AD 207

AD 207 is associated in the narrative with the birth of Liu Shan, Xuande’s son, at Xinye, announced by auspicious signs. The year sits within a larger story in which unusual signs in the heavens and on earth are repeatedly interpreted as evidence about who is entitled to rule, while political actors invoke Heaven, lineage, virtue, and popular support to justify competing claims.

The Birth at Xinye

Xuande agrees to take command at Xinye after Liu Biao removes him and his men from the city, amid doubts encouraged by Lady Cai and her brother Cai Mao. It is there, in the spring of AD 207, that Lady Gan gives birth to Liu Shan. The account surrounds the birth with two portents: a white crane lands on the roof, sings, and flies west; Lady Gan has dreamed that she swallowed the stars of the Northern Dipper, which is said to explain her conception. The signs make the birth part of the book’s recurring association between dynastic futures and celestial messages.

The circumstances also connect Liu Shan’s arrival to Xuande’s precarious position. He is serving away from the center of Liu Biao’s rule, and his earlier counsel that Liu Biao exploit Cao Cao’s northern campaigns has been rejected. The birth therefore occurs not at the height of Xuande’s power but during a period when he remains a guest and subordinate in another ruler’s territory.

Omens and the Transfer of Power

The narrative’s use of signs reaches beyond the birth. After the devastation of Luoyang, Sun Jian sees a pale mist obscure a constellation and mourns the weakening of the imperial star. A soldier then points out lights coming from a well, where Sun Jian’s men discover the Imperial Seal in a pouch around a woman’s body. Its inscription proclaims long life and prosperity under Heaven’s mandate. Cheng Pu recounts the seal’s history and interprets its recovery as a sign that Sun Jian is destined to rule, showing how an object and its past can be made into an argument for political ambition.

The account also presents signs as judgments rather than endorsements. When Dong Zhuo’s coffin is repeatedly forced out of its burial place by storms and floods, the narrative treats the destruction of his remains as Heaven’s anger at his rule. Later, astrologers cite auspicious signs to argue that Heaven has transferred the mandate from the Han to the Wei. The signs are therefore not neutral evidence: their meaning is disputed and shaped by the political purposes of those interpreting them.

Competing Claims to Legitimacy

Kong Ming’s counsel to Xuande links political strategy to the language of legitimate rule. He argues that Cao Cao cannot readily be opposed because he commands a vast army and controls the emperor, while Sun Quan should be regarded as a potential ally because his family has ruled in the south and he has popular support. Kong Ming identifies Jingzhou as the territory on which the future will turn, and presents its eventual possession by Xuande as consistent with Heaven’s will.

After Xuande’s forces gain territory around Hanzhong, his commanders urge him to become emperor. Kong Ming argues that Xuande’s benevolence and the peace he has brought to the region make the moment appropriate, and that accepting the throne would enable him to oppose Cao Cao as a traitor. Xuande resists, fearing that he would be judged a rebel despite his descent from the House of Han. The exchange reveals the tension between preserving the Han’s legitimacy and taking power in its name.

Abdication and Its Portents

When the Han emperor is pressed to abdicate in favor of Cao Pi, the transfer is presented through a carefully constructed appeal to precedent and Heaven. An announcement issued in the emperor’s name claims that the Han era has ended, fortune has passed to the Cao family, and abdication follows the example of Yao, who did not favor his own son. Cao Pi accepts the throne after Sima Yi counsels him to refuse the offer at first, and the emperor hands over the jade seal before assembled officials and soldiers.

The ceremony does not receive an uncomplicated celestial blessing. As Cao Pi prepares to worship Heaven and Earth, a violent storm disrupts the ritual, darkens the sky, and overturns the altar lanterns. The account identifies the storm as a portent of Heaven’s displeasure; Cao Pi collapses and remains unable to act for days. The contrast between the official language of a rightful transfer and the hostile sign accompanying the ceremony keeps the question of legitimacy unresolved.

In Chengdu, reports of the Wei dynasty’s emergence and rumors about the former emperor’s fate distress Xuande. Kong Ming responds by proposing that Xuande be crowned emperor as a descendant of the House of Liu, presenting the act not as rebellion but as a duty to recover authority usurped by Cao Pi. The episode extends the political contest beyond a single year: the birth at Xinye and its auspicious signs belong to a narrative in which dynastic succession is repeatedly framed through the intertwined claims of family descent, public welfare, historical precedent, and Heaven’s will.