Content deleted Content added
m →Exile and death: spc |
m Moving Category:Eastern Wu politicians to Category:Eastern Wu government officials per Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2023 June 29#Imperial Chinese government officials |
||
(20 intermediate revisions by 7 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{Short description|Official of the state of Eastern Wu (c. 205–246)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Gu Tan
Line 28 ⟶ 29:
| father = [[Gu Shao]]
| mother = [[Sun Ce]]'s daughter
| relations = {{unbulleted list|[[Gu Cheng (Three Kingdoms)|Gu Cheng]] (brother)|''see also [[Gu clan of Wu]]''}}
| occupation = Official
| blank1 = [[Courtesy name]]
| data1 = Zimo (子默)
}}
{{
'''Gu Tan''' ({{circa}} 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 (Chinese)|ancestral home]] was in [[Wu County]], [[Wu Commandery Gu Tan's father, [[Gu Shao]], served as the Administrator (太守) of Yuzhang Commandery (豫章郡; around present-day [[Nanchang]], [[Jiangxi]]) under the warlord [[Sun Quan]] in the late [[Eastern Han dynasty]]. Gu Tan's grandfather, [[Gu Yong]], was the second [[Chancellor (China)|Imperial Chancellor]] of the state of [[Eastern Wu]], founded by Sun Quan in the [[Three Kingdoms]] period after the fall of the Eastern Han dynasty. Gu Tan's mother was a daughter of [[Sun Ce]], Sun Quan's elder brother and predecessor as the warlord ruling over the Jiangdong territories in the late Eastern Han dynasty.<ref>([顧]邵字孝則, ... [孫]權妻以策女。年二十七,起家為豫章太守。) ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 52.</ref> ==Early career==
Gu Tan started his career After Sun Quan declared himself emperor in 229 and designated Sun Deng as his [[crown prince]], the four attendants were promoted to commandants under various titles. Gu Tan became Commandant Who Upholds Righteousness (輔正都尉) and continued playing a supporting role to Sun Deng.<ref>(黃龍元年,權稱尊號,登為皇太子,以[諸葛 When Sun Deng ordered his secretary [[Hu Zong]] ({{lang|zh|胡綜}}) to write a commentary on four of his advisers in 229, Hu Zong wrote that Gu Tan was excellent at recognising opportunities and having deep and detailed thoughts.<ref>(︽江表传︾曰‥登使侍中胡综作賔友目曰‥“...精识时机,达幽究微,则顾谭...) ''Jiang Biao Zhuan'' annotation in ''Sanguozhi'' vol.59. The other three whom Hu commented on were Zhuge Ke, Xie Jing and Fan Shen.</ref> After Hu Zong made his commentary public, Yang Dao (羊衜<ref>Not the same person as the father of [[Yang Hu]] and [[Yang Huiyu]]</ref>) commented to Hu in private on the four's shortcomings; Yang's criticism of Gu Tan was that "Zimo (Gu's courtesy name) is smart but ruthless." Later, Yang's criticism of the four became known to them, estranging them from Yang. However, eventually all four failed at politics, causing the people of Wu to comment that Yang's criticisms were valid.<ref>(衜乃私驳综曰‥“元逊才而疏,子嘿精而狠,叔发辩而浮,孝敬深而狭。”所言皆有指趣。而衜卒以此言见咎,不为恪等所亲。后四人皆败,吴人谓衜之言有征。) ''Jiang Biao Zhuan'' annotation in ''Sanguozhi'', vol.59</ref> ==Mid career==
Line 57 ⟶ 60:
Around 244, some months after [[Gu Yong|his grandfather]]'s death, Gu Tan was appointed Minister of Ceremonies (太常) in the Wu imperial court. Sun Quan also put him in charge of supervising the imperial secretariat – a task that his grandfather used to do as [[Chancellor (China)|Imperial Chancellor]].<ref>(祖父雍卒數月,拜太常,代雍平尚書事。) ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 52.</ref> Around the 240s, there was a power struggle between two of [[Sun Quan]]'s sons over the succession to their father's throne. On one hand, Sun Quan had already designated his third son [[Sun He (Zixiao)|Sun He]] as the crown prince in 242 to replace [[Sun Deng (Eastern Wu)|Sun Deng]], who died the year before. On the other hand, he also favoured his fourth son [[Sun Ba|Sun Ba, the Prince of Lu]], and treated him exceptionally well. Sun Ba, knowing that their father favoured him, started fighting with his brother over the position of crown prince.<ref>(是時魯王霸有盛寵,與太子和齊衡, ...) ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 52.</ref> Sun Quan's subjects also split into two factions – each supporting either of the two princes.{{efn|See [[Sun He
Gu Tan believed that Sun He was the rightful heir apparent so he wrote a [[Memorial to the throne|memorial]] to Sun Quan to urge him to follow [[Li (Confucianism)|Confucian rules of propriety]] in the way he treated his sons. He argued that Sun He, as the crown prince, was of a higher status and should therefore receive greater honours and privileges as compared to Sun Ba. He also quoted historical examples to make his case that rulers should make a clear distinction between their heir apparent and other sons.<ref>(... 譚上疏曰‥﹁臣聞有國有家者,必明嫡庶之端,異尊卑之禮,使高下有差,階級踰邈,如此則骨肉之恩生,覬覦之望絕。昔賈誼陳治安之計,論諸侯之勢,以為勢重,雖親必有逆節之累,勢輕,雖踈必有保全之祚。故淮南親弟,不終饗國,失之於勢重也‥吳芮踈臣,傳祚長沙,得之於勢輕也。昔漢文帝使慎夫人與皇后同席,袁盎退夫人之座,帝有怒色,及盎辨上下之儀,陳人彘之戒,帝旣恱懌,夫人亦悟。今臣所陳,非有所偏,誠欲以安太子而便魯王也。﹂) ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 52.</ref> Line 63 ⟶ 66:
Sun Ba bore a grudge against Gu Tan after learning that he wrote this memorial.<ref>(由是霸與譚有隙。) ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 52.</ref>
==Conflict with the
Around the time, Quan Ji (全寄),
Earlier in the summer of 241, Quan Cong had led Wu forces into battle at Quebei (芍陂; south of present-day [[Shou County]], [[Anhui]]) against [[Cao Wei|Wei]] forces led by [[Wang Ling (Three Kingdoms)|Wang Ling]]. The battle did not go well for the Wu side initially, and they lost five units to the Wei forces. Gu Tan's friend [[Zhang Xiu (Eastern Wu)|Zhang Xiu]] and brother [[Gu Cheng (Three Kingdoms)|Gu Cheng]], who were serving in the Wu army at the time, led their units to resist the Wei forces and managed to halt their advance. After the battle, when Sun Quan was giving rewards to his officers, he deemed Zhang Xiu and Gu Cheng's contributions greater than those of ==Exile and death==
During an imperial court session, Sun Quan ordered Gu Tan to publicly apologise for the mistake. He expected Gu Tan to do so, after which he could then pardon and release the three of them. However, Gu Tan refused to apologise and he told Sun Quan: "Your Majesty, how can you let baseless accusations have their way?"<ref>(及大會,以問譚,譚不謝,而曰‥﹁陛下,讒言其興乎!﹂) ''Wu Lu'' annotation in ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 52.</ref> Later on, an official accused Gu Tan of showing great disrespect towards the emperor when he protested his innocence, and argued that Gu Tan should be punished by execution. Sun Quan took into consideration that Gu Tan's grandfather [[Gu Yong]] had rendered meritorious service in the past, and decided to reduce Gu Tan's punishment from execution to exile.<ref>(江表傳曰‥有司奏譚誣罔大不敬,罪應大辟。權以雍故,不致法,皆徙之。) ''Jiang Biao Zhuan'' annotation in ''Sanguozhi'' vol. 52.</ref> Gu Tan, along with his brother Gu Cheng and Zhang Xiu, were exiled to the remote [[Jiaozhou (region)|Jiao Province]] in the south. When he was in exile, Gu Tan wrote a 20-chapter book, ''Xin Yan'' (新言; ''New Arguments''), to express his frustration and lament at his own plight. After spending two years in exile, he died at the age of ==See also==
* [[
==Notes==
{{
==References==
{{
* [[Chen Shou|Chen, Shou]] (3rd century). ''[[Records of the Three Kingdoms]]'' (''Sanguozhi'').
* [[Pei Songzhi|Pei, Songzhi]] (5th century). ''[[Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms]]'' (''Sanguozhi zhu'').
{{People of Eastern Wu}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gu, Tan}}
[[Category:205 births]]
[[Category:246 deaths]]
[[Category:Eastern Wu
[[Category:
[[Category:Eastern Wu essayists]]
|