Xiahou Xuan 夏侯玄

Xiahou Xuan's courtesy name was Taichu. He was well known from his youth, and at twenty became Cavalier Gentleman of the Yellow Gate. Once, when he went in to see the emperor and was seated beside the empress's younger brother Mao Zeng, he felt ashamed and let his displeasure show on his face; Emperor Ming resented this and demoted him to Supervisor of the Feathered Forest. Records, Wei 9 §100

At the beginning of the Zhengshi era Cao Shuang assisted the government; Xiahou Xuan was the son of Cao Shuang's paternal aunt. He was promoted several times, becoming Cavalier Attendant-in-Ordinary and Central Protector of the Army. According to the Biography of Wei Zhen, Cao Shuang sent Xiahou Xuan to convey to Wei Zhen his wish to make him Prefect of the Masters of Writing and to seek a marriage for his younger brother, but Wei Zhen accepted neither. Records, Wei 9 §100Records, Wei 22 §87

When the Grand Tutor Sima Yi asked about the government of the day, Xiahou Xuan offered three proposals. First, the selection of officials should be left to the central secretariat and the ranking of conduct to the local communities, so that neither interfered with the other, and the Rectifiers (zhongzheng) of the provinces and commanderies should assess only conduct and order among peers, without promoting or demoting anyone. Second, the commandery administrators should be abolished and only the inspectors kept, so as to reduce posts and send good officials closer to the people. Third, carriages and clothing should be made plain, doing away with silk ornament, starting with the households of the court's ministers. Records, Wei 9 §101–107 · 108–114 · 115–117

In his reply, Sima Yi said that all three were excellent, but that since they were long-established, familiar practices, they could be carried through only after waiting for worthy and able men. Xiahou Xuan wrote again, saying that Emperor Wen of Han had worn coarse cloth himself yet had not reformed the laws and regulations; if the chief minister fixed the system from above, transformation would take effect below, and to say 'wait for the worthy and able' was like saying that Yi Yin and the Duke of Zhou had not corrected the statutes of Yin and Zhou, which he could not understand. Records, Wei 9 §118–121

Shortly afterwards he became General Who Conquers the West, was granted a borrowed tally and oversaw the military affairs of Yong and Liang provinces. Because he launched the Luo Valley campaign together with Cao Shuang, people of the time criticized him. In the 5th year of Zhengshi (244), Cao Shuang raised 60,000 to 70,000 troops at Chang'an and entered the Luo Valley, but supplies could not be delivered, many oxen and horses died, and with the enemy holding the mountains he could not advance and turned back. The Biography of Guo Huai records that when Xiahou Xuan attacked Shu, Guo Huai, leading the vanguard, judged the situation unfavorable and pulled his troops out, so that they avoided a heavy defeat. Records, Wei 9 §122 · 74–75Records, Wei 26 §72

When Cao Shuang was executed, Xiahou Xuan was summoned to court and made Grand Herald, and a few years later he was transferred to Minister of Ceremonies. Held down because of his ties to Cao Shuang, he inwardly could not achieve his ambitions. Around the same time Xiahou Ba, whom Cao Shuang had treated generously, heard that Cao Shuang had been executed, grew fearful for himself and fled to Shu. Records, Wei 9 §122 · 27

Li Feng, Prefect of the Palace Writers, had long enjoyed the confidence of the General-in-Chief Sima Shi, but his heart was with Xiahou Xuan. He joined with Zhang Ji, Grand Master of the Palace and father of the empress, in a plot to have Xiahou Xuan assist the government. He tried to have his younger brother Li Yi, Inspector of Yan Province, come to court and bring troops in, but this was not permitted. In the 2nd month of the 6th year of Jiaping (254), on the day an Honored Lady was to be invested, they planned to seize the moment when the Son of Heaven came out before the hall to kill the General-in-Chief, replace him with Xiahou Xuan and make Zhang Ji General of Agile Cavalry, and they also let their intentions be known to people inside the palace such as Su Shuo, Supervisor of the Yellow Gate. Records, Wei 9 §122–124Records, Wei 4 §43

Sima Shi caught wind of the plot, summoned Li Feng and killed him on the spot. Xiahou Xuan, Zhang Ji and the others were arrested and handed over to the Commandant of Justice. Zhong Yu, the Commandant of Justice, reported that Li Feng and the others had plotted to coerce the sovereign and to kill the chief minister on their own authority, which was high treason and impiety, and the deliberations of the ministers reached the same conclusion, finding that Xiahou Xuan, though ranked among the hereditary servants of the state, had harbored the intent to bring about disaster. Records, Wei 9 §124–126

Li Feng, Xiahou Xuan, Zhang Ji and the others all had their three sets of kin exterminated, and their other relatives were moved to Lelang Commandery. Xiahou Xuan was broad and generous of mind, and even when he was beheaded in the Eastern Market his expression did not change and he bore himself calmly. He was forty-six at the time. In the Zhengyuan era, to continue the lines of meritorious officials, Xiahou Shang's grandnephew Xiahou Ben was enfeoffed as Marquis of Changling Village to carry on Xiahou Shang's sacrifices. Records, Wei 9 §126

In the assessment of Records of Wei 9, Chen Shou said that Cao Shuang's virtue was thin while his position was lofty, and wrote that Xiahou Xuan was renowned in his age for his standards and breadth of mind, but was deeply entangled with Cao Shuang as his cousin; holding so glorious a position, he was never heard to have corrected Cao Shuang's faults or brought in good talent, so how could he have escaped disaster? Records, Wei 9 §132