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Chen Qun | |
---|---|
陳群 | |
Manager of the Affairs of the Masters of Writing (錄尚書事) | |
In office 227 –7 February 237 | |
Monarch | Cao Rui |
In office ? –226 | |
Monarch | Cao Pi |
Minister of Works (司空) | |
In office January or February 227 –7 February 237 | |
Monarch | Cao Rui |
Preceded by | Wang Lang |
Succeeded by | Wei Zhen |
Senior General Who Guards the Army (鎮軍大將軍) | |
In office ? –January or February 227 | |
Monarch | Cao Pi |
Prefect of the Masters of Writing (尚書令) | |
In office 220 –? | |
Monarch | Cao Pi |
Supervisor of the Masters of Writing (尚書僕射) | |
In office 220 –? | |
Monarch | Cao Pi |
Personal details | |
Born | Unknown [1] Xuchang,Henan |
Died | [lower-alpha 1] Luoyang,Henan | 7 February 237
Spouse | Xun Yu's daughter |
Relations | see Chen clan of Yingchuan |
Children |
|
Parent |
|
Occupation | Politician |
Courtesy name | Changwen (長文) |
Posthumous name | Marquis Jing (靖侯) |
Peerage | Marquis of Yingyin (潁陰侯) |
Chen Qun (died 7 February 237), [lower-alpha 1] courtesy name Changwen, was a Chinese politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He initiated the Nine-rank system for civil service nomination in Wei. Following the death of the first Wei emperor Cao Pi, Chen Qun, along with Sima Yi and Cao Zhen, nominated Cao Pi's son, Cao Rui, to be the new emperor.
Chen Qun was born in the illustrious Chen family of Yingchuan Commandery (潁川郡), which is around present-day Xuchang, Henan. His grandfather Chen Shi, father Chen Ji and uncle Chen Chen (陳諶) all held high offices in the central government of the Eastern Han dynasty. As a child, he was already recognised as a talent by his grandfather Chen Shi, who told the elders in the clan, "This child will make our clan prosper!" [3] . When he was older, Kong Rong, a descendant of Confucius and close friend of his father Chen Ji, became friends with Chen Qun as well, thus making Chen Qun famous. [4]
In the days when Liu Bei was nominally the Inspector of Yu Province (where Yingchuan Commandery was located), Chen Qun became a subordinate of Liu Bei. He tried to dissuade Liu Bei from succeeding Tao Qian as the Governor of Xu Province after Tao died in 194 because he believed that whoever controlled Xu Province would be under threat from rival warlords: Yuan Shu to the south and Lü Bu to the west. Liu Bei ignored his advice and assumed office as the Governor of Xu Province, but he soon lost the province to Lü Bu. Liu Bei was said to have regretted not listening to Chen Qun. [5]
In 198, the warlord Cao Cao, who was the de facto head of the Han central government, led his forces to attack Lü Bu in Xu Province and defeated him at the Battle of Xiapi, after which he took control of the province. Chen Qun and his father Chen Ji, who were both previously subordinates of Lü Bu, surrendered to Cao Cao and entered the service of the central government in the Han imperial capital, Xuchang.
Chen Qun made accusations against Guo Jia, one of Cao Cao's trusted advisers, on a number of occasions because he was unhappy with Guo Jia's unbridled ways. Although Cao Cao was pleased to see that Chen Qun upheld his moral principles, he did not take action against Guo Jia since Guo Jia's advice was crucial to Cao Cao's victories in battles against rival warlords.
In 216, Emperor Xian, the figurehead Han emperor, was forced by Cao Cao to enfeoff him as a vassal king under the title "King of Wei". Cao Cao then sought Chen Qun's opinion on reestablishing an abolished system of corporal punishment within the Wei kingdom since he knew that Chen Qun's father, Chen Shi, supported capital punishment when he was still alive on the grounds that corporal punishment was more humane than bodily mutilation as a legal punishment. Chen Qun, however, favoured bodily mutilation because he thought that it provided more flexibility in the administration of justice, being more lenient than the death penalty yet less lenient than corporal punishment. Zhong Yao, another senior official, also shared the same view as Chen Qun, but others such as Wang Lang strongly objected to corporal punishment. Cao Cao ultimately did not reestablish the system of corporal punishment. Sometime between 216 and 220, Chen Qun urged Cao Cao to usurp the throne from Emperor Xian and become emperor himself, since Cao Cao was already the de facto ruler of the Han Empire at the time, but Cao Cao refused and remained as a nominal subject of Emperor Xian until his death.
In late 220, some months after Cao Cao's death, Cao Pi (Cao Cao's son and successor) forced Emperor Xian to abdicate in his favour and established the state of Cao Wei to replace the Han dynasty, with himself as the new emperor. He enfeoffed Chen Qun as the Marquis of Changwu Village and appointed him as a Master of Writing in the government. Chen Qun proposed the nine-rank system for civil service nominations and it became enshrined in the laws of the Cao Wei state.
Chen Qun unsuccessfully pleaded with Cao Pi to pardon Bao Xun, who deliberately hid a report by Liu Yao which implicated Sun Yong in a potentially dangerous breach of protocol when the latter paid a visit to Cao Pi.
In 226, when Cao Pi became critically ill, he entrusted his son and heir apparent, Cao Rui, to the care of Cao Zhen, Sima Yi and Chen Qun.
In 226, Chen Qun stopped Cao Rui from attending his father's funeral on the grounds of protecting Cao Rui from contracting an unknown disease in the hot summer.
When one of Cao Rui's daughters died prematurely before she even reached one year old, Chen Qun did not want the emperor to attend the funeral because the emperor's presence at funerals was only necessary if the deceased was at least eight years of age. Cao Rui nonetheless ignored Chen Qun's advice and attended his daughter's funeral.
Many of Cao Rui's subjects, including Chen Qun, were concerned about the excessive costs of the construction of the emperor's lavish palaces and ancestral temples. Chen Qun wrote several memorials to the emperor, seeking a reduction in the scale of these projects and eventually managed to convince him to do so.
Chen Qun died on 7 February 237. [lower-alpha 1] One of his sons, Chen Tai, inherited his marquis title and marquisate and became a prominent military general in the Cao Wei state later.
It has been said that in his career, Chen Qun was not affected by his personal preferences in deciding whether a policy had merit or not. In his life, Chen Qun was very much concerned with honour and righteousness, and he was also esteemed as a good judge of character.
Xiahou Dun, courtesy name Yuanrang, was a Chinese military general and politician serving under the warlord Cao Cao during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He served for a few months under Cao Cao's successor, Cao Pi, before his death. As one of Cao Cao's most trusted generals, Xiahou Dun aided the warlord in his campaigns against Lü Bu, Liu Bei, Sun Quan and others.
Cao Pi, courtesy name Zihuan, was the first emperor of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the second son of Cao Cao, a warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty, but the eldest son among all the children born to Cao Cao by his concubine, Lady Bian. According to some historical records, he was often in the presence of court officials in order to gain their support. He was mostly in charge of defence at the start of his career. After the defeat of Cao Cao's rival Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guandu, he took Yuan Xi's widow, Lady Zhen, as a concubine, but in 221 Lady Zhen died and Guo Nüwang became empress.
Zhang Liao, courtesy name Wenyuan, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He served briefly in the state of Cao Wei, founded by Cao Cao's successor Cao Pi, in the early Three Kingdoms period before his death. Formerly a subordinate of other warlords such as Ding Yuan, Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu, Zhang Liao joined Cao Cao around 198 after Lü Bu's downfall at the Battle of Xiapi. Since then, he participated in many of Cao Cao's military campaigns, including those against Yuan Shao's heirs and the Wuhuan tribes from 201 to 207. He is best known for his pivotal role in the Battle of Xiaoyao Ford in 214–215, in which he successfully defended Hefei from the forces of the warlord Sun Quan.
Liu Bei, courtesy name Xuande (玄德), was a Chinese warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. Although he was a distant relative of the Han imperial family, Liu Bei's father died when he was a child and left his family impoverished. To help his mother, he sold shoes and straw mats. When he reached the age of fifteen, his mother sent him to study under Lu Zhi. In his youth, Liu Bei was known as ambitious and charismatic. He gathered a militia army to fight the Yellow Turbans. Liu Bei fought bravely in many battles and grew famous for his exploits. Later, he participated in the coalition against Dong Zhuo, following this joined his childhood friend Gongsun Zan and fought under him against Yuan Shao.
Zhang He, courtesy name Junyi, was a military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He continued serving in the state of Cao Wei under its first two rulers, Cao Pi and Cao Rui, during the Three Kingdoms period until his death.
Lü Bu, courtesy name Fengxian, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of Imperial China. Originally a subordinate of a minor warlord Ding Yuan, he betrayed and murdered Ding Yuan and defected to Dong Zhuo, the warlord who controlled the Han central government in the early 190s. In 192, he turned against Dong Zhuo and killed him after being instigated by Wang Yun and Shisun Rui, but was later defeated and driven away by Dong Zhuo's followers.
Emperor Xian of Han, personal name Liu Xie (劉協), courtesy name Bohe, was the 14th and last emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty in China. He reigned from 28 September 189 until 11 December 220.
Cao Rui, courtesy name Yuanzhong, was the second emperor of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. His parentage is in dispute: his mother, Lady Zhen, was Yuan Xi's wife, but she later remarried Cao Pi, the first ruler of Wei. Based on conflicting accounts of his age, Pei Songzhi calculated that, in order to be Cao Pi's son, Cao Rui could not have been 33 when he died as recorded, so the recorded age was in error; late-Qing scholar Lu Bi and Mou Guangsheng argued instead that Cao Rui was Yuan Xi's son.
Guo Jia, courtesy name Fengxiao, was an adviser to the warlord Cao Cao during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Throughout his 11 years of service, Guo Jia aided Cao Cao greatly with his brilliance and foresight, and his strategies were instrumental to Cao Cao's triumphs over rival warlords such as Lü Bu and Yuan Shao. For example, four years before Cao Cao's decisive victory over Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guandu, Guo Jia already foresaw that Cao Cao would win when he pointed out ten advantages Cao Cao had over Yuan Shao.
Jia Xu, courtesy name Wenhe, was an official of the state of Cao Wei during the early Three Kingdoms period of China. He started his career in the late Eastern Han dynasty as a minor official. In 189, when the warlord Dong Zhuo took control of the Han central government, he assigned Jia Xu to the unit led by Niu Fu, his son-in-law. In May 192, after Dong Zhuo was assassinated by Lü Bu, Jia Xu advised Li Jue, Guo Si and Dong Zhuo's loyalists to fight back and seize control of the imperial capital, Chang'an, from a new central government headed by Lü Bu and Wang Yun. After Li Jue and the others defeated Lü Bu and occupied Chang'an, Jia Xu served under the central government led by them. During this time, he ensured the safety of the figurehead Han emperor, Emperor Xian, who was being held hostage by Li Jue. He also attempted to prevent internal conflict between Li Jue and Guo Si, but with limited success. After Emperor Xian escaped from Chang'an, Jia Xu left Li Jue and briefly joined the general Duan Wei before becoming a strategist of the warlord Zhang Xiu. While serving under Zhang Xiu, he advised his lord on how to counter invasions by the warlord Cao Cao, who had received Emperor Xian in 196 and taken control of the central government. In 200, during the Battle of Guandu between Cao Cao and his rival Yuan Shao, Jia Xu urged Zhang Xiu to reject Yuan Shao's offer to form an alliance and instead surrender to Cao Cao. Zhang Xiu heeded his advice. Jia Xu then became one of Cao Cao's strategists.
Meng Da, courtesy name Zidu, was a military general of the state of Cao Wei during the early Three Kingdoms period of China. He previously served the warlords Liu Zhang and Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty before defecting to Wei. In Wei, he served under the first two rulers, Cao Pi and Cao Rui. Around late 227, he started a rebellion in Wei and aimed to rejoin the Shu-Han but the revolt was swiftly suppressed by the Wei general Sima Yi. Meng Da was captured and executed for treason.
Cheng Yu, originally named Cheng Li, courtesy name Zhongde, was a Chinese politician who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was an adviser to Cao Cao, the warlord who became the de facto head of the Han central government during that period. He died in December 220 – soon after Cao Cao's son, Cao Pi, usurped the throne from Emperor Xian and established the state of Cao Wei, an event marking the start of the Three Kingdoms period in China. Cheng Yu was described as a tall man with a beautiful long beard. He was from Dong'e County in present-day Shandong. He is often remembered for a possibly fictional event, where he uses sadistic and unusual tactics to cope with a shortage of grain. Instead of sending hostages to Cao Cao's rival, Yuan Shao, in exchange for food supplies, he advised Cao Cao to feed his army with human flesh. He was also noted for his expertise in military tactics, which helped Cao Cao defeat Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guandu in 200 and consolidate control over northern China. It is widely agreed that his numerous contributions laid the foundation of the Cao Wei state; it is theorized that the reason he was not made one of the Three Ducal Ministers when Cao Pi became emperor in late 220 was only because of his aforementioned strategy to cope with the food shortage in Yan Province. After Cheng Yu's death, Cao Pi honoured him with the posthumous title "Marquis Su", meaning "solemn marquis".
Guo Huai, courtesy name Boji, was a military general of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He started his career towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty under the warlord Cao Cao as a subordinate of Cao Cao's generals Xiahou Yuan and Zhang He. During the Three Kingdoms period, he served in Wei, the state established by Cao Cao's son Cao Pi, and lived through the reigns of four Wei emperors. From the 220s until his death in 255, he governed and defended Wei's western borders in Yong and Liang provinces. During this time, he resisted multiple invasions by Wei's rival state, Shu Han, and quelled some rebellions by local Qiang, Di and other non-Han Chinese tribes.
Huang Quan, courtesy name Gongheng, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He previously served under the warlords Liu Zhang and Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty and in the state of Shu Han during the early Three Kingdoms period before defecting to Cao Wei. Liu Bei relied heavily on Huang Quan for counsel in both domestic and foreign policy. Under the Wei government, however, Huang Quan was restricted to only internal affairs because even though the Wei emperor Cao Pi appreciated him for his talent, he doubted Huang Quan's allegiance and believed he was still secretly loyal to Liu Bei.
Qin Lang, courtesy name Yuanming, was a military general of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China.
The Battle of Xiapi was fought between the forces of Lü Bu against the allied armies of Cao Cao and Liu Bei from the winter of 198 to 7 February 199 towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty in China. The battle concluded with victory for Cao Cao and Liu Bei, with Lü Bu being subsequently executed.
Xin Pi, courtesy name Zuozhi, was an official of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Along with his elder brother Xin Ping, he started his career in the late Eastern Han dynasty as an adviser to the warlord Yuan Shao. Following Yuan Shao's death and a power struggle between Yuan Shao's sons Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, Xin Pi initially sided with Yuan Tan but later defected to Yuan Shao's rival Cao Cao, while seeking Cao Cao's aid on Yuan Tan's behalf in the fight against Yuan Shang. As a result, his family members were executed by Shen Pei, a Yuan Shang loyalist who blamed Xin Pi for the downfall of the Yuan family. After avenging his family, Xin Pi served as an official under Cao Cao, who controlled the Han central government and the figurehead Emperor Xian. After the Cao Wei state replaced the Eastern Han dynasty, Xin Pi continued serving under Cao Cao's successor Cao Pi, the first Wei emperor, and later under Cao Rui, Cao Pi's son. Throughout his service in Wei, he was known for being outspoken and critical whenever he disagreed with the emperors and his colleagues. His highest appointment in the Wei government was the Minister of the Guards (衞尉). He died around 235 and was survived by his son Xin Chang and daughter Xin Xianying.
Liu Ye, courtesy name Ziyang, was an adviser to the warlord Cao Cao during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. After the fall of the Eastern Han dynasty, he served as an official in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period, serving under Cao Pi and Cao Rui. He was a member of the House of Liu, the imperial clan of the Han dynasty, and a direct descendant of Emperor Guangwu, via Guangwu's seventh son Liu Yan. He had two sons: Liu Yu (劉寓) and Liu Tao (劉陶).
Wei Feng, courtesy name Zijing, was a government official who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China.
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