Shen Yi (Three Kingdoms)
Shen Yi | |
|---|---|
申儀 | |
| Born | Unknown Fangling Commandery, Eastern Han (modern Zhuxi County, Hubei) |
| Died | after 227 CE (exact year unknown) Unknown (likely in Cao Wei territory) |
| Other names | Courtesy name: unknown |
| Occupation(s) | Warlord, military general |
| Known for | Defecting from Shu-Han to Cao Wei and seizing Shangyong |
| Relatives | Shen Dan (elder brother) |
Shen Yi (Chinese: 申儀; pinyin: Shēn Yí) was a war-lord of the Shen (申) clan active along the upper Han River at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty and during the early Three Kingdoms period. Initially the de-facto ruler of Fangling Commandery (房陵郡), he surrendered to Liu Bei in 219 CE but defected to Cao Wei the following year, helping to topple Liu Bei’s general Liu Feng and take control of the region.
Background
Like his brother, Shen Yi originally fell under the nominal authority of Jing-province governor Liu Biao, who accepted the Shen clan’s local autonomy in return for frontier security.[1] Fragments of the lost Weilüe add that the brothers rallied “several thousand households” in the Qin-Ba mountains during the chaos of the 190s.[2] When Luo-yang’s grip failed, they briefly acknowledged Zhang Lu before seeking recognition from the Han chancellor Cao Cao, who confirmed Shen Yi as *Administrator of Fangling* and granted him local military command.[3]
Surrender to Liu Bei (219)
In the summer of 219 CE, after Liu Bei seized Hanzhong, his generals Meng Da and Liu Feng drove on Fangling, Xicheng, and Shangyong. Shen Yi yielded Fangling without battle, sending his family to Chengdu as hostages. Liu Bei retained him as administrator and attached him to Meng Da’s field army.[3]
Defection to Wei (220)
When Guan Yu fell at Fan late in 219, Meng Da opened secret talks with Cao Pi. Early in 220 Shen Yi joined Meng Da’s conspiracy, defeated Liu Feng outside Fangling, and persuaded his brother Shen Dan to break with Shu-Han. Emperor Cao Pi rewarded Shen Yi by transferring the marquisate of Yuanxiang to him and appointing him *Administrator of Shangyong* plus a minor generalship.[3]
Later career and disappearance
Shen Yi is last mentioned in connection with Meng Da’s abortive revolt in 227 CE; the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms dramatizes him as assisting Sima Yi, but contemporary sources are silent on his fate.[4] He is presumed to have died in obscurity within the Wei realm.
Legacy
Along with his elder brother, Shen Yi exemplifies the frontier magnates who traded allegiance to survive between the hegemonies of Cao Cao and Liu Bei.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b Rafe de Crespigny (2007). A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD). Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-16206-4.
- ^ Pei Songzhi (5th century), annotation quoting the lost Weilüe in Sanguozhi vol. 40.
- ^ a b c Chen Shou (3rd century). Records of the Three Kingdoms (Sanguozhi), vol. 40 — biographies of Meng Da and Liu Feng.
- ^ Rafe de Crespigny (2017). Honour and Shame in the History of the Three Kingdoms. Canberra: ANU Press. ISBN 978-1-76046-128-0.