Chen Gui ( 190s),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Hanyu, was a Chinese politician who lived in the late

Eastern Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

of China.

Family background and early career

Chen Gui's

ancestral home An ancestral home is the place of origin of one's extended family, particularly the home owned and preserved by the same family for several generations. The term can refer to an individual house or estate, or to a broader geographic area such as a ...

(and probably birthplace too) was in Huaipu County (), Xiapi Commandery (),

Xu Province Xuzhou as a historical toponym refers to varied area in different eras. Ordinarily, it was a reference to the Nine Provinces which modern Xuzhou inherited. History Pre-Qin era Xuzhou or Xu Province was one of the Nine Provinces of ancient Ch ...

(), which is present-day Lianshui County,

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

. He came from a family of government officials. His uncle, Chen Qiu (; 118 - 30 Nov 179), held high-ranking positions in the Han government during the reign of Emperor Ling. Chen Qiu's sons, Chen Yu () and Chen Cong (), served as

commandery In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...

administrators.(陳球字伯真，下邳淮浦人也。子瑀，吴郡太守；瑀弟琮，汝阴太守；弟子珪，沛相； ...) ''Houhanshu'' vol. 56.

Early career

Chen Gui started his career as the Prefect () of Ju County (劇縣; south of present-day

Shouguang Shouguang () is a county-level city in the north-central part of Shandong Province, China, situated on the southwest shore of Laizhou Bay. Under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Weifang, it has people residing within the munici ...

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

) in Beihai State after he was nominated as a ''

xiaolian Xiaolian (; literally " filial and incorrupt"), was the standard of nominating civil officers started by Emperor Wu of Han in 134 BC. It lasted until its replacement by the imperial examination system during the Sui dynasty. In Confucian philosop ...

'' (civil service candidate) by his home commandery. He resigned after some time, but was later nominated as a ''maocai'' (茂才; outstanding civil servant) and appointed as the Chancellor () of Jibei Kingdom (around present-day

Tai'an Tai'an () is a prefecture-level city in Western Shandong Province of the People's Republic of China. Centered on Mount Tai, the city borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the north, Zibo to the east, Linyi to the southeast, Liaocheng ...

, Shandong). He was subsequently reassigned to be the Chancellor of Pei Kingdom (around present-day Pei County,

Refusal to join Yuan Shu

Chen Gui was an old acquaintance of the warlord Yuan Shu, who, like him, also came from a family of government officials. In early 197, Yuan Shu declared himself emperor in Shouchun (壽春; present-day Shou County,

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

) – an act deemed treasonous against the figurehead

Emperor Xian Emperor Xian of Han (2 April 181 – 21 April 234), personal name Liu Xie (劉協), courtesy name Bohe, was the 14th and last emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty of China. He reigned from 28 September 189 until his abdication and subsequent end ...

of the

. Yuan Shu then wrote to Chen Gui: "In the past, when the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

was overthrown, all the heroes throughout the Empire started fighting for power. In the end, only the smartest and bravest succeeded in seizing the

Mandate of Heaven The Mandate of Heaven ( zh, t=天命, p=Tiānmìng, w=, l=Heaven's command) is a Chinese ideology#Political ideologies, political ideology that was used in History of China#Ancient China, Ancient China and Chinese Empire, Imperial China to legit ...

. As of now, the Han Empire is in a state of chaos and is on the verge of collapse. This is a time for heroes to make glorious achievements. We have known each other for years. Are you not willing to help me? If you are willing to join me, you will be my most trusted adviser." At the time, Chen Gui's second son, Chen Ying (), was in Xiapi (下邳; present-day

Pizhou Pizhou () is a county-level city under the administration of Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, China. As of 2020 it had a population of 1,462,563; it borders the Shandong prefecture-level cities of Linyi to the northeast and Zaozhuang to the northwest ...

), the capital of

. Yuan Shu wanted to send his men to seize Chen Ying, and use Chen Ying as a hostage to force Chen Gui to join him. Chen Gui wrote a reply to Yuan Shu:

Service under Lü Bu

In 196, the warlord

Lü Bu Lü Bu (; died 7 February 199), courtesy name Fengxian, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of Imperial China. Originally a subordinate of a minor warlord Ding Yuan, he betrayed a ...

seized control of

from

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a China, Chinese warlord in the late Han dynasty#Eastern Han, Eastern Han dynasty who later became the founding Emperor of China, emperor of Shu Han, one of the Three Kingdoms of ...

while the latter was away at a battle against

Yuan Shu Yuan Shu () (155 – 199), courtesy name Gonglu, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty. He rose to prominence following the collapse of the Han central government in 189. He decla ...

. Chen Gui and his eldest son, Chen Deng, were forced to become Lü Bu's subordinates. In 197, after declaring himself emperor, Yuan Shu proposed forming an alliance with Lü Bu, and offered to arrange a marriage between his son and Lü Bu's daughter. Chen Gui was worried that the two warlords would pose a greater threat to the Han central government if they became allies, so he advised Lü Bu to avoid having any ties to Yuan Shu. He also urged Lü Bu to build friendly relations with

Cao Cao Cao Cao (; ; ; 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde, was a Chinese statesman, warlord, and poet who rose to power during the end of the Han dynasty (), ultimately taking effective control of the Han central government. He laid the foundation f ...

, the warlord who controlled the figurehead

and the Han central government in the imperial capital Xu (許; present-day

Xuchang Xuchang ( zh, s=, t= ; postal: Hsuchang) is a prefecture-level city in central Henan province in Central China. It is bordered by the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the northwest, Kaifeng to the northeast, Zhoukou to the east, Luohe ...

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

). Lü Bu heeded Chen Gui's advice and rejected Yuan Shu's offer. He also arrested Yuan Shu's messenger, Han Yin (), and sent him as a prisoner to the imperial capital Xu, where Han Yin was publicly executed. After that, Chen Gui asked Lü Bu to send Chen Deng as his representative to meet Cao Cao, but Lü Bu refused. However, after the Han central government sent an emissary to grant Lü Bu the appointment of General of the Left (), Lü Bu was so happy that he sent Chen Deng as his representative to Xu to thank Cao Cao and the Han imperial court. In Xu, Chen Deng urged Cao Cao to eliminate Lü Bu and agreed to serve as a

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole" * Golden mole, southern African mammals * Marsupial mole Marsupial moles, the Notoryctidae family, are two species of highly specialized marsupial mammals that are found i ...

for Cao Cao in Xu Province. Cao Cao also promoted Chen Deng to the position of Administrator () of Guangling Commandery (廣陵郡; around present-day

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), and increased Chen Gui's salary by 2,000 ''dan'' of grain. Yuan Shu was furious that Lü Bu reneged on his word, so he allied with Han Xian and

Yang Feng Yang Feng (died 197) was a military general who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Life Yang Feng was a leader of the White Wave Bandits. Later, he became a subordinate of Li Jue. In 192, Li Jue, Guo Si and other former foll ...

, and sent his general Zhang Xun () to attack Lü Bu. Lü Bu asked Chen Gui, "Yuan Shu sends his forces to attack me because I followed your suggestion. What should I do now?" Chen Gui replied, "The alliance between Han Xian, Yang Feng and Yuan Shu is formed by a loose assembly of their forces. They have not decided on a common plan so they will not last long. They are like chickens tied up together and they cannot move in tandem. My son, Deng, has a plan to separate them." Lü Bu heeded Chen Gui's advice and wrote a letter to Han Xian and Yang Feng, urging them to defect to his side as well as promising to share the spoils of war with them. Han Xian and Yang Feng were so pleased that they sided with Lü Bu, defeated Zhang Xun at Xiapi (下邳; present-day

) and captured Qiao Rui (), one of Yuan Shu's officers. Yuan Shu's forces suffered heavy casualties and many of his soldiers fell into the river and drowned.(暹、奉大喜，遂共擊勳等於下邳，大破之，生禽橋蕤，餘衆潰走，其所殺傷、墯水死者殆盡。) ''Houhanshu'' vol. 75. By the time of the

Battle of Xiapi The Battle of Xiapi was fought between the forces of Lü Bu against the allied armies of Cao Cao and Liu Bei from the winter of 198 to 7 February 199 towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty in China. The battle concluded with victory for C ...

of 198–199, Chen Gui had retired while Chen Deng assisted

in eliminating

. It is not known when Chen Gui died.

Notes

References

* Chen, Shou (3rd century). ''

Records of the Three Kingdoms The ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'' is a Chinese official history written by Chen Shou in the late 3rd century CE, covering the end of the Han dynasty (220 CE) and the subsequent Three Kingdoms period (220–280 CE). It is regard ...

'' (''Sanguozhi''). * * Fan, Ye (5th century). ''

Book of the Later Han The ''Book of the Later Han'', also known as the ''History of the Later Han'' and by its Chinese name ''Hou Hanshu'' (), is one of the Twenty-Four Histories and covers the history of the Han dynasty from 6 to 189 CE, a period known as the Lat ...

'' (''Houhanshu''). * Pei, Songzhi (5th century). ''

Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms ''Annotated Records of the Three Kingdoms'' () by Pei Songzhi (372–451) is an annotation completed in the 5th century of the 3rd century historical text ''Records of the Three Kingdoms'', compiled by Chen Shou. After the fall of the Eastern Jin ...