Chen Tai of the Three Kingdoms Liang general series (Part 1)
Cooking wine on heroes, but also about the characters of the Three Kingdoms.
Most of the military generals of the Cao Wei camp mentioned in recent series of articles were from the Hezhou Shiren clique. As the circle of scholars to which Sima Yi belonged, it was natural for the near-water towers to occupy important positions, and as for the Yingchuan Shiren clique that laid the foundation for Cao Wei's founding of the state and made great contributions, it gradually withered away in the middle and late period of the Three Kingdoms, far inferior to the Hezhou scholars led by Sima Yi and Wang Ling.
What will be mentioned in this issue is Chen Tai, a second-generation celebrity and famous general of Yingchuan who is rooted in Miao Hong. As one of the few fathers and sons whose father and son are able to be subjects, compared to the famous name of his father Chen Qun, although Chen Tai is slightly inferior, this is more caused by the low overall attention of the history of the late Three Kingdoms, and chen Tai in the history of the main history has played an important role in the historical trend of the late Cao Wei period.
Chen Tai (200-260), also known as Xuanbo, was a native of Xuchang, Yingchuan County. As the son of the high-ranking sikong Chen Qun, Chen Tai's career naturally began at a very high level, and during the Qinglong period of the Wei Ming Emperor, Chen Tai served as a loose riding attendant. This official position is actually the emperor's adviser and attendant, who advises on major state affairs, rides horses and guards around when traveling, and can basically hold this position as a son of a famous family, because he serves the emperor, so when there is a vacancy in an important position in the country, the emperor will often send these people who he knows best and trusts to serve, which is equivalent to the most senior reserve cadres.
In the fourth year of Qinglong (237), Chen Qun died, and Chen Tai inherited the title of Marquis of Yingyin.
In 240, Chen Tai served as a guerrilla general, and soon became the general of The State Assassin, Jia Zhenwei, the envoy, and the general of the Xiongnu Zhonglang. Chen Tai, as an official in charge of the military and political power of the prefecture, managed the prefecture very well inside and out, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the relations between the barbarians were also relaxed.
There was a lot of contact between the state and many nomadic peoples in the north, both peaceful trade and military conflicts. The captured Hu people were usually reduced to slavery and bought into their homes by wealthy people to work as servants. In order to show off their wealth, many high-ranking officials and dignitaries in the capital would buy Hu people as slaves through various channels, and since Chen Tai was the leader of the state, naturally many people presented gifts to him, hoping that Chen Tai would help promote this kind of slave trade.
The "Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Chen Tai" says: The nobles of Jingyi sent many treasure goods, because the slaves of Tai City, Tai were hung on the wall, did not issue their seals, and levied as Shangshu, and returned them.
Chen Tai accepted all the gifts according to the order, but did not open them after receiving them, but hung them all on the wall and sealed them to show that he was not greedy for money. In the ninth year of the first year (248), Chen Tai returned to the capital as Shangshu and returned all the money he had received for several years.
Limited by the times, the slave trade at that time not only existed, but also quite common, the so-called slaves here may not necessarily have very poor living conditions, mainly judged by whether they have personal freedom, slaves are equivalent to the property of rich people, and peasants at least have legal independence of personality, for example, the so-called doormen in the large family, the ministry actually has a considerable part of the nature of slaves. The author does not intend to delve into the social system of the Three Kingdoms period, but only to express that Chen Tai helped the officials in the capital to buy slaves, which did not violate the values of the time.
The above historical data also formed an allusion to the "Chen Tai hanging wall", which is used to describe the official who is dedicated to the public and is not confused by monetary interests. In fact, according to the information revealed by the historical data, Chen Tai helped the high-ranking officials to buy slaves, and it can only be said that Chen Tai did not take advantage of the opportunity to make money in the process, but after all, the slave trade is not glorious, so this allusion is rarely used by later generations.
As mentioned above, Chen Tai's return to the capital was the ninth year of the first year, so when the Gaopingling Rebellion broke out in the first decade (249), Chen Tai was in Luoyang. However, such a major event is not mentioned in Chen Tai's biography, is Chen Tai not much related to the incident, so it is not worth specially recording? On the contrary, it is precisely because Chen Tai played a key role in the process of Sima Yi's pacification of Cao Shuang, and later generations held many negative evaluations of the Sima family's rise to power, so chen Tai's historical evaluations involved Chen Tai also considered it disgraceful and adopted a completely evasive attitude.
On the sixth day of the first month of the first decade (249), Emperor Cao Fang and the general Cao Shuang went to Gaoping Tomb to pay homage to the Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui, and Sima Yi took the opportunity to launch a coup d'état in Luoyang, with Jiang Ji occupying the Luoshui Pontoon Bridge and closing the city gates, appointing Situ Gao Rou as the acting general to replace Cao Shuang and take over Cao Xi's forbidden army with Wang Guanren as the leader. Sima Yi then played a tribute to Cao Fang in the name of Cao Pi's wife, Empress Guo, and demanded that Cao Shuang be deposed.
When Cao Shuang heard the news, he rushed to requisition the army to build fortifications to protect himself, but he did not know what to do next. The great si nong huan fan and the general Sima Luzhi who fled from Luoyang urged cao shuang and Cao Xi to call on the world's soldiers and horses to counterattack, but Cao Shuang did not have this courage at all.
Originally, Chen Tai was also in the procession of worshipping Gao Pingling, and when Sima Yi found out that Cao Shuang did not fight back, he sent his attendant Xu Yun to find Chen Tai, hoping that Chen Tai could persuade Cao Shuang to surrender. So Xu Yun and Chen Tai went to see Cao Shuang together, conveying Sima Yi's meaning, that is, as long as Cao Shuang gave up resistance, his life was guaranteed. While Cao Shuang was hesitating, Jiang Ji came with a letter from Sima Yi, accompanied by Cao Shuang's close lieutenant Yin Damu, who also patted his chest and said that as long as he surrendered, there would be no loss except for dismissal from official posts.
So many high-ranking officials of the imperial court came to persuade Cao Shuang, who had no will to resist, completely gave up and handed over his military power.
The "Romance of the Three Kingdoms and the Biography of Cao Shuang" contains: Xu Yun and Shang Shu Chen Tai said that Shuang was cool, so that he had already blamed himself. Shuang then sent Yun and Tai Yi Xuan wang to blame and ask for death, and it was Tong Xuan Wang who played the work.
This historical data can be seen that Cao Shuang sent Xu Yun and Chen Tai to meet Sima Yi, plus Chen Tai was already in Cao Shuang's worship team, which shows that Chen Tai was regarded as his own person by Cao Shuang, after all, he was from the Yingchuan Wang clan, and his father Chen Qun was listed with Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, and Sima Yi as the four major trusts of Cao Pi, and Cao Shuang had a good reason for trusting him.
"Wei's Spring and Autumn" contains: Shuang both dismissed the soldiers, saying: "I am not a rich man. Fan cried: "Cao Zi Dan Jia ren, Sheng Ru brothers, calf ears!" He Tu sat on the Ru and other clans today! ”
This was Huan Fan's last sad roar, desperately fleeing from Luoyang to Cao Shuang's side, originally planning to do his best to assist in counterattacking Luoyang and quelling Sima Yi's rebellion, but he did not expect that the great general Cao Shuang was so unbearable, and could only sigh that the tiger father and dog, a generation of famous generals Cao Zhen had given birth to such a waste, directly destroying the Cao Wei Dynasty, which should be in the period of national strength.
Cao Shuang is not a tool, everyone knows, which is also an important reason why Sima Yi can get the support of Jiang Ji, Gao Rou and other founding ministers. However, these old ministers were too idealistic, and they were full of hopes for Sima Yi to rectify the chaos after Cao Shuang's fall and revive Cao Wei's heroic style, but sima Yi did not have other plans. Not only was Cao Shuang deceived by Sima Yi, but many ministers were also deceived, and by the time they noticed, it was too late.
From the existing historical data, it is difficult to see whether Chen Tai supported Sima Yi and even the Sima family from the beginning, or whether he chose silence helplessly. However, judging from the later events, Chen Tai should have been the same as most ministers at this time, and did not see through Sima Yi's ambitions. Although Cao Shuang's misdeeds were an incompetent straw bag, from the perspective of Cao Wei's subjects, persuading Cao Shuang to surrender was really a stain on his life, so much so that Chen Shou was reluctant to write Chen Tai's biography.
Although persuading Cao Shuang to surrender was not chen tai alone, chen tai was regarded as a hero of the Sima family after this incident. As Sima Yi gradually monopolized power, Chen Tai must not feel good in his heart, after all, the result of the incident led to another extreme: although Cao Shuang was eradicated, Cao Wei jiangshan also fell by the side.
Perhaps to avoid the eyes of the people in the imperial court, or to escape the inner uneasiness, Chen Tai did not stay in the imperial court, but went to Yongzhou to replace Guo Huai, who had been promoted to the general of Zhengxi, as an assassin, and general Jia Fenwei, commanding the battle on the front line against Shu Han.
In the autumn of the same year, the Shu Han general Jiang Wei attacked Yongzhou. Jiang Weibing divided into two routes, one way personally led from Qiangdi to Liangzhou Xiping County, and the other led by the ya gatekeepers Gu An and Li Xin, who built a city and held it according to Qushan Mountain, as a relay station for the Shu army, and used the city pool as a basis to gather the surrounding Qiang people for their own use.
The General Guo Huai of Zhengxi consulted with Chen Tai on countermeasures, and Chen Tai said: "Although the city of Qushan is strong, it is too far from the Shu Han mainland, and the transportation of grain and grass is inconvenient. Although the Qiang people now supported the Shu army, they would certainly be unable to withstand the labor force over time, and they would not sincerely submit to the Shu Han. We will attack the city of Qushan, surround them, and wait for the other side to run out of grain and grass to take the city. Even if Jiang Wei came to the rescue, the difficult and dangerous mountain road could not be opened and would not pose a threat. ”
Guo Huai adopted Chen Tai's strategy and let Chen Tai fight according to the principle of whoever came up with the idea and who did the work. Chen Tai led the Shu protectors Xu Zhi and Nan'an Taishou Deng Ai and other generals into Qushan, surrounded Qucheng, and relied on their superiority in strength to cut off their grain routes and water sources. Ju'an repeatedly challenged the Wei army, and Chen Tai only insisted on holding the camp and strictly ordering the various departments not to go to war. The Shu army in the city lacked food and drink, and could only eat a little bit per meal, relying on collecting snow and turning it into water to survive.
Jiang Wei found that the main force of the Wei army did not come to find him, but surrounded Qushan, so he turned around to rescue it, and over Niutou Mountain, he encountered Chen Tai. The script was completely in accordance with Chen Tai's expectations, so Chen Tai confidently said to the generals: "The art of war is valuable in the soldiers who surrender without fighting." Now that our army has cut off the road of Niutou Mountain, Jiang Wei will not be able to return to Shu Han and will be captured by our army! ”
The "Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, Chen Tai's Biography" says: The edicts of the armies are not to fight with each other, and baihuai are sent to cross the white water from the south, follow the water to the east, make the huai fun bull's head, intercept its return road, and can take the maintenance at the same time, not only security and so on.
Chen Tai ordered his troops to continue to hold out to avoid the battle, and sent people to ask Guo Huai for instructions, and he was ready to personally divide his troops to cross Baishui to seize the eastern region, while Guo Huai led a large army around to the north of Niutou Mountain, so that not only Qushan's Gu'an would become a caged bird, but even Jiang Wei would be surrounded and captured.
Guo Huai himself was also a famous general, and immediately decided to adopt Chen Tai's suggestion and personally lead the main force to kill Ben Niutou Mountain, Jiang Wei was shocked when he heard the news, worried that his army had lost, and could only flee in a hurry. As for the poor Gu An and Li Xin, who were hanging alone on Qu Mountain, they had to surrender Kaesong.
This article tells you about the early deeds of Chen Tai, the son of Chen Qun, although it is regrettable that Cao Shuang was persuaded to help the Sima family take power, but only from the perspective of his ability, he could kill Jiang Wei when he first arrived in Yongzhou, and the strategies he offered were basically adopted by Guo Huai, which is enough to show his outstanding military level. This is only Chen Tai's debut as a general, and there are more wonderful performances in the follow-up, and the next article will continue to introduce. If you are interested, please click to pay attention to it, your support is my biggest motivation for continuous updates, thank you!