朱徐 / Zhu Xu (Western Han)

Overview

朱徐 / Zhu Xu is synthesized as a late Western Han figure whose one source-backed wiki role is loyal action after 董贤’s fall. Hanji 605 contrasts him with opportunistic public grief outside the Dong household: Zhu Xu had once been treated well by Dong Xian, resigns by self-impeachment after Dong-family disaster, retrieves Dong Xian’s body, and buries him.

Current Profile

Zhu Xu matters because his action is costly and poorly aligned with the new power environment. In the source’s reading, most surrounding behavior after Dong Xian’s fall is driven by advantage, theft, or self-protection. Zhu Xu instead treats past patronage as an obligation that survives political collapse. That makes him a counterexample inside the episode’s broader human-nature frame.

The same source also makes his loyalty unsafe. 王莽 later hears of Zhu Xu’s act and kills him under another accusation. Zhu Xu therefore links private gratitude to political exposure: honoring a fallen patron can become dangerous when the new ruler is actively clearing the old favorite’s network.

Key Characteristics

• Western Han figure remembered here through one loyalty act rather than a broad biography.
• Former beneficiary of Dong Xian’s generosity.
• Resigns through self-impeachment after Dong Xian’s fall.
• Retrieves and buries Dong Xian’s body.
• Killed by Wang Mang under another accusation after the burial act becomes known.

Evidence

• Prior obligation: Hanji 605 says Zhu Xu had previously been well treated by Dong Xian.
• Costly loyalty: Hanji 605 says Zhu Xu resigns, buys burial goods, finds Dong Xian’s body in prison, and buries him.
• Political exposure: Hanji 605 says Wang Mang kills Zhu Xu under another charge after hearing about the burial.

Qualifications

The wiki has only one bounded source for Zhu Xu. His full career, office, lineage, exact self-impeachment language, the legal charge used by Wang Mang, and the source history behind the burial story remain source-scoped.

What Changed

• Created the entity from Hanji 605 to preserve the episode’s loyal-counterexample branch.

Relationships

• 董贤 - fallen patron whose body Zhu Xu retrieves and buries.
• 王莽 - dominant successor actor who kills Zhu Xu under another accusation.
• 西汉 - late-court setting for Zhu Xu’s exposure.
• 失势后的安全崩塌 - adjacent concept because loyalty to a fallen powerholder becomes unsafe.
• 士为知己者死 - broader repayment ethic that helps interpret Zhu Xu’s burial act.