Under the influence of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it seems that after Zhuge Liang's death, it was Jiang Wei who held the military and political power of the Shu Han, but in fact, this was not the case in real history. After Zhuge Liang's death in 234 AD, Shu Han had 29 years of national fortunes, the first twelve years of the presidency was Jiang Wei (234-246), the seventh year was Fei Yi (246-253), and the last ten years was Jiang Wei (253-263).
Among these three, Jiang Wei has the least power, only military power, and does not participate in the handling of government affairs. When Jiang Wei insisted on the Northern Expedition, the first person in charge of government affairs in the dprk was Shangshu Ling Chen Qi (zhi), and after Chen Qi's death, the eunuch Huang Hao began to devote himself to the administration of the dynasty, cholera. Today we will talk about Chen Qi, the latter lord Liu Chan wept bitterly after Chen Qi's death, and also posthumously honored "Zhonghou", while Chen Shou, the author of the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", said that he was a traitorous minister.
The life of Chen Qi
Chen Qi (?) –23 September 258), courtesy name Fengzong, was a native of Runan (present-day Pingyu, Henan) and the grandson of The Great Situ Xu Jing's brother. Chen Qi was an orphan when he was a child, and grew up in Situ Xujing's parents. At the age of twenty, he was quite famous, and was soon appointed by the imperial court as The Chosen Cao Lang. Chen Qi was stern, mighty in appearance, good at a variety of skills, and also knew some side-door left ways, Fei Yi treated him differently, so he broke the rules and let him succeed Dong Yun as an internal attendant.
In the later period of the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu, in fact, the "second generation" were in power, and the sons of Cao Wei's Marquis Cao, as well as the children of the Shi clan, were also the sons of shu Han. Fei Yi (patriarch Fei Guan) and Dong Yun (father Dong He, Zhuge Liang's friend) of the Shu Han Dynasty are actually the second generation, and Chen Qi can also be counted as the second generation, after all, behind the people is the Shu Han Situ Xu Jing (a national celebrity).
The power structure of shu han was inherited after Zhuge Liang's death: Jiang Wan-Fei Yi-Jiang Wei, but due to the special situation of Shu Han, the person in power was often not in Chengdu, but in Hanzhong, Fuling and other places, so those in power often arranged for people to stay in Chengdu, on the one hand, responsible for handling government affairs, on the other hand, responsible for supervising Liu Chan.
For example, during Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition, it was Jiang Huan who stayed in Charge of government affairs in Chengdu, and it was Dong Yun who taught Liu Chan in the palace; during Jiang Wan's reign, Fei Yi was in charge of government affairs in Chengdu, and Dong Yun was still watching Liu Chan in the palace (the person Liu Chan and Huang Hao feared most was Dong Yun); Fei Yi was in charge, and Dong Yun, as a servant, also held the position of Shangshu Ling, becoming an assistant to the general Fei Yi.
In the ninth year of Yanxi (246), Dong Yun died, and Chen Qi succeeded him as a servant, not rejecting the eunuch Huang Hao, and mutual appearance with Huang Hao, so that Huang Hao began to have the opportunity to participate in political affairs. In the fourteenth year of Yanxi (251), Shangshu Ling lü Qi died, so Liu Chan made Chen Qi a servant and a shou Shang Shu Ling, and was made a general of the Zhen Army, and Chen Qi's power in the court grew.
Although the great general Jiang Wei was above Chen Qi in official position and rank, because he often led his troops outside, he did not ask much about things in the DPRK. Chen Qi was deeply favored by Liu Chan, and he had a very good relationship with the eunuchs, and his power in the court exceeded that of Jiang Wei (who only inherited the main finger on the top, followed by the castration on the bottom, deeply believed in love, and had a weight in Wei).
Whether Chen Qi was loyal or adulterous
After Dong Yun's death, Fei Yi was actually facing the embarrassing situation of no one to use, so he divided Dong Yun's power into two: he arranged for Chen Qi to be a servant, and Lü Qi to be Shang Shuling. In 251, Lü Qi died, and Chen Qi served as a servant and concurrently served as Shang Shu Ling, which was equivalent to copying Dong Yun's status and official position. Dong Yun was upright and virtuous, and Liu Chan was very afraid of him.
But Chen Qi was completely different, judging from Chen Shou's records, Chen Qi was a relatively sleek person, Liu Chan had been suppressed by Dong Yun for many years, and even a concubine was strictly rejected by Dong Yun. Now that Chen Hao had changed, the two got along very well, and because Liu Chan was very fond of Huang Hao, Chen Qi did not resist Huang Hao as strictly as Dong Yun, and Huang Hao began to participate in political affairs.
Because of this, Chen Shoucai believed that Chen Yu was actually a traitorous courtier, and since Chen Yu was favored, the later lord Liu Chan's resentment towards Dong Yun became deeper and deeper, saying that Dong Yun despised others, which was all Chen Yuan's flattery, and Huang Hao provoked dissension, so that the later lord gradually formed such an idea (the later lord chased After Yun Day deeply, said to be self-contemptuous, by Qi Meizi alone, And hao was infiltrated into the old ear).
But in fact, Chen Shou's evaluation of Chen Qi may have deliberately demeaning and exaggerated elements:
First, during Chen Qi's tenure, Huang Hao has been restricted. Although Chen Hao was not able to completely suppress Huang Hao, during Chen Qi's tenure, Huang Hao's official position was only Huang Men Ling, and in the first year of Jing Yao (258), Chen Hao fell ill and died, and the eunuch Huang Hao began to devote himself to the imperial government, and Huang Hao became a lieutenant of Zhongchang and a lieutenant of The Che (Liu Chan favored Huang Hao, Chen Qi had always restricted Huang Hao, and had already done a good job).
Second, Chen Qi and Chen Shou's teacher Yu Zhou had a festival. In the twentieth year of Yanxi (257), the Zhongsan Grand Master Zhou saw the general Jiang Wei repeatedly use troops against the State of Wei, and the strength of the Shu Han State was no longer as good as during Zhuge Liang's auxiliary government period, and it was difficult to support the military needs of the Northern Expedition, and the life of the people of the Shu Han Dynasty was not as good as before. Therefore, Tan Zhou suggested in the court that it was not appropriate to use troops against the State of Wei, but Chen Qi strongly opposed this and launched a fierce debate with Yu Zhou, who was helpless and went home to write the "Theory of The Enemy of the State".
Those familiar with the history of the Shu kingdom know that it was the Shu Emperor Ru Zhou who persuaded Liu Chan to surrender, and That Zhou was Chen Shou's teacher (Shao Yixue, who was also a teacher of the same county). Chen Zhu was in favor of Jiang Wei's Northern Expedition, and Chen Zhou, as a representative of the Yizhou scholars, was opposed to the Northern Expedition, so as a student of Chen Zhou, Chen Shou certainly did not have a good impression of Chen Qi, and naturally when he wrote and evaluated Chen Qi, he inevitably took smuggled goods with him.
All in all, whether Chen Qi is loyal or adulterous everyone has their own conclusions, but in my personal opinion, what Chen Qi did was nothing more than seeking his own government in his position! Chen Qi's prestige and ability could not be compared with Fei Yi, Dong Yun and others, he could maintain the normal operation of the Shu Han Dynasty, Huang Hao's power was not excessively inflated, and he had done a good job, and when he died, Huang Hao was directly no one could suppress it (Zhuge Zhan, Fan Jian, and others were even more white), which was enough to see Chen Qi's contribution.
References: Notes on Pei Songzhi in romance of the Three Kingdoms, Ma Zhijie's History of the Three Kingdoms, Lü Simian's History of the Three Kingdoms