops in Liyang, there would be trouble in the end. So YU Liang suggested the court to recall Su Jun and appoint him to the post of Grand Secretary, so as to enlist him and relieve him of his military power, so that the tree would not become too deep and difficult to govern in the future.
All the ministers had no objection to Yu Liang’s suggestion, but Bian Qu quarters thought otherwise.
Bian Qu quarters said, now Su Jun has his own army, and the place where he is stationed is not far from the capital, once Yu Liang’s proposal is adopted, it will lead to Su Jun’s early mutiny, in this case, the consequences are unthinkable. Bian Qu quarters advocated that Su Jun’s military power should be slowly removed. However, Yu Liang did not listen to Bian Qu’s advice and still insisted on his own way.
Unable to stop the court from sending troops, Bian Qu was so helpless that he knew that this time he would definitely return home with defeat.
In the second year of Xianhe (327), under the name of conquering Yu Liang, Su Jun joined forces with Zuyao, the general of the west, to attack Jiankang and counterattack the king’s division. Bian Qu quarters was ordered to lead Guo Mo and Zhao Yin and other generals to fight with Su Jun’s army at Xiling.
During the battle, although Bian Qu quarters suffered from back sores, he took the lead and killed the enemy bravely in order to quell the rebellious army as soon as possible, and eventually died. When his two sons, Bian Yi and Bian Xu, saw their father die, they also followed him into the enemy battle, and they also died in the battle one after another.
When Pei, the wife of Bian Qu, saw the remains of her two beloved sons, she could not help but cry with grief. Zhai Tang, a general who participated in the war, sighed, “The father died of loyalty, the son died of filial piety, the way of loyalty and filial piety occupies all one family.” Pei buried her deceased husband and son in Nanjing. Later, Emperor Sima Dezong of Jin Dynasty gave an edict of 100,000 yuan to repair Bian’s grave.
In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, became the Ming Emperor. After his accession, Ming Taizu planned to build a Chaotian Palace and wanted to move the graves on which the foundation was built.
One day, he dreamed of a woman, only to see her dressed in linen mourning clothes, guarding the grave there, laughing. Zhu Yuanzhang thought it was strange and asked her what was going on. The woman said, “My husband died of loyalty and my son died of filial piety. I am the wife of a loyal subject and the mother of a filial son, so what do I have to grieve for!” Just after she finished speaking, the woman disappeared.
When Zhu Yuanzhang woke up and asked his ministers, he found out that the grave on the foundation was the tomb of Bian of the Jin Dynasty and the woman was Pei, the wife of Bian Qu. So, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered to build the ancestral temple and posthumously conferred a family of Bian.
After the death of Bian Qu’s father and three sons, they were honored by successive emperors. Sima Yi, the abolished emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, praised Bian Qu quarters, saying, “Loyalty to Heaven, filial virtue to the end of life; keep loyalty and martyrdom, who does not rise to respect?”
Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty praised Bian Qu quarters and his sons: “The honorable title of important minister should be added, and the loyalty and martyrdom should be honored with a banner.”
Ming Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di praised the loyalty of Bian Qu quarters and his son, saying, “The father will repay the kindness of the king with one death, and the two sons will endure their own survival in the face of the war. The generosity of the two sons followed each other to the end of the same day, and the loyalty and filial piety of a thousand years are shown in the Qing gate.”
The Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty visited Jiangnan and paid tribute to Bian Gong Temple, and wrote a plaque on it, “Awe-inspiring righteousness”.
References
The Eight Virtues of the Complete Collection, Volume 3 of the Second Collection, “Twelve, Bian Pei He Hate”
The Book of Jin. Bian Qujing Biography” Volume 70
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