Perhaps because of the spread of literary works such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the Three Kingdoms period at the end of the Han Dynasty became a very hot era, and many of its characters were also well known to posterity. However, due to the different places of emphasis in historical materials or novels, it is easy to bring a stereotypical label to a character of the Three Kingdoms, which will cause misunderstanding. For example, Zhou Tai, one of the "Twelve Tiger Ministers of Jiangbiao", is often regarded as Sun Quan's bodyguard. In fact, this is only the early experience of Zhou Tai, in addition to sun quan's bodyguard identity, Zhou Tai also participated in many important battles, as the main general of the important defense area of Jiangdong.
Zhou Taizi Youping is a Cai person under the Jiujiang River and a figure of the so-called Huaisi Group. When Sun Ce raised an army, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin often followed him around, which was considered to be the old seniority of the Jiangdong Group. After Sun Ce crossed the river, Jiang Qin and Zhou Tai were both appointed as Sima of other departments and led an army alone. Sun Quan looked up at Zhou Tai and begged Sun Ce to give Zhou Tai to himself, so Zhou Tai became Sun Quan's person.
Zhou Tai assisted Sun Quan and also won a great credit for himself. Sun Ce's greatest enemy was Liu Sui, who had a Tai Shi Ci under his hands. After Liu Xuan was defeated by Sun Ce, he fled to Yuzhang Commandery, where Tai Shi Ci originally followed Liu Sui, but halfway changed his mind and went into exile in the mountains to win the support of the Shanyue forces, and later occupied six counties in the western part of Danyang as The Taishou of Danyang, in fact, he was a tu king. Therefore, Tai Shi Ci can be juxtaposed with warlords such as Liu Xuan and Shi Xie in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Sun Ce personally attacked the six danyang counties that disobeyed him, and Sun Quan and others were stationed at Xuancheng, next to Jing County, which Tai Shi Ci occupied. Sun Quan's military performance is really lackluster, and he himself is relatively wavey and has no sense of distress. At that time, Sun Quan's army was less than a thousand people, and the morale was not high, and there was no preparation for fortifications. At this time, thousands of Shanyue soldiers suddenly launched an attack on Sun Quan, which had cut into the core of Sun Quan's army, and even had blades to cut Sun Quan's horses.
In order to protect Sun Quan's life, Zhou Tai on the one hand boosted his own morale and reorganized the chaotic soldiers to resist Shanyue; on the other hand, he fought bravely to protect Sun Quan. Although the Shanyue people were numerous and powerful, their combat effectiveness was not very high, and they collapsed if they could not eat Sun Quan. After the battle, Zhou Tai had twelve wounds on his body (later Sun Quan praised Zhou Tai and said that he had been wounded dozens" should have been exaggerated), and it took a long time to recover. The credit for escorting is certainly not small. Zhou Tai's desperate efforts to protect Sun Quan not only won the favor of Sun Ce, but also greatly recorded his own merit book.
According to the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Wushu Zhou Tai, the important battles in which Zhou Tai participated were:
In the fourth year of Jian'an (that is, in 199 AD), the "Battle of Sun Ce to Break Liu Xun", Sun Ce defeated Liu Xun of Lujiang Taishou, obtained the legacy left by Yuan Shu, and then severely damaged Jiangxia Taishou Huangzu.
The war between Sun Quan and Huang Zu between the eighth year of Jian'an and the thirteenth year of Jian'an (that is, 203-208 AD).
The importance of the "Battle of Chibi" in the thirteenth year of Jian'an and the "Battle of Nanjun" in the fourteenth year of Jian'an (i.e., 209 AD) is self-evident, the former foiling Cao Cao's offensive to the south and gaining living space for the Jiangdong clique and Liu Bei clique, comparable to the "Battle of Guandu" between Cao Cao and Yuan Shao; the latter further expanding the victory, allowing Sun Liu's combined forces to control the complete Yangtze River defense line and have the conditions to enter Yizhou and Xiangyang in the Northern Expedition.
In the 22nd year of Jian'an (i.e., 217 AD), Cao Cao attacked Wushu, and Zhou Tai participated in the "Battle of Fusu". Although Sun Quan was forced by Cao Cao's military pressure to seek peace with Cao Cao, the Jiangdong clique did not give up any practical benefits and did not suffer heavy losses in the living forces.
Although Zhou Tai participated in so many important battles, he did not have any outstanding achievements. In the historical data, it is only a vague record of "from the merits of the Huang ancestors". However, after the Twenty-second Year Battle of Fusu in Jian'an, Zhou Tai was appointed by Sun Quan as the Governor of Shushu and became the main general of The Battle of Shushu, an important town on the Yangtze River.
The battle for Shuishui had always been one of the goals of the war between Sun Quan and Cao Cao, or between Eastern Wu and Cao Wei. Sun Quan controlled the Shuishu Water, which could be used to carry out the Northern Expedition and fight for a buffer against the Yangtze River; Cao Cao controlled the Shuisu Water, which in turn could also enter the river from the Shuishu Water and then invade the Jiangdong region. Such an important position was handed over to Zhou Tai's hands, which also caused dissatisfaction among Zhu Ran, Xu Sheng, and other generals.
The Zizhi Tongjian Han Ji Sixty records that Zhu Ran and Xu Sheng's reason for disobeying Zhou Tai was "to take the cold door of Tai", which may be derived from the words of Sun Quan when praising Zhou Tai in the "Biography of JiangBiao": "Do not retreat with the cold door." "But when we look at Zhu Ran and Xu Sheng, Zhu Ran's uncle Zhu Zhijun (朱治郡) is filial piety and zhou, which may be the Danyang clan; Xu Sheng has no performance of being from a noble family at all. Therefore, Zhu Ran and Xu Sheng disobeyed Zhou Tai, perhaps only because Zhou Tai's merits were not obvious. Jiang Qin, as the first governor (Zhou Tai was the second), did not cause any criticism.
If there is a problem, it must be solved. In order to shape Zhou Tai's authority, Sun Quan went to The Wusu Dock to set up a banquet, and at the banquet, Sun Quan drank wine in front of Zhou Tai's body, causing Zhou Tai to take off his clothes and expose the scars on his body. Sun Quan asked Zhou Tai the source of the scars, and Zhou Tai answered one by one. The next day Sun Quan sent emissaries to Zhou Tai's own commonly used imperial guard. With Sun Quan's recommendation, Zhou Tai was able to sit firmly in the position of Governor Of Shu, convincing Zhu Ran, Xu Sheng, and others. Later, Sun Quan attacked Jingzhou and also had ideas about Yizhou, using Zhou Taiyao to lead Hanzhong Taishou. Zhu Huan inherited Zhou Tai's position and became the third Governor of Shusu.
In general, Zhou Tai's historical image is closer to a general than a pure bodyguard. Although in the early days of Jian'an, Zhou Tai had the experience of defending Sun Quan to repel thousands of Shanyue people and the twelve innovations in his body, this was only Zhou Tai's early experience. Later, Zhou Tai participated in many important battles as a general of Jiangdong, among which the crusade against Huang Zu and the "Battle of Wusu" were personally commanded by Sun Quan, while the "Battle of Chibi" and the "Battle of Nan County" did not involve Sun Quan. At that time, Sun Quan was attacking Hefei and was in the Huainan Battlefield. If Zhou Tai was Sun Quan's bodyguard, he should also follow Sun Quan in the first "Battle of Hefei".
Although Zhou Tai was not a bodyguard role like Dianwei and Xu Chu, protecting Sun Quan was indeed the most eye-catching performance of Zhou Tai's military career, at least the historical record was so. The merit of this escort greatly improved Zhou Tai's status in Sun Quan's heart, and he was promoted to Xu Sheng and Zhu Ran, becoming an important Governor of Shusu. However, from the perspective of Zhou Tai's entire experience, Zhou Tai's performance is limited, and the promotion speed is lower than that of Jiang Qin in the same period. Later, Sun Quan gave Zhou Tai a false post of Hanzhong Taishou, and transferred Zhu Huan to Shuwu, which also allowed Zhou Tai to miss the last opportunity to make a name for himself on the battlefield.
Reference: "Three Kingdoms"