Zuo General is a military general official position that began in the Warring States period. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the status of the left general was second only to that of the general, the general of the hussar, the general of the car, the general of the wei, and was higher than that of many miscellaneous generals. By the Three Kingdoms period, General Zuo had received extensive canonization. For example, in 198 AD, Cao Cao went to the Han Dynasty to offer his title to Emperor Wu and made Liu Bei a general of the Left. As a result, Liu Bei has long been under the banner of General Zuo. For example, in 219 AD, after Liu Bei ascended the throne of Hanzhong, he made Ma Chao a general of the left.
As far as the Eastern Wu that I want to talk about today, there are six left generals in history. Among them, including the familiar Zhuge Jin, Ding Feng and other historical figures of the Three Kingdoms.
1. Zhuge Jin
As we all know, Zhuge Jin is Zhuge Liang's elder brother. In 200 AD, due to the war in the Central Plains, Zhuge Jin came to Jiangdong and began to assist Sun Quan. Zhuge Jin and Sun Quan never spoke urgently and bluntly, no matter how they talked or advised, but only slightly expressed their own tendencies, roughly expressed their intentions, and pointed out to the end. If there was a disagreement with Sun Quan's heart, he would abandon the ongoing content and turn to other topics, and gradually borrow other things to start from scratch, and seek Sun Quan's approval with his views on similar things, so Sun Quan's thoughts were often opened.
In 219, Sun Quan sent Lü Meng to attack Jingzhou and behead Guan Yu. In 220 AD, after Lü Meng's death, Zhuge Jin once guarded Jingzhou. In 222, Sun Quan won the Battle of Yiling and made Zhuge Jin a general of the Left. Of course, for Zhuge Jin, the official position did not stop here.
In the fifth year of Huang Wu (226), Sun Quan learned of Cao Pi's death and sent an army to attack Cao Wei in August of the same year. In this battle, Sun Quan ordered the left general Zhuge Jin to attack Xiangyang in two ways, and personally led an army to attack Jiangxia Commandery (江夏郡, in modern Yunmeng, Hubei). Sun Quan was defeated by the Wei army all the way, so he withdrew his troops and left. Zhuge Jin, on the other hand, was defeated by Sima Yi and beheaded the Wu general Zhang Ba, beheading more than a thousand ranks. In December of the same year, Zhuge Jin was promoted to general of the Hussars. Although he suffered defeat, Zhuge Jin was rewarded by Sun Quan, which reflected Zhuge Jin's status in Sun Quan's mind.
In 229, Sun Quan ascended the throne at Wuchang and proclaimed himself emperor, and made Zhuge Jin a great general. Although Zhuge Jin was not an excellent warrior, Zhuge Jin was deeply trusted by Sun Quan, and because of his relationship with Zhuge Liang, he could consolidate the alliance between Shu Han and Eastern Wu, thus obtaining a higher official position in Eastern Wu. In 241 AD, Zhuge Jin died of illness.
2. Zhu Zhi
Zhu was from the Zhu clan of Wu County, a local family in Jiangdong, so he became the object of Sun Quan's co-optation. In 229, after Sun Quan ascended the throne as emperor, he not only made Zhu Zhu a general of the left, but also married his daughter Sun Luyu to Zhu Zhao, that is, Zhu Zhu became Sun Quan's son-in-law.
In the second year of Huanglong of Eastern Wu (230), Yin Fan pretended to defect from Cao Wei and defected to the state of Wu. Yin Bo privately won the kindness of the Eastern Wu Haojie with his outstanding eloquence, among which Zhu Zhao and Ting Wei Hao Pu praised Yin Bo for having the talent of Wang Zuo and being extremely friendly with him. Taichang Pan Mao's son, the knight lieutenant Pan Yi, was also friendly with him, and officials from the Wei general Quan Chun and below all interacted with him. After Huang Long's third year (231) Yin Bo really rebelled and was killed, everyone understood. Zhu was affected, and he was dismissed from office and confined to his home, and it took four years before he was reactivated.
In 246, Zhu was promoted to general of the Hussars. In 249 AD, Zhu Zhao even obtained the official position of chancellor. At this time, Zhu Zheng could be called the head of the hundred officials. However, in 250 AD, during the Dispute of the Second Palace in Eastern Wu, Zhu Zhu was framed for supporting Crown Prince Sun He, and even lost his life.
3. Huarong
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Huarong came to Jiangdong and began to serve Sun Quan. Later, HuaRong was given the title of Left General by Sun Quan. However, due to the lack of historical records, huarong's ending is not clearly stated.
Fourth, leave praise
As early as the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liuzan participated in the campaign to quell the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and later began to follow the Eastern Wu general Ling Tong. In 252, the Battle of Dongxing broke out between Cao Wei and Eastern Wu, in which Liu Zan assisted Zhuge Ke in repelling Cao Wei's army. Because of his military achievements, Liu Zan was awarded the title of Left General by Sun Liang. In 255, Liuzan followed Sun Jun to attack Cao Wei, and during the retreat, Liuzan was surrounded by Cao Wei's army, and eventually died on the battlefield at the age of 73.
5. Ding Feng
Ding Feng was a native of Anfeng County, Lujiang County, and when he was young, he was brave and good at war, and successively subordinated to the generals such as Gan Ning, Lu Xun, and Pan Zhang, and participated in many major battles, often winning the whole army. Whenever he fought, he was often able to capture the flag and was often injured because he was brave enough to take the lead. He was gradually promoted to general.
In 252 AD, after Sun Quan's death, Sun Liang took the throne. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Cao Wei sent a large army to attack Eastern Wu. In the Battle of Dongxing, Ding Feng led an army to raid the Cao Wei camp, which became the key to Eastern Wu's victory, and thus obtained the official position of general of Que Kou. In the second year of Wufeng (255), the Wei general Wen Qin came to surrender, and Ding Feng was appointed as the general of Huwei, and followed the general Sun Jun to Shouchun (present-day Shou County, Anhui) to meet Wen Qin and engage the Wei army at Gaoting (高亭, in present-day Anhui). Ding Feng crossed his horse with a spear and rushed into the enemy position, beheading hundreds of people and capturing a large number of weapons. After the war, Ding Feng was promoted to the marquis of Anfeng for his merits.
In the second year of Taiping (257), The Cao Wei general Zhuge Shi surrendered to Sun Wu from Shouchun, which he was defending, and was surrounded by Wei forces. The Young Emperor Sun Liang and the powerful minister Sun Qi sent Zhu Yi, Tang Zhi, and others to the rescue, and later sent Ding Feng and Li Fei to relieve the siege. In this battle, Ding Feng was the vanguard, holding Li Pulp (present-day south of Shou County, Anhui), and because of his meritorious service in battle, Ding Feng was crowned as a left general. Soon after, Ding was ordered by Sun Liang to kill Zhu Xiong at Hulin and Zhu At Jianye. The contradiction between Sun Liang and Sun Qiang intensified. In September of the third year of the Taiping Dynasty, Sun Liang was deposed by Sun Qiang, who made Sun Xiu emperor.
In 259, Ding Feng and others eliminated Sun Qi, prompting Sun Xiu to regain power. In the sixth year of Yong'an (263), the State of Wei attacked Shu, and Ding Feng's army went to Shouchun to make a gesture to attack Wei to rescue Shu Han. Soon, the Shu Han dynasty collapsed, and Ding Feng led his army back. In 264, after Sun Xiu's death, Sun Hao ascended the throne, and Ding Feng was promoted to The Right Grand Sima (右大司馬). In 271 AD, Ding Feng died. In this regard, in the author's opinion, with the death of famous generals such as Ding Feng and Lu Kang, the late Eastern Wu period was also a wither of talents, so it was impossible to resist the Western Jin army and could only accept the end of the demise.
6. Spread the cloth
Finally, in 258 AD, after Sun Xiu ascended the throne, Zhang Bu was crowned as a general of the left. In the second year of Yong'an (259), the chancellor Sun Qiang wanted to rebel, and once invited Zhang Bu to a banquet with wine, and when he drank to the fullest, Sun Qiangkou complained. Zhang Bu then told Sun Xiu about this matter, and Sun Xiu was afraid that Sun Xiu would commit a crime, so he gave him many rewards, and secretly consulted with Zhang Bu and Ding Feng, and decided to set up a banquet on the day of the Wax Festival to kill Sun Xiu. After the banquet began, Sun Qiao saw that the palace was on fire, so he asked Sun Xiu to return, but Sun Xiu did not allow it. Sun Qiang was preparing to leave the table by force, but Ding Feng and Zhang Bu signaled at this time to tie Sun Qiang up, and Sun Qiang ambushed him.
Thus, like Ding Feng, Zhang Bu also participated in the action to get rid of Sun Qi. In 264, after Sun Xiu's death, Zhang Bu assisted Sun Hao to take the throne. However, Sun Hao's claim to be empress immediately exposed his cruel and unkind side, which made Zhang Bu very dissatisfied, and even complained. Therefore, Sun Hao killed Zhang Bu. In this regard, in the author's opinion, Sun Hao's killing of Eastern Wu's ministers and clans undoubtedly accelerated the process of Eastern Wu's demise.