Mao Jie 毛玠

Mao Jie, courtesy name Xiaoxian, was a man of Pingqiu County in Chenliu Commandery. When young he became a county clerk and was praised for being incorruptible and fair. He meant to go to Jing Province to escape the disorder, but before he arrived he heard that Liu Biao's government was not well ordered and went to Luyang instead. When Cao Cao took up his post in Yan Province, he summoned Mao Jie and made him Headquarters Attendant Officer. Records, Wei 12 §21

Mao Jie told Cao Cao that the realm had collapsed and fallen apart, the sovereign was moving from place to place and the people were starving and wandering, while the government had no reserves to last a year, so it would be hard to hold out for long. Yuan Shao and Liu Biao, he said, though strong in gentry and people, had no far-sighted plans and were not men who had laid foundations; war is won by the righteous side and position is kept by wealth, so if Cao Cao upheld the Son of Heaven to command those who would not act as subjects, and cultivated agriculture to stockpile military supplies, he could accomplish the work of a hegemon-king. Cao Cao respectfully accepted his words and transferred him to Officer of Merit of his headquarters. Records, Wei 12 §21–22

When Cao Cao was Minister of Works and Chancellor, Mao Jie became Officer of the Eastern Bureau and took charge of selecting talent together with Cui Yan. Cao Cao became Chancellor in the summer, in the 6th month of the 13th year of Jian'an (208). Those whom Mao Jie recommended and employed were all incorruptible and upright men, and those who enjoyed great renown at the time but whose conduct did not follow fundamentals were never able to advance. Because he led others by frugality, the men of the realm all strove for integrity and honesty, and even honoured and favoured ministers did not dare exceed the rules in their carriages and clothing. Cao Cao sighed, 'When men are employed like this, the people of the realm govern themselves. What more is there for me to do?' Records, Wei 12 §23Records, Wei 1 §103

He Qia said that since Mao Jie and Cui Yan put frugality and restraint first in selecting officials, judging others by a single standard of integrity might lose much. Because of this, he said, gentlemen deliberately soiled their clothes and hid away their carriages and robes, and some senior officials even carried their own jugs and food into the government offices. Records, Wei 23 §4–5

When Cao Pi, then General of the Household of the Five Offices, came in person to ask a favour for someone close to him, Mao Jie replied that he had so far been fortunate enough to avoid fault by keeping to his duties, and that the man in question was not due for promotion, and so did not carry out the request. When the main army returned to Ye and the merging and reduction of offices was discussed, people who resented him for refusing their requests jointly proposed abolishing the Eastern Bureau. Cao Cao saw through their intentions and, saying that the sun rises in the east, the moon waxes in the east, and when people speak of directions they also name the east first, abolished the Western Bureau instead. Records, Wei 12 §24

Earlier, when Cao Cao pacified Liucheng and distributed the captured goods, he gave Mao Jie a plain screen and a plain armrest, saying that as Mao Jie had the manner of the ancients, he was giving him things the ancients used. Though in high office, Mao Jie always wore cloth garments and ate vegetables, raised the children of his late elder brother with great care, and used the rewards and gifts he received to relieve the poor of his clan, so that nothing was left over in his household. He was transferred to Army Adviser of the Right, and when Cao Cao became Duke of Wei in the 5th month of the 18th year of Jian'an (213) and the state of Wei was first established, he became Supervisor of the Imperial Secretariat and again took charge of selecting talent. Records, Wei 12 §25Records, Wei 1 §120–121

At that time the heir had not been decided, and Cao Zhi, Marquis of Linzi, enjoyed favour. Mao Jie secretly remonstrated that Yuan Shao had recently overturned his clan and destroyed his state by failing to distinguish between the sons of his principal wife and those of concubines, and that deposing and establishing an heir was a great matter that should not even be heard of. Later, at a gathering of officials, when Mao Jie rose to change his clothes, Cao Cao pointed him out with his eyes and said, 'This is what the ancients called the Rectifier of the state; he is my Zhou Chang.' Mao Jie and Xu Yi were upright and seldom formed factions, and so were disliked by Ding Yi, Officer of the Western Bureau; Ding Yi spoke of their faults many times, but thanks to Huan Jie's help at Cao Cao's side they kept themselves safe. Records, Wei 12 §25–26Records, Wei 22 §5

After Cui Yan died, Mao Jie was inwardly displeased. Later someone accused him, saying that Mao Jie had seen a rebel with a tattooed face whose wife and children had been confiscated as government slaves and had remarked, 'This must be why Heaven sends no rain.' Cao Cao was furious and had Mao Jie arrested and handed over to prison. The Chamberlain for Justice (dali) Zhong Yao pointed out that the sage kings of old and the laws of Han had extended punishment to criminals' wives and children, refuted Mao Jie's words with the saying of the classics that leniency in punishment brings drought, and then interrogated him, demanding that he answer truthfully to whom, when and where he had said it. Records, Wei 12 §27–30

Mao Jie replied by citing Xiao Wangzhi, Jia Yi, Bai Qi, Chao Cuo and Wu Yuan, who had died or been banished because of those who envied them before them or harmed them from behind, and said that since he held a post close to state secrets and had refused even the private requests of the powerful, the one who slandered him could be no one else. He said that he had not said such a thing, so there was no such time and no such person, and that if it was claimed he had said it, there must be evidence; he asked to be allowed to confront his accuser. Records, Wei 12 §31–33

He Qia asked that the matter be investigated and the truth established, saying that Mao Jie's ordinary conduct was well founded. Cao Cao said that it was hard to bear that Mao Jie had not only slandered him but had even harboured resentment on Cui Yan's behalf, yet he also said that he was not investigating in order to keep both Mao Jie and his accuser intact, and that with military affairs at hand he could not open an investigation as soon as he heard someone's words. Huan Jie and He Qia spoke up to save Mao Jie, but in the end he was dismissed and retired, and died at home. Cao Cao granted a coffin and funeral articles, money and silk, and made his son Mao Ji a Gentleman of the Palace. Records, Wei 23 §6–9Records, Wei 12 §34

In his assessment Chen Shou wrote that 'Mao Jie was incorruptible and fair and kept to plain conduct', and said that he and Sima Zhi came close to those who 'did not spit out the hard and swallow the soft'. Records, Wei 12 §99