In the third month of the nineteenth year of Xiande, the seventh year of the sixty-year cycle, Zhao Sheng pa.s.sed and was posthumously honored as King Ling of Chu.¹ Crown Prince Zhao Jia ascends to the throne, decreeing that the era name remain Xiande and raising Princess Changle as his Queen. Great Yong dispatched an envoy to extend their congratulations, gifting a thousand good horses, and countless gold and silk.

　　With the matter of succession determined, the entire court began to consider who would become the heir apparent. The Minister Who Remonstrates and Advises,² Luo Wenshu, advised that the King’s third son, Zhao Long, be named as heir apparent.

　　The former King had named Princess Changle as the Crown Princess. As the Crown Princess was childless, she dispatched the ladies who were part of her dowry to attend to the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince loved the beauties of Yong and favored them greatly, siring three sons and four daughters. Anxious, King Ling named the daughter of Prime Minister Shang Weijun as the Crown Prince’s second wife. After fourteen months, she gave birth to Zhao Long. After Zhao Jia ascended to the throne, Lady Shang was named as n.o.ble Consort.³ Lady Shang was from a prestigious family, and was a woman of virtue. Government officials, according to the traditions of the time—Lady Shang’s social status reflected upon her son—,⁴ pet.i.tioned for her son to be named heir apparent.

　　

When the Queen heard this, she furiously said, “Although We⁵ have no son, how do you know that We will never have any? And even if We have none, I have brought numerous ladies as part of my dowry, all daughters of prestigious families in Yong, who have given birth to two sons. Their social statuses are equal to that of Lady Shang’s. If an heir apparent is named, it must be the eldest son.”

—Southern Chu Dynastic Records, Biography of King Yang of Chu⁶