Empress Zhang

Historical Record

Empress Zhang, whose given name is not recorded in the histories, was the second empress of Liu Shan, the latter sovereign of Shu Han. She came from an illustrious family and was the younger sister of the former empress, Empress Jing'ai. In the fifteenth year of Jianxing (237 CE), Lady Zhang was brought into the palace and invested as an Honored Lady (guiren)^[1].

In the first month of spring of the first year of Yanxi (238 CE), Liu Shan formally issued an edict establishing Honored Lady Zhang as empress. In the investiture text, Liu Shan made clear that he had inherited the grand enterprise of the former emperor, reigned over the realm, and presided over the sacrifices to the ancestral temple and the altars of state. He commanded the Acting Chancellor and General of the Left, Xiang Lang, to bear the imperial credentials and confer upon Honored Lady Zhang the empress's seal and ribbon, exhorting her to cultivate the way of managing the household provisions, to observe the rites of sacrifice with care, and, in the dignity of empress, to act with reverence and prudence^[1]. This expressed Liu Shan's expectations of the new empress—that she should not only manage the affairs of the inner palace well but also serve as a model in matters of ritual and sacrifice.

Before Empress Zhang was established as empress, the Shu Han regime was undergoing certain internal and external challenges. In the summer of the first year of Jianxing (223 CE), Zhu Bao, Governor of Zangke, took his commandery and rebelled. Prior to this, the powerful clansman Yong Kai of Yi Province had also rebelled, exiling the governor Zhang Yi to Wu, occupying the commandery and refusing to submit to the Shu Han regime. At the same time, Gao Ding, the Yi king of Yuexi, also turned against Shu Han^[2]. Against this backdrop, Liu Shan established Lady Zhang as empress and dispatched the Gentleman of the Masters of Writing, Deng Zhi, on a mission to Wu to consolidate relations between the two states. The king of Wu, Sun Quan, also exchanged envoys with Shu Han, and the two states made peace that same year^[2]. These events indicate that when Empress Zhang was established, Shu Han was at a juncture requiring it to stabilize internally and consolidate its external relations.

In the first year of Xianxi (264 CE), Shu Han fell and Liu Shan surrendered to Cao Wei. Empress Zhang moved to Luoyang together with Liu Shan, bringing an end to her career as empress in Shu Han^[1].

In the Novel

In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the figure of Empress Zhang (of Wei) is entirely different from the Shu Han Empress Zhang of the historical record: she is not the wife of Liu Shan but the empress of the Cao Wei emperor Cao Fang, and her father was the Grandee of the Palace Cao Fang's Grand Master for Splendid Happiness (guanglu daifu), Zhang Ji. The novel's depiction of her centers chiefly on the late period of Cao Wei, when the Sima family monopolized power and Cao Fang sought to resist Sima Shi^[3].

In Chapter 109 of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, after Sima Zhao had rewarded the Qiang troops and returned with his army to Luoyang, he and his elder brother Sima Shi monopolized the authority of the court, and the ruler of Wei Cao Fang felt deeply uneasy at Sima Shi's domineering ways. After one court audience, Cao Fang conferred in a secret chamber with the Grand Master of Ceremonies Xiahou Xuan, the Director of the Secretariat Li Feng, and the Grand Master for Splendid Happiness Zhang Ji (Empress Zhang's father), expressing his anxiety over Sima Shi's monopoly of power, and tearfully complaining that Sima Shi regarded him as a small child and the hundred officials as mere weeds, and that the altars of state would sooner or later fall to this man^[3]. Li Feng and Xiahou Xuan declared their willingness to fight to the death to destroy Sima Shi.

However, this plot was ultimately exposed. On learning of it, Sima Shi flew into a rage, had Zhang Ji, Li Feng, and Xiahou Xuan cut in two at the waist in the marketplace, and exterminated their three branches of kin^[4]. Sima Shi then strode directly into the inner palace, where Cao Fang was at that moment discussing the matter with Empress Zhang. Empress Zhang feared that, with so many eyes and ears in the inner palace, if the matter leaked out it would surely implicate her. Gripping his sword, Sima Shi reproached Cao Fang, accusing him of repaying kindness with enmity and of plotting with petty officials to harm his own brothers. Cao Fang protested that he had no such intent, but Sima Shi produced the sweat-cloth garment Cao Fang had written to Zhang Ji as evidence. Stricken with terror, Cao Fang knelt and begged for mercy^[4].

Heedless of Cao Fang's pleas, Sima Shi pointed at Empress Zhang and said, "This is the daughter of Zhang Ji—she ought by rights to be removed!" Cao Fang wept bitterly and begged that she be spared, but Sima Shi was unmoved and ordered his attendants to seize Empress Zhang and drag her out, then had her strangled with a length of white silk within the Donghua Gate^[4]. This episode has no basis in the histories and is a literary invention of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms to highlight Sima Shi's cruelty and the powerlessness of the Cao Wei emperor.

Key Relationships

* Liu Shan (spouse_of): In the histories, Empress Zhang was the second empress of Liu Shan, the latter sovereign of Shu Han^[1].
* Empress Jing'ai (sibling_of): Empress Zhang was the younger sister of Liu Shan's first empress, Empress Jing'ai^[1].
* Shu Han (member_of): As Liu Shan's empress, Empress Zhang was an important member of the Shu Han imperial house^[1].
* Cao Fang (spouse_of) (novel only): In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Empress Zhang was the empress of the Cao Wei emperor Cao Fang^[3].
* Zhang Ji (kin_of) (novel only): In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Empress Zhang was the daughter of the Grand Master for Splendid Happiness Zhang Ji^[3].
* Sima Shi (antagonist) (novel only): In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, because her father Zhang Ji took part in a plot against Sima Shi, Empress Zhang was ultimately strangled by order of Sima Shi^[4].

Iconic Scenes

* Investiture as Empress: In the first month of spring of the first year of Yanxi, Liu Shan issued an edict establishing Honored Lady Zhang as empress and held a solemn investiture ceremony, with the Acting Chancellor and General of the Left, Xiang Lang, bearing the credentials and conferring the seal and ribbon^[1]. This scene marked Empress Zhang's formal ascent to the center of power in Shu Han.
* Moving to Luoyang with Liu Shan: In the first year of Xianxi, Shu Han fell, and Empress Zhang moved together with the latter sovereign Liu Shan to the Cao Wei capital of Luoyang^[1]. This marked the end of her career as empress of Shu Han and the close of an era.
* Secret Counsel with Cao Fang (novel only): In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Empress Zhang and Cao Fang took secret counsel in the inner palace on how to cope with Sima Shi's monopoly of power, showing her anxiety over the situation and her concern for her husband^[4].
* Strangled by Sima Shi (novel only): In the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, because her father Zhang Ji took part in a plot against Sima Shi, Empress Zhang was ultimately, heedless of Cao Fang's pleas, strangled by Sima Shi with white silk within the Donghua Gate^[4]. This scene is the tragic climax of Empress Zhang's fate in the novel, profoundly displaying the iron-fisted rule of the Sima family and the decline of Cao Wei imperial authority.