Teng Yin(?) –256), courtesy name Chengsi, was a wu state minister during the Three Kingdoms period, a native of Beihai County (北海郡劇县; present-day Changle County, Weifang, Shandong). Teng Yin was very dignified, and later married a princess, thus becoming Sun Quan's son-in-law. Sun Quan was proclaimed queen, and Teng Yin was made the Marquis of Ting. Later, he successively served as Danyang Taishou, Wujun Taishou, and Huiji Taishou. On the verge of Sun Quan's deathbed, Teng Yin, Zhuge Ke and others became the ministers of the Orphans. After Sun Liang succeeded to the throne, Teng Yin served as the general of Taichang and Wei. After Zhuge Ke was killed, the Qunchen elected Teng Yin as a situ, but was obstructed by the powerful minister Sun Jun, and Teng Yin also intended to avoid suspicion, and eventually only became the Marquis of Gaomi.
After Sun Jun's death, he was ruled by his cousin Sun Qi. Teng Yin's general Lü Zhao, the general of the Northern Expedition, contacted the generals on the front line of the Northern Expedition to elect Teng Yin as a minister, hoping to divide Sun Qi's power, but without success, Teng Yin was reappointed as the Grand Sima and the town guarded Wuchang. Soon, Teng Yin plotted with Lü To overthrow Sun Qi, but was killed for leaking his plans and was wiped out. After Sun Qi was killed, Emperor Wu jing's Sun Xiu rehabilitated Teng Yin. Below, let's talk about Teng Yin, the great Sima in the history of Eastern Wu.
One
First of all, according to the records of historical materials such as the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, as early as the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Teng Yin's uncle Teng Tan and father Teng Yin came to the Jiangdong region and relied on Liu Xuan, the assassin of Yangzhou. However, for Liu Sui, he was later defeated by Sun Ce, which prompted Yangzhou to fall into Sun Ce's hands. In 200 AD, after Sun Ce's death, Sun Quan took power, and Teng Yin's uncle Teng Tan and father Teng Xuan began to follow Sun Quan. However, it is a pity that Teng Yin's uncle Teng Tan and father Teng Yin both died prematurely, which is naturally very unfortunate for Teng Yin.
In the second year of the Huang Dynasty (221), Sun Quan proclaimed herself Empress Wu, and because she was grateful to Teng Yin's uncle Teng Tan and father Teng Yin, teng Yin was made the Marquis of Duting. In other words, Teng Yin's uncle Teng Tan and father Teng Yin, who obviously gained the respect and trust of Sun Quan at the beginning, would undoubtedly leave more records on the historical materials if they had not died prematurely.
After Teng Yin was more than 20 years old, he married the princess, and for this son-in-law, Sun Quan attached great importance to it, and even increased the reward for the princess because of this, visiting the princess and his wife several times. When Teng Yin was thirty years old, he served as the Taishou of Danyang County, and later served as the Taishou of Wu County and Huiji. In this regard, in the author's opinion, after the experience of these counties, Teng Yin's ability has been enhanced, and he has therefore made many suggestions to Sun Quan, thus receiving more attention from Sun Quan.
In the first year of the Huanglong Dynasty (229), after defeating Cao Wei at the Battle of Shiting, Sun Quan ascended the throne as emperor. In the Three Kingdoms of Wei shu and Wu, Sun Quan was the last to be proclaimed emperor, before that, Cao Pi was proclaimed emperor in 220 AD, and Liu Bei was proclaimed emperor in 221 AD. Therefore, in the face of the belated emperor's throne, Sun Quan naturally attached great importance to it. In this context, Teng Yin was ordered to work with Zhang Zhao, Sun Shao, Zheng Li, etc., to imitate the old system of Zhou and Han and formulate the etiquette system of the State of Wu. And this, of course, is to highlight the differences between Eastern Wu and Shu Han and Cao Wei.
Two
In the first year of Taiyuan (251), Sun Quan became seriously ill and summoned Teng Yin to Jianye to stay in Taichang. Tai Chang was the official in charge of the ceremonies of the temple in the ancient imperial court. Of course, for Eastern Wu, Tai Chang would also assist the emperor in handling the affairs of the dynasty, thus having a higher status. In the second year of Taiyuan (252), Sun Quan died, and Teng Yin, along with the crown prince Fu Zhuge Ke, the young Fu Sun Hong, the Wei general Lü Zhao, and the attendant Sun Jun, was entrusted with the edict to assist the government. In other words, for Sun Quan, he chose to entrust Sun Liang to a number of ministers, so as to ensure that Sun Liang could successfully take the throne.
After crown prince Sun Liang ascended the throne, he promoted Teng Yin to the rank of Wei general. For the official position of Wei general, which began in the Han Dynasty, he was mainly responsible for the forbidden army in charge of the capital, such as Jiang Wei of Shu Han and Sima Zhao of Cao Wei, who was once named a Wei general. In the face of Teng Yin, who was related to himself by marriage, Sun Liang naturally trusted him very much, so he was appointed as a wei general.
In the same year, Cao Wei attacked Dongxing, and Zhuge Ke and other leaders successfully repelled Cao Wei's attack, and Zhuge Ke had the heart of a light enemy and began to plan to attack Cao Wei. In the second year of Jianxing (253), Zhuge Ke rushed to disobey the crowd and recruited 200,000 people from Zhou County to go north to Cao Wei, but the result was defeated, which led to Zhuge Ke's rebellion in Eastern Wu.
Since Teng Yin and Zhuge Ke were relatives of their children (Teng Yin's daughter married Zhuge Ke's son Zhuge Chen), Zhuge Ke appointed Teng Yin as the governor of the capital after his expedition, responsible for all affairs of the imperial court. However, because Zhuge Ke was killed by Sun Jun, this also affected Teng Yin's ultimate fate.
Three
According to historical records such as the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, after the eastern Wu taifu Zhuge Ke was killed, Sun Jun began to take power. In this regard, in the author's opinion, Sun Jun at this time can be completely compared with Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao, Sima Yi and other powerful ministers. In this context, the Qunchen Shangqu promoted Sun Jun as a lieutenant and Teng Yin as a Situ, but the officials who intended to curry favor with Sun Jun prevented Teng Yin from assuming the official position of Situ.
At the same time, Teng Yin also requested his resignation on the grounds that he was Zhuge Ke's in-laws, but Teng Yin was retained by Sun Jun, and Teng Yin was made the Marquis of Gaomi. In this regard, in the view of many historians, although the relationship between the two is not harmonious in fact, they have always shown mutual tolerance and continued to assist Emperor Sun Liang. Later, Sun Jun wanted to fortify the guangling area on the border, and the courtiers thought it was difficult to build a city there, but they did not dare to advise because they were afraid of Sun Jun. Only Teng Yin objected, but Sun Jun did not listen, and in the end the city was not built. Therefore, it is very obvious that teng Yin is obviously more suitable for running the government than Sun Jun.
In the third year of Wufeng (256), Sun Jun died of illness during the Northern Expedition to Cao Wei, and his brother, the 26-year-old general Sun Qiang, took control of the imperial government.
According to the Records of the Three Kingdoms and other historical records, the wu courtiers were originally dissatisfied with Sun Jun's monopoly of power as a clan member, so they did not want to see Sun Qi, who was also the emperor's family, continue to hold the power of the imperial court. In this context, Teng Yin's general Lü Zhao, the general of the Northern Expedition, wrote a letter recommending Teng Yin as a chancellor, hoping to divide Sun Qi's power and prevent him from usurping power. After all, during the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty, the existence of powerful vassals often had an impact on the direction of a dynasty that did more harm than good.
Four
In the end, however, in the face of the plot of Lü Zhao and others, Sun Qiang was not willing to show weakness. At that time, Sun Qi appointed Teng Yin as the Grand Sima to replace Lü Dai, who had recently died of illness, to guard Wuchang. In this regard, in the author's opinion, Sun Qiang's move is to transfer Teng Yin away, so as to facilitate his monopoly of power.
After learning the news that Teng Yin had been promoted to Sima Da, Lü Zhao returned with his army and sent someone to inform Teng Yin to plot to overthrow Sun Qi. In Lü Zhi's view, if Teng Yin really went to zhen to guard Wuchang, there would be no one in the imperial court who could balance Sun Qiang. However, the plot of Lü Zhao and others had already been learned of by Sun Qi in advance. Therefore, Sun Qi immediately made a decision and sent troops to attack Lü Zhao. Teng Yin saw the situation and was also ready to rebel. However, Sun Qiang went to Emperor Sun Liang and said that Teng Yin had rebelled, and sent the general Liu Cheng to send troops to besiege Teng Yin. Teng Yin then forced HuaRong, Sun Zhi, and others to send troops to assist him, and Huarong and the others were killed because of this.
Soon after, Lü Zhao's army was defeated and committed suicide, and Sun Qiang mobilized a large army to attack Teng Yin. Dozens of teng yin and other generals were defeated and killed, and sun qi later ordered the annihilation of the three tribes of Teng Yin and Lü Zhao. It was not until Emperor Wu Jing ascended the throne and killed Sun Qi that he issued an edict saying: "Zhuge Ke, Teng Yin, and Lü Zhi were originally innocent, but they were mutilated by Sun Jun and Sun Qi's brothers, and I felt sad about this, and I hope that they can all be reburied and sacrificed." Those who are implicated in exile because of them can come back. In this regard, in the author's opinion, Teng Yin's ending is undoubtedly very bleak. To a certain extent, it was precisely because of the frequent civil unrest in Eastern Wu that many ministers were killed, which also became an important reason for Eastern Wu's long-term defense and did not have a long-term northern expedition to Cao Wei like Shu Han.