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Chen Tai (SGZ Biography)translated by Battleroyale ChenTai, styled XuanBo, was the son of ChenQun. Being raised in an aristocratic family, ChenTai received an excellent education and was well-versed in scholarly and military matters. While his father was alive, ChenTai was already holding the appointment of Shan Qi Shi Lang. In the 4th year of Qing Long (236 A.D.), ChenQun passed away and ChenTai inherited his father’s nobility title to become a Duke. Soon after, he left the position he held at the central government and took up a military appointment at the borders. From 240-241A.D., ChenTai was appointed as You Ji Jiang Jun (something like the general of the guerilla troops). Subsequently in 244 A.D., he was promoted to be the Inspector of the Bing province and Zhen Wei Jiang Jun (General who inspires awe). In addition, ChenTai held the Wei’s court order (otherwise known as Jie in Chinese which gives the holder great authority to carry out the central government’s plan), controlled the military, political and judiciary functions of the Bing province and had the appointment as the Great Official of the Border (Jiang Da Li). ChenTai adopted a pacification policy towards the minorities under his jurisdiction and command a high level of respect from them. During ChenTai’s appointment at the border, some nobilities from Luo Yang entrusted him to purchase some slaves for them from the border and sent him some gifts. Chen Tai did not open the gifts that he received. Subsequently, ChenTai was transfered back to the capital to hold the appointment of the Imperial secretariat and he returned all the gifts that he received previously back to the nobles. Such act was considered as a rarity during those days. In Jia Ping 1st year (249 A.D.), the power struggle between the Cao and Sima family began to show. Although SimaZhao and SimaShi were ChenTai’s childhood friends, ChenTai did not join them nor participate in the struggle. However, given that ChenTai was holding a position in the central government, it would be inevitable for him to be enbroiled into the chaotic events. Not long after, SimaYi initiated a military coup and had the upperhand over CaoShuang. SimaYi sent a letter to CaoShuang asking him to hand over his authority. ChenTai, together with the Palace Attendant XuYun, persuaded CaoShuang to accept SimaYi’s terms. As such, their proposal was accepted and both XuYun and ChenTai were sent as envoys to the Sima’s camp for negotiations. After this event, the Sima family was in control of the Wei’s court affairs and the Simas treated ChenTai as one of the generals who contributed to their administration. In order to avoid the skirmishes that frequent the centerstage, ChenTai decided to play a lesser role by requesting for an appointment out of the central government. As a result, he was transferred to be the Inspector of the Yong province and given the title of General who displays firmness (Fen Wu Jiang jun). Now, ChenTai was at the frontline in the war against the kingdom of Shu. During then, the Shu’s General-in-Chief (Da Jiang Jun), JiangWei constucted 2 forts at the Qu mountains and dispatched some troops to defend them. In addition, JiangWei took the native people (from the Di and Qiang tribes) as hostages and forced them to obey his orders. Seeing this, ChenTai advised his superior, GuoHuai (Wei’s Zheng Xi Jiang Jun or General who subdues the West) that it would be a good opportunity for them to launch an attack on the forts given that the distance between the forts and Shu’s track was far (implying the potential problem of food shortages) and the natives were detestful of the forced labours under the Shu (implying the potential problem of mutiny). GuoHuai agreed to ChenTai’s proposal and dispatched him to attack the Shu’s defending army under XuZhi. At the same time, the governor of Nan An, DengAi, was dispatched to lay siege on the forts. ChenTai managed to cut the food supply chain as well as water supply to the forts but was surrounded by the Shu soldiers who came out for a counter-offensive. Subsequently, JiangWei led his main forces to break the siege and met up with ChenTai at the rear of Bull Head mountain (Niu Tou Shan). Instead of engaging JiangWei’s troops, ChenTai advised GuoHuai to cut off JiangWei’s possible retreat route. GuoHuai agreed and dispatched ChenTai to proceed as planned. JiangWei found out the manuevres of the Wei’s armies and realized that there was a competent commander among her ranks. Due to the unfavourable situation, JiangWei had to retreat and on seeing that, the soldiers at the 2 forts surrendered to Wei. In the 4th year of Jia Ping (252 A.D.), the Shu’s tacticians instigated a rebellion staged by the minorities in the western region. Seeing that, ChenTai proposed to the court to dispatch troops from the provinces of Bing and Yong to suppress the rebellion. In the mobilization of the troops from Bing province, there were cases of mutinies due to the long matches. Leading the remaining troops, ChenTai managed to score a big victory over the rebels. In the 5th year of Jia Ping (253 A.D.), JiangWei led several tens of thousands soldiers on another northern offensive against Wei. He passed Shi Ying, Dong Ting and laid siege on Nan An. ChenTai was dispatched as a rescue force and the 2 armies met. After a series of encounters, a stalemate ensued but Jiang Wei was forced to retreat due to food shortages. In the 2nd year of Zhen Yuan (255 A.D.), SimaZhao dominated the court affairs of Wei. GuoHuai passed away and ChenTai was appointed by the Wei court to take over his appointment and put in-charge of the military affairs for the provinces of Yong and Liang. In effect, ChenTai was holding the highest military position for the western region of Wei kingdom. During the same year, JiangWei led another northern offensive against Wei. ChenTai received a report from the Inspector of Yong province, WangJing, that the Shu armies led by XiaHouBa and JiangWei were arriving in 3 different directions aiming for the Qi mountains, City of Jin (Jin Cheng) and Shi Ying. As such, WangJing requested ChenTai to dispatch troops to defend in all 3 directions. However, ChenTai did not believe that the Shu armies would split their forces into 3 directions and he ordered WangJing to defend Di path (Di Dao) and only launched an attack when the Shu armies arrived and the opportunity arised. In addition, ChenTai himself led some troops to defend Chen Cang. However, WangJing did not obey ChenTai’s order and proceed to attack Shu’s armies on his own. On hearing that, ChenTai knew that something disastrous might happen and proceed to lead his armies to reinforce WangJing. As foreseen by ChenTai, WangJing was badly defeated and most of his soldiers scattered leaving only around ten thousand troops to defend Di path. ChenTai reported this event to the court that night and reorganised the defeated troops in preparation for a counteroffensive. Not long after, DengAi arrived with reinforcement. However, DengAi had the opinion that it might be difficult to defend against the newly victorious Shu’s armies and suggested to give up Di path and defend strategic points in the north. ChenTai countered that although the Shu armies was victorious, they did not seize the opportunity to attack eastward in order to capture the Wei’s food supplies at Li Yang. Instead, the Shu armies were locked in the siege at Di path and their morales were affected. Coupled with the ongoing food supply problem of the Shu army, ChenTai felt that the Wei’s forces should capitilise on these weaknesses and launched a swift attack against the enemies. As such, ChenTai led his troops to a mountain south of Di path. There, he instructed his troops to raised torches and struck the drums. The Wei’s troops defending at Di path saw that and their morales were boosted tremendously. On the other hand, the Shu’s troops beseiging Di path were badly affected by the display put up by ChenTai and a portion of the Shu’s armies was dispatched to attack ChenTai’s army. However, they were badly defeated by ChenTai due to his capitalisation of strategic points for defense. As a result, the Shu’s armies were forced to retreat and the Di path was saved. News of ChenTai’s meritorous deeds at the western borders spread quickly to the capital and ChenTai was praised by SimaZhao. In the 1st year of Gan Lu (256 A.D.), ChenTai was once again transferred back to the capital and given the appointment of Shang Shu You Pu She (in the Imperial Secreteriat office). He was tasked to recruit new government officials for the court. Not long after, the Wu kingdom dispatched an army led by SunJun threatening Wei. ChenTai was appointed as Zhen Jun Jiang Jun (something like General who subdues the army) by the Simas and given the authority over the Huai region which the Wu armies threatened. When the Wu armies retreated, ChenTai was transferred back to the capital and given the appointment of Zuo Pu She (in the Imperial Secreteriat office). In the 2nd year of Gan Lu (257 A.D.), the Wei general, ZhugeDan, led a rebellion at Shou Chun against the Sima family. SimaZhao personally led his armies to engage ZhugeDan and ChenTai was appointed as the chief commanding officer in the central HQ. After securing the victory over ZhugeDan, ChenTai was promoted to be Si Kong (Minister of Works) which was one of the three Dukes (San Gong). In the 5th year of Gan Lu (260 A.D.), the Emperor of Wei, CaoMao, led a group of palace guards and attendants in a bid to attack SimaZhao as he could not tolerate the tyranny of Sima’s family. SimaZhao immediately ordered his trusted general JiaChong to kill the Wei Emperor together with his followers. On knowing that, ChenTai rushed to the scene and cried on seeing the corpse of the Wei Emperor. Soon SimaZhao arrived and asked ChenTai for advice regarding the settlement for this issue. ChenTai replied that the issue could only be resolved by executing JiaChong. However, SimaZhao was unwilling to do that and asked for an alternative. ChenTai was so enraged that he collapsed suddenly and died. © Copyright Battleroyale
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