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Shi Ji (died c. May 270), also known as Zhu Ji, courtesy name Gongxu, was a Chinese military general of the state of Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was the son of Zhu Ran, a general who served under Wu's founding emperor Sun Quan.

Family background

Shi Ji was a son of Zhu Ran, a general who served under Wu's founding emperor Sun Quan. 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. 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 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, Hunan), 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, Zhuge Ke, Gu Tan, Zhu Ju, 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, Quan Cong, 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 Sun Liang, 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).

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, Hubei). 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 Sun Quan 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 Sun Quan died in 252, his youngest son Sun Liang 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, 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 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, Hubei).

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 Sun Liang, whom he had a falling-out with, and replaced him with his brother Sun Xiu. 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, Hunan) to Xiling (西陵; present-day Yichang, Hubei).

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

See also

• Lists of people of the Three Kingdoms

Notes

1. ^ Sun Hao's biography in the Sanguozhi recorded that Shi Ji died in the 4th month of the 2nd year of the Jianheng era of Sun Hao's reign. This month corresponds to 8 May to 5 June 270 in the Gregorian calendar.

References

1. While Shi Ji's birth year was not recorded, his father Zhu Ran was born in 182. Also, the earliest event he took part in which can be reliably dated was Pan Jun's campaign in Wuling Commandery, which took place in 231. Thus, Shi Ji's birth year should be between 195 and 215.
2. (夏四月，左大司馬施績卒。) Sanguozhi vol. 48.
3. de Crespigny (2007), p. 1165.
4. (朱然字義封，治姊子也，本姓施氏。初治未有子，然年十三，乃啟策乞以為嗣。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
5. (初，然為治行喪竟，乞復本姓，權不許，績以五鳳中表還為施氏， ...) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
6. (績字公緒，以父任為郎，後拜建忠都尉。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
7. Sima (1084), vol. 72.
8. (叔父才卒，績領其兵，隨太常潘濬討五溪，以膽力稱。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
9. (遷偏將軍營下督，領盜賊事，持法不傾。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
10. (魯王霸注意交績，嘗至其廨，就之坐，欲與結好，績下地住立，辭而不當。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
11. (殷基通語曰：丞相陸遜、大將軍諸葛恪、太常顧譚、驃騎將軍朱據、會稽太守滕胤、大都督施績、尚書丁密等奉禮而行，宗事太子，驃騎將軍步隲、鎮南將軍呂岱、大司馬全琮、左將軍呂據、中書令孫弘等附魯王，中外官僚將軍大臣舉國中分。) Tongyu annotation in Sanguozhi vol. 59.
12. ^ Sima (1084), vol. 75.
13. (然卒，績襲業，拜平魏將軍，樂鄉督。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
14. (明年，魏征南將軍王昶率衆攻江陵城，不克而退。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
15. (績與奮威將軍諸葛融書曰：「昶遠來疲困，馬無所食，力屈而走，此天助也。今追之力少，可引兵相繼，吾欲破之於前，足下乘之於後，豈一人之功哉，宜同斷金之義。」) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
16. (融荅許績。績便引兵及昶於紀南，紀南去城三十里，績先戰勝而融不進，績後失利。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
17. (權深嘉績，盛責怒融，融兄大將軍恪貴重，故融得不廢。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
18. (初績與恪、融不平，及此事變，為隙益甚。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
19. (建興元年，遷鎮東將軍。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
20. ^ Sima (1084), vol. 76.
21. (二年春，恪向新城，要績并力，而留置半州，使融兼其任。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
22. (孫權薨，徙奮威將軍。後恪征淮南，假融節，令引軍入沔，以擊西兵。) Sanguozhi vol. 52.
23. (恪旣誅，遣無難督施寬就將軍施績、孫壹、全熈等取融。融卒聞兵士至，惶懼猶豫，不能決計，兵到圍城，飲藥而死，三子皆伏誅。) Sanguozhi vol. 52.
24. (冬，恪、融被害，績復還樂鄉，假節。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
25. (太平二年，拜驃騎將軍。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
26. ^ Sima (1084), vol. 77.
27. (孫綝秉政，大臣疑貳，績恐吳必擾亂，而中國乘釁，乃密書結蜀，使為并兼之慮。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
28. (蜀遣右將軍閻宇將兵五千，增白帝守，以須績之後命。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
29. (永安初，遷上大將軍、都護督，自巴丘上迄西陵。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
30. (元興元年，就拜左大司馬。 ... 建衡二年卒。) Sanguozhi vol. 56.
31. (施淑女，山陽人，施績女也。) Zhen'gao vol. 12.

• Chen, Shou (3rd century). Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi).
• de Crespigny, Rafe (2007). A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms 23-220 AD. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 9789004156050.
• Pei, Songzhi (5th century). Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi zhu).
• Sima, Guang (1084). Zizhi Tongjian.
• Tao, Hongjing (499). Zhen'gao.

• 270 deaths
• Eastern Wu generals