渤海王国 / Bohai Kingdom (late Han)

Overview

渤海王国 / Bohai Kingdom is the late-Han royal fief attached to 刘亏. Hanji 829 gives the 147 CE succession-placement layer when 梁妠 / 梁太后 appoints Liu after Liu Hong dies without a son; Hanji 864 gives the later Huan-era risk layer around Liu’s misconduct; Hanji 903 later makes it the target field for Wang Fu’s forged treason case.

Current Profile

Bohai is not just a title label in the current evidence. Hanji 829 first makes it a succession-placement object: the prior Bohai line lacks a son, and Liang Na uses Huan’s younger brother Liu Kui to continue the royal title. In the later Huan-era layer, Liu Kui’s behavior in or around the fief becomes difficult to correct because he is the emperor’s brother. Shi Bi therefore proposes a sequence that would publicly establish law and then let Huan preserve kinship through clemency.

The later Emperor Ling-era layer shows the kingdom as a purge field. Liu regains Bohai through Wang Fu’s access brokerage and then refuses the promised payment. Once Wang Fu turns the conflict into treason accusation, imperial investigation reaches Bohai through Jizhou channels, Liu dies by suicide, and the royal household and fief bureaucracy are punished with him.

Key Characteristics

• Royal fief assigned to Liu Kui in 147 CE after an earlier Bohai line lacks an heir.
• Kinship-protected jurisdiction where local and kingdom officials hesitate to correct the king.
• Object of Shi Bi’s proposed law-first, grace-second stabilization plan.
• Later restored title whose access-brokerage debt becomes politically lethal.
• Purge field where accusation spreads from the king to household members and fief officials.

Evidence

• Initial succession placement: Hanji 829 says Liang Na appoints Huan’s younger brother Liu Kui as Bohai king after Liu Hong dies without a son.
• Earlier assignment: Hanji 864 says Liu Kui is moved from Liwu to Bohai after Bohai King Liu Hong has no son.
• Corrective difficulty: Hanji 864 says Shi Bi warns that state officials are not effectively correcting Liu Kui’s unlawful conduct.
• Stabilization proposal: Hanji 864 says Shi Bi wants legal handling first and imperial pardon later to preserve law, imperial favor, and Bohai.
• Later restoration: Hanji 903 says Liu Kui regains the Bohai kingship through Wang Fu’s palace access.
• Purge location: Hanji 903 says Emperor Ling sends a Jizhou inspector to Bohai after the forged treason accusation.
• Collateral field: Hanji 903 says Liu’s concubines, children, dancers, and fief officials are destroyed or implicated along with him.

Qualifications

This page is distinct from 渤海郡, which tracks later commandery assignment in the Yuan Shao-Gongsun Zan conflict. Hanji 829 and Hanji 864 overlap on Liu Kui’s initial Bohai placement but serve different purposes: succession notice in Hanji 829 and legal-warning background in Hanji 864. The exact institutional interval between Liu Kui’s earlier Huan-era Bohai position and later Emperor Ling-era restoration is not reconstructed from the current sources.

What Changed

• Added Hanji 829 as the 147 CE Liu Kui succession-placement notice.
• Added Hanji 864 as the earlier Bohai royal-fief layer before Hanji 903’s restoration and purge.
• Reframed Bohai as both a missed legal-stabilization problem and a later collateral-punishment field.

Relationships

• 刘亏 - royal holder whose conduct, restoration, and fall define the current Bohai evidence.
• 梁妠 / 梁太后 - dowager who places Liu Kui in Bohai after Liu Hong dies without a son.
• 史弼 - official who proposes legal handling to preserve Bohai while disciplining Liu Kui.
• 先法度后恩宥 - procedural concept meant to stabilize the fief without erasing law.
• 王甫 - access broker who later turns Liu Kui’s restored Bohai title into leverage.
• 冀州 - provincial channel through which the later imperial investigation reaches Bohai.
• 谋反指控陷阱 - accusation pattern that makes Bohai a purge target.
• 牵连与连坐 / Collateral Punishment and Guilt by Association - punishment-spillover pattern visible in the fief household and bureaucracy.