An officer of the Commandant of Justice set to work the witchcraft cases in the prison of the commandery residences. He kept the emperor's great-grandson alive on his own money and never spoke of it.
The emperor's own great-grandson is in this building. Men of other families who have not deserved death must not be killed; how much less a king's own great-grandson!Bing Ji refusing the gate to the palace officer come at midnight to kill every prisoner of the capital, 87 BCE; Hanshu, juan 74, Biography of Bing Ji
Appears in
Relations
- Jiang Chong enemies — He was the officer set to work the witchcraft cases in the prison of the commandery residences, and he knew in his heart that the prince's business had nothing in it.
- Emperor Wu commander — He held the gate from midnight to sunrise against this emperor's order to kill the prisoners, was impeached for it, and was saved when the emperor came to himself and amnestied the empire.
Myth vs record
Bing Ji discovered the hidden imperial great-grandson by reading the air over the prison and was honoured for it from the start.
The spirit-observer who reported the emperor's air above the Chang'an prison is what brought the killing order, not any discovery by Bing Ji, and juan 74 gives him no part in finding the child. His deed was to shut the gate at midnight and say the emperor's great-grandson was inside, and then, once the boy was on the throne, to keep his mouth shut about it: the record says he never boasted of a good turn and the court could not know his merit until long after (Hanshu, juan 74; juan 8).