吴良 / Wu Liang (Eastern Han)

Overview

Wu Liang appears in Hanji 733-1 as a Qi native and subordinate of Liu Cang whose recommendation to Mingdi becomes an early reign talent-selection scene.

Current Profile

The source presents Wu Liang through Liu Cang’s refusal of a lavish private reward. When Mingdi offers Liu Cang extra reward, Liu Cang recommends Wu Liang instead, and the episode frames this as the proper duty of a high minister: to recommend worthy talent for the state rather than convert favor into private gain.

Mingdi appoints Wu Liang as yilang. The source does not yet give later deeds, so Wu Liang’s current profile is narrowly tied to the early Mingdi court’s rhetoric of recommendation and useful service.

Key Characteristics

• Talent figure introduced through recommendation rather than family rank.
• Serves as Liu Cang’s xicao yuan before imperial appointment.
• Becomes yilang after Mingdi accepts Liu Cang’s recommendation.
• Represents the conversion of royal trust into public personnel selection.

Evidence

• Recommendation channel: Hanji 733-1 says Liu Cang recommends Wu Liang when Mingdi wants to reward Liu Cang.
• Appointment result: Hanji 733-1 records Mingdi appointing Wu Liang as yilang.
• Governance meaning: Hanji 733-1 interprets this act as an example of using ministerial position to recommend talent for the state.

Qualifications

• The current evidence does not establish Wu Liang’s later career or policy record.
• His significance is primarily relational: he reveals Liu Cang’s and Mingdi’s early-reign personnel style.

What Changed

• Created this page from Hanji 733-1 as a recommendation-and-appointment profile.

Relationships

• 东平王刘苍 / Liu Cang, Dongping King - recommends Wu Liang to Mingdi.
• 汉明帝 / Emperor Ming of Han - accepts the recommendation and appoints Wu Liang yilang.
• 任官适任性国家能力 / Appointment Quality as State Capacity - Wu Liang illustrates recommendation as a route from trusted service to administrative capacity.