孙宝 / Sun Bao (Western Han)

Overview

孙宝 / Sun Bao is synthesized as a late Western Han official whose current wiki profile has three direct-speech or case-correction layers. Hanji 576 shows him as Sili asking to reopen 冯媛’s wrongful case despite 傅太后’s anger. Hanji 585 shows him investigating 郑崇’s case and defending Zheng against 赵昌’s accusation under 汉哀帝. Hanji 611 later shows him as Grand Minister of Agriculture publicly objecting to praise of 王莽 in an omen-heavy court.

Current Profile

Hanji 576 gives the earliest current layer: Sun Bao as a Sili who asks Aidi to reexamine Feng Yuan’s case after Feng Yuan’s death and the wider Feng-family casualties. Fu Taihou reads the request as an attack on her own role and becomes furious, so Aidi imprisons Sun Bao. Tang Lin, Fu Xi, and Gong Sheng continue defending him until Fu Taihou allows his release and office restoration. This layer shows Sun Bao’s correction pattern before Dong Xian: he is willing to challenge an unjust case even when the hidden sponsor is close to the emperor.

Hanji 585 gives Sun Bao’s earlier current layer as an investigator willing to defend a politically exposed remonstrant. After Zheng Chong criticizes Aidi’s overfavor toward 董贤, Zhao Chang accuses him of suspicious contact with Liu royal kin. Sun Bao reports that Zheng Chong has been repeatedly interrogated and nearly beaten to death without confession, argues that Zheng is being wronged, and asks Aidi to examine Zhao Chang’s responsibility. Aidi instead removes Sun Bao and makes him a commoner.

Hanji 611 then presents Sun Bao as a rare direct-speaking official in a later Wang Mang praise scene. When ministers use a reported yellow dragon to praise Wang Mang’s virtue and compare him to the Duke of Zhou, Sun Bao refuses the consensus frame. He argues that Zhougong and Shaogong could disagree without losing moral standing, then points to the concrete condition of the Han state: treasury resources are depleted and common people lack clothing and food.

The profile is not that Sun Bao leads a faction or consistently blocks a regime. His importance is diagnostic and procedural. In Hanji 585, he tests a case against evidence and torture results even when the ruler’s favorite politics make the finding unwelcome. In Hanji 611, he forces the court to acknowledge the gap between auspicious praise and public hardship. The aftermath then shows the cost: in the first case he is removed for defending Zheng Chong; in the second, 陈崇 impeaches him over alleged failure to support his mother after she falls ill during relocation, and Sun Bao accepts guilt because he reads the political context as unwinnable.

Key Characteristics

• Late-Western-Han Sili and later Grand Minister of Agriculture active from Han Aidi’s court into 汉平帝’s regency field.
• Early case-correction official who asks to reopen Feng Yuan’s wrongful prosecution despite Fu Taihou’s anger.
• Earlier Sili investigator under Han Aidi who defends Zheng Chong in the Dong Xian favor case.
• Direct-speaking official who uses classical comparison to resist court praise of Wang Mang.
• Shifts debate from auspicious signs to fiscal depletion and commoner hardship.
• Becomes exposed after his speech and is removed through a filial-duty impeachment.

Evidence

• Feng Yuan reexamination: Hanji 576 says Sun Bao asks Aidi to reopen Feng Yuan’s case after the deaths.
• Fu Taihou backlash: Hanji 576 says Fu Taihou becomes angry and Aidi jails Sun Bao.
• Release after pressure: Hanji 576 says Tang Lin, Fu Xi, and Gong Sheng’s continued defense helps secure Sun Bao’s release and restoration.
• Zheng Chong investigation: Hanji 585 says Sun Bao investigates after Zheng Chong is imprisoned for a case tied to criticism of Dong Xian overfavor.
• Defense of Zheng Chong: Hanji 585 says Sun Bao reports no confession despite repeated interrogation and asks Aidi to examine Zhao Chang’s responsibility.
• Early removal: Hanji 585 says Aidi removes Sun Bao and demotes him to commoner after the defense.
• Office and scene: Hanji 611 identifies Sun Bao as Grand Minister of Agriculture during the 2 CE yellow-dragon praise discussion.
• Public objection: Hanji 611 says he rejects the rush to praise Wang Mang over the omen.
• Classical argument: Hanji 611 says he cites Zhougong and Shaogong as worthy figures who still disagreed.
• Material distress: Hanji 611 says he names depleted treasure and gold and commoners without sufficient clothing and food.
• Retaliatory removal: Hanji 611 says Chen Chong impeaches Sun Bao over his mother’s support, after which Sun Bao admits fault and is dismissed.

Qualifications

The current sources do not reconstruct Sun Bao’s full career, factional ties, policy record, or private intention. Hanji 576 supplies the Feng Yuan reexamination layer but does not settle the full case file, Tang Lin’s and Gong Sheng’s memorials, or why Aidi personally yielded when he did. Hanji 585 supplies a Zheng Chong defense but does not settle the full legal record, Sun Bao’s exact office history, or Zhao Chang’s private motive. Hanji 611 strongly implies political retaliation after direct speech, but the formal charge concerns filial support; the wiki records the retaliation reading as source-backed interpretation rather than independent proof of Chen Chong’s private motive.

What Changed

• Added Hanji 576 as Sun Bao’s earliest current correction layer: he asks to reopen Feng Yuan’s wrongful case and is jailed after Fu Taihou’s anger.
• Preserved Hanji 585 as a second truth-testing layer: Sun Bao defends Zheng Chong against a politically convenient accusation and is removed by Aidi.
• Preserved Hanji 611 as the later truth-telling layer that punctures yellow-dragon praise of Wang Mang.

Relationships

• 冯媛 / 冯太后 - wronged figure whose case Sun Bao asks to reopen.
• 傅太后 - senior palace figure whose anger leads to Sun Bao’s jailing.
• 傅喜 - defender whose pressure helps secure Sun Bao’s release in Hanji 576.
• 郑崇 - remonstrant whom Sun Bao defends in the Dong Xian overfavor case.
• 赵昌 - accuser whose responsibility Sun Bao asks Aidi to investigate.
• 汉哀帝 - ruler who removes Sun Bao after the Zheng Chong defense.
• 董贤 - favorite whose overfavor creates the background for Sun Bao’s earlier case.
• 王莽 - dominant powerholder whose praise environment Sun Bao publicly resists.
• 陈崇 - impeaching official whose charge removes Sun Bao after the remonstrance.
• 汉平帝 - child emperor whose 2 CE court forms the setting.
• 颂圣不合群风险 - conceptual frame for how refusing praise becomes politically dangerous.
• 祥瑞政治 - yellow-dragon report supplies the sign-political trigger for the praise discussion.
• 西汉 - dynastic context whose material distress Sun Bao invokes against celebration.