盖长公主 / Gai Chang Gongzhu (Western Han)

Overview

盖长公主 / Gai Chang Gongzhu enters the wiki through Hanji 400-1 as the princess whose banquet access is central to the failed plan to assassinate 霍光. Hanji 396-1 now adds the earlier Eyi-princess layer: as the much older sister brought into the palace to care for young 汉昭帝刘弗陵, she becomes the decisive channel for six-year-old 上官氏’s entry after 丁外人 persuades her. Hanji 399 adds the grievance sequel: Huo refuses to reward Ding Wairen with marquis rank or Guanglu Dafu office, tying her palace influence to the anti-Huo alignment.

Current Profile

The episodes give Gai Chang Gongzhu a palace-access and private-favor profile. Hanji 396-1 shows why her access matters before the rebellion: after Han Zhao’s mother is gone, the princess is brought in as an elder caregiver and can shape palace selection around him. Hanji 399 shows her as a beneficiary and broker of Shangguan-family marriage politics, then as a resentful actor after Huo Guang refuses advancement for Ding Wairen. Hanji 400-1 shows the later violent use of her access: the conspirators plan to have her invite Huo Guang to a banquet, then use hidden armed men to kill him before deposing 汉昭帝刘弗陵. Her household also becomes the source of the leak: Yan Cang, the father of a retainer near her, learns of the plan and passes it onward.

The host frames her as one of several already privileged actors ruined by intensified desire. She has high status and proximity to the ruler, yet joins a dangerous anti-Huo coalition and dies by suicide after the plot collapses.

Key Characteristics

• Western Han princess whose banquet setting is imagined as the assassination site.
• Elder princess-caregiver whose palace role lets her influence Han Zhao’s early consort selection.
• Palace-influence broker whose favored Ding Wairen becomes an office-and-title grievance against Huo Guang.
• Palace-access actor in the anti-Huo conspiracy.
• Co-conspirator with Shangguan Jie, Shangguan An, Sang Hongyang, and Liu Dan.
• Household leak point because Yan Cang learns the plan through her retainer network.
• Suicide case after the conspiracy is exposed and the main group is destroyed.

Evidence

Banquet access:

• Hanji 396-1 says the princess is brought into the palace to care for young Han Zhao after Gouyi Furen’s death.
• Hanji 396-1 says Ding Wairen persuades her to support Shangguan Shi’s palace entry.
• Hanji 399 says Huo Guang refuses repeated requests to make Ding Wairen a marquis or Guanglu Dafu, angering Gai Chang Gongzhu and the Shangguan network.
• Hanji 400-1 says the conspirators plan for Gai Chang Gongzhu to host Huo Guang and have armed men ambush him.

Leak channel:

• Hanji 400-1 says Yan Cang learns the conspiracy through his connection to a retainer near Gai Chang Gongzhu and reports it onward.

Collapse:

• Hanji 400-1 says Gai Chang Gongzhu later dies by suicide after Han Zhao’s rapid action against the conspiracy.

Qualifications

This page is bounded to Hanji 396-1, Hanji 399, and Hanji 400-1. It does not reconstruct Gai Chang Gongzhu’s full family background, exact title history, full relationship with Han Zhao, Ding Wairen’s full career, or all details of her household.

What Changed

• Added Hanji 396-1’s Eyi-princess caregiver and consort-selection role before Hanji 399’s Ding Wairen grievance and Hanji 400-1’s banquet-assassination role.

Relationships

• 霍光 / Huo Guang (Western Han) - assassination target whom she is supposed to invite to the banquet.
• 丁外人 / Ding Wairen (Western Han) - favored man whose persuasion channels Shangguan Shi into the palace.
• 上官桀 / Shangguan Jie (Western Han) and 上官安 / Shangguan An (Western Han) - co-conspirators in the anti-Huo plan.
• 燕王刘旦 / Liu Dan, Yan King (Western Han) - replacement claimant linked to the conspiracy.
• 汉昭帝刘弗陵 / Emperor Zhao of Han - ruler whose response destroys the conspiracy.
• 宫廷政变中的符印与门户控制 / Palace Coup Symbol Control - related concept because banquet access is planned as a route into controlled palace violence.