Editing Cai Lun (section)

===Final years and death===
After the infant [[Emperor Shang of Han|Emperor Shang]]'s eight-month reign, in 106 CE Emperor He was succeeded by 13-year-old [[Emperor An of Han|Emperor An]], while [[Deng Sui|Lady Deng]] ruled as empress dowager.{{sfn|de Crespigny|2007|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=49OvCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA531 531], 580}} Both Cai and Zheng maintained influence in Deng's court.{{sfn|de Crespigny|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=49OvCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 27]}} In 110 CE, Deng assembled more than 100 scholars—including {{ill|Liu Zhen (Eastern Han)|zh|劉珍 (東漢)|lt=Liu Zhen}}, {{ill|Liu Taotu|zh|劉騊駼}} and [[Ma Rong]]—in the Eastern Pavilion of the palace to begin creating a definitive edition of the [[Four Books and Five Classics#Five Classics|Five Classics]].{{sfn|de Crespigny|2007|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=49OvCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 127], 593}} She appointed Cai to oversee and supervise the production; de Crespigny said that this meant Cai "was seriously concerned with scholarship".{{sfn|de Crespigny|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=49OvCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 27]}}<ref group="‡">{{harvtxt|''Hou Hanshu'' (78/68:2513–14)}}: "{{lang|zh-Hant|四年，帝以經傳之文多不正定，乃选通儒谒者劉珍及博士良史诣东观，各雠校汉家法，令伦监典其事。}}"<br />"In the fourth year of the ''Yuanchu'' era, the Emperor, finding that the various classics often did not have standard texts, selected the yezhe Liu Zhen, along with other well-learned people and good officials to gather at Dongguan to edit and correct the Han laws in accordance, and made Cai Lun in charge of the project."</ref> In 114 CE, he was awarded the title of ''[[Marquess#Equivalent non-Western titles|marquis]]'' and the imperial court [[Feoffment|enfeoffed]] him as the lord of {{ill|Longting, Shaanxi|zh|龙亭镇 (洋县)|lt=Longting}}, a small village of 300 families{{sfnm|1a1=Hunter|1a2=Hunter|1y=1978|1p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1sEp3rtK994C&pg=PA52 52]|2a1=Narita|2y=1966|2p=12}} in modern-day [[Yang County]], [[Shaanxi]].{{sfn|Provisional Urban Council|Hong Kong Museum of History|1998|p=60}}<ref group="‡">{{harvtxt|''Hou Hanshu'' (78/68:2513–14)}}: "{{lang|zh-Hant|元初元年，邓太后以伦久宿卫，封为龍亭侯，邑三百户。}}"<br />"In the first year of the ''Yuanchu'' era, Empress Dowager Deng, on account that Cai Lun had long been in service, created him the Marquess of Longting with a fief of 300 households."</ref> Later that year Zheng died and Cai succeeded him as the head of the Dowager's household.{{sfn|de Crespigny|2016|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jSJ4DgAAQBAJ&pg=PA177 177]}}

An assumed power after Deng's death in 121 CE, though the court was dominated by the influence of Empress [[Yan Ji]] and her brothers.{{sfn|de Crespigny|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=49OvCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA935 935]}} Remembering Cai's part in the death of his grandmother, Consort Song, An ordered Cai to report to the [[Ministry of Justice (imperial China)|Ministry of Justice]] to answer the charges, and presumably sentence him to death.{{sfn|de Crespigny|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=49OvCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 27]}} Ashamed that the Emperor would send him to death in a dishonorable way, Cai bathed and dressed in formal clothes before [[Suicide|killing himself]] by drinking poison.{{sfn|de Crespigny|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=49OvCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 27]}}<ref group="‡">{{harvtxt|''Hou Hanshu'' (78/68:2513–14)}}: "{{lang|zh-Hant|伦初受窦后讽旨，诬陷安帝祖母宋贵人。及太后崩，安帝始亲万机，敕使自致廷尉。伦耻受辱，乃沐浴整衣冠，饮药而死。國除。}}"<br />"Previously, Cai Lun, under Empress Dou's orders, made false accusations against Emperor An's grandmother Consort Song. After the Empress Dowager's death, Emperor An began to oversee all affairs of state. He ordered Cai Lun to self-report to the ministry of justice. Cai Lun did not want to be humiliated, and therefore, after bathing and putting on formal wear, drank poison and died. His fief was cancelled."</ref>