A group of people supported by nobles and high officials. Differing from servants or slaves, they usually do not have fixed assignments, only completing various tasks assigned by the master at any time. They usually develop into members of the master’s think tank, or sometimes even his private army. Because of a loose selection system, although some menke were able to tackle important tasks, many of them had rather limited abilities and came for free food and accommodation. There were different levels of menke, receiving treatments ranging from “being provided with basic food and accommodation” to “being provided with luxurious food and accommodation”, depending on the master’s judgments of their abilities and functions.
The tradition for nobles and high officials (high officials at that time were mostly nobles) to raise menke began as early as the Spring and Autumn period, when the central government was powerless and feudal princes sought to accumulate power and influence through this method. The menke system drastically declined when Qin, the first centralized dynasty in ancient China, was established. Given the pressure from a powerful central government, none of the nobles or high officials dared to have as many menke as before. In the Han dynasty, when the power of the emperor (central government) was further strengthened and that of nobles and high officials were further weakened, the position of menke finally disappeared.
Though menke disappeared, similar positions like “brain trust” for nobles and high officials still existed, and were referred to as muliao 幕僚 [aide and advisor], moushi 謀士 [counsellor], etc., but they were usually unable to be as influential as real menke anymore.
Here, the author might use menke to make a general reference to Marquis Liu’s followers, who were not directly subordinate to him as menke/muliao/moushi, but rather members of a bureaucratic clique dominated by Marquis Liu.
