Lü Jia吕嘉

Where the histories differ

Records of the Grand Historian establishes a dedicated biography for Nanyue, blaming Lü Jia for petty loyalty, while History of Han incorporates it into a combined biography of the Four Barbarians, criticizing frontier provocation.

• histories differThe categorization and historical commentary on Lü Jia, the prime minister of Nanyue, in official histories.

  In Records of the Grand Historian, the 'Biography of Nanyue' is a dedicated chapter, where the Grand Historian focuses on local political strife and blames Lü Jia: 'The subsequent loss of the kingdom began with Lady Jiu; Lü Jia's petty loyalty left Zhao Tuo without descendants. The Tower Ship general followed his desires, arrogant and negligent; the Vanguard general, in dire straits, his wisdom and strategy grew, turning misfortune into fortune. The reversal of success and failure is like twisting a rope.' In History of Han, the 'Biography of the Southwestern Yi, Two Yue, and Korea' combines these regions into one chapter, and the eulogy criticizes the ministers who provoked frontier wars under Emperor Wu: 'The opening of the three regions all came from ministers fond of stirring up trouble. Thus, the Southwestern Yi began with Tang Meng and Sima Xiangru, the Two Yue with Yan Zhu and Zhu Maichen, and Korea with She He. Encountering a prosperous era, their actions could achieve success, but they were already exhausting.'