Liu Pei replied, “Thy servant is the son of Liu Hung, grandson of Liu Hsiung, who was a direct descendant of Prince Ching of Chungshan, who was the great-great-grandson of His Majesty the Emperor Ching (about 150 B.C.)”
The Emperor bade them bring forth the Books of the Genealogies and therefrom a secretary read: “The filial Emperor Ching begat fourteen sons of whom the seventh was Liu Shông, Prince Ching of Chungshan. Shêng begat Chên, Marquis (T‘ing-hou) of Luch‘êng; Chên begat Ang, Marquis P‘ei; Ang begat Lu, Marquis Chang; Lu begat Lien, Marquis of Ishui; Lien begat Ying, Marquis of Ch‘inyang; Ying begat Chien, Marquis Ankuo; Chien begat Ai, Marquis Kuanglu; Ai begat Hsien, Marquis of Chiaoshui; Hsien begat Hsü, Marquis of Tsuyi; Hsü begat I, Marquis of Ch‘iyang; I begat Pi, Marquis of Yüantsê; Pi begat Ta, Marquis of Yingch‘uan; Ta begat Pu-i, Marquis of Fêngling; Pu-i begat Hui, Marquis of Chichʻuan; Hui begat Hsiung, Governor of the Eastern Districts; Hsiung begat Hung, who held no office or rank and Liu Pei is his son.”
The Emperor compared this with the registers of the Imperial House and found by them that Liu Pei was his uncle by descent. He seemed greatly pleased and requested Liu Pei to go into one of the side chambers where he might perform the ceremonial obeisance prescribed for a nephew to his uncle. In his heart he rejoiced to have this heroic warrior-uncle as a powerful supporter against Ts‘ao Ts‘ao who really held all the power in his own hands. The Emperor knew himself to be a mere puppet. He conferred upon his uncle, the rank of General and the title of Marquis of Ich‘êng.
When the banquet was concluded Yüan-tê thanked the Emperor and went out of the palace. And from this time he was very generally styled Liu, “Uncle of the Emperor.”
When Ts‘ao Ts‘ao returned to his palace Hsün Yü and his fellow advisers went in to see him. Hsün Yü said, “It is no advantage to you, Illustrious Sir, that the Emperor recognises Liu as an uncle.”
“He may be recognised as uncle, but he is under my orders since I control the decrees of the throne. He will be all the more ready to obey. Beside I will keep him here under the pretence of having him near his sovereign and he will be entirely in my hands. I have nothing to fear. The man I fear is Yang Piao, who is a relative of the two Yüans. Should Yang conspire with them he is an enemy within and might do much harm. He will have to be removed.”
Hence Ts‘ao sent a secret emissary to say that Yang Piao was intriguing with Yüan Shu and on this charge Piao was arrested and imprisoned. And his death would have been compassed had his enemy dared.
