Shi Ji (died May 270), also known as Zhu Ji,

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 ...

Gongxu, was a Chinese military general of the state of

Eastern Wu Wu (Chinese language, Chinese: 吳; pinyin: ''Wú''; Middle Chinese *''ŋuo'' < Eastern Han Chinese: ''*ŋuɑ''), known in historiography as Eastern Wu or Sun Wu, was a Dynasties of China, dynastic state of China and one of the three major sta ...

during the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...

period of China. He was the son of

Zhu Ran Zhu Ran (182 – March or April 249), born Shi Ran, courtesy name Yifeng, was a Chinese military general of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Despite being a childhood friend of Wu's founding emperor, Sun Quan, h ...

, a general who served under Wu's founding emperor

Sun Quan Sun Quan (; 182 – 21 May 252), courtesy name Zhongmou (), posthumous name, posthumously known as Emperor Da of Wu, was the founder of Eastern Wu, one of the Three Kingdoms of China. He inherited control of the warlord regime established by hi ...

Family background

Shi Ji was a son of

, a general who served under Wu's founding emperor

. Zhu Ran's family name was actually Shi (施), but he changed his family name to Zhu (朱) as he was adopted by his maternal uncle

Zhu Zhi Zhu Zhi (156–224), courtesy name Junli, was a Chinese military general and politician serving under the warlord Sun Quan during the late Eastern Han dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period of China. He was from Guzhang County (), Danyang Com ...

. Shi Ji initially took on the family name of Zhu, but sometime between 254 and 256 he received permission from the second Wu emperor

Sun Liang Sun Liang (243 – 260), courtesy name Ziming, was the second emperor of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the youngest son and heir of Sun Quan, the founding emperor of Wu. He is also known as the Prince o ...

to change his family name to Shi.

Service under Sun Quan

With help from his father, Shi Ji started his career as a Gentleman (郎) serving the Wu imperial palace. Later, as he grew older, he was commissioned as a commandant under the title "Commandant Who Establishes Loyalty" (建忠都尉). After his uncle Zhu Cai (朱才) died, Shi Ji was put in charge of the troops who used to be under Zhu Cai's command. In 231, he followed Pan Jun on a campaign against rebellious local tribes in Wuling Commandery (武陵郡; around present-day

Changde Changde (; Traditional Chinese characters, traditional Chinese: 常德區 ) is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Hunan province, People's Republic of China. Changde, known as "Wuling" in ancient times, is located on the west side of Do ...

Hunan Hunan is an inland Provinces of China, province in Central China. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the Administrative divisions of China, province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to the east, Gu ...

), and became famous for his courage and strength in battle. Shi Ji subsequently served as a supervising officer in charge of dealing with bandits and robbers, and was known for sternly upholding the law. Through his actions, Shi Ji attracted the attention of Sun Ba, the Prince of Lu, Sun Quan's fourth son. When Sun Ba visited Shi Ji in his office and offered to start a friendship with him, Shi Ji knew his place so he remained humble (e.g. remained standing when Sun Ba sat down) and politely declined. Sometime in the 240s, a power struggle broke out between Sun Ba and his third brother Sun He, the Crown Prince, as the former wanted to seize the position of heir apparent from the latter. Two opposing factions also emerged from among Sun Quan's subjects: On one side, Shi Ji, along with

Lu Xun Lu Xun ( zh, c=魯迅, p=Lǔ Xùn, ; 25 September 188119 October 1936), pen name of Zhou Shuren, born Zhou Zhangshou, was a Chinese writer. A leading figure of modern Chinese literature, he wrote in both vernacular and literary Chinese as a no ...

, Zhuge Ke,

Gu Tan Gu Tan ( 205–246), courtesy name Zimo, was an official of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Family background Gu Tan's ancestral home was in Wu County, Wu Commandery, which is present-day Suzhou, Jiangsu. T ...

Zhu Ju Zhu Ju (194–250), courtesy name Zifan, was a Chinese military general and politician of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. A son-in-law of Wu's founding emperor Sun Quan, Zhu Ju served briefly as the fifth Im ...

, Teng Yin, Ding Mi (丁密) and Wu Can, believed that Sun He was the rightful heir apparent so they supported him. On the other side, Bu Zhi,

Lü Dai Lü Dai (161 – 21 October 256), courtesy name Dinggong, was a military general of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Born in the late Eastern Han dynasty, Lü Dai started his career as a minor official in his h ...

Quan Cong Quan Cong (196–247 or 198–249), courtesy name Zihuang, was a Chinese military general of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Born in present-day Hangzhou towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, Quan Co ...

, Lü Ju, Sun Hong (孫弘), Quan Ji (全寄), Yang Zhu (楊笁), Wu An (吳安) and Sun Qi (孫奇) supported Sun Ba. The power struggle ended in 250 when Sun Quan deposed Sun He and replaced him with

, and forced Sun Ba to commit suicide. When his father Zhu Ran died in 249, Shi Ji inherited his father's peerage as the Marquis of Dangyang (當陽侯) and was subsequently promoted to General Who Pacifies Wei (平魏將軍) and appointed as the Area Commander of Le District (樂鄉; east of present-day Songzi,

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

). In 250, Wang Chang, a senior general from Wu's rival state Wei, led the Wei forces to attack the Wu-controlled Jiangling County (江陵縣; in present-day

Jingzhou Jingzhou ( zh, s=, c=荆州, t=, p=Jīngzhōu) is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei province, China, located on the banks of the Yangtze River. Its total residential population was 5,231,180 based on the Seventh National Population Censu ...

). When Wang Chang was withdrawing his troops after failing to breach Jiangling County's walls, Shi Ji wrote to the Wu general Zhuge Rong: "(Wang) Chang has come a long way; he and his men are weary and their horses have no more fodder. Heaven is on our side. I don't have enough men to attack them so I hope you can lead your troops to support me. I will attack them from the front while you can mop them up from the rear. The glory won't be only mine; this is an opportunity for us to work together." After Zhuge Rong promised to help him, Shi Ji then led his troops to attack Wang Chang and his men at Jinan (紀南), which was located about 30 ''li'' away from Jiangling County. Although Shi Ji initially had the upper hand, he ultimately lost the battle when Zhuge Rong broke his promise and did not show up to help him. After the battle, the Wu emperor

praised Shi Ji, but severely reprimanded Zhuge Rong and wanted to relieve him of his appointment. However, he eventually pardoned Zhuge Rong as he had to " give face" to Zhuge Rong's brother Zhuge Ke, whom he favoured and heavily relied on. As Shi Ji was initially already not on good terms with Zhuge Ke and Zhuge Rong, this incident further deepened the rift between him and the Zhuge brothers.

Service under Sun Liang

After

died in 252, his youngest son

became the next Wu emperor, with Zhuge Ke serving as regent. In the same year, Sun Liang appointed Shi Ji as General Who Guards the East (鎮東將軍). In the spring of 253, when Zhuge Ke was away leading Wu forces to attack the Wei fortress of Xincheng at

Hefei Hefei is the Capital city, capital of Anhui, China. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, and cultural center of Anhui. Its population was 9,369,881 as of the 2020 census. Its built-up (or ''metro'') area is made up of four u ...

, he requested support from Shi Ji's units but did not bring Shi Ji along and instead ordered him to remain at Banzhou (半州). He then granted his brother Zhuge Rong acting imperial authority and ordered him to take command of Shi Ji's units and lead them towards the Mian River to attack Wei reinforcements coming from the west to reinforce Xincheng. In the winter of 253, Sun Jun, a distant cousin of Sun Quan, overthrew and assassinated Zhuge Ke in a ''coup d'état''. He then ordered Shi Kuan (施寬), Shi Ji, Sun Yi (孫壹) and Quan Xi (全熈) to lead their troops to

Gong'an County Gong'an County () is a county in southern Hubei province, People's Republic of China, bordering Hunan to the south. It is under the administration of Jingzhou City. History During the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms era, Gong'an County was k ...

to arrest Zhuge Rong. Zhuge Rong ultimately committed suicide while his three sons and Zhuge Ke's extended family were rounded up and executed. After the ''coup d'état'', Sun Jun became the new regent and he granted acting imperial authority to Shi Ji and ordered him to revert to his previous appointment as the Area Commander of Le District (樂鄉; east of present-day Songzi,

). In 257, Shi Ji was promoted to General of Agile Cavalry (驃騎將軍), one of the top positions in the Wu military. In the previous year, following Sun Jun's death, his cousin Sun Chen succeeded him as the regent of Wu. When Sun Chen was in power, he caused fear and panic among the Wu officials when he started purging his political opponents. Shi Ji worried that Sun Chen's actions would lead to a civil war in Wu, and feared that Wu's rival state Wei would take advantage of the internal conflict to attack Wu. He then secretly contacted Wu's ally state Shu and requested their support. In response, the Shu government sent a general Yan Yu to lead 5,000 troops to stand by at Baidicheng near the Wu–Shu border and assist Shi Ji when necessary.

Service under Sun Xiu and Sun Hao

In 258, Sun Chen deposed the Wu emperor

, whom he had a falling-out with, and replaced him with his brother

Sun Xiu Sun Xiu (235 – 3 September 264), courtesy name Zilie, formally known as Emperor Jing of Wu, was the third emperor of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Early life Sun Xiu was born in 235 to Wu's founding emper ...

. Later that year, with assistance from the generals Zhang Bu and Ding Feng, Sun Xiu ousted Sun Chen from power and executed him. At the beginning of his short reign, Sun Xiu appointed Shi Ji as Upper General-in-Chief (上大將軍) and Protector-General Controller (都護督), and ordered him to relocate his headquarters from Baqiu (巴丘; present-day Yueyang,

) to Xiling (西陵; present-day

Yichang Yichang ( zh, s= ), Postal Map Romanization, alternatively romanized as Ichang, is a prefecture-level city located in western Hubei province, China. Yichang had a population of 3.92 million people at the 2022 census, making it the third most pop ...

). Shi Ji continued serving under Sun Xiu's successor,

Sun Hao Sun Hao (242 – January or February 284), courtesy name Yuanzong, originally named Sun Pengzu with the courtesy name Haozong, was the fourth and last emperor of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was a son of ...

, after Sun Xiu died in 264. In the same year, Sun Hao appointed Shi Ji as Left Grand Marshal (左大司馬). Shi Ji died in 270. The '' Zhen'gao'' recorded that Shi Ji had a daughter, Shi Shunü (施淑女).(施淑女，山陽人，施績女也。 ��績，吳興人，孫皓時為驃騎將軍，守西陵，今雲山陽，恐女或出適，取夫家郡，不爾則乖。 ''Zhen'gao'' vol. 12.

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''). * * 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 ...