彭宣 / Peng Xuan (Western Han)

Overview

彭宣 / Peng Xuan enters the wiki through Hanji 606 as a Western Han Da Sikong who reads 王莽’s court as dangerous and chooses resignation as self-preservation. His case supplies an early example of dignified retreat under a tightening power field.

Current Profile

Hanji 606 presents Peng Xuan as one of the Three Excellencies observing Wang Mang’s concentration of power. He cannot realistically contend with Wang Mang, so he submits a resignation memorial that frames withdrawal as incapacity: the Three Excellencies are like the three legs of a ding vessel, and if one leg cannot bear weight the whole vessel overturns. He cites age, illness, mental confusion, and declining memory while asking to return the Da Sikong and Changping Hou seals and go home.

Wang Mang reports the request to Wang Zhengjun, who removes Peng Xuan from office and lets him return to his fief. The source stresses Wang Mang’s resentment afterward: although retired high ministers ordinarily receive gold, a comfortable carriage, and four horses, Peng Xuan receives none. Ban Gu’s later comparison treats Peng Xuan’s retreat as clearer-sighted than mediocre clinging to office.

Peng Xuan therefore becomes a survival-judgment figure. He exits before direct destruction, but Wang Mang’s denial of normal retirement gifts shows that even successful retreat can carry symbolic punishment.

Key Characteristics

• Western Han Da Sikong and Changping Hou in the late Wang Mang power field.
• Senior official who reads the court situation as dangerous.
• Uses illness, age, and incapacity language to justify resignation.
• Returns to his fief after Wang Zhengjun accepts the resignation.
• Punished symbolically when Wang Mang withholds normal retirement gifts.
• Later framed by Ban Gu as a clearer-sighted official who knew when to retreat.

Evidence

• Office and retreat: Hanji 606 identifies Peng Xuan as Da Sikong and says he requests to surrender the Da Sikong and Changping Hou seals.
• Ding metaphor: Hanji 606 says Peng Xuan compares the Three Excellencies to the three legs of a ding vessel.
• Accepted resignation: Hanji 606 says Wang Zhengjun removes him and allows him to return to his fief.
• Withheld honors: Hanji 606 says Wang Mang gives him none of the usual retirement gifts.
• Later judgment: Hanji 606 reports Ban Gu’s favorable comparison of Peng Xuan’s timely retreat.

Qualifications

The source does not prove Peng Xuan’s private motive beyond the episode’s reading that resignation was survival-minded. His health claims may have been sincere, strategic, or both. The wiki therefore treats him as a source-bounded retreat case rather than a full biography.

What Changed

• Created Peng Xuan as a Western Han official-retreat case under Wang Mang’s early dominance.

Relationships

• 王莽 - dominant court figure whose resentment shapes Peng Xuan’s retirement treatment.
• 王政君 - dowager who accepts Peng Xuan’s resignation.
• 权力退场困境 - broader pattern for why leaving power can be necessary but still costly.
• 安全第一政治生存 - survival frame illustrated by Peng Xuan’s illness-based withdrawal.
• 西汉 - dynastic setting for Peng Xuan’s office.