Xin Ping ( 190s–204),

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 ...

Zhongzhi, was a Chinese official who served under the warlords Han Fu,

Yuan Shao Yuan Shao (, ; died 28 June 202), courtesy name Benchu (), was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty. He occupied the northern territories of China during the civil wars that occurred tow ...

and Yuan Tan during 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 ...

Life

Xin Ping was from Yangzhai County (陽翟縣), Yingchuan Commandery (潁川郡), which is around present-day

Yuzhou, Henan Yuzhou ( zh, s=禹州, w=Yü-chou, p=Yǔzhōu) is a county-level city in the central part of Henan, People's Republic of China. Yuzhou City, referred to as "Jun", was called Yangzhai, Junzhou and Yingchuan in ancient times, and also called Xiadu, ...

. His ancestors were actually from Longxi Commandery (隴西郡; around present-day

Dingxi Dingxi ( zh, c=定西 , p=Dìngxī), also known as Longyou ( zh, c=陇右, p=Lǒngyòu) is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Gansu province, People's Republic of China. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,524,097 inhabitants, of ...

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

), but they migrated to Yingchuan Commandery during the Jianwu era (25–56 CE) of the reign of

Emperor Guangwu Emperor Guangwu of Han (; 15 January 5 BC29 March AD 57), born Liu Xiu (), courtesy name Wenshu (), was a Chinese monarch. He served as an emperor of the Han dynasty by restoring the dynasty in AD 25, thus founding the Eastern Han dynasty. He ...

in the early

. Xin Ping started his career as an adviser to the warlord Han Fu, who governed Ji Province (covering much of present-day

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

) from 189 to 191. In 191, Xin Ping, along with Xun Chen and Guo Tu, managed to persuade Han Fu to give up his governorship of Ji Province to another warlord

, who they said would be in a better position to defend Ji Province from an invasion by a rival warlord Gongsun Zan. Xin Ping subsequently became an official serving under Yuan Shao, and he brought along his younger brother Xin Pi. In the year 200, Yuan Shao clashed with his rival

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 ...

at the Battle of Guandu. During the battle, two sons of Yuan Shao's adviser Shen Pei were captured by Cao Cao's forces. Meng Dai (孟岱), one of Yuan Shao's subordinates, was not on good terms with Shen Pei, so he asked his colleague Jiang Qi (蔣奇) to pass a message to Yuan Shao: "Shen Pei has been behaving autocratically and he has strong support from his kinsmen. Now that his two sons have been captured by the enemy, he may think of defecting to the enemy to save his sons." Xin Ping and his colleague Guo Tu agreed with Meng Dai. Yuan Shao thus appointed Meng Dai as his new army supervisor and ordered him to replace Shen Pei as the officer guarding his home base in Ye (present-day

Handan Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shando ...

). In 202, two years after his disastrous defeat at the Battle of Guandu, Yuan Shao died without clearly naming one of his sons as his successor. A power struggle thus broke out between two of his sons, Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang, over the succession. Yuan Shao's followers were also divided into two camps: one camp, led by Shen Pei and Pang Ji, supported Yuan Shang and helped him gain control over Ye city; the other camp, led by Xin Ping and Guo Tu, sided with Yuan Tan, who based himself in Pingyuan County. The Yuan brothers then waged war against each other. In 203, when Yuan Shang attacked Yuan Tan at Pingyuan County, Guo Tu advised Yuan Tan to make peace with

and ally with Cao Cao to counter Yuan Shang. After Yuan Tan reluctantly agreed, Guo Tu nominated Xin Ping's brother Xin Pi to serve as Yuan Tan's representative to meet Cao Cao. Xin Pi succeeded in his mission and managed to convince Cao Cao to help Yuan Tan. Cao Cao then led his forces to Liyang (黎陽; present-day Xun County,

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 ...

). Earlier on, when conflict first broke out between Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan, Xin Ping's brother Xin Pi accompanied Yuan Tan to Pingyuan County but left his family members behind in Yuan Shang's base at Ye city. Yuan Shang later ordered the Xin family to be arrested and imprisoned. In 204, Cao Cao led his forces to attack Yuan Shang at the Battle of Ye. When Cao Cao's forces broke through Ye's defences, Shen Pei, who was in charge of defending Ye, blamed Xin Pi for the Yuan family's downfall so he ordered his men to execute the Xin family in prison. After Ye fell to Cao Cao's forces, Xin Pi, who was with Cao Cao at the time, rushed to the prison to free his family but it was too late as all of them were already dead.(先賢行狀曰： ... 初，譚之去，皆呼辛毗、郭圖家得出，而辛評家獨被收。及配兄子開城門內兵，時配在城東南角樓上，望見太祖兵入，忿辛、郭壞敗兾州，乃遣人馳詣鄴獄，指殺仲治家。是時，辛毗在軍，聞門開，馳走詣獄，欲解其兄家，兄家已死。) ''Xianxian Xingzhuang'' annotation in ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 6. While it is unknown whether Xin Ping was executed along with his family, there is no further mention of him in historical records.

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 ...

'' (''Sanguozhi zhu''). * {{DEFAULTSORT:Xin, Ping 2nd-century births 3rd-century deaths Government officials under Yuan Shao Government officials under Cao Cao

Life

See also

References