《后汉书》 / Hou Hanshu

Overview

《后汉书》 / Hou Hanshu is currently used in the wiki as both a front-four-history orientation text and a late-Han source tradition for atrocity and attribution comparisons.

Current Profile

Hanji 591-2 introduces Hou Hanshu as Fan Ye’s Eastern Han history and one of the front four histories beside 《史记》, 《汉书》, and 《三国志》. The later late-Han source notes use it more concretely: Hanji 967 cites it for the catastrophic plunder of 长安 after Jia Xu’s counterattack advice, while Hanji 971 uses it as the tradition in which 张闿 kills 曹嵩 during an escort-turned-robbery rather than simply making 陶谦 the direct sender.

Key Characteristics

• Introduced as an Eastern Han official-history text and one of the front four histories.
• Preserves late-Han atrocity language used in the wiki’s Chang’an and Xuzhou branches.
• Provides an alternative attribution line for Cao Song’s murder that foregrounds Zhang Kai’s immediate agency.
• Functions as a source-critical contrast rather than a final arbiter in contested late-Han responsibility cases.

Evidence

• Front-four-history orientation: Hanji 591-2 introduces Hou Hanshu as a Fan Ye-compiled Eastern Han history and part of the front-four-history map.
• Chang’an atrocity use: Hanji 967 cites Hou Hanshu for bloodshed, corpse-filled streets, and mass death after Li Jue and Guo Si return to Chang’an.
• Cao Song attribution: Hanji 971 presents the Hou Hanshu line as making Zhang Kai the escort-side subordinate who kills Cao Song and Cao De for convoy wealth.
• Xuzhou atrocity use: Hanji 971 cites a Hou Hanshu atrocity line for Cao Cao’s retaliation at the Si River.

Qualifications

This page is episode-mediated and source-scoped. It does not independently analyze Fan Ye’s compilation, Li Xian commentary, or the complete Hou Hanshu textual tradition. Hanji 971 preserves a genuine attribution split with 《三国志》, so the wiki should not collapse Zhang Kai’s immediate killing and Tao Qian’s political responsibility into one settled account.

What Changed

• Migrated the page to synthesis-v1.
• Added Hanji 591-2’s broad front-four-history orientation while preserving the late-Han source-critical uses.

Relationships

• 二十四史 - broader official-history corpus in which Hou Hanshu is placed by Hanji 591-2.
• 《汉书》 - preceding front-four-history text for Western Han.
• 《三国志》 - contrasting source tradition in the Cao Song branch and fellow front-four-history text.
• 曹嵩遇害 - event where this version foregrounds Zhang Kai’s robbery.
• 徐州屠杀 - atrocity branch cited through this tradition.
• 史书异文政治重量 - source-reading frame for politically consequential variant traditions.