Mu Xin

Mu Xin (1386–1453), courtesy name Mou, was a native of Dingyuan, Henan (present-day Dingyuan County, Anhui Province). He was the fourth son of the Western Peace Marquis Mu Ying. An official during the Ming Dynasty, he attained the rank of Military Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. On the second day of the sixth lunar month in the first year of the Yongle reign (1403), he was appointed as the Military Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and married Princess Changning, daughter of Zhu Di. In July of the same year, he was provided with an annual stipend of 2,000 sheng of millet. In October of the second year of Yongle (1404), upon orders from Ming Chengzu (Zhu Di), Mu Xin once accompanied a convoy carrying a hundred yokes of sheep, a thousand bottles of wine, and foreign tribute goods to deliver New Year’s greetings to the Zhou King, Zhu Su. In July of the third year of Yongle (1405), to celebrate Zhou King’s birthday, he was dispatched to bestow silk banners, sheep, wine, and fine horses, and in November, he was again granted a hundred yokes of sheep and three bottles of wine. In December of the fourth year of Yongle (1406), he was sent to welcome the Uighur chief diplomat Hali Ma. In July of the tenth year of Yongle (1412), he received imperial edicts to oversee the construction of temples and shrines on Mount Wudang and inscribed plaques. In December of the eighteenth year of Yongle (1420), he went to Nanjing Imperial Ancestral Temple to perform ceremonies. In August of the twenty-second year of Yongle (1424), he served as the Administrator of the Nanjing Rear Army Command, engaging in foreign affairs and military negotiations. In November, he was accused of illegally seizing official timber, unlawfully building a private residence, and coercing women into becoming concubines; however, Emperor Renzong of Ming showed leniency. In the first year of Hongxi (1425, February), he was dismissed from military power for defending the Nanjing border officials. After Emperor Yingzong ascended the throne in the tenth year of Zhengtong (1435, February), Mu Xin was granted 80 taels of silver and golden banners. In November of the fifth year of Zhengde (1440), he was bestowed a noble title. In the ninth year of Zhengde (1444), he served as an official in the Board of Ancestors (Zongrenfu), but later was reprimanded for beating a household servant to death. In the tenth year of Zhengde (1445), he requested to divide the family property left by his father in Yunnan for sacrificial rites and old age, but he was not approved. In September, he was restored to his position as the Administrator of the Nanjing Rear Army Command. His mother, Lady Yan, died in September 1448 and was granted a state funeral. Mu Xin passed away in the summer of 1453, in April, at the age of 67, and was buried in Jiangning, Nanjing.